Sew Red for Women - Block 4 (and TNT)

I am so excited to get to be part of the Sew Red for Women Blog Hop.  Leah from Burgundy Buttons organized this amazing hop (and blog) to draw attention to Heart Disease. This cause is close to Leah's heart and she is doing a phenomenal job raising awareness.  Check out the Sew Red for Women blog to learn more about what you can do to help prevent Heart Disease.  

So now it's my turn to Sew Red for Women!!  So let's get started on the tutorial!!

To start you will need the following squares of fabric:
     (8) 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" pink squares
     (8) 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" white squares
     (32) 2" x 2" assorted red/pink print squares

Start by drawing a diagonal line across the wrong side of all of your 2" squares.  Then line up your 2" square in the upper right hand corner of your 3 1/2" square.  Sew diagonally across your 2" square directly on the drawn line.  Continue to chain stitch all of your 16 blocks.

Clip the threads between your squares.  Align your ruler 1/4 over the sewn line then trim away the excess.  Press towards the print fabric.

So now you are here and ready to finish the other side.  Once again line up your 2" square but this time in the upper left hand corner of your 3 1/2" square.  Sew diagonally across your 2" square directly on the drawn line.  Continue to chain stitch all of your 16 blocks.  Clip your threads , trim, and press.

Optional Side Note***If you don't like to waste any fabric, you can always make some super fun tiny half square triangles by sewing 1/2" away from the already sewn line.  I use the edge of my presser foot as a guide and move over my needle to do this.  Once again, just chain stitch all of your squares.  Then trim down between your 2 sewn lines.  Then press open.  Yippee Skippee for baby HST's :)

So now with your squares all cornered up, go ahead and lay them out as follows.

Now you are going to sew your blocks into rows.  Just lay the second block over onto your first block.  Sew your seam making sure to sew across the center of  the X made by your diagonal seams.  This will give you prefect points!!  Keep adding on blocks until you have sewn your entire row.  Repeat for the other 3 rows.  Press your first and third rows to the left and your second and fourth row to the right. (this will allow your to nest your seams :)
With your rows sewn together you can now sew your rows into a block.  Take care to nest your seams and pin each one so you get nice points.  Press your rows open to avoid bulk.

And your done!!!  I hope your enjoy this block and have fun putting it together :)

And after you are done making your own version of Block 4 be sure to add it to the  Sew Red for Women Flickr Group

And if you are just joining the Hop here is a schedule of where it has been and where it is going :)  Yippee Skippee for being part of such an amazing group of quilters!!!

February 3
Leah of Burgundy Buttons

March 3
Fat Quarterly's Tacha of Hanies Quilts

April 3
Katie of Swim, Bike, Quilt

May 3
You are Here!!  Melissa of Happy Quilting

June 3
Charlie of Qubee Quilts

July 3
Jessica of Twin Fibers

August 3
Melissa of The Polkadot Chair

September 3
Amber of A Little Bit Biased
October 3
Amy of Diary of a Quilter

November 3
Amy of Amy's Creative Side

December 3
Sherri of A Quilting Life
January 3

Fat Quarterly's Lynne of Lily's Quilts

And now for a slight gear switch - It is Thursday so you know what that means.  TNT Thursday link up :)   I actually posted my TNT yesterday as I was posting this tutorial today.  You can find my TNT here :)

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So what have you been up to???  You know what to do :)

Rocking it, Long Arm Style!!!

Note - If you are looking for the 100 blocks post you can find it here :)

So I am posting about my TNT today.  Yes, Yes, I know it isn't Thursday yet.  But I have a tutorial to post tomorrow for the Sew Red for Women Blog Hop and there was just no way I could wait a whole week to tell you the new thing I tried on Saturday.  So . . . I am posting a day early.  (Oh, and no worries, there will still be the regular TNT linky tomorrow, I will just be linking to this post :)

So Saturday morning I headed down the I-15 to beautiful sunny St. George.  But this trip wasn't to hang out on the beautiful red cliffs.  Nope, I had business to attend to.    I had an early appointment with a Long Arm Quilting Machine!!!!!!  Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!!!!!  In a word . . . . Awesome!!!!!

I started the morning getting to meet my good virtual Bee friend, and now good "I have actually met you before" friend Lindsay!!!  She was the one that made this opportunity known to me and what better than to Try Something New with a New Friend!!!!  Lindsay is a Total Doll!!!!  It was so much fun to get to hang out with her all morning and run back and forth between each other's machines.  I am pretty sure we did quite a few happy dances over our work, and it is always best to do a happy dance with someone else vs alone.  (Especially when you are in a public place, tee hee hee :)  Thanks Lindsay, you rock!!!!

So after the initial hugs and getting to know each other it was time to get to work.  First was "loading" the quilt on the machine.  And I got to say, this took longer than I thought it would.  I was just so excited (and a bit nervous) to get going, I didn't think about actually having to do the not so fun loading part.  It wasn't hard, just time consuming.  I compared it to pin basting a quilt :)  And it took about that long :)  But . . . Once you get through the sour it is on to the sweet.

So . . . Do all the long arm quilters stick their butt out when they quilt????  I think that is probably just me ;)    I decided that rather than using a pattern I would take a deep breath and jump into the deep end.  Yup, I went all out and did free motion, and I tried a new design!!!  And I have to say, quilting on these machines  . . .  So Fabulous!!!!!  You have so much freedom. You can do such a larger scale design then on a home machine.  And the fluid motion is so nice.  I was flying down the quilt in no time.  Ya basically,  I totally loved it!!!!

This is what I look like when I am concentrating.   Well that, or my tongue sticking out.  (Glad there wasn't a picture of that :)   So that is what I tried new!!!!  And it was so incredible!!!!  Looking forward to the next time :)

And now your saying, hey, wait, you didn't show us any pictures of your quilting.   And you would be right.  I didn't.  That's because I am saving the full reveal for the Blogger's Quilt Festival in a few weeks :)  But I will say I am so very happy with the results.  (As is my daughter who has been sleeping under it for the last few nights :)

Oh, and since it is Wednesday, and I just knocked a major huge WIP off my list, I figured I would include the rundown.  Things have been going gangbusters around here but as most of the completed projects have the word Secret before them I haven't been able to show much.   But look how much smaller those lists are getting!!!!!   Don't worry, I added 2 more quilts to the list, wouldn't want me getting to a stopping point :)



Designing Stage

• King Size Serenity Quilt
• Circle Meets Square Quilt
• Christmas Strips Quilt

Piecing Stage

• Jessi and Me Quilt 
• Moda Bake Shop Take it All
• DDD Baby Quilt

Quilting Stage

• Solids Quilt for Free Motion

Completed Stage

• Secret Project QQ
• Stars Quilt-A-Long 
• Secret Project 1B
• Sew Red for Women Blocks - See Tomorrow for Tutorial!!!
• Twister Toddler Twin Quilt - Salutations

  

100 Blocks Blog Hop & Giveaway!!!

Quiltmakers 100 Blocks Blog Tour has arrived and one of it's first stops is here, at Happy Quilting!!! Yippee Skippee!!!   And with that . . . here is my block :)  It's called Gear Works and I am so excited to finally get to show it to you all!!

This block was inspired by my sons.  A while back they were watching some cartoons and there were characters inside a clock.  They thought it was "so cool" how the cogs spun together.  (of course, maybe that had more to do with the fact that they were trying to get someone out of a cog before they got squished :) So I used that inspiration to come up with a block that created a  "cool big boy" bedspread :)  And here it is in a twin size bedspread layout :)

Or, if you wanted to make one for a little baby boy you just make a few less blocks :)  And you can add some color into the background as well for a fun little mixup :)

And the fun thing about this block is you can really speed up the process of putting it together by strip piecing your rows together instead of doing individual blocks.

Just decide the width of the quilt and then strip piece your top rows, your middle rows, and your bottom rows to that length.

Then go back and piece your little "cogs" to create an entire row of cogs.

Then it is just simply sewing the rows together to recreate the block but creating 4, 5, or however many blocks at once.  And who doesn't love time savers!!!

And I am super happy to get to share another little secret.  Remember this little stack of strips.  Well it is now transformed into a new quilt using this block in a really awesome layout.  It will be published in Quiltermakers Quilts from 100 Blocks!!  But it won't be out until the fall so you will have to wait a little longer to see that.  (But think totally awesome, It is one of my all time faves!!)

But you don't have to wait to get get Quiltmaker;s 100 Blocks volume 5!!!!  It's available now!!!  And since no blog hop would be complete without giveaways, you can try your luck and see if you can win a copy!!  I have 3 copies to giveaway to 3 lucky winners.

And for fun, those 3 lucky winners will each receive copies of my patterns!!!  Yippee Skippee!!!

   

So . . . .  What do you have to do for a chance to win?????

Simple . . .  Just leave a comment.  How about you tell me one of your favorite blocks to make :)

Easy right.  The giveaway is open to everyone and will end on Sunday May 6th and winners will be announced shortly after.

Oh, and by the Way . . . If you are stopping by for the first time, Welcome!!  You can tell by now that I like to use a lot of  ! and :) in my writing.  I am so glad you stopped by and hope you will come back often.  I have so much sharing my passion for quilting here.  If you would like, you can follow Happy Quilting and ensure that you catch all of the Quilty Goodness going on here :)

TNT Thursday - My Big New Thing!!!

So I have actually been trying my new thing for a while now but didn't want to post about it until I really got a feel for it.  What is my new thing I have been trying??   I'll give you a hint . . .

Did you guess it??  Yup, I got a new sewing machine!!!!  Well, new to me that is.  Obviously they don't sell the Artista new anymore.  My husband gave me this wonderful surprise for our anniversary.  He knew I had been wanting to upgrade from my little Bernette but it still worked great so I couldn't justify just ditching it.  So, being the great guy he is, he got rid of all the excuses I came up with and just set aside a nice allotment for me to choose a new machine.

So I choose and have been trying it out for a little bit and I love it!!!!!!  I love it, I love it, I love it!!!!!!!!   What do I love about it . . . .
     So much faster than my old machine.
     Has a perfect straight stitch
     Sews a whole heck of a lot quieter than my old machine.
     Has a larger bobbin so I can go a lot longer before changing my bobbin.
     Makes a perfect tension FMQ stitch.  (Seriously, I have done 3 quilts on it and it is a million times better)
     Has lots of fun stitches to play with, still needing to explore all these options ;)
     Can breeze through multiple layers, I so love this!!!  No more pulling fabric through for me.

 Now, I know some of you are going to ask Why this machine and why Bernina??  Well, first off . . . Why Bernina, well basically, I really didn't look at anything else.    My Mom always used Bernina, my MIL always used Bernina, I guess Bernina is in my blood.

Why this machine.  Well I was looking for a machine that had a larger harp space for when I am doing FMQ and was a bit more of a work horse.  That was the main focus.  The newer Bernina's with the larger harp space have all been upgraded to the BSR system (and I really wasn't looking to spend that much) so I immediately started looking at used machines that fit my 2 basic needs.  Quickly it was down to an Artista or an Aurora.  The Artista won out basically on price :)

And the cool thing about buying a used machine is all the extra little goodies that come with it.  Like this awesome Sew Steady Table.  This is one of those things that I wonder how I ever got on without it.  It makes quilting so much easier.  You just don't have to deal with near the tug and pull issues.   I also love that I can line up pieces on the table and they stay lined up!

It also has the super nice Bernina Walking Foot.  Now I had a walking foot on my old machine but this one puts it to shame.  I love how heavy duty it is, and I love having the measuring bars that attach to it!!

Lastly, and this might be my ultimate favorite thing about it, which is probably silly, but true!!   The 1/4" foot!!!!  Oh my goodness, does this make piecing so much more accurate!!!  You know before when you were trying to pay attention to a tiny line on your foot (I didn't even have one on my machine).  Now I just feed my fabric through keeping it even with the edge of the foot!!!   Heaven!!!!  My seams have never been so perfect!!  I love it!!!

And of course, there is lots more that I haven't had time to explore.   I really liked that this machine came with the embroidery unit as well.  When I have a few seconds I am going to sit down and figure that out.  I already have a project I want to embroider.  Guess that will be a future TNT :)

And just in case you are wondering, yes, she has a name.  This is Abby the Artista ;)

So that is what I have been trying (for the last month or so :)  What have you been up to :)  Link on up!!!

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Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

These blocks are just so exciting!!  I can't wait to put this quilt together, it is going to be so much fun!!!  So here are the latest Semi Blocks for my Dad's Quilt.

Laura made this super fun "Candy Haulin" Truck.  Who wouldn't love to be hauling an entire trailer full of candy!!!

Erica made this super dellightful "Toy Hauler" Truck.  With the beautiful weather we have been having here I would love to get out on that boat and soak up a little sun :)

And Karen made this super awesome  "Hay Balen" Truck.  My kids got a kick out of this one.  Ever since we actually sat and watched hay bales being created by the big tractor machine my kids have affectionately called them "Tractor Poops".   (It lifts up the back and out comes a hay bale, what else are they gonna call them :)   Now they can't get over the idea of Grandpa's quilt having Tractor Poops on it :)

This quilt is going to be so awesome!!!  I am hoping to have it done for Father's Day.  Well see if I am up late the few nights before :)