The Liberty Box Is Lit!!!

 It's that time of year . . . when the Annual Liberty Box arrives!!!    And as my 13 year old would say, it is Lit!!!  Wow, this year's box is just stuffed full of so much Patriotic Quilting Goodness!!!   I can't wait to dive in and get cutting and sewing!   

I was thrilled to find this super festive Stars and Stripes Forever Bundle with my Liberty Box!!   I mean, how cute are the tiny Uncle Sam hats . . .  and the pinwheels and trucks, love it!!   And that Gleaming Pattern is going to be a fun one to put together with all of those pretty points so excited :)   And it is even the perfect size for a QOV, double bonus!  

And the notions that  Fat Quarter Shop sent along with the Liberty Box are just so fun this year :)  I love this little Mini Cooler Bag!!!  It is the perfect size for a few popsicles of a few cans of soda :)  I think it is going to be going up the mountain a lot this summer ;)  The Lori Holt Americana Charm is just that, absolutely charming!!    And the Stars and Stripes Minin Cutting Mat is so cute, these always come in handy when I am teaching and someone needs a small trimming mat ;) And of course, I can never have enough Superior Thread, love it!!  

I can't wait to get started on my Gleaming Quilt!!  It is just going to be so perfect for fireworks!!    And if you want to make your own as well . . . there are a few more Liberty Box's available, but hurry, they are going fast!! 

Hope you all have a very Happy Quilting Day!!!

What I'm Working On

Last week I got to teach at the Quilt Walk!  I always love getting to teach as it is such a joy to share the love of quilting!!!   I also love that retreating gives me lots of in between class time with no interruptions (that ya know, always happen when you are at home ;)  And I was super productive.  

First up, I finished up my Navigating the Stars quilt top.   This is a new Happy Quilting pattern that I am so very excited about (I will be teaching it  at Garden of Quilts!!)   It features Rainier by Jessica Rose and I just love the prints and colors, they fit the pattern so perfectly!!   I also got this pattern off to the printers before I left for the retreat, so now all I have to do is get this quilted and it will be ready for release!!  So ya, it's coming soon!!!  

And I also got another quilt top finished that will be another coming soon pattern!!! This is my Primrose and Proper Quilt top.     And this one was getting all of the Ooohhh's, and Ahhh's while working on it after classes.  This quilt top features Parlor by Crystal Manning and I just love, love, love these prints and colors, especially the purples!!!  I can't wait to quilt this one. And as soon as I do, it will be released as it also went to the printers and I will also be teaching it at Garden of Quilts!!     

And once my quilt tops were finished, I moved on to some curved piecing.   You might recall from back here, I have a Flower Child Quilt Kit that will be releasing in October.   I sewed up a Flower Child quilt in Elena Amo's new Blossoms and Blooms Fabric a while back for the kit, but Moda also had me make some test blocks for pictures.  Which mean, I had enough left over from the test blocks to make 2 more Flower Child Baby quilts !!   So I started pinning, stitching, and pressing lots of curves.  So fun :)  

And that is what I have been stitching up the last week ;)  Now this week, I am moving on to working on two more quilt tops for 2 more new Happy Quilting Patterns!!   And they are all about the Grunge this time ;)   Want to see a sneak peek of the Yellow Grunge Quilt, and the Blue Grunge Quilt?  So fun!!  So time to start pressing and cutting and get these quilts sewing!!!  

So what are you working on this week???

Blossoming Stars featuring A Touch of Celtic Batiks

Today I am so very excited to share a new Batik Quilt finish with you. Aren't you just loving all of the new fabric collections in Expression Batiks! Each one is just as beautiful as the last. And this new A Touch of Celtic Collection is just so bright and happy, you can't help but smile at it. And with it's Irish Flair, I wanted to make a quilt with an Irish Chain in it. I knew right away that it would make the most gorgeous Blossoming Stars Quilt . . . and indeed it did!!

I just love how bright and rich all of these A Touch of Celtic batiks are! And the inlaid designs of Celtic knots, thistle, sheep, and plaids are just so great!! Doesn't it just make you want to visit the Emerald Isles!! I know it indeed makes me want to visit, (and there might even be some behind the scenes work on a quilting trip that does just that come 2026, more to come :) And the background fabric I used goes just perfect with this line!! It is Candy Coated Powder Pastels and the hits of color just match perfectly with this line, while still giving the feel of a soft white background. A super happy combination!

The Blossoming Stars Quilt is Fat Quarter Friendly, so you can just grab a bundle and get piecing. The pattern also comes with 5 size options, so you can make from a Baby size up to a Queen/King size. The quilt shown here is a queen/king size and is going to make such a lovely wedding gift!! Don't you just love how you see stars at one point and then flowers at the next. It really is my favorite thing about this design.

And while this might look a little complex, the Blossoming Stars Pattern is broken down into some basic quilting techniques.   The block is also large, so it is forgiving, especially as each block is made with mostly one fabric. While making this quilt, you will learn an easy 3 Pin Method for Curves and you can use my Modified Drunkards Path templates to make cutting them a breeze. And I know, curves can be intimidating, (especially with a tighter weave batik) but I promise, if you give them a try, you will be breezing through them by the end of the quilt. You will also learn No Waste Flying Geese, and Strip Piecing techniques. So ya, lots of technique, and wonderful step by step instructions and diagrams to walk you through each.

And this was quilted with a gorgeous all over traveling bloom and leaf design!! My amazing MIL, Barbara did the quilting on this and it is just beautiful. I just love how she can be so free with her quilting and just see what comes as she quilts along, it really makes for some beautiful quilting!

And that is my Blossoming Stars Quilt featuring the A Touch of Celtic Collection!! I hope you have enjoyed this post and make your own Blossoming Stars Quilt!!! And if you do, I would love to see it! You can share your projects with me on social media with the hashtags #happyquiltingmc and #blossomingstarsquilt and tagging @happyquiltingmc or email me a picture at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com. I can't wait to see your Blossoming Stars Quilts!!

Thank you so much for sharing this finish with me! I am just loving the joy of Batiks and am already working on some more Batik Quilts to share with you soon. Thank you so much to my wonderful friends at Riley Blake for making such amazing collections of beautiful Batiks!

I hope you have a very Happy Quilting Day!

Groove Quilts x 5

 Back in October, I got the wonderful opportunity to make 5 samples for my good friends at Moda using the just now released Groove Fabric by new Moda Design Emily Van Hoff.  These quilts and fabrics are a groovy way to approach a more Whole Cloth Quilting concept.  I had so much fun piecing outside of my "norm" with lots of big squares, strips, and fun borders. 

Emily Van Hoff designed 5 quilts to go with her new Groove Fabric Line and each has some fun piecing techniques to go along with them.  It really made making these samples so enjoyable.  They are all a Lap Size and whip up pretty quickly thanks to the large scaled prints and piecing.   And Moda has made a Project Sheet that includes the Patterns for all 5 quilts!!  You can download it right here ;)  

So let's look at each of the quilts.  Up first is Square Dance and it finishes at 67" x 83" making a large lap size quilt.  This one has some fun strip piecing in all of the sashing, so again, it goes together really quick.   And the wavy border is a print, so no piecing there.   And I love the striped binding!!  In my opinion,  you can never go wrong with a striped binding!!  

I quilted this one with a wavy cross hatch.  This is such a fun way to quilt.  I just load the quilt one direction and do wavy lines across the entire quilt.  Then I reload the quilt in the other direction and again, wavy lines across the quilt making the crosshatch.  I love all of the groovy shapes it creates when the wavy lines meet.   So fun!!

Next up is Knot to be Missed.  This one finishes at 60"x 60" so it is a great lap size quilt.   This is a whole cloth center with two borders sewn together and then some fun cornerstones.  The cornerstones are needle turned applique (which I did by machine because we know I can't handsewn).  And I just love the little addition of those circles in the corners as it just make this design pop!!  

And when it came time to quilt this one, I wanted to use the center print as inspiration so I did a loose feather design.  Then to make it look more like ribbon twisting, I went back and echoed the loose feather.  I think it came together so well, and I love how it mimics the center!

Next is Picture This and it finishes at 52" x 59", again a great lap size!! This one was super fast to put together as it is a center whole cloth that is just bordered 3 times.  And I love how the prints are all so bold and different that it makes each individual border just stand out.   So fun!

And this one I quilted with an Angela Walter's favorite.  You can never go wrong with gentle meanduring, but putting the meanduring in a little box adds so much to the design.  I just love how this one came together, and again, I think the meanduring in the box really mimics that center design. 

Next is Find Your Groove and this one was probably my favorite to make, even though it was the one that took the most time because of all of the curved piecing.   It was just so much fun to figure out how to do that giant inset circle!!!   And it looks so cool!!!  And the little scalloped border, those are also pieced, just like the center.  I just love pieced curves, they look so awesome!!  And making sure the scalloped borders also lined up took a second, but it was all so worth it when it came together.  It just is a really great piecing quilt!!!  And it finishes at  60" x 60".  

And if you are going to have a giant pieced circle in the quilt, you better believe I am going to quilt it with lots of fun swirls.  This really is one of my favorite quilting designs, and this time, I tried to make sure that each swirl has several layers in it to really deepen the swirl effect ;) 

And last but not least, Along These Lines.  This one is the smallest of the group finishing at 46" x 52", so it would work perfect in a lap size.   And while this one looks like a whole lot of piecing, it is actually very little as it uses the two striped prints,  It is just cutting different strip widths and then sewing them together.  How cool is that!!  

And this one I quilted with organic lines across the quilt.   It just fits perfectly with all of the striped piecing.  And for fun, I used several thread colors!!   I just love how they colored threads pop on different pieced colors.   It's not often that I use multiple color threads, but this one was perfect for it!! 

And those are my 5 Groove Quilts!!!  So what do you say . . .Do you want to whip up your own Groove Quilts??   The fabric has just been released so look for it at your favorite quilting shop!  And again,  you can find the 5 patterns here and get your Groovy Quilting On!!!  

Thanks so much for popping in today and sharing these finishes with me ;)

I hope you all have a very Happy (and Groovy)  Quilting Day!! 

Stardust Quilt Along!!

 It's time to finish up our quilt tops for the Stardust Quilt Along!!!    This is Fat Quarter Shop's 12th Charity Quilt Along and I am just loving it :)    This Charity Quilt Along benefits Make a Wish, and there have been so many wonderful Wishes granted from this Quilt Along in the past, and I can't wait to see what Wishes come true this year!!!!

So here is  Round 2-4 of the this beautiful Stardust Quilt!!!!   Isn't it just so pretty!!!   The pattern for this month can be found right here!!   Lots and lots of wonderful HST's for this month!!  And don't you just love those starts in stars :)    The quilt is beginner friendly, so we can all make a Stardust Quilt  ;)  

 Fat Quarter shop is encouraging a donation  for the use of the free quilt pattern.    Please give what you are able, every little bit counts towards granting a child's wish ;)   There has already been over 40,000 raised, and with Fat Quarter Shop and Moda matching those funds, it will go a long way to grant wishes!!  

   If you want your Stardust Quilt to be just like the original there is a  Stardust Quilt Kit and Backing Set featuring Summertime Fabrics by Camille Roskelley for Moda Fabrics.    I am using Sagewood Fabrics by Crystal Manning and one of my new favorites for the background, Grunge Vanilla!!  Don't those bold prints just pop!!  I just love it.      And now, all that is left to do is quilt it and bind it :)   Yippee!!

 

So pop on over and get your Release 2 of the Stardust Quilt Along and come sew for a great cause!!!