Winner!!

Winner of Amy's new book, Modern Basics...
from Random.org... Comment #22

Melisa said...

Would love the book!

April 17, 2011 9:45 AM

Congrats Melisa!!! Ive sent you an email...xx

Are you ready for tonight??

Quilt Class 101 - Week 3 - Cutting

If your just joining us, you can find Class 1 and 2 HERE... xx

Amy shares her inspirations and WIN her BOOK!! xx

Hi all! I'm Amy from Amy's Creative Side,

thanks for asking me to share here today Rebecca!

Designing quilts has become a favorite pass time for me. I am constantly on the look out for a new shape, or color combination that inspires me to make it with fabric! Usually, I design first, then purchase fabric, but I've also been known to have a pile of fabric taunt me until I find the perfect solution for it!

I started designing my own patterns when I found that many of the patterns being offered were cutting the beautiful prints I love into teeny pieces - making it difficult to see and appreciate the print. Plus, like all of you, I'm too busy to spend years working on the same quilt.

For inspiration I love to collect favorite on Flickr. I've made a few mosaics where I grouped similar favorites together - this helps me to see what I'm drawn to, and make great inspiration posts on my blog.

You can find the link to each of these HERE

Links HERE

  Another great place for inspiration is pinterest. Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board. It allows you to collect pictures and keeps track of where you found them, so you can easily refer to your favorite tutorial, you can never remember the name of, or see what might be new on that site.

Coming up next month is a mega dose of inspiration - Bloggers' Quilt Festival is a bi-annual event that I host on my blog, for all blogging quilters! Each quilter shares their current favorite, and posts the story of how the quilt came about, or why this quilt is special. There will be a massive group of links on my blog starting May 13, and a great group of sponsors with prizes for those that participate. The Festival is not judged in any way, so anyone is encouraged to jump in and join the community! It's a great way to meet new friends online too!

After sketching, drafting, and lots of calculating and piecing, just two months ago my first book was released! Modern Basics : Easy Quilts to Fit Your Budget, Space and Style is chalk full of patterns for new quilters looking for a place to start their quilting journey, and offer inspiration for years to come. Most of the patterns in Modern Basics are one block repeated and turned. This is ideal for a new quilter especially, since all the cutting and piecing can be done efficiently - and you see progress with each sewing session.

I have one copy of Modern Basics to giveaway, and more in stock in my shop if you would like to purchase a signed copy for yourself.

Above all - remember to enjoy the quilting process!

Amy

Thank you so much Amy for stopping by and sharing your Design ideas. xx The delightful Amy is generously giving away a book to win... So,

Wanna Win a copy of her BOOK for yourself???

It's Easy...  Just leave a comment at the bottom of this post. Giveaway will close

Tues 9pm Aussie time..  So get in quick!

Make sure you leave a way I can contact you.

**Giveaway NOW CLOSED**

and i'll see you...Wednesday for

Week 3 of Quilt Class 101.

Design tips from Jennifer..

Jennifer from That Girl That Quilt is visiting us today.. She is sharing her ideas on how she designs her quilts. She is inpirational..

Designing a quilt is probably my favorite part of quilting next to actually quilting the quilt. When I first learned to quilt I remember being amazed at patterns and quilters who could write a pattern or design a quilt as they went along.
But it didn’t take me long to start designing on my own. With quilting constantly on the brain, I began to see quilts everywhere I turned.

I find inspiration in geometric patterns that I come across in daily life…

I sit down and experiment with a flying geese block and an entire quilt comes together in an afternoon…
My best design friend is my sketchbook. I keep it with me all the time. Some of my best ideas come while I’m stuck on a conference call or waiting in the Dr’s office. My second best design friend is Adobe Ideas on my iPad. I can sketch with my finger which really gives me a feel for the design. I love trying different patterns, colors, and the eraser tool is very handy.

I also have a folder of pictures on my iPhone of “things that should be quilts”. Don’t be afraid to snap a picture when you see a pattern. Floors, upholstery, paneling, etc are all great sources of inspiration.

 Do the same thing for colors. Nature often gives us the best color combinations. This entire quilt was inspired by my yellow and purple Iris that bloom each spring in my yard. Purple and yellow were never colors I considered together until I was taking some pictures of my flowers…
Once you have found your inspiration, sketch it out to see how it flows. If you are pleased then make a block or even a mini- quilt with just a few blocks. Decide how large you want the actual quilt and work backwards to determine the block size. Don’t forget to include all your seam allowances for the block and the pieces that make up each block!

And my last favorite design tip... when you are trying to figure out the layout of your blocks, take a picture. It helps your eyes "step back" and see the entire picture. Can you spot the one HST that is off in the picture? I saw it almost immediately but never realized it until I looked at the picture instead of the blocks in real life.
Thanks for having me today. I hope you will hop over and visit me on my blog really soon!

Quilt Class 101 - Week 2 Design

Week 2 - Design

Thanks for joining me again! Im excited to share with you my next passion... Design. I just love Designing new Quilts.

I have found, there are different types of Quilters… Which one are you??

a) The Quilter who follows patterns.

b) The Quilter who gets fabric, starts cutting and creates a quilt as they go along.

c) The Quilter who designs before they sew.

I LOVE Quilter a), because its YOU lovely Quilters who buy my patterns and help me keep Quilting…
What type of Quilter am I??  I have been each of these quilters at different times. For today's class, I want to help give you some tools so you can get the courage to become a little more of quilter c..... The Designer.
I, like all of you, LOVE fabric. They are all so amazing and i wonder how could a fall in love with each new range that is released. I'm not sure what it is about fabric that i'm drawn to. Whatever it is.. i just cant get enough..
One thing i found a few years ago, when i went to my first quilt show was, there were so many amazing fabrics... but yet i COULDN'T really find a quilt design that i felt suited any of them. I found alot of them were 'old school' in their design just with new modern fabrics. To me it was like, they had taken NO consideration of the fabric, when designing the quilt. None of the quilt patterns let the fabrics shine. I have tried to keep this in mind as i design my quilt patterns. I think it is such an important part when your designing a quilt or buying a quilt pattern, that your pattern and fabric match and that they work together.

Where to find inspiration???

I tend to look for designs in everything around me. I'm like a scrapbooker taking photos, for the next scrap book page. I look at the world through quilt design eyes. Crazy i know!! I see designs in architecture,

Walls and wall papers,

 Picture frames,

 Patterns on Advertising Packages, Furniture, Decorative screens/pieces,

 Landscapes, Clothing and of course i get most inspiration from the fabric.

There are also many places on the Internet that you can find inspiration. Just type in Google search Pictures of Fabric, pictures of wall paper.. or pictures of anything and everything, and you will have millions of images to look at. That's where I sourced the above images.
I also have, favourite blogs I read (down the right side of my blog). They are full of inspiration and ideas...(I have two great Quilters featured for you over this next week.  Jennifer from That Girl that Quilt, and Amy from Amy's Creative side. They will share with you how they design they're quilts...)
I find inspiration from Flickr. I have found some of my favourite Flickr groups you can flick through pages and pages of quilts.. HERE, HERE and HERE. As you flick through hundreds of quilts... start to take note about the type of quilts you are drawn to. In Flickr, you are able to save your favourite quilts into your own folder... so you can easily flick through them again at a later time. If you add favourites, you will be able to see in your folder at a  glace, the types of quilts you  have chosen and you will be able to narrow down the types of quilts you like. The next step is to...

Decide what you like??

Do you like Quilts that use alot of solids?

 Do you like your Quilts busy? Do you like both?

 Do you like your fabrics to be side by side or broken up with sashings, solids or smaller patterns?

 Do you like squares, strips, wonky, applique, diamonds, curves,

Do you like traditional or modern blocks?

Quilting books are also a great source of inspiration...I have a few quilting books that I often flick through, and each time I read them, I notice something different.

Quilting Books are great for block designs and details.

 You will find different books have different styles and contain lots more info. They are full beautiful pictures and techniques,  piecing, different colour combinations or block shapes, machine quilting,  hand quilting ideas.

Take note for the way different people border the centre of their quilt or how they used sashing. Books are a great source of inspiration and tons of info to get you sewing... Some of my favourite books, I bought HERE.

Next Important step... Incorporating your fabric.

 Sometimes you may find designs and recall them again when you choose your fabric.. Other times you have the fabric and go hunting for a design to suit... Either way, It is important to keep the fabric in mind and use it as a main source of Inspiration. Once I have the fabric, I decide on.....

 What parts of the fabric i like best?

 How can i best show this off?

What is going to suit your fabric you have chosen?

 Is the design of the fabric small?? So a small design that includes smaller pieces would be better?

 Or do my pieces need to be large to show full images in the fabric??

There are so many things to consider. Have you ever finished a quilt and your not happy with the way it turned out?? You loved the fabric stacked nicely on your bench, but once its been cut and sewn back together... it just doesn't quite work?? It has happened to me!! You need to carefully think, what design is going to best suit the fabric.

Designing..

Squares, Rectangles, Diamonds, (after doing this quilt I swore I would never do large diamonds again), Half Square triangles, Strips, Wonky blocks, Curves,. Do you want to use a template?? Or cut pieces to size? Unfortunately/Fortunately, the possibilities are endless!! So you just need to start drawing. After a little while you will find a design that you feel will suit.

Birds Of Paradise, Jim shore, Hungry Caterpillar, Random sketch, Star Jewels.

How To Draw your own Design?

I use this..

A 5mm Graph book.

 I find its just the perfect size and proportion for designing my quilts. I use the scale of

Each 5mm square = 2 Inch Quilt square

So, if I draw a rectangle… 2 x 5mm squares across and 3 x 5mm squares down… My rectangle measures 4” x 6”. Does that make sense??

I find if I can get it to all work out in my graph book… I can sew it into a quilt.

For my Quilt for this class (What should I call it?? Teaching Quilt??? Or Quilt Class Quilt???) I'm going to use some fabrics from Anna Maria Horners Solids range.

I am going to pair it with Kona Cotton Snow, and I'm going to teach you the very simple block and quick technique of, Half Square Triangles. There are so many many different designs you can do with such a simple block. So feel free to follow along with my design… or if you want… Get thinking and planning your own design!

Here is my scribbled design for the Quilt Class Quilt...

I have also scribbled a few block variations around it. This is how I do all my designs. First, I scribble pictures on any sort of scrap paper...Once i like the design. I draw it out in my Graph book. This is some of my drawings for Tanner's Quilt. I wanted it to be different. Not traditional, a little crazy.. not uniform..So after drawing this....

It was made into this,

It did change slightly from the original drawings...

 Once the design is drawn into my graph book I work out dimensions, block sizes, sashing, borders. I figure out how big the quilt will be. If you draw it to scale, you can figure out how big your fabric pieces need to be cut. You just need to remember to add 1/2" for length and 1/2" width to allow for your seam allowance (next class) I sometimes even use the graph book to draw a cutting diagram just to make sure I don’t waste any precious fabric. If i have a Fat quarter and I draw a rectangle measuring 18" x 20". I work out how to cut each piece of fabric so i don't waste any. These books are fantastic…and I think it cost me $1 from the grocery store or Kmart, so you cant complain with that!

I use this sketch from the book to sew my quilt together. Like Tanner's Quilt, I may change parts here and there, depending on how its all coming together. But that's the other fun part.. Seeing your sketches and drawings turn into Quilts!!

I then take this one step further and make my designs into my Quilt Patterns. I take this design in the graph book and together, my hubby and I, draw the quilt up to scale on his Architectural  CAD drawing program. I then, pull the diagrams apart to make a Quilt Assembly Diagram, to show you how to construct the quilt. I'm actually talking more about designing and drawing my Quilt Patterns on Sew Mama Sew’s blog this weekend. SO keep watch! You can learn how i made this Sherbet Pips Quilt.

I hope I have inspired you to start designing your own quilts. We have a great new shop jumping on board with our Quilt Class 101.... Skye Reve Fabrics. She has a gorgeous shop.. Pop over and check it out. Once you have your fabric, or even before....Get drawing... you will be surprised what you can come up with.

 If you can draw it in a graph book.. you can make it into a quilt!!!

 

Latest Quilt finished..and Giveaway WINNERS!!!

Congratulations ALL 11 winners...!!!!!

 Thank you to everyone who entered the GIVEAWAY!!! We had 780 comments!!! That's huge!!! All Winners were drawn using Random.org ....I will contact the winners for more details xx

1st Prize

$50 Gift voucher to The Fat Quarter Shop

#172 Nadilah Sungkar Magee said...
I'm a follower

2nd Prize

Spring Street Fat Quarter Bundle from Hawthorne Threads
#255 Lindsay Conner said...
I love Crafty Girls Workshop and Sew Fresh Fabrics

3rd Prize

$50 Gift Voucher to The Fat Quarter Shop

#780 Julie said... 
I'm a follower!

4th Prize

Marine Fat Quarter Bundle from Fabricworm
#306 StudioCherie said...
I am still loving Joel Dewberry's modern meadow. Also for clothes this Summer, I am knee deep in voiles from Anna Maria Horner and Tina Givens.

5th Prize

Lovely Punch Fat quarter bundle from Oz Material Girls
Kelly Irene said... 185
I am a new follower and looking forward to learning some new tips via the quilting class :)

6th Prize

$25 Gift Voucher from Quilt Home

#298 red in oz said... 
Fantastic, I'll be following along :)
My favourite is (still) Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush, I know it's not that recent, but I haven't seen anything since that I love as much (and have had to buy the whole collection in half yards of).

7th Prize

$25 Gift Voucher Pink Chalk Fabrics

#735 sandra said... 
Great information, thanks. I love so many of the lines it is hard to choose but I am going to say Strawberry Fields by Joanna F.

8th Prize

$20 gift Voucher from Craft Girls Workshop

#350 Kylie said...
I love anything by Patricia Bravo particularly Bazaar Style at the moment.

9th Prize

$20 Gift Voucher from Canton Village Quilt Works

#757 Danielle said... 157
and i follow through reader...

10th Prize

$20 Gift Voucher from Sew Mama Sew

#596 Bella-Boutique said...
I'm a new follower, great tutorial and I'm so glad I found the oz girls fabric via your page! Amazing. I love the butterfly range and also the retro ones!

11th Prize

$20 Gift Voucher for Oz Material Girls facebook Auction site.
#3 BubzRugz said... 
The class has started with a bang... lots of wonderful information ... thanks.... My favourite range at the moment will have to be Lilac Hill... just so peaceful and pretty,Hugz

I finally got around to finishing Tanners Quilt...(nearly) As you can see i still have the binding to complete. I straight line Quilted it... 1/4" off the seam lines. I also did a little hand quilting in Red and Black for the main blocks...

He no longer sits or sleeps under his panel. He now has, his own Quilt on his bed and he is so excited!!! Although, NOT quite excited enough to take it in to school for news...!!

I hope your following on with the class....Tomorrow is
 Week 2 - DESIGN...
 so, i will be talking more about this....

Thank you to those of you who linked up last week!! It was great to read more info and insight into fabric!! I hope there are some  of you this week who will enlighten us on how you design YOUR quilts... ??
See you tomorrow in class!!! xxx

Week 1 - Fabric Fabric Fabric!!! and MASSIVE Giveaway!!

Quilt Class 101 - Week 1 - Fabric!

Fabric.... is one of my MOST favourite parts about the whole quilting process. When i went to my first craft show a few years ago.... I absolutely fell in love with fabric. The colours, the vibrancy, the florals, the geometric designs, the textures. As each new range is released... i wonder how it could possibly be better than the last range... but somehow it is... and i once again become infatuated by the next new thing.

Throughout this class i want to share with you 'my' way of making a quilt. It might not necessarily be the right way... just my way. Throughout the course i will also expose you to 'other' ways of doing things.. I will have featured bloggers, my favourite designers, my online friends, ALL to help you find the way that best suits you... and get you sewing up a storm. AND if you have a certain way 'you' do things... i want to be able to share that too, by linking up your tutorial at the bottom.


***Fabric***

           Quilters (and me) primarily use a Medium weight 100% Cotton fabric. Its easy to work with, its washable and being a natural product it is durable and has longevity. As you may have noticed, Quilting has become more modern and experimental, you will see this also in fabrics. Quilters are experimenting with linens, cotton/linen blends, cotton canvas fabrics, gauze's, velveteens, and flannels. These fabrics are amazing and can add a nice texture and elegance to a quilt, be careful, they can be a little tricky to work with. Most of my quilts are made using medium weight 100% cotton and if your a beginner I would recommend you make your first few quilts with this. Now,

Where to buy??

          It can be a little daunting when you get first think... OK I'm going to make my first quilt and now i need fabric.... and wonder where to start.

          Look Locally, Most people have a great little quilting store right around the corner. They sell lots and lots of beautiful fabric and all the things you need to get you sewing. OR... Get ONLINE!!! There are so much amazing fabrics available... you just need to know Where to go and What to look for...If you have a look along the right hand side of my blog or look HERE, I have a list of all my favourite online shops. Online shopping can sometimes be easier as you can shop whenever it is convenient for you... and if your like me... you don't have to take your kids into the shop and bribe them with the world, in order for them to be quiet and still. These great online fabric stores have great ranges of fabric, great customer service and super fast shipping. If I order from a Aussie online shop... my fabric usually arrives the next day or two or from a U.S online shop... It usually takes 7-10 days... its quick..

Pat Bravo Upcoming Hyperreal Garden

How to Choose what to get??

          From me there is really only one answer.... Go with what you love! If you sit and browse through the shops... you will find fabrics that you are drawn to, colours that YOU like. Do you like florals? geometric? dots and stripes? beige's? blues? or hot pinks? yellows?? There are countless numbers of colour books that you can read all about colour wheels... cools V's warms etc. But i just find....to much info... Go with what YOU love. If you find a fabric print you love... it will work. You will enjoy working on it and enjoy it long after it is made.

          Lots of the fabric available these days are 'Designer' fabrics. My favourite designers such as Pat Bravo, Anna Maria Horner, Heather Ross, Saffron Craig, Amy Butler and many others, release their fabric in a RANGE/COLLECTION. They design anywhere from 10- 30 designs in different colour ways that all compliment each other. They also sometimes release coloured solid fabrics and or 'blenders' (nearly solids with faint design) to match their range perfectly.
          So, if i have just clicked on a online fabric store.... I go to the newly released fabric ranges and scroll through to find a collection i like. Each fabric store has different pages or sections on their site to help point you in the direction you need to go. You can find fabrics in certain colours? Or themes? Or designs...perhaps dots? Or perhaps a specific designer you like... etc.  If you find a particular fabric that you are drawn to.. see if it is listed as part of a collection and find the co ordinating prints to go with it. It takes the guess work out for you. I find it much too difficult to try and look through all the individual fabrics and try and put ones together that match or that would 'go' together....  You can be guaranteed success when you buy fabric all from the same range they will compliment each other and match. Another way is, Some fabric stores list fabrics in bundles. They take different fabric prints and put them together with other prints and colours to create their own bundles that all go together...You might find a bundle they have created that you like.
 

Marine Fat Quarter Bundle - Fabricworm



What to buy??

 Two words.... Yardage and Precuts.

Yardage?? In America, Quilting fabric is sold by the yard. Here in Australia it is sold by the metre. The fabric is usually between 42"-44" wide or for us Aussies 110 cm wide.

1 yard = 36" = 91.44cm

Precuts?? Precut fabric is fabric that has been cut to a specific size and sold individually or commonly in bundles. Some precut terms -
Fat Quarter - A fat quarter is a fabric piece measuring 18" x 22". If you cut one yard of fabric into quarters.... you get 4 Fat Quarters. I made this quilt, this quilt, this quilt with fat quarters. Some stores sell these fat quarters either individually or in bundles of co-ordinating prints.

 Jelly Roll - Some manufacturers and stores sell their fabric in 2 1/2" strips. They all have different names such as Roll -ups, and Designer Rolls or Jelly Rolls. These strips are a 2 1/2" wide strip x the width of the fabric. I made this quilt with a jelly roll.

Charm Pack - Is a pack of fabric containing around 42 squares measuring 5" x 5", I made this quilt with a charm pack.

Layer Cake - Is a pack of fabric containing around 42 squares measuring 10" x 10".
There are many more... but these are the common ones that I use. Moda (a fabric manufacturer) has an index explaining each of the different packs and what is in them.

          These precuts are a great way to buy a whole range or collection without having to buy yards and yards of fabric. I am a BIG fan of precuts. I LOVE fat quarters and Charm packs.

How much to buy???

          Its like the question..... How long is a piece of string??? Although, this the first question people ask me when talking about buying fabric... and its a difficult question...?? If you have a specific pattern you are following... the fabric amounts are listed. If you are designing up your own quilt... well, you kinda of have to guess. For a few of my quilt patterns, I drew the design, worked out how much fabric i needed and then ordered the correct amount. However this isn't all that fun.
           I prefer to find a bundle that i like... say around 12-20 Fat Quarters. I then choose 3 or four of the prints i 'really' like out of the bundle and i buy a yard or two of each to match. The amount really depends whether its a baby quilt, a lounge quilt, a queen size quilt, whether you have large panels, or you cut small pieces. Obviously the smaller your pieces the more fabric you will need as you need to allow for your seam allowance. So I usually buy between 7-14 Yards for a quilt. That makes a nice lounge/single bed size quilt. 7 Yards fits into a post pack nicely for around $12-$14 postage. And if i need extra i can either order more?? Or pop into my local quilt store to grab some more fabric that matches and fits in nicely. If you look at my SHOP section, you can see my quilts and i have a brief description of what fabric i used. That might give you an idea.


Pat Bravo's Bazaar Style Collection

           Now, for this Quilt Class......?? You may be wondering what fabric do i need for this class??? Well, its entirely up to you. During this class I'm going to obviously make a quilt. The quilt i am going to make is a quilt that will teach you techniques. You can make 'my' exact quilt if you want... but what i was planning on doing is teaching YOU how to design and make your own. Next class will be on design.. and i will give you the specifics on the quilt I'll be making if you want to follow along... But otherwise, buy your fabric... and next week I will give you options and places to look for inspiration to help you design your own.
          Now that we have spent all this time talking fabric... wanna WIN some??? With a BIG thanks to my amazing Sponsors and stores that wanted to jump on board to help get you sewing for the class..... We have LOTS of prizes....

***GIVEAWAY***
Now Closed

1st Prize

$50 Gift voucher to The Fat Quarter Shop

2nd Prize

Spring Street Fat Quarter Bundle from Hawthorne Threads

3rd Prize

$50 Gift Voucher to The Fat Quarter Shop

4th Prize

Marine Fat Quarter Bundle from Fabricworm

5th Prize

Lovely Punch Fat quarter bundle from Oz Material Girls

6th Prize

$25 Gift Voucher from Quilt Home

7th Prize
$25 Gift Voucher Pink Chalk Fabrics
8th Prize

$20 gift Voucher from Craft Girls Workshop

9th Prize

$20 Gift Voucher from Canton Village Quilt Works

10th Prize

$20 Gift Voucher from Sew Mama Sew

11th Prize

$20 Gift Voucher for Oz Material Girls facebook Auction site.

 The Oz Material Girls have a great Facebook Sale Page where they run regular $1 Auctions and Buy It Now Sales - Join in the buzz with many out of print and hard to find fabrics up for grabs!!

Lovely Punch Fat Quarter Bundle

What do you think??? Amazing hey!!! SO, like i explained HERE, to enter this Giveaway, leave a comment and tell me

 What is your favourite fabric range at the moment..?????

 If your not sure, have a scroll through the shops HERE and pick one!!

AND for all my lovely old and new followers.. you can leave another comment!!
Make sure you I am able to contact you with an email address if you win..

Giveaway closes Monday 11th April... xx Good luck! xx

4 DAYS TO GO......

Til Quilt Class 101 Starts!!

This first week is all about Fabric.

 Where to source it..? How I choose what to buy? Fat Quarters? What is a Jelly Roll?? How much to buy?? My Favourite online shops...and LOTS more.

 And to kick us off this week we will have a HUGE giveaway...All the shops are throwing in tons of FREE fabric, Fabric Vouchers, Discount codes, other bits and pieces....all for YOU to win and get you started on your way to making your first Quilt... or perhaps maybe its your 1000th Quilt!! No one can ever have enough fabric...or supplies!!!!

I have had quite a few emails from you wondering how to follow the class. How you can participate in Giveaways... and what a Giveaway is exactly???? Ok... First,

 How To Follow along??

Believe it or not, I followed blogs for 12 months before i officially followed a blog. What i mean by that is, i used to get online and save my favourite blogs to my favourites in my Internet Explorer before i even knew there was a little thing on every ones side bar that said FOLLOW.

(see it??)...... mmmm Yep... I never noticed, until one day it was pointed out to me. As you will see on my Left hand column is a Followers group. These lovely friends of mine have clicked on the follow button and it has saved my blog in their list of blogs they follow. To do this you either have to be signed into blogger with your Gmail or yahoo account. Or click "follow" for the first time and follow the prompts. I think you can actually even use your face book account. Once you create a profile for yourself, you can then click to follow this blog and other blogs. Blogger saves these blogs you have followed in a folder for you... so that you can log into your profile and scroll down through the list of ALL the blogs you have followed. You will see a little snipped of the latest post from the blog and a picture. Its a great way to quickly browse through ALL the blogs you follow instead of clicking from page to page and waiting for each to Load.

Next,

Follow by Email.

I have created a feed on my left sidebar that you can type in your email address and whenever I post a new blog post, it is send directly to your inbox. This way might work best for you??

You can also Follow through your google reader?? I haven't actually done this so I'm not 100% sure how it all works etc. Choose which way you think would best suit you. For some blogs i choose both. There are alot of blogs i like to "follow" along.. and some i don't want to miss a blog post so i have theirs sent to my email as well.

GIVEAWAYS....

How a giveaway works??

As you will find throughout blog land, one thing us bloggers LOVE to do is offer Giveaways. I have had a few Giveaways on my blog on previous occasions. They are a ton of fun and you can win all sorts of amazing things. How to enter?? Nearly ALL of the giveaways on blog land require you to just leave a comment at the bottom of that blog post. If you are signed into blogger with your previously set up account, leaving comments is easy. You just click on comments, write your comment or answer a question if asked and it posts the comment with your profile icon and leaves a contact email address. If you haven't signed into blogger, you can still leave a comment and enter a giveaway, you just NEED to leave me your email address in your comment so that if you win there is a way i can contact you.

Giveaways usually last open from a few days to a week and are randomly drawn using random.org.  The winners will be contacted by email and posted up on my blog. Then, the goods are sent directly to you!! EASY!! Its a great way to win tons of free things and have a lot of fun entering.

Does that all make sense??

I would like all the people following along with this class to be able to get the full benefits. Entering giveaways, following along to other bloggers through links. Leaving questions and comments. Posting up pictures of things they have made. It is an online class, but it would be great if we can make it as interactive as possible.

I hope this little info has helped you understand how blogs work, how you can follow along so you don't miss a class, how you can enter giveaways and win prizes. You don't need to have a blog of your own, to participate in the class, enter giveaways and follow along. Just choose the best way for you.

I'm excited about...

   Starts April 6th. I hope you are all here ready to go!! and ready to win some great fabric!!

And for those of you who have a blog... if you could promote it and tell your 'real life' friends.... i would love for everybody to be able to take advantage of the class and giveaways xxx

Oh,  if your wondering what this old singer sewing machine is doing on my blog??? I picked it up for a bargain on eBay... Its Gorgeous. I cant wait to clean it all up and have my very own 1940's Singer!! xx

See you in Class! xx