We have winners!

Geese Migrations Blog Hop 

Winners!

Congratulations to 

Cathy W. from Texas 

and 

Nancy D. from California

They each won a set of papers to make Tropical Storm!

Thank you to everyone who left comments.  I can't wait to see the quilts from the book come alive in new and exciting color ways!

Geese Migrations Book Blog Hop!

Geese Migrations

Blog Hop Book Tour and Giveaway

Day 1

Sew happy to have you join us on Day 1 of the Geese Migrations Blog Hop Book Tour!

Make sure you visit ALL of the participating BLOGS each day.

You will see some FANTASTIC quilts AND have the chance to WIN some great prizes too!

In case you aren't familiar with the book "Geese Migrations", it is a compilation of 29 different patterns from Quiltworx.com Certified Shops!  One of the many perks of being a Certified Shop are the fun promotions we get to be involved in and this was one of them.

If you haven't purchased the book yet, call the shop and we'll get one to you!

During this "HOP", you'll be introduced to some of the quilts in the book.

Tropical Storm

Tropical Storm is the quilt in Geese Migrations designed by Crafty Threads!  The pattern instructions for this 60"x72" quilt are all in the book, you just need to purchase the package of papers.  All the quilts in the book are great for beginners!  

As with any quilt, it is amazing what a change in colors does for the look.

Want to win a set of papers to "Tropical Storm"?

We are giving away two sets of the papers for our Tropical Storm!

Leave a comment telling which quilt in the book is your favorite.  I will draw 2 names from the entrants on Tuesday, June 30th and each will win a $24 set of papers for Tropical Storm.  Make sure you leave your email address so I can notify you when you win!

Each blog on the hop will be giving away prizes, so make sure you visit every one in the list below on, or after, their scheduled day and follow their instructions to enter!  

Lots of prizes, lots of chances!!

Click on the links below on, or after, the assigned days and get to know even more quilts from Geese Migrations!

Monday 

June 22 Canton Village Quilt Works  

June 22 Crafty Threads

June 22 Wish Upon A Quilt  

Tuesday

June 23 Scrap Apple Quilts  

June 23 Always Quilting 

Wednesday

June 24 The Quilter's Market 

June 24 JanniLou Creations 

June 24 Quilter's Corner Virginia  

Thursday

June 25 Scruffy Quilts 

June 25 Sew-Ciety 

June 25 Stitchin Heaven 

Friday

June 26 Backdoor Quilt Shoppe  

June 26 The Quilter's Attic

A special prize drawing will be held by Judy Niemeyer.  They will be giving away one copy of Geese Migrations and a kit to Judy's design in the book, Fish Ladders!  Your comment telling your favorite quilt in the book makes you eligible for these prizes too! 

Happy blog hopping!

Barb

Crafty Threads

813-855-3066

www.CraftyThreads.com

Welcome! Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit the Crafty Threads blog!

This blog tour is hosted by Timeless Treasures to celebrate the release of Judy & Judel Niemeyer's first-ever fabric line, The Reclaimed West.

Crafty Threads has been a Judy Niemeyer

Certified Shop since June 2013.

I always liked paper piecing, but when I discovered the "Judy" method of paper piecing, 

I was forever hooked.

Take a class, pick up one of her MANY patterns, and fall in love with paper piecing all over again!

I chose the pattern "Golden Harvest" to highlight the lighter shades of the Reclaimed West.

First, I made sure all the cows were not standing on their heads!

Cows? In Florida? Sure thing!

Florida's ranchers raise the third largest number of cattle of any state east of the Mississippi.

The photo above shows part of the piecing process.  Everything fits together so precisely.

That's the beauty of paper piecing!

"TA DA"!  The finished top!

We have this version of "Golden Harvest" in a limited number of kits.  You can see all of our Judy Niemeyer pattern and kit selections on our website.

Crafty Threads website 

Want to win?

ENTER THE TIMELESS TREASURES GIVEAWAY — Starting Nov 17^th – The giveaway will be open for entries throughout ALL five days of the blog tour. 

THREE WINNERS will be selected on Monday, Nov. 24^th at Noon Eastern Time.

Follow this link to enter!

http://www.ttfabrics.com/reclaimed-west-blog-tour

** EACH OF THE THREE WINNERS WILL RECEIVE: one fat eighth bundle of the entire Reclaimed West collection (24 pcs), one 52-pc charm pack of the Reclaimed West collection, one Braided Table Runner pattern by Quiltworx/Judy Niemeyer, one Geese in the West pattern by Cindi McCracken, one Reclaimed West bookmark & bag tag set from Quilt Dots, one spool of coordinating thread from the Reclaimed West designer thread set available from Aurifil.

Be sure to visit all of the Blog Hop Participants to see more great projects made in The Reclaimed West fabric line.

November 17

Carla Klop, Kits by Carla - http://www.kitsbycarla.com/blog

Catherine Wilson, Queenie Quilts - http://queeniequiltsblogs.blogspot.com

Lisa McCarthy, Compass Point Quilts - www.compasspointquilts.com

November 18

Deborah Brizendine, Just Stitchin with Deborah - http://juststitchinwithdeborah.blogspot.com/

Denise Green, HollyDee Quilts - http://hollydeequilts.net

Sandy Lueth, Totes by Sandy - http://www.totes-by-sandy.com

November 19

Cathy McKillip, Wish Upon A Quilt - http://wishuponaquilt.com/blog

Marcia Nagel/Megan Bohr, Pine Needles Quilt & Sew - http://thepineconepress.blogspot.com/

Stacey Day, Stacey in Stitches - http://staceyinstitches.wordpress.com

November 20

Barb Linares, Crafty Threads - http://craftyquilts.blogspot.com/

Jennifer Eubank, Archipelago Quilting - http://jennifersewing.wordpress.com/

Konda Luckau, Moose on the Porch Quilts - http://www.moosequilts.com/blog

Susan Nelson, Prairie Sky Quilts - http://blog.prairieskyquilting.com

November 21

Jackie Kunkel, Canton Village Quilt Works - http://cvquiltworks.com/blogs/blog

Lauren Rogers, Backdoor Quilt Shoppe - www.backdoorquiltshoppe.wordpress.com

Osie Lebowitz, From Needle and Thread - http://www.fromneedleandthread.com/

Timeless Treasures, SewTimeless (Giveaways!) - http://www.ttfabrics.com/blog/

Koru and the warrior princesses

Koru is Maori for loop.  This loop symbolizes new life, growth, strength and peace.

Elizabeth chose this symbol during a 

crazy discussion about tattoos.

A strange and wonderful combination of "fateful" events occured and two friends supported each other in getting (almost) matching tattoos.

In honor of you, Elizabeth.

New life, growth, strength, and peace.

With love from your warrior princesses.

Faith, Hope & Love

Faith!

All the petty arguments, hurt feelings, and day to day inconveniences seem so, so, so trivial when someone close to you is battling cancer.

My heart hurts for Elizabeth, but not as much as she hurts.

I want to take away her pain, but not as much as she wishes for relief.

I want her to tell me how to help, but doesn't that just add to her burden?

Hope!

What gets me through each day is my belief that our lives are in His hands and He has a purpose for each of us.  Rarely do we know what that purpose is until long after He has pointed us down the right path, but the purpose is there and we just have to have patience and trust and hope and faith.

Love!

And laughter - there can never be too much laughter!  

Cancer SUCKS!

October 3rd, 2014 at 2:45 p.m. my friend answers my text 

"I'm sorry to say it isn't good."

She was still at the doctors office getting the results 

from various scans she had the day before.

Bottom line, her cancer had returned.

It's name is Metastatic Breast Cancer and it SUCKS!

Elizabeth Johnston is my friend, my employee, and the most fun spirit that has ever crossed my path.  We are sisters in so many ways, none of which include having the same parents.  We think alike, we are both breast cancer survivors, our husbands are geeks, the tools in the house belong to us, and, best of all, we share the love of everything fabric & sewing & yarn & wool...

Because she is a breast cancer survivor, this cancer will also be known as breast cancer - although it is not in her breast(s).  

Metastatic breast cancer can be in the bones, liver and/or brain.

For Elizabeth, it has chosen her bones and her liver.

She started radiation for the bone "mets" that is on her spine - it was causing her extreme pain.  She also has a bone "mets" at the base of her skull.

This round of radiation will end on November 3rd.

The next order of business is to attack the cancer in her liver.  This will start with MAJOR (is there minor?) chemo on November 10th.

Please understand that all of this information is 2nd, or 3rd hand and I might not have all of the "lingo" exactly correct.  

My goal is to share her story with you, for her, so that she can focus all her energy on her fight.

She wants to be at Crafty Threads as much as she can 

- it is her happy place!

   

But... she doesn't have the strength to answer questions, listen to anecdotes, hear about herbal remedies, or how acupuncture helped a friend of a friend.

She really likes her doctors and she and her husband, Keith, are comfortable with the proposed course of treatment.  

Well wishes, prayers, strength, and hope, are the things she longs for and needs the most.

And laughter - there can NEVER be too much laughter!

I have set up a fundraising website to help with her medical expenses here:
Warriors for Elizabeth

Giving Back

It is so easy to 'Give Back' 

when you have been given so much!!

Here at Crafty Threads we have so much fun giving to our community and customers that it has become second nature.  Our hearts are always open to the next BIG idea!

The great thing about the charities below is that they are so easy to help. 

Each site has a list of what you can do to help and if your time is limited, there is still a way!

Quilts of Valor: This group was started at Crafty Threads to give back in one of the biggest ways possible and you don't even have to make a quilt.  On the site there is a list of ways to help from donating fabric or batting to making a quilt.
Quilts are donated to: “cover ALL combat service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor.”  This foundation is not about politics.  It’s about people.


Project Linus:  THE Tampa area drop off point for quilt, fabric and yarn donations.
This organization is all about the kids and again there are many ways to help: crochet, preemie quilts, etc. and patterns are listed as well to help you get started.
http://www.projectlinus.org/volunteer/volunteer.php?StateKey=FL#tgt

ConKerr Cancer Pillowcases:

Here is a small selection of the hundreds of pillowcases that come through the shop every September to support this worthy cause!  

So little yardage and so little time can really brighten the world for one sick child.  To entice you to help even more, you can get in on the raffle basket with ALL proceeds going to the local Con Kerr chapter.

All proceeds go to the local

ConKerr Cancer chapter

Metropolitan Ministries:
http://www.metromin.org/Donations-Drive
We all love to help out at the holidays and Crafty Threads makes that easy too.  Every year in the Fall, you will find the Big Blue Bins from Metropolitan Ministries waiting to accept your food and toy donations right here in the shop. 

You, our customers, are a huge part of our community!  Not only are you a part of our quilting community, but our ability to help comes from you in the way you bring ideas to us and the way you jump in to help us carry out those ideas.

How can we thank you? 
Do you have a small quilt club that needs a place to meet?
Come meet the Feather Princesses Traditional Quilt Group:
We help them and they help you.  Do you want to learn the glorious tradition of hand work?  This is the group to learn from.

Want to make some fun projects with like minded quilters?
Join the O.R.E.O.S. (Original Rowdy Enthusiastic Off-Beat Stitchers).
Every month when you show your finished project, receive a $5 chip.  Sometimes you get an extra $5 chip when Barb doesn't get the sample made...  Do you feel lucky?

From small gifts like key chains, fly swatters, nail files, and bag carriers to 10% off your ENTIRE next purchase whenever you spend $250....We say THANK YOU!

We can never say it too many times!  

Thank you!