HAPPY 35TH BIRTHDAY OLFA!!!

Raise your hand if you remember life before the rotary cutter! Ok, because I don't. I'm sure my mom does, 'cuz, uh, when it came on the scene I was 10 years old. Does that make me sound young? I hope so, I'm not feelin' it.

Anywho...thank QUILTY GOODNESS OLFA came on the scene and developed a product that changed the world! Well, the quilty/sew-y world anyway. Just imagine, without that rotary cutter, terms like "stack and whack" would be more like "stack and hack" at it with your scissors until your arm aches and your carpal tunnel flares up. Dear Olfa, we should be thanking you for saving our achy arms on a daily basis! Thank you, thank you, thank you! From the bottom of our....arms, er hearts.

Ok, NOW raise your hand if you LOVE OLFA and would like to WIN a prize to celebrate their 35th anniversary?!  All hands are up? Yeah, I thought so. Well you're in luck....because we have one to GIVEAWAY!

We were one of the lucky designers asked by OLFA to do a block for their 35th anni quilt, how cool is that??? 

They sent us this cool box:

Which was filled with these lovelies:

Look at that little rotary cutter pin! Isn't it the cutest? Yeah, I'm wearing it around until my kids notice and wonder what the heck it is, haha!

So then we were tasked with designing a 6.5" square block....notice the handy dandy OLFA ruler to help us out there? AND a rotating cutting mat! Coolest ever.  Seriously been playing with that thing! Wonder if I can get my whole 45" cutting mat to rotate...hmmmm. 

Ok, so then we rubbed our hands together to create a block. What to make, what to make? It had to include yellow (for obvious yellow OLFA reasons!), and had to represent OLFA in some way. And, it had to have a Lizzie B look to it after all, right?  Soooo, I whipped up a little sketch on my iPad, cuz who doesn't whip up sketches on their iPad?

Very precise, right? Hey, don't judge, it works for us, 'k?

Then I got to work with my yellow patchwork strips...

Looks fab with the cutter, right? I cut those babies up into 1.5" strips and did some nice little patchy lookin' blocks, making just enough for them to fit in my block. 

Then I thought, hmmmm, I think I'm gonna use turquoise instead of white since in my head, this OLFA block was the sun spreading it's rays of OLFA sunshine, right? I know you thought so too.

So I pieced those strips onto a 7" square piece of paper, ready to square up to 6.5" when I was done. Lookin' good, right? Now here was the fun part....

ROTATING MAT TIME!

So cool...just kept my hand on the ruler and simply twisted the mat to cut the next side!

(Note: yes my cutter is still open, and NO I never keep it open when it's not in use and you shouldn't either! Ok, back to our regularly scheduled program...)

See how the mat turns over the rubber pad on the bottom? Coolness.

Just kept rotating and cutting until my block was all squared up!

See? Finished, told ya I keep it closed when not in use...ha! Now all that was left to do was "Lizzie B-ify" it by adding a bit of appliqué. 

et VOILA! There you have our Rotary Cutter block of sunshine! Cute or what? I kinda thought so, but I might be biased.

So, are ya ready to win a rotary cutter and small cutting mat of your very own from OLFA?! They've set one aside just for our readers. Gotta love them.

Ok, so comment on this blogpost for a chance to win, tell us what your 

FAVORITE OLFA PRODUCT is!

Please include your email addie in the comment so we can contact you should the random generator pick you.

*THE WINNER HAS BEEN CHOSEN! 

And don't forget to wish OLFA a... 

P.S. You can follow OLFA on social media by using the handle @OLFAcreates

THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING EVERYONE!

Today's OUR Day! And a Giveaway!

Hey!  Today is our day!

We're featured on the Henry Glass Blog

for the Holiday Party (click *here*)!

Have you entered to win prizes?  All you need to do is check out the blog post on the Henry Glass Blog for each day of the holiday party and post a comment.  Then you'll be entered to win some PRETTY fabric bundles!  Plus, there are prizes to be one one some of the designer blogs as well.  

For instance, since today is OUR day, we thought we'd celebrate with a GIVEAWAY too!

I mean, after all, it's a HOLIDAY party, right?  Who doesn't want a present?

SO, here's what we wanna know.  Are YOU naughty or nice?  Haha!  Answer ONE of the questions that WE had to answer:

1. What was your favorite gift? Worst?

2. Early or late shopper? Earliest or latest that you've shopped?

3. Favorite holiday drink? Alcohol or none? Recipe?

4. Are you likely one to return a present or to suck it up and keep it?

5. As a child were you likely to make the naughty or nice list?

Leave your answer in a comment and you'll be entered to win a fabulous bundle of our 

Hip Happier fabric!

You have until the 9th to enter, same rules apply as on the Henry Glass blog.

So go ahead and tell us, are you...

Naughty?

Or 

Nice?

Last Days of Summer - Aurifil BOM - and GIVEAWAY!

How is it possible that we're coming 

to the end of summer?  

This was a big summer for me.  One of the reasons you haven't heard much from us on our blog!

Last week, I took my girl off to college.

You know.  The one that wasn't supposed to grow up but did anyway? For rude.

I spent the summer making quilty things for her dorm room.  

(Spent some fun screen printing, creative days with Amanda Herring, The Quilted Fish!) 

And made quilty things for my girlie's friends too!

In essence.  I've spent my summer quilting!

Pretty perfect, huh? And there may be a few 

tears mixed in with some of those stitches, but I'll tell you this much.  Thank goodness for a hobby that doesn't let you wallow.  Too darned busy for that!

I loved that I was able to send my daughter and her friends off with special hugs from Mama Hawk.

SO.  As a final salute to summer, let's knock it out with a big BANG shall we?

We want to know what YOU have been up to all summer!

Have you been quilting? Vacationing?  Both? 

Ready to win a Last Days of Summer giveaway? 

(details at end of post!)

Have you been stitching your amazing 

Aurifil Blocks of the Month?  If you've missed out, now's the time to catch up.  Still chances to win our FAV thread!

Check out the blocks by these fab artists:

AUGUST

 (click HERE)

JULY

(click HERE)

JUNE

(Click HERE)

 If these blocks don't SCREAM summer, 

I don't know what does.  

And DON'T forget to check out the flickr group and upload YOUR finished blocks to be in the running to win some thread.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS!!!

As promised, we're ready for a last days of summer giveaway.  What better way to say goodbye to summer and kick off the fall?  

I have a candy dish FILLED with 

samples of AURIFIL thread

I'm going to DUMP these into a grab bag and send them off to one lucky winner! Oh there's at least 10 good different color, type, weight, yummy spools of thread in there.

Want 'em?

Then show or tell us what you've been up to this summer!  Leave us a comment on this blog. Or click HERE to upload pics of your projects on our facebook page. 

(We LOVE pictures!)

Tells us if you've been stitching Aurifil blocks, what fun summer reads you've been devouring or if you've just been putting your feet up.  We want to know!

We'll announce a winner one week from today;

Friday, Sept 7th.

Can't wait to hear from you and say goodbye to summer together!