We quilters love to receive quilting gifts and to give our quilty friends something special that they'll love, too. I've been wanting to share with you quilty ideas that I've enjoyed this year. Each one has been tried by me and is in my sewing room, my clothes closet, or my living room; there are items for all around the house! You can give these as hints to your family, or you can get them for yourself or a friend!
Monthly Subscription Boxes
For the gift that just keeps on giving, try out a quilty monthly subscription box! Nothing sets a quilter's heart aflutter more than receiving a box of secret quilty items each month!!
This year I tried out three different subscriptions. I won a
Stash Builder Box as a prize, so I tried this one for free. I made a Disappearing 9 Patch quilt from the fabric in this box which you can see below. {
This quilt is for sale in my quilt shop!} Sorry, I didn't take a picture of the box contents for you, which is weird because I take pictures of most everything.
Stash Builder Boxes contain 3 yards of fabric from a new modern collection, a spool of Aurifil thread, a signature pencil, and a box-exclusive quilt pattern. It was so exciting to receive this surprise box in the mail that I was inspired to look into other subscriptions.
The first monthly subscription box I purchased was
Quilty Box, and oh my, this is the queen of boxes! There is a reason why this is the more expensive box subscription on the market! Every box includes items with a retail value of over $60 and includes theme-based items based on a featured artist's style. With 4-5 quilting products, a bundle of precut fabric, patterns, notions, or thread, this is a lot of bang for the buck. Here are two boxes I purchased.
This one is #1 Jera Brandvig.
You will save $10 off your first Quilty Box with the coupon code
GETQUILTY! Why not try it out!?!
This one is #2 Susanclaire Mayfield.
Another monthly subscription box I tried is the
Fat Quarter Shop's Sew Sampler Box. These boxes contain a bundle of fabric with a pattern for the fabric, a few notions, and a block pattern card for a sampler quilt, and a COUPON CODE! Here are September, October, and November's boxes so you can see how wonderful they are and how fun it is to receive them in the mail!
This is what you see when you open the
Sew Sampler Box! It's wrapped and waiting for you to open and take a peek at your quilty surprises!
The September box theme was Farmer's Market and included The Good Life charm pack and matching tin by Bonnie and Camille with a table runner pattern for the charm pack, a Matchbox Quilt, a sampler quilt block pattern, a coupon code for Christmas fabric, a Popsockets device media stand just for quilters; all bundled so cutely!
You can view all of these items here!
October's Sew Sampler Box was just as amazing! The theme was Nightfall Reflections, and it contained a Spirit Animal (8) FQ bundle by Tula Pink with Mesa Valley pattern for a 60" x 71" lap quilt using the bundle, an Everything Mary Zip Around Sewing Kit, a FQS exclusive Bitty Buddy for trimmings and snippets, Poke-A-Dots sticky thimbles, a block pattern for the sampler quilt, and a coupon code for 15% off all October box items! You can
view all of these items here!
November's box also delighted my heart! The theme was Fall in Love and included a (6) FQ bundle of Farmer's Daughter by Lella Boutique with an Autumn Stars Quilt Pattern, a rotary cutter case, a packet of quilting needles, a holiday greeting card, a quilt block pattern for a sampler quilt, and the cutest little clothespins EVER! You can
view all of these items here! Go check out those clothespins!!
This box also included a members only exclusive offer for 30% off all November box items in case you love something so much you want to buy more to keep or share, AND a coupon code for 40% off select holiday gifts and accessories! EEK!
I bet you've guessed by now which subscription I'm continuing with!?! For me, this is just the right amount of stuff for the right price. The
Sew Sampler Box meets my needs and budget the best, so I will be continuing with it.
And for my readers, here's a surprise for you and a reason to follow my blog...!! When I whip up the project that is included in each
Sew Sampler Box and post it here on the blog, I will be
giving away any items I don't need to my lucky readers! Be sure to become a blog follower ...
Follow Busy Hands Quilts!
Sewing Room Lights
The sun sets at 4:30 in the wintertime at my house, and you may live even further north than I do so your days are even shorter. I spend many hours in my sewing room after dark and need lots of extra lights. Adequate lighting in a sewing room can be a challenge even in the daytime, and after dark it can be nearly impossible to sew. This year I found the solution in some fantastic lights that do not require any hard-wiring or professional electrical work! My sewing room is as bright as day even after dark!
The two
wall sconces above are plug-in or hardwire. For easy installation, my husband simply hung them on the wall, easy peasy, no hard-wiring at all. The on/off switch on the lights is on the base plate, which of course would be impossible to reach so high on the wall. The cords are plugged into easily accessible
surge protectors with an on/off switch. So when I turn on the power strip that is screwed to the underside of my ironing table, the light above turns on, and the iron also turns on! When I turn on the power strip for my sewing machine, the light above it turns on. That power strip is screwed to the wall under my sewing table. It's a win-win situation, and I am tickled with my new lights!! You will find them
HERE.
But I've more lights to show you! With the overhead lights behind my head when I'm standing at my cutting table, this area is in shadow, and it's really hard to read the ruler markings. Solution -
under the shelf lights! They plug into an outlet and attach with either stickies or screws (both included). The stickies will hold if they are not moved, but if they're moved once they will no longer hold. One of the lights above is still stuck, but the other two I moved, so they are now screwed in. These lights are also dimmable! You can buy more sets and join them together for any length of light. Easy peasy solution to lights under a cabinet or shelf! You can get these lights
HERE!
Gifts And Accessories
The Fat Quarter shop has a lovely selection of gifts and accessories for quilters! They're organized on
this page so you don't have to hunt them down. Here I am in my Fat Quarter Shop Impressions shirt in from of my FQS Jolly Bar Jazz Shortcut Quilt, a
FREE pattern!
A Quilty Planner
I've put off buying a
Quilter's Planner for a long time and finally bought the 2018 version for next year. With all of the projects I have going on - designing quilt patterns, sewing custom orders, custom quilting for others, participating in quilt alongs, and blogging, my plate is overly full, and keeping it all organized in my head is way too much stress. I could be dreaming up more quilt designs instead of occupying my brain cells with trying to remember when this is due, if I have the fabric on hand for the next two projects, and which project I must really work on today!?!
Even if you don't have as many quilting "irons in the fire" as I have, the
Quilter's Planner will still be a valuable resource in getting your life more organized. I ♥ the spiral binding and heavy duty laminated cover. The Planner is divided monthly with heavy cardstock with laminated tabs. Each month has a month-at-a-glance calendar with a spot for Monthly Goals, Personal Projects, and Quilting Projects. Following this are two-page week-at-a-glance sheets with time slots for schedule planning, Habit Tracker, and Personal, To-Do, and Shopping Lists, and Notes. Following the monthly pages are dividers for Patterns, Projects, and Reference.
The Quilter's Planner has a lot of features I am excited about, one of them being the Important Dates year at a glance section. Scheduling out not-to-miss events ahead of time will be the key to a less stressful year!
And did you see that magazine up there? It's the
Quilter's Planner Magazine and contains 120 pages of quilty goodness. It's included with the Planner! This year's featured designer is Alison Glass, who shares my rainbow-beating ♥! There is a sampler quilt pattern by Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs that will be a sew along on social media in 2018, as well as 14 additional quilt patterns! I've already made one of the sampler blocks to send to a fabric manufacturer as a sample of my work, but I forgot to take a picture of it, unfortunately.
A Quilty Blankie {that she didn't make!}
An
Eat Sleep Quilt blanket is a super cozy gift idea! It's made from 100% cotton knit and is oh so soft and cozy. It's perfect for layering on a cold winter's night, and I also used mine in the summer when the breeze from the fan or A/C was too much!
A Stripology Ruler
I recently posted some
Stripology Ruler Tips because I finally figured out how to really use this ruler. This would be a great gift for a quilter! You can
get one here!
An Accuquilt Fabric Cutter
If you're thinking a higher priced gift, an
Accuquilt fabric cutter is a great idea! They decrease cutting time significantly and increase accuracy in piecing because the cut fabrics are more accurate than cuts by hand. Dies are also a fantastic gift for quilters who already have an Accuquilt, or a gift certificate if you don't know which dies they need!
Yes, Fabric, Please!
You'll save up to 60% off Projects Kits & Supplies at
Craftsy! Plus, all Craftsy classes are $17.87 or less!
And a surprising place to buy fabric is Amazon! I bought a fat quarter bundle of Sweet Marion, which I used in this quilt, on
Amazon for the lowest price I could find! This quilt was a custom order in
my quilt shop!
Giveaways!!
And since you had the patience to read this to the end, here's a GIVEAWAY for you from me! Enter to win one of the two Quilty Boxes you see above, you choose which one! Giveaway ends Wednesday, December 6th. Open to US entries only.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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