Starting some Charming Totes

Tomorrow we are having a little auction to help raise funds for the Youth in our Church.  I am planning on donating a quilt, but I got up this morning and just felt like I needed a happy, fun, and fast project and maybe a little something extra that I can add to the auction.  And then it hit me, Charming Totes!!!!   The perfect, fun, fast, and wonderful gift project.   I have made lots and lots of these, and I always love them.   The only hard part of the process is deciding what Charm Pack to use!! 

In the end, I decided to go with the Manderley Charm Pack from Franny and Jane.  This collection is just hitting stores now and it is so beautiful with its rich colors and gorgeous prints!! It is just going to make up the prettiest tote ;)

And then, as I was trying to decide on a second charm pack, I remembered I had a stack of leftover 5" squares from a secret sewing project in Desert Bloom by Sherri and Chelsi and knew it would be just perfect!!!   And even though they were already cut  into 5" charms it still fills like I am busting some scraps, and that is always fun!!!

So I've got my squares all laid out and ready to sew into bags ;)    They have to be done by tomorrow, so I guess it won't be to long to share the finishes ;)   

I hope you have a very Happy Quilting (or maybe some tote making ) Weekend :)  

This week is brought to you by the letter T

This week has been a little bit crazy for me and full of some wonderful and some not so wonderful Tidbits.  Let's do the wonderful first shall we ;)

Monday was Teaching!!!  Which is my favorite T and I love, love, love getting to teach!!!  I spent Monday in the outskirts of Las Vegas Nevada doing a Trunk Show and Class for the Sun City Quilt Club.  These ladies were so much fun to hang out with!!  The trunk show was so much fun to share, which of course, I didn't happen to get any pictures of because I was up front talking, ah well.  Immediately following I taught my Braided Irish Chain class and just loved working with these wonderful gals.  The class was so much fun and everyone did a great job!!  Here are a few of our block finishes ;)

Tuesday was Thirteen!!  Tuesday morning as I went to catch up on my email, I found I had a super fun email from Feedspot saying that Happy Quilting had been listed in their list of Top 100 Quilting Blogs.   How fun is that ;)     I went to check out the article and have to say I was quite blown away to find that not only had Happy Quilting been listed, but it had been listed as Lucky Number 13!!!  Wow, Thank You, that totally made my day!!!

Which was nice because Wednesday was Testing.   And this is where we get into the not so wonderful tidbits.   So a bit of backstory . . . basically, I have been having a lot of pain and numbness in my hands and wrists for about the last 3 months. I should state that I have had very mild carpal tunnel for about 10 years now, but it has always been manageable with a wrist brace and some ice when it got sore.   I saw a surgeon 6 weeks ago thinking that I must have just finally pushed my carpal tunnel past mild.  We talked about how Carpal Tunnel once pushed past mild can be fixed with a surgery. The surgery healed pretty quickly, and I would just have to stay away from  rotary cutting or long arm quilting for about 3 weeks but the surgery normally gives very good results and you are back to normal. So, the surgeon ordered a nerve conduction study, to see how severe things were and while I have been waiting for my appt. I have been working on clearing all of my "to do's" off of my list and not adding any more for a bit.  Well yesterday was my Testing. I told my husband to take some pictures of the testing so I could put them here but he forgot.  Let's just say, electrical shocks and needles, while not awful, certainly not all that pleasant.   (I borrowed these images from nervecare.com to give you an idea :)

  

And just because I had made a plan on how I could fit a surgery in, The test decided to take me down a different path.   The test actually showed that the problem is not my mild Carpal Tunnel, but actually my Elbows, more specifically the Ulnar Nerve that has the same symptoms as carpal tunnel.   And  apparently the Elbow Nerve is a whole lot different than the Wrist Nerve :)  The good news is that sometimes it fixes itself  (Yippee!!!)  So that is the new plan.   And what does this plan entail . . .  bracing  and behavior changes.  Meaning thinking about not bending your arms when you don't need to, ie . . .not crossing your arms when you stand, sleeping with your arms straight, ect. for the behavioral changes and for the bracing, I get to sport these bad boys for the next month.  And hopefully my irradiated elbow nerves will fix themselves, if not, well I suppose we will cross that bridge when  it comes ;)    And just in case you are wondering, although a little slower, you can still use a long arm, rotary cutter, and sewing machine (and type for that matter)  while keeping your arms pretty much straight, I know, I have already tried ;)

So there you have it, my three T Tidbits of this week ;)   All in all, even the not so Wonderful Tidbit could possibly turn out pretty Wonderful, and I'll take that any day ;)

I hope you are having a Wonderfully Happy Quilting week thus far!!  Let me know what Wonderful Tidbits you have to share in the comments below ;)

Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!!

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 Farm Fun Fat Quarter Bundle from  Green Fairy Quilts  is . . .   Number #347. . . Congrats  Alesha Klein!! I have emailed you :)    

 

    

And on to today's

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by  Lou Lou's Fabric Shop .    There is so much wonderful fabric variety over at Lou Lou's and did you know she also has an amazing Daily Deal!!!  Along with hosting the giveaway, Jamie is having a Huge $6.50 A Yard Sale with over 200 bolts at this amazing price!!!  Oh, so much fun shopping!!!

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is for Gift Certificate goodness!!!  Lou Lou's Fabric Shop is offering one lucky reader a $25.00 Gift Certificate to Lou Lou's Fabric Shop!!  Now you can get exactly what you want, so fun!!!!

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 ultimate "bucket list" quilt - for me, it is a Dear Jane ;)  

 ENTRY 2 - Lets show Lou Lou's Fabric Shop some Love!!!!   You can follow them on   Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram.  Or you can follow their blog or  visit The Shop and then share a favorite item ;)   Just be sure to leave a comment of how you showed your Lou Lou's Fabric Shop Love!!!

And that's it ;)  The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, October 18th when I will announce a winner at the beginning of next weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Post :)

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Be My Neighbor - Camp Moda Version

Last Spring at Market,  Moda shared a new Be My Neighbor quilt during their School House and announced that it would be a free Quilt Along hosted by  local quilt shops.  I instantly fell in love, such a cute quilt!!!   The next day I was super excited when Carrie let me know that they could use another pattern tester for the Be My Neighbor quilt and I think my response was something like,  Absolutely I can be that pattern tester!!!  Moda's booth theme at Spring was "Camp Moda" and they were giving out the adorable new merit badges at all their booths.  And then lightening struck . . . why not combine the Be My Neighbor Quilt with the Camp Moda Theme . . . And that is how my Camp Moda Quilt came to be!!!

I had so much fun putting this quilt together!!!  I just loved making up each of the individual houses and seeing my little camp come together with each new block.  And of course, Moda's instructions are fantastic and so very easy to follow, making it all the more enjoyable.

I used a combination of three fabrics that were featured at Spring Market and that work so well together to really give a camp feel to the quilt, but of course, it is more of a  "pretty" camp feel.  I used Chestnut Street by Fig Tree Quilts, Sundrops by Corey Yoder, and parts of Olives Flower Market by Lella Botique.   All three lines are available in shops now and I just love how wonderfully they all play together ;)

The Quilt Along started at the beginning of September so there have been 4 blocks released so far.  The first block I dubbed as the the Ranger Station.   It was so fun coming up with names for each of the houses to fit into the camp theme.    And you can see from this close up that each of the "houses" have the name embroidered on them, and a huge thank you to my 2 SIL's for helping me out with the embroidery ;)  You might recall that I am not so great when it comes to hand stitching ;)

The second blocks was released the second week of September and it is the Ropes Course.    And you can also see from these close up's of the blocks that I quilted Camp Moda with an all over curl design.  I love this design because it gives the perfect amount of texture without taking away from the quilt design at all, you eyes just flow right over the quilting ;)  

For the Third Block I just loved the little mailbox out front so of course it had to be the Camp Post. And yes, there is a little bit of Applique in this quilt as well.  But no worries, it is just a bit and very simple.  Isn't that little bird just so adorable!!

And the Fourth block that was released this week is the General Store.  And do you remember those Merit Badges that I mentioned were being handed out . . . Well you can't have a Camp Moda quilt with out Merit Badges for the campers to earn ;)  Each Moda Designer designed their own Merit Badge for Marked and Carrie was kind enough to collect one from each designer for me to use.   And don't they just add the perfect finishing touch to the camp!!!  So fun!!!

And that is my Camp Moda Quilt!!!   I will continue to share more blocks as they are released on Instagram and such, but I wanted to share the entire quilt before we got to far into the quilt along ;)   I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to make up this quilt early, it really has been a favorite to make and a favorite finish!!!   I just love it ;)

And before I sign off, I am sure you are all wondering "how do I get the patterns for this free quilt along???"  We'll that is the fun part!!!  They are all over ;)   Each quilt shop at Market had the option to host this free quilt along :)   You can find several quilt shops that are hosting it in the comments of the Original Quilt Along Post,  and I found that one of my old sponosrs, Bear Creek Quilts is also hosting it.  And maybe you saw yesterday that Moda posted another shop that is hosting and even has prizes for finished blocks!!!   And you can always check your local shop as well to see if they are hosting this fun quilt along!!!   Wherever you decide to follow along, just be sure to join in, trust me, you are going to love making up this quilt ;) 

EDIT - I have had several wonderful quilters emailing me asking me for the names of each of the buildings because they want to make their own camp as well ;)  So fun!!!   So just in case you want to make your own camp too .  .  . Here are the names I stitched on each block

1 - Ranger Station

2 - Ropes Course

3 - Camp Post

4 - General Store

5 - Arts and Crafts

6 - Grand Lodge

7 - Camp Office

8 - Welcome Center   (and the flat is stitched with Camp Moda, but you could personalize it :)

9 - Activity Center

10 - Outhouse

11 - Bunkhouse  (and I added an A, B, C, D, E, and F on the 6 little houses :)

12 - First Aid

13 - Guard Tower

14 - SS Moda  (on the hull of the ship, but again, you could personalize it ;)

15 - Boat House

16 - Mess Hall

I hope that helps :)

Thanks for popping in today.  Have a very Happy Quilting Weekend!!!

Linking up this finish to Sarah's, Quilt Story,  and Amanda's ;)

Strawberry Day

About 2 days ago, a few of my children were bemoaning the fact that we were out of Strawberry Freezer Jam and they had to use the "store jam" that just didn't taste as good.  Later that day, I was chatting with Barbara and a few of my SIL's about how I never saw Strawberries go on a good sale this summer, because that is what reminds me to make jam.  And then wouldn't you know it, yesterday I got a text from Barbara saying that The Strawberries Are On Sale!!!  So off to the store we went and I got to spend a lovely morning with my fantastic little helper making 216 ounces of Strawberry Freezer Jam.  Yummy!!!

And then, after my little helper went to Preschool, it only seemed right to head down to the sewing room and make up this adorable Strawberry block for Cynthia.   This was out Sept. (sorry it is a bit late :)  bee block from Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage book and I was once again remembered  just how fun those blocks are to make up!!!  I can't wait to see Cynthia's Strawberry quilt all done up.  And making this block added another to do on the list because I decided  I really want to make up the Farm Girl Sampler one of these days.  So fun!!!

And now, I might just treat myself to a little Strawberry ice cream before the kids come home to just finish off a whole Strawberry Day :)  Gotta love it!!

I hope you are all having a Berry Happy Quilting Day :)