The Renovation Stars Today!!!

This morning I was reminded of walking through my house the day before we moved in.  Everything was bare and just waiting to be filled with all our family memories.   We'll today, we are starting a new chapter and it just cracked me up that it all started with that blank slate feeling again ;)  So I snapped some pictures of each room that will be worked on in it's bare bones state.  It is going to be incredible to watch it transform.  I am so super excited, and a little nervous, but mostly excited!!!

This is the living room.  It is the room that will have the least amount of work done in it ;) The fireplace is going to be taken out and replaced with a gas fireplace and new surround and mantle and then fresh paint and new carpet :)

This is the dining room.   And the doors are new.   They actually replaced those a few weeks ago.  (And I just love them!!!)   The blinds are in the glass and slide up and down.  So great!!!     As for this room, all of that tile is being taken out (not a fun job) and being replaced with wood flooring.  Then new paint, a build in china hutch, and you can't see it, but the opening to the kitchen is going to be widened about a foot and a half to make for easier flow. 

And here is the kitchen, and this is where the total renovation is really happening.   The window is new as it was already replaced with the doors, but everything here is going ;) 

This is the extended view of the kitchen :)    When it is all said and done, the bar will be nice and long and run lengthwise to the back wall.  White cabinets, Oil Rubbed Bronze hardware, Light Corian counter tops, and lots, and lots, of storage.   And a new desk for me just to the right of this picture  :)

And although it seems like it would be awesome to have a sun room, they just aren't that practical in Utah.   We pretty much have a week of spring and a week of fall, and the rest of the time this room is either really hot, or really cold.   So it is getting all framed in and this back part will become a pantry with a mud room attached for the kids to come in through the side door and drop all their backpacks and what not ;)

And this desk and fireplace are being taken out , the wall framed in, and the flooring changed.   And that just about covers it ;)  So ya, it should be fun the next few weeks!!!

 But truly, I really am just tickled pink that we are finally starting this.   When we bought this home, we knew we would remodel the kitchen one day, and I can't believe that day is finally here ;)

And in the interim, I am just so grateful that my sewing room had a stove top and sink because this little make shift kitchen has been amazing the last few days :)  I can't image if we didn't have this place for our family to gather and get to eat and talk together.   It was totally worth the "sacrafice" of giving up my sewing space for a bit :) 

And ya know, I still managed to make a new sewing space, so it's not to much of a "sacrifice" .  

I can't wait to share with you what the coming weeks brings ;)   Now I think I might just go grab a hammer and "help" make a few holes ;)  

I hope you all have a great day!!!!  I'll be back tomorrow with TTGD ;)  

Charming Baby Quilts Sew Along!!!!

I am super excited to share more about my soon to be released Charming Baby Quilts book :)  And today's it's all about the Sew Along ;)

This is the design for the Charming Baby Quilts Sew Along!!!  I designed this quilt as a sampler quilt using a block or a portion of a block from each of the 10 quilts in the Charming Baby Quilts book.   It is a twin size quilt finishing at 66" x 88" and I think it is just so fun and I can't wait to sew along with all of you!!!!

The Sew Along stars in April and you can see Fat Quarter Shop's post about it here ;)   Kimberly, from Fat Quarter Shop, is using Bonnie At Home Charm Packs by Bonnie and Camille for her Charming Baby Quilt and she even shared the finished quilt top on her Live Video Stream today ;)   If you want to see if she shares it at 30:40 time on the video ;) It is so great!!!!  I can't wait to see it all quilted up!!!!

And I am going to make mine using Catalina Charm Packs by Joanna Figueroa from Fig Tree & Co.   And I am actually using a few extra Charm Packs as I didn't want to use the Low Volume prints in the design as I was worried it would blend into the background to much ;)   So something to keep in mind when you get your fabrics!!!

And speaking of getting your fabrics . . . The Fabric Requirements are already posted!!!!   So you can start thinking know about what Charm Packs you want to use.   And of course, you can use more than one fabric line, it would be super cute to mix and match Charm Packs in this design ;)  

This is going to be a super fun and super easy Sew Along to participate in.   So if you are anywhere from a beginner to an expert you are going to love sewing along ;)   And this will also double as my annual Sew Along so I hope you will join in and Sew Along with us!!!!   All the fun starts April 8th, and of course, I will share more details as we get closer to April ;)  

Oh, and one last note.  You will need a Charming Baby Quilts book to Sew Along so just as a reminder . . . the Charming Baby Quilts Book will be released in March of 2020 and it is available for pre-order!!!  You can pre-order a copy of Charming Baby Quilts directly from It's Sew Emma, or from Fat Quarter Shop (with a pre-order discount) , or if you would like to pre-order a signed copy directly from me, that is an option as well ;)   All pre-ordered books will ship out in March 2020 

I am so super excited!!!!  Only two more Months to March ;)   

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

Tutorial Throwback Thursday - All Star Baby Quilt!!!

Well it's Thursday, and I have Baby Quilts on the Brain!!!!   Did you see Fat Quarter Shop's post about my new Charming Baby Quilts book and the Quilt Along ;)   So excited!!!  I will share more of this tomorrow but for today, you can also see my Charming Baby Quilts post here ;)  So for today's throwback, we are going back 7 years for none other than a Baby Quilt made with Charm Packs ;)  It's the All Star Baby Quilt and I just love it!!!!

The All Star Baby Quilt tutorial came to be when my Sister In Law asked if I could help her make a quilt for her soon to be nephew ;)    She hadn't done a lot of piecing so she wanted it to be something simple and yet fun.    And so, I came up with this alternating simple patchwork and then a little added applique for pop ;)  And it turned out oh so cute!!!   And if you have never done applique before, no worries at all, I have a Applique Basics video that walks you through the entire process step by step.  

And a few years later, I was in a hurry to make a quilt for my new nephew, and I remembered this All Star Baby quilt and whipped up another version of it.   This time, instead of the applique (a great option if applique isn't your thing:)  I just added a border.   So fun and a little faster than applique if you happen to be in a time crunch!!!  

In fact, it was so fast, I made a second quilt, just so I had one on hand ;)    These are so simple to make and all you need is 2 Charm Packs and either applique fabric or a border fabric that you can mostly just pull from scraps.  Super fast, super fun, and oh so super cute!!!   And the All Star Baby quilt finishes at 36" square so they are a great size to let baby lay on, put in a car seat, or even hang on a wall ;)  

And that is my All Star Baby quilt.  I hope you have enjoyed today's Tutorial Throwback Thursday!!!    To make your own All Star Baby Quilt,  just click on any of the quilt name links for the free step by step tutorial.    And when you are done, I would love to see your quilt!!  You can email me a picture at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com, post it to social media with #happyquiltingwithmc  or or add it to my flickr group here ;)  I can't wait to see your All Star Baby Quilts!!!!

Thanks for popping in today and each day.   I hope you all have a very Happy Quilting Day!!!   And be sure to come back tomorrow for more about Charming Baby Quilts as promised ;)

Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day - Welcome Thousands of Bolts and New Entries!!!!

It's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day and the first one of 2020!!!    And today is a special TTGD because we are also welcoming a new sponsor to Happy Quilting as well as adding new ways to enter the giveaways!!!! So let's have some fun :)

First, we need to announce the winner from last Terrific Tuesday Giveaway!!  

The winner of the $25.00 Gift Certificate from  Lou Lou's Fabric Shop is . . .   Number #151 . . . Congrats Hillari!!!   I have emailed you :)       

  

  

And on to today's

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by Thousands of Bolts, a brand new sponsor here at Happy Quilting!!!    I asked Riley to send me a little intro to her shop so I could share it with all of you ;)   So here's all about Thousands of Bolts . . .  

Thousands of Bolts is an online quilting fabric shop based out of Youngstown, Ohio.  It boasts over 8000 quality quilters cottons, flannels, and batiks as well as the worlds largest online selection of wide quilt backs.  They have unbelievably low prices and incredible quality and have many sales and specials throughout the year!!!     

Thousands of Bolts also has an awesome tool called the Quilters' Toolbox where you can take any present patterns and insert the fabrics that you have chosen to get a preview of how your fabrics will look in the pattern.   Just perfect!!!  

Thousands of Bolts is the perfect name for this shop!!!  It is so great to be able to shop through so many amazing fabrics and I love how easy it is to shop by color!!!  How fun to make your own custom bundles ;)   And Thousands of Bolts has an incredible Color Matcher Tool, that allows you to click on a color of your chosen fabric and find other fabrics with that same color.   How awesome is that!!!!  Making custom bundles has never been so fun and easy :)    Of course, if you prefer, you can still shop by manufacturer or shop by theme,  I just like color the best :)   

And speaking of Manufactures, Thousands of Bolts  carries a wide variety of manufacturers fabrics, including those we all know and love, and a few that were new to me, but have such great fabrics!!!   They also carry a huge variety of Solids from most of these manufactures, including all of the Bella Solids, my personal favorite ;)  And the Color Matching and Quilters Toolbox make it easy to match your solids to your prints :)    

  

And on of my favorite things about Thousands of Bolts is that you can shop for individual Fat Quarters!!!  A majority of their fabrics can be bought as Yardage or as Fat Quarters, allowing you to create your own amazing Fat Quarter Bundles, how fun is that!!!!   And again, the color matching tool lets you pick a favorite print, and then find other prints that match it perfectly.   So great!!!! Thousands of Bolts also carries other Pre-Cuts including Fat Packs (pre-made Fat Quarter Bundles) and  Gem Strips ( jelly rolls) like this gorgeous Garden Delights II Strip Role that we will be giving away today (see bottom of post :).   

            

Thousands of Bolts truly does have incredible prices that will have you super excited!!!   But they also have to make room for new items and that means you will also find absolutely incredible bargains shopping in the Thousands of Bolts Sale Section!!!  And right now, there is quite a lot of Holiday fabrics to be found in the Sale Section, another of my favorites ;)  

  

   

Thousands of Bolts knows that you have lots of choices in purchasing your quality quilting fabrics and they are striving to provide you with an amazing array of choices at incredibly affordable prices.  As well as offering you the tools to mix and match your fabrics with confidence!!   You are sure to have a wonderful experience shopping at Thousands of Bolts

I just want to say welcome Thousands of Bolts!!!  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, Thousands of Bolts is also sponsoring Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day and as mentioned before, it is a great one!!!!    Thousands of Bolts is giving one lucky winner a Garden Delights II Strip Roll!!!  Isn't it just gorgeous ;)

And since it is a new year, we are changing up the entries a bit ;)   You still have two chances to enter and win here at my blog . . . but you can also have two changes to enter and win on Facebook, as well as two chances to enter and win on Instagram.    I will randomly pick a winner win from all of the entries at all 3 places :)

 So for the blog, please leave a separate comment for each entry.   All Entries are welcome, including International Entries.  Please just be sure to leave an email address if you are a no-reply blogger or posting with an anonymous comment ;) 

ENTRY 1 - Simply leave a comment that tells me how many bolts of fabric would you estimate you have in your stash???  

 ENTRY 2 - Lets show Thousands of Bolts some Love!!!!   You can follow them on   Facebook or Instagram.  Or you can visit The Shop and then share a favorite item ;)   Just be sure to leave a comment of how you showed your Thousand of Bolts Love!!!

And that's it ;)  The giveaway will be open until Tuesday, January 14th  when I will announce a winner at the beginning of the next  Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Post :) 

And for this new change, you can also pop over to my Instagram and/or Facebook to enter there as well :)  

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

A Big Change at Home!!

So next week we will begin remodeling our Kitchen, Dining Room, Living Room, and all the flooring in the upstairs.   Wow . . . Huge Change and I am so excited!!!   This is something we have wanted to do since moving in and the time is finally right.    But with this awesome, wonderful change, means a few "adjustments" in the interim.   You all know I just love, love, love my sewing room, and I know I am so blessed to have a space entirely dedicated to quilting :)

Well, this weekend I had to "move" my space.   This is what it looks like now.   (and side note, I was blown away by how much lint and dust was behind my desk, yuck)   We are lucky that this room had a stove top and sink in it from the previous owners, and so it only made sense for it to become a temporary Kitchen for our family while our regular kitchen is gutted and rebuilt.   And even though it was hard to "move" out of my favorite space, I know it will be a huge blessing to not have to dishes in the bathtub, I have heard many a crazy remodeling tale :)

So this is my temporary sewing space ;)  There is no way I could just pack it all away, so I am in the back of the family room for the time being.  It is going to be a whole lot louder, and a little crowded once we move the living room furniture down here as well, but it will work ;)   I am just glad to still be able to sew and work on projects, even if it is only in little bits between the craziness that will be remodeling. 

So if things are a little slower around here over the next few weeks you will know why ;)  

Which had me wondering, would you like to see what is being done in our remodel?  I could share some before, progress shots,  and after's if you are interested :)

And for those that have lived through remodeling . . . any advice or tips??   We are all ears ;) 

And that's all for today :)   Be back tomorrow with our Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day . . . and it has some changes as well, so you are going to want to be sure and check it out!!!!