Summer Solstice Quilt-A-Long - Half Square Triangles

**  NOTE  - This post is part of a series of posts for the Summer Solstice Quilt-A-Long.  If you would like to join (and have a chance to win $100.00 Gift Certificate and Fat Quarter Bundle grand prizes sponsored by The Intrepid Thread and Fat Quarter Shop ) you can find a list of the post links here :)  Here is the schedule

June 9th- Intro, Fabric Requirements, and Prizes Announcement

June 23rd - Cutting 

 July 7th - Flying Geese 

July 21st - Half Square Triangles (Today)

August 4th - Drunkards Path

August 18th - Building Blocks

September 1st - Piecing Top and Grand Prize Linky

September 15th- Summer Solstice Parade and Grand Prize Winners

Now, first off for this week, we need to pick a winner for the Flying Geese Assignment.   And great job to everyone on their gaggle of geese!!!  It is so much fun to be quilting-a-long with you all!!!

The Flying Geese assignment winner who gets a  Volume II Jelly Roll by Sweetwater for Moda from Lou Lou's Fabric Shop is . . .

#19 - Marlene!!! - Congrats :)

  

So I know lots of you have been anxiously awaiting this assignment . . .  so let's get right to it :)  If you are just finding this QAL, it's never to late to join in the fun :)

THIS WEEKS ASSIGNMENT - HALF SQUARE TRIANGLES

Half Square triangles are fun and fast and probably the most versatile building block in all of the piecing units you can make.  (At least in my opinion :)

Start by gathering all your squares for the HST's, print fabrics and background fabrics.    These are the squares you labeled with HST and should measure one of the following sizes.  (They can easily be confused with the DP squares, so be sure to double check ;)
For a 20" Block - 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" squares
For a 24" Block - 4" x 4"
For a 28" Block - 4 1/2" x 4 1/2"
For a 32" Block - 5" x 5"
For a 40" Block - 6" x 6"

So just to help clarify . . .  if you are doing the 2 x 2 the 3 x 3, or the 4 x 4 layout, you should have 12 squares of each of your print fabrics.   So the 2 x 2 layout, 12 squares each of 4 different fabrics for a total of 48 print squares and 48 background squares.   For the 3 x 3 layout, 12 squares each of 9 different fabrics for a total of 108 print squares and 108 background squares.  And for a 4 x 4 layout, you should have 12 squares each of 16 different fabrics for a total of 192 print squares and 192 background squares.  

And if you are doing the 1 x 1 layout You should have 8 squares of your "Corner" print fabric and 4 squares of your "Surround" print fabric.  You will have a total of 12 squares in 2 different prints and 12 background squares as well.

So has everyone found their squares??  Excellent, let's make some Half Square Triangles!!!
Start by using a ruler to draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of all of your print fabrics (or if your background fabric is darker than your print fabrics, draw the line on those instead ;)  I like to draw my lines with a Frixion Pen as the lines will disappear with heat.   And depending on your machine set-up . . . you might be able to skip drawing the lines all together.

If you have a table around your machine, or if your machine comes with a large "table" you can extend your machines 1/4" mark with tape and then use that as a guide instead of having to draw a line.  There is a great You Tube Video from Fat Quarter Shop on how to mark your machines 1/4" line, I just don't bother to layer the tape as I am just using it for a reference, so just one layer.     Or, I recently discovered the Clearly Perfect Angle, which has both the 1/4" Mark and the Center Mark (for stitch and flip) marked.  I have quickly become a huge fan of this as it eliminates a whole ton of drawing lines!!!

So how do you use your extended  1/4" line guide.  Easy!!  Simply line your 1/4" foot up with the corner of your square, then align the opposite corner with your 1/4" guide.  Start stitching and just keep the corner of the square aligned with that 1/4" extended line while stitching :)  Easy as that!!!  And the nice thing is, we will be trimming these HST's so if you get a bit off, no worries ;)  But I will mention, if you are doing the larger squares, you are most likely going to have to draw your lines as you table will most likely not be long enough to see the alignment.  (Although the Clearly Perfect Angle uses those angled green lines to help with that ;)

Okay . . . With that little tidbit that can hopefully save some of you some time . . .Let's get back to our Half Square Triangles ;)  

Take a print square and a background square and align them with rights sides together.  Pin both sides adjacent to that drawn line, be sure to place them far enough out to leave room for your presser foot to stitch on by.  Depending on the size of the square will determine how many pins you want to use. (if you use any at all, if you are feeling confident and your squares aren't to large, you can stitch these without pinning :)   Stitch a seam 1/4" from EITHER side of the drawn line (the black lines represent your stitching lines :)

And just like our Flying Geese, the easiest way to do this is to chain stitch in assembly line fashion ;)  So just like in the Flying Geese, Start by stitching a 1/4" seam on the right hand side of the drawn line (or along the center aligned with your 1/4" guide if you don't have a line) . I chain stitched all 108 units at once making a very long snake, but feel free to break it up into blocks if  you prefer ;)  

  Then clip the threads between the squares, stack them up, and you are ready for more stitching.  Now stitch the 1/4" seam on the left hand side of your units.  Once they are all stitched,  clip the remaining threads between the squares  ;)  And if you notice my little ipod under the table, that's because I love to listen to a good audio book while doing all of this stitching :)

Now, with the stitching done, it's time to do some more cutting.   Align your ruler along the drawn center line (or from corner to corner)   Cut along the edge of your ruler, creating two triangles that each have a 1/4" seam along the long side.

Now Pressing.  (and this is where I like to watch a good movie :)     Press your HST units towards the darker fabric, so in my case that would be the print fabrics ;)  I recently found that I prefer to press them from the front rather than the back, but do  what is comfortable for you :)

And now the fun part, trimming.  You will be trimming your blocks to 1/2" smaller than their original size.  So that means trim to the following sizes :

20" Block - 3" squares
24" Block - 3 1/2" squares
28" Block - 4" squares
32" Block - 4 1/2" squares
40" Block - 5 1/2" squares

 I am making 28" blocks so this trimming example will have raw 4 1/2" HST's that are being trimmed to 4" square.  So lets start ;)  Begin by aligning the 45 degree line on your square ruler with the seam line on your half square triangle.  Make sure that the raw edges of the half square triangle are over the 4" line's on your ruler.  Trim the 2 sides along the edge of the ruler.  There won't be a whole lot to trim.

Now spin your half square triangle unit 180 degrees.  Once again, align the 45 degree line on your ruler with the seam line on your half square triangle.  Align the raw edges of the half square triangle under the ruler on the 4" lines on your ruler.  Trim the 2 sides along the edge of the ruler.

And you have perfectly square Half Square Triangles.  They are just so pretty!  And I know, it seems like a lot of work to just trim off a little, but having perfect HST's allows you to have awesome pretty points and really makes the piecing of the block easier ;)   I promise, it will totally be worth it!

Now, when I trim, I like to do some massive assembly trimming.  (again, this saves some time ;)   So I lay out as many units as I can fit on my large cutting mat at once and I trim the first two sides on all of my HST's.  (and instead of my regular ruler, I use my favorite  Bloc Loc HST ruler  for trimming, it has a groove where the seam lines up that "locks" the ruler in place, love it!!!! )

Then, I rotate them all of the HST Units 180 degrees, and I don't worry about all of the previous trims, they can be picked up later.  Now I trim the remaining 2 sides on all  the HST's.  I just move up and down the rows, quick as a bunny :)    Now just shake them off, and stack them up :)

And just like that, you have a whole ton of perfectly trimmed Half Square Triangle units ;)   You will have twice as many Half Square Triangle Units as you had squares to start ie 24 Half Square Triangle Units per block in your quilt :)  

And that is how it is done!!!  A pile of 24 HST's for each block in your project.   Now, I want to throw in a quick note here.  I know just how much trimming this is, a ton!!!  Especially if you are doing the 3 x 3  or 4 x 4 layouts.  So if your piles for linking look a little like this  (aka not trimmed) that is totally okay.  You can continue to trim over the coming weeks spreading the job out a bit.  Don't go making your hand unusable for 5 days because you trimmed all at once.  And please link up your untrimmed blocks if you cant finish your trimming.   Linked untrimmed piles are just as perfect as linked trimmed piles.  

Oh, and in case you don't have a square ruler you can see the end of this tutorial on how to square up your HST's using a rectangle ruler.  It takes a second longer but still works :)

And that's it!!    And now you can enter to win the weekly prize :)

The Weekly Prize is sponsored by The Scarlet Thread Quilt Co.   and a huge thanks goes out to them for their support of the Summer Solstice Quilt-A-Long.

This weeks prize is for a super adorable Moxi Charm Pack by Studio M for Moda.  Don't you just love charm packs, they are so much fun and these prints are just so happy!!!

    

So what do you have to do for a chance to win the charm pack?  Simple . . . Just link up your stacks of HST's :)  You can link to a blog post or a flickr picture, or whatever.  Just make sure to link up by the morning of Thursday August 4th when I will be announcing a winner in the next post :)

If you don't get your HST's done (trimmed or untrimmed)  by August 4th you can still link it up :) (just not in time for the prize :) The linky will remain open until the end of the Quilt-A-Long.  So if your out of town, or just had a busy week, no worries!!!  Just link up when you can :)

And Don't forget to add your beautiful  to the Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long Flickr group and to post it on social media with using #summersolsticequiltalong.    I am so excited to see all of your stacks of Half Square Triangles ;)

So let's get sewing and trimming some Half Square Triangles ;)   Oh, and if you have questions, don't hesitate to email me at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com.  Have a Happy Quilting Day!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!!

First, we need to announce the winner from last weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway!!   The winner of the  Flow Layer Cake from The Scarlet Thread Quilt Co  is . . .   Number #283 . . . Congrats  Havplenty!!! I have emailed you :)    

    

And on to today's

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop.   Fat Quarter Shop is amazing and they never cease to amaze me with everything they have going on at their shop!!!     And did you know they have a 24 Hour Flash Sale every day with 2 Flash Sales on Tuesdays!!  You will find some amazing deals there ;)

And for today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Fat Quarter Shop is giving one luck reader a $50.00 Fat Quarter Shop Gift Certificate!!!! Someone is going to have a whole lot of fun shopping!!!

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 which chore around the house do you not mind doing?  (I have to clean house today and need some motivation :)  

 ENTRY 2 - Show your Fat Quarter Shop love.   You can follow them on   Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, You Tube or at their Blog.  You can Sign up for their Newsletter which will ensure you catch all of their amazing sales, or you can visit The Shop and then share a favorite item ;)   Just be sure to leave a comment of how you showed your Fat Quarter Shop Love!!!

And that's it ;)  The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, July 26th , when I will announce a winner at the beginning of next weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Post :)

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Splendid Sampler Saturday on Monday

It's not Saturday, it is Monday.   I had planned to write this post on Saturday but found myself sick in bed all day instead, boo :(   But on the bright side, it seems to have been a  24 hour type of thing, so I am feeling better today and am now playing catch-up from Saturday.  So . . . on with the Splendid Sampler Blocks ;)

First up, the Sew South block designed by Jennifer Mathis.  I had a lot of fun fussy cutting these little hexies to make them look like petals ;)   And opted for just some easy raw edge applique of the shapes, I just love how it turned out ;)  Isn't the little flower in the center just perfect!!

Second is the Pencils block designed by Jane Davidson.  This is another paper piecing block, and I have to say, I get a little more excited with each one of these as I feel like I am understanding paper piecing more and more ;)   And I just love those little pencils, aren't they just so stinking cute ;)  

And Third is the Pincushion Love block designed by Pat Sloan.  This block was super nostalgic for me ;)   My mother totally had a pincushion just like this, strawberry and all!!!!   It was so much fun to make up and think of her making all of us kids matching shorts and shirts for the summer.  It was a  great rip down memory lane ;)   Oh, and I couldn't help but make the strawberry out of a little strawberry, so fun!!

And Finally, the Sewing Nut block designed by Frances Newcombe.   I have to admit, I was a little nervous about how my little squirrel would turn out all monochromatic, but I am happy to report, that I am so loving him ;)   And instead of the yo-yo I opted to add this fun flower button that had fallen off of one of my daughters little sun dresses years ago and I just added it to my button collection.  Isn't it just so adorable in the block ;)

And with that, we are all caught up again, :)  And now, I am off to catch up on some of the sewing that I had planned to do on Saturday ;)   I will say, the silver lining of being sick, is really appreciating how much energy you can have on a Monday Morning when you are feeling well ;) 

I hope you are all having  a Happy Quilting Monday!!!

Crossroads Quilt Along - Chain Block

Yippee, it's the 15th and that means it is time for another Crossroads Quilt Along post !!!    I am super excited, because today is the last set of blocks, the sixth set, which means we are getting closer to seeing a finished Crossroads Quilt Along quilt!!!.

This month  is the  Chain Block and there are a lot of them, 18 to be exact!!!  So fun :)   But no worries, we used strip piecing to put these together, so even though it looks like a lot of piecing, it goes pretty fast ;)

You know that I am totally loving this Chain Block, as I love all things chains in quilting ;)   I just love the way they connect everything and create such great movement in the quilt ;)     

If you sewing along or want to join in on the fun,  you can download the block pattern right here and then don't forget to donate the $5.00 for the pattern to the March of Dimes  ;)  This QAL is raising funds for premature babies and Fat Quarter Shop and Moda and All of Us are teaming up to make a big impact!    It is so wonderful to see how much has already been raised!!

And like always,  Kimberly and Joanna , have made a fabulous You Tube video that walks you through making the block step by step.  So if you have never strip pieced or made squares in a square blocks before, you are about to learn something new ;)  

Be sure to  share all of your Crossroads progress on social media with #crossroadsquiltalong and check out these fabulous bloggers who are quilting along for some Chain Block inspiration :)  

Joanna of Fig Tree Quilts (@figtreequilts)
Pat Sloan (@quilterpatsloan)
April of Prairie Grass Patterns (@amrosenthal)
Tina of Emily Ann's Kloset (@emilyannskloset)
Melissa of Oh How Sweet (@ohhowsweet)
Angie of Gnome Angel (@gnomeangel)
Vanessa of Lella Boutique (@lellaboutique)
Melissa of Happy Quilting (@happyquiltingmc)
Erin of Why Not Sew (@whynotsewquilts)
Greg of Grey Dogwood Studio (@greydogwoodstudio)
Sondra of Out of the Blue Quilts (@sondradavison)
Sedef of Down Grapevine Lane (@downgrapevinelane)
Taunja of Carried Away Quilting (@taunjalynn)

Next month well be putting the top together and I am so excited!!!!  See you on the 15th of next month.  So fun!!!  Are you Quilting Along??

Thanks for popping in today ;)  Have a Happy Quilting Day!!

Quilting Cruise!!!!

So remermber a few months ago when shared that I will be teaching on a Quilting Cruise hosted by Stitchin in Heaven in January of 2017 . . .  Well today I got our flights (yes, my sweetheart has finally agreed to come along on a quilting excursion with me :)  all booked for Florida and it is just making it seem that much closer :)  So, so, so excited!!!!

I will be teaching my End of the Rainbow Quilt from my book Irish Chain Quilts and  Joan Ford and Nancy Raschka and we will also be teaching  Scrappy n' Happy quilts.  

        

I have had some people email questions about the cruise, and I found this wonderful post from Pat Sloan from a previous Quilting Cruise she attended.  It really answers so many questions that you might be wondering about how you combine quilting and cruising ;)    

And you have to pop over and see this fun video that Stitchin in Heaven made up from previous cruises they have hosted.   Isn't that just so fun!!! It just makes me want January to be here now :) Oh, and have I mentioned that the ship is huge!!! Like Huge, Huge!!!

So what do you say . . . want to come Cruise and Quilt with me???  It is going to be so much fun ;)   You can find all of the details here.    And be sure to tell them I sent you in the "How did you hear about us section", so the gals will know I am pulling my weight on this cruise, tee hee hee ;)  Can't wait for January!!!

Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!

Note - If you are looking for the Palisades Quilt Post you will find it here ;)

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

First, we need to announce the winner from last weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway!!   The winner of the Wild Orchid Layer Cake from  Green Fairy Quilts is . . .   Number #226 . . . Congrats  Karen M!!! I have emailed you :)    

    

And on to today's

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by The Scarlet Thread Quilt Co.  Along with the giveaway Julie is giving all Happy Quilting readers a super shopping discount.  Use the coupon MELISSA15 for 15% off your entire order!!!!  Have fun Shopping ;) 

And for today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway The Scarlet Thread Quilt Co. is giving away an absolutely fantastic Flow Layer Cake  by Zen Chic for Moda to one lucky winner!!!!  I absolutely love this fabric line, the colors and prints are so fun and happy!!!

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 "Camping Food".   (We just got back from a weekend up the mountain and my stomach is still full from all of the delicious camp fire cooking ;)  

 ENTRY 2 - Show your Scarlet Thread Quilt Co. love.   You can follow them on   Facebook, Instagram, or Favorite their Shop.  Or you can visit The Shop and then share a favorite item ;)   Just be sure to leave a comment of how you showed your Scarlet Thread Quilt Co. Love!!!

And that's it ;)  The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, July  19th , when I will announce a winner at the beginning of next weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Post :)

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Palisades Quilt

Today I am super excited to share another fun AGF Stitched with Kimberly Quilt!!!  It's called Palisades and I am so loving it!!!  Isn't that bold geographic design just so fabulous ;)  Eeekk!!!

If you haven't heard of AGF Stitched with Kimblery, here's the low down.  Each Quarter, Art Gallery Fabrics teams up with Kimberly from Fat Quarter Shop to come up with a new free quilt pattern design and then they make a wonderful You Tube Video on how to make it!!!   For this quarter, it's the Palisades Quilt and you can find the free Pattern link over at Fat Quarter Shop ;)  

And, you can watch the You Tube Video on how to make the Palisades Quilt in all of it's geometric goodness right here ;)  

Obviously, I changed my quilt up a bit, deciding to go with a very bold 3 color layout.   The fabrics I used were Pure Elements from Art Gallery in London Red, Snow, and Caviar.   I love that the solids really add to the bold geometric design of this quilt.  So fun!!

And because I was doing a basic 3 color layout, I was also able to change up the piecing a bit, simply making the same block 64 times ;)  It was super fast to just chain piece the blocks and the whole quilt came together in no time.  Isn't it just so cool that this is the same block, just rotated different ways to give such a wonderful design!!!

When it came time for quilting, I opted for another favorite, All over Echoed Paisleys.  (I actually made a video tutorial on how I do this quilting design some time back ;)  And  I decided to continue to go with the bold and use Cherry Red So Fine Thread.  I just love the way it pops on the black and the white.  The picture just doesn't do it justice of how bold it looks on the black as the sun tends to make it blend in.  But trust you me, it pops ;)

And as you can see, it really adds to the overall texture of the quilt ;)  I just love looking at the design from this angle.  Almost looks like the Card Trick layout :)  I just love all of those wonderful angels and the way the quilting just flows them all together!

And that is my Palisades Quilt ;)  I hope you love it just as much as I do.   And you might have guessed already by the 3 colors, that yes, this is going to be another donated quilt for my Alma Mater.  Homecoming is just a few months away and I think this quilt is going to be a big hit!!!

Be sure to Pop on over to Fat Quarter Shop's Jolly Jabber to get the free pattern so you can make your own Palisades Quilt ;)  And while you are popping around, be sure to also check out all of these awesome bloggers sharing their Palisades quilt as well.   It always blows me away how everyone's quilts look so different, even though they are all made from the same pattern ;)  Gotta love that about fabric!!!

Lucy From Charm About You
Tina from Emily Ann's Kloset
Amy from Diary of a Quilter
Erica from Kitchen Table Quilting
Melissa from Happy Quilting
Melanie from Mostly Crafty
Amanda from Jedi Craft Girl
Afton from Quilting Mod
Brooke from Silly Mama Quilts
Megan from Quilt Story
Heather from Quilt Story
Rachael from The Floral Suitcase

Thank you for Stopping by today ;)  And if you are wondering where Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day is, never fear . . . It will be up later this morning.  Yup, 2 posts in 1 day today, so fun ;)  

Little Ruby Quilt Along - Christmas Swirls Finishes!!!

Today is the final day of the  Little Ruby Quilt Along hosted by Fat Quarter Shop (You can see the previous posts, here, here, and here ) and I a so very excited to get to share my finished quilts with you!!!  So here they are ;)  I gave them a new name based on the inspiration of the original design so the top quilt is Christmas Swirls and the bottom quilt is Peppermint Swirls.  So fun!!!

I really had such a great time working on these quilts.  It was super fun to get to try out 2 new specialty rulers to make them up, and I just loved that the one design made 2 quilts at the same time and it is just great that they are similar enough to be together but different enough to not be an exact copy of one another.  

 Christmas Swirls is what would be considered the main design from the quilt along.   I just love the wonderful movement in this quilt as those pinwheels just dance around the quilt.

I used Juniper Berry by Basic Grey for Moda for the main print and then a wonderful Grunge Kelp print for the background.  I really can't say enough here how much I love Grunge!!!  It really is becoming my all time favorite basic ;)

And Peppermint Swirls is what would be considered the bonus quilt in this fun little quilt along.  Can you see where it got it's name??  It totally reminds me of those little peppermint swirl candies that my Grandparents always had out at Christmas time ;)

I just love how this design really highlights the those Cherry Grunge hexagons and they just pop right off the quilt ;)  It always amazes me how changing the placement of fabric can totally change the focus of a quilt, so fun!!!

When it came time to quilt, I decided it would be fun to stick with the idea of swirls, only I supersized the swirls.  I have never quilted swirls this big, but they just fit the hexagons so perfectly and I absolutely love them!!!

I love how the supersized swirls really highlight the design and help add to the flow of the chain of pinwheel blocks ;)   And the texture is so fun because I used a higher loft batting and with the large quilting, it is so, so soft !!!   This will be great for cuddling up in ;)

And those are my finishes for the Little Ruby Quilt Along.  I hope you love Christmas Swirls and Peppermint Swirls as much as I do.   And if you want to make a set of your own, you can find all of the directions over at the Fat Quarter Shop Jolly Jabber blog ;)  You are just going to love how fun these are to make ;)

 Thanks so much for popping in today and each and every day.  And while your popping in and out  of places, be sure to pop around to all of these wonderful bloggers to see their Little Ruby Quilt Along finishes as well :)   There is going to be some serious Quilt Along Eye Candy, Yippee!!!

Melissa from Happy Quilting (Your Here :)

Angie from Gnome Angel

Erin Cox from Why Not Sew

Andy from A Bright Corner

Heidi from Buttons & Butterflies

Pat from Pat Sloan

Peta from She Quilts a Lot

Heather from Quilt Story

Megan from Quilt Story

Amanda from Jedi Craft Girl

Gerri from Planted Seed Designs

Sherri from A Quilting Life

Rebecca from Bryan House Quilts

Sherri from This & That Patterns

Jemima from Tied with a Ribbon

Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts

Stephanie from Modern Sewciety

Brooke from Silly Mama Quilts

Carrie from Moda's United Notions

And a huge thank you to Fat Quarter Shop for hosting such a fun Quilt Along and having me a part of it.  I can begin to say how much I love what I do and that I get to spend each day Happy Quilting!!!