Hugs from Helen

What a simply Splendid day it is!

How exciting is it that I was invited to be a designer in the second series of the Splendid Sampler?

And I even made the cover! so yes, you get my block for free to get one step ahead before the book ships!

We are taking preorders for these books at Quarter Inch - and we'll send you them as soon as they arrive in October  - you can order the first one too if you'd like.

The lovely team of Pat and Jane sent me a bunch of fabrics from Moda

and Erin at Aurifil some threads to play with.

We could use any method, design or technique we wanted so of course I included two of my faves…..

 embroidery….. (note: I used Presencia Finca Perle#16 threads for the embroidery)

and English Paper pieced clamshells

Of course many people may not have tried these methods before (and I always like to teach something new to even one stitcher out there) so I won’t leave you in the cold…

You can join in my FREE series of embroidery lessons and learn every hint and tip I can give you (just click on the pic below)

and if you need help with clamshells?  well I have a unique product for English paper piecing – they are EPP Iron-ons – yes, iron on leave in epp templates… They are cut from my Applique paper which is a semi water soluble paper with a fusible on one side. So you just iron them on, and leave them in!  You can see the step by step tutorial for clamshells by clicking on the pic below.

If you’d love to have the EPP Iron-ons to make your block you can get them here. (and why would you do it any other way!)

And for even more information and free help on my paper and method subscribe to my Youtube channel where there is a ton of information and technique how to’s for you.

To celebrate my day, let’s have a little competition! Over on Instagram…. Follow me (on IG) and share a pic of your version of my block….(don’t forget to tag me so I find it @helen_stubbings)

 

I’ll choose two new followers over the next two days (for those quick off the batt) – and one tagged pic (per week on Fridays) over the next month to send a free pack of EPP Iron on Clamshell papers to..

I do so hope you love my block, learn a new tip or technique and keep on stitching along with the Splendid sampler team….

can’t wait to see them all appearing!

what to do now?

Sign up for free embroidery lessons

Order your clamshell EPP Iron-on papers

Watch the tutorial

Gather your fabric and threads

Follow me on Instagram

Post your block to win! (and you have to tag me! @helen_stubbings)

 

happy stitching

hugs from Helen

Win on Pat Sloan’s book tour!

I’ve met the wonderful Pat Sloan many times and love working with her. She is so full of energy and ideas and no-one is too unimportant for her to stop and chat with in the aisles or online.

Her community is massive and she reaches out and brings quilters together across the world so that they may all share her passion.

I have done two radio shows with Pat – albeit quite early in the morning (to get the across the other side of the world timings right) but chatting with her over the airwaves is like sitting with your long lost friend and having a friendly banter.

You can listen to our last chat here:

Now the reason I mention this is because reading Pat’s latest book is just like chatting with her in person.. genuine, easy to understand, talks the ‘normal’ talk that quilters of all levels, background, culture and style will relate to and understand.

This is a beginner based book – but even I reaffirmed a few things.. She says

‘This is my 33^rd book in 16 years, and the 3^rd in my ‘Pat Sloan’s Teach Me to’ series. I wrote the book to step a quilter through the basics of quilting their own quilts. It’s for the person who has never machine quilted to someone that does it rarely or only does super simple like quilt in the ditch.

I first show them walking foot techniques, then free motion. It’s filled with photo step outs and tips.’ 

and…there’s even links to videos if you’re a watch and learn person.

Now there’s not just step by step instructions

and loads of information on threads, needles, battings, techniques and more ……

there are also projects…

pieced and appliqued

So as part of her massive book tour – and only one of over 40 designer friends telling it like it is I have to tell you that you can win a copy of this book. These are the details:

Visit Pat's Giveaway Page to enter to win one of the 5 copies of her 'Pat Sloan's Teach Me to Machine Quilt Book'!  

blog.patsloan.com/pats-mega-fun-book-tour/

Physical Copies for US residents, digital copies for all other winners. Be sure to enter by Midnight Dec 1 and then visit the others on her Mega Fun Tour to learn more about Pat's book, some have interviewed Pat, a few might have a giveaway, or have made a project... it's all listed on Pat's page!

The others on this, my day you should visit are

· Cheryl Brickey meadowmistdesigns.blogspot.com/

and the ever present

· Kimberly Jolly of  fatquartershop.blogspot.com/ 

and www.instagram.com/fatquartershop/

and on the ‘enter to win’ page you will see the full list of blog people to visit and see what they thought.

so, if you’re new to quilting, you need to enter this competition, and if you don’t win – then grab yourself a copy wherever you can find it… you owe it to yourself

a final reminder:

enter here

hugs for today
Helen

show n tell Thursday

I first saw a peek of this quilt on Facebook…. and could see straight away it was an adaptation of my Blessed Baltimore quilt which was originally done in Colourque and in my Faux Applique book published by AQS.

Sherry has done the design instead in needleturn applique… and doesn't it look just absolutely stunning?

Sherry had emailed me earlier and I couldn't wait to see how it had turned out..

Well it turned out it won a blue ribbon! and then also the prestigious Viewers Choice at their show in Florida..

Sherry wrote:

The Quilting was done by my friend Deb Levy who now lives in New Orleans, USA.  We were members of the same quilt guild in Florida before she moved there.  I'm fortunate to be able to spend my winters in Florida and the guild I belong to with over 300 members have so much talent and give me inspiration.

 

Deb the quilting is just spectacular….

I just love seeing how people use my patterns and designs differently to suit their style…

thanks soooo much for sharing this with me Sherry, hopefully I may get to see it in person one day….

hugs for today

Helen

Quilted Living Book tour

How pleased was I to be asked by The Fat Quarter Shop and Gerri Robinson to be a part of her new book tour….

this book is choc full of things to make for your home… in fresh, bright or patriotic fabrics.

the invitation meant I got an early peek at my project of choice and the chance to make someone else’s pattern for a change  - which is very therapeutic to me..

We were asked to put our own spin on a pattern from the book. As it is coming into summer here and we are preparing our pool for the holidays I chose the Bursting Star cushion. I am thinking a whole group of these on the decking around the pool will be perfect for summer pool parties (I have a 17 year old who frequently has her friends around to enjoy the day)

I used my Primrose Sands Fabrics (for Red Rooster fabrics).

I left out the piping (because I didn’t have any large piping cord on hand) and instead of stuffing I filled my cushion with bean bag beans – won’t matter so much if it gets splashed and will be soft and squishy for sunbaking on…

Now, one would think that I would have taken lots of photos with the cushion around the pool! – but unfortunately today it is raining and dull and the pool is not looking inviting at all… this is typical of Tasmanian weather in Spring – so instead, imagine me lying amongst my roses in the spring garden reading a book and having a good cup of coffee….

If you have not been following the blog tour its not to late to visit everyone who participated and enter to win a free copy of Gerri’s lovely book… Leave a comment on this post for your chance to win from me – thanks to the Fat Quarter Shop and Gerri for the copy and for inviting me to take part…

 

November 11th

Fat Quarter Shop kicks off tour!

November 11th

Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings

Linda Hrcka of The Quilted Pineapple

November 12th

Gail Pan Designs

Erica Jackman of Kitchen Table Quilting

November 13th

Kathy Brown of The Teacher's Pet

Thearica Burroughs of Pigtales & Quilts

November 14th

Helen Stubbings of Hugs N Kisses

Gerri Robinson of Planted Seed Designs ends the tour!

 

dont’ forget – leave a comment for your chance to win..

hugs for today

Helen

 

Follow me on Instagram or Facebook for instant peeks of what Im working on next!

Video Tutorials

As promised for some time now I have finally uploaded some video tutorials to YouTube.

I have also added a page with them all to the blog so you can easily find them over there on the right under ‘pages’. I do hope you like them… I will endeavour to add more over time but no promises to when…

The first in the series are explaining my gluestick appliqué technique using the appliqué paper- if you haven’t tried this technique have a go – you will love it!

If you have the Simply Appliqué book then these will be a great addition to the instructions provided.

hugs for today and don’t forget there is still time to enter the giveaway from my last post… and get the 10% discount..

Helen

home home again jiggety jig

Yes, home again after a wonderful three weeks in the USA with Jo.

Many of you may have followed our travels and misadventures on Facebook, but for the rest of you here’s a few pics to try and show you just how big & exciting Quilt market is.

This is how our booth looked when we first rolled out suitcases in..not much to work with

after two days of building, sticking, pinning, tweaking and finalising we managed to get it to look like this…My aim was to show off my two new fabric range patterns at this endBlock of the months and other favourites hung here on my special multiple quilt rack display (which I think I need to have patented – half of the traffic to my booth was stores and other vendors photographing the hanging idea) Emma and Paul?This was my redwork display – and a little display from One Day in May – which was well received

and on my outer wall were all of the projects from the new book Simply Applique…I also had to make quilts and displays for my two fabric ranges in the Red Rooster booth. Thanks to my lovely friend Twyla for making the Sunshine & Daisies quilt – this is my free pattern for the Primrose Sands fabric line and is available to you all here.

And to Emma for making gorgeous clothes – this little dress pictured along with a skirt and top I’ll show you later.. You should visit her FB page – she does beautiful work.

I was launching this bundle of gorgeousness!  and I am so excited to say that EVERYBODY else also loved it! I am so lucky to have been allowed a basics range that will be so useable and it looked just soooo pretty…To give you an idea this pic below shows about one eighth of the show floor. Yes 26 rows of overwhelming inspiration and stitchy goodness….

I've got sooo much more to show and tell you along with all the new patterns I managed to get done before I left…

but for now, just letting you know… these greeted me as I arrived home… yes the books are here!

so to keep the jetlag at bay I spent last night signing all of the preorders… not too late for a signed copy. Just order and leave a comment asking for it to be personally signed for you.

hugs for today…

Helen

Simply Applique

……yes that is the title of my latest book, in print production right now! Writing a book is a very complex task, self publishing even more so with Photographers, stylists, proof readers, Artists and more to source, work with and read each others minds with…. hence my absence for the past couple of months…. but all of that comes to an exciting end when that manuscript is signed off and sent to the printer……!  a sigh of relief, or just time to sit back and reflect and hope that everyone will love it!

Simply Applique is just that:

Just applique, done simply.

I have included lots and lots of instructions and tips on my gluestick method and how to do it by hand or machine..

There are 11 projects in the book – well actually 16 as some projects have 3 pieces… From large quilts, table runners, wall hangings, cushions to a lamp shade. Many styles, colourways and seasons to enjoy all year round. I have included tips on how I chose my fabrics and colourways so that you may more easily choose your own fabrics to use.There is an extensive section on all quilt making basics with many diagrams and hints if you haven't done much quilting before and the best of all – There will be a CD of files included inside the back cover so you can actually print all of your templates straight onto the applique paper – so no tracing required.You can also print out full size pattern layout guides – we have included them on the CD instead of in the book to keep the price down – that way you can just print the project you want to do..http://www.hugsnkisses.net/index.php/shop/books/simply-applique

Simply Applique will be arriving around mid-late May – yes we all have to be patient, it takes time to print and ship…. but we are taking pre-orders now on the website.

I am happy to personally sign any pre-ordered book before we ship them to you – just add in the comments section that you would like this… 

I really hope you will love these projects and if you haven’t tried this applique method before – you fall totally in love with it. Of course all of the projects can also be made using your own preferred method too….

hoping I have included something for everyone…

hugs for today….

Helen

a crafty weekend

firstly, good luck to all who purchased raffle tickets – Miss M will be drawing it tomorrow – get your fingers and toes crossed and think happy thoughts!

Rain all weekend again here in Tassie so we stayed indoors and got a lot of crafty things happening.

Friday afternoon I took the big girls into town to the launch of The Crafty Minx. We met the lovely Kelly Doust and watched how all the attending ladies (and men) turned her ‘found discarded fabrics and junk’ into treasures.

Saturday I spent most of the day cleaning the studio and finally unpacking from Melbourne and started on this

Can’t show you anymore but watch this space for details very soon…aren't the fabrics just to die for? I have quite a bit so I can see a year of these colours coming up.

Next was the kindy quilt! – yes I ‘volunteered’ to make a quilt with Miss Tillys’ class in term 1 and I still haven't gotten it finished! Next Monday (3rd last day of the kindy year) I have booked to go in and sew it up with their help – then will have one week to quilt it before they move onto big grade prep. I had a good helper!

then it was her turn! first a sewing lesson and her first block,

then some colourque practise while mum was doing some testing!

hope you managed lots of crafting and stitching over the weekend too!

hugs for today

Helen

Handmade stitching from Hugs n Kisses for Christmas

Firstly, do you like my new look for Chrissy?  Since using Livewriter to post to my blog I haven't been to TypePad 'behind the scenes' for awhile and its all changed! jeepers, you just learn something and they go and change it all, hopefully for the better except I made one mistake, I saved the new theme over the old one so I'll have to start all over again after Christmas.

I always try to make one handmade decoration for my girls for the tree each year... I have started this years but got sidetracked with teacher presents which then became requests for simply everyone... so in the past 5 days I have made

12 little penny pockets/cone pouches/bunting pouches courtesy of Happy Zombie with a few minor changes

filled with home made white Christmas, chocolate fudge, and mars bar truffles (our favourite from the Christmas Truffles book) all made by Tess (11). These were all for teacher presents..

11 Sock monkeys courtesy of Kristine Howard - did some work on these whilst watching netball - think I'll be doing a class project at school next year!

look at them all cuddling up together (a couple have escaped with the gingerbread man!)

they have become such close friends I am loathe to separate them to send to nieces, god daughters, one teacher, one best friend and then to each of my girls who ALL want one too! Look at those eyes, just saying 'please don't send us away"

 

three or four of these quick and simple teener bags - they were claimed quicker than I could make them! - no pattern, just worked these ones out sorry....and used up scraps from the stash

what have you handmade this year? Its always so much nicer to include something from the heart in the gift packages don't you think? There are lots of ideas and patterns in blogland and its not too late to start! - well nearly too late but there are still 8 days to go!

hugs from Helen

PS, the first shipment of Faux Applique books are gone so orders are being taken in order of receipt for the next box.

Its here, its here, its finally here....

Look what the mail man brought to my door this morning!!!

oh excitement...... 20 copies of my book - supposedly for family and friends - yes they'll all get one and a few leftover for some of those preorders. I have another 40 on the way but with Christmas mail they may take a little longer.

'Faux Applique'

Published by the American Quilters' Society has been released.

From the AQS website:

Description

These elegant, traditionally styled designs will enchant and entice you to try the Colourqué® technique. What is it? Simply the use of colored pencils to re-create the look of intricate appliqué. All the easily assembled tools and needed materials are described in detail. Use the designs singly on small projects or combined for larger and full-sized quilts. Delightfully elegant designs in the tradition of Baltimore album quilts can be easily executed. Helen Stubbings is a lifelong resident of Australia who has travelled the world over. A quilter since working on her certificate in needlecraft in 1995, she has been developing, testing, teaching, and selling pattern instructions and workshop kits featuring her Colorqué technique since early 2000.

Product Details

• Item Number: 7778
• ISBN-10: 1-57432-971-5
• ISBN-13: 978-1-57432-971-1
• Number of Pages: 96
• Binding: Softback
• Dimensions: 11.00" x 8.50" x 0.00"
• Weight: 0.80 pounds
• Publisher: American Quilter's Society (12/16/2008)

It has full instructions for this quilt Blessed Baltimore plus 6 other projects. I shall show you a few more pages...

I have put them on my website here and they will be in your local stores soon hopefully.....

This has been a long, exciting and interesting journey for me and I thank you all for sharing it with me. I thank you for your patience, your encouragement and your passion for my projects and techniques - the one and only reason for all of this - you. I cant wait to start seeing some of your creations...

hugs to you all

Helen