A Few Tidbits

Well, I thought that today I would be able to share lots of Works in Progress . . .but alas . . . Online School has had me running in circles for the last few days.   I haven't sewn a stitch since it all started.  But luckily,  things are starting to get a little smoother as we figure out all the technology, and schedules, and assignments (I don't think I am smarter than my 5th grader because I really don't remember a lot of it ;)    I have seen it getting more routine with each passing day, so hopefully soon we will be well oiled machine, and I can get back to my sewing machine ;)   Which is so good, because we just found out we have online school until May 1 :)

So not a lot of Works in Progress, but I do have some fun tidbits to share ;)

First, my Low Volume Chevron Pillow came home yesterday!!!  I was so excited, I instantly put it in my favorite chair!!  I love that it now welcomes me to the living room with a happy rainbow smile ;)   And with it's return means the Pillow Fight Finals are over.  And no, I didn't win, that honor went to Mr. Domestic and his beautiful rainbow dot pillow!!!   But I want to say a huge thank you to everyone that voted for me!!!  This was such a fun little "pillow fight" and taking second place sure was amazing, so thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

Second, The Charming Baby Little Lou Quilt deadline has come and gone. And the winner of the giveaway is Heather with this adorable take on the Ring Around the Rosie's Quilt!!!  Isn't that so adorable ;)   Thank you so much to everyone that donated a baby quilt to Little Lou's Quilts!!!  I was blown away once again by how amazing quilters are!!!  You all just ban together and make amazing things happen ;)     And you can still keep sending in Little Lou Quilts :)    They will be treasured!!!  And just as an update, Everett and Jamison are doing well and gaining weight ;)

And finally, Only two more weeks to the start of the Charming Baby Sew Along!!!!  This is going to be so fun!!!  So be sure to Charm Packs and your copy of Charming Baby Quilts  from It's Sew Emma, or  Fat Quarter Shop , or a signed copy directly from me.  You can find more details here and here.   And like all of my Quilt-Alongs there will be prizes along the way and a Big Grand Prize for anyone who finishes their quilt top ;)    And Moda will be sponsoring the Grand Prize and I guarantee it will be Charming!!!! 

So that's it for today :)  And now it is time for me to sign off as my kiddo is letting me know they need the computer now ;)

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

Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!!

It's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!! Let's have some fun :)

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

The winner of the  2 Lou Lou  Bundles of your Choice from Lou Lou's Fabric Shop is . . .   Number #13 . . . Congrats Anita!!!  I have messaged you :)    

  

   

And on to today's

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by Olie and Evie.  Rhonda's shop is so fun and full of so much amazing quilting goodness!!!!  Of course, there is the amazing fabric shop we all know and love along with longarm quilting, gift certificates, preorders, and an awesome Clearance Sale!!    Rhonda has so much to share so be sure to pop on over and check it out!!! 

And Rhonda's has a fantastic Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!!!     Olie and Evie  is giving one lucky winner a $25.00 Gift Certificate to use in her shop!!!    So awesome, someone is going to get a wonderful shopping spree for some end of the year fun :)  

You have two entry chances here on the blog, 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 what is the best way to start your day??

 ENTRY 2 - Show your Olie and Evie love.   You can follow them on  Facebook, Instagram  or Pinterest or you can visit The Shop and then share a favorite item ;)   Just be sure to leave a comment of how you showed your Olie and Evie Love!!!

And that's it ;)  The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, March 31st, when I will announce a winner at the beginning of next weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Post :)

You can also pop over to my Instagram and/or Facebook to enter there as well :)  

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

These have been on my "To Do" list forever!!!

I have always wanted to make a denim quilt!!!!   It really has been on my list forever.   So I started saving my kids old jeans a ways back, and then kind of forgot about it.  Well, Guess what I found when we were doing our remodel and I had to completely clean out my sewing room . . . that's right, the giant stack of jeans that are still just sitting there. 

 And right on the top of the stack, the Charming Circles ruler.   Which made me recall some years back I started seeing Cathedral Window Denim quilts and decided it would be the perfect denim quilt, because wouldn't you know,  I have always wanted to make a Cathedral Window quilt as well!!!   Double Bonus!!!   So I bought the ruler and put it with the jeans, and once again, forgot about this project. 

So after finishing the remodel,  I decided I wasn't' going to put the tote of jeans away.    Hopefully then I wouldn't forget about this project idea.    And then life got crazy and we are all now homebodies . . . so what better time to dig in to the bucket of jeans right.   And I even got the kids involved.  We have been having fun cutting up all of their old jeans and remembering how small they once were.   Oh, and side note, after a lot of trial and error, we found the easiest way to cut up jeans is to take out the back center seam first, and then cut down the two center leg seams.   And once you get the cut started, most of the time you can just rip them along the seam.  That was the kids favorite part!! 

So then you have 4 main leg parts without seams that are easy to work with.  But we quickly found that the circle ruler normally only fit on the back part of the leg as that was larger than the front part of the legs.   But I didn't want to waste all of that denim.   So can you guess where this went . . .  Another quilt!!!  Yup, I grabbed my 5" ruler and found it fit perfect on the front part of the leg, and how fun would it be to make a simple denim patchwork quilt as well ;)

So for the last few days, we have been working our way through the denim bucket and we now have a stack for Charming Circles and a stack for 5" squares.    And the jeans are all gone.   Now it's time to move to the rotary cutter.  I am sure we won't have enough to make both quilts the size I want them, but it is great to get started.   And the new plan is to cut up the jeans as they grow out of them, so I don't ever get a huge bucket stacked up again.     

I am so excited for this new Long Term Project.   It is going to be so much fun and I am thrilled at the idea of finally checking off not one but two, "To Make" quilts on my bucket list!!!!

Tutorial Throwback Thursday - Shine

 St. Patrick's Day was this week, and I totally forgot and didn't even where green.   So crazy.   But we can still celebrate it here onTutorial Throwback  Thursday !!   You all know I love Irish Chain Quilts, and have already shared the basic Single Scrappy and Triple Scrappy versions . . . so today, I thought it would be fun to share another twist on an Irish Chain Quilt . . . So for today's throwback, we are going back just 2 years to the Shine Quilt!!!

Shine is a wonderful twist on a single Irish Chain Quilt adding a simple 9 patch to the center of the chain.     And the quilt is super easy to make and oh so fun!!!     The entire quilt is made with Strip Piecing and I even have a Subcutting Speed Up Tutorial  to make that part go fast as well.    It finishes at 66"x 82" so it makes a great snuggle size quilt and would work great on a twin size bed as well!!!    And there is even a printable version of this Shine tutorial, so great!!!!  

And I love that this quilt uses ombre!!!!   I just love the beautiful shades of color you get with an Ombre Jelly Roll.   And the fun thing is, V & Co. has made lots of variations of Ombre, including their newest Fairy Dust that will be coming out soon, and it has metallic stars, so excited!!!  It really is the Ombre that just makes this quilt Shine!!!   And it is the perfect use for a Ombre Jelly Roll.  

In fact, you even use every little bit of the jelly roll strips as the extras are used for a scrappy binding.   Isn't that just so fun!!!!   I always love a scrappy binding!!!     And I quilted Shine with an all over swirl, because it is just fun and easy and fast.   All the things that go with this quilt!!! 

And that is my Shine Quilt!!!     I hope you have enjoyed today's Tutorial Throwback Thursday!!!    To make your own Shine quilt  just click on any of the project name links for the free step by step tutorial.    And when you are done,  I would love to see your Quilts!!  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 Bonnie Rose Quilts!!!! 

Thanks for popping in today!!!   I hope you all have a very Happy Quilting Day!!!!

Day by Day

Well, it has been a crazy week to say the least.  How are you all doing???   I hope you are well and managing the ups and downs of this virus.    My kids are home from school and start online schooling today.  Yesterday I found out that both the UQSM Quilt Retreat and International Spring Quilt Market have been cancelled, which I totally understand, but still made me sad to miss seeing so many quilting friends.     But hey, we still have toilet paper ;) 

And life still keeps going.    Monday and Tuesday my kids were already out of school for end of term, and my husband had taken work off so we could go up the mountain as a little family vacation.   What a respite this was!!!   With things just getting a little more crazy each day, it was so refreshing to just get away and enjoy some time with family.      And yesterday morning, I was out on the deck and snapped this picture.    A storm was about to blow in and I was a little sad at how grey and gloomy the morning was.   But then, I looked way out in the distance.    I was touched by the idea that even with all the gloom gathering we can always find a light on the horizon. 

I am so grateful for this wonderful world of quilting, especially during these times.  There is nothing like sitting at my machine with some soft music playing to just bring me peace.    And the good news is, I won't run out of projects or fabric :)   It's nice that my normal homebody routine can just keep going on, and my kiddos are even planning some projects, so that will be fun to have them join me!!!!   

I hope you all stay safe and can find some joy in these ever changing days ahead of us.    There are things that are hard and can get us down each day, but I truly believe we can find silver linings, and glimmers of hope.   I never thought I would be grateful for so much social media, but I am so happy that we can all stay in contact, even if it isn't face to face ;)     Let's just take this day by day and see what amazing things we can create in the process!!!!