July Sew Sampler!!!

 It's my favorite mail day of the month!!!   I am sure my neighbors just get a kick out of watching me do a happy dance at the mail box towards the end of each month ;)   But ya, I can't help but be happy when my Sew Sampler Box arrives!!  This month's theme is Summer Love and it is a bit of a change up from the last few boxes so that is super fun ;)    

I was pleasantly surprised to find this beautiful low volume bundle of Romantica by Art Gallery Fabrics.  It has been a while since we have had any Art Gallery, and I just love the hand of their fabrics so I am excited to get to create with them again!!   And I love this Serenade pattern.  What an ingenious way to make the super lights stand out with the navy, and the medium lights stand out on the white.  Just brilliant!!   

And the notions for this month are so very practical which I so very much appreciate!!  Wonder Clips in pretty pink, never can have to many!!   A Frixion Pen for marking, so perfect as my last one was just starting to dry out.   And Aurifil Thread in classic white!!!  My heart just loves this :)    Yup, I will use all of this and a whole lot!!  

And were are on to block 4 of this Flowering QAL!!  .  I am using  50 Years of Moda!!!  This month I did a little finagling.  I wasn't paying attention and chopped off an incorrect piece, so then I had to add back on and ya know, things got a little messy.  But it all came together in the end ;)  I really love the colors of this one and am excited to put it with the other Flowering Blocks!! 

And that is July Sew Sampler Box.  And I am already looking forward to August, luckily, this month seems to breeze by with school starting and everything, so it shouldn't feel like that long of a wait!! 

Thanks for popping in again.  

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

He's in Africa!!

Well, our Kristian has now been in South Africa for 3 weeks.   Kristian is serving a 2 year mission in the Durban, South Africa Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We are so excited for him and so proud of his decision to serve!!  

This is the third time we have sent one of our children out to serve, and the goodbye doesn't get any easier.     I was so glad to get to have the drive up as a family before dropping him off at the Provo Missionary Training Center a few weeks ago.   With Spencer now married, and Jessi engaged, and Kristian leaving, our family dynamic has gone through a super change.  Most of the time we are down to 4 at home (and even then, one is always at friends and the other is working :)   So ya, it was a treasured last bit of time all together filled with lots of laughs and of course, some tears!!    

We are so very happy and excited for Nader!  Already, in just three weeks we are seeing him growing so much.   Nader is so happy to be serving in South Africa and we know he will have so many wonderful experiences!   And I am so very grateful for the wonders of technology so we can all chat with Kristian each Monday for an hour over zoom, what a blessing!!   We love you so much Nader!!!  

Desert Rose in Rosy Cheeks!!

Today I am super excited to be sharing this beautiful new Desert Rose quilt finish with you featuring the oh so cute Rosy Cheeks Collection by Lori Woods for Poppie Cotton!!  And you know, when I remake a pattern quilt, I like to change out the background . . . so this time I went with a beautiful soft green!!  Isn't it just so pretty!!!   

This Desert Rose 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. Aren't the prints in this Rosy Cheeks collection just so adorable!!  I love those little tea cups, and the florals are just so pretty :)   I used Sea Glass Mint Country Confetti for my background fabric and I love how it makes all of those charming prints just look so bright and happy!!  It really keeps the white and light prints from getting lost ;) 

And while this might look a little difficult, Desert Rose can be broken down into basic piecing units.  You will learn Half Square Triangles, and lots of No Waste Flying Geese making this quilt.   And then you get some great practice on lining up pretty points!!   And with the big block size, once you get the units all made, the quilt comes together in a snap :) 

This design has always been a favorite of mine!!  I just love the big floral blocks that have the echoed background throughout the petals.  It just creates a lot of great negative space that really shows off the design.   And I just love it in this fun background . . . it always blows me away how much it changes up the quilt to go from a white background to something different.  Just so cool!!! 

Barbara did the quilting and piecing on this one as I am a little swamped with working on new patterns :)  And her quilting is just oh so cute!!  She quilted all of the negative space in fun loop de loops and flowers and left the prints unquilted.  This really makes the design pop in this quilt and adds so much amazing texture.  So great!! 

 And like all of my Happy Quilting patterns, the the nice thing is, the  Desert Rose Pattern  has multiple size options, so you can make whatever size you like. This is the picnic size, but you can make it from a baby size all the way to a queen size ;)   The bigger the quilt, the more flowers dance across it!!  

And that is the new Desert Rose Quilt! I hope you have enjoyed this post and consider making your own Desert Rose 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 #desertrosequilt and tagging @happyquiltingmc or email me a picture at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com. I can't wait to see your Desert Rose 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!!!

New Works In Progress - Wedding Quilts!!

 So I realized I put this on social media but forgot to announce it here.   Our Jessica is getting Married!!!  We are so very excited :)   We just love Treyson and can't wait to see these two create a life together!!  They will be Married in the Cedar City Temple on September 20th, 2025 and we are just so very happy!!  We just got a new daughter in law in March, and now we get to add a son in law to the family as well!!!   Just amazing!!!   And in quilting terms, it means 3 new Wedding Quilts!!  

And ya, as the wedding is in 66 days, I best get going on these new works in progress!!  First up, a signature quilt for the guest table at the reception.  Jessi wanted a quilt where everyone that visits the reception can sign their name and leave a little note.   So I pulled out my cherished Folktale Layer Cake by Lella Boutique and did some quilt math.  I figured with 1 Layer Cake and 1 Yard of Background Fabric I can get 78 full blocks and 12 half blocks to make a "wall" effect.  I have all of the blocks made now and just need to start laying them out in rows.   Is this something you would like a PDF of when it is finished??  If so, just leave me a comment and I will whip one up :)  

 

Next up . . . I asked Jessi and Trey to pick a quilt that I could make for their bed, in what will be their new home.  Jessi has always been a huge fan of Nordic Nights so I wasn't surprised at all when she picked this out.  Then she pursued through lots and lots of Fat Quarter Bundles (the stash just keeps growing, tee hee hee) and  finally landed on the Woodland and Wildflowers Bundle by Fancy That Design House.   I think this is going to be just gorgeous!!!

And since this is Jessi . . . who always likes to have a super detailed plan and a vision of what it will look like when it is all done . . . I drafted up a sketch.  Isn't it just so pretty, and I know it is going to be just amazing when it is all done!!  Which means I should probably get to pressing and cutting pretty quick!! 

And finally, I wanted to make a special quilt just for the new groom!!  All of my kids have recieved lots of quilts over the years, so I wanted to make sure the new family members felt wrapped in love as well.  for Michelle I made the Fairy Garden quilt that hung at their reception.  Treyson on the other hand is pure cowboy  . . . so when I saw the Cowboys Layer Cake from Riley Blake Designs I knew it would be the perfect fit.   I am planning on making him the Jacks Quilt from the Cover of my Fast and Fun Lap Quilts book as it could also be taken to look like spurs ;)  This is going to be a fun one!!! 

And totally funny, while finding the Cowboys Storyboard to link here, I found that Rifle Paper Company is designing a Cowgirls line coming out next March!!  Maybe I will have to make a matching quilt for our new Cowgirl!!  She already has bought cowgirl boots for when they visit the farm, I envision her being full cowgirl in no time at all.  So fun!!!  

So that is what I am working on now :)  What are your Works in Progress this Week?? 

Precious and Too Precious Quilts and Free PDF Patterns!!

Wow, today's post has been a long time coming.   I was going through my files trying to tidy things up and realized while I finished these 2 quilts back in 2022, I never posted them because I still needed to work on the PDF patterns.   So with a little computer work . . .  finally . . .  I am thrilled to be sharing these Precious and Too Precious Quilts with you all!!!   And there is a free PDF Pattern for the Precious Quilt (White Background) as well as a free PDF Pattern for the Too Precious Quilt (Scrappy Print Background) 

I designed the Precious quilt to be a basic chain with some hearts added in.  It really is so cute, and a perfect little lap quilt!   It uses 2 Charm Packs and a Background fabric.   Obviously, the pattern is super versatile and would look great in whatever charm packs you choose!   And of course, you don't have to do a white background, it would look super fun with a dark background as well ;)   

When I finished the Precious quilt, I still had lots of fabric leftover (I was starting with fat quarters instead of charm packs) so I decided to see if I could switch out the fabric placement.   Precious is all about lots of white space, so I wanted to see what happened when I put the pretty prints in the background and made the chain a nice dark accent!!   And that is how we came about with Too Precious!!!  It uses 16 Fat Quarters and 1 1/2 yards of an accent print . . . I used my favorite Lead Grunge.   Didn't it just come together so great!!!  I  just love the idea of making s super scrappy background with a fabric line, it is like taking Low Volume backgrounds one step farther.   And it is just so cute!!  

Both the Precious and Too Precious quilts are lap size and finish at 56" x 72".   They are a super fast make,  great for when you need to whip up something special in a hurry.  But yes, they are two separate patterns as the fabric requirements are quite different.  Same process, but just different fabrics.  You can find the  FREE PDF Precious Pattern Here and the FREE PDF Too Precious Pattern Here  ;)

When it came time to quilt mine I knew I wanted to make the chain pop.   And what better way then a dense background filler and leaving the chain and hearts unquilted.   So for one I did all over swirls, and for the other, all over echoed paisleys.  Isn't it just so fun how it makes the chain just stand out!!   They will be just perfect to snuggle up in.

And those are my Precious and Too Precious quilts !! I hope you have enjoyed this post. Oh, and if you make your own quilts, I would love to see them!!! You can share your quilt with me on social media using hashtag #happyquiltingwithmc and tagging @happyquiltingmc or email me a picture at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com. I can't wait to see your Precious and Too Precious quilts!!!

Thank you so much for popping in and sharing this finish with me!!!  I really can't believe that these just totally fell through the cracks, but I am so glad I found them again and am now sharing them ;)      

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!