ABC Quilt Top and a Giveaway!!

So, if you remember clear back in the beginning of March, I had a plan for this little pile of super happy Hubba Hubba Fat Eighth's and my Spell it with Fabric book  (which you can find here if you are interested :)

And I started with 2 little letters.  A and B and I got super excited :)

I had so much fun with these letters because I wasn't trying to get them done asap.  They were my reward for finishing other deadline projects.   I would work on three-ish letters at a time just watching it come together.

Then, I got about half way through the alphabet and started getting antsy and wanted to see it come together.  So I spent an entire afternoon cutting out the rest of the letters.  What a time saver.  I really think in a lot of the the letters cases (sans X and K, those two were a pain) the letters often took more time to cut than to piece :)

And a few days later, I had the alphabet :)  So fun!!!!  At this point, I spoke to the wonderful gals at my daughter's preschool as the quilt was intended for them to hand on the wall at the school.  I found however that my original plan was to large as they only had small bulletin board spaces.

So, I revamped my idea and sewed the blocks into simple rows and added 4 fun corner blocks.  Simple, fast, fun, and 60"  x 60", the perfect size for the school.   I can't tell you how excited I am to see this quilt top finished!!!   I am hoping to get it all quilted over the weekend but we will see how it goes.  I sort of tweaked my back clearing some logs while making an ATV trail last weekend and standing and leaning over the long arm for long periods of times might be a little sore :)

Oh, and if you loved the Original Plan and are sad to not see it finished, never fear :)  I spoke to the wonderful gals at the Moda Bake Shop and guess what will be coming your way in tutorial form sometime in late August??   Oh yes, ABC . . . Read With Me using the new LOL line Me and My Sister Designs shared at Market.   Oh, those purples, love it!!!  

Now, Just because I have had so many fantastic people commenting how much they loved these happy bright letters on Instagram, I decided to share some of the Hubba Hubba fabric love :)  And thank you to Aubrey from Southern Fabric for sponsoring this giveaway!!!

Up for grabs is a fantastic Layer Cake of Hubba Hubba.  Seriously, I just love how bright and happy these prints are!!  You can't help but smile when you are sewing with them ;)  

You have two chances to win, please leave a separate comment for each.  

1 - Leave a comment here of your favorite color :)  Ya, you know I love purple :)  

2 - And for a second entry, since Southern Fabric has been kind enough to sponsor this giveaway, how about we show them some love.   Sign up for the Southern Fabric Newsletter  (on the top right) and then come back and leave a comment here that you did so, or already do :)  

And that's it :) The giveaway will close on Wednesday, June 4th at Midnight and I will announce a winner Thursday morning.    Good Luck to everyone ;)

 Have a Happy Quilting Weekend!!!

Linking up this quilt top finish with Amanda's, Sarah's, and Fort Worth Fabric Studio :)

Did You See This???

Last Friday, Fat Quarter Shop announced their 2014 Mega Quilt Market Sweepstakes!!  Did you see it??   It is Fat Quarter Shop’s biggest giveaway to date and may be the biggest online quilting-related
giveaway ever!!!!

The total value of this amazing giveaway retails at over $6,300 and is divided into twelve prize buckets. The
prizes range from fabric bundles and books to notions and many more quilting essentials. All of the prizes are shown in the Sweepstakes video on our YouTube channel, so be sure to watch!

So if you haven't entered yet, be sure to pop on over and fill out the survey to enter.  The sweepstakes closes on Monday June 30th at Midnight so be sure to visit before then, that is a month but you don't want to forget ;)

I am hoping to do a little piecing this morning :)  School finished last Friday and between Memorial Day Camping and kids home all day I haven't touched my machine in almost a week.  Ahhh!!!  I need to sew :)

In Motion

 Today I am excited to share one more quilt that I made for Spring Market.   I made this quilt for the fabulous Amy Ellis.  It is a baby size version of her In Motion pattern found in her awesome book Modern Neutrals and uses some of her fantastic fabrics from her first fabric line with Moda that is also called Modern Neutrals,  and can I just say I love this line!!!

The quilt was so much fun to make!!!   I really like  half square triangles and this quilt has quite a few of them, and they are little guys too, yippee :)  Amy was kind enough to send me the fabric precut with her Accuquilt Go.  This was my first time making HST's with triangles.   Always fun to try something new :)

I sent the quilt top back to Amy a few weeks before market and she finished quilting it and binding it ;)  I popped over to see her before Market started and got a quick shot of it all finished ;)  I just love this design, especially in these awesome fabrics!!!  (sorry, show floor lighting, not the best :)  

 And don't you just love these interlocking circles Amy quilted.  So cute!!!

I really had so much fun with this little quilt ;)  Thanks Amy for letting me play with your awesome fabrics :)

And now I am off to play with some new fabrics, once I decide which project I want to work on today :)  So many fabrics so few hours of the day :)

Have a Happy Quilting One :)

Weekend and Winning

We spent the Memorial Day Long Weekend camping up the mountain at my husband's family property :)  It was so much fun!!!  The kids had a wonderful time playing with their cousins and I so enjoyed chatting away with all the ladies and enjoying the delicious camp food that my husband made ;) And after the snow (yes, it snowed on us the first day, crazy!!) the sun came out and  everything was so beautiful and peaceful.  It was so green and the trees are all starting to bloom, the mountain was just so perfect and a wonderful weekend away from all things at home :)  No phone, no internet, no tv, just the mountain and us.  Perfection :)

And of course, I forgot my camera, so the only picture of the mountain I have to show for the whole weekend is the mountain of laundry :)  Ahh, that campfire smell :)

Our little weekend giveaway made me a little late to announce this winner.  Sorry, I was so tired last night I just didn't have it in me.  So let's get to it now ;)

Thank you again to Angela and Discover Fabric for sponsoring this wonderful giveaway!!!

And the winner for the Boy Crazy Yardage is . . .   #40

Congrats to Shauna!!!!!   I will email you shortly :)

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend :)  I can't wait to get back to my sewing machine ;)  I didn't miss the electronics much but I sure missed my machine ;)  Maybe the generator could run a small sewing machine, I will have to check with the dear husband on that one :)

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Quick Quilting Tips and Tricks

**Note - If you are looking for the Discover Fabric Giveaway, you will find it here :)

I am so excited for today!!!  My wonderful Friend Amy, from Diary of a Quilter, has put together a super fun blog hop this week  of Quick Quilting Tips and Tricks.  What a fabulous resource!!

I started thinking of what tip I would like to post about.  Then on Monday, after posting my  new Mellow Yellow quilt, I started getting emails about how some of you would love to make this quilt but there was no way you could make flying geese like that. Oh yes, you can!!!  And you can with the No Waste Flying Geese Method.  This is one of my favorite piecing tricks I have learned I am super excited to share it with you.  I have posted my tutorial below so you won't have to link anywhere ;)

Okay, so how many of your get scared and run for the hills at the thought of flying geese??  They can be a little intimidating :)   This is a great method of making Flying Geese that have no waste. And you won't be sewing any triangles along the bias which helps to keep everything nice and straight.  It's simply sewing squares.  Let's get to it!!!

FIRST OFF, SOME MATH :)

To start you need to cut your squares!!  Each set of squares cut (5 total) will make 4 flying geese.  From your first fabric (the goose or large triangle) you will cut a 1 square that is 1 1/4" larger than the finished width of your flying geese block.  From your second fabric (the sky or small triangles on the sides)  you will cut 4 squares that are 7/8" larger than your finished height of your flying geese block.  Just make sure that when you are picking your sizes your keep your geese proportional of twice the length as the width (ie 2 x 4, 2 1/2" x 5",  3 x 6, ect.

So in this example picture I am making 4 sets of flying geese (12 green geese and 4 red geese).  My finished  geese blocks will be 2" x 4".  By finished I mean the size they will be when sewn into a block.  When I am done making the individual geese block they will measure 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" and are considered unfinished.  (a little confusing some times :)  So I have cut (4) 5 1/4" x 5 1/4" squares (4" + 1 1/4")  and (16) 2 7/8" x 2 7/8"  (2" + 7/8") squares.  I will end up with 16 flying geese unfinished at 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" and when I sew them into a block they will be finished at 2" x 4"

Oh, and one last note before we start sewing, since you are almost always making this block as a flock (aka a lot of them) it is best to save time to do all of your cutting first and then be sure and repeat each of the sub-steps in an assembly line fashion rather than making 1 set of  geese at a time.  This is a great method for cranking out lots of geese doing some assembly line pinning and chain stitching ;)

LETS MAKE SOME GEESE :)

With right sides together, lay two white squares onto your large print square as shown.  Using your ruler, draw a pen line diagonally from the top left corner to the bottom right corner.  And if you are making a whole flock, you can just mark all your small squares before you get started :)

Now  pin both sides of each square adjacent to that drawn line.  Make sure to put them out far enough that your presser foot won't hit them as you sew on by :) Stitch a 1/4" seam along both sides of the drawn line (the black lines represent your stitching lines :)  Remember, you are chain stitching so go ahead and stitch all the sets on the right hand side of the line first, and  clip your threads.  Then go back and do all the sets on the left hand side.

Now align your ruler along the drawn center line.  Cut  along that drawn line to make 2 pieces.

Press your seams up towards your 2 little triangles.

Now, take 2 more little squares and align them on your two stitched pieces as shown with right sides together.  Once again, draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the little squares from corner to corner. (unless you have already drawn your lines ;)

Now pin each piece on either side of the drawn line far enough out that your foot will go by. Once again, stitch a 1/4" seam along either side of the drawn diagonal line.  (Remember to chain stitch to save time :)

Clip your threads and then using your ruler aligned along the drawn line, once again, cut your 2 separate pieces apart to make 4 pieces.

Press up toward the little triangles again.   Lastly, trim off the little corners or dog ears.

And you are done!!!  4 Perfectly precise flying geese blocks without throwing away any scraps and without sewing a single triangle.  Fabulous!!

I hope you enjoy this little trick for making flying geese and won't be intimated by them.  Flying Geese are a great building block to have in your designing tool box ;)  I hope to get lots of emails now saying that flying geese are not scarey and that you could surly make your own Mellow Yellow ;)   I plan on making a purple version soon for my sewing space wall.

Amy, our host, is the author of the brand new book, Fabulously Fast Quilts.  I was lucky enough to attend her school house at Market and see all of the amazing quilts and patterns from her book.  Each are made with a trick to make the piecing faster and they are fabulous.  For sure, a great one to check out!!!

Be sure to hop on over to Amy's Blog to see all of the other awesome Quick Quilting Tips and Tricks ;)  

Oh, and by the Way . . . If you are stopping by for the first time as part of the hop, Welcome!!    I am so glad you popped in and hope you will come back often.  I have so much sharing my passion for quilting here with lots of tutorials, giveaways, projects, fabric eye candy, and general happy quilting times.  

Have a Happy Quilting Weekend!!

Linking up my Mellow Yellow finish to Amanda's, Sarah's, and Fort Worth Fabric Studio :)

Spring Market 2014

So It has been a week since I left for Spring Market!!  Oh my goodness, it was so very much fun!!!!   This week is also the last week of school and so as much as I wanted to do a lovely post showing your every minute of my amazing 3 days there, times is quickly slipping away.  So I started putting together a mosaic of pictures and quickly realized that it all could be summed up in 2 words.

FRIENDS AND FABRIC

And, even with all of those pictures, I still missed some.  I got to meet and catch up with so many bloggy friends and only remember to take pictures of a few.  It was so great to chat with you ladies!!!   Corey and I even got shushed in a schoolhouse we were whispering so much :)  I was sad when I was leaving because I never ran into Amanda Jean at market and I so wanted to meet her in person, and then who but who did I run into at the airport ;)  Yippee!!!

All around, an amazing Market!!!  And I thought I would finish off with my favorite moment of Market.   Barbara and I were standing in line to meet Leah Day and get a copy of her new book when we turned around to find Eleanor Burns standing behind us in line.  Incredible!!!  We were in line for about 25 minutes  and spent the time chatting with Eleanor and the other people around us like we had known each other for years!!   I tried to play it cool but totally geeked out a few times.  What an amazing memory!!!

It was a fantastic market!!!  My creativity cup is running over and I just want to sew!!!

Happy Quilting to you all :)

Welcome Discover Fabric and a Giveaway!!!

Today I am so excited to welcome  Discover Fabric as Happy Quilting's newest sponsor!!!   Discover Fabric was founded by Angela Cochran in 2013 and I am so excited to introduce Angela and her wonderful shop to you :)  

Discover Fabric is dedicated to supplying the needs of quilters, crafters, and sewing enthusiasts. Their goal is to delight customers with colorful modern fabrics that inspire creative sewing projects. 

Discover Fabric offers designer quality fabrics.     All of their fabrics are high quality quilting cottons perfect for quilts, apparel, and crafts.  They are continuing to add new fabric lines from a variety of designers you know and love such as Camelot Fabrics, Riley Blake Designs, Blend Fabrics, Clothworks, Michael Miller, Henry Glass, Robert Kaufman, Marcus Brothers, Quilting Treasures and many more are on the way.  

     

 Discover Fabric also offers sewing patterns, books, threads, and many other sewing supplies such as organic fabric and organic cotton batting.  You can find everything you need for your creating needs.  

  

      

Discover Fabric also has a fantastic Sale Section where you can find some of everything,  just perfect for all of us trying to make our pennies go a little farther :)  

  

             

Welcome Discover Fabric.  I am so excited to have you as part of the Happy Quilting Family!!!

 And as part of their welcome debut here at Happy Quilting, Discover Fabric is giving away 3 1/2 Yards from the ever so cute Boy Crazy by My Minds Eye for Riley Blake!!     

You have two chances to win, please leave a separate comment for each.  And since Discover Fabric is new here, I thought it might be nice for your entries to allow you to get acquainted :)

1 - Sign up for the Discover Fabric Newsletter  and leave a comment here that you did so.  

2 - Like  Discover Fabric on Facebook for information on new arrivals, giveaways, and coupons.
  and leave a comment that you did so.

And that's it :) The giveaway will close on Monday evening, the 26th  and I will announce a winner shortly after.    Good Luck to everyone ;)

 Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Bloggers Quilt Festival - First Date

Today is Day 2 for me of the Bloggers Quilt Festival and I am excited to share another quilt that I made for Market :)  

This is First Date and it is so much fun!!! :)  I created this quilt for April of Prairie Grass.  This is one of her new patterns to go with her First Fabric Line for Moda called Best Day Ever.   And oh, I just loved, loved, loved playing with this fabric.  It is absolutely fantastic!!!  

The prints and the patterns are just so bright and happy!!!  You can't help but smile the whole time you are working with them ;)  This is a fun and easy jelly roll pattern that went together super quick.

And since it went together so quick, I decided to have a little fun and do some custom quilting ;)  I used some of my favorite Magnifico Threads in yellow and pink to create the arches in the blocks.  I love that they have a tiny bit of a shine that just makes them pop.   Then I used some So Fine white to blend the background with pebbles, echoed bubbles, and my favorite echoed paisleys in the border.   I just love how it turned out.

And I had to share a picture of the back because I just think it is so fun :)

And this background shot shows those echoed paisleys.  I have a video tutorial here on how I quilt those if you want to check it out.  It is quickly becoming one of my favorite quilting design to do ;)

 And here it is all done and hanging on an adorable green ladder in April's booth at International Quilt Market.   I walked by each morning and each morning was surprised again at how I can't help but smile at that pretty rainbow :)

 
 Thanks so much for stopping by today and be sure to pop on over to the Blogger's Quilt Festival to see all of the amazing quilts in each of the categories ;)  First Date is in the ROYGBIV  Category ;)

Have a Happy Quilting Day!