Marmalade Sponsorship, More Grocery Bags, Giveaway

Hello Everyone!

Hope you had a great weekend.  Mine was lots of fun.

I have an exciting little announcement to make....  You may have noticed over on my left sidebar, there is now a button that will take you to the Marmalade on-line fabric shop.  Marmalade is now a sponsor for my blog!  Woo hoo!

I've wrestled with this idea of sponsorship for a while.  I have thought it might be kind of fun to have blog sponsors, but with that comes some responsibility, which I take very seriously.  And I really feel strongly that if I can't say something nice, I don't like to say it.  So, when I think about a blog sponsor, I would want my sponsors be businesses whose commitment to service and general attitude are ones I agree with.  I also would want sponsors whose products I can say really good things about.  In other words, I'm picky.  I won't blow smoke at you. 

That is why I was (and continue to be) so honored when Amanda Herring (The Quilted Fish) asked me to work on her design team.  And, it's why Iam  really excited to get involved with Tammy Vasser of Marmalade.

I met Tammy when I was at Market this spring.  I had a great conversation with her.  You know how you meet someone and immediately feel like you could be really good friends with them?  That's how I felt when I met Tammy.  (Too bad she lives in Kansas City, and I live in Michigan!)  She is so bubbly, fun, and sweet.  (Ummmm...and beautiful!)  I am so happy to get to work with her in this capacity!

Tammy told me to pick some fabrics that I wanted to work with and she'd send them to me.  I've ordered from Tammy several times, and every time I order from her, you get a very neatly wrapped and packed package.  The package is always tied up with a pretty piece of orange grosgrain ribbon (which I always save and stash!), along with a lovely hand-written note.  I always have to wait a few days to open my packages, because it's packaged up so nice, I hate to ruin it!  LOL

I decided I wanted to make some more fabric shopping bags.  But this time, I wanted to try using canvas for the outside fabric.  I found this really beautiful Ojai Home Decor fabric by Alexander Henry on Marmalade's website.  I just swooned over it!  I knew that I wanted to work with it.  And I knew I wanted to use some solid Kona for the handles and lining.  I asked Tammy to just pick a solid Kona and surprise me.  I think it's fun to sew with fabric that I didn't pick.  It gets me out of my color rut.  I'm so glad I did that.  I probably would have picked purple for the handles.  But Tammy picked this awesome red.  I think it is an absolutely fantastic combination!  The color is Kona Poppy, I believe, according to my awesome Kona Color Card I won in a giveaway from Tammy.  I LOVE owning one of these!  It's so helpful for choosing colors!

 

I also picked this Outside Oslo Dawn Frond from The Needle Shop (Jessica Jones).  I loved its clean lines and simple design, as well as the colors.  Again, it's a canvas.  Again, I asked Tammy to pick a coordinating color of Kona for me.  How about this awesome turquoise?!  Love it!  It is Kona Glacier.

So, I set to sewing.  I used the Grocery Bag pattern from Michelle Patterns, which I reviewed here.  (I purchased the pattern with my own money.)  This time, I decided I would make the large grocery bag to see how that one functions.

And here is how the first one turned out.  I am loving it!  I really adore how it looks.  The fabric really makes it!  I love, love, love the red handles.  I used red thread for my topstitching to coordinate with the handles.

I just love these flowers laid over the leaves.  Yum!

I asked Sweet Pea to hold it for me so you could get a feel for how it would be to carry it. 

This one (large) holds two large cereal boxes and has plenty of room to spare for other stuff.

And here is the other one.  You can see that the canvas makes these slightly more stiff.  They stand up a little on their own, but the are still pretty floppy (which I like for a grocery bag).

I never got a close-up shot of the bag bottom in my review of the pattern.  Here is one for you.  You can see it's sort of a box bottom, but not completely.  It's very much like the bottom on the little plastic bags you get at the store.

And here, Sweet Pea models it again for you.  I am loving these turquoise handles.  Just beautiful.  I think it would also look pretty with mustard or gray handles.  I used turquoise thread for the top stitching to coordinate.

They will work just fine for our shopping!

I'd like to thank Tammy for the beautiful fabrics to work with and for helping me with my color selections.  That's Tammy's style....always really helpful whenever I need it as a customer!

So, how about a giveaway?!

I thought these little canvas and Kona scraps would be wonderful for making some of the little lavender sachets like I made with my Lucy's Crab Shack scraps.

 

So, in honor of the fact that I can actually grow lavender, I have cut up my scraps into 4" squares and will give away three "kits" for making lavender sachets. (The lavender in the kits is commercially grown and not mine.) In your kit, you'll receive a 4" scrap of canvas, a 4" scrap of Kona, a button, and a little package of lavender.  This giveaway is open to international blog readers.  However, if you live outside the US, I will not include the lavender, as I don't know how Customs will deal with dried flowers.

You can find the tutorial for making the lavender sachets free at The Purl Bee.

To enter the giveaway:

1. Please visit the Marmalade shop.  It's important that you do so by clicking one of the Marmalade links here in this post.  This will allow Tammy to see how many "clicks" she receives from my blog.  This will be helpful to me and to Tammy to deterimine how many readers are referred to her through my blog post.  (Being the nerd I am, I love data.  I like to see the effects of things using empirical measures.)  So, I would appreciate it if you would click the link, visit Marmalade, and look around.
2. Come back here and leave a comment.  Let me know what your favorite fabric is in her store.  Give me an idea of something you'd like to see me work with in the future!

That's it!  I'll leave the giveaway open until Sunday, October 14.  I'll close the giveaway sometime in the late afternoon or evening and pick a few names.  Good luck!

UPDATE:  THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW OVER.  THE WINNERS WERE COMMENTERS 5, 24, AND 22.  CONGRATULATIONS TO TERESA, CINDY, AND DONNA!

 Until next time,

 

Full Disclosure:  This post was sponsored by Marmalade.  Marmalade provided me with all the fabrics shown in this post at no cost to me.  In return, Tammy asked that I make something with her fabrics and to blog about it.

Comments

[Heidi Knipple]

I really like Bella! Love the grocery bags - will have to get the pattern. Stitch in Color would be a fun collection to work with - maybe a table runner or small quilt?

[carolld]

Love those bags. That fabric is to die for! You amaze me! How do you get so much done!

[Shelly]

How fabulous that Tammy is sponsoring you! I met her at Market, too, and during our discussion, we discovered that I used to work with her husband! She's wonderful, and so is her shop. I NEED KONA solids, I don't care what color, and since Tammy has all of them, I know where to get them when I'm ready.

[Brooke]

wow, wow, wow!!! Good for you and congrats!!

[Teresa Whisson]

Congratulations Stephanie! I am relatively new to your blog ~ this is exciting! I enjoyed visiting the Marmalade site ~ LOVE all the Kona solids ~ but I think you should make something out of the Jack and Jill fabrics!

[Gill]

Tammy has some great fabrics! I love 'Mod Century' Bricks and 'Chicopee'

[Michelle]

Perfect timing with your post...I'm off today (Fall Break) and playing catch up ;-) Bless your heart, this is going to be a long one.
1. LOVE Marmalade's site...first time visitor. I like how she has pictures of the designers. You know, putting a face to a name. So I picked a name I was unfamiliar with, Lotta Jansdotter, (because her picture was so stinking cute!) only to realize I HAVE heard of the Bella collection and love it.
2. LOVE your grocery bag, although for me, I have visions of having one to take my crap home from work...UGH! Guess I'm going to have to put my big girl panties on and try to make one.
3. Finally, I totally get being a data nerd, and could probably match you in that department (my favorite word to use is "extrapolate")!!! ;-) ;-)

[jenclair]

Congratulations on your new sponsor! I visited Marmalade, but couldn't make up my mind...so many lovely fabrics to choose from!

[jenclair]

I just visited The Quilted Fish and loved it!

[Terri]

The thing about people like you (i.e., trustworthy, honest, sincere, etc) having sponsors is that I know it's a sure bet to order from those sponsors. You did the work for us newbies, so we can avoid the disappointments as we're starting out. I am still so nervous about ordering fabric over the internet...I can't figure out what the online equivalent is of standing in front of it for several minutes and touching it, holding the fabric I'm trying to match next to i, cocking my head sideways (as if that makes a difference), and breathing a deep sign while saying "I just love this."

[Maureen]

Oh wow! I had to stop surfing her site because I have to get back working! Some of my favorite lines she shows: Bella, Summersville, Peak Hour, a stich in color, lark,outfoxed...I didn't get through them all.

You do great work!

Side note - I thought of you in class the other night. Prof told everyone in class that they need a hobby that accomplish in a short time (gardening, sewing, etc) because the projects we will work on take years to complete. You are a great example of this!

[Lynn]

I love that Mod Century line she has! I've not seen that any where else. Oh dear, I may have to order the half yard bundle of it. I'm in online office hours right now and no students have shown up yet. This could be dangerous because I have to be online for another hour and a half, but with no students to assist I'm shopping instead!

[Sue Larson]

I love the Kona solids and someday will make a project with them.

[Stephanie in MI]

Sis LH is having trouble commenting, so I am entering this comment that she sent me via email:

I can see you with Sanctuary Cool Dahlia in Seafoam / New Traditions Aqua / Wagon Wheel Steel / Sushi Steel / Peak Hour Stripe - all for your new patio little table/chair in the turquoise tones. What should you make? I don't know.
Also, view her Flea Market Red White Black. Boy, is that your kitchen or what?

[Mama Pea]

She has some fun stuff!

[Nancy]

What neat and bright fabric. It is overcast in northern MI today and Marmalade fabric made my day. Thanks so much for the uplift and a new place to look and shop. Nancy

[Carla]

Simply Color by V. and Co. is coming soon....looking forward to it! Tammi has become a friend, met through the KCMQG. I can't believe you and I didn't meet as I spent some time with her at Quilt Market in KC!

[usairdoll]

Congratulations on your new sponsor! What a super site Marmalade Fabrics is. So many pretty things and great prices as well. It's hard to pick only one fabric so Bella, Simply Color and Mod Century are among my favorites. I'd love to see you use one of these lines to make something. The bags you made are awesome! So stylish and I love the wide handles.

Thank you for a great giveaway and a chance to win.

usairdoll(at)gmail(dot)com

[Maggie Szafranski]

WOW! There are some awesome fabrics there! I ended up ordering a pair of earrings, go figure!

[Jana]

She has great stuff! And what a cute site. Am I a nerd for still loving Flea Market Fancy? I do. I love it.

[Thimbleanna]

How Fun Mama Pea! Congratulations on your new sponsor. Your fabric bags are beautiful too -- you guys will by stylin' at the grocery store!

[Donna]

Love your new bags! The fabrics you used for them are wonderful. Congrats on the new sponsor.
I hopped over to Marmalade and I love Bella. She has so many gorgeous fabrics!
Hugs,
Donna

[Deb]

Congratulations on your first sponsor, I'm sure there will be more to come! The Marmalade fabric you used for the grocery bag looks great in that application - nice job - as always!

[Cindy Smith]

what a nice giveaway!! I love the Amy Butler fabrics and Denise Schmidt FMF..LOVE it!! But I also saw so many others I liked just as well, so.... What I would love to see you create is something quick and easy. I'm all about things that can be put together quickly for a spur of the moment gift. (seems like I'm always needing those!) And I LOVE the grocery bag. I have that pattern too and those are the BEST grocery bags ever created!!

[Hueisei]

Very beautiful shop. I love the Summerville fabrics :)