$100 Giveaway!!!

To celebrate 6,000 sales I am hosting TWO $100 Giveaways!!!

1) For every $10 you spend in my fabric shop between July 1 - 14th you will receive ONE entry into a $100 Gift Certificate Giveaway!  The winner will be chosen on Sunday July 15th.  Open to ALL customers, including International.  Good Luck!!!

2) Facebook/Rafflecopter $100 Giveaway!  You may earn up to 15 entries today, and you may continue to enter daily for an additional 2 entries!  This contest runs from July 2 - 14th and the winner will also be announced on Sunday July 15th.  Open to ALL customers as well!  Good Luck!!!

Thank you all for making my first year of business so much fun!  New fabric will be added daily through July, Happy Shopping!!!

- Tayva (StitchStashDiva)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fabric Rewards Program!!!

I am SO happy to introduce my new Fabric Rewards Program!!!  I started my program this past week and some of you have been happily surprised to receive your post cards, thank you for the overwhelmingly positive and happy feedback!!!  Love it!  

I love so many things about my Fabric Rewards Program but my three favorite features are:

1) Awards are available in different amounts...so you have options depending on your purchasing style!

2) Points are calculated for you!  With each purchase you will receive a reward post card with your points for that purchase, as well as your total available points AND your options for claiming your FREE FABRIC!

3) Nothing to keep track of!  Since I keep track of your name & points earned/redeemed, you don't have to carry a customer loyalty card in your wallet...you can spend your time choosing fabric instead of keeping track of cards!  One of my favorite Local Quilt Shops has a reward card that is too large for my wallet so I always lose mine.  I am always getting a new card and wasting time at home trying to find my other cards...I have eliminated this hassle for you!  Enjoy, and thank you for being my customer!!!

I am SO thankful and appreciative for all of you choosing my shop, and for the level of thought and collaboration you all invested in this program!!!  Your ideas were FABULOUS!!!  I plan to develop and make adjustments as needed, so after you receive your own post cards with your next purchase please feel free to share any and all ideas you have for me to improve this program!  Thank you again for all of your help!

Shop Notice:

My husband and I are moving from Salt Lake City to Park City, so I will be closing my shop for two weeks so I can pack, move, clean, unpack...you all know the drill!  I will most definitely re-open early if possible, but as for now I plan to close my shop on May 1st and re-open May 15th!  Still plenty of time to shop and get enough fabric to hold you over until I reopen!  Message me for a custom listing or check out my new shop section "Create Your Own Bundles" to customize your order without waiting for a custom listing!  Happy Shopping!!!

As a little preview...here is a photo out of my new shop window!!!  This alone makes the move totally worth all of the work!  The Park City ski slopes right outside my window!!!  This house is on 4 acres down a cute little country road...10 minutes from the Post Office & Starbucks!  LOVE my new home!!!  More pictures soon!

1,000 Facebook Fans - Thank You!!!

This is Good Friday indeed, this morning my Facebook page blasted past 1,000 Fans!  Thank you to ALL of you who have liked my page and who shop my Etsy fabric shop!  

As a thank you, I am having a $100 Stitch Stash Diva Gift Certificate Giveaway!!!  Open World-Wide, one lucky winner will win $100 to spend in my shop - may be used towards fabric and shipping! 

Thank you!!!

Happy Passover, Happy Easter, Happy Spring!!!

All the best,

Tayva (StitchStashDiva)

NEW SHOP INTRODUCTION: Three Spunky Monkeys!!!

I met one of the most AMAZING women through my Etsy shop and I absolutely must share her Etsy shop and story with all of you!  For all of you who are new to sewing, BOOKMARK this post and refer back to it often for inspiration!!! 

Today's New Shop Introduction - Three Spunky Monkeys!!!

Stacy, of Three Spunky Monkeys, is a wife and mother of three boys. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing but made the choice to stay at home with her boys when her second son was born. She loves all things crafty. Paper crafting and scrapbooking have been long time hobbies. However, her love for sewing emerged only months ago. She, like many SAHM's, was looking for something that she could do from home to earn a little extra spending money. She had never sewn a day in her life until she decided to make a baby gift for a family member. She realized that she was in love with creative sewing and good at it too! She really loves creating adorable items for little boys since they are SO very hard to find! And so, Three Spunky Monkeys was born!

Are you ready for some EYE CANDY!!!  Here are a few samples of the creativity and love happening over at Three Spunky Monkeys:

 CUTENESS!!!

 The Skill & Love in Three Spunky Monkey, Impressive!!!

 These are the coolest Baby Smocks/Aprons/Bibs Ever!!!

 Love!!!

 Baby Boy Smock/Apron/Bib

 LOVE!!!

 Are you all SO impressed right now!!!  Let's show Stacy the love and all LIKE her shop and visit her Etsy shop.  To add a little incentive, I am offering a $25 FABRIC GIVEAWAY (StitchStashDiva Credit) on Friday March 23rd - IF - we can get Three Spunky Monkeys Facebook Page up to 250 Total LIKES, and 100 Shop FAVORITES!!!  Let's blast past these numbers, share the love and tell your friends!!!

One Entry for each of the following:

LIKE Three Spunky Monkeys on Facebook

FAVORITE Three Spunky Monkeys on Etsy

COMMENT  on Three Spunky Monkeys Facebook Page your Favorite Item

COMMENT on this Blog Post your most Favorite Item From Stacy's ETSY SHOP

 

Stacy is also having a promotion right now!!!  LIKE Three Spunky Monkeys Facebook Page to enter for a $30 Store Credit!!!  I am needing a Chef Set for my little girl and the price is FABULOUS!!!  Thank you for sharing with us, Stacy!!!  Wishing you and your new business ALL the success your busy hands can tend to, and then a little more for luck!  Best Wishes!!!

Customer Loyalty Program!!!

Last week I posted a survey on my Facebook page and the feedback, suggestions, and ideas were FABULOUS!!!  Thank you to all of you who took your time to help me improve my shop!  It was such a fun and positive experience I can't wait to have another one!!!

One suggestion that several of you had was a customer loyalty program.  I absolutely LOVE this idea!  I have been working on this idea and am struggling to find the easiest way to make it work for all of us, so now I need your help again!!!

I love getting my little card punched at my local quilt shop...always reminds me that I have some free fabric coming my way - love this!  Since we don't have the face-to-face card punching option, I need a way to implement a program that gives all of you this same happy "Whoo hoo, Free Fabric" feeling with your packages!  My only requirement is for a program that is not time and labor intensive for me!  I have a very limited amount of time (like ALL of us!) so I need a customer loyalty program to be very simple and straight-forward, without any additional bookkeeping for me.

My thought is this:  with each purchase I will send you "Diva Dollars" with your package.  I can either have specific "This many Diva Dollars buys you this much fabric" guidelines, or they can have a dollar value in my shop.  Which would you prefer?  

As for redeeming your "Diva Dollars" I could either ask that you mail them to me and I would then apply your credit to a custom listing, OR, you could text or e-mail me a picture of your combined "Diva Dollars" and then I would apply them to a custom listing.  I want a program that rewards all of you fabulous people who buy my fabric, but with instant gratification and no bookwork.  Yes, I would like to have a lollipop and world peace too, but for now I'll focus on a loyalty program!

Do you see that I'm totally stuck!?!  Ugh, really looking forward to your suggestions on this topic!!!

If you read this and have an even better idea to this "Diva Dollars" concept PLEASE share!  I absolutely adore all of you and feel like I've made so many new friends all over the world, which has been the happiest bonus about starting my shop!  Seriously, you all are the BEST and I can't wait to start up a program to benefit your loyalty and fabric addictions!  ;-)

To offer your ideas or suggestions please leave a comment on this post.  You can comment using your name, your shop name, or completely anonymous - please do what is most comfortable!  If you use your shop name, by all means please include your shop website so my followers can check you out!  Free advertising!

* * * * * 

On a separate topic, SEVERAL mentions were made about International shipping!  Enough mentions that I want to address it so you all have some answers!!!  Shipping fees for First-Class Mail are 100% based on the weight of the package.  In the US, anything over 2 yards has to ship Priority Mail for $4.95, because First Class Mail is SO much more expensive!  Yes, 2 Yards will ship for $3.50 within the US, but as soon as I add a Fat Quarter, it is $4.95!  I don't like this, but this is the way it is.

As for International shipping charges, the US postal service (USPS) raised Priority Mail envelopes to Canada by $2 to $12.95 and to all other International addresses by $3+ to $16.95 earlier this year.  I am outraged by these steep price hikes, but at the same time, my profit margin is so low I don't have the ability to pay these increases myself.  The ONE HAPPY BONUS that has come from these price hikes is that I was annoyed enough to figure out how to safely package an additional TWO YARDS of fabric into each Priority Mail envelope!  It is amazing what I can do with some ribbon, tissue paper, and some serious arm muscles!  Oh yeah, a little "Diva" attitude too!  ;-)

For all of the added frustration these shipping increases have caused you, I am sincerely sorry!  I am always looking for better shipping options so if you ever learn of a better shipping company and/or options, please send me a note - I will properly thank you, trust me!!!

I am SO honored and humbled by each sale, each time you all choose to shop with me!  I am so humbled by your outpouring of love and smiles you send me daily, and I am very eager to start up a customer loyalty program to send some love and smiles right back to each of you!  You all are the BEST!!!

* * * * * 

My blog has been sadly neglected the past few months, but the good news is I have several of my customers with FABULOUS shops that I will be featuring very soon, and most of them have amazing tutorials they are going to post!  Time to get excited!!!

All the best,

Tayva - StitchStashDiva

Receiving Blanket & Burp Cloth TUTORIAL

Have you noticed all of the babies being born lately!?!  When I was a new mom I went through SO many receiving blankets, every single day!  My daughter was a bit of a barfer (hi sweetie!) so I preferred to use receiving blankets as burp cloths, and I used my burp cloths as "liners" on my changing table.  One of my favorite gifts to make for new babies is this Receiving Blanket & Burp Cloth Set. 

Receiving Blanket & Two Burp Cloths TUTORIAL:
Step 1:  Pre-Wash & Dry TWO Yards of High Quality Cotton Flannel.  I prefer to use two different/coordinating prints, as you will see in the following pictures.  Iron.  Cut each yard of fabric, right-side up, into three pieces.  For the Blanket: 25.5" x 31.5" and for the Burp Cloths cut two:  16.5" x 12.5"

 Tip:  When working with patterns always cut RIGHT-SIDE UP so you can follow patterns exactly.  For this set I chose to cut between dots so that when sewn, the half dot edge forms a really cool look, like binding without having to add binding, love it!  

 Step 2:  Place both Receiving Blanket pieces right-sides together.  Place fabric for both Burp Cloths right-sides together.  PIN!

 Tip:  The better you cut and the better you pin the better your finished product will look.  I get very impatient and excited and want to rush and skip steps, but cutting and pinning are two things I have learned (the hard way, ahem) to take great pride in details.

 Step 3:  Sew 1/4" seams around all four sides leaving a small opening, enough space to turn the piece right-sides out.  Back Stitch at both sides of the opening - this will prevent ripped stitches when turning right-sides out.

 Step 4:  Snip all four corners.

 A close up of clipped corners.

 Step 5:  Turn each piece right-sides out.  Iron.

 Step 6:  Top-Stitch 1/4" around all four sides.  I also sew a second stitch, at the opening, as close to the edge as possible.  This second stitch is not required, but I like to make baby items as sturdy as possible knowing it will be washed often!

 Voila!  A Receiving Blanket & Burp Cloths Set

 I like to fold all three pieces up and wrap them with a lovely piece of organza ribbon, presentation! 

 Certain to be a well-loved (and well used!) gift!

I have been a HUGE fan of Robert Kaufman's Cozy Cotton Flannels for as many years as I have been sewing flannel!  Even though my daughter is now a toddler, I still use the burp cloths I made her for many purposes, and they still look as wonderful as they did 2 years ago!  Quality is everything!  

I sell several different Cozy Cotton Flannels in my shop and I HIGHLY recommend purchasing some for your stash, if you haven't already!  When you are in the mood to sew and then actually find the time to sew, nothing is better than having a well-stocked stash waiting for you!  Summer is a challenging time to find a good selection of quality flannel so please have a look through my shop and stock up today!  Here are a few pictures of my current inventory:

www.StitchStashDiva.etsy.com

Place Mat & Napkin Tutorial

Place Mats & Napkins really dress up your table, and in my opinion, make food taste better!  Whether you are making a fancy romantic dinner, eating dinner at home night after night, or entertaining friends and extended family, adding these luxurious place mats to your table adds a touch of love and sophistication to every meal.  

I have two requirements for place mats and napkins:  1) they MUST wash well, and 2) they must be fun to make = quick.  There are many options for making your own place mats, many patterns, many tutorials.  In researching this project I have made many different versions and what I love most about my pattern is the luxurious, quilt-quality of the final product.

The following tutorial will yield 2 Place Mats & 4 Napkins.  Napkins are always washed more frequently than the place mats, so the additional napkins will provide you additional days of use between laundry days.  Another bonus to this tutorial!

THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP of this entire project is to PRE-WASH & SHRINK YOUR FABRIC.  I know I put that in all caps, just making a point!  The only thing I dislike more than laundry is ironing, can you relate!?!  Although we usually pre-wash high quality quilt fabric in cold water and tumble dry on low, we want to pre-wash for this project on warm/warm and dry on hot.  Yes, on HOT!  While developing this pattern I made several place mats without pre-shrinking my fabric and as a result I have to iron after every wash.  *Sigh*

For this project you will need:

- 2 Yards of High Quality Cotton Quilt Fabric (I prefer two coordinating fabrics)

- 2 - 20" x 14.5" Pieces of Low-Loft Batting (I like Warm & Natural)

- Matching Thread, a Sewing Machine, and Scissors

A Rotary Mat, Quilt Ruler & Rotary Cutter will improve your cutting accuracy and finished product.  This is a great time of year to purchase these supplies at big-box fabric and craft stores such as JoAnns.

Place Mat Tutorial:

Step 1:  Pre-Wash and Shrink your fabric.  Do not wash batting, fabric only

Step 2:  Iron Fabric

Step 3:  Cut each yard of fabric into (2) 20" x 14.5" to make one place mat and (2) 20" x 20" to make two napkins. 

Step 4:  To make each place mat, sandwich your fabric and batting:  fabric right-sides together, then lay the batting on top (or under as in this picture).  Pin, Pin, PIN!!!

  Step 5:  Sew 1/4" seams around the edge. leaving a 4-5" opening for turning your place mat right-side out.  After sewing, trim any uneven edges or excess fabric.  You will have the best results with equal 1/4" seams.

Step 6:  Before turning ride-side out, clip all four corners as shown below.  Clip as close to the seam as possible, without clipping your stitches.

 Step 7:  Turn your place mat right-side out.  Use your finger or the eraser end of a pencil to push each corner all the way out.

 Step 8:  IRON!  I start with a corner and carefully pull the fabric so the seam is exactly centered.  After ironing all around the edges, be certain to iron the entire place mat well.  This is a crucial step to prepare for top-stitching, and the overall washable feature of this pattern.

 Step 9:  Top-Stitch a 1/4" around the entire place mat. 

 Step 10:  Machine stitch or hand sew the opening used for turning the place mat ride-side out.  I have done both and since I am lazy time conscious I prefer to machine stitch, as close to the edge as possible.  For the sake of this tutorial and "doing things right, ahem" I hand stitched the opening closed with needle and thread.  You will seal the opening when you top-stitch around the edges, however I much prefer a completely finished product and highly recommend this last step.

Napkin Tutorial:
Step 1:  Fold over each edge 1/4" and iron. 

Step 2:  Repeat (Step 1) Important Note:  I have made many napkins with this boxed corner and many with perfectly mitered corners.  Boxed corners are better suited for heavy washing and MUCH faster.  Save the fancy mitered corners for your next quilt binding, enjoy simplicity now.

Step 3:  Sew as close to the edge as possible, or as you are comfortable with.

Step 4:  Iron.  After ironing, fold into your preferred style.  Voila, finished!

 I like reversible Place Mats & Contrasting Napkins!

 Another Option

 Pattern On Pattern

 Blue On Blue

 Love, Love, LOVE!!!

 The Two Fabrics Featured - STITCH by Betz White

 What time is dinner!?!

So there you have it, Place Mats & Napkins!  As needed, wash on cold and tumble dry on low.  When I pull my napkins and place mats out of the dryer right away I smooth them out on my folding table and they are good-to-go, no ironing needed!  You may choose to iron yours for added "crispness" after each washing, but I have been very happy with mine without ironing, all about your personal preference!

Please leave comments below or e-mail directly if you have any questions or suggestions.  My direct e-mail address is:  StitchStashDiva (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Happy Sewing!!!