Shine Quilt and Tutorial

I have been hinting that this was coming and today is the day :)   I am excited to be sharing a new Moda Bake Shop Tutorial today!!!!  It's called Shine and I just love it!!!!

The fabrics in Shine are the super soon to be released Ombre Confetti Metallic by Vanessa Christenson.  I am such a fan of Vanessa's goregous Ombre prints and when she added in fun Metallic Confettit dots I just knew I needed to make something up that would really pop :)  So I paired it with some Modifications Metallic in black and white to make this quilt Shine!!

And I just love the the way the Ombre looks in the design.  It really brings a whole new dimension to a wonderfully simple basic geometric design.   And it's hard to see in the lighting, but the subtle secondary designs created with the white Modifications is just so fun!!!

And now that this Moda Bake Shop Tutorial has been published for a while, I  can now post it here on my for your convenience ;)   So just follow along below for the full step-by-step tutorial.  And if you just love it, you can get the printer friendly version here :)  

This quilt finishes at 66" x 82".
So let's get to it . . . Here is what you need:

1 Ombre  Confetti Metallic Jelly Roll® by Vanessa Christenson for Moda
1/2 Yard Modafications Metallic White - 9884 11M
1/2 Yard Modafications Metallic Jet - 9884 26M
3 3/4 Yards Moda Bella Solid White  -  9900 98 - background fabric
4 Yards of your Favorite Confetti Metallic Print  10807 - backing fabric

STEP 1 - CUTTING

Start out with your Jelly Roll.  There are two strips of each of the 20 colors in the roll.  You will be leaving one strip uncut, and the second strip, place on your cutting mat folded in half.  Cut a 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" square and an 2 1/2" x 18 1/2" strip from the strip.  You will have two of each cut and the second set can be put in your scrap drawer.  The 2 1/2" square will be used in your quilt top and the 2 1/2" x 18 1/2" strip can be set aside for the moment as it will be used to make a scrappy binding.

Repeat this cutting for all 20 strips.  To Speed things up, you can place several folded strips out at once and have them hang just over the 0 Horizontal line on your mat as shown.  Then simply cut along the Horizontal line, followed by the 18 1/2" Horizontal Line finally the 21" Horizontal Line.

This concludes the cutting from the Print strips and you should have:
(20) 2 1/2" x Width of Fabric Strips - One of each color
(20) 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" Squares - One of each color
(20) 2 1/2" x 18 1/2" strips to be used for binding.
From the Background Fabric (White Bella Solid) cut:
(6) 6 1/2" x Width of Fabric Strips
(20) 2 1/2" x Width of Fabric Strips
(82) 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangles
From the Modifications Metallic White fabric cut:
(80) 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares
And finally, from the Modifications Metallic Black fabric cut:
(3) 2 1/2" x Width of Fabric Strips
(31) 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares

STEP 2 - STRIP PIECING 2 PATCH UNITS

We will start with some Strip Piecing.  Whenever I strip piece I always turn my stitch length down slightly as you will be coming back and cutting through your stitches.  Grab the pile of 2 1/2" x WOF Print fabric strips and the 2 1/2" x WOF Background fabric strips.  Place a Background strip on a Print strip and stitch a 1/4" seam along the long edge.   I just align the raw edges as I am stitching.

It will save time and thread to chain stitch all 20 of your strip pairs.  This simply means when you come to the end of one strip, don't cut our threads.  Simply start feeding the next strip set through your machine to make a super long chain of strips.  And if the ends of your strips don't line up at the end of each strip, don't worry, you are just going to cut it off anyway :)

Once all 20 of your strip sets are stitched, clip your threads between strip sets and move to your ironing board.  Press the seam allowance of your strip sets towards the Print strip.  I actually like to press from the front of the strip to assure I don't get any little bubbles in the seam allowance.

Now, you can move back to your cutting mat.  Fold your nicely pressed strip in half and lay it on your mat, aligning the top of the strip with a horizontal line on your mat.  Using the vertical line on your mat just that is just past the selvage of your strip set, cut a straight edge.  Now measure in 2 1/2" and sub-cut (2) Two Patches.  Continue sub cutting 2 1/2" width in until you have cut (16) 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" Two Patch Units.

You will repeat this subcutting for each of the 20 strip sets you have sewn.   To speed things up, you can Stagger Stack your strip sets and cut a whole bunch at once.  If you are not familiar with this technique, I have a tutorial here, that walks you through the process step by step :)

When you are done Sub-Cutting you will have (16) Two Patch Units of each of the 20 Prints for a total of 320 Two Patch Units.  Keep the units stacked in their own individual Print piles.

STEP 3 -  SEWING THE BLOCK

So now with all of your Two Patches cut, you are ready to make the blocks.  I will be showing how to make one block at a time, but if you are good at keeping track of your stacked pieces, you can choose to chain piece several or all of the blocks at once.  Or you can make them 1 block at a time as it shows.  Whichever is your preference ;)
Start by laying out 4 Two Patch Units of 1 Print color and 1 Modifications White 2 1/2" square as shown below.  Stack 4 Sets total on this layout.    Be sure and mix up the ombre in your stacks so you don't have one set of 4 that it is all light or all dark ;)

Place the Second Two Patch unit in the Top Row onto the First Two Patch unit with right sides together.  Align and Pin or Nest the center seam.  Chain Stitch a 1/4" seam along the pinned edge of all 4 sets.  Then place the Modifications White square onto the Background square in the Bottom Row with right sides together.  Chain stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge of all 4 sets.  Clip your threads of the first set and lay them back out again.  Finally, place the Third Two Patch unit in the Top Row onto the Second Two Patch unit with right sides together.  Align and Pin or Nest the center seam.  Chain stitch a 1/4" seam along the pinned edge of all 4 sets.

Press the Seam in the Top Row Open.   Press the seam in the bottom row towards the Modifications White Square and lay the units back out again in stack of 4.   Finally, Place the Bottom Row onto the Top Row with right sides together.  Align and Pin or Nest the seams.  Chain stitch a 1/4" seam along the pinned edge of all 4 sets.

Press the seam allowance open.  You will now have (4) 9 patch blocks that should each measure 6 1/2" x 6 1/2".

Layout the (4) 9 Patch Blocks, (4) Background 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangles, and the (1) 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" square of the same print fabric as shown below.   Take care to note the placement of the Modifications white squares :)

Place the Second Column units on the First Column units with right sides together.  Chain Stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge of all three rows units.   Clip your threads and lay the pieces back out again.

Place the Third Column units onto the Second Column units with right sides together.  Chain Stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge of all three rows units.   Clip your threads.

Press the seam allowances towards the Background rectangles.   So for Row 1 and Row 3 you will be pressing the seam allowance inwards, for Row 2 you will be pressing the seam allowance outwards.

Place the Second Row onto the First Row with right sides together.  Align and Pin or Nest the center seams.  Stitch a 1/4" seam along the pinned edge .

Then place the Third Row onto the Second Row with right sides together.  Align and Pin or Nest the center seams.  Stitch a 1/4" seam along the pinned edge .

Again, Press the seam allowances towards the Background Rectangles.  You will now have a finished block that will measure 14 1/2" x 14 1/2".   Now simply repeat this process for all 20 Print Fabrics so you have a total of (20) Blocks.  (Which I somehow forgot to take a picture of, sorry about that ;)

STEP 4 -  STRIP PIECING THE SASHING UNITS

With your blocks made, we are going to go back to some Strip Piecing to make the Sashing Units.   Again, you will want to lower your stitch length a bit of this ;) Grab the (6) 6 1/2" x WOF Background Strips and the (3) 2 1/2" x WOF Modifications Black Strips and lay them out as shown in three stacks, only not folded.

Place the Black Strip onto the Top Background Strip with right sides together.  Chain Stitch a 1/4" seam along all three sets aligning as you go.   Clip your threads between sets.

Now place the Bottom Background Strip onto the Black Strip with right sides together.   Chain Stitch a 1/4" seam along all three sets aligning as you go.   Clip your threads between sets.

Press the seam allowance of your strip sets towards the Background strips.  This is pressing outwards towards the light, but it allows you to nest later on ;)  And again, I like to press from the front of the strip to assure I don't get any little bubbles in the seam allowance.

Now, once more, you can move back to your cutting mat.  Fold your pressed strips in half and stagger lay them on mat, aligning the top of the strip with a horizontal line on your mat.  Using the vertical line on your mat to cut a straight edge.  Then Subcut  in 2 1/2" widths to create  (16) 2 1/2" x 14 1/2" Sashing Units per strip for a total of (48) 2 1/2" x 14 1/2" Sashing Units.

And we actually need 49 Sashing Units for this project, but it wasn't efficient to do an entire strip set for 1 more.  So layout your remaining (2) Background 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" Rectangles and (1) Modifications Black 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" square as shown.  Sew the units into a row and press the seam allowances outwards towards the Background rectangles.

You will now have 49 Sashing Units that each measure 2 1/2" x 14 1/2" and with that, you are ready to sew your quilt top together!!!  Sew exciting!!!!

STEP 5 -  SEWING THE QUILT TOP

We will start by sewing the Sashing Rows together.  Layout (5) Modificiations Black 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares and (4) Sashing Units as shown in the first row.   Place the Black Squares onto the ends of the Sashing Units as shown in the second row.  Chain Stitch a 1/4" seam along the edges.  Clip the threads and lay the units back out again as shown in the third row.   Now you can sew the row together.  Place the second unit onto the first unit as shown in the fourth row and stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge.  Then Place the third unit onto the second unit as shown in the fifth row and stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge.  Continue in this manner until the entire row is sewn.   Repeat (or chain stitch) to make 6 Row Total.   Press the seam allowances towards the Background Rectangles.

And now the fun part ;)  Layout your 20 Blocks, 25 Sashing Units, and 6 Sashing Rows as shown below.  You can place your blocks in any order you like.   You can do more of a rainbow order, or keep it random like I did.  Just switch them around until you get a look that you like ;)  Once you get them where you like, I recommend taking a picture of them so you can refer back to it for your layout.

And now you can get sewing it together.  Start by Placing your Sashing Units onto the Blocks with right sides together.   Align and Pin or Nest the center seam.  Chain stitch a 1/4" seam along the pinned edge of all 20 blocks, and you will be sewing 2 Sashing Units on the first block in each row.

Press the seam allowances towards the Sashing Units.  Lay your block back out in your preferred layout, this is where you can refer to the picture you took if needed :)

Now you can sew the rows together, this is just like sewing the Sashing Rows together only on a larger scale.  Place the second block onto the first block as shown in the first row.  Align and Pin or Nest the center seam and then stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge.  Then Place the third block onto the second block as shown in the second row. Align and Pin or Nest the center seam and then stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge.  Then again repeat for the last block as shown in the third row.   Repeat (or chain stitch) to sew together all 5 Block Rows.   Press the seam allowances towards the Sashing Units.

Almost done!!!  Now just to sew all of the rows together ;)  Place the Sashing Rows onto the Block Rows with right sides together.  Align and Pin or Nest the seams and then stitch a 1/4" seam along the pinned edges.  Again, the first Block Row will have 2 Sashing Rows stitched to it.

Press the seam allowances towards the Sashing Rows.

Only 4 seams left!!!   Place the Second Row onto the First Row with right sides together.  Align and Pin or Nest the seams and then stitch a 1/4" seam along the pinned edge.

Then place the Third Row onto the Second Row with right sides together.  Align and Pin or Nest the seams and then stitch a 1/4" seam along the pinned edge.   Continue in this fashion until you have sewn all the rows together.   Press the seam allowances towards the Sashing Rows.

And just like that, your quilt top is done and isn't it just so fun!!!!  Way to go!!!!

STEP 6 -  FINISHING THE QUILT TOP

So . . . Let's finish it up ;)  Time to  Baste It, Quilt It, and Bind It!!!  Which is a whole lot in one little sentence.  If you are new to quilting, you can see my Finishing Your Quilt Series of video tutorials that will walk you through Basting, Quilting, and Binding step by step ;)

When it came time to quilt mine, I decided to do a free motion swirl in varying sizes all over the quilt top.  I just love the added movement it gives the quilt ;)  And it is super fun to quilt and fast!!!    I used 402 Pearl So Fine thread which blended perfectly with all of the colors in this quilt ;)

And then you can bind.  Remember those (20) 2 1/2" x 18 1/2" strips you cut at the beginning. sew those into your binding strip.  You can do them in color order like I did or just mix them up, whichever you prefer.  Either way, it will make a super scrappy binding that will be the perfect finish to your quilt!!

STEP 7 - ENJOY

Shine finishes at 66" x 82" making it the perfect size to snuggle up with  as a large lap quilt or it would also work great as a twin size bedspread.  And with all that Confetti Metallic Goodness, it is sure to make you smile each time you see it ;)

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and find it easy to follow.  If you make your own Shine Quilt I would love to see it!!  You can email me a picture at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com or post it to social media with the hashtag #happyquiltingwithmc ;)  I can't wait to see your Shine Quilts!!!

I had so much fun making this quilt and I have to say, the best part was playing with the block placement.   I love that everyone can really make it original by just playing with that.  I tried so many fun layouts: rainbow order, light to dark order, and in the end, I was a fan of pretty much random.   But ya,  totally just have fun with it and make it your own ;)

Thanks for popping in today and each and every day!!!   I truly feel blessed each day to be part of such an amazing industry and to get to share it with so many wonderful quilty friends!!


*** Note -  When making this quilt, I was able to order the fabric directly from the Moda Warehouse.  It has been brought to my attention that finding the Modifications Metallic White and Black can be difficult to find.  If you can't find them, I recommend using Zen Chic's Modern Backgrounds Metallic Confetti Black print and the Modern Backgrounds Metallic Confetti White print.  They will make a great substitution!!   Fat Quarter Shop carries both and you can also get the Ombre Confetti Jelly Rolls there now as well and save on shipping ;)   Hope this helps!!

 I hope you all have a very Happy Quilting Day!!!!



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Visual Guide to Free Motion Quilting Feathers

So if you have been following along with my blog for a time, you know that I love to Free Motion quilt!!!   But you also know that quilting Feathers still kind of scare me.  I have tried to add them into quilts, mostly in borders, to get more practice on them as I know that is how to gain confidence.   I am feeling better about a basic feather, although it still needs practice :)  But honestly,  I know that I have just scratched the surface of this beautiful design and I have really wanted to "up my feather game" .   I want more confidence in quilting the basic feather designs and then learn how to take the design to the next level.   So when my very good friend Natalia Bonner announced her newest book, Visual Guide to Free-Motion Quilting Feathers I was thrilled!!! 

Natalia is an amazing Long Arm Quilter!!  She actually quilted my very first published quilts back here ;)   I absolutely love her work, and a quick stroll their Natalia's Instagram feed will show you her mad skills.  And Natalia happens to live 40 minutes away from me, so it is super exciting for me to see when she quilts some of my quilt designs from folks in the area that have taken my classes.  So fun!!! 

The thing that I liked right off the bat about Natalia's  Visual Guide to Free-Motion Quilting Feathers is how neat and organized it is and how easy it is to use!!!  Natalia walks you through the basics, including lots and lots of tidbits on how to make your basic feathers great!!  (So need that!!)  And then, when you have that down, she has included 68 amazing feather designs to really add that wow factor to your quilts!!!  And I love that every design has a visual thumbnail in the Contents so you can find the exact design you want to try without having to flip through the entire book.     

Once you pick the design you want to try, you can flip to that page and find amazing step by step directions on how to quilt that particular variation of the feather.    The step outs are in great detail with lots of helpful tidbits.   They really are an easy to used guide that works for both Long Arm and domestic machines!!!

But I have to say, I am just blown away by how many variations Natalia comes up with!!!    And each one is just as pretty as the next.  And she also includes ideas for different parts of your quilts including block centers with beautiful spiral medallions, what to do in those flying geese triangles, and ideas for borders, both large and small.

So ya, I am just thrilled with Natalia's awesome Visual Guide to Free-Motion Quilting Feathers and am excited to use this wonderful guide to increase my free motion quilting feather confidence and hopefully take it to the next level ;)  Time to get quilting some feathers!!!

And if you are like me, and really want to get quilting some Feathers, whether you use a Long Arm or a Domestic Machine, I would highly recommend Natalia's Visual Guide to Free-Motion Quilting Feathers.  It is an awesome guide and we can all practice and gain that Fee Motion Feather goodness together!!!   

Happy Quilting!!!!

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Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!!

It's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day so let's have some fun :)

But first, we need to announce the winner from last weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway!!  

The winner of a Pair of Scissors from   Warm Crochet.   is . . .   Number #105. Congrats Emily Swaby!!   I have emailed you :)      

 

  

And on to today's

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by Shabby Fabrics!!   Shabby Fabrics has so many fantastic Kits and Projects and I absolutely love their Laser Cut Kits!!! Shabby Fabrics  also has an amazing  Clearance Section, you are sure to find some amazing deals here :)

And for the Terrific Tuesday Giveaway  Shabby Fabrics is giving one lucky winner an Irish Chain Pre-Cut Quilt Kit  using Sprinkle Sunshine by Maywood Studios   Well you all know that I love Irish Chain Quilts, and how adorable is this one!!  Someone is going to indeed have the luck of the Irish this week!!!

You have two entry chances, the second being optional, and please leave a separate comment for each.  All Entries are welcome, including International Entries.  Please just be sure to leave an email address if you are a no-reply blogger ;)  

ENTRY 1 - Simply leave a comment that tells me your favorite animal (my daughter picked this one today and she is super excited to hear your answers ;)  

 ENTRY 2 - Show your Shabby Fabrics love. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Pinterest, or Instagram.  You can Sign up for the Shabby Fabrics Newsletter (top right hand corner) or Follow their Blog,  or you can Visit the Shop and then share a favorite item ;)   Just be sure to leave a comment of how you showed your Shabby Fabric Love!!!

And that's it ;)  The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, February 13th when I will announce a winner at the beginning of next weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Post :)

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Weekend Fun!!

I had such a fun quilty weekend!!!  I woke up on Saturday morning to find that my Stamp Collecting quilt had surpassed 1000 likes on Instagram.  Which I know, is just a number, but it is the first time I have reached that particular number so that just put a huge smile on my face to start the day.  Seriously, I just can't say thank you enough for the sweet response you all have given me for my Stamp Collecting quilt ;)   Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

And what better way to follow up such a great start to the day than some fabric shopping!!!!  Quilted Works, a fantastic store in St. George, was holding their Super Bolt Sale (Get it, Super Bowl, Super Bolt :)   So Barbara, Jessica and I (I was so excited my daughter wanted to come along, train them young ;)   took a quick trip down the I-15 and got there in time for the stores opening and a fun little dash to their amazing bolt sale!!!!   Meaning, you buy the whole bolt, but at prices of $2-$4 a yard, who wouldn't want to take the whole bolt :)

Which was of course, a wonderful excuse to seriously stock up on some quilt back goodness!!!  Since I was stocking up for quilt backs, I tried to keep the prints pretty basic so they would be easier to mix and match with other lines.  This is most of the bolts I picked up sans a few Low Volume and Red/Black/and White prints that I store in a different spot ;)  Aren't they just so pretty all in a pile :)  I was just thrilled to score some favorite prints and designers!!!

And I was having so much fun playing with fabric, that as soon as I got all of those bolts put away, I went right to cutting.  It was just the motivation I needed to get cutting on the almost 600 strips I needed as the triangles and hexagons have been done for 3 weeks and I was totally procrastinating the strips.      

But it turned out good that I procrastinated cutting them, because once again, Fat Quarter Shop just happened to send the perfect tool for this project in my January Sew Sampler Box!!!  The Lori Holts Cute Cuts 1 1/2" x 6 1/2" ruler made this job so much easier ;)  It was the exact width I was cutting my strips and even the exact length on 99 of them.  Paired up with my Matilda Rotating Cutting Mat (honestly, one of the best quilting purchases I have ever made)  allowed me to make quick work of the red and pink scraps and before I knew it, my tape tally marks were up to 99 in each pile.   So awesome and so happy to have this done!!!

And ya, this was just in time, because I leave for this retreat on Wednesday!!!  I am so excited to go teach at Bryce Canyon and to even have time to squeeze in a class to take :)  It's going to be so fun!!

I hope you had a very Happy Quilting Weekend and are having a wonderful start to your week!!!


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Stamp Collecting Quilt

I am so super excited today to share another finish.  And this finish has been over a year in the making which is what makes is so super exciting to share.  So without futher ado . . . my Stamp Collecting Quilt!!!  Isn't it just so fun!!!!

A long time ago, like clear back here in 2015, I broke up all my Moda Candy packs and sorted them into a whole slew of piles.  (which of course I add to each time I have a small scrap when cutting out new quilts ;)     I planned to use all of these little 2 1/2" squares  for Leader and Ender Projects.    I used the strictly tone on tone piles for my first Leader and Ender project, the Super Scrappy Triple Irish Chain quilt.    When I finished it, I wondered what I could make with the next pile of  2 1/2" squares, the ones that read a certain color but had other colors mixed in with them.   And then it hit me, I have always wanted to make a postage stamp quilt and what better way to make it happen then as a Leader and Ender project.   And how perfect would it be to show a collection of all my favorite fabrics and designers!!!

So a postage stamp quilt became my next Leader and Ender project.    I love that these projects just slowly build while working on other quilts ;)   I started by making 2 patches, sewing a white background square to a color background square.  Some of the "white background squares" read pretty dark and some of the "color background squares" read pretty light, but I didn't stress to much about this.   I just went with it, trusting it would come out in the end.  After having a massive stack of 2 patches, I turned them into 4 patches, and then 8 patches and finally into 16 patches.  

I didn't worry about counting out the squares in the beginning, I just kept working up to 16 patches, and when I had a large enough stack of those (as in a few weeks ago) I finally sewed the blocks into a quilt top, and I am just so excited with how it turned out!!!!  I didn't stress to much about placement, again, I just tried to keep it relaxed sewing and made sure I didn't have a super dark print right next to another super dark print.  It pretty much balanced itself thanks to the initial 2 patch sewing.  

And I just love all of those happy colors popping out among the lighter prints.  I just love how it kind of looks like there is a pattern but then it also looks pretty random.  So ya, Balanced is a good word I guess, and I am just thrilled with that because it is just a wonderful way to show off all of those 2 1/2" squares :)   And I can now say I made a postage stamp quilt!!!!

When it came time to quilt it up, I decided on simple arches.  I just love the way it makes the squares pop ;)   And in the border (which I added last minute and love how it highlights the patchwork all the more) I did fun little swirls.   

And look how awesome that texture is.   So much fun!!!  I love that arches come together to make that cool orange peel design.  The interlocking circles just make me smile ever time!!  And I made it 72" x 72" so we could use it as a picnic blanket and you better believe I will be running my hand over all that yummy texture every time we take it out :)

And for the binding, I got to go to my binding extra's box ;)  Every time I finish binding a quilt, I put the bit of leftover in this cute little box.  Then when I need a scrappy binding, I just pull out the pieces that match the quilt, sew them end to end, and I have a scrappy binding ready to go in just a few minutes.   Love it!!!

 And I just love how it adds that happy color of finish on the edge of the border.  It really ties it back into the patchwork :)  I just love, love, love a scrappy binding.   And if you noticed in the picture above, the brown got nixed while I was sewing it to the quilt, it just didn't fit with all of those happy pops of color ;)

And that is my Stamp Collecting Quilt!!!!   And I just love it ;)   And like any true collection, the fun part now is looking over it and seeing how many little pieces of patchwork I recognize.    My kids were blown away last night when I let them randomly pick a square and then I would tell them the fabric line and the designer of the fabric ;)  I did pretty good too if I do say so myself !!   It truly is a fabric Stamp Collection of so many wonderful projects and memories all tied into this quilt ;)

You can play along too!!!   It really is fun :)  See a square your recognize, (you can click on the picture to see it larger)  leave a comment with the name of the fabric line name and the designer.   I wonder how many we can list ;)

And just in case you are wondering, I have my next Leader and Ender Project all planned out and ready to start working on.  You can see more about it here :)  

I hope you have a very Happy Quilting Weekend!!!

Linking this finish up to Amanda's, and Sarah's :)   

Bumped way up the "To Make List"

So remember on Monday when I said my girls loved the new Flitter pattern and fabric that I got in my sew sampler box and how I would have to add it to my To Make List ??  Well, as my kids would put it  . . . "it butted in line" to the front :)  I am totally sidetracked by this project and so loving it and it just makes me smile to see the girls so excited!!!  I cut the quilt out on Tuesday, ya know, gotta "get back on that horse" after my little Monday Accident. 

And then yesterday I had a lovely little chain stitching session and then pressed it all last night ;)  And how fun is that, you can already see the butterflies coming together.  I think this quilt top will be getting done rather quickly, although it might have to wait for quilting as I am teaching out of town next week and have another tutorial to get finished before I go.  But we shall see, gotta love these little Sidetracks that are just so fun, you can't seem to stop sewing on them!!!

I am off for some Happy Quilting!!   I hope you have a very Happy Quilting day as well :)

Sew Sampler Bandages to the Rescue!!!

So remember on Monday when I said I was super excited for my new Lori Holt bandages so I could use them in my classes??  Well, that must have been putting some bad quilty karma out in the universe, because not a few hours later after posting that, I managed to slice my fingerprint clean off my finger.  I couldn't believe it.   I have cut out hundreds of quilts and never an accident, and then the day I mention sewing bandaged, I mange to need one. 

  **Note - If you get a little squeamish at the sight of blood, (like me) don't keep reading this post as the next two pics are from before the bandage :)  But know I am okay and healing :)

And of course, I was all alone at home when I managed to do this so I had to clean and bandage it myself.   I am not great with the sight of blood, especially my own and I might have gotten a bit faint while cleaning it, so I decided to take a picture to try and distract myself.  And that's when I realized just how much I had cut off. And because I cut it off, verses cutting into my finger, stitches wont help.  I just have to wait for the skin to grow back.

After applying pressure for a few minutes I got the bleeding to stop and saw that I had cut several layers of skin off.  I bandaged it up with lots of ointment and my Lori Holt Bandages, at least it looks cute!!!!   My sweetheart later let me know that I would no longer have a fingerprint in that spot.  (Sounds silly, but I didn't realize those don't grow back :)  The finger is still sore, especially if it gets bumped, ouch!!!   I changed the bandage this morning and it is still a lot of raw skin, but the very outer edge is starting to grow back, so maybe a weekish and I will be back to full steam.  I have to say, it really is a pain to try and align fabric to stitch without your middle finger, tee hee hee :)

Oh, and in case you are wondering, no fabric was stained in this little mishap.   I whipped my hand back super fast when I realized what I had done so no blood got on my fabric, whew!!

And one last funny note, someone was asking my husband how I did it and he explained that I cut it with a rotary cutter.  When they asked him what a rotary cutter was he explained that it is like a pizza cutter with a razor blade attached.  I thought it was a pretty good explanation :)  

Hope your having a very Happy (accident free) Quilting Day!!!!

Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!!

It's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day so let's have some fun :)

But first, we need to announce the winner from last weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway!!  

The winner of the  Love You Jelly Roll from  Fat Quarter Shop   is . . .   Number #173. Congrats lindawwww!!!   I have emailed you :)      

 

 

  

And on to today's

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by Warm Crochet.   I am still absolutely loving my pair of their beautiful scissors :)    They are  perfect for clipping chain stitching as they are super sharp and so comfortable in the hand.  And they are so pretty as well, double bonus!!!  Along with the giveaway, Warm Crochet is offering all Happy Quilting readers 10% off your purchase with the coupon code HQMC!!!  So fun :)  

And for today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway, Warm Crochet is giving one luck reader a Pair of Scissors of their choice!!!     You can choose from Silver, Bronze Gold, or Red Bronze.  Some one is going to get super lucky and add the perfect addition to their stitching goodness :)

    

You have two entry chances, the second being optional, and please leave a separate comment for each.  All Entries are welcome, including International Entries.  Please just be sure to leave an email address if you are a no-reply blogger ;)  

ENTRY 1 - Simply leave a comment that tells me your favorite kind of hand work ;)

 ENTRY 2 - Show your Warm Crochet  love.  Visit The Shop and then tell me which color you would get!! 

And that's it ;)  The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, February 6th , when I will announce a winner at the beginning of next weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Post :)  GIVEAWAY CLOSED . . . Winner is Emily Swaby!!!

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!