New FREE BOM And FREE Mystery Quilt

 Happy Halloween Quilty Friends!  Today post will be as short and and sweet as candy corn, one of my favorite seasonal treats.  If you've never had candy corn and cashews together, you need to give it a try.  It was my momma's favorite fall treat.  I was leery about the combination at first but it's wickedly addictive!

Now onto some sweet treats with no calories.  Free quilt patterns!  The first one is Bona Lisa's Sweater Emporium.

You can get all the details for this quilt FREE BOM at the following blogs.  Be sure to visit each blog so you can see their take on this quilt.

MooseStash Quilting

Just Let Me Quilt

Creating in the Sticks

Here's a little snippet of my favorite of the three.

Now onto the FREE 

Quiltville Scrappy Mystery Quilt

This is a huge yearly event in the Quiltville Open Studio on Facebook.  Thousands of quilters are up early today waiting anxiously for the launch this years quilt.  

You don't need to be a member of the group to participate in the Mystery Quilt.

Every year on Halloween, sometime around 8 or 9 A.M. Bonnie will post on her blog the basic plan for the mystery quilt.  You know...color pallet, fabric yardage and any tools you may need.  

On Black Friday the first clue will be released on her blog.  This gives you a month to find the perfect fabrics for your quilt.

The Facebook group goes wild!  So many pictures of quilts being made.  I don't always participate but I always watch the Facebook groups progress.

Today and for the next month the group will be full of quilters posting pictures of their fabric pulls.  I really do enjoy the all the excitement around this mystery quilt.

Well that's the basics on this mystery quilt.  If you want to check it out for yourself here's a link to Bonnie's Blog  Hop over, sign up for her newsletter or emails so you never miss a mystery clue.  Don't worry Bonnie doesn't send out a lot of  emails or newsletters.  Maybe one or two a month.

UPDATE

You can find the mystery introduction here

https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2023/10/indigo-way-mystery-introduction.html

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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~ Happy Little Things Month One Winner ~

I want to thank everyone who enter the Happy Little Things Month One Giveaway.  If you still have not joined the Happy Little Things FREE BOM hosted by Jacquelynne Steves there's still time to join in the fun.  All you need to do is sign up on her blog and the new block each month will be delivered right to your email so you never miss a block!  No searching for the blocks or missing the giveaways each month.  You'll be notified anytime something new is going on with the BOM.  You can sign up here.  Or by clicking the image below.

 

This years featured bloggers had some great ideas and tips for making your blocks.  What an inspiring bunch of quilters.  Again if this is the first you've heard of this new FREE BOM be sure to hop over for a visit and follow each blogger so you don't miss out on all the fun coming over the next few months.  This BOM runs until December and then in January there will be a Grand Prize!  The list of participating bloggers is listed below.

• A Quilting Life  https://www.aquiltinglife.com/
• Podunk Pretties http://podunkpretties.blogspot.com/ (you are here)
• The Crafty Quilter   https://thecraftyquilter.com/
• Flamingo Toes   https://flamingotoes.com/
• Allie-Oops Sweet Happy Life   http://allie-oopssweethappylife.blogspot.com/
• Happy Quilting Melissa http://www.happyquiltingmelissa.com/
• The Quilting Nook https://thequiltingnook.wordpress.com/
• Kathy's Quilts  https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/

The giveaway for this month is now closed and I have chosen a winner.  The winner will have 24 hours to respond.  If I do not hear from the winner by 9 A.M. EST tomorrow morning a new winner will be chosen.  NO EXCEPTIONS.  Sorry for the strict rules.  But we need to get these prizes out the winners as soon as possible.  So with out further ado.....the winner is........

Brenda West

Congratulations Brenda!  You have won the following prize sponsored by Olfa.  I've sent you an email.  If you do not see the email check your spam folder.  You can also contact me directly at my email.  podunkpretties@gmail.com.

#HappyLittleThingsBOM  #HappyLittleThingsQuilt #quiltinggiveaway #olfa 

Attachments area

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~ Block 2, I Love Home BOM and GIVEAWAY

Happy Monday cute quilting friends!  I'm so excited to be sharing block 2 in the I Love Home BOM designed by Jacquelynne Steves.  

 For my blocks I chose to do freezer paper applique and invisible machine applique instead of the fusible raw edge applique.  Most of my fabric selection came from my stash of Pam Kitty by Lakehouse Fabrics.  There's a couple designer fabrics thrown in the mix also because Pam Kitty plays well with so many different fabrics.  

I'm using Monopoly thread by Superior to stitch my applique in place, it's invisible and very durable.  This thread holds up well to an iron and the heat from a dryer.  I've tested it at higher levels of heat than suggested and it doesn't melt.  This block was ironed after finishing using a cotton setting and the thread held up fine.  It comes in two colors clear and smoke for darker fabrics.  I'm using the clear thread with a teeny weeny little blanket stitch.  How tiny?  The picture below shows the thread and the tiny stitch.   Using a 70/10 needle also helps to hide the stitching.  

The Monopoly thread is barely visible.  Once the quilt is washed, it almost disappears completely, giving your quilt the look of hand applique without all the work.

The window sashing and the heart above the door were sewn using Aurifil thread and a double machine stitch.  

 Awe...my design wall is looking SEW cute!  Can't wait to share the rest of the quilt with you...I've a surprise finish!

If you'd like to join the I Love Home BOM there's still plenty of time to join in the fun.  Click here to go to Jacquelynnes blog where you will find information about this FREE block of the month and block 2.  

There's several block options for this block of the month.  Applique, embroidery, a plain center block and the newest idea a Wonky house block.  Information on the Wonky house block can be found by clicking here.

For more I Love Home BOM inspiration you can join the Facebook group or follow the Pinterest Group.  Lots of fun and creative ideas for sprucing up your blocks.  And don't forget to hop over to see all the bloggers in this blog hop.  By visiting and commenting on each blog you'll be entered to win this months giveaway.

 The Crafty Quilter

The Inbox Jaunt

Designs by Sarah J

Farmhouse Quilts

Penguin and Fish

Podunk Pretties (you are here)

The Quilting Nook

The Sewing Loft

The giveaway for this month is a fat quarter bundle of A Shout, A Whisper, A Text from Sarah J. Maxwell.  She also one of the bloggers in this hop.  

This giveaway is now **Closed**

To enter the giveaway here at Podunk Pretties all you need to do is leave a comment in by clicking on the word "comments" at the end of this blog post.  It's open to everyone, from anywhere in this big ole world!  Any comment will do.  And just to be on safe side leave your email address so I have a way to contact you if you win.  

Last months winner was....

Margie Adkins

 Congratulations Margie! 

Thanks for stopping by my little spot in Podunk

~ Lea Anne ~

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Design Wall Monday

Howdy Sweet quilting friends!  Here we are again..Monday morning.  These summertime weeks fly by so quick.  Every time I mark something off the to-do list two more things are added.  This weeks additions are picking wild blackberries, canning salsa, pull and cure onions and try to keep up with all the cucumbers and squash.  I swear both of those grow inches over night.  But it's all good, we love our fresh veggies.  There's some pretty cute stuff growing in the Studio this week.  Great progress has been made on the I Love Home BOM.  Fussy cutting the centers for some flowers....💗

....And picking just the right fabrics for the block borders.  Seriously, it took me about 3 hours of auditioning fabrics to be satisfied with the combination you see below.  I can't wait to share this adorable little cutie with you.  My design wall is overflowing with cuteness.   Jacquelynne has encouraged us to give these quilt blocks our own little spin of creativity.  Several cute ideas have popped into my mind.  I'll be testing out a couple of those ideas sometime this week.

My hopes by sharing these little sneak peeks is to inspire your creative quilty minds to join in the free BOM with me.  Is it working?  Ready to get started picking those fabrics?  Just click right here to find all the information on the I Love Home Free 2017 BOM by Jacquelynne Steves.

Before I go I wanted to remind everyone there's several linky parties where you can strut your stuff.  This post will be link at the following parties.

Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday

Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making 

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday

What a Hoot Quilts

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Throwback Thursday ~ Old Technique revisited

While putting the recently finished Quilt Doodle Design 2017 BOM quilt blocks on the design wall this week I noticed some fabric shadowing in my blocks.  What's that?  It's when the darker fabrics show through the lighter fabrics on the front of the block.  Let's hang one on the window so we can get a better look.  You really can't see it at a distance.

So let's get up close and personal with my blocks.  The green arrow is pointing to the white seam allowance, which is good.  The red arrow is pointing to the colored fabric that extends past the normal seam allowance, which is bad.  The excess seam allowance should have been dealt with before attaching to the background fabric.  No need crying over spilled milk, all I can do is get inside the back and fix the problem.

   Most quilters these days think if you can't see it from a galloping horse then don't worry about it.  Honestly most of the time I think the same thing.  But I've put far to much time and effort into these appliqued blocks to let  the finished quilt be ruined with something that can easily be fixed in an afternoon.  There was a time back when I first started quilting that it was standard practice when doing applique to cut away the excess fabric on the back.  This would reduce the amount of fabric when hand quilting.  Once you had the back cut away you could fix any shadowing.  Most quilters no longer hand quilt so this technique has been eliminated.  And I personally think there's a little marketing going on here also.  You can buy products to sew or iron into your project in advance to help with shadowing, but it adds more bulk and cost.  And most designers just don't worry about how it looks, its all about selling more fabric and patterns and meeting tight deadlines.  Where do you think the galloping horse statement originated?  Now let me say, I altered this pattern which caused the shadowing.  In the original pattern the center was to be curved pieced and with proper seam allowance there would be no shadowing.  So the above statements do not apply to Cindy's wonderful free pattern.   With that being said let's open this baby up!

  I used my sharpest pointy scissors to poke a hole and start cutting.

  

Snip, snip, snip...it was not hard and went pretty quick.

Now that I'm in here there's two options.  Option one is to cut a large circle of fabric and slide it behind the seam allowance.  I'm using paper for demonstration purposes...I'm cheap!

It would be tucked up under the seam allowance and be carefully tacked into place.  

The second option and the option I chose is the old fashion way of dealing with shadowing.  Just cut away the excess.  I snipped a few of the stitches between two of the dresden blades to make it easier to start cutting away the excess.

This really is the fastest, easiest and cheapest way to deal with an unsightly little issue of shadowing.

TADA! Finished all twelve blocks while I watched the noon news.  

This will look so much better in the finished quilt.

 And I won't need to borrow the neighbors horse to look a my quilt and be happy with it.

The best thing about fixing the shadowing is now I have some pretty low volume scrap to add to the scrap bin.  A happy mistake indeed!

~ Lea Anne ~

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I Love Home FREE Block of the Month

Who can resist free?  I know I can't especially when it's so cute.  I wanted to share Jacquelynne Steves new Block of the Month that will Start in August called "I love Home".   I saw the sneak peak of this quilt being designed a few weeks ago and was anxious for it to begin.  Much to my surprise as I waited for the big reveal and launch of the pattern Jacquelynne contacted me asking if I would be willing to be one of the featured bloggers in the sew along...Well of course I would!  What an honor, Thank you Jacquelynne!

To participate you need to sign up to receive the free patterns in your email as soon as they are released.  Isn't that wonderful?  You'll never miss a month with the blocks coming directly to your email.   And If your not a fan of applique like me, there's an embroidery option or a plain pieced block option.   To sign up click here.  

The fun doesn't stop at a free quilt pattern.  If you participate and share your blocks along the way there's several giveaways.  One of which will be right here on my blog.  So hop over to quickly sign up and find out more about the amazing sponsors and giveaways.  Click here to sign up I'm looking forward to seeing your version of this fun free quilt.

~ Lea Anne ~

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