Giveaway Winner: Anna Maria’s Needleworks Notebook

Happy Friday, everyone! Did you enter the giveaway for Anna Maria’s Needleworks Notebook? I hope you took the time to throw your hat in the ring! Today’s winner (chosen at random) is…Debbie H! Congrats, Debbie!

Hope you all have a good weekend! Check back here next week for another cool giveaway and a free project, too.

New from Anna Maria!

It’s a rainy Monday here, but the fact that I get to introduce the latest book from Anna Maria Horner is certainly brightening my day! Anna Maria’s Needleworks Notebook is another gorgeous offering from this amazingly talented designer and author of Seams to Me and Handmade Beginnings. This new book features 24 original motifs for cross-stitch, needlepoint, embroidery, and crewel, each one presented in a warm, personal notebook style. Anna’s practical instruction will have you stitching alongside her and completing fine detail work in no time! My favorite part is that she includes the exact fabrics and thread color numbers for every pattern, so there’s no guessing about which materials you need to re-create the looks in the book.

Want to win a copy? Now’s your chance! Leave a comment on this post before noon on Friday, and I’ll select a random winner to be announced on Friday afternoon.

Sewn Hats Giveaway Winner!

Thanks for your great comments on Carla Crim‘s book Sewn Hats! I’ve chosen a winner using Random.org, and the lucky lady is . . . Rachelle. Congrats, Rachelle! I hope you love the book as much as we do!

Wrapping Up the Sewn Hats Blog Tour…with a Giveaway!

Happy Wednesday, everybody! Today I have the bittersweet task of marking the end of Carla Crim‘s blog tour for Sewn Hats – right here where it all started, at Wiley Craft. We are so proud of Carla and her amazing book! It features a whopping 35 adorable patterns for babies, kids, women, and men, like those below, and all of them are conveniently located online, so you can access and print them whenever you choose.

The great news is that we’re giving away one free copy of the book! Leave a comment on this post by noon Eastern on Monday, October 15, and I’ll select a winner at random.

Two More Stops on the Sewn Hats Blog Tour!

Late-breaking news: We’ve got two more fabulous stops on the blog tour we announced last week.

September 15: Fig Tree Quilts

September 18: Prudent Baby

The blog tour has been updated, but I wanted to be sure you all didn’t miss these great stops!

Sewn Hats is on Tour!

We could not be more excited about Sewn Hats, the new collective by Carla Crim (the Scientific Seamstress) that brings together an amazing pool of talented designers. All of our copies here at Wiley are dog-eared and sticky-tabbed with the hats each of us are planning to make.

Want to join the excitement? You can experience the book virtually as a whole raft of fantastic bloggers and designers introduce you to the one-of-a-kind hats you’ll find in this collection. Here’s where Sewn Hats will be for the next month:

9/5   MODKID Boutique

9/6   French General

9/10   Pink Chalk Studio

9/11   Lulu Bliss

9/13   Green Bee Patterns

9/14   Goosie Girl Boutique

9/15   Fig Tree Quilts

9/17   Melissa Stramel from Lilac Lane

9/18  Prudent Baby

9/19   One Girl Circus

9/20   Tie Dye Diva Designs

9/21   Figgy’s Patterns

9/25   Craftiness is not Optional

9/26   Bari J.

9/27   Confessions of a Craft Addict

9/28   Jennifer Paganelli at Sis Boom

10/1   Sew Mama Sew

10/2   Aesthetic Nest

10/3   Blue Nickel Studios

10/4   Betz White

10/8   Yummy Goods

10/10   Wiley Craft

(Well, this is my record for longest-time-writing-a-blog-post-ever, as creating the links for these fun and creative blogs found me spending *just a few* minutes at each site, and then remembering, hey, wait, I need to finish this post so you all know where to go stop by!)

While you’re at each site, be sure to sign up for the book giveaway. Each blog will be giving away a copy of this fun book.

When the tour wraps up, stop by here and see what we’ve whipped up from this collection!

Sewn Hats is Here!

If you’re looking for a fun, unique, sewing projects for yourself and everyone you love, check out our new book Sewn Hats! Edited by Carla Crim, founder of Scientific Seamstress LLC, and featuring a ton of amazing contributors, you’ll find the perfect hat for everyone. One feature that I love about this book is that most of the hats are sized from baby through men’s, so if, say, a special man in my life is pining for Betz White’s adorable and animal-friendly “coonskin” cap, I can oblige.

This collection features 27 top-shelf contributors, including such creative and loved designers as Patti Young, Joanna Figueroa, Kathy Mack, Jennifer Paganelli, and Karen LePage. One special bit of love we added here is that all pattern pieces are housed online, so you can print what you need, when you need it, and tragedy doesn’t strike should you misplace a piece: You simply print another copy. We’ve all been there, ripping apart the craft closet, at 2 a.m., looking for a missing pattern piece!

The book is out now and available everywhere books are sold. We can’t wait to see your great creations.

Let’s Go Fishing!

The Let’s Go Fishing Hat (shown on the cover) is one of the reader favorites in Shelly Figueroa & Karen LePage‘s Sewing for Boys: 24 Projects to Create a Handmade Wardrobe. The raw edges and patchwork nature of this hat are the definition of weekend summer casual. The authors recommend using up your old scraps or old shirts to make a hat your boys will want to wear. Click the cover above for the free pattern.

Free Project: Saturday Market Skirt

Ever since we published Sewing Bits & Pieces, I’ve wanted to make the Saturday Market Skirt. Tell me how cute this is.

As my four-year-old would say, “SO cute!”

With drought hitting the Midwest, the idea of a flowy, pretty skirt that catches even the slightest breeze became more and more appealing, and last week I grabbed a stack of fabric from my stash and finally made the skirt. The verdict? LOVE IT. Absolutely love it. The construction is so well put together and finished, and it was a lot of fun to sew.

Do you want to make your own? You can get the free pattern here. Sandi sized the pattern from young girl to women’s XL, so it’s perfect for everyone who wants to add a little flair to her wardrobe.

Summer Bolster

Vintage AND practical–what’s not to love? The summer bolster is one of my favorite projects from Maya Donenfeld‘s Reinvention. It transforms your winter down comforter into a lovely storage pillow that can be showcased year-round. Maya suggests using a larger piece of an antique textile such as a bed sheet, coverlet, or tablecloth. Perfect for refashioning that heirloom that has been hiding away in the closet. Click on the above picture for instructions and be sure to read her heartwarming story at the end. Thanks, Maya!