Happy Jolly Bar Day!!! This is the first ever Jolly Bar Day and it is so very exciting!!! Just reminding you that today is the Livestream event at 10 AM CT with Fat Quarter Shop You Tube Channel celebrating this happy new day!! They will be sharing quilts from this new Jolly Bar Book Vol 5, lots of quilty ideas for your Jolly Bars, and of course, some amazing savings!!
A Jolly Bar is a 5"x 10" precut exclusive to Fat Quarter Shop. It's right between a Layer Cake and a Charm Pack and is a great size for making so many wonderful quilts! And did you know that every Jolly Bar comes with an original pattern specifically for that Jolly Bar!! So cool ;) And you can't celebrate a Jolly Bar Day without a Jolly Bar Sale!!! Right now, Save 25% off on all Jolly Bars with code JBDAY25 at Fat Quarter Shop for this special celebration ;)
Need a little more Jolly Bar Pattern inspiration . . . Check out all 5 of the Jolly Bar Books!! So many wonderful Jolly Bar patterns to choose from ;)
I am planning to celebrate Jolly Bar Day by staring an new Jolly Bar Project!! You might recall back here that I wanted to make a Holly Berry Quilt from the new Jolly Bar Volume 5 Book . . . Well today is the day to make it!! I am excited to see how much progress I can get done today :) I am planning on using a Berry Basket Jolly Bar with a Shabby Grey Background. It is going to make the sweetest baby quilt!!
So come join in!! Grab a Jolly Bar and join me in celebrating the first Jolly Bar Day!!!
UPDATE . . .
I finished the quilt top, backing, and binding and all before 1 pm ;) Didn't it turn out so great!! Now it just needs to be quilted, but that will have to wait as I have another quilt on the longarm. What a super fun first Jolly Bar Day!!
Well, we have had lots of April Showers, so here is hoping for all of the May Flowers!!! And with the new month of May it means a new $5 Pattern of the Month here at Happy Quilting!!! For the entire Month of May the Simply by Design pattern is just $5!!!
The Simply by Design Pattern can be found in my Etsy Shop in both a Paper version as well as a PDF version and both versions will be marked down to $5.00 for the month May. This is such a fun quilt to make and you can use it as a scrap buster or pull out a bundle ;) It is rated Beginner Friendly and I just love it!!
Simply By Design has 6 size options. All 6 sizes have options for using your scraps! The Baby, Child, and Lap sizes use Fat Eighths divided by color, and the Picnic, Twin, and Queen sizes use Fat Quarters divided by colors. And once you have your blocks made, you can really play with the layout options by spinning your blocks. It creates all new looks! The pattern is great for mastering your quarter inch and lining up sashings.
Need some ideas for your Simply By Design Quilt?? Here are some new arriving fabric collections mocked up . . . Just to give you some fun ideas of what you can do with this pattern!!
Here is the Twin Size in Cali & Co. by Corey Yoder. This is a great line for easily breaking up colors to make a beautiful rainbow quilt ;) The placement of each colors is normally based on how many fat quarters you have of each color, but it always comes out looking nice in a rainbow!!
And you don't have to stick with a white background. This Precious Petites rainbow has a fun vintage look to it. And adding a Raisin Shabby background really makes all of those colors just sing!! Isn't that just so chic!! This is the lap size, it is made with the same amount of blocks as the twin size, but smaller block sizes and sashing ;)
And how about a super jewel tone rainbow!! I have just fallen in love with this Sagewood Fabric by Crystal Manning!!! And isn't it just gorgeous in this pattern!! I might just have to order some more Sagewood and make this one up because I just love it!!!
Or, you can not worry about lining up colors, and just go Neutral or Monochromatic!! There are so many great black and white lines out there, like this Midnight Meadow, and adding a tan background finishes off the neutral look. Or just grab a scrap drawer in a specific color and pull all of the shades and hues from that color. It looks amazing when it all comes together, and again, is a great stash buster!!! Ya, I think I might need to make a purple monochromatic one very soon!!! so fun :)
And that is my $5.00 Pattern of the Month!!! may 2025 is all about the Simply by Design Pattern!!! I really think you are just going to love making this quilt ;) Oh, and if you love the scrappy rainbow binding to match the blocks, you can see a tutorial for how to do that right here!!! And of course, if you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to reach out to me ;) And when you make your Simply by Design Quilts I would love to see them!!! You can email me a picture at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com or add it to social media with #happyquiltingwithmc and #simplybydesignquilt ;) I can't wait to see your Quilts!!!
So are you ready to start making your Simply by Design Quilts??? Pop over to my Etsy Shop, to pick up your Patterns and get Happy Quilting!!!!
Its a new month and the Sew Sampler Box is also celebrating 9 years!!! How fun is that!! And I am super excited because that also means a new Quilt Along . . . and I am so excited for this years!!!! The theme for this month is Just Desserts and it is just filled with happy and bright quilting goodness!! A wonderful box to celebrate Sew Sampler 9th Birthday!!
I was so excited to see Raspberry Summer by Sherri and Chelsi in this box!! It is just such a happy line with it's bright, saturated colors. It truly just makes me smile!! And this Dessert Roll is going to be so fun to cut up for that gorgeous Dahlia Quilt!!! Isn't it jus so pretty, a great way to feature these fabrics!!
And the notions for this new year of Sew Sampler are just perfect!!! I love the idea of keeping my fabrics (especially the solids) organized with these cute Fabric Label Stickers. Such a great idea!! And the Charming Dresden Enamel Chain has already been put on my travel bag! It is just so cute ;) And of course, I can always use more Needles, and Thread!! They are the bread and butter of our quilting game ;)
And with a new Sew Sampler year comes a new QAL!!! This year is Flowering. I am so excited for these new blocks, as I just love making variations on flower blocks. I am hoping each month has a little "green" in it for leaves as I really think that will be what ties all of my blocks together ;)
You see . . . the original Flowering QAL is being made in Summertime Fabric by Camille Roskelley, and there are Kits Available. But I had this plan to make a quilt for the Celebrate 50 Years of Moda ;) I got all of my fabrics, and thought up a design, and then realized, the wedding was the same month as the quilts were due for Celebrate 50. So ya, needless to say, that quilt never happened. So a few days ago I figured, what better way to Celebrate 9 years of Sew Sampler than with 50 Years of Moda!!! So my blocks will all have 2 tones of colors (there are 4 prints on each of those 1/4 yard strips), a green or teal leaf, and a low volume background from the line. I am super excited to see how it comes together!!
And that is April Sew Sampler Box. I can't wait for May to make another Flowering block, I started in the purples with my favorites, who knows what color I will pick next month ;)
I always love working with Basics because you have so many color options. And when Riley Blake recently released a whole new color lineup of Shades Basics I just knew it would make the perfect Square Dance Rainbow Quilt! I absolutely love making quilts with a rainbow of piecing. I mean, doesn't that just make you smile to see all of those happy, bright colors all lined up. And really, it is so much fun to play with the endless color options you have for layout. I went with a diagonal rainbow, but you can do vertical, horizontal, exploding from the center, or even totally random, just have fun with it!!
The Square Dance Quilt uses 2 1/2" strips, so I just used 1/8 yard of each of these 36 Shades Basics. And just because I know it's going to be asked . . . here are the 36 Shades Basics I used listed in their layout of rows.
And I have to say, I just love the names of colors that are given to these basics! So fun ;) I used Shades Phantom for the accent and Shades Snow for the background. It is always great to pair black and white with the rainbow, it just makes all of the colors pop!
And while this might look a little complex, the Square Dance Quilt Pattern is truly is a beginner quilt with basic quilting techniques. The block is super fun to make and super fast, and then you just use pieced sashing (that will totally nest on all the seams) to interlock the secondary squares. And you wind up with a super fun geometric quilt every time! This is the Queen Size quilt, but the pattern has multiple size options so you can make whatever size works for you.
And this was quilted with a gorgeous all over loop de loops in different scales and grouped in double loops. My amazing MIL, Barbara did the quilting on this and it is just beautiful. And I purposely shared this part of the quilting to show the bottom corner. Have you ever thought of labeling your quilts with the quilting? Such a fun way personalize your quilts!
And that is my Square Dance Quilt featuring the new Shades Basics! Have you made a Rainbow Quilt in Basics before? They really are such a joy to make, you can't help but smile when you are playing with all of the colors! And if you haven't made a Basics Rainbow Quilt, hopefully this will inspire you to do so :) And if you happen to make a Square Dance Quilt, I would love to see it! You can share your projects with me on social media with the hashtags #happyquiltingmc and #squaredancequilt and tagging @happyquiltingmc or email me a picture at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com. I can't wait to see your Square Dance Quilts!!
Thank you so much for sharing this finish with me!! Piecing with Basics is always a joy and I especially love making large quilts with Basics so I can play with so many Shades of all the colors ;)
I am so excited for the new Stardust Charity Quilt Along!!! This is Fat Quarter Shop's 12th Charity Quilt Along and I can't wait for May 1st to get started :) 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!!!!
And not only do you help Wishes come True by quilting along . . . but you also get to make this beautiful Stardust Quilt!!!! Isn't it just so pretty!!! I just love it and it finishes at a great lap size, and as you can see, is beginner friendly, so we can all make a Stardust Quilt ;)
The Stardust Quilt Alongstarts on May 1st, 2024 and patterns will be released leading up to the finish of the quilt along in September. Fat Quarter shop is encouraging a donation for the use of the free quilt patterns. Please give what you are able, every little bit counts towards granting a child's wish ;) There has already been over 30,000 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 (and don't want to wait for the fabric requirements release :) there is a Stardust Quilt Kit and Backing Set featuring Summertime Fabrics by Camille Roskelley for Moda Fabrics. The kit comes with all the fabrics you need for the blocks, background and binding and it even comes with a bonus cloth bag. And one other bonus . . . The Kit comes with all of the patterns so you don't have to wait each month for them to be released, and yes, it's the only place to get them early ;)
But you can always branch out and choose your own fabrics as well ;) I loved the bold rich colors of my Backgammon Quilt so much, I decided to use the same fabrics for my Starbust Quilt!! So I will be using Sagewood Fabrics by Crystal Manning and one of my new favorites for the background, Grunge Vanilla!! It is going to be so fun. And if you can tell by the number of prints I have, I am going for a little more scrappy look :)
So will you be joining in and quilting along for a great cause?? You still have lots of time to get ready and it's going to be so much fun!!! Pop on over to the Stardust Quilt Along Page for all the details and easy access links for the pattern releases :) And another little bonus, the first 500 donors to donate an amount of $75 or more will receive a special Stardust Bear as a thank you gift!! Isn't he so cute with those little stars embroidered on his paws!!
I can't wait for some Happy Charity Quilting starting soon and I hope you will be joining in with me for the quilt along fun!!!!
.jpg)
