How They Shine in Prairie Christmas!!!

Today I am super excited to be sharing this beautiful quilt finish with you featuring the charming Prairie Christmas Collection by Amanda Corcoran for Poppie Cotton!! I just love Poppie Cotton's collections, and am always so happy to sew with them.   I am just loving quilts with dark backgrounds , and I was super excited to make a How They Shine quilt to see how those stars just shine on a dark background.  Isn't it just so fun!!! 

This How They Shine Quilt  is so much fun to make and it is Fat Quarter Friendly so you can just grab a bundle and add your background fabric. I used Blue Ribbon Dark Blue Country Confetti for my background fabric and it truly is becoming an all time favorite background :)  (I have plans to use it a few more times in some future quilts, it's just so pretty!!)    I just love how it makes all of those charming  Prairie Christmas  prints just pop!! 

And while this might look a little difficult, it truly is a great beginner quilt with basic quilting techniques.   The stars are actually made with Stitch and Flip corners, so no flying geese in this one.  But it is a great quilt for learning all the little tricks for lining up points.  And my favorite thing about this pattern is the secondary designs created int he corners of the blocks because of the alternate fabric layouts.  Aren't those double diamonds just so great!!! 

And here I have to thank my amazing MIL Barbara.  I have been crazy busy, so Barbara did the quilting and piecing on this one for me :)  She quilted an all over curly swirl and it is just so pretty adding all of those curves with he straight piecing.     And I just love how the navy thread pops on all of those pretty prints!!   So great :)

 And like all of my Happy Quilting patterns, the the nice thing is, the How They Shine Pattern  has multiple size options, so you can make whatever size you like. This is the twin size, but you can make it from a baby size all the way to a queen size ;)   And again, it is an amazing pattern if, (like probably most of us) you have lots and lots of fat quarters that need some busting!! 

And that is my How They Shine Quilt! I hope you have enjoyed this post and consider making your own How They Shine Quilt!!! And if you do, I would love to see them! You can share your projects with me on social media with the hashtags  #happyquiltingwithmc and #howtheyshinequilt and tagging @happyquiltingmc or email me a picture at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com. I can't wait to see your How They Shine Quilts!!

Thank you so much for popping by and sharing this finish with me and thank you to my wonderful friends at Poppie Cotton for always letting me play with their gorgeous fabrics!!! 

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

A Day of Cutting!!

 So most of my "in progress" projects have been been made in to quilt tops and are just waiting their turn on the long arm.   That meant I needed some new "piecing in progress" projects.   And lucky for me, I had quite a build up of fabric that had arrived for projects that I will be sharing a little later this year.  And that meant it was time for a whole lot of cutting!!!  Ever wonder how many cut quilts you could fit on a cutting mat . . . well, as of this morning the answer is 6 :)  That was a lot of cutting yesterday but I was so happy to see all of these projects read to go now!!!  I can't wait to get into some serious chain piecing ;)

And while I was on the Quilt Cruise, I got a lot of questions about what I do with my scraps.  I sort all my small scraps by color and keep them in these bins.  But those scrap bins are really overflowing, so if I have larger scraps, I try to cut them into pre-cuts or quilt kits or fold up the larger pieces if they are all the same size and bundle them.  I love using my Charming Baby Book to whip up quilt kits for scraps, as I just need some Charm squares and a background fabric.  Oh, and I have a separate bin of Christmas Fabric, so all those scraps go in there to make a scrappy Christmas quilt ;) 

I just love cutting out a whole bunch of quilts and then sorting all of the scraps so that when I go to start all of the new cut projects, all my spaces are clean, tidy, and ready to be sewn in ;)    But before I can start these 6 new quilts, I best finish up this one I started at the  Quilt Walk last week.  It is going to be another Alma Mater quilt, and I got all the units made, I just need to sew the blocks together now.  Should be able to get this one done really fast ;)

So that is what I have been up to??   What about you . . . . Do you like to cut out lots of projects at a time or do you stick to one at a time??

Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!

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

First we need to pick a winner from last week's TTGD ;) 

And the winner of the Jubilee Fat Eighth Bundle from Fat Quarter Shop   is . . .#663 . . .

Congrats seelisasew!!!  I have messaged you :)

  

      

And on to today's

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by  Lou Lou's Fabric Shop .    Did you know that Jamie makes a new Lou Lou Bundle every Tuesday . . . a Lou Lou Bundle is 8 fat quarters curated by Jamie and they are always gorgeous!  I love this new Stars and Stripes Patriotic Bundle, isn't it just so happy!!!   And be sure to also check out all of Lou Lou's  Amazing Sale with over 2000 items at fabulous prices!!!    Such Fun Shopping :)  

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is for some shopping goodness!!  Lou Lou's Fabric Shop is offering one lucky reader a $25.00 Gift Certificate perfect to use on anything in the store, including the awesome Lou Lou Bundle pictured above!!  Just perfect!!!!

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 Pizza or Tacos??  

 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, June 18th, 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!!!

Vintage Sunburst QAL - Month 6

It's Month 6 of the  Vintage Sunburst Quilt Along hosted by Fat Quarter Shop and I have to admit, I missed Month 4 and 5.  Things just got crazy busy and I didn't get my blocks done.   And I realized, the only way I was going to have a chance at catching up is to do some major chain stitching!!!   So here is this month's share for the Vintage Sunburst Quilt  

I decided to just make all of my remaining blocks in the   8" Vintage Sunburst Paper Piecing pads and  Blossom Basics, in all of the warm tones :)   Yes, i still need to add the borders to the blocks, but that will be last month.  

It was so much faster to make these just super chain stitching.  I just kept making giant stacks of sunburst units.   It meant each step took a longer of course, but it was nice to do each step just once.   I think I will have to make the 12" Paper Piecing Pads and the  Blossom Basics, in cool tones the same way.   And wouldn't you know it, I managed to get one center near perfect!!!  Yippee ;)  

 

 The quilt will finish at 64" x 88" so it will be a nice large throw size when complete.   The free pattern for this Quilt Along can be found right here ;)  And because I only did the warm colors, my leaders and enders are going to have to wait for some cool scraps.   But they are sure coming along from the previous blocks!! 

So do you want to work on your paper piecing skills as well??  Pop over the the Vintage Sunburst Quilt Along page to get all of the details and join me in some paper piecing fun :)  

Moonbeams Quilt Along - Release 4 - Wishing Star and Friendship Star Blocks

 Today is the fourth block release of the Moonbeams Quilt Along and I am just so loving this QAL!  This is Fat Quarter Shop's 11th Annual Charity Quilt Along and they are always my favorite :)  The 1st Friday of each month will be a new release for blocks and today are the Wishing Star and Friendship Star Blocks.   And these two blocks are just so fun in all of their star piecing goodness ;)  

I am using Imaginary Flowers for by Gingiber for my blocks.   I am just loving how all the prints pop on that beautiful navy background :)   And there are still some  Moonbeams Quilt Kit and Backing Set featuring Strawberry Lemonade Fabrics by Sherri and Chelsi for Moda Fabrics available, just in case you still want to jump in with this super fun QAL ;)     But of course, this quilt will look amazing in any fabrics you choose.  You can find the Fabric Requirements for the Moonbeams Quilt Along here!!! 

So are you joining in with the Moonbeams Quilt Along fun???   You can download the block pattern right here and it is requested for each pattern you download to donate $10.00  to the Make a Wish Foundation :)  And I am super excited to say that even though we are only on month 4,  Fat Quarter Shop's annual charity QAL has almost raised a quarter of the goal!!!  The goal is $100,000 which will allow for 16 wishes to be granted.  How awesome is that!!!  And Moda Fabrics and Fat Quarter Shop have joined to match up to $30,000 :)  So many amazing wishes :)  

Be sure to share all of your Moonbeams progress on social media with #moonbeamsqal and check out Fat Quarter Shops post for the Wishing Star and Friendship Star Blocks for lots more Moonbeams Inspiration!!! 

And that's it for the Fourth Release in the Moonbeams Quilt Along!!!!      

Thanks for popping in today ;)  Have a Happy Quilting Day!!