Monday, February 8, 2016

Craftsy Sweetens Up My Quilting Life! Blog Hop



QBL--Quilter Blog Land

You know what they say about great minds--synchronicity... the stars aligning... All this and more came together a few weeks ago resulting in a quilting blogger's blog hop with Craftsy co-hosted by Sandra from mmm! quilts (Musings of a Menopausal Melon), and I, Julie from Pink Doxies.






Aurifil Rays of Red 4 Pack -


Common Threads

Sandra: Julie and I met online. Our first bonding moment was when we discovered we were both vacationing in Southwest Florida, and were remarkably close to each other.  We discovered shared passions for fabric, for colour, for dogs, as well as a passion for lifelong learning.  When we discovered we were only mere hours apart in the north (what's an international border when like minds need to meet), we schemed to get together in person.

And so it happened.  We met in real life here and here last summer! We (found we) both love history, especially the history and traditions that abound in quilting, we both find other cultures fascinating, we both spent time as young adults living in another culture, we both love wine, are careful with our dollars, and thus love scoring deals!



Enter Craftsy 

Julie: Craftsy fulfills both our needs for remaining lifelong learners with classes we can take from our easy chairs, even though our quilting styles are a little different. I love that there's no need to set aside time for travel. It's there when I want to take it! While Sandra and I both had firsthand experience with Crafty's excellent course instruction, her love of Angela Walter's classes convinced me to add several more to my growing class list. 



In kind, I let her in on my secret of buying discounted quilt kits. Even if I never intended to make the quilt, the dollar value of the kit was phenomenal. Craftsy has so much to offer!

Unbeknownst to each other, we both became affiliates. We found, and have experienced their winning customer service firsthand, both as affiliates and customers. 


(7) Name: 'Quilting : Uppsala Stars



This inspired each of us to take advantage of Craftsy's free pattern hosting for independent designers, whether the pattern is a free download or for sale. We both have our first patterns available on their site. In short, this team has a little crush on Craftsy.

(7) Name: 'Quilting : Pocketful of Sunshine

Pocket Full of Sunshine on Craftsy by Sandra


The Stars Align

After the buzz and busy-ness of the Christmas season, we caught up with each other by phone.  To our amazement, we discovered that we had each received a Craftsy questionnaire, had each filled it out on the same day, and, biggest surprise of all (wee-ooh, wee-ooh, à la Twilight Zone theme song) had each checked the box, albeit with a bit of butterflies in the belly, that indicated we would be interested in facilitating a blog hop for Craftsy.  Did we want to pair up and host one?  You betcha!  Let's go for it! 

Organizing The Hop

I promptly contacted our manager at Craftsy for the go-ahead. Sandra and I brainstormed a theme, and how to make this a positive experience for everyone involved.  We each extended invitations to several close blogging friends in QBL, (Sandra's and Helen's from Midget Gem Quilts coined term for Quilter Blog Land), and our little party was gaining momentum.  The hop was taking shape, and our excitement was growing. 


Valentine's Day Theme

Like Valentine's Day parties of our childhood where we brought our stack of cards for classmates, carried in a box of cookies, and crunched candy hearts while anticipating all the fun to come, we want to share our love of Craftsy with you.

Giveaway Details


"Hearing firsthand about the terrific opportunities on the bloggers' sites below will surely entice you to explore Craftsy in a little more depth, and perhaps try something out of the norm to what you might usually buy...however, Craftsy is sweetening the pot even more...
  • 50% discount on classes discussed in each blog post!  Suh-weet!
  • giveaways on some of the individual blogger posts!
  • And drum roll please! Three fabulous prizes from Craftsy! Two lucky people will win one class each, and one person will win this fabulous grand prize!

Boundless Solids Crown Jewels by Amy Gibson Quilt Kit - None




The Giveaway entry to Craftsy and individual blogger giveaways can be found on each of the posts. Be sure to check back daily either at mmm! quilts or at here at Pink Doxies for the updated link to each post below.  Enter until Sunday, February 21, 2016 at 11:59 pm MST, and the winners will be announced Feb. 22 ."



Craftsy/QBL Blog Hop Schedule


Wednesday Feb. 10

Judy - Quilt Paradigm - Craftsy classes: Design It Quilt It” and "Machine Quilting Wholecloth Quilts" both with Cindy Needham

 Helen - Midget Gem Quilts - Craftsy class:  "How To Get Creative With Your Walking Foot" with Jacqui Gehrig

Thursday Feb. 11:

Cindy - Stitchin At Home -  Craftsy class: “Quilting With Rulers on a Home Machine" by Amy Johnson 

Vicki - Vicki’s Crafts and Quilts - Fabric review: Stonehenge Strips and Christmas Fat Quarter bundle

Friday Feb. 12:

Zenia - A Quilted Passion -  Craftsy classes:  “Start FMQ" with Elizabeth Dackson, “Secrets of FMQ" with Christina Cameli, and “Help! How Do I Quilt It?” with Angela Walters

Jayne - Twiggy and Opal - Supplies: Pressing/cutting mat and Mini Iron 

Saturday Feb. 13

Tish - Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland - Craftsy classes: "Dot to Dot Quilting" with Angela Walters, "Shoot It! A Product Photography Primer" with Caro Sheridan, and "Product Photography at Home" with Jessica Marquez

AnjaAnja Quilts - Pattern reviews: Postcard from Sweden, 1 Hour Basket, Star Bright, Reusable Handwarmers


Sunday Feb. 14

Beth - Cooking Up Quilts - Craftsy class: 20 Fresh Appliqué Techniques with Amanda Murphy

Preeti - Sew Preeti Quilts - Fabric review: Kaffe Fassett Classics Design Strips

Monday Feb. 15  

Julie - Pink Doxies - Craftsy class:  Joen Wolfrom "Color Play for Quilters”

 Sandra - Musings of a Menopausal Melon - mmm! quilts - Craftsy classes: “Machine Quilting: Small Changes, Big Variety” and “Free Motion Quilting With Feathers” with 
Angela Walters

Tuesday Feb. 16 - Sunday Feb. 21

Did you like those classes? Class discounts will be available for one week following each post, and while you're there you can click through any bloggers in the hop to enter the Craftsy Giveaway.


Monday Feb. 22

Julie and Sandra will announce the winners on their blogs. 




Are you having fun, and don't want to miss the excitement?
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See you there!

Come on, Doxie girls.
Time to hop!


                                    

12 comments:

Sew Surprising said...

Ohhhh well isnt this just good blog hopping timing :) Just might be getting a new machine and one of my things on my to do list this year is explore quilting with my walking foot, okay Im ready to hop :)

Stitchin At Home said...

Let the sweet crush begin.

Lisa J. said...

Looks like a lot of fun Julie! I'll happily follow along to get enticed to get even more quilting classes.

Tu-Na Quilts said...

The next couple of weeks will be like opening a box of conversation hearts; you never know what one will say but you're sure it will be sweet. Karen

helenjean@midgetgemquilts said...

I'm hip hop hopping
It will be a fun week girls

Patti said...

Wow this sounds like an exciting time to be a friend of Craftsy

linda said...

This is the 4th blog I read today that is running adds for Crafsty. Whats going on? Seems odd.

Angie in SoCal said...

LOL - our minds think alike. Of the few classes I've bought at Craftsy (and they were great!) the first two I bought are the two you girls are featuring on the 10th. It's no coincidence. Know it's going to be a great blog hop.

Unknown said...

It's not odd. Now that they're carrying fabric and kits in a big way, they're doing a lot of advertising. They can be a one stop shop in some ways. You can buy classes, wonderful Indie patterns, thread, yarn, tools, and now fabric and kits. I've been taking Craftsy classes since they offered 5 or 6 classes. So it's sort of interesting to watch them grow up and become who they are now.

Anja @ Anja Quilts said...

Thanks for including me on this journey. I can't wait to read all the reviews.

helenjean@midgetgemquilts said...

Gosh hope you enjoyed the reviews ! I enjoyed writing mine for the 10th

helenjean@midgetgemquilts said...

Just checked our yhe postcards from Sweden is to review . Looking forward to that