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Wednesday, October 28, 2015

New Designer, New Pattern, and a Give Away!


It absolutely thrills me to introduce
a new pattern designer,
blogger,
and pattern.
What's great is that it's just in time for crafting
for Christmas gift giving.

Without further adieu,
meet Karen!
In her own words:

My Photo
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
My 5 W's WHO: Besides being a wife, mother and grandma, quilting brings me to my happy place. I'm a flight attendant by day, which gives me the means to play with my creative quilty side. WHAT: Manipulating fabric to create different fonts makes me giddy. In college, studying graphic design, I always said I'd specialize in lettering. Little did I know it would be with fabric and not the printed page. WHEN: I started sewing when I was ten years old, almost half a century ago. I saved up all my money and bought my first sewing machine before my eleventh birthday. I guess I've been creating ever since. WHERE: We raised our family in Nova Scotia. Although our childrens' jobs have taken them all over Canada, my husband and I remain in this beautiful province on the east coast of Canada. WHY: I can't imagine being passionate about another craft and the women I've met during this journey makes it all worth while!

Her Etsy store: Sugar Free Quilts
Her Blog:  Sugar Free Quilts
Her FB page:  Sugar Free Quilted Designs


Karen has designed this adorable pin cushion.


The first time I saw it at Lesley's (The Cuddle Quilter),
I fell in love with it.  It's filled with crushed walnut shells
and made such a nice statement in Lesley's sewing space.

Almost a year later, I saw one at Linda's (Scrapmaster),
and thought, "I NEED one of these!).

Little did I know that I was soon to not only meet the designer,




but she'd ask ME, a TOTAL stranger, to be her pattern tester.

Sew, I made one and sent her my impressions.


We emailed back and forth for a few weeks
while she tweaked and we tested
and she tweaked some more.

Now I have three!


And I plan on making many more.
It's a lot like eating potato chips,
you can't make just one!
They were so quick and easy!

The best part of the process is the Piece Map 
that Karen included in her pattern.


It fits right on my white board,
so once my pieces are all cut and placed,
I can easily carry it over to my sewing machine
and get to work.
Ingenious!

I didn't time how long it took to cut the pieces
for the pincushion,
but I did pay attention while sewing it together.
In only 45 minutes, I had a wonderful pincushion!

I filled two with crushed walnut shells,
available from Karen's Etsy Shop,


and one with poly stuffing.
I love them all, but the walnut shells trump the stuffing.
I also altered the cutting directions for the backing
to use the stuffing, which I will share if you ask nicely.

The best part?
We have not see the last of Karen's beautiful creations.
Not only did she design and quilt the above avatar
for her shop,


but she designed and made this gorgeous
and unique wall hanging,
hopefully, soon to be a pattern.
Both were on display at the quilt show in Amherst last week.

Karen has very graciously offered
to give away her pattern to one of my lucky readers.
It's in PDF format,
so it's an international give away!!
Yay!



Just leave a comment by Nov. 3rd 
to be entered in the give away.
That's one week!

(You know what?  If you share about this 
pincushion pattern give away
on your own blog and come back to let me know,
you can have a second entry.)

Thanks sew much for stopping by today!
XO, 
Karen








41 comments:

Gina said...

What a great little pin cushion. Well done you on being a pattern tester. Your pin cushions are wonderful xx

Sheila said...

I love this pincushion , thanks for introducing us to this clever designer , too bad I hadn't met her in Amherst . You did a fantastic job as tester on this cute pattern and I like her new to be pattern as well . I will check out her website for sure .

Linda said...

It makes me so happy that my two Karens have connected. You are both so creative and need to be in each other's world. Only good things to come!

DeniseinVA said...

How lovely, all these pretty creations and very sweet of her to give away a pattern. As I do not sow but greatly admire those who do, I will not enter this giveaway. But I do look forward to hearing who receives it. I love giveaways, they should also be called happy-ways :)

Dolores said...

Well, I do need a new pincushion and Christmas is on its way so I'd love the pattern.

Anonymous said...

Fabulous pincushion! I can tell you are enthusiastic about it, and that is a good sign. I'd love to have the pattern, so count me in! Thanks to you and to Karen for the giveaway. dezertsuz at gmail

In stitches and seams said...

Wow you have a few real cute pin cushions from testing out the pattern. I have never used walnut shells though they have been asked for I will have to get some .... one day :0)
in stitches
institchesandseams@hotmail.ca

Heidi said...

Very cute cushions!
And I am in LOVE with the mini and want to make a bag with that pattern!!

Jillian said...

I absolutely love the little pin cushion. It is so cute!

Christine said...

This pincushion is such a great idea. I love it.
Christine from Ontario

Fiona said...

I love hearing of new up and coming designers and I love your versions of her pincushion.... I've just recently bought some walnut stuff here....
Hugz

Adrienne said...

I am so proud to say that I am the owner of one of Karen ' s very first pins cushion! So excited for the release of this first pattern

quiltergirl said...

Love to win and finally learn how to do letters.

Heather J said...

It's wonderful to read about Canadian designers. Love your fabric choices for the pincushion with the pins in it!

Lesley said...

Such a wonderful story of the Pincushion! I do love mine, and so glad you helped Karen out as a pattern tester! Great pictures here...especially like the one of the pincushions and the vintage Singer!

Anja @ Anja Quilts said...

Congrats on the opportunity to test the pattern. It's a great pin cushion.

Sondra said...

IT's a great looking pattern! You did a great job on all 3...

Peg - Happy In Quilting said...

What a great job looks fantastic ❤️❤️

Needled Mom said...

Those are very cute. I agree with you in that there is nothing like the crushed shells for filling the pincushions. Thanks for introducing us to Karen.

Lin said...

Looks like a great 'must have' pattern Karen. xx

rm said...

Love the pincushion. Awesome that you got to test it.

Ioleen said...

What a great pin cushion. The letters are wonderful. How nice it would be to make a couple for door prizes at the Xmas guild meeting. Keeping fingers crossed. Thanks for the giveaway.

judys said...

So much fun! and lots of colors too, no one could ask for any more than that

Julia D @ Jada's Quilting Adventures said...

Karen at Sugar Free Quilts has made some amazing Quilty things! Very cute pincushion!

Michele T said...

Cute pincushions, I love all the colours but especially the letter design!!

corina said...

I came over from Linda at Scrapmaster's blog. Love the pincushion. I can see how it could become addictive making them!

Carol Swift said...

Oh, so cute! One can never have enough pincushions, especially ones that look as sweet as these do.

walk2write said...

Love that pincushion! If she could make one for "needles" and sew it together with the one for "pins," you could use them as a sitting cushion--sans hardware, of course. Anyone who has ever experienced a cracked tailbone would be most appreciative and amused.

legato1958 said...

What a cute pincushion! I love all of yours.
This looks like a fast and fun project... great for gifts!
Susie

Anonymous said...

I have an obsession with pin cushions right now and love this simple but cute pattern. I can see myself gifting many!

Our photos said...

Wow, that's nice !

Sugar Free Quilts said...

Designing this pattern was "sew" much fun! The best thing that came out of it...meeting you, Karen, and now calling you my friend. You are a treasure!!

Montanagirl said...

I don't sew, but I really like your pin cushion!! LOL

Unknown said...

Would love to win. Those pin cushions are sweet!

Simone de Klerk said...

First I thought the words were paper pieced, but looking at you 'map' it is much easier. Very pretty and would make wonderful gifts!
Would definitely not mind, winning this pattern ;-)

Cathy said...

Great looking pin cushion. Would love to win the pattern.

Quilter Kathy said...

Oh how fun! What a great pin cushion!
These would make great gifts for quilting friends!

Raewyn said...

What a great shout out for a new blogger and designer... you sound like a very thorough pattern tester. The pin cushion is fabulous, hope I'm not too late to go into the draw :-) It seems that you had a great time at Amherst, I'll be sure to check out the other ladies' blogs for their posts on the show.

Teatime Creations said...

Love the pin cushion. Can never have too many because they are always hiding when you need them. :)

Karen said...

This is adorable. I would love to have this pincushion as much as I would love to have one of your little owls. I guess I need to take time to make them. Thanks for sharing.

Binsa said...

Hi Karen lovely pin cushion love to be in the giveaway regards lyn