We are so excited to hear about all the people who are participating in the Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long! Thanks so much for joining us for the release of the third block!

All About Ellen

Ellen March started sewing at age 8. Growing up, sewing was always a big part of her life. Her grandmother was a seamstress by trade and her mother made all of her Halloween costumes, formal dresses and endless hair scrunchies throughout her school years. Since her mother and grandmother were such accomplished sewists, Ellen was always intimidated by having to make everything perfect. She began teaching herself to sew instead of following their guidance and found methods that made it easier, faster and more fun. 

At age 16, Ellen appeared in the educational film "Picking Your Patterns, Fabric & Notions," still available and used by home-ec teachers nationwide. She loved combining her love of sewing with her love of the stage and theater, never thinking that she would end up doing just that for her career.

After college, Ellen dabbled in theater costume design, winning an honorable mention in Los Angeles' Backstage West Garland Awards in 2001 for costuming A Midsummer Night's Dream. She also traveled the U.S. selling original fashions—tops, dresses, skirts and bags—at music festivals and craft fairs. 

Luckily, Ellen discovered a job opening at Sew News magazine in 2004. They were looking for a graphic designer, which Ellen is not! So she wrote a letter to the editor-in-chief, pleading for any kind of job with the magazine. It took 4 months, but Ellen was finally hired as the editorial assistant in 2005. Four years later she became the editor-in-chief and manager of all three sewing titles (Sew News, Creative Machine Embroidery (CME) and Sew it All) and is the host of the PBS series Sew it All. (Contact pbs.org to find air dates and showtimes.)

Ellen & Sew Red

Ellen was thrilled to be asked to be a part of Sew Red. A vegetarian since age 13, Ellen tries to live a healthy lifestyle and is passing that onto her son (who is also a vegetarian, for now). Learning that sewing can help lower blood pressure was an eye-opener for Ellen, and she passes that info on to the readers, viewers and fans of Sew News, CME and Sew it All as added benefits for beginning and continuing the hobby. She contributed the Panel Maxi Skirt, which is a favorite design of hers because it can be sized up or down easily, showcases coordinating cotton fabrics and looks great on kids and adults alike.

Ellen & the Sew-Along

Ellen wanted to feature machine embroidery in her block as an homage to Creative Machine Embroidery magazine. Of course, she still kept it simple and affordable by using easy piecing techniques and fabric scraps from her stash. 

We absolutely love the design and can't wait to get started!  Follow the link to the SewNews blog to get started on this month's block!

Blocks One and Two of the Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long

We are a little behind in getting the Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long to you all, and the third blog post is ready to go up tomorrow. I hope you all will join in and send us pics of your progress to So... without further ado...I give you the first two blog posts of the Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long.

It's the first week of the Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long and we are raring to go! The first block design will be from Jimmy Beans Wool's very own Kristen Ashbaugh Helmreich.

All About Kristen

Kristen Ashbaugh Helmreich lives in Reno, NV and works on the Customer Engagement team at Jimmy Beans Wool where her tasks include social media (Ravelry & Pinterest, yay!) and coordinating the blog, co-writing the bi-monthly newsletters, and designing knitting, sewing and crochet patterns among various other fun tasks. Outside of work, she is the designer behind Marinade Designs (www.marinade.wordpress.com), her own line of knitting patterns that she is hoping to expand in the coming year. When she's not knitting or sewing her own clothes, she is working in her garden, tending to her chickens, cooking up delicious food, doing yoga, or hiking and backpacking with her husband and their feisty little mutt Wallace. Feel free to check out all of Kristen’s designs on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/kristen-ashbaugh-helmreich”

Kristen and Sew Red

Since she has such a strong background in knitting and designing knitwear, you may be asking yourself how Kristen got involved with Sew Red in the first place. After publishing her design in Knit Red when that book came out, Kristen began to dabble in sewing her own clothes. Even though her mom is a professional level seamstress, Kristen never got too much into sewing when she was younger. She had the knitting bug, for sure! However, when Jimmy Beans was looking for contributors to Sew Red, she decided to take a stab at a sewn design and create something simple that a beginner sewist like herself could make. The result is a really fun garment that is exactly that!

Why Kristen Chose to be Part of the Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long

When we asked her to participate in the Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long, Kristen was a bit hesitant. After all, she designs mostly garments and so is more of a sewist rather than a traditional quilter. She agreed to give it a go, and began brainstorming what kind of a block she'd like to do.

Kristen has been on a chevron kick lately and wanted to bring her favorite graphic to the Sew Red quilt. Unfortunately, she was having a mental block for how to do the chevrons and so switched to designing another, easier block. In the course of figuring out this easier one, the light bulb went off for her and she figured out how to do the smaller scale chevrons she wanted in the first place. So, we'll have two blocks from Kristen throughout the course of the Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long!

Kristen's Block

We're excited to kick off the Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long  with one of Kristen's blocks because it's a nice easy introduction to get us in the swing of things. Also, since it's a fairly easy block, you can do it again and again in place of future blocks that might be out of your comfort zone!

Without further ado, follow the link to Kristen's blog, Marinade Designs, to get the instructions and get started!

And Block Two.....

It's that time again! We are happy to announce the second block in the Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long. This round comes from the talented ladies behind Me and My Sister Designs.

All About Barb and Mary

Barbara Groves and Mary Jacobson of Me and My Sister Designs really are sisters who have been designing fabrics for Moda for 8 years. They are currently working on their 26^th fabric line. If their past collections are anything to go by, it will be chock full of bright, vibrant colors! Barb and Mary are based in Tempe, Arizona, where they design their beautiful fabric lines and the amazing quilting and sewing patterns that show off their colorful fabrics.

In addition to designing and sewing, these multi-talented ladies are also beginning to dabble in knitting. Barb is a self-described “knitter wannabe”. While she doesn't knit, she does like to crochet because the mistakes can be easily removed. She makes a mean chevron afghan! Barb hopes to one day finish a scarf from one of the many knitted scarf patterns that she has collected along with the yarn from her budding yarn collection. Mary also likes the idea of knitting and someday hopes to advance past making knitted dish cloths. She also collects balls of yarn just because she likes them—who here can't relate to that!

When these two are not quilting or wishing they could knit they love being with family and their many pets. Barb married the boy next door, and Mary married his best friend! Barb's house is ruled by her two dogs: a Jack Russell terrorist named Bella and a neurotic miniature schnauzer named Frazier. Mary shares her space with two rescue cats: Mia, a blind cat who is her constant companion and Earl, the man of the house.

Barb and Mary and Sew Red

Barb and Mary wanted to be a part of Sew Red because it is a cause that is close to their hearts. Their grand mother on their mothers side of the family died of heart problems and Barb just recently went through a procedure to correct an irregular heart beat. Barb and Mary have yearly checkups, keep a close eye on their blood pressure, make smart food decisions, eat small portions, and walk as frequently as they can. The gals from Me and My Sister Designs contributed the Village Bag, which is perfect for toting around everything you need for your active—and stylish!—lifestyle.

Barb and Mary and the Sew-a-long

We met Barb and Mary at Quilt Market in Portland this spring. These ladies had us in stitches the whole time! When we asked them to participate in the Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long, they were excited to get started! Mary used to sew all her girls clothes when they were small. Most things she made them were in Mary's favorite color pink. To this day, her daughters get a nervous tick when they see a pink shirt in the stores.  So it won't come as a surprise that their block features lots of pink!

Barb and Mary's block

Without further ado, follow the link to their blog, Me and My Sister Designs, to get the instructions and get started!