toadusew

New Give Away – Are You A Procrastinator or Over Achiever?

tusadmin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:31:19 +0000

This contest is now closed -thank you so much for all your comments, we loved reading them and getting to know you!
Congratulations to our winner – Allison Gougeon!

The Loot….
Blue & White Triplets Kit!
Includes all the precut template pieces, binding, backing and a Quilters World Magazine where the pattern was published!

The Rules….
To play, simply tell us how you deal with the gift giving season by leaving a comment that answers the question below….
We’ll randomly pick a winner a on Monday December 12th.

Question…

Are you like Chloe or Colleen when it comes to showering your loved ones with gifts?
Chloe: OMG – Is it Christmas already? TG for visa and amazon.com!
Colleen: Everything was ready before Thanksgiving my dear and home made to boot!

Colleen’s Home Made Christmas Gift Marathon

tusadmin — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:59:23 +0000

Homemade Christmas’s are the BEST!! Around November 1^st I started to think about Holiday Gifts. As always I wanted to make them but since I was still living out of boxes in tentative housing while I wait to have our new home built I knew this would be a challenge. Half of my sewing gear is still packed and the few things I had out would necessitate creativity and simplicity. Then I remembered the Toadusew Triplets Christmas Runner we designed for Quilter’s World Magazine in 2010. I dug into my Christmas stash and started working. I had my husband running the GO cutter and I started sewing. I made 16 tablerunners within a week. Oh, but the challenge wasn’t over I still had to quilt them. Since my quilting machine was still packed away I had to think of another creative alternative – I could have just ditched them all but would have been bored to death by the end.

I decided to quilt them with quilt embroidery and make each one a little different. It took a bit longer than I imagined but it was such fun to decide who would get which motif. I’m very proud of my “Homemade Christmas Gifts”. If you need some quick and easy last minute gifts be we do have some great kits on sale, including the original pre-cut Triplets Kits that inspired all 14 of the runners I made. As a holiday treat, I’ve written up the instructions to make the round version as a Holiday Freebie (click here to download) to share with everyone.

If you don’t have to have an embroidery machine or a GO! Cutter, you can still make these fast and easy runners as last minute Christmas gifts – just download the free pattern from our Freebies Section and enjoy!

If you have a Homemade Holiday story please share it with it us! Here’s a couple we received from some Toadusew customers using some of our Holiday inspired designed…

Holiday Sparkle from Barbara…

Back in February Chloe granted us permission to use your “Holiday Sparkle” design for our annual church raffle. The quilt was machine pieced and hand quilted by the Sacristy Stitchers of the Catholic Community of St. John Neumann in Califon, NJ. As you can see, we increased the size to 25 blocks and used Asian fabrics. Our group of 12, the Sacristy Stitchers, did all the piecing and hand quilting. We followed the suggestion in the article to use a large scale print that allowed for fussy-cutting the blocks and the setting squares. Then we used the design in the fabric and seam lines as our quilting outlines. The only marking we did was on the sash and border. If you look closely, you might be able to see that we used two different fussy cuts for the blocks: the center block and the perimeter blocks are geometric and the 8 inside blocks around the center block are floral.
-Asian Holiday Sparkle submitted by Barbara Gates, Califon, NJ

Celebration from Donna…

I finished the revised Celebration 4-block runner! Will mail it soon to my daughter in California. My other children think it is beautiful and that Kimmi will love it. Her table is sort of a light pine. It was fun to make. Thanks so much for the help providing the new layout. (And the reds turned up in the center, rather than the green, but that’s ok.) The green on the back is perfect!
- Modified 4 block Celebration Runner by Donna McGuire

Happy Holiday Sewing!

Circular Tumbleblock Table Topper

tusadmin — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:29:16 +0000

Pattern available for free download courtesy of Colleen Reale of Toadusew.
Fast, Easy last minute holiday gift you can make in less than a day using your stash!
[Download Circular Tumbleblock Table Topper]

All I Want for Christmas Give Away

tusadmin — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:12:02 +0000

This contest is now closed, but we’ll be having another one very soon…
Congratulations to our winner – Marcia Herath!

The Loot….
11 Festive Holiday Fat Quarters courtesy of Robert Kaufman and Toadusew up for grabs!

The Rules….
Fill in the blank on the question below and be sure to include your email address….
|We’ll randomly pick a winner next Wednesday (30 November) and post the winning comment here.

The Question…
All I want for Christmas is _________.

(click here to shop our Holiday SUPER SALE)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Queen Size Pillow Case Freebie Pattern

tusadmin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:38:51 +0000

Pattern available for free download courtesy of Toadusew & Robert Kaufman.
Designed to coordinate with our Autumn Ringlets Quilt featuring the Fusions from Robert Kaufman.
[ Download the Pillow Case Pattern]

New Freebie Pattern – Toadusew Customers Rock!

tusadmin — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:52:57 +0000

We know based on the number of downloads that our Santa Fe Table Runner is the most popular freebie pattern on the site. We’re pretty sure it’s because it takes almost no time or fabric (and dare I admit effort, if you cut and sew tornado style like me) to make. It was only a matter of time before we came up with some placemats to go with the runner, but one of our customers actually beat us to the punch with a design we probably couldn’t top if we tried!
Not only is Jennifer’s design complimentary to the runner, it’s really beautiful and could stand very easily on its own. She’s also stayed true to what we all loved about the runner and kept the placemats super fast and easy. The real cherry on the sundae for us was Jennifer’s technical editing skills – forgive me while I brag on her, when you download her pattern you’ll see what I mean. Colleen and I didn’t help her at all – she wrote every word and did all the diagrams herself. In true Scrap Salad Spirit she’s donated the pattern to the Freebies section of our website so everyone can enjoy it, so I do hope you’ll drop her an email and let her know you enjoyed it!

Meet Jennifer Padden!

Jennifer enjoys projects that are traditional with a twist and likes working most with fabrics that offer a rich earthy autumn tone. The one exception to this is baby quilts, including the one she just finished for her first grandchild that was due this month – Congrats Jennifer, I’m sure this quilt is the first of many for your new family member . Like many of us Jennifer finds the quilting community a wonderful and unique group to be a part of and enjoys all the social and educational opportunities available at quilt guilds.

Jennifer has been “quilting for real” as she puts it, since the 90’s when she took a quilting class at the local shop and fell in love with the craft (sound familiar?). The majority of her sewing time prior to this had been dedicated to garments which she says didn’t offer the same beautiful fabric and pattern possibilities as quilt making. Jennifer’s favorite tool for exploring all the design possibilities is her EQ software.
“I have used EQ6 extensively to try out various color combinations for completed quilts and look forward to installing my new EQ7 to play even more. The cost of the software was a bit daunting at first, but I justify it by not having to buy all the different fabrics to try different colors for test blocks.

I go from start to finish myself, with quilting being done by me on my Elna 7300 domestic machine. I am not at all quick as I’ve done only 4 bed size quilts in that time with many table runners, baby quilts, lap quilts and quilted hand bags in the mix. With a full time job including 12 hour days for some of the year, the quilting gets done in minutes here and there. It is my escape and I really enjoy those stolen moments.”

Thank you again Jennifer for doing an awesome job on the placemats and sharing them with everyone!

Click here to download the Santa Fe Runner & Jennifer’s Placemat Pattern
Click here to contact Jennifer via email

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PICTURE OF PRIZE GOES HERE

The Loot….
????? up for grabs!

The Rules….
Leave a comment (be sure to include your email address) and answer the question below….
We’ll randomly pick a winner a on ??????? and post the name of the winner within a day or two.

The Question…
???????

Black Tie Give Away

tusadmin — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:10:40 +0000

Quite a few of our customers have sent us pictures using black and white fabrics to make a Toadusew Quilt – well you inspired us! Two of the samples we sent off for Spring Quilt Market were done up using new black and white collections. We had lots of fun building color grades and finding just the right color the give the quilts a little extra pop – special thanks to our great Toadsters Shelly & Karen who did the sewing on these beauties….

Thinking Outside the Block Pattern featuring the “Tattoo” collection from Camelot sewn by Shelly Strange

Reflections Pattern featuring the Montage Collection from Benartex sewn by Karen Fisher.

We’ve got a few about 10 yards of fabric left over from making the samples so it’s give away time! We’ll be slitting the “scraps” (hardly – all the pieces are at least one yard!) in half so we can drag this out a little….

This give away is now closed….sorry!

The Loot….
5 yards of Montage Fabric courtesy of Benartex up for grabs!

The Rules….
Leave a comment (be sure to include your email address) and answer the question below….
We’ll randomly pick a winner a on May 4th and post the name of the winner within a day or two.

The Question…
What’s your favorite color to add to a black and white quilt to give it a little pop?

If you want to win the 5 yards of Tattoo fabrics below, keep an eye on our Facebook page…..

Holiday Medallions Pattern

tusadmin — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:54:21 +0000

Pattern available for free download courtesy of Toadusew & Robert Kaufman.
Featuring the Holiday Flourish by Peggy Toole for Robert Kaufman.
[Download Holiday Medallions Pattern]

Show & Tell

tusadmin — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:35:57 +0000

The highlight of my day is getting an email from a quilter with a picture of a quilt that was inspired by one of our designs. It’s always inspiring to see what different people do with our patterns and how new colors and fabrics can completely change the look of a quilt. I really love it when quilters use our patterns as a creative launch pad for their own ideas and come up with something that looks totally different from the original or is in fact a completely new idea all together. Making something that gets other quilters excited and inspired is the best perk of this job! Below: Santa Fe Scrap Salad Runner by Jennifer Padden.

Jennifer made the place mats to go along with our Santa Fe Trail Table Runner. The table runner pattern is ours, but the place mats are totally Jennifer’s design. I think it’s great that she used similar elements that were in the runner, but didn’t make the place mats “matchy matchy”. Very cool design as the place mats can stand alone without the runner and depending on the fabric, can be traditional or contemporary. Lucky for us Jennifer is going to be our guest blogger in April and share all the instructions – I’m hoping to have that info up next week, so be sure to come back and check it out.

Our next picture came all the way from Japan from one of our long arm quilters, Asta Dorsette. Asta is amazing, so good in fact, that when we have that extra special quilt we will send it all the way to Japan- just for her. When her customer, Rocki, brought Asta the quilt top she recognized “Star Struck” right away (originally published in Quiltmaker Magazine). Rocki put her own twist on the design by adding the center block with the military emblem which gave the quilt a totally different feel and great patriotic flair. This quilt isn’t an easy one to begin with and I have to give Rocki props for the changes she made. I’m sure it was a bear to figure out and involved some Y seams to get that block in there! Below: Star Struck by Rocki Rothacker

If Colleen and I were forced to choose a quilt as our all time favorite, I think it would be Free Falling. We met Sandra Hatch, former editor of Quilters World at Quilt Market in Houston for the first time in 2009 and she gave us our first project for the magazine… the quilt had to have some kind of bargello element, fall theme, wall or decorative size, be off center and she wanted sketches by Thanksgiving. If it sounds easy, let me assure you – it wasn’t – it made the guild challenges we’d cried about look like a dream! In spite of her persistence, Sandra never did get her sketches. I just kept stalling her and telling her to trust us, that we were cooking up something so wonderful we couldn’t actually draw it, the camera was broken so we couldn’t send a photo, the dog ate my home work etc… All the while we stared at the design wall that covered in ideas that were truly cringe inspiring. Finally one afternoon, about 2 weeks before the quilt was due as the magazine, it all just clicked and the quilt literally went together in a couple of hours. Joyce sent us a picture of her Free Falling which she’s put her own little flare on by changing the border which we both just love. She’s added teeny tiny maple leaf corner stones (right up Colleen’s alley – the smaller the better) and the big border is totally black except for the small pinstripe (right up my alley – the darker the better). Below: Free Falling by Joyce Brunsvold

Thinking Outside the Block, we know based on how many we ship out, is a customer favorite. It is a pretty cool quilt and can do some pretty neat things. I’ve actually made 3 of them, one of which doesn’t even use a color grade, but instead used traditional scrappy fabrics. In the last year we’ve seen quite a few black and white versions of this quilt (and posted them here if you look back through the blog) and like them so much, we’re actually having a new sample made in black and white and might offer it as a kit –see, the pictures you send us do get us thinking! Ellen’s black and white was the most recent one we received and if you’re familiar with the quilt, you’ll notice she did a little edit on it… She put a light color on the outside of the block instead of going with the traditional darkest color here. Very clever as it makes the blocks seem to float. Ellen also did Dimensions which is the on point version of Outside the Block. Do you think Ellen like contemporary fabrics and quilts? A girl after my own heart! Below: Thinking Outside the Block & Dimensions by Ellen Werner

The next one is a rarity. Miss Nancy made not one, not two but FIVE Bellingraths! I don’t think I’ve ever made a quilt five times and have to say that this is the ultimate compliment we’ve ever been paid by a quilter as you really have to love a quilt to make it that many times. She didn’t change any of the design elements but I she did play with the color and the fabric. I loved that she made one very similar to ours but then she went fearless on it and took some risks which gave the quilt a totally wonderful playful look. Ellen has to be a women with a huge stash and who loves color! Below: Bellingrath(s), by Nancy Martin

Anyway, that’s it for show and tell for now– If you have pictures of your Toad quilts please send them so we can have show and tell more often!

Winner – Cover Girl Give Away

tusadmin — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 18:45:56 +0000

… ..

Congratulations to Lisa England! Almost 3 yards of batik stripes courtesy of Robert Kaufman. We actually had to forgo the random draw on this one folks as the first three numbers that came back didn’t correspond to comments with the correct answer. In the end I gave up and decided to give the prize to Lisa as she was the first one to give the correct answer.

No one has won the bonus prize yet….

I’ve highlighted where the clue which is a pretty big hint… Really curious to see if anyone figures it out as it’s still a little tricky. Again, no end date – first one with the answer gets the prize. To make it interesting, I’ll be adding a little more fabric each week to up the anti…

“While I was writing about the Quilt Magazine Photo shoot Colleen came up with our new Give Away inspired by our road trip and some recent good news directly related to two of our quilts and how a couple of magazines will be using those photo’s… Question: Which of our quilts is a “cover girl”? We’ll need her name and which magazine can you find her on/in? If you’re an over achiver, you’ll read this one, start to finish carefully, there is a hidden clue and the clever quilter who figures it out first will get some cotton treats!”

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