BIZ Winners!

I have picked the giveaway winners.  Actually, my sweet, innocent children did (putting out there so all my relatives can blame them for winning instead of me). 

Cheryl's Teapots2QuiltingJan 20, 2012 06:34 PM

I've tackled rust, blood, grass stains, red ink pen and won, but, spaghetti sauce is a killer. I just can't get that stuff out. My hubby loves to spill red sauces on his clothes. I'd love to win the Biz.

rebekahJan 20, 2012 07:59 AM

I think my three worst stains all involved the same issue, just with my three different daughters: that stage when they realize they can do something about their soiled diaper discomfort during nap time. I'm totally not above duct-taping my kids into their diapers.

rebekahricker (at) yahoo (dot) com

Josie McRazieJan 20, 2012 07:53 AM

Oh, you know I'm a follower! hehe! Thanks!!

KathrynJan 21, 2012 11:28 AM

I am one of your followers. Kathie L in Allentown

DebiJan 26, 2012 05:25 AM

The worst stain ever was red wine on a white silk blouse. I had to soak it for 24 hours and then treat it two more times before the wine came out.

 Please email me marylane_brown at yahoo dot com ASAP with your mailing address.  Thanks for playing!

Reminder...Last day for the giveaway!

Tomorrow I'll be picking the 5 winners of the giveaway...check here for the details!

P.S. I have a new pattern and I am dying to show y'all.
P.P.S Our weather has been dismal including a tornado yesterday so I can't get a single outside pic out of it. 

Tutorial: Santa Sacks

First things first...if you haven't entered my giveaway to win a year of BIZ, go here .

I'm gonna share how I made the Santa Sacks (reusable gift bags). I will not be giving measurements. This is a "make it do" kind of project. I have some bags that are really long and skinny and some that are fat and wide. I have huge ones and tiny ones. I went through my stash and picked out anything I thought I wouldn't use, trimmed it up into a rectangle, and used it in the size it came.

] and I also bought thrift store fabric. However it came is the size I used. You can use 1 big piece or 2 coordinating prints. This is done in the spirit of using what you have.

For each bag, you will need:

• 2-3 inches of small ribbon, small ric rac, or twill tape.  This will be your loop.
• length of ribbon for your bow (this will depend on how big your bag is...eyeball it and err on the side of too long)
• 1-2 piece of fabric for the body of your bag (you can do one large piece folded up like I am showing here or sew 2 smaller pieces together) , 2 coordinating pieces 6-8"wide and the same width as your body.  If you just want to use 1 print for everything, just fold under the raw edge and create a 3" or so hem (like the casing for elastic pants).

Fold your coordinating fabric in half lengthwise.   Topstitch the folded sides of your coordinating print (top of the bag).

 Now sew your coordinating print  RSF to the top edge of your main fabric.  If it is directional, make sure it will face the correct way when sewn.  Serge or zigzag the raw edges. 

 Press your work.  Take one of the bag pieces (or just one side if the body of the bag is one piece) and place a loop on one side and the ribbon on the other.  If ribbon is two sided, make sure you sew it like the above pic (right sides turned in) so it looks right when tied.  stitch those down where your 2 fabrics meet.  This hides your imperfections and keeps you from seeing the ugly parts of the inside when it is drawn up.

 Now sew your bag up the sides (and bottom if you are using 2 separate pieces).  Make sure you don't sew over your ribbon.

 (OPTIONAL) If you want a "box bottom" bag then draw a  square from the seams or edge.   I used a 2" square here. 

 Cut the squares out.

 Flatten each square out like above and sew a seam over that line.  Serge or zigzag the seam.

 Finally turn inside out and admire your work!

 To close, scrunch the top like a pony tail and draw one tail of the ribbon through your loop.

Tie a bow.  Voila! 

{CLOSED} A little bizness to share: Win a 1 year supply of BIZ stainfighter!

Disclosure: After my feedsack post where I talked about BIZ, I contacted the company to see if I could get some samples for you guys.  They graciously agreed to host a giveaway.  The opinions expressed are all mine and I have not been personally compensated for this post.  I've used this product for years and it has come through for me every time.

Many years ago, before children, I ended up in an odd conversation with a woman I'd gone to church with for years.  I mentioned a stain on some clothing and she started talking about all her favorite home remedies for stain removal.  She said "I get a big satisfaction out of getting things clean."  It seemed really weird to a single gal but fast forward to children & my love of quilting and guess what...I'm "that lady."  I have removed every imaginable stain from fabrics from potty accidents, formula, blood, grass, dirt, and permanent marker.  Well when a regular wash doesn't cut it, I break out the secret weapon:

I've waxed on before about using BIZ for laundry.  What all do I use it for???
Baseball grass & dirt: check!
Bloody nose: check!
Antique feedsacks: check!
Vintage quilts: check!
Set-in baby formula stains: check!
Smooshed in baby food: check!
Sour smell from leaving the clothes in the washer too long:  check!
Potty accidents: CHECK CHECK!

I even noticed that if I got that monthly "clean your washer" warning light on my front loader, I could do a load with BIZ and the warning light would go off.  The cleaning tablets are a few dollars each...much more expensive than 1/2 cup of BIZ.

You can use the liquid to pour directly onto a bad stain or use the powder to make a paste.  Unless it is a very terrifying stain, I just throw it in the entire washload.  I've never had a problem yet.

Anything that is "natural" (food, body fluids&tissue, dirt/grass) is something you can try BIZ on.  It has a bunch of little enzymes which are activated when you put them in a warm wash or soak.  They gobble up the stains.  That's my scientific explanation.  It's like having those enzyme cleaners you buy for your pets (the expensive ones) in concentrate for your wash.

So now that I've worked you up into a stainfighting frenzy, guess what...5 lucky readers of the Tulip Patch will get a 1 year supply of BIZ.  I am so jealous right now, y'all.  For your chance to win, leave a comment on this post telling me about the worst stain ever.  Bonus chance for followers of The Tulip Patch..just leave an extra comment.   The giveaway is open to US residents.  Winners will be drawn in a week.

If you aren't one of the lucky 5, you still get a little something.  Right now, Biz is offering a $2 coupon on their website

Santa Sacks...

My sisters and I all got a talent for one or more domestic areas.  Mine is sewing.  The middle sister is the gourmand.  The oldest sister is our Martha.  She is the one who does all the pretty wrapping and decorating.  She hogged all that up because I got none of it!

This year I was so frustrated with my craptastic wrapping jobs I decided to make reuseable bags.  I didn't want to do totes.  Drawstring bags are too fussy.  After some brainstorming with my mother-in-law I arrived at the idea of Santa Sacks.  I have been busy using all those weird leftover pieces of fabric along with recent thrift store purchases to make up these easy gift bags.  They take about 10 minutes to make and work with whatever size of scrap you have.

Above are the springy ones.  The florals and greens were purchased on the cheap ($1 and $3 a yard) and, while I liked them, I just never seemed to be able to work them into anything.  The blue star one was made solely from thrift store fabric.  I think I paid 50 cents for those fabrics.  The ribbon was probably the priciest part!

I also picked up a load of Christmas fabrics from my favorite thrift store for $1 a yard.  Above are my favorites from that haul.  The 2 middle bags are HUGE and I paid $1/yard for all.

 

 I didn't love these fabrics as much but I have to admit they still make nice gift bags.  I  don't see myself making a quilt from these but I actually really like warm, homey Christmas things like this. 

These were all made with weird sized leftovers from all the pajama pants I have been making.  I took whatever I had and used every bit and now I have a nice variety of bags in all shapes and sizes. 

These are great for oddly shaped gifts.  In this one I have 2 stuffed animals.

One side has a little loop for keeping the ribbon in place.

and the ribbon tie is hidden in the seam on the opposite side.  You can also give it a flat bottom if you like.  I did on some, on others I didn't

If anyone feels a tutorial is in order let me know.  These are about 10 minutes each.

And I forgot to show y'all this piece of vintage fabric I picked up in November.  It was several yards for $1 total.  I love it.  I'm holding on it for just the right project.  It will either be a shirt or something for my house.  It is a Schwartz-Liebman textile and I think it is a blend made to look like linen. 

This is how we reauxlled...

I have been back from watching the BCS Championship game in New Orleans for several days now.  Day 1 and 2 were recuperating.  Traveling and cheering take a lotta work, y'all!  The rest of the time I have been busy getting my house back in order and making some utility things.  I'm doing lots of PJ pants for my boys as well as some gift sacks..more to come on that in another post.

It was unreal to be at this football game.  I attended with my 2 sisters and only 1 of my nephews: the football lover.  I was kind of fearful of going back to New Orleans, but almost everyone was very nice.  There was the LSU fan who threw a beer bottle at someone walking behind me who dared to say "Roll Tide" when "Tigerbaited" (this is a southern thing, apologies if you don't understand).  We also got on a streetcar to see the historic cemeteries but were let out inexplicably in a bad neighborhood because the streetcars were so overloaded.  I would guess 30 minutes to an hour later a city bus rescued us.  I joked with my family that  I wanted to SEE the cemeteries...not live in one!

Alabama won (21-0!!) and we were so  thrilled, especially after the taunts and beer-bottle throwing.  It made the victory all the more sweet. Lots of strangers high-fiving and hugging.  My sign didn't make ESPN but I had lots of folks ask to take pictures of it and ask me where I had it made which was a big ego boost.

Alabama also won the battle of the patterns.  Thanks to all of you who purchased Houndstooth Heritage during the BCS pattern sale event!

I wanna share some thoughts...

I know I am a little late to this New-Year's-Thoughts party but I had some thoughts I wanted to put out there. This year my husband decided he doesn't want me to go back to work. That's pretty big news since my children will all be in school in August. I have to find a way to occupy myself while still having enough flexibility to provide the benefits of stay-at-home-mom-dom. Quilting has been a huge part of those thoughts. Teach? Make quilts to sell? Try to get a book published? Write patterns? All of these things have run through my brain In the end, I think the best thing is to concentrate on making more patterns and finding out what it takes to get a distributor to pick those up and carry them on paper as well. Anybody that has advice, please please let me know!

Secondly I have thought about this blog. I started this blog because I wanted to show what I was making and I was tired of posting pictures on facebook when clearly not everyone wants to see that sort of thing. I also wanted to post some tutorials as a way of "paying back" to all those generous bloggers who made tutorials that helped me learn and love quilting. I think I have definitely accomplished those 2 goals. I have always been a little different than most people so having a megablog is not gonna happen.  I was thrilled when I finally started making friends through comments and emails and everything else is gravy.  Unfortunately, I also have a bit of a competitive streak and at times I think "man, that other person has sponsors...that other person gets free fabric all the time...that other person is selling things...that other person is writing books...Why can't I be that resourceful???" I don't feel I am doing a great job at keeping my house running in tip top shape so keeping a professional, monetized blog up is just way over my head. How do people do it? I think some people are blessed with that organizing gene and I think I might have to admit that I am not one of those people. I kinda still wish I were. I am a terrible juggler and I hate the feeling of being overwhelmed more than anything. I remember when I first became a stay at home mom I found myself considering volunteering for things and I thought "I just quit my job to focus on my child...and now I'm taking up extra work for free????- hold on."  I see myself needing to once again refocus and remember priorities.  I need to quit comparing myself to others- our gifts and talents are different but it doesn't mean mine are less useful.  Maybe you're the same ???  With blogs and flickr and pinterest I think we can sometimes feed into that notion that everyone else has it together besides us.  As my friend Lisa recently said (and she was quoting someone else whom I don't remember) "why do we compare our behind the scenes footage to someone else's highlight reel."  Brilliant thought, huh? 

So this year I will be a quilter who sometimes blogs...not a quilting blogger. I will make things that excite me and challenge me. I am going to try to soak up my last few months with the twins before kindergarten takes them away. Exciting things will still happen, though they may happen less frequently.  Bad things will probably happen too...like stomach viruses, Mt. St. Laundry, mean kids at school, and all my pants all getting way too tight.  I may not take the time to blog every bit of it, but it's happening just the same.  Trust.

I hope that this year we can all chase our own priorities and learn to cherish our own gifts.  Happy New Year to you all!!!

Reauxllin'... (& a sale)

This weekend I embark on a trip with my sisters and nephew to the BCS National Championship game to support ...

my favorite bama logo...

the Alabama Crimson Tide!  My goal for tomorrow is to make a fan sign saying "Reauxll Tide" (you know, since we say Roll Tide but we will be in Cajun Country).  In honor of the big game I am putting the following patterns on sale in my little shop on Patternspot.

For my fellow Bama fans,

Houndstooth Heritage.  This contains the free addendum for pattern purchasers, Houndstooth Magic (it's super speedy!).

For the LSU fans in the bunch,

Tiger Tails, a pattern which uses guided improvisation to make the look of real tiger stripes.

This price will last until after the game is played (and hopefully Alabama will be victiorious!).

ROLL TIDE!
PS. here is the sign I will be rockin'!