Blocks and giveaway for Blogiversary!

I've been hanging out in this space for nine years

(as of yesterday)

and lots of quilts have come under my needle since then.

What I appreciate most about this space and all of you

is how I've made connections.

To celebrate these connections, 

and how the world is a smaller place than it used to be,

I'm sending these four house blocks

(OK, one is a mosque, but it is a house of worship)

to the Montreal Modern Quilt Guild

to make quilts for the families of victims of the recent shooting in Quebec City

The deadline for 12.5 inch house blocks to get to Montreal is March 4.

Check out the hashtag #quiltsforqc on Instagram and Facebook.

Closer to home, right here in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada,

I've been part of a project to make blankets with new Canadians,

mostly from Syria, who live just blocks from me.

Women from my church joined with these women to tie four blankets

made from tops donated by quilting friends and me,

and batting donated by another friend.

We backed them with 108 inch wide flannel backing

(which shrunk to 100 inches, which is why pre-washing is good)

and brought back to front to bind them.

The result is four warm blankets to keep their families warm on cold winter nights,

as well as making a few connections between new Canadians 

and those of us who arrived a few generations back.

Now for the giveaway: 

To any of my followers, old or new, I'm offering a chance 

to win a personalized zipper bag, measuring about 8 inches by 6 inches,

with a quilting comic on one side and your first name on the other,

like the ones above.

Leave a comment on how you spread love through quilting by Feb. 14.

Make sure you're a follower!

You get an extra chance if you're also a follower on Instagram

and leave me a comment telling me that.

@brendasuderman

More barns and giveaway winner

Thanks to everyone for your kind words about my barn.

The winner of Julie's Build A Barn book is:

 Lisa in Port Hope said...

I went to school at the university of Waterloo in Ontario, which is Mennonite country, but I don't remember seeing a house barn. I saw a barn raising once though, which was very cool, to see how everyone working together could so quickly build a structure to last a hundred years. 

Head over to visit Nancy Near Philadelphia

for another chance to win the book

and to see another barn from the Secret Society of Barn Builders.

Building barns part 2

I've been building houses a long time,

so I didn't hesitate when Julie asked me to join

the Secret Society of Barn Builders

to test out the instructions in her new book, Build-A-Barn.

I'm starting with scraps in this quick tutorial,

using up a collection of pink bits.

Here I've sewn house fabric around the windows

and installed the front door.

I added background fabric to the sides of the house

and cut two triangles ( a square cut in half)

for the sky around the roof.

You can see I decided to flatten the roof to keep it 

from overwhelming the house.

But it doesn't have to be complicated.

Here's a 2.5 inch square and a coordinating triangle from the scrap bin.

I put a larger piece of blue sky fabric on the cutting mat

placed the roof triangle centred on the bottom,

and cut around it.

That leaves a sky fabric triangle for the scrap bin

and ensures the edges of the block are not on the bias.

I sewed chunks of sky fabric beside the orange square,

joined the roof section to the house base,

and found a bit of green scrap

to ground the house.

These are basic steps and you can get as fancy as you like 

in putting in architectural details.

My giveaway of Julie's barn book is still open for another day here.

Giveway winner

Thanks to everyone for commenting on why they read blogs.

I appreciate the reasons -- the backstories, the explanations of process,

the glimpses of quilters' not so perfect lives.

I picked a winner:

 Linda Duncan said...

I read blogs for the wonderful ideas, lives, and stories quilters share. Thanks for the eight years!

Linda, you're a no-reply commenter. Please email me your email address.

I'm planning on sharing a little pouch I've made,

with a few extra goodies thrown in.

Thanks to everyone for reading!

Celebrating eight years and giveaway

Today I'm celebrating eight years of occupying this space on the internet.

Blogging has changed me,

and blogging itself has changed since 2008.

One change: Before blogging,

I don't think I would have put the blocks above together in one quilt.

Now I love the colours and the brights together

and the fact they are someone else's cast offs. 

Then I threw some more colour at it.

I made all those strippy flying geese 

with bright kelly green many years ago

and never used them.

This might work,

but it might not.

What do you think?

That's what I love most about blogging --

hearing other opinions and ideas.

I'm also hanging out at Instagram these days 

and  you can follow me @brendasuderman

If you're still with me,

please leave me a comment about why you read blogs.

I'll pick a winner at random

and send you something from my sewing room.

Maybe something I made, maybe some leftover blocks.

Let me know what you would prefer.

Giveaway closes on Friday, Feb. 12.

I'm a winner, you're a winner!

I feel like a winner because today is Louis Riel Day,

a holiday honouring the founder of the Canadian province of  Manitoba

and so I'm joining some quilty friends

in an nine-hour sew-in.

My Singer Featherweight is packed up and ready to go!

I've also chosen some winners for my seven-year blogiversary giveway.

Congrats to Diane and Scrappy Quilter.

I've sent you both a message.

 Diane said...

I read blogs on Feedly. I'm happy with it, but I can't compare it to anything else.

 Scrappy quilter said...

I use google friend connect. When I go to my dashboard, all the blogs I follow are there. I find it the best way for me to follow everyone. What a wonderful giveway. Hugs

Seven year giveaway!

Today marks seven years since I started this blog

and took on a new identity as Scraps and Strings.

Lots of thread has flowed through the needle since then.

I'm marking today with a giveaway of two needlebooks.

They have pockets inside for a spool of thread or a thimble.

and several pages of wool for your needles and pins.

I've made some more since the original posting yesterday

so let me know which one you might like.

I've given away dozens of these before.

Some with selvage dots,

others with scraps of fun prints or words.

How to win one:

Just leave a comment, but if you can,

let me know how your read the blogs you subscribe to.

I'm not happy with Bloglovin as a reader.

What else is out there?

Please tell me what you use and how I can transfer to that reader.

or if you use Bloglovin,

how can I make it work better for me?

I'm finding not all the blogs I follow show up there.

Oh, and those of you who are followers get a second entry 

by leaving a second comment that you're following.

And if you're someone from Winnipeg,

you get an extra entry.

A friendly warning: We may have to meet to get your prize, lol!

Deadline is midnight Friday, February 13.

I'm linking up to the WIP Wednesdays at The Needle and Thread Network.

Lost and found Wednesday

Yesterday I found this block just where I left it:

at the fabric store where I was testing various sashing options.

When I returned nearly two weeks later,

the clerks knew exactly where it was

and even asked me where I got the DS fabrics.

Here is the sashing fabric laid out on a friend's floor at our guild meeting.

We also tested out various cornerstone options above.

In the past week I also found a misplaced baby quilt nearly ready to give away,

AND my winter hat,

 but I'm still searching for my zippy bag

of hand sewing supplies.

I also found this on my doorstep:

40 fat eighths of Barbara Brackman's Best of Morris fabrics,

won in a blog giveaway.

She sent me some instructions on how to use her latest designs.

I think I will!

Thanks so much, Barbara Brackman, famous quilt person!

I've quilted with Barbara before,

making a hand appliqued quilt from hand dyed fabric

inspired by something on Barbara's blog.

I'm linking up with The Needle and Thread Network.

Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome to the Canadian quilters who are visiting from Blogathon Canada today.

I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada,

and I make quilts from scraps and other little bits.

I'm posting some of my recent quilts here again

to show those of you stopping by on this Canadian blog tour.

 

 

I love string quilts, and over the past months I've put together four,measuring 60 by 80.

Three of them are pictured here

and they're headed for a local charity.

Many of my local quilting friends contributed string blocks measuring 6 by 12 inches

so together we've made quilts from the bits and pieces in our sewing rooms.

I also play with letters and words.

This is another collaborative quilt, made by blogging friends.

It's ready to be quilted, but I'm still considering my options.

This is another group quilt I made with 11 members of an online bee.

Some of the other bee quilts were published in

15 Minutes of Play by Victoria Findlay Wolfe

but I was the last one in the year, so mine wasn't completed in time.

Here's the back. It measures 50 by 60 inches

and I machine quilted it.

If you're still with me, here's a mini quilt measuring 12 by 12 inches 

made for another online challenge at the 15 minutes play blog.

I used up solid bits from my scrap bag,

and quilted feathers all over it.

I'm prepared to give it away to one of my fellow Canadians

in honour of Blogathon Canada.

Here's how you enter:

leave me a comment telling me where you live and what the weather is like today.

If you're a Canadian already following my blog, or a new follower,

leave me another comment telling me that.

 

Make sure you're not a no-reply blogger or leave me an email address in the comments.

 

I'll pick a winner on Sunday while my husband is watching the Grey Cup.

He's lived in Manitoba for more than half of his life,

but he's cheering for the green team!

Here's the back, with triangles for easy hanging.

 

Friday finishes and a winner!

I'm showing off some of my finishes from my quilt retreat last weekend.

I completed the piecing on this throw, measuring 56 by 66,

after starting it at my January retreat.

The words are pieced Kaffe prints in 1 inch squares

and 3 inch squares in the side border.

I'm quilting the whole thing in a three inch grid,

coming off the side border. 

I finished the piecing on Anita's Arrowheads 

a speed piecing technique where you layer two 8 inch squares

and after sewing and cutting and sewing,

come up with one finished 9 inch block.

This one has been a WIP forever,

so I'm happy to have it done.

I also sewed Kaffe scraps into a zippy bag

and practiced freemotioning with my Singer Featherweight 222K.

The hardest part was attaching the hopping foot.

It works much better if the needle is removed

so you don't stab yourself.

Here's the inside -- the pink fabric dyed with the dental revealing tablets.

I realize I forgot to draw a winner.

 for a piece of the pink fabric.

It's comment #9:

QuiltSwissy said...

You are brilliant!!! I would never have thought of the dental things........I wonder how many more things will "horribly stain" my fabrics???

I'm linking up with Amanda and Sarah.

Have a colourful Christmas!

Santa came early to my house, when my mother gave me

this rainbow of hand dyed and over dyed fabric.

This will give me lots of entertainment over the holidays.

She over dyed a b/w print in two colourways.

Yum!

And this vintage top may or may not be paired with up with this vintage kitchen print

during my holiday sewing.

Thanks to all who entered the giveway for a bit of that kitchen print.

I've chosen two winners: Janet from Mrs Sew and Sew

and Jane B, who doesn't have a blog.

I've emailed the winners and I'll get your fabric in the mail soon.

An embroidered life

Isn't this a great piece of fabric?

I love the colours, and the diagonal stripe.

Except it's not fabric, it's embroidery --

hand embroidery with a story.

My friend Y, who is a great scrap quilter, using reclaimed fabrics

from clothing and thrift shops,

rescued these from the nursing home where she used to work as a social worker.

One of the residents, named Helen, had passed away,

and the person who was clearing out her stuff

was going to turf it all, so Y. rescued it.

Helen was a quirky sort but she loved to embroider.

She embroidered all her clothes. These are just a few that Y. would part with.

(stupidly, I forgot my camera, but another time.)

She kept the ones with all over circles, ovals, and dots, in wonderful colours.

I love the tan sleeve with all those lovely flowers.

Obviously she ran out of time with that one.

I'm passing these on to Joyce to use up the lovely bits in a bag, except for the diagonal one

which I'm keeping for a bag or a pillow top.

So the spirit of Helen and her love of all things embellished and bright

lives on in another way.

Y. also shared this patchwork top, made from vintage fabrics.

It measures about 30 by 40, and Y. had no real plan for it.

I love that pink and black piece in the middle.

And those pink and blue cats above.

Y and I are doing a round-robin with this.

I'm having a first go by putting on borders

and then it is back to Y. for her to work her magic.

And the giveaway winner, chosen by Mr. Random Number New University Student

(aka DS 1) is Kathleen C, who has no  blog of her own,

but contributes to several group blogs.

congrats!