Star Surround QAL Parade and Grand Prizes!!!

**Note - If you are looking for the Jelly Roll Jam posts, I promise to have it up tomorrow, but today was all about the QAL parade :)

I am just so excited!!!  What an amazing Quilt-A-Long this has been and now we have reached the big finale :)  I would like to say Thank You to all of you who quilted-a-long with me.  It was so much fun to read about you trying new techniques, learning a new little quilty pointer, participating in your first ever quilt-a-long, and for a few of your, finishing your first ever quilt top!!!  Just fantastic!!  I loved seeing each of your individual creativity weave its way into this pattern and now you all have a beautiful finishes to show for all of your hard work.  And that is something to smile about :) 

And speaking of finishes . . . Did you happen to see how many there are.   98, yes that was 98!!!!!  (if we count mine, that is 99 and that is just a cool number :)    I am just excited beyond words at that.  This quilt-a-long actually grew from week to week with new friends joining in the fun and the original friends keeping up.   Just amazing!!!  You all are the greatest to Quilt-A-Long with!!!  To see these 98 quilt tops just pop on over here and check out the links at the bottom of the post.  They are amazing!!!     And if you want to see everyone's progress along the way, you can check out the  Happy Quilt-A-Long Flickr Group.  It was so much fun to watch these all come together :)

One more thing before we get to the parade, if you are just popping over and finding the Star Surround Quilt-A-Long for the first time, or just want an easy reference for the future, you can find all of the Tutorial Posts for the Star Surround Quilt-A-Long at any time under the Quilt-A-Long tab at the top of my blog.  You can also reference the following links here :)

Teaser Post
Schedule, Fabric Requirements, and Prizes
 Cutting
 Half Square Triangles
Flying Geese
Building Block Centers
Building Block Surround
Piecing Top and Grand Prize Linky
Parade and Grand Prizes - You are Here :)

Alright, Let's get to the Parade!!!!  I am so excited with how many of you got your projects quilted and bound in time for the parade.  No work in progress for these ladies, their projects are ready to be loved!! And they come from are from all over the world!!  Yup, we have 6 countries represented.  Ireland, Italy, Greece, 2 from Australia, 5 from Canada, and 23 from 17 different states here in the US.  That makes a total of 33 finishes, Yippee Skippee!!!   So here they are, you can click on the picture or the name to go to that persons individual link site and see more about their project :) 

Abby from Michigan 

Alida from Blaksburg, Virginia

Angie from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Barbara Corry from Cedar City, Utah

Barb from Detroit, Michigan

Barbe from Surrey, British Colombia, Canada

Cheryl Brickey from Greensville, South Carolina

Cynthia Brunz from Eugene, Oregon

Debbie from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Donna from Idaho

Elizabeth Wilson from Oklahoma

Flo from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Jenn E from Brisbane, Australia

Jennifer Altman from San Jose, California

Jennifer Ball from Oregon

Jessica Malcolm from Gippsland, Australia

Jessica Weleski from Lancaster, Pennsylvania  

Jo from Vancouver, Canada

Katie Dold from Northern California

Kristel from Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Lisa Marie from Kentucky

Lorenza from Veneto, Italy

Mara from Greece

Mary Flynn from North Carolina

Melissa Eubanks from Dallas, Texas

Nela Barrow from Eugene, Oregon 

Pam from Atlanta, Georgia

Paula from Richmond, Virginia

Rhonda from Appleton, Wisconsin

Ruth from Limerick, Ireland

Shantelle from Colorado Springs, Colorado

Sharon from New York

Shirley Van Wieren from Holland, Michigan

Aren't they just stunning!!   Each one just ready to be loved!!!  Enjoy your beautiful Star Surround finishes ladies, and thank you so much for sharing them with all of us!!  

We have one item of business left . . . we need to pick some winners!!!  

A huge Thank You goes out to Julie at The Intrepid Thread  and Kimberly at Fat Quarter Shop for sponsoring our Grand Prize Giveaway's!!!  All 98 of you that have linked up your quilt top are eligible for the grand prize!!  There will be four grand prize winners, and each will receive a $75.00 gift certificate to one of the shops below to have a little shopping spree with.  So fun!!! 

  

So, lets get to it!!   Good Luck Everyone!!!  Drumroll Please . . . . . . .

***The First Grand Prize Winner who will receive a $75.00 Gift Certificate to The Intrepid Thread is . . .

     

***The Second Grand Prize Winner who will receive a $75.00 Gift Certificate to Fat Quarter Shop is . . .




***The Third Grand Prize Winner who will receive a $75.00 Gift Certificate to The Intrepid Thread is . . .

***The Fourth Grand Prize Winner who will receive a $75.00 Gift Certificate to Fat Quarter Shop is . . .

  

Congrats Ladies!!!   I will be emailing you :)  Enjoy your shopping spree!!

Let me sign off with one last thank you to all of you who participated in the Star Surround Quilt-A-Long!!!  I am so excited to have so many wonderful friends to quilt-a-long with me!!  I had a wonderful time hosting and  I hope you had a wonderful time quilting-along!!!

Now to start thinking up a new Quilt-A-Long :)  Until next time . . . Happy Quilting!!!

Our Morning

There is nothing quite like an early morning walk in the mountains.

Especially when there are signs of fall staring to peek out through all the green.

We spent the evening at my husband's parents cabin up Cedar mountain.  It was a fun family night with movies, games, smores, hikes, and lots of laughs  (And a few tears when little monkey #5 didn't want to go to sleep until 2 am, but that goes with the territory, right :)

Before heading back down the mountain we drove up to the city lookout.  Isn't it just beautiful. Man I love this place!!

And I had to laugh when I looked down at the sign marking the lookout.  Apparently my city loves quilting as much as I do :)

I do a lot of Laundry!!!

So a few weeks ago my Sister-In-Law, Charlotte, posted on her blog that she had been using a homemade laundry detergent that she found in this post for about a year now.  I read through to find that it  is super inexpensive to make, cleans well,  and basically Charlotte loves it.  And then I got busy and forgot all about it.   But last week when Charlotte visited Cedar City I once again remembered and took advantage of having some insider knowledge, as did my other Sister-in-law's and Barbara.  Yup, it was a laundry soap making party!!!

I have been using the soap for week and have come to the same conclusion!!  I love it!!!!  So now . . . I am passing it on to all of you quilty friends in case you could use a little laundry savings as well :)  You can read it below or on Char's post, or on the Original post :)  You take your pick :)  


 Here is what you will need :

(Most of this can be found in the detergent aisle, with the exception of the Baking Soda and the Zote Soap)

1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax

1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Super Washing Soda (Arm & Hammer)

1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean

2 (14.1 oz) Bars of Zote Soap (I found this at our local Latino market. If you can't find it, you can use an equal amount of Fels Naptha, but those bars are smaller, so be sure you get 28 ounces, not just two bars)

1 (4 lb) Boxes of Baking Soda (Arm & Hammer)

1 (55 ox) Bottle of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener (optional--but it smells nice, makes the detergent look pretty, softens the fabric, AND provides a bottle for you to store your soap in so that you don't have to have a giant bucket of soap cluttering up your laundry room)

We were doing a double batch here :)

Grate the bar soap-- A food processor will save you a whole lot of time here ;)  If you want smaller bits of soap, you can do it by hand, using the smaller holes on the grater but your wrist might be a little sore :)

It's looks like pink shredded gum from the 80's :)  But don't confuse it with gum, that would be nasty :)

 Next, get a five-gallon bucket, and start mixing everything together. Charlotte recommended us to have a layer approach to this--i.e. dump about 1/4th of each ingredient into the bucket, then stir them all together (I use a wooden spoon). Then repeat three more times. This will totally save your arms ;)

Then just use a measuring cup to pour your soap into your bottle and the remainder store in your bucket, I just put the lid on and set it in the garage :)

Now you're done! To use the soap, just put in 1-2 Tablespoons in with each load of laundry. You'll think you need more, but really you don't.  I marked my lid at the 2 TBSP so that it is easy to see.  Charlotte says and I have found as well that when washing the water doesn't have the suds that you're used to. That's okay, your clothes will still get clean. 

So there you have it :)  Homemade Laundry detergent.  To make one batch it cost $31.00, and at 2 TBSP a load and about 2 1/2 gallons of soap, I figure it will last about 1 1/2 to 2 years :)  It actually makes me smile to throw a load in the wash now, just a little triumph of savings each time ;)

So that's it for today.    Yup, a little off topic from our normal quilting  but hopefully still helpful ;)  Have a Happy Quilting Weekend, and maybe fill it with a little laundry as well :)

Backings and Bindings

So you remember the three quilts from last week that I have waiting to be quilted??    The bottom is my queen size Starburst Quilt, the middle is my Star Surround from the Quilt-a-Long and the top is my Star Value Bee Quilt.

Well, I am one step closer to quilting :)  I started making a backing for my Star Surround quilt and realized why not get the other backings done as well.  Backings are not one of my favorite parts of making a quilt so doing them in an "assembly fashion" just seemed to make it get done faster :)  After they were done, I thought, I just love when I finish quilting and can bind it right then and there and see it all done!!!  So while I was in the mass production mood, I just went ahead and whipped together the bindings as well ;)  (which I actually really enjoy making, little random but true :)

So now, I am all set and ready to go.  I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see these all grouped together and waiting to go on the long-arm.  I am taking a quilt off the frame today and then Barbara is loading her Star Surround so she can get done in time for the parade. Which means I might not get mine done by the parade, but I am not complaining, I am just grateful there is a long arm available for my use :)  

Big Changes for A Little Lady

So this weekend had some big changes in our house.  The crib came down.  Now, lest you think, well of course it came down, that's totally normal.  Well, this is the first time in the last 10 years that the crib has not been occupied.  Our wee ones have stairstepped their way, each new one kicking the old occupant out when they arrived.  And now, there is no new occupant.  I am officially out of crib stage.  (Ya, there was some weeping that went a long with this weekend, good weeping, but weeping none the less.)

So now, my little baby girl  has moved onto being a little lady sleeping in a big girl bed!!!

And yes, that old deka cover is not the final bedding.  I have some wonderful plans for this adorable Sweet Things bundle from Fat Quarter Shop.  It is going to be so cute!!  And I might even attempt to paint the bed frame white.  Well see if I venture out of my comfort zone there ;)

But as you can see, she doesn't mind the old cover one bit.  She is just happy to be a big girl now :)

I did get super excited (and stopped getting all sentimental crying) when I discovered there was a new wall in her room that needed to be decorated now that the crib was gone.  Out came my Read With Me quilt to go on her wall.  It looks so cute and I am so happy to finally have the perfect place for it :)

Oh, and speaking of this quilt, Craftsy did a wonderful little post for International Literacy Day and included this quilt in it.  I was so excited!!!  You can see the article here ;)

Alright, I am off for some long arm fun this morning :)  Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!