Welcome Fort Worth Fabric Studio and Giveaway!!!

Today I am so excited to welcome Fort Worth Fabric Studio as Happy Quilting's newest sponsor!!!   Jodie Heinold opened Forth Worth Fabric Studios in October of 2009.  She lives in, you guessed it, Forth Worth Texas with her husband and three boys.  Her dream and plan is to see Forth Worth Fabric Studio grow to "Texas-Sized" allowing a place for clientele to return again and again finding new fabrics each time.

Jodie has a trained eye for beautiful fabrics and stunning color combinations.  These are shown in her amazing Friday Bundle Batches!!  Every Friday Jodie releases a new bundle with a catchy name and based around a certain theme or focal fabric.  These bundles come in Fat Quarters or Half Yards.  These are a few of my favorites.

   

See what I mean by that eye for color.  Fantastic!!!  And of course, the wide variety of fabrics Jodie carries makes these amazing bundles possible.  Jodie carries over 35 different Manufactures allowing you an incredibly wide variety.   From your modern prints in yardage and precuts, to your basic batiks, and even some Duck Dynasty thrown in for good measure ;)  Fort Worth Fabric Studio really does have it all!

                  

Jodie also carries wonderful Buttons and Trims,  Kits,  and Patterns and Books.  It's so convenient to have it all in one place!!!!   Seriously, the little lady bug ribbon, adorable!!!

And finally, Fort Worth Fabric Studio also has an amazing sale section that has an astounding variety of discounts fabrics.  She breaks her sales down into price per yardage starting at $3.00 and on up to $8.00.  This makes it so easy to get the sale price you are looking for!!  She even has some of her amazing bundles on sale too!!  Everyone Loves a good sale!!!

Be sure to sign up for the Forth Worth Fabric Studio Newsletter  (upper right hand corner) so you don't miss a thing.  It will arrive each Friday with the new Friday Batch Bundle and all of the great sales going on!!!

So Welcome Jodie and Forth Worth Fabric Studio!!!  I am so happy to have you as part of the Happy Quilting Team!!!!

And as part of their welcome debut Fort Worth Fabric Studio is hosting a fabulous giveaway of a brand new Bundle!!!  And this bundle is just perfect for the upcoming holidays, Let It Snow-Man!!!  I know you all have a few holiday sewing plans that this would be perfect for!!

And, since the timing just happened to fall on the same day , this giveaway is doing double duty.  Not only is it the welcome giveaway for Fort Worth Fabric Studio, it is also the giveaway for the Quilter's Blog Hop Party.  Because who, doesn't love a good party.  Check out all of the great giveaways here :)

So . . . How do you enter to win this fantastic bundle???  Simple!!

Just Pop on over to Fort Worth Fabric Studio and check out the Friday Batch Bundle's and then comment here telling me which is your favorite!!!

That's it :) The giveaway will close on Tuesday night, November 26th and I will announce a winner shortly after.  The giveaway is open to all entries :)

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Scrunchy Strips Washed

Well, we are sick.  I was hoping it would just be a 24 hour thing and pass on by, but the two wee ones are down, and although I am not sick, yet, I feel like I am.  (Probably due to the lack of sleep from getting up with the sickies :)  But, this morning I found a little silver lining to go with this sickness.  Remember my Scrunchy Strips tutorial??  Well, this is the bedspread that I made for Kami's bed and many of you asked what it would look like after washed.   Well, thanks to an upset tummy last night, I can now answer that question.

It looks as Scruncy and Sweet as ever!!!  It came out of the wash just the way I was hoping it would ;)  And the texture, fantastic!!!  Oh, this made me super happy this morning, and I tell you what, I really needed that!

Oh, but I should warn you, be prepared to spend a good 5-10 minutes cutting loose threads from the strips.  My girls had so much fun pulling on all of the threads trying to get them to come loose :)

Scruncy Strips is back on Kami's bed ready to be loved again and again ;)

And now, I am off to snuggle some sick little girls :)  Being sick is never fun, but it is nice that they are so tired that they actually will hold still long enough to snuggle and maybe even fall asleep in mom's arms ;)

Inspiration from Everywhere

It never ceases to amaze me where inspiration comes from.  Honestly, it really is everywhere.  Case in point.

Yesterday I woke up thinking about a block that I needed to make.  The block was one of those, "any choices under the sun" blocks, which often seem to stump me as I can't decide between all my options.  This particular time I was stumped on what colors to put together.  As I was contemplating this, my daughter came out of her room dressed for school.  Yes, she likes to dress herself.  My first thought . . .  "Go back and try again".  But then I figured, shes 4 and wants to be independent, no sense in squashing that over a small thing.  And then it was funny, because the more we hung out that morning, the more the colors started to resonate with me.

And after she went to school, I went down to my studio and pulled out these prints for my block.  Yup, Orange from the shirt, Magenta from the dress, Carnation Pink from the bow, a Lighter Yellow from the pants, and a pop from the socks, although I went with Green instead of Blue.  (The blue was just a little to much of a stretch :)

Isn't it funny how it works out like that sometimes ;)  Who would have guessed my daughter's crazy mix and match wardrobe would end up inspiring a fantastic color grouping :)  

So, now it's your turn to share.  Do you have some funny story of finding quilting inspiration??  Everyone likes to start their day with a good chuckle ;)

Visiting the Superior Threads Wharehouse

This weekend Barbara and I cruised on down the I-15 to St. George to visit the Superior Threads Warehouse.  They were having a Thanksgiving Sale and it doesn't take much more than that to count me in.  I was delighted to find, that upstairs from the warehouse is a fabric shop.

Oh my, I just love it when stores put bolts in color order.  They just look so pretty.  Pinks and purples.

So many blues . . .

And oh, the blacks and whites!!!

Then I found the shelves of Riley Blake and Moda.  This is where the fabric petting really began.  And after drolling for some time, we finally headed downstairs to check out the thread, you know, since that was the reason for the trip :)

Now wharehouse pictures aren't all that fun for looks, but Oh how I wish I could show how many aisles stacked with thread were there.  Rows and rows and rows!!!

Superior Threads has so many choices of thread and the folks there were so helpful.  It can be a little overwhelming for newbies like us and so their assistance was so great!  We have been having problems with some shredding of a certain thread and after chatting for about 2 minutes came to find out that we were using the wrong size needle for it.  Learn something new every day :)

In the end, we left with a ton of spools, all in wonderful creamy neutral colors.  (That is really what we needed).  But the spools are down at Barbara's and I forgot to take a picture.  Sorry :)

All in all, it was a super fun little trip!!!  And smoothies for the trip home was the perfect finish :)

I am hoping to finish up a quilt back so I can get down on the long arm today and use some of those new creamy neutrals :)  Do you have any quilting plans for today??

100 Blocks Wrap Up

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, Volume 8 tour is coming to a close.  I always have so much fun during this blog tour.  I love checking out everyone's blocks and all of the fun layouts they put it in.  And I got a special little package yesterday that was the perfect ending to the tour.  My 100 Blocks Mug!!!  I just love that Quiltmaker sends these adorable mugs out.  They are such a fun little souvenir of being published.

And speaking of 100 Blocks, I owe you all some winners!!!  The three winners of a copy of the magazine and a choice of 3 of my patterns are . . .

Who just happen to be . . . .

Congratulations!!!  I will be emailing you shortly :)

Thanks again to Quiltmaker for another fabulous 100 Block Tour!!!  It was so much fun :)

By the Number 3

Today I have three fun places to send you.  So fun!!!

#1 - Today is my day for hosting Handmade Holidays over at Sew Mama Sew.  My day is filled with lots of tutorials all revolving around some of our favorite Holiday Traditions :)  Yup, lots and lots of Holiday Fun Tutorials to be found :)  You can check out the tutorials  (and enter to win some great prizes) right here :)

  

#2 - The ever so sweet Christa from Christa Quilts is highlighting me in her Show and Tell Friday post!!  She is sharing lots of fun pictures from her visit a few months ago.  I didn't realize how many pictures she took (including this one below that I am totally stealing because it is so precious :)  while she was here.  So fun!!!  Pop on over and check it out :)

#3 - Today is the day!!!!!  Registration is now open!!!   So exciting :)  Click here to go to Registration :)

Alright, Let the hopping begin :)   Have a Happy Quilting Weekend!!!

Simple Sewing Blog Tour and Giveaway

I was thrilled when I was contacted by the wonderful Katie Lewis of The Red Kitchen asking if I would be willing to review her new book.  Of course!!!!  When I received my copy I was happy to find that the book had  so many fabulous small projects with wonderful step by step pictures and instructions.  I  realized that this would be the perfect opportunity to fulfill that promise I keep making my daughter to sew with her more :)

I let Jessi flip through the book and pick a project that appealed to her.  She picked 8 projects but eventually I got her to narrow it down to an adorable fabric basket.  And she whipped up this basket in less than an hour with very little help from her mom.  So exciting for me!!!  

I made Jessi read through the instructions and I was impressed that between the clear instructions and wonderful pictures, she really was able to figure out what she was doing on her own.  She only needed help with a few terms like "face up" and "face down", and those were great teaching moments.

Before she knew it, she had everything pinned and  she was at the machine stitching away.  I might be bias, but this girl is getting pretty good at straight stitching :)

And before you knew it, (seriously less than an hour) my little 8 year old had made this adorable fabric basket, following the instructions all on her own.   I really loved that each of the projects in this book are simple enough to not frustrate a beginner or younger sewer but big enough to really make my daughter feel like she is sewing!

And now her fabric basket accomplishment is being used as a jewelry box and she proudly shows it off to  all of her friends that come over.  I can't tell you how it makes me smile when she explains how she did it all on her own.

Thank you Katie for writting such a great book and giving me an opportunity to review it!!  This is a wonderful book for teaching your children to sew or for brand new beginning sewers.  Katie walks you through each and every step and breaks it down without any complex jargon.  It is just a perfect book  for those starting at the beginning of their sewing journey :)

Simple Sewing can be found at the following Book Stores Online :)

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books & Things

And I am super happy to be able to offer one lucky reader their own copy of Simple Sewing!!!!  To enter, just fill out the Rafflecopter Giveaway link below  ;)  Oh, and U.S. entries only this time. Sorry, it's a shipping thing.  The giveaway will be open until November 20th :)

a Rafflecopter Giveaway

And for a few more opportunities to win check out the other blog tour posts today :)  

                                           Abby Smith from Sew Much Ado       and       LiEr from Ikatbag

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!!

Registration Opens Soon

Just A Reminder . . . .

Registration for the Small Town Quilt Show in a big town way will open November 15th!!!  This is going to be such a great retreat!!!  If you are anywhere near the Utah area from June 26-28, 2014 come check it out!!!

You can find a detailed catalog of all classes and times here :)

I need to sit down and plan what classes I can squeeze in when I am not teaching.  So fun!!!!

Quiltmakers 100 Blocks Vol 8 and Giveaway

It's time for another Quiltmakers 100 Blocks Blog Tour!!!  I am just tickled to have another block in this wonderful publication.  My block for Vol #8 is called A Study In Quilting.  It uses HST's, Flying Geese, and squares.  My favorite building blocks :)

And when you take 4 blocks and rotate them you create not 1, but 2 star patterns.  So fun!!  I made this "A Study in Quilting" quilt for the magazine and you can find it in the Designer's Gallery on page 13.

I used a layer cake of Kate Spain's Cuzco and lots of different neutral solids for the background.  This block would also be really great for some serious scrap busting!!

Since the block design was all about my favorite types of piecing units, I decided to quilt it with some of my favorite quilting designs.  I did a mixture of swirls, paisley's, and pebbles.  It was so much fun.  The pebbles worked great for filling in some of those hard to get to spaces :)

I had so much fun designing A Study in Quilting and I hope you like it :)   Be sure to follow the 100 Blocks Blog Tour every day from Nov 11-15  at The Quiltmaker Blog Quilty Pleasures  to see all of the blocks and have a chance at lots and lots of  giveaways!

And speaking of Giveaways, lets have one!!!!

For 3 lucky readers, I have a copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol 8 and to each copy I will be adding 3 of my patterns, you can choose your favorites :)

For a chance to win . . . Just leave me a comment telling me what you like to study :)

All followers of my blog, new and old, can have a bonus entry.  Just leave a comment telling me how you follow ie, bloglovin, facebook, email, ect :)

And that's it.  2 entries per person max and everyone is welcome to enter.  I will choose the winners Saturday evening, Nov 16 :)  Good Luck and Happy Quilting!!!