Scrap Quilt Challenge Sponsor Spotlight-Aurifil

It was love at first stitch for me.  My machine loved the way Aurifil 50 weight thread glided through and she made the best stitches of her life.  I think I remember her saying, “where have you been all my life?” {insert swoon}

I only piece with the mako 50.  My fave color is 2600.  “Dove” is the perfect color to piece anything.  I do not change threads when I piece.  This soft gray color cone stays threaded all the time.

 

If you have a fave like me, did you know it’s available on 6400 meter cones, as well as the 1300 meter above?  What’s more sad when you are in a piecing groove than an empty spool? 

I also use it in the bobbin when long arm quilting.

And the diversity of thread options will make your head spin!  4 weights of cotton, wool, invisible, polyester, cotton floss…oh my!

Aurifil is a huge supporter of the indie sewing world.  They sponsor a great Quilts of Valor program, Under our Wings (learn more here), support bloggers and small shops with giveaway sponsorships, and travel the world to educate quilters and shop owners on the powers of good thread. 

Besides the individual spools we can collect & display like little spool jewels, Aurifil also offers collections curated by some of today’s most popular designers.

You have a chance to win one of these beautiful curations when you enter your quilt in the Scrap Quilt Challenge!

Did you know you can download color cards, spool images & color names from the Aurifil website?  You can even save them to your Dropbox so they are easy to find on all your devices!  We use them all the time.

To show some early love and give you a chance to quilt your Challenge quilt with Aurifil, we’re going to give away these 3 spools (1300m each) of 40wt mako right now!  Light Red Orange, Grey & Yellow. 

Leave a comment on your favorite thing about Aurifil (if you can’t name just ONE, it’s ok, we understand…tell it all).  If you have never used it, tell us about the project you’ll use the thread on if you are the lucky winner! 

Giveaway closes August 31.

I hope you are making great progress on your scrap bin and your Challenge quilt!  Don’t forget we have a Facebook group for show & tell and quilting fun in general.  We share lots of free patterns there too!

 

Miss a blog post on the Challenge?Click below for all our Challenge posts!

Scrap Quilt Challenge–What will you do with your finished quilt

Anyone who has ever made a scrap quilt knows that it takes more effort than working from large fresh-from-the-bolt fabrics.  More time planning, LOTS of extra time cutting, and in that extra time, there is extra love.

Have you thought of what you will do with your quilt from the Scrap Quilt Challenge?

Have you thought of sharing that extra love with someone else?  With a stranger?

There are always needs to be met.  I want share just a few charities with you to consider for donation.  Of course there are always local outlets to which you can donate & I whole heartedly encourage you to do good in your hometown.  Lift up your neighbors & show them someone cares.  If your cup runneth over and you can donate outside your community, take a look at these options or research charities close to your heart.

Quilts of Valor

The mission of the Quilts of Valor Foundation is to cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor.  Over 100,000 quilts have been awarded to date, but the need is still so great.  The Foundation will collect unquilted tops and works with Long Arm quilters to finish your donation.  You can access free patterns and local resources from the website too: http://www.qovf.org/  If you are a quilter, you can donate your skills too, just visit the website for more information.

They have great guidelines to make sure your quilt will work for their mission.  You can see those here: http://www.qovf.org/content/basic-qov-requirements.html

100 Quilts for Kids

Heather at Quilts in the Queue is hosting the annual 100 Quilts for Kids quilt drive!  Fabrics N Quilts is honored to join Heather in her goal in sponsoring prizes!  There are lots of other sponsors too, so be sure to pop over & check it all out:

 

Hopes and Dreams Quilts for ALS

ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a degenerative neurological disease leaving its victims mentally alert, yet paralyzed.  Most victims lose their fight within 3 years. 

Our Scrap Quilt Challenge sponsor, Quilters Dream Batting is a proud supporter of the efforts of research and champion of covering suffering ALS patients in the warmth of quilted love.  They host annual challenges for donated quilts.  See the details here: http://hopesanddreams.quiltersdreambatting.com/challenge.html  They ask that quilts are at least 44” wide. 

Click here to fill out the form to donate your quilt: http://hopesanddreams.quiltersdreambatting.com/entryform.html

 

Of course the list of how you can warm the heart & body of a stranger with your quilting talent is nearly (and unfortunately) endless.  We hope you will consider reaching out with a quilt in hand to offer comfort.

Blessings,

Shannon

Nancy Mahoney’s Scrap Star Tutorial for the Scrap Quilt Challenge

{smitten: I love this block!}

 

Nancy has saved some scraps & found inspiration for squares in an unlikely place - in a circle!  Check out her scrappy star with full tutorial: http://nancymahoney.com/blog/2014/07/31/scrap-quilt-challenge-tutorial

Check out Nancy’s tutorial on her blog & don’t forget to add her to your RSS feed or Bloglovin’.  Oh, and you have to check out her Pinterest boards.  Oh the quilting yummies!

Nancy has another live webinar coming soon on 2 block quilts.  You’ll find the link in her blog post (yup…making you click over…)

BUT WAIT…THERE’S MORE…

Nancy has a ton of info on her website, http://www.nancymahoney.com/ too.  Including more free patterns!

Like Nancy, I love piecing-up the scraps as I work on a quilt. (like when you run through the scrap-cutoffs from snowball blocks) It’s like having a ready made quilt just waiting in a basket. I did that with my Oreo quilt & used my Accucut GO! to square up the pieces (tute here).

We hope you are enjoying the Scrap Quilt Challenge & the generosity of the designers sharing blocks with us. Please show them some love with a comment on their blog or even some show & tell!

Did you miss the tutorial from Anne Weins on July 1st?  Click over & check it out too!