A Visit to Superior Threads!!

Yesterday, Barbara and I headed down to sunny St. George, Utah, emphasis on sunny (seriously, it was 104) to visit Superior Threads!!!  This is their warehouse and they ship all of their orders from here but it is also open to the public, so fun!!!   They totally let you walk among the shelves and shelves of threads, see all of the colors, and fill a basket ;)  And, their warehouse is right off the I-15, seriously, the next time you are driving through Utah on your way to Vegas or Cali, you totally want to stop by ;)

I was kindly greeted by Josh Every, general manager of Superior Threads. Everyone at the Warehouse is just so nice and willing to jump in and help you at a moments notice. And Isn't this a fun quilt!!!  It highlights all of the different types of threads that Superior makes.   So awesome!!

And then it was time for some shopping!!!  Seriously, is this not just eye candy!!!  Row, after row, after row of beautiful colors all wound on spools.  Ya, we were "shopping"  for 2 hours :)

I quickly found a box of my new favorite color, 402 Pearl!!!  Ahh, it is just perfect for white backgrounds :)  Love it!!!

And, then the purples, oh all of the wonderful, wonderful purples!!  You all know I love purple so I had to take a quick shot with my fave ;)

Quick Tangent - Since I happened to be sporting my Sew What Fat Quarter T-Shirt I posted this little selfie!!  Have you heard of Fat Quarter Shops new Selfie contest??  Take a selfie wearing your Sew What T-Shirt, and then post it with the hashtag #sewwhatselfie and be sure to tag @fatquartershop.  They will be giving $100.00 gift cards to the winners!!!     You can see all of the details of the contest here ;)  So fun!!!!  Where will you be when you take your selfie??

And yes, I got a hair cut last weekend, sadly, the heat of St. George made it go pretty flat, what ya gonna do ;)  

So back to our thread shopping trip ;)  This is what our little cart looked like close to check out ;)  We might have added a few more spools and some needles ;)  You will notice there are a lot of different types of thread in there.  I am often asked how I choose what thread I like to use.   Well . . .

That is the thing I love so much about Superior Threads.   Every thing you ever wanted to know about thread is on their website.  They are huge on Thread Education!!!  Seriously, here is a shot of their Education Index, and each of these topics have anywhere from 10-30 articles on the subject.    Let me tell you, the Tension section, A total lifesaver for me when I started on the long arm!!!    And you can also check out Superior Threads blog, they have fun posts that will make you a Master of Threadology :)

And just in case you are wondering, on the long arm I use Omni in the bobbin, and So Fine on the top, when I am blending .   If I want a bit of a pop, I will use Fantastico or Magnifico in the top and bobbin.

It was such a fun visit!!!  Thanks again to the folks at Superior Threads for making thread shopping oh so much fun!!!  And really, if you ever find yourself driving in Southern Utah, it is totally worth the stop!!!  Oh, I could get lost in there for hours and hours :)

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Coming This Fall!!!

Squeal!!!   I get to share a little something exciting today!!!  Late last year, I was asked by the fabulous folks at Kansas City Star Quilts to create a quilt for their newest compilation book, Modern Optical Illusions!!!  I so loved working on this project!!!  Optical Illusin quilts are just so much fun to design and to make!!!     I can't show you my quilt yet, but there is a sneak peek of it here ;)

Isn't this cover just so much fun!!!  I can't wait to be able to share more!!!  It comes out this fall and will be at Fall Market.  Ohh, so exciting!!!!

Now I am off to get ready for the day.   I get to go to the Superior Threads warehouse this afternoon and enjoy the shelves and shelves of thread.  It is totally like being a kid in a candy store ;)  I will be sure to share pictures tomorrow ;)

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

4 Year Blogiversary Winners!!!

First off, I want to say a Huge Thank You to all of you that helped me celebrate my 4 Year Blogiversary!!!  Thank you for all of your wonderful feedback, it really helped!!  I look forward to continuing to make Happy Quilting a place you want to visit each day :)  

So now, let's get to some winners!!!

Our first giveaway was for an Emmy Grace Fat Quarter Bundle sponsored by  Fat Quarter Shop

And the winner is . . . .   #66  Who happens to be . . .   *Tyler*   Congrats!!!!

Our second giveaway was for a $25.00 Gift Certificate to  Southern Fabric who is sponsoring this giveaway

And the winner is . . . .   #267  Who happens to be . . .   Lori   Congrats!!!!

 Our third giveaway was for a Fat Eighth bundle of Pine Fresh by Sandy Gervais sponsored by Green Fairy Quilts

And the winner is . . . .   #394  Who happens to be . . .   Patty D from NC   Congrats!!!!

 

Our fourth giveaway was for a $25.00 Gift Certificate to Cotton Bliss who is sponsoring this giveaway

And the winner is . . . .   #54  Who happens to be . . .   Pierro   (or Rosemary B)   Congrats!!!!

Our fifth giveaway was for a custom bundle sponsored by  The Intrepid Thread 

And the winner is . . . .   #250  Who happens to be . . .   Heidi (Banks of Frog Creek)   Congrats!!!!

Our sixth giveaway was for a Waterfront Park Domino Dot Fat Quarters bundle sponsored by The Scarlet Thread Quilt Co. 

And the winner is . . . .   #374  Who happens to be . . .   scottylover  (Sandy A)   Congrats!!!!

The winners have been notified.  Thanks again for celebrating my 4 Year Blogiversary with me.  It was oh so much fun and here is to another 4 years of Happy Quilting :)

Starburst - Finished!!!!

Note - If you are looking for my Blogiversary Giveaways, you'll find them here :)  Day 1,  Day 2,  Day 3 

Happy 4th of July!!!!   And what better way to celebrate the 4th than with a star quilt!!!  This queen size quilt top was pieced as part of the Starburst Quilt-A-Long clear back in Feb of 2013.  And over the month of June (like as in a year and a half later) it finally got quilted.   And today, I get to share it, Yippee!!!  So here she is in all of her quilted glory, the Queen Starburst!!!

This quilt is big!!!  Like big as in 40" blocks and a 95" x 95" finished quilt top.  And can I just say, I love those giant blocks!!!  They were so much fun to piece and quilting them was such a blast!!

The fabrics are a custom bundle made by Julie from The Intrepid Thread specifically for this quilt-a-long.  Aren't they just fabulous!!  I love the combo of raspberry, orange, and black.  Julie has such an amazing eye for color.  This is quickly becoming one of my new favorite groupings of color.  (but if you are wondering, this bundle is no longer available as it is a year and a half old ;)

For the backing, I grabbed some 1 yard cuts in raspberry, orange, and black from the stash and made a giant 9 patch.   I have to say, this is one of my favorite backs I have made in a while.  It really did come out cute and I love 9 patches :)

And now, how about some pictures of the quilting.  Warning, I might just go a little overboard here.  I really pushed myself with the quilting of this one and I feel like by the end of it, I had moved to another level with my long-arm quilting skills and I am so super excited about that.

So for starters, I tried something new in the background.  A feathered swirl.   Eeekk,  I just love these!!!  I was super scared after the first row, because goodness, these are feathers right.   But by midway through, I was totally loving it!!!  I am sure you will see these popping up a whole lot more ;)

And a few detail shots.   I loved making a few baby ones to fill up gaps.  They are so cute!!!

And a full circled feather.   My oh my, these are so much fun to make!!!

And finally, a half circle feather.  I loved playing with the amount of feathers on each swirl.  It really mixed it up and give the quilt so much variety ;)

Moving outward.  I quilted each of the "bursts" with some straight line ruler work.   There was a lot of starting and stopping here.  Not my favorite thing to do but the look is totally worth it ;)

I repeated the same look on the stars.  Lots and lots of ruler work ;)

And then between the stars and the bursts I did some pebbling.   I just love to pebble.  It is so incredibly relaxing and really, quite fun ;)  Isn't the whole star together just so fun!!!   Eeekk, and double Eeekk!!

And I saved my favorite for last ;)  Where the stars meet together in the center of the quilt, I marked and recreated a star with the same quilting design as the four print stars.   And it came out Amazing!!!  (if I do say so myself :)    I love, love, love it!!!!   And my 3 year old thinks it is a Frozen quilt now so that is a bonus ;)

While we were taking pictures,  my daughter said we should put it under the tree and take a nap on it ;)  I compromised with putting it under the tree and taking a picture.  I had to break it to her that this isn't a "picnic quilt" :)

And that is my Queen Starburst!!!!   My goodness, I just love this quilt!!!!  Time to change out a bed quilt for sure ;)   If you want to make your own Starburst quilt, you can find the tutorial here and the quilt-a-long here and I also have a pattern available if you like your instructions that way ;)

Have a Happy Quilting Weekend!!!!

Linking this Starburst finish to Amanda's, Sarah's, and Fort Worth Fabric Studio ;)

Happy Blogiversary Day 3 & Giveaways!!!!

It's Day 3 of my 4 year Blogiversary Celebration!!  If you missed Day 1 or 2 and their giveaways you can find them here ;)  DAY 1   DAY 2

And now, let's celebrate for a final  Day 3!!!  So to finish up, I thought I would show you just a few more things around the blog and today we are focusing on a few parts from the right hand or the blog ;)   So let's run through them shall we ;)

First off, is the Sponsor Section.    These sponsors truly are Spectacular!!!   There is no way I could do what I do on the blog each day without them.  I am so grateful for their support of Happy Quilting and I know you all love perusing their shops ;)   They are filled will all things quilty!!!  You can click on any of the buttons to be taken directly to that particular shop :)

And right below the Sponsor buttons is the Sponsor Spotlight!!  This is where you can find a super quick reference of all of my Sponsors Sales, Events, and Giveaways.  It makes it super easy to never miss a good deal ;)  Each line is a link, so you can just click on whatever sounds good to you and it will take you right where you need to go ;)

Next down the way is my Patterns section.  I still can't believe I have made 12 patterns.  Pretty soon I am going to need to make some sore of rotating icon here.  Guess I should check into how to do that ;)   By clicking on any pattern, you will be taken directly to my Etsy Pattern Store where you can purchase and download these patterns instantly ;)   And I want to shout out a huge thank you to all of my readers for their support with my little pattern shop.  I so appreciate you wanting to make my patterns and love seeing your finished projects!!!

And continuing down the way we find the Published section.  This has a cover shot of the magazines and books that I have been published in.  It is kind of a fun little place to see them all together.  Also, if you click on any particular cover, you will be taken to a link that shows you a little more detail about the project I have in that particular issue ;)

And then there is a whole bunch of stuff, including my personal "blog roll"  (that gets added to about daily, I love reading about quilts!!) and some buttons of the things that are keeping me busy, including my Bees and Teaching Events and such ;)  But if surf all the way down to the bottom, you will find my Blog Archive and Search Box.  I point these out, because if you are ever trying to find something and you can't this is the place to go ;)  The Archive will highlight the titles of every post I have written, and you can click on them from here.  The Search box is like a mini search engine for just my blog ;)  It can be really helpful in finding specific topics ;)

And I think that just about wraps it up for a 3 day tour of the blog ;)  I hope you have enjoyed it ;)

And of course, we are going to finish this celebration with some more giveaways!!!!  Once again today, we have 2 giveaways to celebrate!!!   

First up for grabs is this adorable custom bundle that Julie made just for me.   My favorite color is Purple so she built this bundle around some of her favorite purple prints in her shop.  So cute!!!!!   Thank you to The Intrepid Thread for sponsoring this giveaway :)

And second up for grabs is collection of Waterfront Park Domino Dot Fat Quarters!!  Oh, what a perfect stash builder these are.   Thank you to The Scarlet Thread Quilt Co. for sponsoring this giveaway ;)

You have three chances to win these awesome prizes, and please leave a separate comment for each.  The comments enter you into both giveaways :)  

1 - For the first entry, I have so appreciated your feedback over the last 2 days, so lets make today super easy.   Just leave me a comment of something that makes you Happy ;)    

2 - And for a second entry, since The Intrepid Thread has been kind enough to sponsor this giveaway, how about we show them some love.  Follow The Intrepid Thread's Blog and then come back and leave a comment here that you did, or already do :) 

2 - And for a third entry, since The Scarlet Thread Quilt Co.  has also been kind enough to sponsor this giveaway, how about we show them some love too.   Julie is also new on Instagram and adding followers, so pop on over and Follow The Scarlet Thread on Instagram and then come back here and comment that you did so, or already do :)  

And that's it :) The giveaway will close on Sunday, July 6th at Midnight and I will announce the winners Monday morning.    Good Luck to everyone ;)

Today is the last day of the Celebration but you still have time to enter the giveaways.  And be sure to check back in tomorrow.  I have a Star Finish to share for the 4th ;)   And it has been waiting a long time to be shared ;)  So exciting!!!

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!