Charming Baby Sew Along - Week 6!!!

**  NOTE  - This post is part of a series of posts for the Charming Baby Sew Along.  If you would like to join (and have a chance to win some fun prizes ) you can find a list of the post links here :)  Here is the schedule

Intro, Fabric Requirements, and Prizes Announcement

April 8 - A Star is Born and Color in the Lines 

April 15th - Dream Big and Hugs and Kisses 

April 22nd - Just Blooming and On the Move 

April 29th - Ring Around the Rosie and Shine Bright 

May 6th - To the Moon and Twinkle Twinkle 

May 13th - Quilt Finishing - Pieced Back - Grand Prize Linky - Today!!!

May 27th - Charming Baby Parade and Grand Prize Winner

WEEK 6 - QUILT FINISHING AND PIECED BACK

It's the sixth week of the Charming Baby Sew Along and were putting it all together!!!  I am so, so, excited to see all of your blocks come together into a quilt!!!!    You will need your copy of Charming Baby Quilts  if you need to do any catch up on the blocks as well as the Week 6 Charming Baby Sew Along Pattern for the cutting and piecing instructions ;)  This is the week we have been waiting for, the Quilt Finishing!!!

And of course, the Pieced Back :)   Don't want to forget that rocket ship :)  

The quilt finishes at 66" x 88" so it makes a wonderful twin size quilt or a great snuggle up in size ;)  And I know you are all so excited to see all of those blocks you have pieced come together!!   And I am just as excited for you, so fun!!!    So get your Finishing Pattern and let's get stitching!!!  

WEEK 6 QUILTS FROM FRIENDS

And just like that, you are done with Week 6  of The Charming Baby Sew Along where we will put it all together!!  It's so great to have you all quilting along!!!!   Be sure to pop over to all my Sewing Along Friends and see their finished quilts for lots of inspiration!!

      Amanda Castor - Material Girl Quilts
      Andy Knowlton - A Bright Corner
      Beverly McCullough - Flamingo Toes
      Melanie Call - A Bit of Scrap Stuff
      Pat Sloan - Pat Sloan's Blog
      Fat Quarter Shop Friends - The Jolly Jabber

THE PRIZES

 And it's almost time for someone to win our amazing grand prize from Moda Fabrics !!   I know that you all want to win this huge assortment of 18 Charm Packs with this exclusive zipper pouch and sewing tins and thanks so much to Moda Fabrics for sponsoring this giveaway :)
      Everyone that finishes their quilt top (doesn't have to be quilted) will be entered to win the grand prize, and you have until May 26th to get it finished up.   I will announce the winner on the 27th ;)    So get stitching!!!   And once you are done with your quilt top, take a picture of it and either email it to me, share it on social media with #charmingbabyquilts, or add it to the linky at the end of the post.   Everyone who finishes their quilt top will be entered to win!!!!!!

   

And we still have one more Weekly Giveaway!!!   I am hosting this week's Charming Baby Sew Along giveaway!!!  You can win 2 Charm Packs of Bloomington by Lella Boutique and a spool of Aurifil thread!!! This is the line I used to make the A Star is Born Quilt on the cover of the book.   Oh, and since Bloomington is now available for the giveaway, it also means the A Star is Born Quilt Kits and Backing Sets are finally in stock!!  Several asked when they would be available,  so I thought you might like to know ;)

To Enter this Weekly Giveaway . . . simply leave a comment on this post telling me about the first baby quilt you ever made :)        

And you can have more chances to enter on my Instagram and Facebook pages ;)    

                 

THE PARADE

Now, as just mentioned, you only have to have your quilt top done to enter into the grand prize drawing . . . However,  I wanted to encourage you to finish these quilts and not set them in a pile of "to be quilted" so I am planning a Parade for the 27th of May :)  The parade will show off all quilted and bound Charming Baby Sampler Quilts!!  

So, how do you finish up those quilts??? 

Baste It, Quilt It, and Bind It!!  I know, I make it sound all so simple.  If you are new to quilting, and need some help with these last few steps, you can see my Video Tutorials that go over the basics of how to do this ;)  Also, there are some helpful free motion quilting tutorials if you are stuck on how you want to quilt your project ;)   I quilted mine with an all over Curly Q that I really love to use for sampler quilts as it makes for great texture and is simple enough not to take attention away from all of those fun blocks!!!  

Once you have your quilt finished it is ready to be showcased in the Parade.  To be in the Parade, please send me an email at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com  with your favorite finished Charming Baby Sampler Quilt picture attached as well as your name the way you would like it listed with your photo, where you are from, and a Link if you would like me to link your picture . . .  Blog, Instagram, or Facebook will work great :)    You can email me anytime from now until the evening of May 26th and I will get you added to the Parade!!!  

I am so looking forward to seeing everyone's finishes!!!  It has been so fun to see all of your quilt blocks each week and I can't wait to see them all quilted and bound  ;)   The Grand Prize winners will be announced on May 27th at the end of the amazing parade filled with all of your beautiful quilts.!!!  I can't wait!!!  

SHARING

 Just a reminder . . .  Don't forget to share your finished quilt tops by linking up below or post on social media with the Hashtag #charmingbabyquilts  or you can always email me a picture and that will enter you for the Grand Prize Giveaway!!!!   And don't stop at your quilt top . . . go ahead and finish it all up and then email me a picture at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com to be in the Charming Baby Sew Along Parade!!!!

I can't wait to see your quilts!!!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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 $25.00 Gift Certificate from Thousands of Bolts is . . .   Number #62 . . . Congrats Nancy in IN!!!  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!!  And Rhonda is giving all Happy Quilting Readers 15% off regular priced items with coupon code MaySave15    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 $30.00 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 Besides Fabric, do you Collect Anything??

 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, May 19th, 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!!!

Grad 2020 Masks!!!

13 of the Youth in my Church are graduating from High School this year.  I figured they needed custom masks for the occasion made of course, in their school colors!!!   I used this free Face Mask pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop and added the applique before sewing the two pieces together.  Didn't they just turn out so cute!!!  Even if they never wear them, I thought they would just be great to hang next to their diploma or with their tassel just as a reminder that they graduated in Quarantine :) 

So here is some of the tidbits I learned along the way, just in case you want to make a special applique mask for someone special ;)   And if you have never done Applique before, I have a Video Tutorial here that will walk you though it step by step.  It's super easy!!!   So, first off, I put Heat N Bond Lite on the back of a large piece of material and then from that cut out all my applique letters.  I was planning to use my Alphabet GO! Die, but the letters were to large,  so I went old school and used my Slice Cutter.  It isn't near as fast, (took me 1 1/2 hours to cut out all these letters) but it still beats cutting them out by hand ;) 

From there just press them onto one of your rectangles.   You can secure stitch them so they hold on better, but I was making 13 and didn't have the time to secure stitch them all.   So I am just counting on the Heat N Bond ;)   And something to help that out, when you go to pleat the masks, only press the edges, and not over top of the applique letters.  That just made them want to come loose.

Which occasionally, they are still going to do.   Nothing like a glue stick to solve that problem ;)  For those pieces of applique that had an edge or two popping up, I just put a little glue stick on the back and pressed in place with my finger :)  Good as new!!!

And that was about it.  The rest is just basically following the pattern ;)  I used the large size as I wanted plenty of room for the lettering.  I can't wait to give the Graduates these.  We are having a Graduation Drive By Celebration on Tuesday and these will be in the graduates gift baskests.  Should be an awesome day!!!   I love that we can still celebrate the big accomplishments, we just have to think outside the box of how to do it ;)

I hope you are all having a very Happy Quilting Weekend!!!   And if I don't have time to get on by tomorrow, here is wishing you all you amazing women a very  . . .   

Tutorial Throwback Thursday - Lots of Love Mini

With Mother's Day coming up on Sunday, I figured today's Tutorial Throwback Thursday, needed to be all about mom.   And what better for mom then the Lots of Love Mini!!!  This is a fun tutorial that walks you through how to make heart blocks and then shares them in all different sizes, so you can truly customize your mini for you and yours ;) 

I made this Lots of Love Mini for Barbara.   The Big hearts on the top represent her and her sweetheart Bob.  Then the medium hearts are her children and daughter and sons in-law.  And finally, the small hearts are all of the grand kids.  Isn't that so fun!!! What a wonderful way to say I Love You to Mom , a mini that represents everyone she loves :)    

And this Lots of Love Mini post came about from my Splendid Sampler Lot of Love Block, that represents my Sweetheart and my 5 children.   The pattern for the block is found in the book, but I walk you through the steps of making the hearts in the tutorial, and then as you surf down to the mini part, it has the cutting directions for all the different size hearts.   So you can just customize your mini for you ;)

And then just quilt and bind your Lots of Love Mini.  I love this crosshatching quilting, and it goes nice and fast because you are working on a mini.   I love that I can do more detailed quilting on a mini as it won't take me forever ;)     And because this is a mini, you could even get it whipped up before Sunday!!! 

And now this Lots of Love Mini is on Barbara's sewing wall and was the start of her Mini collection.    And I hope you want to make one too!!!   I hope you have enjoyed today's Tutorial Throwback Thursday as much as I have!!!      So if you  want to make a Lots of Love Mini  simply 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 Mini's!!  You can email me a picture at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com, post it to social media with #happyquiltingwithmc  :)   I can't wait to see your Lots of Love Mini quilts!!!

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

Charming Baby Sew Along - Week 5!!!

**  NOTE  - This post is part of a series of posts for the Charming Baby Sew Along.  If you would like to join (and have a chance to win some fun prizes ) you can find a list of the post links here :)  Here is the schedule

Intro, Fabric Requirements, and Prizes Announcement

April 8 - A Star is Born and Color in the Lines 

April 15th - Dream Big and Hugs and Kisses 

April 22nd - Just Blooming and On the Move 

April 29th - Ring Around the Rosie and Shine Bright 

May 6th - To the Moon and Twinkle Twinkle - Today!!!

May 13th - Quilt Finishing - Pieced Back - Grand Prize Linky

May 27th - Charming Baby Parade and Grand Prize Winner

WEEK 5 - TO THE MOON AND TWINKLE TWINKLE

It's the fifth week of making blocks for the Charming Baby Sew Along and this is our last week of blocks, so exciting !!!  This weeks assignment is a super fun, and a little smaller so it is a great time to do any catch up you need to ;)    You will need your copy of Charming Baby Quilts  for the piecing instructions as well as the Week 5 Charming Baby Sew Along Pattern for cutting instructions ;)  This week we will be making blocks from the To the Moon quilt and the Twinkle Twinkle quilt!!!

First up, To the Moon!!   And this quilt is just so cute!!! Aren't those little rocket ships just adorable, and they are so easy to make, you can whip this quilt up in no time ;)    The quilt uses 2 Charm Packs and I used All Our Stars by Jennifer Pugh for Wilmington Prints and a Bella Solid Bleached White Background.   And this quilt is just perfect if you want to make an "all boy" quilt for a space loving little one!!    To the Moon finishes at 48" x 48" so it is a great baby to toddler size quilt :)

And for our Sew Along, we will be making 1 To the Moon block so that will go super fast for you ;)      This block will actually go in the pieced backing and doubles as a quilt label.  So great!!!     Use the To the Moon piecing directions from the book and the Week 5 Pattern  for cutting directions to make your blocks.

And next up, the Twinkle Twinkle quilt!!!  Again, I love making star quilts, and this is another awesome star quilt in Charming Baby Quilts ;)  And I just love the scrappy background to this star!!!   The quilt uses 3 Charm Packs and I used Breeze Charm Packs by Zen Chic for Moda and a Spotted Citrine for the Accent fabric in the stars.   And those stars just pop on that scrappy background, so fun ;)    Twinkle Twinkle  finishes at 36" x 36" so it is fabulous for a car seat blanket or even wall decor over babies crib ;) 

And for our Sew Along, we will be making 2 Twinkle Twinkle blocks and adding a little sashing to them.   Use the Shine Bright piecing directions from the book and the Week 5 Pattern  for cutting directions to make your blocks.  These blocks will be offsets in the center row and really frame up that big star in the center.  

WEEK 5 BLOCKS FROM FRIENDS

And just like that, you are done with Week 5 and looking forward to next week of The Charming Baby Sew Along where we will put it all together!!  It's so great to have you all quilting along!!!!   Be sure to pop over to all my Sewing Along Friends and see their Week 4 blocks for lots of inspiration!!

      Amanda Castor - Material Girl Quilts
      Andy Knowlton - A Bright Corner
      Beverly McCullough - Flamingo Toes
      Melanie Call - A Bit of Scrap Stuff
      Pat Sloan - Pat Sloan's Blog
      Fat Quarter Shop Friends - The Jolly Jabber

THE PRIZES

 And keep up with the sew along as everyone that finishes their quilt top will be entered into a drawing for this amazing grand prize giveaway from Moda Fabrics !!

   

And Melanie Call is hosting the Week 5 Charming Baby Sew Along giveaway!!!  You can win 2 Charm Packs of Geometry by Janet Clare and a spool of Aurifil thread!!! This is the line I used to make the On The Move quilt and it is so fun!!!  Pop over to Melanie's Blog to enter the giveaway ;)           
                   

SHARING

 It's always fun when we share what we are working on!!!   If you use Facebook or Instagram post your Week 5 blocks with the Hashtag #charmingbabyquilts  If you don't use social media you can email me a picture of your progress at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com ;)

I can't wait to see all of your Week 5 Charming Baby Blocks!!!!