Welcome to the...
If you missed my intro post a few weeks ago, this blog hop, and all of our projects are all about all the things we love best. Quilting, fabrics, fun designs, reminiscing on the good ol' days, and most of all: Friends. Summer is wrapping up, we're moving into fall, the weather is cooling down, kids are back in school, people are moving back in doors, and the everyday faces we've seen all summer long are becoming busy bodies with the life that seems to tie us up as the seasons change. (Ok, this is how it feels to me most falls anyway. And I know all of you in the southern half of the world are a long ways off from fall, so just bear with me. You can think of this as an intro to summer and friends instead of the lonely farewell.) ;)
Through my thoughts of goodbyes and closing doors, I figured this would be the perfect time to give a huge shout out to all of our best friends! Those people we've known forever, or maybe just a few days. But no matter what our relationship, they are someone special and we're glad to be friends.
I remember as a kid making friendship bracelets all day long. I always had a safety pin hooked to my jeans or backpack with all sorts of colors of thread spilling out of my pockets. The sealing of a friendship always seemed strongest once we exchanged our friendship bracelets. It's not something I can describe, but I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about. Since we all love to sew and quilt, I figure let's start the next generation of friendship bracelets and do Friendship Quilts!
This is exactly what you are going to find for the next three+ weeks of September. Some AMAZING bloggers and quilters putting together all sorts of projects with awesome designs based off of friendship bracelets. Mini quilts, coasters, bags, etc. The possibilities are endless. Which hopefully there will be more than a few projects to help inspire you to create something for your special friend.
Want to see who's involved?! Here's the line up:
September
3: Friendship Quilts Kick Off! at from blank pages...,
4: Diane of from blank pages..., that's me!
5: Whitney of The Peacock Tree
6: January T of Sew Sew Go
7: Melinda of Quirky Granola Girl
10: Courtney of Mon Petit Lyons
11: Jill of Made with Moxie
12: Danielle of Fresh off the Spool
13: Kelsey of Kelsey Sews
14: Kristy of Quiet Play
17: Marika of Live, Laugh, Love... Sew
18: Karen of Sew Well Maid
19: Rachael of imagine gnats
20: Katie of There & Back
21: LINKY FOR YOUR PROJECTS OPENS
24: 80's Pictures Link Up Opens
25: TBA
26: TBA
27: TBA
28: Link up closes for projects
30: 80's Pictures link up closes
October
1st: at from blank pages... Judges Picks announced, along with a random drawing for the rest of the prizes.
Did you notice some fun things in there? Like the link ups, and Judges Picks?! That's right!!! I want to invite YOU to come sew along with us!! You will have the month of September, minus a few days, to create any sort of sewing project for someone that means something to you! The ONLY requirement is that it needs to resemble a pattern from a friendship bracelet. There will be a number of tutorials to help you along if you need it, and as always, ask me any questions and I'm more than happy to help!! And please share your story! Let us know how you met your friend, what's so great about them. This is a great time to spotlight them! It's always nice to feel special. ;)
Need some inspiration? Check out this website for literally thousands of designs and patterns: frienship-bracelets.net. Don't have time to look through all of them? I went through about 1,000 (I didn't realize how many there were and kept thinking I was almost done. Call me crazy.) and pinned some of my favorites here on Pinterest.
aren't these boomboxes rad?!
Link Up: Starting the 21st-28th you'll be able to link up your projects. Once the linky closes, the judging begins. I have recruited three AMAZING quilters to find their favorite projects, that will then win one of 12 great prizes. The rest of the prizes will be handed out by random drawing of the rest of the participants.
Want to know who the judges are??? I don't even know why I ask this question. ;)
Faith of Fresh Lemons Quilts
Megan of Canoe Ridge Creations
and
Lee of Freshly Pieced
If you don't know these ladies, you definitely need to. Just wait until after you're done reading this post, because you might not come back for a while. and I've still got a few things to tell you... ;)
Prizes: Did someone say prizes?! Isn't this the most motivating part of a blog hop? Ok, I know it's really because you think I'm cool and want to be like me. (mwahaha.) not. But really, I am so excited about these. And SO bummed I cannot win them. ;) I could go on about how great each of these shops are, but this post is getting long enough. Trust me if you haven't shopped with them before, they are fantastic! And I'm not getting paid to say that... I wouldn't have contacted them if I didn't think so.
In no particular order...
Westwood Acres.
Amanda is offering one Amy Butler Lark
layer cake or jelly roll. (winner picks their preference)
Fresh Squeezed Fabrics
Randi has offered one $25 Gift Card to her shop.
Fabric.com is also offering one Gift Card, of unknown value.
I have a feeling someone is going to be very lucky!
The Fat Quarter Shop is giving away 1 layer cake, and 2 charm packs
to three lucky winners. The fabric lines will be announced towards the end of the month.
Sew Fresh Fabrics is giving away one $40 Gift Card!
Wahoo!! ;)
Pink Chalk Fabrics is giving away five $20 Gift Cards
to five lucky winners!
Are you excited yet??? Are you ready to get sewing??? I know I am. Ok, I alreay did my sewing, but I definitely want to make more... BUT before you go run to check out your fabric stash, I've got
ONE. MORE. THING!!!
Did you notice on the calendar on September 24th - 30th, there is a link up for 80's Pictures?! That is right! All of us bloggers are going to throw in some super 80's goodness and share some 80's photos of us with you! I cannot wait too see everyone's do's, and I'm crossing my fingers for some MC Hammer pants. lol. I didn't want you to be left out either, so you have until the end of the month to dig up your old pictures and find your best 80's picture! I think I just might save one of the prizes for a top notch photo! It's going to be totally rad!!
Here's one of my favorites. I'm the little one on the right, with my brother and sister.
This is in Arches National Park in Utah. We went there a lot, or least if I remember right, when we were little. Do you like how all of our bangs are crooked??? and my care bears shirt? My family was so trendy. ;)
I'll be sharing another picture or two tomorrow in my blog hop post, but I wanted to give you something to get you looking for yours! ;)
And that about covers it! I hope you will come join us! I can't wait to see what you're working on! You can share all of your photos related to this event, or related to anything else on my blog, here at the from blank pages... flickr group. :)
Be sure to grab a button to show you're playing along!!
See you tomorrow!! :)
Ooh this sounds like so much fun! I'll have to put my thinking cap on and see what I can come up with.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see what everyone makes.
YAY! It's here!!
ReplyDeleteGosh that looks like a lot of fun! I'll be watching out for the posts and some inspiration =D
ReplyDeleteoops, I think we may have crashed the server over at the friendship bracelet site...
ReplyDeletelooking forward to this hop!
This looks like SO much fun! I'm packing this month to move on October 1st, or I would totally make something. I LOVE the whale and the zig-zag rainbow patterns that you pinned!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea!!
ReplyDeleteI've never done a blog hop for quilting before but I think I might have to join in for this! I (still) love friendship bracelets and this sounds like fun!
ReplyDeleteVery cool, I'm so excited!!!
ReplyDelete