DrEAMi! Linky #4

It's the end of the first month of the second quarter; are you staying on track with your goals and gotta-do's?  My real life has taken over my sewing life, and would you believe it, but I haven't even had a moment to allow a DrEAMi! to take over.  I think that's a first for me.  If you are reading about DrEAMi! for the first time, here is the post that explains all, but basically it is where you are distracted by a beautiful "squirrel" quilt project that just consumes your every thought and you have to go directly to jail, er, your sewing room, do not pass Go, kind of thing, and drop whatever obligations are on your sewing list and make this thing and make it now.

It's not for lack of seeing squirrels, oh no.  I've bookmarked several, one of which I even drew out, as a Hands2Help quilt.  Go here if you are interested in finding out more about Sarah's, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, 7th annual charity project.

No, I guess the only squirrels that have come my way have been of the house or of the sewing machine kind, and with that little tidbit of suspense thrown, like a squirrel, at you, I will leave you to link up your distractions for this month!

Freefall Link Up #3

I can't believe we are in the last week of April! Time is just galloping along.  Sewing is a struggle for me these past few weeks as you know, what with moving, and the chaos that ensues as we settle in, which we continue to do; we are so enjoying making this adorable little house our own, organized to a T.  IKEA has been being assembled, and we are loving it!  MacGyver also put together a couple of my cabinets I had in my beloved sewing room in Alberta (not IKEA, so they didn't break down and reassemble as nicely, he tells me) and so I now have a cutting/pressing table with some storage underneath.

All right, rephrase that: we now have a cutting/pressing/perching table with some storage, cat shenanigans/playing places underneath.
Updated to add: I told Tish this is what Bella was saying to me when I was taking this photo, "WHAT the H are you fussing about? This shot is of ME, MOI, who cares about the perch I'm on, just take the photo...okay terrific, with all that fussing, you did not get my good side."
MacGyver also installed my fabulous fluorescent lights, so there is a TON of light up there.  You might be wondering why I would cover up the original plank floors?  Sadly, the knotholes have become holes; the knots have dropped through on many of them, perfect for a spool or bobbin of thread to fall into, so I've put some area rugs to use for now.  I am surprised, (well, by many things about myself and this house since moving in, but that's for another post), at how much I love this space, chaotic as it currently is.

How are your leaves that float on the background looking?  I've had peeks at a few and wow, they are truly stunning fabric choices!  This link will be open all week, through next Sunday.  Monday, May 2 will be Step 4 where we make the 6 half and half leaves.  I wanted to show you a photo of what Jean of All Points of the Compass, a wonderful blog, btw, does for template work.

She does not remove the freezer paper, just folds back the seam allowances on the paper, lines up registration marks she's made and once she's sewn the pieces together, then peels off the freezer paper!  Kind of the 'paperless' paper-piecing method plus templates.  Check out this post where she shows you.

A quick note about the pattern sponsors, who have been so generous without hesitation, every one of them.  I hope you take the time to visit the blogs and perhaps the stores of:
Lara at Buzzin' Bumble (a copy of her book!)
Yvonne at Quilting JetGirl (2 patterns of choice)
Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs (2 patterns of choice to 2 winners)
Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts (pattern of choice)
Joanne at Canuck Quilter Designs (pattern of choice; she's just released a Canada 150 quilt pattern, free for a short period of time)
Beth at Cooking Up Quilts (pattern of choice; one of her designs is in the latest Quilter's World magazine!)
Tish at Tish's Adventures in Wonderland (copy of her pattern of which we've had sneak peeks)
Cindy at Stitchin' At Home (God's Eye pattern)
and me (Blue Skies & Sunny Days pattern affiliate link to my store)

Linking up with Cooking Up Quilts

Red & White For Days

It feels like it.  I didn't realize until I typed the title, and these first few lines, that I'd be posting this on St. George's Day.  Heh? you say... Do you know St. Patrick?  Of course! Patron saint of Ireland.  His colour?  Green, duh! Well, St. George is the patron saint of England, the very same guy who slew the dragon (not slayed; I looked it up and that would indicate St. George was amused by it.  Which he could have been I supposed.  Before he slew it.  Or maybe the dragon slayed himself with St. George, as a cat does with a mouse, and then St. George retaliated.  In any event, St. George survived.  The dragon, sadly, did not.)  St. George's colour? Red, of course!

Here are the next three sets of blocks for 150 Canadian Women QAL at Next Step Quilt Designs, with a couple of tips in case you haven't made these yet, or for future reference.

58 - Leonora Howard King: first Canadian doctor in China, where she opened the first Chinese hospital for women and children, awarded the Imperial Chinese Order of the Imperial Dragon, the first woman to achieve such an honour; 59 - Jean Lumb: Chinese name Wong Toy Jin, at age 17, she opened her own (prosperous) fruit store in Toronto, spokesperson to PM Diefenbaker wrt Chinese concerns regarding immigration, led a successful campaign to preserve Toronto's Chinatown, 60 - Laura Goodman Salverson: Icelandic immigrant, a writer, first editor of  "Icelandic Canadian" magazine, a pioneer author of immigrant literature

58 was pretty scrappy in the whites, as I'm trying my best to use my smaller scraps.  I did use yardage I purchased for Laura's block, the snowflakes, as a nod to her Icelandic heritage.

Kat, the creator of this QAL does connector corners for making flying geese, which takes more fabric, and creates waste.  Because I'm using my small scraps as much as possible, and because I hate waste, I usually do the No Waste Method.  You make 4 flying geese units at once, pretty slick.  There are many online tutorials for this method; my own is here.  The math is simple to figure out the size of your squares: take the finished measurement of the width of the 'peak' and add 1.25", and take the finished height of the 'wings' and add 7/8".  So for a unit measuring 1.5X2.5", you would cut your 'peak' fabric 2.5 + 1.25 = 3.75" square, and your 'wings' fabric 1.5 + 7/8 = 2 3/8" square.  The sewing looks a little weird, but do enough of these, and it becomes second nature.

There you have them in a couple of finished sizes, 1.5X2.5" and 2X3.5".  I tried to expedite the catching up process by making two blocks at the same time, chain-piecing and, well, all right...

...maybe not a good idea when it's after 9 pm... Thank goodness I'd only pinned!

61 - Mary "Bonnie" Geraldine Baker: professional women's baseball player, fielding average of .953 as a catcher, stole 507 bases in 9 seasons! She was the only woman in the league to work full time as a team manager (for the Kalamazoo Lassies), and was Canada's first female sports broadcaster. 62 - Manon Réaume: first girl to participate in a peewee tournament in its history, as a Bantam AA, she was forced out because parents felt she was taking away a boy's spot; however, she went on to eventually win a silver medal in Nagano at the 1998 Olympics, AND she did play for the NHL, first with the Tampa Bay Lightning. 63 - Fern Blodgett: first Canadian woman to become a wireless radio operator, in WWII she successfully led 78 of the 98 runs across the Atlantic on the Mosdale, first woman to receive the Norwegian War Medal.

For this set I made sure to use baseball-like fabrics for Mary, and used black in Manon's, symbolic of the hockey puck but of the prejudice against her for being a girl, the pink symbolizing her femininity. As for the surrounded friendship stars, I love this block, despite its crazy tiny pieces. Each star block finishes at 3"!  I'd like to make it double-size.  Again, to simplify this one, I did HSTs instead of the corner connectors, trimming two at a time to speed up the process.  Here's how:

Layer two HSTs RST, butting up the seams. This works best if you press to one side. You can feel them butt up against each other.  Lie your ruler with the 45-degree line on the seamline, and trim two sides.  Rotate the mat.  I like to put my little mat on top of my big one so I don't have to touch the HSTs at all. If you have a rotating one, this is the time to use it.

You can see the dog ears from the one beneath peeking out.

Lie your ruler down once more as before, and trim the other two sides.

Voilà!  Two HSTs in the same time it takes to trim one.  A more detailed description of this method can be found here.  If you click the Tips and Tutorials tab up top, you will find several more tutorials or tips posts.

Finally...

Oh, ha ha!  This is what happened when I spent at least half an hour looking for my sewing machine lubricant/oil.  As I wrote on Instagram, yep, of course it would be in a box marked "HQ Stuff", and aside from another smaller box inside of said HandiQuilter stuff, there were several various spray and applicator-type cans/bottles in the box, one of the cans being my spray machine oil.  😣 I did find some more minis, which I added to my mini wall eaves/ceiling tiles!  Note to self that these acoustic tiles (as MacGyver calls them, who knew) take stickpins very well, leading me to contemplate their possible repurpose as a design wall? Think beadboard eventually replacing these for my ceiling, mmm!

64 - Frances Gertrude McGill: brilliant, Saskatchewan's bacteriologist, then pathologist, and then provincial laboratory director focusing on investigating suspicious deaths, first woman to serve as an RCMP officer. 65 - Kathleen Coburn: one of two women (Toni is the other) to race on the road-racing circuit, first woman to earn points in the American Motorcyclist Association, she and Toni were the first two women to qualify for the Daytona 200. 66 - Toni Sharpless: first woman to win a Canadian Motorcycle Association national championship.

Notice the checkered fabric for another racer?! Sadly I have one tiny square of it left, which wouldn't even work for one of the triangles in Toni's block.

Three more to catch up before the next three are released on Tuesday... I don't know, I seem to go one step forward, 2 or 3 backward in my daily routine these past few weeks.  (Would you believe...sure you would...I started this post 24 hours ago?)  Such is the life of a move and reorganizing, figuring things out.  It's all good though; this is so right.  I ended up sitting in the sunshine an extra 45 minutes after I ate my lunch on the deck because it was so wonderful to enjoy the day, enjoy my family, enjoy the privacy, enjoy the birds and the greening up.

Tomorrow is another link up for the Freefall QAL.  This time you are showing us your leaves that float on the background and the large shadow leaf point.  Again I am so pleased at how many of you are joining in, and I thank you all from the bottom of my happy heart.  Hopefully I will have some new Freefall leaves to show you this week, as well as a Hands2Help project...

Catching Up

I've fallen a bit behind in my 150 Canadian Women QAL, at Next Step Quilt Designs, but I'm catching back up.

55-Adelaide Hunter Hoodless, helped organize Canada's first YWCA conference, which resonates with me, since one of my first part-time jobs was teaching swimming at the YMCA; she was also instrumental in getting Home Economics included as part of the school curriculum; 56-Helen MacMurchy, a doctor, her belief in preserving the White Race through the use of eugenics have me more than a bit upset; she did a lot for women's issues, yet this is clouded by her actions that led to the wrongful sterilization of many immigrants; therefore I think the light and dark of the chevrons is a good depiction of the positive and negative sides of this woman; 57-Gabrielle Roy, French Canadian author, teacher; I studied "La Petite Poule d'Eau" in university, which is why I chose the chicken coop-like fabric for the HSTs. She wrote about immigrants, the poor and underprivileged and was fluent in both English and French.

Interesting in that block 55 was pieced they day before we left Florida, and then the next two were here.  What is the little chevron strip? Well, I could not toss the trimmed triangles from the corner-square method to make the flying geese in block 56, so I just cut off the dog ears, and then sewed them back together as leader/enders and will use them perhaps on the back of the quilt.

Leanne at Devoted Quilter put out a call for 10.5" blocks to help her make 21 quilts for seniors whose residence was entirely destroyed during a fire a week ago. They all got out safely, but lost everything.  Partly to fulfill the RSC colour of the month which is multi-coloured, as well, I dug through my scraps, which took longer, seeing as I had to find some, then find the bins they belong in, since they got compressed for the move.  Story of my life these days. Something simple and quick takes hours.

I made her 10, 6 feminine ones and 4 masculine.  I was tickled to find the taxi cabs, leftovers from a hobo bag I made after a trip to NYC in 2007 for an English Teachers' Conference.  Glad to have had enough of that Kaffe one, and the Union Jacks too!  Fun!  Leanne needs over 800 blocks, so be sure to head over and check out her post, and how you can help.  I see now that she doesn't need any more new donations of blocks, but still could use batting and backing donations.

Spring continues to bust out all over around here:

We've been watching this beauty unfurl her blossoms as we walk the Greenway over the past couple of weeks.  AMulberry is my guess.

We set out three various bird feeders, this one of niger seed.  Although they don't eat it, the cardinals found it before the goldfinches. Gosh, the males are so brilliant! 

Happily, I can still walk to my lake at the end of our street, gaze at, and listen to the water should I feel the need, within less than a minute,

and wave at Julie on the other side, and beyond her, Tish! 

Be sure to check out the Freefall QAL Step 3 instructions where we piece the 6 leaves that float on background fabric, as well as make the blocks for the large shadow leaf point.  A link up for this step will be on Monday, April 24.

Linking up

Sew Fresh Quilts

so scrappy

Freefall Quilt Along Step 3 Construction of 6 Leaf Blocks

In this step we will be creating the leaves that float on the background fabric, as well as the shadow leaf point.  There are six leaves that float on the background.  You can download a copy of this post in PDF form from my Craftsy Store.

Gather your leaf pieces that are going to float on the background that you set aside from Cutting Step 1, along with the background pieces.  You will still have several pieces left after this week's work; we will use them in Step 4.  Just as in Step 2, you will have one 2 3/4" X 3 3/4" rectangle left over; do not cut this into side triangles yet.  Make just six leaves as you did in Step 2, substituting the background fabric for the shadow leaf fabric.  Here are all the pieces for two leaves ready for assembly into blocks.

Shadow Leaf Corner Unit

This unit requires templates very similar to how we made the templates to cut our fabric for the 3" finished leaf point.

Note: There are 3 blocks that make up the shadow leaf point.  Each of the 3 blocks is 7.5" finished.  There is the 'tip' block and then the two sides of the tip, each a mirror-image of the other.

Make the Leaf Point Sections Templates
1. Draw a 7.5" square on paper, either newsprint or freezer paper, leaving extra paper around two, or all sides.  Make the lines dark enough that you can see them on the reverse side.  Make two of these squares.  Tape the two squares together lightly (we'll take it apart right away) side by side.
TIP: place a piece of tape in the middle of the line on both sections where you are going to tape the sections together. Then tape the two together with another piece of tape over top of those two. This ensures easy removal with no fear of ripping your paper. The edges of your drawn squares overlap (see below).

2.  Draw a line that goes from the top right corner to the bottom left corner of the rectangle.  Label the background and the shadow leaf sections as shown.  'BG' is background.  Draw two small arrows as shown. This will help you orient section 2a for the next step.

3.  Carefully take apart the two sections.  Now flip section 2a onto its back.  I like to trace that line on this reverse side where your little arrows point just so I can see it clearly; if you can see it through the paper, then there's no need to do this. Rotate the square so that it is now below section 1.  See below. Use the little arrows you made that will show you which edge touches section 1. Align the edges as you did for the first side, nothing the overlap. Tape lightly together again.  Draw a line as before, this time beginning at that same top right corner, and ending at the bottom left corner.  You will notice that you trace over the same line on section 2a, just on the back side.  Label the reverse of 2a as shown.  Carefully fold along your seam lines as you did for the small leaf blocks.

Cut Shadow Leaf Point Pieces
4.  Lie your leaf point template on the wrong side of the shadow leaf fabric. You may want to use a light dab of gluestick to secure this piece; if you've used freezer paper, use a dry iron, no steam, to adhere the freezer paper to your fabric.  EITHER make a template from this section, adding 1/4" seam allowance around all four sides of the leaf point shape OR use this as a large paper-piecing template.  Your preference.  I did templates for the Windfall big quilt, paper-piecing for this wallhanging size.

5.  Use that side section as a template, tracing it onto new paper, adding seam allowances around all three sides.  You will use this template to cut both the side triangles for section 1 and the triangles in sections 2a and 2b.  Place your shadow leaf fabric wrong sides together.  Cut a set of two triangles using the template you have just made.

Cut Background Fabric for Shadow Leaf Point
6. With right sides together of the remaining 8.5" strip of background fabric you set aside from Cutting in Step 1, use this same template to cut two mirror image side triangles for the leaf point.  If you place the template on a double layer of fabric, wrong sides together, you will get these two mirror images with one cut.  Then use either side of Section 2, a or b, template to cut these pieces as shown below.

Note that you can snuggle these two closer together to give you usable scrap! Just remember to allow for 1/4" seam allowances around all sides of both templates.

This is what you will have:

Piece the Shadow Leaf Point sections.
1.  Either use the templates as paper-piecing templates or simply sew your pieces together.  First sew the side background triangles to either side of the leaf point section 1.  Press to the background.  Square to 8", lining up registration marks on your ruler as shown.

First photo: have the 4" dot on your ruler at the 1/4" seam line of the sides of the leaf point and the 7 3/4" dot on your ruler at the top point of the leaf point. Trim and then rotate the block.  Second photo: line up the 7 3/4" dot on the 1/4" seam line of the sides of the leaf point, and the 1/4" dot at the leaf point.  Trim.

2. Next sew the two sections of 2a and then 2b together.  Press to the leaf fabric.  Square to 8".   Line up the 1/4 dot on your ruler with the 1/4" seam line at the corner of the block, and 7 3/4" dot on the lower left 1/4" seam line.  The other block section will be the same except for the 4" dot will be lined up on that 1/4" seam.

All this pressing to a specific direction and lining up of registration marks on the ruler with the 1/4" seam line will ensure your seams will nest, giving you a continuous line of the large point of the shadow leaf.

Set these three blocks aside for now.

There will be a linkup next Monday, April 24.  I am absolutely loving everyone's first 8 leaves!  Remember to hashtag freefallqal on Instagram and tag me, @mmmquilts if you post progress there.


See you in two weeks when we will be making the half background/half shadow leaf floating leaves!

Linking up with
Cooking Up Quilts
Sew Fresh Quilts

Freefall Link Up #2

Hope Spring is springing up everywhere in your corner of the northern hemisphere! Daffodils are blooming all over: they are in the lawns, under trees, along ditches, really quite glorious, not just in flowerbeds as they do in Alberta. My mum used to describe this custom in England, which we thought was rather odd, since no one does this in Alberta, but then I saw them exactly as she'd described, all over France.  Golden showers of Forsythia I spot as well, must get one if there isn't one here at the new place... Nope haven't even had time to inspect the wares of the garden of the family who lived here all but 5 of its 70 years.

So I hope you have had time to sew up the first 8 leaf blocks.  I have been remiss in my Instagram surfing, so I apologize if I haven't commented and liked your photo if you've posted there.  As long as you tag me, mmmquilts, I should find you, and remember to hashtag freefallqal I will find you.

There are some gorgeous fabric pulls out there!  I've got almost all my fabric home now, but no, it is not out of all the totes; I haven't even unpacked the Florida sewing stuff yet, sniff.  Hopefully soon I can start my second Freefall quilt.  I will be linking this post and attached linky up with
Cooking Up Quilts
Patchwork Times

So you work will be given more exposure !

Step 3 will be out on Monday, April 17, and this link up will remain open through Sunday evening.

Link up #2

I Like/Love #2

Ten Things
1. I really do love Craftsy.  Yes, I'm an affiliate, but I wouldn't promote anything I didn't buy, or really like myself.  I love Angela Walters, no secret there, and her latest video is once again, terrific.  This time she's paper-piecing! And it's her own design.  Here's the video:

I've already downloaded the pattern for Angela's quilt!  I already purchased some Boundless batiks, and can't wait to work with them....I think I know where they may be, hmm...

2. You know I love Craftsy classes, and own many.  This weekend, beginning tomorrow, in celebration of Spring, all their classes are on for $19.99! That is SUCH a great deal, owning that class for life. I can tell you from personal experience that Angela's Craftsy classes come a very close second to her real life classes; she is every bit as funny and personable, and educational, as she is when she's in the flesh and blood.  Did you know there are many many free classes on Craftsy? From knitting, to woodworking, drawing to baking, and the 2017 Craftsy block of the month quilt! Just think, you can do this quilt along with Nancy, but use your own fabric! Shh! Don't tell.

3. I like pre-scheduling posts!  This has been a  lifesaver as we settle into our new home.  My Freefall QAL, DrEAMi! are just a couple of the few, including most of this one, that I've prescheduled.  I am waaay behind in responding to comments, but I will get there, I promise.  I'm so pleased to see that 130 downloads of steps 1 and 2 in PDF format from my Craftsy store have occurred so far.  Wow.  The next linkup is Monday, of your first 8 blocks.

4. I love good friends like Tish, for many reasons, but one recent one is for linking up posts when I am unable to.  Thank you my sweet friend, mwah!

5. I love learning and educating myself about new things.  One is a knitting show on Craftsy.  This latest episode shows how to cable without using a cable needle!  It also shows some beautiful merino yarn, and a great pattern for a cowl.

6. I love Spring.  The rebirth, the hope, the promise...

Those hardy, oft-hated, but such bright happy dandelions!  Daffodils are starting to bloom too!

...the possibilities, the wonder.

I first noticed these buds on the tree outside my sewing room window the day we moved in.

7. I love the smell of the colour green, the fresh smell of new grass, the wet, earthy smell of Spring.

8. I love history.  HIstorical fiction, like the current book I'm reading, New York.  It is very good so far.

9. History before my eyes.  History repurposed.

This is just one of the old railroad markers along the repurposed railroad bed in Essex County, which is now a 50-km long walking/biking/horseback riding trail, known officially as the Chrysler Canada Greenway.

10. Finally, I like British TV.  A new-to-us series is 'Happy Valley', on Netflix, recommended by both my mum and neighbours in Florida, who hail from Duluth.  It is a bit terrifying and disturbing to me, but intense with excellent acting.  Of course, the lovely Sarah Lancashire, who MacGyver quite likes, is the main lead, a police sergeant.

I will be connecting with LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color this week.  If you'd like to read more I Like/Love posts head over there where she does her own, and points you to a few of us in QBL who join her.
Have a wonderful Thursday on this beautiful blue/green planet.

Freefall Quilt Along Step 2 Construction of 8 Leaf Blocks

Welcome back!  We are ready to sew, right?  This week we are making the eight leaf blocks that float on the shadow leaf block.  Does that sound confusing or what?  Not to worry, this first step is easy-peasy.  You need your Ziploc baggie of leaf pieces that float on the Shadow Leaf and your stack of pieces that you cut in Step 1 for the Shadow Leaf.  Here's what we are making:

My Shadow Leaf is green and these are the eight prints I am floating on it.

Construction

* Note that the Shadow Leaf fabric, green in my case, will be referred to as background fabric in this section to avoid confusion between leaf and shadow leaf terms!

1.  You are going to piece the leaf points for all eight leaves following the Paper-Piecing Without Sewing Through the Paper tutorial.  Take out ten of the eleven 2 3/4 x 3 3/4" shadow leaf rectangles, and cut as per the tutorial.  You will have:

• eight sets of side triangles, 16 total
• two sets of side triangles extra that you will use for a later set of leaves
• one 2 3/4 x 3 3/4" rectangle left over.  **Do not cut it yet but set it aside with the extra side triangles for later. 

Follow the tutorial now to make 8 leaf points.

2.  Make the HSTs.  Draw a line from corner to corner on the wrong side of three of the 2.5" leaf fabric squares.  I like to use my Hera marker for this step.  Stitch 1/4" on either side of that marked line and then cut apart on the marked line.

However, for small squares like this, if you have an extension table for your machine with registration marks on it, as I do, you may not have to mark!

Repeat with the other two pairs of 2.5" squares to make 6 HSTs.  Press four to the background fabric and two to the leaf fabric, or all open, whatever you prefer.  Square to 2".
**You may want to check out this tutorial I wrote on how to trim two HSTs at the same time.  You could have two sets of HSTs trimmed in the time it takes to trim one!

Assemble the leaf block

Lay out the pieces for the block as shown below:

1.  Sew the top pair of HSTs (the ones that are above the 3.5" square of leaf fabric) together.  Press open.  Next sew one HST to each of the three rectangles, orienting them as per the layout photo. Press the two units with the background fabric rectangle to the background rectangle, and to the HST on the unit with the leaf fabric rectangle.  Finally sew the sixth HST to the 2" square.  Press to the 2" square.  This is what you will have:

2.  Now piece the top section and bottom section.  Sew the pair of HSTs to the 3.5" square of leaf fabric.   Sew the leaf point to the 2" square unit.  Sew the two rectangle units to the right of the 3.5" background square.

3.  Then sew the top three sections together.  Sew the bottom two sections together.  Finally, sew the top to the bottom section.  Press.  Square to 8".  Make 8 of these altogether.

Remember if you have any questions, leave me a comment below or shoot me an email (click the profile on my sidebar) and I will answer you.  Happy sewing, and thank you SEW much for joining me.  Thank you for your patience with me in taking longer to respond to comments over the past and next several days while we are settling into our new home.

A copy of this post is downloadable in PDF format in my Crafsty store. (affiliate link) 

How about a quick little peek at some of my fabric sponsors' wares?

Sew Sisters Quilt Shop is in Toronto, Ontario.  They are offering a $25 gift certificate.  They have monthly deals, a Canada's birthday BOM, and lots worth checking out.
Needle & Foot is in Grass Valley, California.  The youngest shop of the three here, but a terrific selection of fabrics awaits you, and custom-made articles as well.  Bernie is offering 6 fat quarters OR 3 half-yard cuts.
Fat Quarter Shop is in Manchaca, Texas.  One of their most popular features is the 24-hour flash sale, but their QAL and BOM and featured quilt patterns have me visiting them on pretty much a daily basis! They are offering a $25 gift certificate.

Hope you will support these online shops who are so supportive of activities in QBL!

There are several pattern designers sponsoring the Freefall QAL, more on them next time.  You can check them out in the Intro post by clicking the Freefall Quilt Along tab at the top of the blog.  All posts are there as is the schedule.  Next Monday, April 10, the second linkup will open and remain open for a week to give you plenty of time to complete your 8 blocks. Happy sewing! Remember to post on Instagram as well, and use the hashtag freefallqal so we can find you!

Linking up:
Cooking Up Quilts
Patchwork Times

DrEAMi! Linky #3 Llamas and Laundry

Welcome to the third linky party for those Drop Everything And Make It! moments.  What's got you dropping your current project and running for your stash?

For me this past month, it involved llamas and laundry.  Yup you read that right.