Master Bedroom Quilt Colors

So I am sure by now, you have all seen the Blogger's Choice Bundles that have been popping up everywhere for the Quokka Quilts challenge.  When I saw it come up I figured it would be the perfect thing to get me thinking about really picking out some colors for my new Master King size quilt.  And I mean, come on, If I won the fabric for my bedspread all the better right :)  (Not that I think I have any chance of winning, there are some amazing color mosiacs over there, I feel sorry for those poor judges, tee hee hee)

So, I stopped and thought, and pondered, and started looking at color swatches.  I found so many ideas that I loved.  And then I talked to my husband (Since it is his bed too I figured he should get some input) and after some debate (he drives a tuff bargin) we came to the decision that we wanted something calming, relaxing, and in his words, no "girly" stuff.  I later clarified that "girly" stuff includes anything in any tone of pink, red, or purple and also includes any prints that have any form of a flower on them.  Which from my original color ideas left me with one option of a nice combination of earthy tones in the green tones of our walls.

So off to the Fat Quarter Shop I went to look for some fabrics that fit the "rules".  I went through every single fabric in the shop.  (Ya, it was so much fun!!!!!)  I can't believe how many great prints I had to "throw out" because they had flowers.  It is a little harder to shop for strictly masculine prints :)  But in the end, I was super happy with what I ended up with.  And here it is :)  What do you think???  Is it calming and relaxing??  Is it masculine and in no way girly??

Top of the List

So I am super excited today.  Why you might ask??  Because today I get to post that the 3 things that were on the top of my priority list from Wednesday are now done!!  Yippee Skippe!!!

First off, I finally quilted my little Jocelyn's crib quilt.  This quilt has been sitting in the corner of the sewing room basted for like a month.  Wednesday afternoon I decided it was time to get this little cutie quilted.  

On the sashings I quilted this cute little swirl.  I am really falling in love with this swirl for sashings.  I am not perfect at it by any means but it is a really relaxing stitch to quilt.  I love doing it and I love the way it looks :)

And here it is in her crib with her favorite bear.  I quilted echo flowers in the center of each of the 4 patches.  They also are not perfect but my daughter asked me to do flowers on the baby's quilt and who am I to refuse the request of a 2 year old :)

And you can't have a baby quilt picture without the baby.  Here is Jocelyn.  She is growing so fast and she still has all of that hair :)

Oh, and finishing this quilt just happened to be my One Thing One Week goal for Amy's link up.  Yippee Skippee for Amy and her motivation.  If you have never heard of this, you should really check it out.  Just click on the icon below to find out more :)

On to project 2.  I finished this customer quilt yesterday. The design is based on Natalia's Let Your Imigantion Bloom quilt tutorial but instead of layer cakes I use charms.  This was a super fun customer quilt because it was a bit of a throw back.  You See . . . . .

About 2 years ago I sold this little quilt.  (I had made a similar one for a friend and had cut extra's so I whipped up a second one :)    A few weeks ago I was contacted by the owner asking If I could make another quilt similar to this one for their new little arrival.  I was super happy to.  Luckily, I still had a lot of the same fabrics  (which she wanted) so it was fun to recreate the same look with a little twist.

 The customer requested an all over meandering quilting so that it matched the first.  I haven't done meandering in quite some time and I forgot how much I enjoy it.

And last but not least . . .Project 3.  Which happens to be Secret Project SC.  Which I can't show you yet, hence the secret part.  But I promise, it won't be to much longer.  More of that on Monday :)

And I will be linking these finishes up to Amada Jean's Finish it up Friday and Amy's Sew and Tell Linky's :)

TNT with Barbara Corry

So I have a bit of a change up for everyone today.  This edition of TNT Thrusday is being brought to you by my wonderful Mother-In-Law, Barbara Corry.  She loves the Twister tool as much as I do and bought the large one the same day I bought the little one.  This last week she finished 2 large Twister Quilts.  And these 2 quilts are rather special as they will be given away at her last school board convention this weekend.  Barbara has been serving on the School Board for 20 years.  What an amazing legacy, I can't imagine the amount of lives she has touched through her service.

The first quilt is this beautiful Fall inspired twister.  I love the colors!!  They are just so soothing!!  and I love how she alternated lights and dark prints to really make each whirly-gig pop.  

And the back.  Don't you just love the piecing.  I love that blue!!!

And second quilt is this light to dark twister.  I just love the way she laid this one out.  The overall look is just so cool!!! (Sorry, the picture isn't the best, it snowed and so I couldn't take it outside :)

And here is where the TNT comes in.  Barbara quilted each twist in this quilt with a different free motion design!!!!  Ya, that is a lot of different designs.  She so tried a whole ton of things new!!!

Aren't they just so much fun!!!!  She did an amazing job in the quilting!!!

Thanks Mom for sharing your amazing quilts with us. So that is what she did new . . . How about you???

So many projects . .

So I feel like so far this new year is going great in the quilting arena.  I have been doing a lot of behind the scenes work for an upcoming project that I am super excited about.  I finished up my 2 twisters, guest posted, and made both of my bee blocks including this new one yesterday.   

So why is my list of things to do so long?????  I will tell you why, because for every one project I complete I think of 2 more to add.  Oh well, it wouldn't be fun if I didn't feel like I had a million projects I was trying to juggle :)  Now just to keep track of them all.  I find I can't sleep when I have to many projects bouncing around in my brain . . . Thank heavens for the WIP Wednesday, where I can write it all down and make some priorities for the week :)


Designing Stage

• Lone Star for Grandma's 80th Birthday
• Twister Toddler Twin Quilt
• Solids Quilt for Free Motion
• King Size Serenity Quilt
• Jessi and Me Quilt
• Circle Meets Square Quilt
• 4th of July Table Runner for Sister-In-Law 
• Secret Project MB
• Secret Project QQ
• Moda Bake Shop On the Go
• Moda Bake Shop Take it All

Piecing Stage

• Stars Quilt-A-Long
• Secret Project SC
• Hugs and Kisses Quilt for Grandma
• Going Places Quilt

Quilting Stage

• Customer Quilt 
• Crib Quilt for Jocelyn

Completed Stage

• Baby Quilt for Special new Niece arriving in April
• Baby Quilt for Special new Niece arriving in March 
• January Bee Blocks

I am hoping to finish  both of my Quilting Stage quilts and do my Secret Project SC quilt this week.  If I manage to do some piecing on some of the other projects that would be fantastic.  But these 3 are top of the priority list :)

Playing with the Slice

I pulled out my Slice again.  I just love doing applique, and my Slice makes it all the better.  It is just so fun not to have to cut all of the intricate corners by hand.  Nope, I just select the shape I want and away it cuts.  And I so love all of the selection.  I am not the best freehand artist so having a choice of  20 different flowers is awesome for me :)

I used Natalia's starch applique method that she taught us at the Sewing Summit.  I love it and I love that you don't get the stiff feel of Heat and Bond afterwards.  Seriously, the Sewing Summit rocked!!!  Oh, and this pattern is based off of one of Natalia's Bake Shop projects.  I will show more soon when I have it all done :)
EDIT - Here is a link to Natalia's tutorial on Starch Applique for those curious minds out there :)

If you have no idea what a Slice is you can see this post where I discuss how much I love it :)  

Two Twister's

Well I finished up the Two Twisters for my Two new Nieces that are on the way.  I really enjoyed making these quilts and had fun trying the new diagonal twister design out.  I have some more ideas of how to play with this design for a later day :)  And a super fun note about these two quilts, I got the fabric for them out of my stash and I had 8 1 yard pieces.  I used up all of it with about an inch to spare.  Perfect!!!  You would have thought I had purchased it with these designs in mind :)

I quilted the this twister with a swirl design, I really like how it adds to the motion of the quilt.

And here is the back of it.  I forget how hard it is to keep a strip straight on the backing of a quilt :)

And this one is the infamous first quilting video quilt :)  It is done in a dasiy and loop design.  (Which I know, you can't see at all, but it still gives it that soft crinkly feel :)

And I loved this backing fabric, it is harder to see in the picture but there are cute little flowers in the white teardrop design :)

 And here they are together.  I am so excited to tie some ribbons around them and send them off to my wonderful Sister and Sister-In-Law.  Love you guys!!!

I am linking this to Kati's Slash the Stash!!! These were some great stash busters :)

It's Coming!!!

Something's in the works around here and it is going to be exciting!!!

TNT Thursday with A Video Attempt

EDIT - I think you should be able to view the video now, if not, please let me know and I will work on it some more.  Oh what a learning experience :)

So I tried it . . . . I attempted to make a free motion quilting video.  Now I will be the first to say, it isn't great.  But it was a definite learning experience.    Here is what I learned.

1 - I am not so good with words.  I kept tripping over them and even after 5 attempts I still said things that sound absolutely silly.  Hopefully with more practice I might be a little less nervous and actually be able to say what I am thinking.  

2 - There is a huge give and take of what you quilt on.  I love seeing an entire quilt worked on instead of a little square because I can get a better sense of how the quilter handles the bulk of their fabric, however, as this video demonstrates, it is a whole lot harder to see the quilting when it is done on a quilt instead of a little  solid dark square with high contrasting thread.  I am thinking about how to solve this.  Maybe a solid quilt made just for quilting videos???

3 - Trying to locate the best position for the tripod while still being able to reach your quilt to work on is not the easiest.  Maybe I need to get a partner in crime to do the filming??

4 - I wish I could figure out a way to do the sound after.  Is the sound of the sewing machine in the background to loud to understand??

5 - And this is an important one.  Never Ever, Ever, try to upload a video using blogger.  I had it uploading for 8 hours and nothing.  Seriously, has anyone ever used blogger to upload a video??  YouTube was only a mere 45 minutes.  (But I kept it private as I really don't feel like this work is worth publishing :)  

So it is back to the video camera for me.  Hopefully in the future I will be able to show some better quality free motion quilting videos.  But, you got to start somewhere, right :)  Please feel free to give any suggestions. I would love to hear what you would like to see in a free motion quilting video :)

So that was my Try :)  Let's see yours :)  

Guest Posting at Sew We Quilt for Tool Time :)

So today I am super excited to be guest posting at Sew We Quilt for their Tool Time edition.  No, not like Tim the Tool Man Taylor.  Tool Time as in your favorite, can't live without, quilting tools.  I am writing about one of my new favorite tools, my Rotating Cutting Mat.  So Pop on over to Sew We Quilt to see what a great tool a Rotating Cutting Mat can be :)

In Fact, I just used it yesterday afternoon to cut out this lovely stack of half hexagons.  I am working on a customer quilt and that rotating cutting mat saved me so much time cutting.  Love it!!

Ahh, Routine!!!

The older kids are back in school and I am home during nap time :)  You know what that means, Quilting Time!!!  I didn't waste a minute of it either.  And, double bonus, I also\ managed to work on one of my New Years Resolutions by working on some improv curves :)  What do you think??

This is the first bee block for our Beejeebers group.  It is for Jamie Lee and she is doing the cutest little quilt of wonky houses and trees :)  And yes, your eyes are not deceiving you, I even did some hand stitching, which we know by now is really not my favorite.  But I had those cute flower buttons and knew they would be the cutest finishing touch :)  Not bad, second day of the month and a Bee block done :)  Yippee Skippee for Quilting Time!!!

Year in Review and Looking Forward to 2012

So what did I do in 2011????  Well . . . .

Wow!!!  What a year.  I can not believe how much I have grown in quilting and how much Happy Quilting has grown.  Thank you to all of you amazing readers that have made this year so incredibly fun for me.  I just love making new friends through this amazing online community.

So now let's quickly review 2011.  On December 31, 2010 I listed some goals here of the things I wanted to accomplish with my quilting in 2011.  Now I get to see how I did :)

Goals for 2011

1 - Participate in a Bee  (which I have already signed up for but sometimes it is fun to write things that are easily checked off :)  Check - And I loved every minute of it.  So much so that I created  2 Bees for 2012
2 - Participate in a Swap  (I have never done this,  any suggestions on good ones would be appreciated :)  Check - I participated in the post-sewing Summit Swap and just signed up fot the Name Game Swap starting in 2012
3 - Learn how to Paper Piece  Semi Check - I did one Bee Block paper pieced and learned the basics, but I would like to learn a lot more.
4 - Learn how to Curve Piece  Semi Check - I took a class on improv piecing where I learned how to do gentle curves but i have yet to tackle some drunkard path type curves.
5 - Be a guest blogger on other sites.  (I have done this once at Stash Manicure and loved it) Major Check - I guest blogged quite a lot at several blogs and really had a lot of fun with it :)
6 - Make a pillow or 2  (I need to branch out a little and I sew love the Cathedral Window pattern) - Check - I made my first pillow cover for Fat Quarterly, but I still want to try and mke some more including the Cathedral Window :)
7 - Host a Quilt-A-Long  (a little scary, but I really think it would be fun, with a little stress mixed in, lol)
Check - I actually hosted 2 and I think both were very successful.   I need to start planning another one.
8 - Continue designing for the Moda Bake Shop  (I just love this so much, It is a definite keeper :)  (And since I already have a project lined up for January I can check this off the list, Yippee Skippee) - Major Check - Me and the Moda Bake Shop are great friends, and I just love seeing your versions of my designs.  
9 - Use up more of my ever growing Stash.  I can't believe how quickly it is growing :) - Negative Check - It has probably doubled or more in size :)
10 - Last but not least, and I waited for last to write it because it scares the pants off of me. . . . Get a design published in a magazine.  (I think I can, I think I can, I think I can :) - Semi Check - If you have read this far you now get in on a little secret.  I have a quilt pattern that will be published in a magazine in spring 2012.  Squeal!!!!  So it wasn't quite in 2011, but all the work was done then.  If I knew how long the process took I would have started earlier in the year :)

So all in all, I am feeling pretty great about the Quilting year of 2011. It has been such an amazing ride.  And so now let's look forward to 2012.  I am so excited for 2012 in Quilting.  I have a few things that I am just so excited about that are already in the works and a few secrets that I just can't wait to share.  So let's get to some goals for where I hope 2012 quilting will take me :)

1 - Create some form of a blog hop.  These are always so much fun and I think I can figure out how to run one :)
2 - Host 2 more Quilt-A-Longs, at least.  I so loved having so many amazing quilter's sewing right a-long with me.  I really want to make sure I leave time to do that again.
3 - Work on some of those Semi-checks from 2011 ie . . .curved piecing, paper piecing, and pillows
4 - Write some more patterns.  I have several planned but plans don't always equal product :)
5 - Make some videos on free motion quilting.  I just have to get over the fear of my voice on tape.
6 - Teach a class.  Doesn't matter where, or to how many to ,preferably fewer, as the idea sort of scares and excites me at the same time.
7 - Start teaching my daughter to quilt.  She is starting to show some interest and I want to make sure I set some time aside for her.
8 - Design and create for my family.  Is it crazy that I made so many quilts in a year and only 1 of my children have a quilt I made for them on their bed??  (Although I have 2 in progress :)  I want to focus on making these works of love for the people I love.
9 - Make Christmas Stockings for my family.  Now that we know our family is not going to grow anymore I have no excuse not to make us a matching set of stockings.
10 - Keep Balance!!!!  I want to really try to make sure I am on top of things enough to keep quilting time to nap time and bed time so that it doesn't interfere with family time.

So here it goes!!!  Bring on 2012!!!! I can't wait!!!!!

VIBee's comes to a close

I finished up my last 2 bee blocks for the VIBees this week. My oh my, I can't say how much I have enjoyed being in this Bee.  The gals in it are so amazing and talented.  I will be super sad to see it come to an end.  I am just so grateful that I got to work with such a great group :)  Thanks to each of you lovely ladies!!!

So the first block I made was for Rene.  She asked for anything with a white background and soft blues and greens.  You know how I have been on a major "twister" kick.  So I whipped up a little mini-me twister template and made a super mini twister block.  I can't get over how cute and tiny the pinwheels are.  I just love it!!!  You know I want to do another one of these right :)

The next block is for Lynne.  She asked us to do her LynneBobSquarePants block.  She sent us the background charcoal and then she asked us to use bright colors from our stash to fill in the design.  Well, you know how much I just love polka-dots.  

I guess all good things must come to an end.  Here is a little Picture Mosiac of my year with the  VIBee's

And the Gift Certificate goes to . . . .

Thank you to everyone who participated in the final Christmas Extravaganza giveaway and thank you to the Fat Quarter Shop for sponsoring such a fabulous giveaway.  So let's get to see who is the lucky person who will be getting one super special after Christmas present :)


And the lucky number according to Mr. Random.Org is . . .

Which is . . . .  Pianomama!!!!

Congrats :)  I have emailed you for your info.

TNT Thursday with a Diagonal Twister Tutorial

So this week's new thing was all about trying the Diagonal Twister for a second time to get it closer to what I had in mind.   This was a new pattern I was working with to try and get a diagonal look to the Whirly Gig created by the twister rather than a random look.  And since I was doing it for the second time, I figured I might as well take some pictures a long the way so that if you want to give it a try you can :)

So "Twister" quilts are always made starting with a grid of squares.  This is the design of squares you need to make in order to get the look above when you are done.  But before you go and cut out 144 5" squares go ahead and read on, there is a much faster way to strip piece it :)

Start by choosing your prints.  This pattern is a repeated 6 pattern so you will need 6 strips for each set of 3.  I choose to repeat one of my prints, you can to if you like or not ;)  (Wouldn't this just look awesome in a Rainbow pattern, that is on my list )  Cut three 5" x WOF strips out of each of the 6 chosen prints for a total of 18 strips.

Sew your 6 strips together to make a strip set.  You will be sewing 3 sets together and be sure to sew them all in the same order.  It doesn't matter if the ends don't line up perfect :)

Now fold your strip set in half taking care to align the sides.  Do not worry about the top lining up.   Place it on your cutting mat so that the folded line is just over the 0 Horizontal line on your mat.

Now you can cut out your square strip sets.  First cut along the 20" line on your mat.  This gives you a nice starting edge.  Now measure down 5" (to the 15" line) and cut across the entire strip set.  (I had to use two rulers aligned next to each other).  Continue cutting 5" down until you cut across the 0 Horizontal line.  This should give you 8 square strip sets, 4 on top and 4 below.  Repeat with the other 2 Strip sets so you have a total of 24 square strip sets.

Sew your square strip sets into sets of 2.  Make sure you always repeat the pattern exactly the same way.  You will now have 12 long square strip sets.

Now the fun part.  To make the diagonal pattern you are going to do a little unpicking.  I know it seems weird to unpick but trust me, it is way faster than stitching all of the squares individually.

So start by laying out 2 long square strip sets.  Those will be row 1 and row 7.  (I like to mark them now to avoid confusion)   Now lay out 2 more long square strip sets.  Unpick the first block in each long square strip set and at it to the end of the set.  Now mark these rows 2 and rows 8.  Now lay out 2 more long square strip sets.  Unpick the first two blocks in each long square strip set and at it to the end of the set.  Now mark these rows 3 and rows 9.  Seeing a trend here :)  For rows 4 and 10 remove 3 blocks and add them to the end.  For rows 5 and 11 remove 4 blocks and add them to the end.  And finally for rows 6 and 12 remove 5 blocks and add them to the end.

You should now have 12 rows that when lined up in order look like this.

Now simply sew your rows together, taking care to align your seams, and you have your square grid!!  Yippee Skippee.

***Note - The rest of this tutorial will be very brief as the intent of the tutorial is how to get the pattern, not how to use your twister.  If you need a more in-depth tutorial on how to use the twister tool please see this earlier tutorial.  Steps 2 and 3 will walk your through the remainder of the process in greater detail :)

Now simply add your 3" border :)

Cut out your whirly-gig squares using your twister tool :)

Sew your "whirly-gig" squares into rows :)

And then sew your rows into your quilt top :)

And you are done and have one adorable 42 x 42 baby blanket top :)  Just quilt it and bind it and it is ready to share :)   Wasn't that just so much fun!!!  I can't get enough of these twisters, I just have a blast!!!

So, what have you managed to try new during this crazy busy holiday week :)  Please share.