Things have been a little rough in the Sew at Home Mummy household as of late.

img courtesy of Massdrop.com

So, I seem to be slowly but surely adding to my stash, bit by bit.

But never sewing any of it.

Does this happen to anyone else?! Please tell me I'm not alone!

I can't seem to find the time to sew! I'm either chasing around my littles, working on Chicago Modern Quilt Guild tech/social media stuff, or trying to fix something around the house.

As for the latter, I'm starting to feel like we may have purchased a lemon. Oi.

Last week, our main sewer pipe and clean-out needed to be fixed, because, oh yes, lucky us, it was leaking. Profusely. Into my laundry room.

Ugh. Ka-CHING!!!

The cast-iron pipe had corroded at the base where it met the flange entering the concrete. We had it repaired, but essentially, a huge section will need to be replaced at some point in the near future, and that will require a jackhammer to get through the footing and concrete floor.

And most likely a total gut of the bathroom we just reno'd as it shares a wall with said pipe.

Easily $2,000-3,000.

Gasp.

So far this year, since our possession date of January 30, 2015, we've had to:

- re-mediate our entire attic from black mold infestation - this was not pleasant, or cheap
- seal foundation cracks on exterior foundation walls (water was pouring in)
- replace the electrical box (it was SPARKING!)
- install a fence (keep my cray-cray lab and even more cray-cray kids in, haha)
- bring electrical up to code in basement
- gut and rebuild a moldy, leaky, health-hazard bathroom
- regrade areas of the front of the house (water was pouring in)
- replace upstairs windows (sash fell out of one, and a bird was living *in* the frame of another)
- fix main sewer line

...and this is only the big stuff. We've done a whole 'lot more than this, most of the smaller stuff ourselves.

Man! On a single income it's amazing we got any of this done. Gar!!

Anywho. C'est la vie?

But, I was feeling a wee bit down, and thought hey, what the heck, I'll add a bit of seasoning to my stash with a peppered cotton bundle from Massdrop:



YUM YUM YUM.

I love peppered cottons. I love their colors, I love the weight, love working with them. My new obsession!

I'm super excited about this bundle!! Adding it to my growing peppered cottons stash :)

Officially cheered up. Hahah.

Linking up today with the super fantastically talented Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash Share! Make sure to head on over there and see what he's up to!

Quick post just to share a bit of coupon love!

Patchwork Threads currently has an awesome sale going on for their fleece/hoodie items, as well as a few of their popular t-shirt patterns.

The FLEECE SALE requires the coupon code:

SPRING

and it'll get you 20% off your warm and snug purchases UNTIL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT..

The t-shirts are in the "destash" section of their site and are already marked down.

I ended up picking this beaut up:


YIPPEE!!

Also, to note, Massdrop currently has Patchwork Threads t's on a drop right now, 2 for $34.99. Click here to go to Massdrop.

Happy shopping!! (and if you splurge, make sure to come back and tell me, I'd love to hear about it!)

Hi all,

quick post today to share a bit of coupon love...

Massdrop has Aurifil 50 wt 12 packs on for $80 (if enough people commit to buy, which they will), with free shipping in the US:

Drift by Angela Walters:
and

Favorite Things by Jeni Baker:

and 40wt 12 pack thread sets for $80 in:


Arizona by April Rhodes:


and

Gleeful by Caroline Hulse:


...I'm trying to decide if I should join this drop, but if YOU do, make sure to tell me which one you picked up! I'd love to know. I like to shop vicariously heheheh!!

Quick FYI:

Fat Quarter Shop has all Kona on 20% off right now with the coupon code RK2014:


Massdrop currently has Aurifil 40wt 12 packs ($81.99), Quick Curve Rulers (with 2 patterns - $24.99) and Sew Steady Tables (custom cut to your machine's specifications - $119.99) on right now for some pretty good prices!

Does anyone out there have a Sew Steady table? Is it really as good as they say? I have an extension on my Singer 9960, and it seems big enough, and ultimately I'd love to have the machine in a table one day, but any critiques out there? Wanna share with those reading this?

Happy Thursday, all!

I just wanted to share a fantastic deal right now on the Stella Task Lamp. I have the Stella Edge lamp, and it is absolutely wonderful - an amazing light, really high quality. And Stella's customer service is phenomenal.

Massdrop has the deal on right now - as low as $149.99 for the lamp - which has an MRSP of $220.00.

I wrote a review on the Stella Edge if you're interested in reading it. You can read it {here}, and have posted about it in other posts, including {this one} about my sewing space.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

Happy Friday, everyone.

I thought I'd pass on some super-skookum deals I've come across in my inbox this week, and I encourage you to leave a comment with any you may have found across the great World Wide Web for this week!

Here we go!

Rose Room Quilts.com
Labor Day Sale starting Friday August 29 through Monday September 1.  The sale is 10% off plus Free Shipping in the U.S. on all orders $35 or more and the code is:

LD14SALE

Fat Quarter Shop.com
The Fat Quarter Shop is now offering free US shipping with orders over $80, and decreased rates on international shipping - with international rates never exceeding $40! Yippee!
..also check out their "Precuts of the Week" where they feature a line of precuts on for discounted prices.

Mad About Patchwork.com
Pam is having a Labour Day weekend sale! Save 25% on selected fabrics using the coupon code

LABOUR25

..sale ends midnight on September 1.

Amazon.com:
Save up to 70% on sewing and quilting goodies - my wish list just keeps on growing.


SewingMachinesPlus.com
...with coupon code:

SUMMER2014

...sale ends September 1.

Massdrop.com
They have a Quilter's Dream batting sampler bundle on right now; choose from Twin or Queen size 3-packs. Have you tried the Orient?? I am in LOVE with that batting. It's so smooth and soft, and really easy to work with. I actually much prefer it to the cotton, when I can afford it! It washes well, too. I've actually started to use this more and more in baby quilts I make.







So! What other deals have you come across on the web? Make sure to leave a comment below!

This post contains affiliate links and if you click and buy, I may see a few more pennies in the kiddie. By FTC Law, I have to disclose this to you, but really, I would anyway. Honesty is the best policy.
psst...those jeans make your butt look a *little* big... in the interest of full disclosure....yes, I am that friend you want to take with you shopping. I'll tell ya what you need to hear, not what you wanna hear. 

Well, as per usual, the summer has been busy for me.

My mum was here visiting from Vancouver for almost a month, and as such, I've found it difficult to keep up with my Quilterly and Bloggerly duties (yes, I just made up two words) whilst busy with my Daughterly and Motherly ones.

C'est la vie, mes amies!


I've been busy, though, planning and organizing a Cotton + Steel swap - by designer, in separate rounds - so you can participate in as many or as little as you like - with of course a separate round for their Basics line. We're in the midst of the Melody Miller round, but sign ups for the next round will be coming up soon (see below). Hang tight. Also working on a schedule for you all so that you know when to sign up for which Designers. (and we're swapping charms OR fat eighths, two separate sign ups for each Designer, your choice which [or both!] you'd like to sign up for). Next sign up starts Monday, August 4 at 0700am CST for Rashida Coleman-Hale's MOONLIT fabrics. This swap (in its entirety) is open to International residents - to save on postage you're encouraged to ship your orders to me, and I'll cut them for you. I'm nice like that.

Boo-ya!! My cut is a little wavy on the straights, but it was my first time using a jig. YIPPEE for ME! I'm no longer a jig-virgin. WOOT!

If you've been following along for the last month on Instagram, you know that I've been up to all sorts of craziness - among other things, I have a 'new' 1937 Singer 201-2, for which I 'hacked' a Craigslist-find Ikea dining room table... yes. That's right. I cut a hole in it. Myself. And I'm gonna write a tut on how to do it since so many of you were interested about it! More on that, soon. I swear. When I get 30 minutes to write.

Anywho!

On to the stash share for this week!

1. Oliso Pro itouch Iron

just LOOK at that sexy iron! (yes. I said 'sexy'. yes. an iron can be sexy. hehehe)

 Now, in case you think I'm some rich Diva quilter sitting around whippin' up quilts all day, spending lots of moola on super-fantastical irons, boy, am I not.

I spent every penny I've made in my Etsy shop this year on this iron. (insert awkward grin here). I'm still hoping it's a tax write-off.

Let's just say I had some 'splainin' to do, Lucy, when I opened the box and my husband saw it.

"Wait. Isn't that the iron from that show you watch? The quilting show? Fons and something?"

"Ya! Isn't it great?!"

"Doesn't it have some sort of computer in it?"

"Ya, isn't it great?!"

"Uh, isn't anything with a computer in it really expensive? Like, too expensive?"

"Ya! Isn't it great?!"

>>holy mother of irons Erin, think fast!!<<

Once I explained that it was 'company' money that purchased the iron, and how my old one wouldn't even press a yard without dying, he was a little more conducive to the new-iron notion. But what truly impressed me was that

a) he knew the name of the show I watch (close enough)
b) he actually was paying attention to the show whilst supposedly 'reading' a book - enough to notice the 'iron with a computer in it'.

I digress! Back to the iron.

Holy frickadoodles Batman. I love it.

I'm going to write a review on it at some point, hopefully before Massdrop ends up running another drop on it so that if you're thinking of buying one, maybe I can help you out if you have any questions, etc. I really want to use the iron for at least a month, though, before writing the (unsolicited!) review.

So far, so good. I really like it. It was kind of tough to get used to not having to flip it up, but it only took one sewing session to get it down pat.

Totally worth the $119 Massdrop was selling it for (normally runs anywhere from $169-$210). I'll try and keep you posted on when they're dropping the next Oliso, if they do. Fingers crossed.

Oh, and I am a (bit of a) Diva, just not a rich one. And I wish I could quilt all day. Too busy changing bumbums and singing "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!" though. (which I wouldn't change for the world. I sure do love my kiddies!)

2. Lulu Magnolia by the Quilted Fish for RBD
A little while ago, I was lucky enough to win 4th place in the Blogger's Quilt Festival through Amy's Creative Side for my pixelated sewing machine quilt ("my first {pixelated}"). My gorgeous, gorgeous prize was a full FQB of Lulu Magnolia by the Quilted Fish! I received this line from the designer herself (Amanda, you rock!) before it was even in stores. How awesome is that??!!

What I love most about it is the pairing of navy and orange. I first saw this color combo on the cover of HGTV mag in the winter, and loved it. And the line just makes me want to be on vacation somewhere. It's really quite gorgeous.

3. Bobbin Thread
You'll also notice in the pic to the right a spool of thread. That would be Superior Threads® - The Bottom Line Polyester Thread #655 Off White 1,420 Yds.It's meant for bobbin, applique and quilting work. Mostly, I just want to try it for the bobbin. I'm really intrigued to see how much less often I will have to change my bobbin when quilting with this stuff. I had heard some good things about it, so I thought I'd throw one in the cart the last time we had to place an Amazon order. I'll also write a review on this, as well. I've heard poly can be a bit more slippery, and conducive to opened stitches at seam ends when piecing... we will see.

Okay. That's all I have to share for this week. That's enough, me thinks!

This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.com, and by FTC regulatory laws I must disclose this. If you make a purchase on Amazon after clicking my link I'll make a small commission on the sale, if it qualifies in their affiliate program. And by small, I mean, a few pennies :)

Hi all,

if you've been reading along, you've probably read a few posts I've written about Massdrop. If you don't know about them, Massdrop takes a group of people that each want to buy the same thing, combines their order, and places that order directly with the manufacturer. As a result, everybody in the group gets the large quantity price while only having to buy one (or two, or ten). 

As an aside, I've recently created a couple of polls (rotating cutting mats, Aurifil cones, solids color cards, pre-release precuts, mechanical quilting machines (like the Juki 2010 and Brother 1500s) etc.) and there are others there on the site which are great - you can click {here} to head over there to see the polls and vote for or add your favorites. 

Because I've referred five of my readers to Massdrop, and those readers made purchases, Massdrop sent me a nice gift box - and as a thank you to my readers, I'm giving that gift box away to you. 

I'm having surgery today and I need to be cheered up - so why not have a great giveaway?! 

In the box:
Roll up of fat 8ths of Liberty of London
Charm Pack of 2wenty-thr3e
Charm Pack of Jubilee
Large Spool of Aurifil
Gingher Snips
Moleskin Notebook
Binding Twine 
Washi Tape
Olfa 45mm Pinking Rotary Cutter blade


Wanna win?

Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Thanks for reading along and for being so supportive of my little blog and all the goings-ons here. I appreciate every single one of you!

And, in case you're on Instagram, I'm also having a giveaway there celebrating 200 followers! @sewathomemummy - more Liberty of London!!





Thanks for everything, and good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

image courtesy of Oliso.com

Holy. Cow. Batman.

Massdrop has the Oliso Pro itouch irons on for as low as $119.00 if they get enough people to commit to buy one (29 people, to be exact). Which they will. I'm sure of it.

I have coveted this iron since I started quilting. I first saw it on The Love of Quilting (a PBS show here in the US staring Fons & Porter (but now, the two Fons' - Mary and Marianne) and other crafting shows on PBS.

image courtesy of Oliso.com

It has "smart touch" technology - unlike other irons, you never have to flip it up/stand it up - a little leg and stand pops out of the bottom of the iron when you release your grip on the handle - extra fabulous for those of us with repetitive strain injuries/ailments.

I like how the plate has steam holes all the way down the sides; my current iron only has holes at the very top and peak of the plate. Which pretty much sucks for quilting (or for me, anyway - I'm a steamer).

The iron also stays on for 30 minutes - longer than my 10 minute shut off on my current iron (which, for the record, drives me absolutely batcrap bonkers).

I like too that it comes with a fill cup. No such feature with my current iron. And it holds almost twice as much water.

Image courtesy of Oliso

The only thing I'll have to get used to is that my current iron is a cordless - a feature I *love* - and one that, I've obviously become used to in the last 10 years of using it.

But, I couldn't pass this up.

This iron retails for $200. Absolutely no way in heckadoodles I'd ever be able to afford it. Until today.

Thank goodness I opened an Etsy shop this year.

>insert huge cheesy grin here<

I just emptied the PayPal account associated with my store account.

It's a business write-off, right? Right? :D We will see what the accountant says next year.

Anywho. I need partners in crime. It's free shipping in the US and my friends elsewhere in the world have said that the shipping wasn't too bad. You know you need one. For that price, come on. I've never seen it that low before. Join me.

I'm a terrible influence! (my mother once told me I could sell holy water to the Pope)

If you want to commit to buy an Oliso Pro for $119, a super skookum deal, head over to the Crafting section on Massdrop {here}.

(then tell me you bought one so that I can justify this purchase to my hubby by telling him I wasn't the only one, the masses were doing it! I'm pretty sure he's gonna poop a brick when he sees this package show up on the doorstep...oh well. This is why I opened the Etsy shop! hahahah)



Considering this another edition of "Sharing the Coupon Love"!

...I spy me some gorgeous Joel Dewberry's in there!! I love this bundle. I tore it out of the wrapping and snapped a photo ASAP, couldn't wait to capture the yummy-ness of this one.

2) A Hex n' More ruler. I have always wanted one of these, and I had some points at MarmaladeFabrics.com to spend, so I thought I'd treat myself and add it to my order this month. I love the Jewel shape of this one, and I'm excited to try it out.


3) And...for the last 2 years, I have been saving for what initially was supposed to be a Singer 15-91. But after a lot of research, I decided late last year that I would start looking more seriously for a Singer 201-2 (a larger version of the 15-91, with a bigger harp space).

My CMQG friend Erika at Miss Sews-it-all found this beauty, fixed her up, and then contacted me last week to let me know she had it and was wanting to sell it - and I took it!!
It's a Singer 201-2 from 1937. And she's beautiful!

The harp space measures 8" long by 5.5" high. Pretty significant. For comparisons sake, the Brother PQ1500s's (similar to the Juki 98 & 2010/2000) harp space is 8.6" x 5.7". Pretty darned good!
 I'm really excited to use it - you can drop the feed dogs easily with this machine, and apparently the FMQ on it is amazing.

It needs to be in a table - which I don't have - so I'm working on picking up a dining table on Craigslist and I'll "hack" it - cut my own hole, set in my own machine hinges, and maybe paint it. Yippee!!
In the meantime, she's sitting on the dining room table, and I've been looking at her admiring her every second I get. I'm super excited. Erika sewed on it for a few days to make sure everything was working well after being rewired, and she loved it, says it's really smooth.

Linking up to MolliSparkles.com today for Sunday Stash Share! Make sure to head over there and check out his blog, and all of the other stash shares today!

On another note, if you're interested, I've created a couple of new polls on Massdrop for some notions which I thought some of you may be interested in - you can vote on your favorites, if you'd like!
Solids Swatch Cards
Thread Rack/Thread Storage Solutions
Quilting Thread Cone
and this one is a great one - it's an Aurifil Collections poll!
Aurifil Thread Collections

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Good morning, all! How's everyone's Saturdays going so far?

Machine Madness
I've had a bit of a rough week - both with respect to my neck (ouch!) and my machine. Grr.

My Singer 9960 decided to start majorly skipping stitches in the homestretch of trying to finish my sister in law's baby quilt. I ripped the casings off of the machine, checked for jammed threads in tension discs (and anywhere else for that matter), cleaned it out, cleaned out the bobbin assembly, changed the needle, changed the bobbin, changed the TOP thread. I basically did everything I could think of to fix the problem - I ended up spending 3 hours on Tuesday morning messing around with it before I figured it must be the worst:

the timing.

Bugger!

So off to my local quilt shop/repair shop I went. He ran through a gamut of tests, only to determine it wasn't my timing.

Fewf!

Uh oh. Sounds expensive.

Nope.

My darning foot's spring mechanism needed oiled. WHUT?! You have to oil PRESSER FEET?!

hahaha. It makes sense. Apparently any moving parts on a presser foot (like in a darning or walking foot, for instance) may need a bit of machine oil once in a while to keep them working correctly - to keep them from skipping stitches. He said if the base of the foot doesn't make full contact as the needle penetrates the fabric to compress it (even if it is a minor compression) the top thread won't be able to scoop the bobbin thread in the assembly and you'll get skipped stitches.

Well. I learned something new.

So!

I managed to finish the binding on the baby quilt yesterday - watch out for a TGIFF post on that project, to come.

I will also go through at some point and post all of the pics of the goodies I made heading my sister in law's way for her baby shower. I had a lot of fun - but the box going to her is HUGE. I fear for our postage bill from Chicago - Vancouver. Eep.

I also have a "new" machine...and if you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen it... (@sewathomemummy)....if you don't - I'll be posting about that soon too :D

(maybe I should have another "Name my Machine" contest, lol!)

Swaps
I'm considering hosting another swap here at the end of the summer or in the fall (or maybe even both - do one in August and then another, separate one in October, maybe Christmas themed). It won't be a fabric swap this time, I'm thinking made items - like pouches, pin cushions, machine covers, ornaments, etc. I may very well post a poll, and see what my readers might be most interested in participating in. If you have any thoughts on the matter, please, leave a comment!

Winners Announced
Did you scroll down straight to this part? LOL! Okay, so the winners of one Thread Stem

(this super fantastical gadget which allows you to use a cone on any home machine) are:
Winners, I have contacted you through the email addresses attached to your Blogger accounts.

If you'd like to learn more about the thread stem, click {here} to go to my post about it. It costs under $4, and in the post I do a cost comparison between spools vs. cones - believe me, you'll want to buy cones after this.

Also, if you're interested, I created a poll on Massdrop for major cone brands - if we get enough votes, they'll run the deal at a deep discount, and we'll get our cones for much less than MRSP. Click {here} to head over and vote if you get a chance! (They also have other Aurifil polls on, including ones for 12wt and for Designer's 50wt boxes (like "Simplify", "Binding Box", "Simply Color", etc.!)

Sharing the Coupon Love:
Are you still with me?

I feel like I'm writing a novella today. This is what I get for taking 2 days off.


Here are the super-skookum (that's a technical term) deals I've come across in my inbox this week from some of my sponsors/affiliates. Please feel free to add any of your own to the comments below - let's share the coupon love!

Sewing Machines Plus.com
I order a lot of my presser feet and bobbins, etc., through them, and I've heard that they have really excellent service with respect to machine purchases, too (from what other bloggers have said online). I see they are having a sale on thread and needles - I'm considering making a purchase of machine needles - I really need to change mine more often! They say after every 6 hours of sewing you should switch out.

Anywho!

Here's the code: 2014SMDW


Mad About Patchwork

Happy June 1, everyone!


If you're coming across this QAL for the first time, the links to the monthly block posts and patterns are in the right sidebar of the blog.

Each month I post the pattern to a traditional block and challenge you to put a modern spin on it. Once you've created your block, feel free to link up your block in the link-up at the bottom of each month's post. As well, we have a Flickr group! Make sure to upload it there, too!

Here is the QAL button for your blog posts/sidebar, if you so wish:

<div align="center">
<a href="http://www.sewathomemummy.com/2013/12/the-classic-meets-modern-qal-at-sew-at.html" title="Sew at Home Mummy" target="_blank"><img src="http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/sewathomemummy1/9b96ca11-fe49-4a07-84be-2fed7fb87810_zps3ad83995.jpg" alt="Sew at Home Mummy" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

This month we're up to some building shenanigans, making our very own log cabins. I've included TWO more modern patterns of the traditional block - I hope you enjoy making them (one or both, or one with your own spin on this super classic block!)



Click HERE to download the PDF instructions for this month's block(s), the "Mod Logs". 

You can link up your finished blocks below - happy piecing everyone, and I hope you have fun with this month's block!




    An InLinkz Link-up