Sneak Peak - 2015 Free-Motion Quilting Challenge - Craftsy Best of 2014 Sale

As a frugal quilter I do try to take advantage of steals and deals, when I can.  And, as a blogger, I also enjoy sharing such deals with you.  But sometimes I come across them, when I already have something else planned to share.  Thus, earlier in 2014, I launched Fingertip Shopping where I only blog when I come across a good sale that might be of interest.  If you are also a frugal quilter (or crafter) you may want to follow Fingertip Shopping.  I know many have taken advantage of my annual research for #BlackFriday or #CyberMonday sales, as well as various steals and deals that I share throughout the year.  Of course, I also try to share these on twitter and Facebook, but I sometimes barely have enough time to blog about them, so the best way to find out about such deals is to follow Fingertip Shopping!

Speaking of such steals and deals, did you know the Fat Quarter Shop had a 50% off Aurifil sale yesterday?  Yeap, I shared it on Twitter and Facebook, but as it was a Flash Sale for only one day I didn't have time to blog about it. (sorry).

Today I wanted to share a sneak peak with you on the 2015 Free-Motion Quilting Challenge.  And as this sneak peak pertains to Craftsy, I also wanted to share with you insights on their Best of 2014 Sale that is going on thru December 25th.  Plus, don't overlook that you can also purchase a class for a gift!

If you participated in the 2012 or 2013 FMQ Challenge, you are familiar that every month I released a new tutorial and challenge.  Those tutorials are still available and many will be incorporated into the 2015 FMQ Challenge.  Starting January lst, each month a challenge will be released and they'll be five ways to participate where you can learn and/or improve your FMQ skills, have fun, and enter to win prizes.  You can complete one of the five options, or all five.  The more you complete the more entries you'll get to win prizes.  And, all of the options will result in making a pillow that incorporates a specific FMQ challenge.  So you'll end up with beautiful pillows to decorate your home or give away as gifts.

While many of these monthly challenges will incorporate free tutorials from the 2012 or 2013 FMQ Challenges, some will incorporate options of using DVDs or books from FMQ Experts, and some will incorporate classes, specifically classes from Craftsy that are taught by FMQ Experts!  If you have already taken FMQ Classes at Craftsy you know how wonderful these classes are and that they can be flexible for you to complete at your liesure and repeat as often as you like.

If you have not yet taken a FMQ class with Craftsy, or maybe you want to take more classes this year, today is a great day to sign up as ALL Craftsy classes are offered at the best sales price that they've ever been offered in 2014!  Of course, they also have a great deal on fabrics and notions, including Aurifil thread.

While SewCalGal recommends Craftsy in general, for those interested in participating in the 2015 FMQ Challenge you may want to consider taking any/all of the FMQ classes on Craftsy, particularly classes taught by: Cindy Needham, Leah Day, Patsy Thompson, Angela Walters, Christina Cameli, but I'm sure you'll have fun learning and creating by taking any class on Craftsy.

Full Disclosure:  I am an Affiliate with Craftsy.  I signed up after seeing the excellent value and benefits of taking classes at Craftsy.  When someone clicks thru my site to purchase a class, fabric or  notion you pay the same price as if you had visited the Craftsy site directly, or clicked thru from another Affiliates' site.  Affiliates receive a small % back and I use those funds towards supplementing shipping costs for when I pay to ship prizes to winners of contests and giveaways I host.  These funds do not cover all my shipping expenses, but are appreciated.  To clarify, those that remember to click from my blog to Craftsy, when purchasing a class, fabric, or notion are what I view as "Postage Angels" as they help to pay for postage for those that win prizes from this blog.  And, they allow me to keep hosting such events.  

Here is an official announcement from Craftsy about this sale:

Get the gift you really want during Craftsy's Best of 2014 Sale happening now through Christmas! Treat yourself while ALL our classes are $19.99 or less, so you can make your best projects in 2015. Shop now to stock up and save.

Once you enroll you'll own your Craftsy classes forever, so you can watch them at your pace in the comfort of your home, anytime. Hurry, offer expires 12/25/14 at 11:59 PM MT.




All categories of #CreativeGoodness are on sale at Craftsy.  You can click the Craftsy button above, or any of the text strings below to visit the Craftsy site from this blog.  I've also added a button on the upper sidebar for Craftsy:

Knitting and Crochet: Craftsy's Best of 2014 Sale
Quilting, sewing and embroidery: Craftsy's Best of 2014 Sale
Jewelry and paper crafts: Craftsy's Best of 2014 Sale
Gardening and woodworking: Craftsy's Best of 2014 Sale
Cake Decorating and cooking: Craftsy's Best of 2014 Sale
Photography, painting and drawing: Craftsy's Best of 2014 Sale
Craftsy's Best of 2014 Course Sale - $19.99 or less!

Winners of the 2013 Free Motion Quilting Challenges

There were over 2,000 quilters participated in the 2012 Free-Motion Quilting (FMQ Challenge where 15 FMQ Experts provided 16 tutorials and sponsors donated amazing prizes.    While SewCalGal did not plan to host more challenges in 2013, enthusiastic participants wanted to continue to learn and have more FMQ Challenges, inspiring SewCalGal to host 6 FMQ Challenges in 2013 that were primarily  based on tutorials released during the 2012 FMQ Challenge.  Sadly, there were relatively a small number of participants in the FMQ Challenges this year!  

SewCalGal continues to encourage quilters to continue take classes, read books, watch DVDs, follow blogs that share insights on FMQ and practice! And, for those that did not complete all of the tutorials released in the 2012 FMQ Challenge, or 2013 FMQ Challenge, the majority of the tutorials are still available for you to use and master.   And, I encourage you to take advantage of them all.  You'll be amazed how much you can learn in a year of FMQ!

As SewCalGal continues to be passionate about free-motion quilting, insights and periodic challenges will continued to be shared on this blog.  But I will no longer have time to support the Facebook group created for the 2012 FMQ Challenge, nor send out emails to the email list created specifically for this challenge.  So, I do encourage those that are members of the FMQ Challenge Facebook group and/or signed up for the FMQ Challenge email updates, to follow this blog, as well as my Facebook page.   


Thank you to the sponsors for the 2013 FMQ Challenges:

Clever Craft Tools, Fabrics N Quilts, Fat Quarter Shop, Martingale, Marble-T Design, LLC, The Quilt Show

Congratulations to the winners of the 2013 FMQ Challenges:

2013 FMQ Challenge #1 - Threadplay with Libby Lehman

Winner:  #5 Tina.  Congratulations to Tina.



2013 FMQ Challenge #2 - AAQI Piece  

Winner #8 Janet O (Rogue Quilter).   Congratulations to Janet.

2013 FMQ Challenge #3 - Feathers, by Joanne of Thread Head 

Raewyn (Love to Stitch).  Congratulations to Raewyn

2013 FMQ Challenge #4 - FMQ Postcard Swap, 

Winner:  Martha (Quilting to the Edge).  Congratulations to Martha.

2013 FMQ Challenge #5 - It's All About Borders, with Patsy Thompson


 Winner:  Janet (Jansmusingsagain).  Congratulations to Janet.

2013 FMQ Challenge #6 - 2012 FMQ Challenge 2nd Chance.  

Winner:  Rebecca Grace (Cheeky Cognoscenti).  Congratulations to Rebecca Grace.


 

Other winners in the 2013 FMQ Challenge include:

•  Patty (A Stitch In Time)   
• Wendy Garrison  
• TinaG. Quilting for Enjoyment.
• Jacqueline Bahi
• KearstieGrenier

After winners for each challenge were randomly selected, those names were randomly awarded prizes.  And, as we had more prizes than challengers all of the names of everyone that entered any of the 2013 FMQ Challenges were added into the drawing for the remaining prizes.   SewCalGal will send an email to the lucky winners where they have 3 days to claim their prize.  If they do not wish to claim their prize, or do not respond within 3 days a different name will be drawn.  Sadly, winners will need to decline a prize if the prize is tagged to be shipped to a country that the winner does not reside in.  But, on a positive side they will be given first priority for winning any unclaimed prizes and I'm a strong believer those that decline a prize, especially for things they are not interested in winning, receive good kharma that helps them win future giveaways and prizes in blogland in general.  Good kharma is also given to those that may have one more than one prize and wish to pass on claiming more than one, so that another person may win one.

Ultimately, I hope everyone agrees the FMQ Challenges were more about learning/improving our FMQ skills than winning prizes.  And, I hope you will congratulate the winners as well as remember to thank the sponsors.

Sponsor(s)	Prize(s)
	Two $25 Gift Certificates, one each for two winners anywhere in the world. Winners:   #1 Janet (Jansmusingsagain) #2 Raewyn (Love to Stitch)
	Four quilting books, one each for four lucky winners.  SewCalGal will be shipping these prizes to winners and they will be open to winners living any place in the world. Winners: #3 Tina #4.        Patty (A Stitch In Time)     #5 Wendy Garrison  #6  Tina G. Quilting for Enjoyment.
Marble-T Design, LLC Hand-Marbled Fine Art Fabrics http://www.marbledfab.com http://marbledmusings.com http://facebook.com/MarbleTDesign http://www.etsy.com/shop/marbledfabrics76	Two Fat Quarters of hand-marbled fabrics, one each for two winners.  The sponsor will be shipping these prizes directly to the winners who will need to reside either in the US or Canada. Winners: #7  Martha (Quilting to the Edge) #8   Rebecca Grace (Cheeky Cognoscenti)
Fabrics N Quilts	Two $25 Gift Certificates, one each for two lucky winners any where in the world. Winners: #9 Tina #10 Jacqueline Bahi
The Quilt Show	One lucky winner will receive a one year membership to The Quilt Show.  This prize is open to one lucky winner any where in the world. winner: #11 Janet O (Rogue Quilter)
Clever Craft Tools	Three Lucky winners will receive one pair of Grip & Stitch Quilting Disks.  The sponsor will be shipping these prizes directly to the winners who will need to reside in the US. winners: #12  KearstieGrenier  #13  Patty (A Stitch In Time)      #14  TinaG.

Again, congratulations to all of the lucky winners. And thank you to the wonderful sponsors of the 2013 Free Motion Quilting Challenges.

Links to 2012 FMQ Challenge Tutorials

January,  Frances Moore
February,  Diane Gaudynski
March,  Ann Fahl (post is visible, but tutorial was removed, as requested by Ann)
April,  Don Linn
May,  Leah Day
June,  Cindy Needham
July, Angela Walters
August, Wendy Sheppard
September, Paula Reid
October, Teri Lucas
November, Sarah Vedeler
December, Patsy Thompson
May Bonus Tutorial #1, Linda Moran
August Bonus Tutorial #2, Susan Brubaker Knapp
October Bonus Tutorial #3, Diane Loomis
December Bonus Tutorial #4, Teri Lucas

Links to additional information participants are encouraged to read:

• Suggested Supplies for free-motion quilting.  FMQ Experts may also share insights on their personal preferences when their tutorial is released.  You are also encouraged to refer to supplies that you find in your books and DVDs on FMQ, and to try a variety of supplies to form your own opinion on "your" favorites.
• Practice Quilt Sandwiches
• Optional Sampler quilt designs
• FMQ Q&A
• DVDs on Free-Motion Quilting 
• Books on Free-Motion Quilting 
• FMQ Videos on YouTube

Again, SewCalGal encourages quilters to continue to learn and improve their free-motion quilting skills.  I'll continue to share insights on FMQ with followers of my blog, as well as those that "like" SewCalGal on Facebook.


Thanks for reading to the end of this long post.  I do want to let you know I have a couple of Challenges planned for 2013 that are not necessarily targeted for FMQ quilting, but one will certainly allow you to show off your FMQ skills if you enjoy learning/improving your FMQ.  These Challenges will be announced in early 2014 on SewCalGal and I'll also be sending out an email with info to those that sign up for my General email list.

2013 Free-Motion Quilting Challenge #4 - FMQ Postcards by Janet McElroy

Quilted Postcards are truly a special gift to receive in the mail, or be given one in person.  Many quilters make and swap, while some make to capture their memories and save their own creations.

When Janet McElroy (Jansmusingagain) offered to host a FMQ Postcard Swap for those participating in the 2012/2013 FMQ Challenge, it just seemed like a wonderful extension of our Challenge.  And while there are all sorts of quilted postcards, this swap focused on capturing free-motion quilting on each card, giving all of us another way to use our practice pieces, as well as make special FMQ postcards.  Thus, Janet and SewCalGal teamed up to create this FMQ Challenge to encourage everyone to make a FMQ Postcard.

Whether you make and swap quilted postcards, make them for gifts, or make them to keep, we want to encourage you to use your FMQ skills to make some quilted postcards.  Participants in this challenge can count this to win prizes, which will soon be announced, for our 2013 FMQ Challenges, which all build on what we learned in FMQ tutorials released in the 2012 FMQ Challenge.

And, if you are not familiar with how to make a Quilted Postcard, this is also a great way to learn.  Here are some inspirational photos of beautiful quilted postcards that have been made in shared in Janet's FMQ Postcard Swap:


{above} made by Thea McCurry.


{above} made by Liz using FMQ and stamps.



{above} made by Cathy.


{above} quilted postcards made by Janet McElroy, using the sample piece from the 2012 November FMQ Challenge.



{above} postcard made by Alice.



{above} Carolyn's first FMQ postcard.

Tutorial to make quilted postcards


As mentioned earlier, Jan (Jansmusingagain) is hosting a free-motion quilted postcard swap for those that have been participating in the 2012/2013 FMQ Challenge.  She has a great tutorial (part one and part two) that you can use to make your FMQ post cards.   For those that have already been participating in this swap, you are ahead of everyone else for this particular challenge.  But, there is still plenty of time for those that have not yet made any quilted postcards and want to join this challenge!


Here are a few additional tutorials on making quilted postcards that you may want to check out:

• Quilting For Enjoyment
• Red Shoe Ramblings

There are a number of ways to create a quilted postcard and you are welcome to participate in this challenge using any technique you prefer, but your postcard needs to show off your free-motion quilting skills!  

Suggested Supplies:

• a free-motion quilting practice sandwich that has been quilted, with any FMQ design(s) that you want to use and you are willing to cut this piece into small quilts to make postcards, OR scraps of fabric that are about 5"x7" in size
• Backing fabric 1, ideally a muslin.  This fabric will not be visible when your project is finished, so it really doesn't matter what the fabric looks like.  It will be the backing of your quilted sandwich that becomes the top part of your "postcard sandwich".
• Backing Fabric 2, muslin or other solid or very subtle print.  This fabric will be what is on the back side of your postcard that is visible, and what you will hand write and address your postcard on.
• scrap piece of batting about 5"x7"
• rulers, rotary cutter, mat
• A permanent marking pen, with a fine point, such as a Pigma pen (to be used to write on the back side of your quilted fabric postcard).
• thread
• Peltex, Timtex or another stiff interfacing that will give body to your finished postcard.
• optional:  embellishments such as beads, crystals, decorative threads, yarn, applique', stamps and fabric ink.  You could even use fabric paints, pens and pencils to color your quilted postcard.
• DO NOT use any paper, cardstock, or cardboard in making your quilted "fabric" postcard.

Suggested Assembly:

• Create your postcard sandwich with top fabric, batting and backing fabric #1.  Do free-motion quilting, as desired.  Be as creative as you wish.  When finished quilting, trim down to 4"x6"
• Cut a piece of stiff interfacing and your backing #2 fabric -  4"x6
• Layer your postcard sandwich, which has been quilted, on top of your stiff interfacing and on top of your backing fabric #2.  To secure you can layer using an adhesive spray such as 505, or lightly dab a few spots on each layer with a fabric gluestick.
• First stitch the edge with a very light zigzag stitch to secure, followed with a tight satin stitch.  Or use any decorative stitch on your machine that you would prefer to use.
• On the back side of your postcard use a permanent marker to draw a line to separate the half of your postcard typically used for writing vs the address.  Write and address your postcard, as appropriate.

Tips for Mailing:

• There are two main ways to mail fabric postcards: 1) Inside of an envelope, or 2) "naked" where the fabric postcard actually gets stamped at your local post office.  Many prefer to collect "naked" postcards as they contain an actual postmark.  If you mail your quilted postcard using the "naked" approach, be sure to take your postcard in to a clerk at your local post office and request them to hand stamp it.  Some may charge a slightly higher rate for the hand stamping, but the treasured post card will surely be even more special to the recipient!  If they can not do a hand stamp for postage, use an adhesive back post stamp not the type with glue that needs to get wet to apply it on a paper envelope, as it does not stay stuck on fabric!
• Do take time to write "POSTCARD" in the middle at the top of the back and draw a line down the midle just to separate the message from the address, just like a purchased postcard!

IF you want to join Janet's swap, please email Janet.  Janet also has an optional group on Facebook, where participants in this swap can stay up to date with the swap, share photos, Q&A, etc..  You can find this group on Facebook by searching "FMQ POSTCARD FUN and CHALLENGES 2013" or click this link.   Here is some insight Janet on this optional swap:

In the FMQ Postcard Swap 2013 we make and swap with our allotted partner one postcard per month, we have members in many different countries now. If after reading all the instructions and watching different blogs to see how the cards are made, you still wish to join the group, I would be happy to welcome you on board. I would need your address which I will never ever pass onto other folk only the swap partner. These postcards are loved by children by the way, they also in time wish to make one themselves, which I feel is a great neat and small way of introducing them to patchwork...just a thought. I will be happy to answer any queries from folk wishing to know any more about the postcards and group.

If you do not want to join Janet's swap, but want to participate in this FMQ Postcard Challenge, that is fine too!  You can send your quilted postcard to anyone whom you wish, or keep it for yourself.  But it sure would be fun for the participants in the 2012/2013 FMQ Challenge to send/receive FMQ quilted postcards from someone that may have inspired you, helped you, or encouraged you during this challenge.  After all, who wouldn't want to receive a beautiful quilted postcard with "your" beautiful free-motion quilting on it!



The Challenge


Look at the tutorials and decide if you want to cut up a practice sandwich or start with making a sandwich specifically for this challenge, to make quilted postcards.  Select a design from any of the tutorial challenges released during the 2012/2013 Challenges, or another design.  Yes, it is ok to use a stencil or do completely free-form FMQ.  No right or wrong on this challenge, it is more that  you use FMQ to create these quilted postcards and have fun doing it!  Make as many as you want and share as many as you are willing to share.  Think of them as quilted smiles that you give with others by way of a swap, or as you wish.
                                  

Thank you to Janet 

for inspiring us to make free-motion 

quilted postcards and 

for hosting the optional 

quilted postcard swap.

Rules to enter this challenge:

Deadline to enter is October 31st, 2013.  SewCalGal is coordinating working with sponsors and will announce prizes soon.  But everyone is encouraged to participate in this challenge for the purpose of learning/improving your FMQ skills and not just to win prizes!  Still, it is fun to have prizes in a challenge so SewCalGal is working with sponsors to get some prizes that are perfect for those interested in free-motion quilting!


For bloggers:

Please post your entry on your blog. To clarify, you can include as many photos of this  exercise in your post, but you can only add one link to the linky tool below. You may also want to include insights in your post about your past FMQ experience and thoughts about this tutorial. Totally, optional, but you may also want to also let inspire others to learn/improve their FMQ skills and encourage them to participate in this challenge too, by including a link in your post back to this challenge.

Bloggers should not add a link to their blog, but a direct link to their blog post that shares evidence that they created quilted fabric postcards that incorporated free-motion quilting s definitely a requirement!

For non-Bloggers:

1) You will need to have a Flickr account (www.flickr.com). 
2) Upload your photos for this month's challenge to Flickr, batch organize, send your photos to groups, select "FMQ Challenge". While Flickr, limits the amount of text you can share in your description, feel free to share your perspective on this exercise and/or your past FMQ experience, if you wish.
3) After your photos have successfully been loaded to the "FMQ Challenge" group, click on your best photo in that group, ideally one that shows you created a project or sharing your practice sandwich that reflects insights shared in this  tutorial.  Be sure to Copy the URL link to your specific photo entry. Add that link to the linky tool above, to officially enter this show.

Don't forget to periodically check the main page for this event as it will be updated to show links to the challenges, as they are released.  And, it will soon be updated to recognize all the sponsors and show all the prizes.  A special post will be created where participants can link up to show that they've completed 4 or more of the 2013 FMQ Challenges.  All 2013 Challenges and the linky post (for winning prizes) will be released before May 31st. 

SewCalGal will be hosting 5-6 FMQ Challenges in 2013.  The focus should be on learning/improving your skills, but there will also prizes.  For more information on these challenges please check the main page for this event, which can be found on a tab labeled "FMQ Challenge" at the top of this page.

Have fun.   And, I hope you'll pop over and follow Janet at Jansmusingagain too!  SewCalGal is a happy follower.

2012 Free-Motion Quilting Challenge - Grand Prize Winners

First, I want to thank all of the FMQ Experts that helped with this challenge by providing such wonderful tutorials.  With out their support this challenge would never had happened and many would not have had a chance to learn/improve their FMQ skills, as well as learn about each FMQ Expert and a variety of products appropriate for those that enjoy doing FMQ on a domestic sewing machine.

                                                     SewCalGal says thank you to all the FMQ Experts

I also want to recognize and thank all of the sponsors for this challenge as they have wonderful products that are certainly perfect for those interested in FMQ and they generously donated wonderful prizes.

SewCalGal says thank you to all the Sponsors who generously donated prizes for the Monthly Challenges and bonus tutorial challenges:

SewCalGal says thank you to all the Sponsors who generously donated Grand Prizes for those that completed 12 or more tutorials in 2012.

There were over 2,000 quilters that participated in this challenge.  It was fun to see everyone learn and improve their FMQ skills, as well as have fun, throughout the year.

I also want to recognize and thank several Postage Angels who have recently donated to help with postage expenses.  This has helped to cover the shipping cost for prizes for this challenge and the September challenge too!   If you have a chance, I hope you visit their blogs and let them know that you too appreciate their help as Postage Angels for the 2012 FMQ Challenge.  They are wonderful people and have delightful blogs!

Agnes B. (Dachsies With Moxie)

Ani (Happy Seams to You)
Cynthia (Cat Song Stitchery)
Diane (Bearly Wild Bears)
Janet M (jansmusingagain)
Liz (The Quilted Dog)
Patricia D. (Quilting Babcia)

Sheila Painter

My sincere apologies if I have overlooked other Postage Angels.  I tried to go thru my notes, but fear I may have left some of you off.  Please know I do appreciate your help with postage expenses, very much.

GRAND PRIZE:

There were 87 participants that completed 12 or more FMQ tutorials in 2012 and  entered to win a Grand Prize.  All of the participants in the 2012 FMQ Challenge had an opportunity to learn and improve their FMQ skills.  While many completed many, if not all of the tutorials, there were only  a few the completed 12 or more tutorials in 2012 and entered to win a Grand Prize.  SewCalGal wants to encourage all quilters to continue to learn/improve your FMQ skills, while taking advantage of the tutorials provided by FMQ Experts in this challenge and practice until you have mastered and can apply to your projects, as well as attend FMQ classes, watch FMQ DVDs, read FMQ books and follow blogs that share insights on FMQ. SewCalGal is proud of every quilter that took time to learn and improve their FMQ skills in 2012.  And, I'm  happy to announce the winners, of the Grand Prize Challenge. These winners were all randomly selected.

SewCalGal will be sending an email notice to these winners to confirm they want to claim their prize and get their snail mail info.  They will have 3 days to respond, essentially claiming their prize, or another name will be ranomly selected:

Sponsor(s)	Prize(s)
The Fat Quarter Shop	Six prizes for Grand Prize Winners: 1 - $250 gift certificate Dana (Stormy Days) 1 - $150 gift certificate Sherry  (Adventures inLife) 1 - $100 gift certificate Joanne (Thread Head) 3 - $50 gift certificates($50 each) #1 Liane N. #2 Pat (Color Me Quilty) #3 Elspeth (Elvispeth)
	One lucky winner will receive a $200 gift certificate to The Stencil Company where they can pick out their favorite continuous line stencil designs that are perfect for quilting Joan at Leschenault
Dream World	One lucky winner will receive a Pieceful Holiday Quilting Package, which includes: a Steady portable tables, a Travel/Storage Bag, Sew Straight Guide, Spinner Tray and Polish Kit estimated value: $149.99 Diane Mitchell / AveryQuilter
The Electric Quilt Company	One lucky winner will receive a copy of EQ7 Retail price:  $189.95 Mary J.  (Seamless Expressions)
June Tailor	A bundle of June Tailor products, perfect for free motion quilting, with an estimated value over $100 Pat (Amity Quilter)
	A bundle of books, perfect for those interested in free motion quilting, with an estimated value over $100 Kearstie (KB's Quilting Quest)

Don't forget....to check the main page for this event periodically.  It will be updated in 2013 to share insights on follow-on FMQ Challenges, which will also be shared with those that follow SewCalGal's blog, have joined the Facebook group for this challenge, as well as those that have opted in for the email messages for this challenge.  

And, don't forget to practice.  

. 

2012 Free-Motion Quilting Challenge - December Winners

The December FMQ Challenge, where Patsy Thompson showed us how to create spectacular borders using FMQ.

Before I announce the winners of the December Challenge, I want to take time to recognize all of our sponsors:

2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge

GRAND PRIZE SPONSORS

The Fat Quarter Shop

The Stencil Company

Dream World

The Electric Quilt Company

June Tailor

Grand Prize winners will be announced later this month.

SewCalGal is proud to recognize our
MONTHLY PRIZE SPONSORS
for the September  Challenge.

Each month, one lucky winner will receive a special bundle of prizes.  For the December challenge, the winner will receive a bundle that includes:

a sample pack of 5 Aurifil threads

A SewSlip mat

A Pair of MACHINGERS Quilting Gloves
by 
Quilters Touch LLC

The winner will need to determine the size that is appropriate for them

by visiting the page on Quilter's Touch site

that shares insight on how to help fit gloves.

A DVD: "Sew PRECISE Sew FAST Machine Binding"

SewCalGal is responsible for shipping the prize bundle directly to winners, with the exception that Quilters Touch will be shipping their prize (Machingers gloves and DVD) directly to the respective winner.   As shared previously, this Challenge needs to be about learning/improving our FMQ skills and not about prizes.

The winner of the monthly bundle prize is:

Martha Briese (Quilt to the Edge)

Congratulations to Martha.

Participants of SewCalGal's 2012 FMQ Challenge can link here, during December, to enter to win a monthly!  There will be six lucky winners this month.  One will receive the monthly prize bundle.  And, thanks to Patsy, five winners will receive a copy of her DVD "4th Volume of Free Motion Fun With Feathers".  This DVD is a 2-volume set that covers all kinds of feather border and feather frame designs.  The retail price of this DVD set is $44.95  Winners of this wonderful DVD set will need to pay for shipping, regardless if the winner is a US or International resident.  They will be shipped directly to the winners from Patsy's online store.

The  winners of this DVD set are:

Laceflower

Carolyn (Carolyn's Quilts)

Maryellen M (MaryMack's Blog)

Mary (Cant Stop Stitching)

Joan (Joan at Leschenault)

I had also forgot to announce the winner of a bonus monthly prize that was to have been announced when the November Challenge Winner(s) were announced.  This is for the winners choice of  Quiltmaker Quilting Designs software from Volume 1-8, from the Electric Quilt Company.

The lucky winner of their choice of one volume of Quilting Designs is:

Malini (My Quilting Journey)

Congratulations to all the lucky winners!

A  few reminders:

• Bonus Tutorials - Many of the bonus tutorials also have giveaways which those that complete the respective tutorial anytime in 2012 can enter to win a prize.  The exception is the December Bonus Tutorial, by Teri Lucas, has a deadline of January 15th.
• Grand Prize winners will be announced sometime in January.
• Everyone is encouraged to continue to use the bonus tutorials that were provided for free by FMQ Experts in 2012 till you feel you've mastered them and can apply them on your own quilts.  SewCalGal hopes you will take FMQ classes, buy FMQ books and/or DVDs  and to continue to practice and broaden your FMQ skills.  SewCalGal will be sharing insight about follow-on FMQ Challenges, that will build on your skills that you've learned in 2012.  But for now, I need to focus on wrapping up the 2012 FMQ Challenge.

And, don't forget you can find Patsy at:

Patsy Thompson Designs: http://www.patsythompsondesigns.com/

          Blog:  http://www.patsythompsondesigns.com/blog/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Patsy-Thompson-Designs-LTD/139685489440973?fref=ts