Welcome to the first day of the 2012 Sewhooked Summer Challenge!

This is a super fun, super simple challenge with a fun prize!

The challenge is this… make any project from a pattern or tutorial designed by me, Jennifer Ofenstein, and take a photo of yourself and/or your project at a fun or interesting location and then post that photo to the Sewhooked flickr group!

Your projects can come from the Sewhooked Shop, Free Patterns, Yarn Patterns or Tutorials (which includes stencils, stitching projects, crafts and more!) OR any pattern designed by me that’s been posted on another site, like Fandom In Stitches, or any of my published work (like May Showers Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks).

In short, if I designed it, shared it, posted it or published it, you can use it for the 2012 Sewhooked Summer Challenge!

Photos must be posted to the Sewhooked flickr group by 8 am (CST) on July 1, 2012 and only photos tagged “2012 Sewhooked Challenge” will be included. Please include the location in your photo’s description.

July 1…. That’s one whole month to get your awesome, fun, wacky photos posted!

I will post all the challenge photos to Sewhooked during the first week of July and the winner will be chosen via anonymous poll.

The winner will receive the above prize pack:  TWO autographed books: Go! Baby Quilting (signed by contributing quilter Osie Lebowitz), Treasures from the 30s (signed by author Nancy Mahoney), three fun pin-back buttons, two skeins of posh specialty yarn, a pack of sweet fabrics, and my own pattern, In a Castle. I reserve the right to ADD MORE PRIZES before the July 1 deadline! Please contact me if you’d like to contribute to the prize pack!

Want to spread the word? Grab the code for the Challenge button here!

To celebrate the Sewhooked 2012 Summer Challenge, I am offering 10% off your total purchase from the Sewhooked Shop for the entire month of June. Starting right now, through midnight, July 1, use coupon code SUMMER2012. Offer valid here on Sewhooked and in my Etsy Shop. Not valid on Craftsy.

Have fun with this…and don’t forget to say CHEESE!

STITCHED registration is now only $40! Click for details

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In this video:

Grannie’s Signature Quilt. See each block individually here. Look for a HUGE post about this quilt as I compile the history on the signatures.

Mustachio! 12 Mustaches to paper piece – each block is 6″ x 9″ (6 1/2″ x 9 1/2″ unfinished). To make the quilt show, use 1 1/2″ sashing and borders.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for a fun photo challenge with a great prize package!

STITCHED registration is now only $40! Click for details

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Hey, ho, awesome announcement time!

STITCHED, where I am one of a multitude of awesome video workshop instructors, is almost six months old…woo-hoo!

It is also our wonderful founder, Alma Stoller‘s, birthday!

*throws confetti*

With six months still to go in this year-long endeavor, I am excited and thrilled to announce that registration has now been reduced from $89 to just $40!

That’s $40 for access to 20+ fabric workshops, including my own, Paper Piecing Art: Beginner and Beyond.

Just to put it in perspective, one three-hour class in real life will start at about $30. For just $10 more you can have access to more than twenty video workshops and all the instructors of those workshops for the next six months.

In my workshop, Paper Piecing Art: Beginner and Beyond, I take you through paper piecing step by step using an original pattern I designed especially for STITCHED! I share all my tips and tricks for making paper piecing both fast and fun and at the end, you’ll have an 8 1/2″ x 10 1/2″ piece of fabric art great for using in cushions, wall hangings, tote bags and more, plus the skills you need to tackle any paper pieced pattern!

Use your STITCHED project to make a cushion cover…

or a piece of art…

or get scrappy with a fun wall hanging!

Did I mention that all instructors, including myself are available for any question you might have?

Did I mention we have show and tell and special extras just for STITCHED members?

Did I mention that there are awesome giveaways each month just for STITCHED members?

No? Well, now you know!

That is some kind of serious bargain!

Treat yourself to 20+ workshops by experienced instructors and learn something awesome (and new!)….I hope to see you there!

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• In a Castle
• Mustachio! – 12 Mustaches to Paper Piece
• The Linus Connection
• Talk To Me Tuesday Community (find Terri and Satia there with the other TTMT girls!)

Brother 1034D, my new toy!

12 for 2012 was my challenge to myself and my readers to finish one UFO a month during 2012. Most of these are older projects, and they are all personal projects that have been neglected while I work on other things. So far, so good!

Read the original 12 for 2012 post.

• Bear Paw (1/12) – Completed and gifted!
• InuYasha Quilt (2/12) – Completed and gifted!
• Project of Doom Signature Quilt (3/12 – March) –Top Complete, borders added! Adding Embroidery.
• The Project of Doom* (4/12 – April) - complete!
• Granny’s Signature Quilt* (5/12 – May) – quilting complete, needs binding/label
• Embroidery BOM (6/12 – June) - in queue
• New York Beauty (7/12 – July)  - Completed and gifted!
• 5 @ The Hive 2011 (8/12 – August) - in queue
• Vintage Quilt Top (9/12 – September) - in queue
• Hand Applique (10/12 – October) - in queue
• HP/Magical Swap Blocks (11/12 – November) - in queue
• Churn Dash/Snowball ) (12/12 – December) - in queue

Read more about my 12 UFOs for 2012!

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Register Now for STITCHED and learn to paper piece with my full-length video workshop!

In A Castle + Fairy Tale Femmes

In a Castle is a simple, fun layout designed especially to feature 5″ (finished) quilt blocks, and is the newest addition to my pattern Shop!

Use your favorite paper pieced patterns, applique or fussy cut fabrics to create a personalized castle for someone special.

I’ve tried it a couple of different ways now and my absolute favorite combination so far is the one shown above, In A Castle + Fairy Tale Femmes.

$6 - PDF Instant Download 

secure shopping with e-junkie 

Also available on Craftsy

Finished size – 30 1/2” x 38 1/2”

strip/traditionally pieced

And, because I just want to…a close up of the quilting on my castle.

In a Castle with plain windows…still cute!

I can just imagine this with witches and wizards in the windows, a la Sunbonnet Sue’s Magical Friends!

Here it is with a little fussy cutting. I think this one will be donated to The Linus Connection once I have it all quilted. I love how whimsical the different fabrics look!

See you tomorrow for TTMT and a little 12 for 2012!

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Register Now for STITCHED and learn to paper piece with my full-length video workshop!

What with Blog Hops, awesome giveaways, Quiltmaker, quilt shows and my Trunk Show last weekend (wow, did that all really happen in the last month?!), I haven’t had much chance to mention my favorite charitable cause, The Linus Connection!

Despite all The Crazy, I continue with my personal goal to donate two blankets per month through Linus to children in crisis in Central Texas. This time of year is especially crucial because our requests tend to go up at the end of the summer as homeless teens graduate and we stockpile blankets for bereavement camps.

The quilt above is a Wonky Stars quilt I put together for last month’s Linus demo. When I took it to the meeting, it was just a quilt top, but with an hour or so of a Harry Potter audiobook and my favorite sewing machine, I have it done and ready to turn in!

I would love to take full responsibility for this beautiful quilt, but I cannot! The center medallion was pieced by a very kind and talented lady named Patty, who then donated it to Linus. I added the borders, quilted and bound it, all ready to be donated at tomorrow’s meeting!

Want to help?

I collect 12″ (12 1/2″ unfinished) star blocks for The Linus Connection!

Click for more information.

I hope you are all having a lovely week and that, wherever you are, you have a beautiful and crafty weekend!

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Register Now for STITCHED and learn to paper piece with my full-length video workshop!

I picked up these fun fabrics yesterday afternoon during a quick stop at the new Austin-area quilt store Remnants:fiber[culture]!

I think I might be having a bit of a thing for dots at the moment…

The store’s owner, Jessica, is an energetic and enthusiastic quilter and the store is an awesomely eclectic boutique setting. Jessica offers fantastic mod fabrics as kits, yardage, and bundles, as well as edge-to-edge long-arm quilting for a penny an inch.

The Austin Modern Quilt Guild meets there once a month, too, how cool!

In case you’re out and about in Austin, here’s the address of this cute and quirky shop:

Remnants:fiber[culture]
10435 Burnet Road
Suite 106
Austin, Texas

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Register Now for STITCHED and learn to paper piece with my full-length video workshop!

Thanks again to the girls at Honey Bee Quilt Store and all my visitors for making my first ever Trunk Show an awesome success!

Find all the quilts featured in this video in the Sewhooked Shop.

See the pictures from this video here.

If you’d like to order a signed (by me!) copy of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks vol. 5, please call Honey Bee Quilt Store at 512-257-1269.

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Register Now for STITCHED and learn to paper piece with my full-length video workshop!

Yesterday was an exceedingly special day for me!

A Huge, HUGE thank you goes out to Honey Bee Quilt Store for hosting my first-ever Trunk Show. A very special thank you goes out to my friends that came by to help out and cheer me on, as well as the multitude of visitors that so kindly came by to share part of their day with me!

I can’t say enough good things about all the people I was lucky enough to get to visit with. In the photo above, you see me with blog reader Sarah (wearing an awesome Doctor Who tee!!), who came all the way from Houston! We had a lovely visit and it was wonderful to get to meet her face to face. Thanks for coming, Sarah!

If you came yesterday, THANK YOU. I was nervous and excited and it was a wonderful, wonderful day. Everyone I met was so kind about my work and it was lovely to get to share with so many new faces.

As a special thank you to my readers, helpers and yesterday’s visitors and for all the moms out there on this Mother’s Day, I offer you this sweet pair of free patterns.

Pecking Chick and Sitting Hen

both are 5″ paper pieced

Here they are together, with Sitting Hen increased to a 10″ block!

Both mother and baby can be found on my Free Pattern page or by clicking the links above.

Have a lovely day and thank you all for the gifts you have given me by being part of my life!

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Register Now for STITCHED and learn to paper piece with my full-length video workshop!

Hoo, boy, I have been uncharacteristically quiet this week!

The reason for this is simple, my beloved friends, tomorrow is my very first Trunk Show and I have been busy getting ready.

Trunk Show featuring Jennifer Ofenstein
Honey Bee Quilt Store
10am – Noon, Saturday May 12, 2012
9308 Anderson Mill Rd #300
Austin, TX 78729

What’s a Trunk Show, you say? Well, it’s a bit like a one-woman show.

This is your chance to see many of my Sewhooked projects in fabric! There will be oodles of Sewhooked patterns for sale, some of which are making their quilt store debut!

There will be Quiltmaker 100 Blocks, Vol. 5 on hand to buy (and I’ll sign my block, if you like!) as well as some fun freebies and a drawing for a wall hanging made by yours truly! 

I really hope to see you there! If you’re a blog reader, please be sure to let me know. I love being able to put faces to names.

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 Shop Sewhooked and help keep the free pattern page free!

Register Now for STITCHED and learn to paper piece with my full-length video workshop!