Modern Mini Challenge Hop

I am so excited to be part of the Modern Mini Inspiration Blog Hop!!  Thank you to Jennifer for inviting me and Welcome to any new visitor's stopping by for the first time!!  I hope you stay awhile and check out some of the happy quilting goodness :)

The mini I am sharing is called Refracted Rainbows and I have to say, I just love this little mini!!

I was inspired to make this mini based on some feedback I received on my original Refracted quilt at Quilt Con.   More on that here.  So, with a new vision of rainbows, I set off.  And I am excited to share with you, the process of creating this mini :)

I used the same method as described in the tutorial, just tweaking it slightly for 6 rays instead of 5 and of course, shrinking it way down in size.  Each of these little guys finish at 2".   Aren't they just so cute and fun!

Next, it was adding a white frame to each little rainbow to set it apart and add contrast.  

Then some black sashing to tie it all together.  And here, I have some more inspiration.  Someone commented to me after it was done that it reminded them of the old Kodak logo.  Which made me think, wouldn't it have been fun to do these like the Polaroid blocks??  Yup, I just might be making another one!

With the top done, it is time to come up with a quilting design.  I really wanted to come up with a design that would help to give the idea of the Refracted Rainbow, so I went with this concept that reminds me of the effect light takes traveling through a prism.  (Oh, and if your wondering, I just added the lines to the picture in paint, I find it to be a great tool for helping me decide on quilting designs :)

And here is a close up on how the quilting turned out.  

And that is that.  One Refracted Rainbow mini :) 

I hope you enjoyed this post and feel inspired to create your own mini!!  If you are stuck on colors, rainbows are always a great place to start.  I mean, who doesn't love a good ROYGBIV quilt??

So, are you ready for the Modern Mini Challenge??

Check out this post  for all the details, including the fabulous prizes you can win just for entering!!!

Be sure to follow along with the Blog Hop for lots and lots of fabulous inspiration!!

June 5: Ellison Lane
June 6: Happy Quilting (you are here)
June 7: Swim, Bike, Quilt 
June 8: Craft Buds
June 9: From the Blue Chair and Sewing Under the Rainbow 
June 10: The Sewing Chick
June 11: Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle and Fresh Lemons Quilts 

You will be able to link your mini up starting June 12 at Ellison Lane Quilts

PRIZES! Yup, I might have mentioned prizes. Check out these amazing goodies up for grabs.

$125 Gift Certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop

$75 Gift Certificate to the Intrepid Thread

$50 Gift Pack of Pellon Products

$50 Box of Coats and Clark Threads

(2) $50 prize packs of Dritz sewing products

$25 Gift Certificate to Christa Quilts

A Bundle of Marblehead fabrics from Fabri-Quilt

So are you feeling your mini groove??  Oh ya, It's time to start creating!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a Happy Quilting day!!

Folding and Winner

This morning I will be staring my day out by folding this massive stack of patterns for my classes this weekend.  I love seeing these turn into cute little books.  I don't know, there is just something about having a little tiny book of instructions that must makes me happy :)

I am so excited to spend the next few days teaching.  It really is one of my absolute favorite parts of this whole quilting gig :)  And check it out, the entire town of Panguitch is ready for the Quilt Walk weekend!!  Looks like it is going to be a super fun weekend!!

I also owe you all a winner!!  The winner of the $25.00 Gift Certificate from Southern Fabric is . . .

   

Congrats!!!  Have fun accumulating some Serenade!!  (I will email you shortly)
And if you didn't win, no worries.  You can always take advantage of Southern Fabrics Father's Day sale :)

Signing off now, but be sure to come back tomorrow for some Modern Mini fun :)

Squishy Yummy Goodness

I got a wonderful package in the mail  from Modern Yardage.  Modern Yardage is a new fabric company based in Salt Lake that actually prints your fabrics when you order them, cool huh :)  They have lots of in house designers with so many collections, including a lot of fantastic blender collections, to choose from.

More on Modern Yardage's fabric and what I do with it to come, think Tutorial :)  

Wood Grain

I spent the weekend trying out a new Free Motion Quilting design, which I absolutely love!!!  It is called Wood Grain and is from the Machine Quilting Negative Space with Angela Walters craftsy class.  I so enjoyed this class and really felt that I learned a lot of great helps that have given me more confidence in my quilting.

I choose to mainly focus on the "knots" which is a little different from the original design, but I like the overall effect.  The design was really easy to get the hang of and went relatively quick for such a dense design.

The design so lends itself to the quilt, which sadly I can't show anymore of for a while.  But I will say, that I am just head over heels happy with the way this quilt turned out.  So excited!!

Hope you had a fabulous weekend!!  Did you get in any time at your sewing machine??

They're Finished!! I'm Celebrating with a Giveaway!!

I have been procrastinating making my class samples for a while now.  The specific class ones weren't to bad, but the basic ones,  I just had a hard time getting excited about making them.  But, now that they are done, I am so excited!!  I got the idea at Market to display them on foam board, don't they just look so awesome!!  These will be my go to samples for the standard quilt "building blocks".  There are flying geese, half square triangles, goose in the corner, and lattice blocks.  Yippee Skippee!!!

So . . .  I feel like we need a little finish celebration!!!  And my good friend Aubrey at Southern Fabric is helping me out with that :)

You can find all the latest and greatest at Southern Fabric.  Check out these great new lines that just came in.   

Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie and Camille.   You'll find it in both yardage and precuts! 

Flats by Angela Yosten, they even have the adorable Doll and Clothing panels!!

And if you hurry, You can get an additional 10%  by using the coupon code:memorial10  (This code expires at the end of today)

And you can always find great sale fabrics, including the memorial day sale fabrics that are marked 20% and 30% off yardage and precuts!   It's a great time to get some fav's before their no longer available to get.  Maybe some of this . . .

 So . . . how about a chance to win some some free fabric from Southern Fabric??  Aubrey is sponsoring a $25.00 Gift Certificate to one lucky reader!!

So what do you have to do for your chance to win???

Leave a comment here of what you might like to spend your gift certificate on at Southern Fabric.

For a bonus entry, you can subscribe to Southern Fabric's newsletter (on the left hand column) and leave a comment here that you did so :)

That's it.  Up to 2 entries per person. Giveaway will close on  It will close on Tuesday, June 4th and a winner will be selected randomly and announced shortly after.

Thanks for stopping by and celebrating my happy finish with me :)

Linking my sample finishes up to Sarah's and Amanda's

More Beejeeber's Blocks!!!

I can't tell you how fun it is to check the mail and have squishy packages.  I get all smiley before I even open them up :)  And then I open them and just get per-ma grin!!!  It's my month for the Beejeeber's Bee and my fabulous bee gal's are making me blocks from my Star Value tutorial :)  Here are the newest blocks that came in this last week :)  I really have some of the best bee mates!!!

From Colby

From Erica

 From Joelle

From Kris

Sorry, somehow I missed ironing this one :)

 From Laura

From Susan

And, of course, I couldn't help but lay them out to see it all coming together.  To say I a excited about this quilt would be a massive understatement.  Only 3 blocks to arrive and then I get to start stitching it up.  Yippee Skippee!!! 

And in other Bee news . . . I was invited to join another bee group, The Bees Knees.  Like my current bee, these are some amazingly talented quilters.  I already know some of the ladies and am looking forward to getting to know the others :)  So exciting, I just can't wait to get started :)

Quilt-A-Long

So remember the Star Surround Quilt-A-Long idea???   I know, it has been a little while since I brought it up, but I promise, I haven't forgot it.  I have been working on it trying to get all that behind the scenes stuff done.  I plan on having fabric bundles available like we did with the Starburst Quilt-A-Long as many of you seemed to like that, and I think this time there will be bundles in both prints and solids :)  Now, I am just looking at the calendar, trying to find a time that work well where I can post each week without being out of town.  And that is looking like End of July . . . Beginning of August.   So here is a reminder, that it is on the way. I am so excited, I just love Quilt-A-Longs and I so love this pattern.

This won't be the fabric I am using, but i was just giving you an idea of how a multiple layout could look.

If you are looking for a Quilt-A-Long in the meantime . . Christa from Christa Quilts, one of my good friends and sponsors is staring a Quilt-A-Long featuring Pear Bracelets by Lizzy House.  (Which I just adore!!)  The Quilt-A-Long is called String of Pearls and will launch Wednesday, June 5th, That's next week!!!  You can find out all the details at Christa's Quilt-A-Long Page.    And, if you find you need some Pearl Bracelets, Christa has kits available that are even 10% off with the coupon code CQA2013 at checkout. So pop on over to Christa Quilts and check it out, it sounds like a lot of fun!!!

And I am off to take child #1 to the orthodontist ;)  Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

So Quiet

Yup, things have been a little on the quiet side the last few days.  That's because we were camping and you just don't have internet connections in the great outdoors.   Friday morning we loaded the kids up and headed up the mountain to some family property for some good old camping family fun.

We love camping!!  Can you tell by the smiles??

The girls taking a break from our "clearing a trail" activity aka work project.

And if it is one thing that will always be a guarantee, it is that we end taking half of the dirt from the mountain home ;)  (But if I am being honest, I get a kick out of the dirty faces, so cute!!!)

And after a long day of play, I love to take a moment and just enjoy the beauty of nature at sunset.

 Talk about a view.  Just stunning.  You can actually see Zion National Park along the horizon :)

And lest you think I didn't manage to squeeze any quilting into the weekend . . .

I practiced a little free motion quilting designs while the kids and I enjoyed some sidewalk chalk time.

And, with the help of my cutting mat caddy, I managed to cut out the pieces for a new quilt while the younger girls took a nap.

So that's what we have been up to :)

And now I am off to widdle down the massive pile of laundry from the weekend ;)  Gotta love that campfire smell!!

Interlocking Rectangles - A Free Motion Quilting Tutorial

Thank you all so much on your sweet comments for my Rally quilt I finished yesterday !  I am just over the moon about it and am so glad to finally have my own personal quilt finished :)  And as promised, I managed to finish the video for the free motion quilting design I quilted on it, Interlocking Rectangles :)  This is a fantastic, beginner friendly, wonderfully modern free motion design that will go perfectly with your geometric quilts :)

Here is an example of the pattern :)

And here is the video tutorial :)

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Linking this video finish (and the quilt for that matter) up to Amanda's :)

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Spring 2013

I just love Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I love seeing so many amazing quilts and finding great new quilting friends and their amazing creations!!  Welcome to any new friends stopping by for the first time!!

I am so excited to share a new quilt that I just finished today!!!  (I know, just under the wire there :)  This quilt has been on my to do list for a while, pretty much ever since I finished this quilt for my husband.  I knew I wanted my own  Rally Quilt with my Alma Mater's logo and my own design that would be similar enough to match his with our same school colors :)

This design has been in my sketch book just waiting to be turned into this quilt.  I just love coming up with geometric patterns that seem to weave together.  They have such amazing movement to them.  This one took a little while to design, but i knew the moment I saw it sketched out on graph paper that I would be fantastic.  I am working on writing a  pattern for it that will hopefully be done next week. It is a block pattern but I love that it doesn't look like it is.  

The applique was tricky to say the least.  (Okay, let's just say it was hard.)   Southern Utah University's fabulous thunderbird logo really forced me to raise the bar on my applique skills. But after hours of cutting and stitching around all the individual pieces, it was perfection.  And honestly, I couldn't be happier, I just love it!!!

Here is a look at it appliqued and attached to the quilt.  I quilted this with a new free motion design for me.  And all over interlocking rectangles pattern.  I am hoping to get a video tutorial edited and posted tomorrow on how to do it :)  It really is a super fun pattern to stitch that has a great modern feel and really fits this geometric pattern well.

And just for fun, here are our two Rally quilts together.  Luckily, our Universities don't compete against each other,  But if they did, I would be yelling, "Go Thunderbirds" while wrapped in my new Rally quilt!!!

Thank you so much for stopping by and letting me share my quilt.  Now pop on over to the Blogger's Quilt Festival and check out all of the amazing quilts!!! 

While Mom's Away . . .

Today I started quilting my newest quilt and I am hoping to finish it so I can link it up with blogger's quilt festival :)  Sometimes I wonder why things always seem to get pushed to the last minute , ah well :)

I am trying a new free motion design.  It's similar to my interlocking circles design I used for my Ring Around quilt, just a different shape.  Interlocking squares (and rectangles but that's a mouthful :)

And let me share a little funny (but not so ha ha at the moment)  from my morning.  I went to get my tripod to record me quilting so I could make another FMQ video tutorial for ya'll and come to find that my wee ones decided while I was gone that the tripod was a really fun toy.  I tried to put it back together only  to find a piece missing.  After searching high and low and still no piece, I resorted to the next best thing . . . tape :)  Ya gotta use what works :)

Here's hoping I have a new quilt, video tutorial, and pattern to share very soon :)  All though, most likely not all at the same time :)  I'm off to do some more quilting :)