May's Maxie Mail Subscription Sewing Box... Cool Tools 2019!

May brings one of my favorite things to Maxie Make’s Subscription Sewing Box: the annual ‘Cool Tools’ box! This year I was especially excited to include a new set of rulers, designed just for my subscribers…but I’m also happy to announce that I am now offering them on my website! One of the most often expressed frustrations quilters experience is loosing angles and points on half square triangles, quarter square triangles and flying geese. The problem usually lies in the trimming and not in the sewing. This ruler set answers the call for accurately trimming all sizes from 1.5” to 6.5”! And may I mention fussy cutting? Watch the video below and you’ll see how accurate and easy to use they are! (Two of my other favorite products are shown, too!) All proudly made in the USA!

• Maxie’s Fussy Cut and Square Up Rulers

• Carol’s Box Corners Marking Template from Almost Heaven Woodcrafts

• The Strip Stick from Babb Enterprises

Want more information about Maxie Make’s Subscription Sewing Box? Click here!

April 2019 Maxie Makes Subscription Sewing Box Reveal!

Are you ready to see what’s inside April’s Maxie Makes Subscription Sewing Box? This month, we learned so much as we worked with directional fabrics, curved piecing, scant 1/4” seam allowances and more! Subscribers received fabrics to complete a small quilted project and I took them through each step in the video tutorial, accessed on the Members’ Only page. Take a peek at all the beautiful fabrics (all Art Gallery Fabrics’ 100% pima cotton!) and the neccessary tools, included! Click the video below, or click here! For more information about a Maxie Makes’ Subscription, click here!

Maxie Mail Subscription Sewing Box Preview - March 2019

How did April arrive so quickly? While we are working diligently on April’s Maxie Mail Subscription Sewing Box, I thought I’d take a moment to share March’s contents with you. I get so many requests to preview what’s inside, so let’s take a peek! The video below reveals the contents and shares ideas, but each box is also accompanied by a step-by-step video tutorial, password protected and available to subscribers on the Members’ Only page. If you’re not subscribed, won’t you join us? Click here for more information, and if you have trouble viewing the video below, click here. For 10% off your first box, use the code below when you sign up:

friends

My Story and Bonnie Christine's Immersion Course

If you’ve ever dreamed of becoming a fabric designer, please read on. Or a quilt pattern designer. Or any other kind of surface pattern designer, for career or personal enrichment, read on. No matter your age or your circumstance, your dream is attainable.

Today I’d like to share a little bit of my story with you, with hopes that it might encourage you to keep following your dreams. We don’t always know where our dreams will lead us, or where or when the journey will end, and that is part of the beauty of a dream. Dreams come true by setting goals and moving toward them. The most important thing I’ve learned about those goals is to not let them overwhelm you. Rather, let them inspire your small steps.

I fell in love with sewing at a very young age, as I watched my mother sew my clothes and dolls. I think I took for granted that this was how things came to be, by creating them. We didn’t shop, we sewed. So as soon as I was able, I began to sew my own clothes, progressing to my wedding gown, my husband’s suits and ties and clothes, and then to my own children’s clothes, wedding gowns and so on. Most recently, a joyful progression to sewing for grandchildren.

Along that journey I owned two fabric shops. Teaching and sharing the love of sewing & quilting with others was what I loved most. Meanwhile, my daughter, Bonnie Christine, had embarked on a journey of her own that (I like to think) began in my shops. A love of fabric grew in her and has resulted in a career of fabric design, and perhaps more importantly now, a passion for sharing with you how to embark on your own dream through her Immersion Course.

At the age of 61, I decided to sell my fabric shop and completely reinvent my business online with a monthly sewing subscription box based on teaching sewing skills. Maxie Mail was born and I was teaching again, but this time to a much larger audience!

To help keep my costs down, I needed to learn how to design the pages of my own sewing patterns, flyers, business cards and website graphics. I needed to learn how to use Adobe Illustrator.

Luckily, Bonnie was just about to teach the Immersion Course. I took her course, put in the time and learned how to use Illustrator! I learned how to draw, illustrate and write my own patterns and am so happy to present them to my subscribers! It has truly paid off in a very rewarding way.

Today my business is thriving and it makes me fairly emotional to think about what I’ve been able to accomplish at my age and share with people all over the world through my subscription box.

I want to encourage everyone, at any stage in life, with any reason for wishing to master design (e.g. surface pattern, graphic design or simply personal enrichment) to just jump in; you won’t regret it! If you dream of being a successful artist, let Bonnie’s course, Surface Pattern Design Immersion help you tackle it. Enrollment opens for one week, once a year, and it opens today! (Feb. 19-26th, 2019.) Sign up today through any of the Immersion links in this post and you’ll automatically receive a free 3 Month subscription to my Maxie Mail Subscription Sewing Box!

I’d like to add that my journey is far from over, and I just take the road one curve at a time, waiting to discover what might lie ahead.

Learn Sewing and Quilting with Me - a Free Video!

Love your boxes!  Learning a lot! - LJ, Hawaii

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What better month than February to share with you my love of sewing! Teaching and sewing are two of my passions, so I’m in my happy place when I am helping you build sewing skills and have fun along the way. I get a tremendous amount of satisfaction through my subscription sewing box, Maxie Mail. Shipped monthly, this box includes beautiful fabrics and supplies for a project, complete with an online video tutorial that is accessed with a password by subscribers! I’m right there with you, in your sewing room, to help you every step of the way! The projects are do-able in an evening or weekend and teach skills, shortcuts and techniques to build your confidence and accuracy.

Past projects have included small quilts, bags, pillows or home decor and accessories. Island Cabins, above left, included the Creative Grids© Log Cabin Trim Tool and taught how to use that ruler, how to set a quilt on point and my fool-proof way of cutting accurate borders with no measuring (I promise!). Subscribers also were able to download a free Side Setting Chart for common sized quilt blocks. December’s box included supplies to make the sweet little needlebook, above right, and included a new pair of embroidery scissors and the Hummingbird Needle Threader. We learned how to do straight-line quilting, binding and more! Want a preview? How about a video tutorial for creating a beautiful 7-Way Mobius Scarf? With this video, subscribers received Art Gallery’s 100% cotton voile fabrics to make different scarves! They also received a package of special pins for fine fabrics, a wrist pincushion to store them, thread and pattern. (If you like what you see, we do have a few boxes remaining. Want to subscribe? Click here for more information! Oh, and February is our annual “February Friends” event! Sign up by February 22, list a subscribed friend as your referral and you’ll both receive a free gift in your February box!

To view the video, click below and enter the password:

mobius

Maxie shows how to make a 7 - Way Mobius Scarf using 60" wide billowy voile fabrics to take the chill off any day, and light enough for all-day indoor use. For colder climates, try using heavier fabrics such as Minkee or Rayon.

Thanks for visiting with me today! Happy Sewing and God bless! Maxie