Final BIG Pattern Giveaway!

If you didn't get a chance to enter my Aspiring Designers Challenge giveaway on February 22 (which will have a winner chosen this weekend), or even if you did and you just want another shot...Now, you can enter to win a copy of EVERY pattern that was released during the challenge! That's right, ALL the new patterns, plus some bonus patterns from a few other designers as well! It looks to be adding up to about 15 patterns in all. How about that? If you'd like to enter, click over to PatternRevolution.com and check it out! You have about a day and a half to enter from right now :)

Good luck!

A brand new newsletter...and what am I working on now?

Just a quick post to share my news: I started a newsletter today! I'm kind of excited at the idea that I have enough to talk about to warrant a newsletter (even if it's all in my head haha!) Anyway, if you're interested in staying up to date on what I'm working on and my new pattern releases and such, click the tab at the top to sign up for my newsletter.

And just what am I working on? Well, the last couple days, I have gotten back to work on something I started for my boys just after Christmas. They love to play chess and checkers. Even my 5 year old! So I started sewing up a set for them. The pieces have been done for about a month (one side has appliqued chess pieces, the other is all one color, matching the chess pieces), and the board top has been done too. I got hung up on the pocket to store it all in, and then had to put it aside for a while. But I'm back to it, the pocket is figured out, and I'm ready to do the final assembly. Then I'll get it written up and tested, and it'll be posted in my Craftsy store after that. So it's moving along nicely and should be finished and available soon!

What do you think? Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Windowboxes starts today!

I'm very excited to be a part of the Aspiring Designer's Challenge! I have been designing quilts for a little bit now, and before today, I had 18 patterns available in my Craftsy Shop. I am now ready to release my fourth mystery quilt! This one is called Windowboxes, and it starts today!

Windowboxes is presented in 4 sizes: lap, twin, full, and queen/king. If you're doing your first mystery, or maybe your first quilt, the lap size is perfect. This is a pretty easy project, no complicated piecing or weird angles or special tools needed (beyond the standard quilting tools). The fabric requirements, cutting instructions, and pre-sewing instructions are available today. Next Saturday, I will upload a new file to Craftsy, overwriting the first one, which will also include the first clue. Each week after, I will do the same, adding a new clue each time till the mystery is solved and the top is complete.

While I can't show you photos of this quilt (it IS a mystery, after all!), I can show you photos of my past mystery quilts, so you can see the types of quilts I design.

My first mystery was called Stepping Stones, and I designed it as a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen 3 Day (I didn't end up raising enough to walk, but the pattern did raise some money before the fundraising deadline).

My second was called Starry-Eyed Surprise, which I did as another fundraiser for the same walk.

My most recent mystery is called Waste Not, Want Not! I gave it that name because while I was still in the designing stages of this pattern, I was out driving one day and had this epiphany. I HATE wasting fabric. I will skimp as much as possible when I cut so I use as little as possible to get the result I want. That day, I realized that I could design this quilt and use the cutaway pieces to create another baby quilt top! In fact, by the time I was done designing, I had enough extra blocks (that would have been scraps had I not stitched them together before clipping them off) to add a couple borders and make TWO baby quilt tops. I had almost no waste from this pattern, and that made the frugal part of my brain really happy! And the fun part is that I didn't say anything about the bonus baby quilt tops till the second to last clue was released, so it was a surprise!

Queen sized quilt top

One of the bonus baby quilt tops...SURPRISE!

So now that you've seen my first three, it's time for my newest mystery. I have been hard at work designing it for a while, and I'm excited to release it as part of this Aspiring Designer's Challenge. I hope you'll play along! If you've never done a mystery quilt, they're a lot of fun, and it's a surprise at the end when you finally get to see the completed top. Each week, I'll post the next "clue", and you sew it up and set it aside till later, when it's needed for another clue. You'll sew in easy, manageable steps, but you won't see the final product till it's done! And if you've never done a quilt top at all, they're a fun way to start because you can learn basic techniques without being overwhelmed with having the entire pattern in front of you at once. You have a whole week to complete each step before starting something new.

Mystery quilts are the reason I got into quilting in the first place. I came across one online 7 years ago and decided to give it a try (having barely sewn a stitch before that), and I had so much fun doing it! I hope that you'll take a look and give it a try. If you do, please join my Facebook group, Mystery Quilts by Shannon, where you can post pictures, ask questions, and chat with other mystery quilters. Also, be sure to follow my blog, either here on Blogger or on Bloglovin', to get updates on what patterns I'm working on.

Aspiring Designer's Challenge...and a new mystery quilt coming soon!

Hi! I'm Shannon, and I'm the pattern designer of ShannonMac Designs. And those that follow my blog might be asking...Why is she introducing herself on a blog that's been established for so long? I'll tell you. I have joined in an Aspiring Designers Challenge, so hopefully, there will be many new readers on my blog, starting with this post! This challenge includes many other great pattern designers, and I'm excited to be a part of it. I believe I am the only quilt designer in the bunch though, so if you clicked a link in a post about the challenge to get here, I'm glad you made it!

So now that you're here, here's what I've got for you...

I know many of you have been waiting, so...my next mystery quilt will begin February 22!

This time, instead of hosting it in a facebook group and then releasing it on Craftsy after the big reveal, I am releasing it as a mystery on Craftsy. The pattern price will be $5 while it's still a mystery, and will go up to $7 once the mystery is revealed. On February 22, I will be uploading the fabric requirements and cutting instructions to my Craftsy Shop. Then each Saturday morning, I will upload a new file, replacing the old one, which will include everything up to that point, including the new week's clue. This way, you can download the new file each week, and at the end, it's all still kept together in one file. Sounds good, huh?

The cool thing about Craftsy shops is that once you have a pattern in your library, it's yours to download and access forever, no worries of losing it. AND, if I update it, you will be notified that the file has changed, and you can download the new copy. I'll be using that feature to my advantage, when I upload a new file with one additional clue each week!

You can find my Craftsy Shop HERE. If you click 'Follow' on my shop page, you'll get an email when new patterns are posted there. Or follow my blog HERE, and I'll be posting when it's released here (as well as some giveaways coming up!)

If you've never followed one of my mystery quilts, you can see the first three I designed HERE, HERE, and HERE! You can also join my mystery quilt group on Facebook HERE. Hope to see you there!

New blog URL

To anyone that has been following my site, I am changing my address. The mrsmunchy up there is an old username, but the blog was transferred to my new email long ago. So to tie it to my new "name", I'm changing it. Please change your bookmarks and bloglovin' links, if you have them, to reflect the new address:

http://shannonmacdesigns.blogspot.com

I felt I need to change this now, while I'm still unknown enough that it won't hurt me LOL. I have some news that I'm about to announce, and before I get extra traffic to my blog, I want to have things really nailed down, especially a URL I can live with for a while!

Also, I'll be eliminating the Quilting for Sanity!! name. I've loved that name! But it's time to kind of grow up and be serious if I want to grow my pattern designing as a business. That is my hope, that one day this will be my "real" job!

Help me make the switch painless by changing any links you might have to reflect this. And watch for my next post! Thanks!

Another finished UFO

Here is my latest finish! This is the second quilt I ever started, a mystery quilt from Planet Patchwork called Snow Business. I started this New Years Day 2007, the day after I started my FIRST quilt (another mystery quilt!) I had been hand quilting this one, but I decided I didn't like what I had done, and I pulled it all back out, and put it on the long arm instead. I am much happier with it, especially with it being done!

I quilted it with a meandering stars pattern. So happy it's finally done!