Charm Pack Placemats!!!

Today I am so excited to share these adorable, beginner friendly, Charm Pack Placemats with you!!!  A few weeks back, I was asked by the lovely folks at Fat Quarter Shop if I wanted to sew along with Sherri McConnell and Kimberly to make up these adorable placemats.

And wouldn't you know it, almost the same day, I had just shared these fun Grow and Dot. Dot. Dash Charm packs on the blog from my Sew Sampler box.  Do you remember how I was waiting for the perfect project for them.   Serendipitous!!!   You see, a few years back, I designed this fun, reversible, table topper that was featured in the Moda Sweet Celebrations book.  We use it for all of our family birthdays and special occasions.   Well I thought, how cute would it be to have matching placemats!!!  Perfect ;)

And aren't they just so fun together!!!   I used the same straight line quilting and a similar black and white polka dot binding.  And thing about Me and My Sister Designs fabrics is that these current lines still match their lines from 3 years ago.  It's like i made it all as a fun set!!!  So excited :)

And you know I couldn't stop there.   Each Charm Pack makes up 4 placemats, and since I had 2 Charm Packs to start with I figured I might as well cut up some more ;)  Doesn't the trimmings just make the happiest little rainbow!

I was able to make 2 more cool colored placmats and 2 more warm colored placemats from the charms in the 2 charm pakcs ;)  Don't they all just look so fun together.  I can't wait to get them all quilted up and bound.

And then, since there are 7 in our family, I figured I best make up one more placemat.   So I went through the remaining charms and made up this fun rainbow placemat.  I have a feeling the birthday boy or girl is going to want to sit at this one ;)

These Charm Pack Placemats are just so much fun to make, and as you can see, it is hard to stop at 1 or 2 :)  Kimberly and Sherri have put together this fabulous video to help you along every step of the way in making your Placemats and have shared more details over at the Jolly Jabbber, so be sure to check it out ;)  

And I just had to share one more picture of the finished placemats.  Aren't they just too cute for words ;)   I can't wait for Sunday, I think come Father's Day we will have quite the matching table ware :) So excited!!!

Thanks for stopping in today :)  I best be off to finish quilting 5 more placemats if they are all going to ready for Sunday!!

Happy Quilting!!!

Rah Rah Rally the Cedar High School Edition

I am so excited to share a new finish today.   This is my Rah Rah Rally Quilt from Sweet Celebrations done a la Cedar Redmen.   Our local High School is Cedar High and their mascot is the Redmen and so I made up this Rah Rah Rally quilt for a silent auction.   Cedar High's colors are Gold and Crimson and they were such fun and rich colors to work with ;)

You might recognize this design as the original I did was in the Sweet Celebrations book and I made the quilt in U of U colors for my sweetheart.    I altered from original construction this time and used strip piecing.  It really sped up the process.  I just love making this design, I can see lots more Rah Rah Rally quilts in my future ;)

When it came time to add the logo, I realized right off the bat that this would be a little bit more of a challenge that past logo's I have made.   It took me about 15 hours to make from start of cutting out to template pieces to finish of stitching it to the quilt top.  But I have to say, the time was totally worth it when it comes out looking this awesome!

My favorite part is the little satin stitch I did around the CR.  I knew right away it was way to tiny to do in applique so I thought I would give satin stitch a try and it really is the perfect finishing touch ;)  I have a full step by step tutorial  on complex layered appliques, just in case you have a particular school logo you just have to make now ;)

And when it came time to quilt, I decided to add to the geometric goodness by just doing straight-ish lines about 1/2" apart.  I love the wonderful yummy texture you add when you quilt like this, and the exercise from walking back and forth in front of the long arm is an extra bonus ;)

The quilt was a huge hit at the auction and I was so glad to be part of such a great cause to raise funds!!  And I happen to know who got the quilt and her plan is to give it to her senior for Christmas, which totally just warms my heart!!

And speaking of quilting for good causes, this weekend is Homecoming at the local university, and my Alma Mater, Southern Utah University and I just might have added this logo to my Double Take quilt to be another little fundraiser :)  I just love being able to use my passion for quilting to help the schools I love!!

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

Linking up this finished quilt to Sarah's and Amanda's ;)

A Bit of an Applique Challenge

As part of the Sweet Celebrations Book for Moda I designed and created this quilt for my husband.  Obviously, he is a U of U alumni.  Well ever since I finished this quilt, I have wanted to make another for me that would match his as my Alma Mater, SUU, also uses red, black, and white for it's school colors.

And I am so excited that I finally moved it onto the cutting table!!  A little while ago I drafted a design that I really fell in love with.   I was going for a matchy geometric look, but not the exact same pattern.  I started cutting, then sewing, add some pressing, and before you know it, I have a finished quilt top, basted and ready to be quilted!!  Yippee :)  (Sorry for the little sneak peek, I am saving the final reveal for a bit ;)

And here is where the challenge comes in.  My husband's applique of the U was a bit tricky but manageable.

My Alma Mater's logo is a bit trickier.  Seriously, this is by far the hardest applique design I have tackled.  Wish me luck, I really think I am going to need it :)

A Happy Birthday Finish Finally Used

So a year and a half ago I finished this cute Happy Birthday banner and matching table topper and shipped it off to become part of the Sweet Celebrations book.    I haven't shared much about it since, except for some other little kids enjoying their cake on it from the promo picture here, because we haven't had any birthday's since it made it's way home.  But yesterday, my little Kamryn turned 4 and I got to finally use my finish from over a year before!!!  Yippee Skippee, I was totally thrilled!!!  I mean, It's so stinking cute!!!

And as you can see, Kamryn was so excited as well!!!  Although I think that might have to do more with the presents than the adorable Birthday Decor :)  She added to my joy by choosing to wear the patchwork dress I made for her older sister a few years back.  She said it was the perfect birthday outfit :)  And in case your wondering,  I used Amanda's wonderful tutorial for the dress and I will be linking up to Amanda's as well :)

Blogger's Quilt Festival - A New Share!!

I just love Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I love surfing through all of the amazing quilts and meeting all new Quilting buddies!!  Welcome to any new friends stopping by for the first time!!

I am so excited to have a new share for this festival!!!  This is my Rah, Rah, Rally Quilt and it is part of the Sweet Celebrations with Moda book.  And since it came home in my suitcase from Texas, I can now share it here!  Yippee Skippee!!

I have to say, this is one of my all time favorite patterns I have designed. Awhile back I saw some kitchen tile at the hardware store and I couldn't get the design out of my head.  I loved the amazing movement and simple geometry of it.  So I played around and played around, adjusting the design and then figuring a fairly easy way to turn it into a block.  But the great thing about it is it doesn't look like a block pattern.  (Another reason I love it!!)

The applique was a little tricky, what with all those detailed skinny lines, but I am so over the moon with it!! It was totally worth the extra effort to make sure it was cut out and stitched just perfect!! The quilting was done by my good friend Natalia!!  She did a fabulous job!!

And now that this quilt is home my husband has quickly taken ownership of it.  This is the first quilt I have made just for him and he is very happy to have it back.  (And I have to admit, I am very happy to see him so happy to have it :)   For now, it has taken residence on our bed for easy football viewing.  I wonder if I can get him to take it off the bed before basketball season starts :)

So all in all, a fun throw quilt for my husband.   Now I just need to get cutting again because I plan to make myself a matching one.  My husband and my Alma Mater share the same colors so they will match perfectly except for the school applique logo.  How cute will we be!!  (I am pretty sure my husband will think we are a lot more cheesy and a lot less cute :) 

Thanks for stopping on by today and letting me share my new quilt.  Now pop on over to the Blogger's Quilt Festival and check out all of the amazing quilts!!!  There's days worth of Eye Candy there!!

My First Market!!!

Can I just start with saying that I loved Quilt Market!!!  It is crazy busy, crazy fast, crazy nonstop, and a total blast!!!!  So . . here's the rundown of Market from my little corner of the world:)

I started packing about an hour before I had to leave.  Yup, major procrastination!!  I put the quilt that I was showing at Schoolhouse in my suitcase and my makeup and suddenly there wasn't much room left for anything else :)  But luckily, I only needed a few changes of clothes for the weekend so I was able to zip it up without to much difficulty.  (The way home was a little different :)  

We had some crazy major stress at the airport but managed to still arrive in Houston Thursday night.    Friday morning dawned and we picked out our classes for Schoolhouse.  For those that haven't been, Schoolhouse is crazy fun and crazy tiring!!  You pick 16 sessions to attend during the day that run about 30 minutes and you just go from one to the next to the next.

My highlights of schoolhouse including meeting Angela Walters as she promoted her new book, which I happened to win a copy of.  Squeal!!!!

I also got to hold Angela's quilts during her presentation!!  Getting to see her quilting up close was awesome!!  That gal is super talented!!

The very last schoolhouse was the Moda Sweet Celebrations one.  I was so super nervous I was shaking like a leaf.  Luckily, you can't tell so much in the picture. Here's me giving my little 2 minute speech on my project.  

And here is me relieved to be done!!  And this is probably the first shot I have shown of my other project in the Sweet Celebrations book :)  

And here are some of the amazing group of ladies that are part of the Sweet Celebrations book!!  It was so fun to get to meet them in person!!  From left  to right is Angela Yosten, April Rosenthal, Sherri McConnell, Aneela Hoey, me, Jane Davidson, and Natalia Bonner.  Yup, an amazing group of ladies!!!

That night was sample spree.  And to tell the truth, it wasn't as bad as I was anticipating.  We did go in toward the rear to avoid the pushing and shoving, but all in all, not to bad.  And I got some fun little fabric treats, which is always makes things happy!!

Saturday morning came bright and ealry and we were so eager to hit the show floor.  It was enormous!!!  Talk about inspiration at every turn!!!  Now I am sure you have already seen tons of booth pictues so I will just share some of my faves.  (At least the favorites that I remember to take a picture of the whole booth.  I realized when I got home that I have lots of quilt photos and not near as many booth ones, oops :)  

I loved this booth by Bari J for Art Gallery Fabrics.  Isn't that bedspread just divine!!  And by this point my feet hurt and I really just wanted to climb under it and take a nap!

I also loved this stunning booth by Lisa Tueller for Riley Blake.  What a great idea to design a booth around a dress, which I will add is stunning as well.   I just loved those giant flowers!!

And this last shot is a little blurry but I added it anyways because I just love the rainbow of paint sticks hanging from the Moda booth!!  The entire paint theme throughout the booth really was fun and creative!!

And although I loved wandering from booth to booth seeing all of the amazing quilting goodness, my favorite part of Saturday was the people!!!   I got to meet (in person) so many wonderful, friendly, people!!  Some I felt like I had already known forever through emails and we just introduced ourselves with a hug, others I met for the first time and quickly became fast friends.  This industry is just filled with the nicest people!!  

Emily Herrick  from Crazy Old Ladies.  And this Lady is anything but crazy, she is a sweetheart!!!

Allison from Cluck Cluck Sew.  I got to meet her husband as well, they are just the sweetest couple!!

 Kate Spain.  My Mother-in-Law (huge thanks goes out to my MIL for coming along with me, it was so fun to have her along!!) is a big time fan of Kate so we were both super excited to get to meet her!

And I was super excited to meet Joel Dewberry!!  I think he is such an amazing example of balancing family with the industry.   And he liked my bag :)

I got to meet so many other friends that I am now kicking myself for not taking pictures of.  (But this post is getting a little long, probably time to wrap it up :)  Oh, But I do want to mention that I got to meet Kimberly Jolley from Fat Quarter Shop, Leah from Burgundy Buttons, and Julie from The Intrepid Thread.  I can't begin to say how wonderful it was to get to finally meet these amazing ladies in person.  They are such a huge support of Happy Quilting and to get to just sit and chat with them in person vs over email was a great treat!!!  And of course, I was so excited to sit and chat with them I forgot to take pictures ;)  

And one last thing which was a huge highlight for me and that was the Sweet Celebrations book signing!!  We did one on Saturday and one on Sunday and I tell you what, it was so much fun!!  First, everyone is so excited to get a copy of the book and you just can't help but get excited along with them.  Second, these group of ladies are so fun to hang out with!!  Once again, It's the people!!!  Quilters are the best!!!

Stefanie Roman and Mary Brown are the new ladies in this picture from the Schoolhouse one :)

And with that, I will sign off ending this little chapter on Quilt Market.   Here's is hoping I can post another one next spring ;)  

TNT - The Final Chapter

Well, can you believe we have been linking up with TNT for a year???  That's right, this is the 52nd TNT link up.  And it will be the last.  (at least for now.)  I have so enjoyed seeing all of your amazing projects.  I love hearing that you are branching out and Trying New Things.  And for that matter, I love that it has forced me to branch out and Try New Things.  But, I have to admit, I am getting overwhelmed.  It is hard to Try Something New every week.  (And some of my lame weeks really show that :) And I am finding it harder and harder to find time to respond to all of your links. And so I think it is time to let go.  That doesn't mean I will stop Trying New Things, and I sure hope you continue to Try New Things as well!!!!  I will just post about them randomly going forward and I encourage you to do the same :)

I want to say a huge Thank You to all of you who linked up with me from week to week.  I can't being to describe how wonderful it was to see you stretching outside your comfort zone!!  I so appreciate you being a part of TNT Thursday!!!

 

So, how about one final chapter!!!

What am I Trying New???  Well, I am on my way to Market!!!!  I am so very excited to meet so many amazing blogging friends.  I am so very excited to meet my wonderful sponsors in person!!!  I am so very excited to be surrounded by quilty goodness for 2 whole days!!!  And I am so very excited, (and so nervous that I have had butterflies for the last 2 days) to participate in the Sweet Celebrations Book Signing and Schoolhouse.  See, I tend to ramble and be a little silly when I get nervous, so by the end of this week all of my friends might think I am a wee bit crazy, but hey, they probably won't be to far off :)

So how about??  One last time . . . What have you Tried New this week???  Link on up!!

Sweet Celebrations Winner Celebrate

***  Note - Looking for the Beginners Guide to Free Motion Quilting?? Giveaway is here :)

                    Looking for the Burgundy Buttons Sponsored Layer Cake??  Giveaway is here :)

Thank you all so much for your sweet comments about the Sweet Celebrations Book!!  I have been thrilled to be a part of this process and a part of this amazing group of chefs!!

Now, let's announce a winner!!  Winner of their own copy of Sweet Celebrations with the Moda Bake Shop Chefs as well as a fabulous Layer Cake is . . .

The Envelope Please . . . . .   Thanks to the help of Mr. Random.Org the winner is . . #230

Congrats to Rush!!!  I have sent you an email :)

And if you didn't win but still want to peruse the pages of this great book you can order it at Amazon here or peruse your favorite online store to see if they carry it :)

I got my copy on my doorstep the other day.  I almost didn't want to open the box it seemed so surreal.  And then of course I tore open the box and have been devouring it in every one of my spare minutes ;)  It really is a fabulous book.  The layout is lovely and so well organized.  The pictures are beautiful.  The instructions are easy to understand.  All in all, a fabulous book!!!