Author Archives: Jennifer Ofenstein

About Jennifer Ofenstein

Owner of sewhooked.com and fandominstitches.com. #quiltforgood advocate. Quilt designer, instructor, Talk to Me Tuesday founder & contributor, cat mom, and craft enabler.

Paper Piecing Vintage: May

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It’s May Day, and the first of the month means a new Paper Piecing Vintage pattern!

Today’s installment is one I’m especially excited about. This pattern is about as traditional as you can get and there’s a good reason it’s still around…it’s cute, cute, cute!

I’ve dubbed my version Our Little House.

As with all the blocks from PPV, Our Little House is entirely paper pieced and both 6″ and 12″ patterns are included.

Our Little House, by Jennifer Ofenstein (sewhooked.com)

Already registered? Download your updated BOM file now!

Like many of the PPV blocks, the pieces for Our Little House are easy to pre-cut with a little measuring before you start.

Save some time by following these bonus directions for the 12″ block:

Use 2″ strips for the narrow pieces (windows, walls, narrow background strips)
Use 3 1/2″ strips for the roof and wide background pieces
Have fun!

April was my birthday month and I have already received many 6″ signature block for the Paper Piecing Vintage Signature Quilt! If you have not yet shared your block I will be accepting Signature Blocks until December 31, 2014. See your pattern for details!

Haven’t signed up for Paper Piecing Vintage yet? Registration for the entire year is just $12. That’s 12 patterns in two sizes (plus the occasional bonus!), entirely paper pieced for one awesome price! All patterns for the year to date are included when you download. Upcoming patterns will be added for you to download the first of each month in 2014.

Sign up for Paper Piecing Vintage now!

Don’t miss yesterday’s blog post for Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, Vol. 9 Blog Tour for a preview of my Yum Yum Strawberry Cake block and for two fun giveaways! Click here for my post!

PPV Prize April 2014

Join the Paper Piecing Vintage Facebook Group for exclusive content and to sew with friends!

Share your Paper Piecing Vintage photos with the Sewhooked flickr group for a chance to win fun prizes all year long. There’s still time to win the April prize (pictured above!). Winner and a new prize to be announced Monday, May 5!

Need some help with paper piecing? Check out my full-length workshop, shared free right here on Sewhooked!

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Learn to Paper Piece Sweet Skating Sue, just $3!

Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, Vol. 9 Blog Tour!

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Welcome to Sewhooked and thanks for stopping by for the Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Blog Tour for Volume 9!

If it’s your first visit to Sewhooked, welcome! If you’re an old friend, welcome back!

This is a super exciting day for me. Not only do I completely love my design for this issue, but it’s the fourth time one of my blocks was chosen for 100 Blocks, which you have to admit, is super happy-making!

Be sure and stick around to the end for TWO awesome giveaways!

Here it is, my delicious block, Yum Yum Strawberry Cake! You can find it on page 38.

Strawberry Yum Yum, by Jennifer Ofenstein

This part never gets old for me!

Yum Yum, Strawberry Cake was born from a sketch of cake. It was just a doodle really. I was having coffee, and as I tend to do, was doodling as I talked. And then there was cake!

This particular block was made using a variety of fabrics from my stash. There’s a little Michael Miller, some Moda and some Timeless Treasures, as well as a few miscellaneous scraps for the stem. Maybe we should say Yum Yum Fabric!

To add a bit of interest, I decided a declaration of the deliciousness of cake was in order! I use a variety of methods to transfer embroidery to fabric, but for this project, I decided Saral wax free paper would work best. It comes off fairly easily, so it isn’t great for highly detailed embroidery, but it’s perfect for something simple and fast like “yum yum.”

You can find Saral paper on Amazon or at your local arts & crafts supply.

Here’s what the traced word looks like. Perfect for stitching!

Strawberry Yum Yum, by Jennifer Ofenstein

While working on my design for Yum Yum Strawberry Cake, I kept coming back to the idea of placemats. How fun, how easy and how very summery! I created four coordinating placemats with four different cakes in similar styles. You can find this photo in the same issue of QM, page 20.

Strawberry Yum Yum placemat by Jennifer Ofenstein

I can’t even begin to tell you how happy these placemats make me! I hope to be able to share instructions for them very soon!

And now, the part of this post you’ve been waiting for…

The GIVEAWAYS: I have not one, but TWO giveaways today!

To enter BOTH giveaways: leave a comment letting me know what your favorite dessert is. Easy right?!

You must share contact information with your comment to be eligible to win.

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 9

First of all, I have a copy of 100 Blocks Vol. 9 for one commentor that will come directly from Quiltmaker! The winner for this issue will be chosen on Sunday, May 4. Because this issue comes from Quiltmaker, I will need to hear back from the winner ASAP or the issue will go to the next name drawn.

Blog Tour Giveaway Vol 9

Next we have a giveaway directly from Sewhooked! The winner of my drawing will receive a fabric bundle and a copy of my Texas Twofer Collection!

PPV Prize April 2014

Share your Paper Piecing Vintage photos with the Sewhooked flickr group in April and you’ll have a chance to win a copy of Quilts From 100 Blocks, Fall 2013 (includes a pattern designed by me!) as well as copies of my patterns Poppies from the Past and My Kitchen Window!

Winners for both 100 Blocks giveaways and for the Paper Piecing Vintage drawing announced on Monday, May 5!

Thanks so much for stopping by. If it was your first time, I do hope to see you again!

Until then, happy stitching!

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Posts on this blog may contain affiliate links. Thank you for your support. ♥

TTMT #258 – Wrapping Up April!

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Did you miss my post about selling and sharing patterns on Craftsy? Check it out here!

Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Blog Tour is going on now! Be sure to stop by tomorrow to see my design from this issue up close and personal! There will be two fun prizes to win (shown in this video), so don’t miss it!

On Thursday, May 1, the Paper Piecing Vintage May pattern will be ready for download and I’ll have a post right here on Sewhooked talking about the newest installment!

PPV Prize April 2014

Hope to see you tomorrow!

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Featured: Cross My Hearts (paper pieced), just $2.95 on Craftsy

Just a Reminder…

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Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Blog Tour begins tomorrow! There were will be lots of wonderful quilters participating, many of them with awesome giveaways!

Be sure to stop by Sewhooked on April 30 for my 100 Blocks post! I’ll share a sneak peek of my block from this issue as well as a fun giveaway!

Can you guess which block is mine by looking at the cover?

#100blocks swag is here! #quiltmaker

Lovely goodies from Quiltmaker! I need to do a group shot with all my mugs and buttons!

PPV Prize April 2014

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Featured: Cross My Hearts (paper pieced), just $2.95 on Craftsy

How to Add & Sell a Pattern on Craftsy

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Hi there Sewhooked friends!

As you probably know by now, I am an independant pattern designer, sharing patterns both here and on Fandom In Stitches, selling on Etsy and Craftsy and with the occasional pattern published in a magazine.

While I started designing years before Craftsy existed, it is the existence of Craftsy that kicked my ability to design and share both my free and for sale patterns to a wider crafty audience. What is most helpful to me as an indie designer with limited resources is that Craftsy is free for me to use. FREE. If you are a Designer, you know how hard it can be to scrape a living selling patterns. There are a million patterns online and many, many of them free. Making money in this industry is hard, but thanks to Craftsy, it’s a little bit easier and I can keep on doing what I love.

Without Craftsy, I would not had a venue for Paper Piecing Vintage, the 2014 Sewhooked Block of the Month, an event that I’ve not only loved creating but, here’s that word again, sharing!

Many of my readers are also Designers and I know at least a few of you lovely people that have indicated you would like to share your patterns but you don’t know where to start. I have some super useful information directly from Craftsy that will help you get started!

Want to design, but don’t know where to start?

We have some great resources over on Fandom In Stitches to help get you going!

I’d like to add that you do not have to sell patterns on Craftsy to share patterns. You can opt to share patterns for free. For my Designer friends that work on fandom patterns, FREE is always your best choice. Keep in mind the moment you start selling fandom-related patterns, you violate laws surrounding derivative work and risk copyright infringement.

Full Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links which means I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through.

In addition to wonderful online courses and craft supplies, Craftsy also has an independent online pattern store that lets anyone upload and sell downloadable e-patterns with no fee!

How do you add a pattern to Craftsy and start your pattern store? It’s easy!

1. Make sure you have a Paypal account. All pattern transactions happen through Paypal, and Craftsy requires that you have a Student, Premier, or Business account in order to sell patterns.
2. Put your pattern in .pdf format. You can’t upload any patterns to the online pattern store unless they’re a .pdf file format, so if they’re currently saved as a Word doc, .jpg, or other file format, you must convert it to a .pdf before you upload it to Craftsy. (See Fandom In Stitches for some easy ways to do this.)
3. Include a photo. All patterns must have at least one photo to accompany them, but you can add up to five photos. Colorful, interesting photos tend to work the best for catching our members’ eyes!
4. Fill out the pattern description. We will ask you some basic questions around your pattern making it easier for Craftsy folk to find your pattern and know what your pattern is for. Make sure you have info about your pattern handy for this step.

For more information on how to sell a pattern through Craftsy, or to get started, visit Craftsy today!

Be sure to stop by Sewhooked on April 30 for a sneak peek of my block in the upcoming Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks and for a chance to win fun prizes!

PPV Prize April 2014

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Featured Pattern: Bluebonnet to Hand Embroider, just $2 on Craftsy!

TTMT #257 – Reluctant Kitty & PoD 2014

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The following quilts and blanket were seen in today’s video and have all now been donated to The Linus Connection. I share pattern links wherever possible.

2014 04 April Linus Donation (14)

Garden Party blocks (made by me) plus two donated Stars for Linus! Pieced, quilted & bound by me.

Fleece remnant with crochet edge. Sadly, I photographed the back side, so the edge isn’t as pretty!

Tumbler quilt made from a kit at the last work day for The Linus Connection. Quilted by Osie.

Made from donated orphan blocks and Stars for Linus. Pieced, quilted and bound by me.

Made from donated orphan blocks with a few nine patches made by me to coordinate. Pieced, quilted and bound by me. Thanks to my friend Marge for the idea to use the black sashing!

Made from donated orphan blocks and donated sales samples. Pieced, quilted & bound by me.

A kit started by someone else, finished by me using fabrics I had on hand. Quilted and bound by me.

2014 UFO To Do List

HP Swap Quilt
Vintage Quilt Top
Churn Dash Quilt
~~10 Minute Block Quilt~~ – Completed & donated to The Linus Connection
~~PoD Signature Quilt~~ – Done!
TABABOM Signature Quilt
Embroidered Flower Quilt
Topsy Turvy Trees
Australia Quilt – fabric measured and organized
~~Flannel orphan blocks~~ – Completed & donated to The Linus Connection
Mustachio
~~Misc. Blocks (orphan, blog hops, etc.)~~ – Five quilts completed & donated to The Linus Connection
~~Garden Party blocks~~ – Completed & donated to The Linus Connection
NAWWAL
~~Wedding Quilt Orphan Blocks~~ – Completed & donated to The Linus Connection
80s T-Shirts

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 9

I totally forgot to mention that I have a pattern coming out in the next Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks! Be sure to stop by Sewhooked on April 30 for a sneak peek and a chance to win fun prizes!

PPV Prize April 2014

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Featured Pattern: Bicycle!, just $2.95 on Craftsy!

Something to Get Excited About!

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I’m so excited that it’s almost time for another Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks!

Due to circumstances outside my control, I missed the opportunity to submit a pattern for Vol. 8 and I really missed being part of the fantastic un that is the 100 Blocks Blog Tour.

Be sure to stop by on April 30, 2014 to see my block design and enter to win fun prizes during the 100 Blocks Blog Tour!

Beginning May 6, I will have a limited amount of signed copies available for sale in my Etsy shop.

Here’s a peek at this volume’s spectacular cover! I’m thrilled to have made the cover again…I wonder if you can guess which design is mine!?

PPV Prize April 2014

I’ll see you again tomorrow for Talk To Me Tuesday!

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Featured Pattern: Bicycle!, just $2.95 on Craftsy!

TTMT #256 – Be Charitable

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In this video:

PPV Prize April 2014

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Featured Pattern: Bicycle!, just $2.95 on Craftsy!

Linus Craziness, Special Doom, Pretty Kitty and a Craftsy Sale!

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It’s been a crazy Linus Connection-filled week for me! While our actual meeting isn’t until next weekend, I have spearheaded a yarn drive to help my favorite blanket charity. We have been in serious need of yarn donations and what better place to ask for help than my online friends?

Everyone that knits or crochets will, possibly grudgingly admit that we all have balls, skeins and hanks of yarn that we are never going to use. That yarn taking up space? We can use it! The Linus Connection needs 100% acrylic washable yarn to make our child-friendly hypo-allergenic blankets for kids in need in Central Texas.

Have yarn? Drop me an email and I’ll send you my mailing address!

My basting mojo was high yesterday! I paired five orphan block quilt with backs and batting and then basted them all! One is quilted with four more to go! Each and every one of these will go to The Linus Connection when complete and a couple of these will be great big check marks on my 2014 UFO completion list!

A special shout out to Sarah from Houston. All of the batting used for these quilts came from her donation!

Yarn donations are coming in! Yarny goodness from Sarah in Houston!

Pretties from my dear friend Amber. This is the second box of yarn she’s sent!

Here’s another wonderful donation from Liza! Yarn and blankets and granny squares, oh my!

There’s a VERY special Project (of Doom!) going on over on Fandom In Stitches. It’s this week only, so if you’re a quilter, please be sure to check it out!

Rose came out of hiding to visit us downstairs earlier this week. She’s coming out of her shell little by little. The poor sweetie lived a long time in a shelter’s kennel, and all the space she has access to now is a bit overwhelming. We’ve been using a Feliway diffuser, which seems to be making all the difference!

This part of the post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links

Surprise! Craftsy has just announced a Spring Flash Sale for this weekend only! Discover huge savings on select online Craftsy classes, but for a very limited time .Visit Craftsy to reveal what classes are on sale, but hurry, this offer expires at 11:59 MT on Sunday, April 13, 2014!

Craftsy Spring Flash Sale

PPV Prize April 2014

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