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I love Fall. When I was younger I loved going back to school. I love the cooler temperatures and I especially adore the colors of Fall. Red, oranges, golds and browns are most often represented in my quilts. This glass dish that I made a couple of weeks ago was the perfect project to get me in the mood for Fall.

I'm pondering new projects and creating new fabrics to get myself inspired for lots of Fall quilting and sewing. To help you get inspired I'm having a back to school sale! If there's a fabric or kit that you've been eyeing now is the time to get it because everything is on sale.

Back to School Sale - Choose your discount!

I know that most people see January as their time of reflection and change. For me that time has always been September. September is my birthday month and it's back to school time. I honestly loved going back to school. I loved the new books, the smell of my old school and the promise of learning new things. September is also the start of the football season and I really love that!

I wanted to celebrate my personal "new year" and what better way to do that than to celebrate with you with a sale!

What's on sale? EVERYTHING IN THE SHOP!

How much is it on sale for? YOU DECIDE!

There are 3 coupon codes and you decide which one to use. The more you buy the more you save but everyone saves something!

SCHOOL5 = 5% off anything

SCHOOL10 = 10% off everything for total purchases of $40 or more

SCHOOL 15 - 15% off everything for total purchases of $75 or more.

Just do your shopping and when you check out enter the appropriate coupon code based on the total amount of your purchases (not including shipping).

Hurry before your favorite fabrics sell out! The sale ends September 9.

Binding Tip

August was very productive for me in the finishing department. I finished a set of placemats, an autumn leaves quilt and the Woodland Star quilt. All of these projects were gifts and I expect that the new owners will actually use these quilts. After making and giving lots of quilts I've learned that it's often the binding where threads break first. After repairing a couple of quilts I decided to strengthen my bindings and have a few tips.

When I hand sew a binding I knot the thread every 5 - 7" all the way around the quilt. That way if a thread breaks it can only unravel so far.

My second tip is that I rarely hand sew a binding on a quilt that I know is going to be used a lot. For those quilts I always machine sew the binding. These quilts are blankets and the recipients don't even notice the binding.

To strengthen the machine sewn bindings more I back stitch a couple of stitches about every 10 inches. It's only 2 stitches and the stitches stack so you really can't see them unless you are as close as the camera is in this photo.

It really doesn't add a lot of time to the process. I do the little back stitch every other time that I adjust the quilt so it becomes part of my motion routine.

Customer Gallery

Have you made anything from fabrics that you have purchased from me? If so, you have an opportunity to win your own personal 25% discount code on non-sale items for shopping in my shop! I have a Flickr group for customers to share photos of completed projects made with my fabrics. You are welcome to share any projects in process as well but only completed projects are entered into the drawing. Each month I draw a winner from the entries for that month. The winner receives a personal 90-day 25% discount for shop purchases.The winner will be announced here in the newsletter each month. You can see all of the customer projects in the Flickr Group. All other entries for the month will receive a 30-day 15% discount!

Sadly, I don't have a customer project to share this week so I'll share this photo of my most recently finished quilt, Woodland Star.

I made this quilt from a pattern by Plum Tree Quilts and liked it so much that I'm offering it as a kit. If you are interested in making this quilt for yourself now is the time to get it with the sale coupons above!

You can see more detail photos of this quilt here.

Be sure to check out the other great projects submitted by customers and add yours for a chance to win the discount next month.

I'm Sponsoring

Check out these projects that I'm sponsoring this year.

Fat Quarter Drawing

Each month I draw the email names of 5 current newsletter subscribers and post them here. As a subscriber you are automatically entered. If your email name is listed below Email me with your name and address and I will send you a free fat quarter of hand dyed fabric. I will not be sending any notification beyond this so if you miss it you miss the free fabric. You also must contact me from the listed email address.

The winners of this month's free fat quarters are:

christinasmithnz@_____.com

wojdee@_____.com

dkatz@_____.com

lcbay1@_____.com

sewingmom42@_____.com

Inspiration

I love glass. I love working with it and collecting it. I will only drink out of glass glassware. I love glass because I love what happens with it as light changes. Glass is nothing without light and no one uses light with glass better than UK artist Chris Wood. He uses simple cut glass arranged and mounted to show the powerful effect of light. Check out his wall panels and other art on his web site.

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