I'm Blushing!! Craftsy Blogger Awards :)

I was absolutely tickled pink when I woke up this morning to find an email that I had made it to the final round of the Craftsy Blogger's Award for Best Quilting Tutorials.  I didn't even know I had been nominated and to make it to the finals, wow!!!  I am just giddy.  Thank you, Thanks you, Thank you!!!

So now there is a final round of voting that will go on from now until October 28th.  You can vote for one blog in each category.   There are so many amazing blogs over there and some of the authors I know personally and are good friends.  So much fun!!

If you are new to my blog and just coming over to "check things out" from Craftsy, welcome!!!  You can find a list of all my tutorials on the tabs above.  On the tab for Quilt Tutorials  you will find over 30 tutorials with step by step instructions from start to finish.  On the tab for Other Tutorials you will find over 30 tutorials grouped into projects, blocks, technique, and guest tutorials.  On the tab for Video Tutorials  you will find videos on finishing your quilt, applique, and free motion quilting.  And finally, on the Quilt-A-Long tab you will find 5 different quilt-a-longs with steps broken down into weekly manageable tasks ;)

So ya, a whole lot of tutorials ;)  That's just a sneak peek at what you will find, so pop around and check em out.  Who knows, maybe you will even find a new project to start.  And I mean, who doesn't love a new project :)

Thanks again for the nominations.  You all are the best!!!!  Have a Happy Quilting Day :)

Fearing Feathers No More

Okay, so if you have been hanging out here for any number of time, you now that I love feathers but have been super afraid to quilt them.  Every time I tried to draw them they came out crazy weird and just not so pretty.  But I have been determined to conquer my fear and have tried them a few times with results that were okay but not that I was particularly pleased with.  Like this border on my Stars quilt.  You can't see it to well, but what you can see doesn't particularly have much of a feather shape and the overlap, well I won't even go there :)

So, when Angela Walters put out her Craftsy Free Motion Quilting with Feathers class  I thought it might be just the thing to get me over my fear.  I signed up and have been squeezing in bits and pieces of time to watch all of her Feather lessons.  I learned so much!!!   Like that the way I was practicing them was way harder than it needed to be :)  Mostly, I learned to just relax and have confidence.  Angela is a great teacher that way!!   I have been practicing on paper for quite a while just waiting for the right quilt to test out all my paper practice on.

And then came Playing the Scales.  It was perfect.  The up and down motion of the quilt created the perfect rows to make feathers in and the fabrics are so big and bold I knew it would blend like crazy.  (In fact, I had a really hard time trying to get pictures that actually showed some of the quilting :)
I quilted feathers going left to right in brown on the high volume keys and feathers going right to left in white on the low volume keys.

And how about some close up's.  Sorry, it is still kind of hard to see them.  But oh, these were so much fun to quilt going up and down and up and down.  It really was nice to have the fabric be my guide of where to fill in.  It really was perfect as there was one less thing to try and figure out.

And after a few tries, I even managed to figure out how to quilt the spaces where the feathers curve in on each other.  There are a few that look not quite as as good as this and some that look even better, a good average I figure ;)

And by the end of the quilt, my backtracking was hardly noticeable and I was doing a far better job of staying right on the lines.  It's amazing what practicing on a whole quilt will do for you ;)

In the end, I am totally ecstatic with the end result.  Of course they are not all perfect, and I know they can only get better with more practice.  But I can honestly say, I Love Quilting Feathers!!!!  I am not afraid anymore.  And oh, that feels so good!!!   I am just so happy.

Thank you Angela, you are an awesome teacher !!!  Now bring on another quilted Feather project :)


linking up to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story ;)

A Cutting Weekend

First off, I wan't to say a huge Thank You for all of your sweet comments on my Playing The Scales quilt and tutorial.  You all sure know how to make a girls day!!

These last few day's have been filled with a whole lot of cutting.  I just love the cutting part of making a quilt.  I think it's because when I am cutting I am starting a new project and starting a new project means I am playing with all new fabrics and colors.  And you know the anticipation you get when you start a new project and you just can't wait to see how it will all come out.  Oh ya, good times :)

Remember this beautiful stack for my daughter's new bedspread . . .

Well, lots of cutting and even some trimming later, it is starting to turn into blocks.  So exciting, I promise to show more in day's to come, but everyone loves a good pile of trim, right :)  (And yes, the trimming is what is making my wrist sore, just got to push through that stage :)  

And my second cutting project I was so excited for!!!  You remember my Blogger's Choice Bundle for the Fat Quarter Shop??  Well, it's available!!!  So exciting!!!  I got my bundle this weekend and after some squealing and jumping up and down over how pretty the bundle was, I was off to the  cutting mat!! 

A few hours later I had a pile of scraps and a smile on my face ;)  More on this quilt to come too . . . think tutorial :)

So that is what I was doing this weekend??  How about you??  What were you working on??

Playing the Scales - A Tutorial

I am just thrilled to share my newest finish with you today :)  I call it, Playing the Scales and oh I am just so excited with how it turned out.   Isn't it just great when the image in your head comes out just like you hoped it would :)  So let me tell you a bit about how that image came about :)

 A few weeks ago I was contacted by the wonderful staff at Art Gallery Fabrics. I was thrilled when they asked if I would be interested in playing with some of their fabrics.  Of course!!!  The fabrics I choose to work with are Bijoux by Bari J and they are so beautiful and such a pleasure to work with.  You can visit Art Gallery Fabrics here to find out more about these glorious fabrics :)

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As soon as I saw Bijoux, I knew I wanted to design a low volume idea into the quilt.  Bijoux has so many wonderful bold prints and so many soft beautiful prints.  It is almost half and half really :)  So with that in mind, I started working on a design. I have always loved piano key borders on quilts because the thin strips give such a striking look. Then,  I was talking to my son, who just started piano 2 months ago, and he was telling me how important practicing his scales was.  And it hit, Piano Keys in a Scale with the high volume/low volume prints alternating to make the scales appear.  I quickly drew up a sketch, and then put the sketch in EQ7 and it was love!!

This quilt goes together quick as it is made entirely of chain stitching which saves oh so much time ;)   The quilt is all straight seams and none of them match up, so really, you don't even need pins :)  Super friendly for beginners and experts alike and a great way to make a stunning finish in a minimal amount of time.  So . . . Let's get to how to make it shall we :)    

And if you want a printable version of this tutorial, you can click right here ;)

To start you will need 20 Fat Quarters

     Divide the Fat Quarters into piles of 10 low volume and 10 high volume (Probably not a  real term, but it is opposite and just seems to work in my mind :)

From your 10 high volume prints cut (124) 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" strips.  I cut 13 from each print and then had 6 left over for the scrap bin :)  Set 93 in one pile and the remaining 31 in another pile.

From your low volume prints cut (105) 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" strips.  I cut 11 from each print and had 5 left over.  Set 93 in one pile and the remaining 12 in another pile.  From the remaining pieces of Fat Quarters cut (12) 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares, (12) 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles, (12) 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangles, and (7) 2 1/2" x 10 1/2" strips.  Be sure to cut from all your remaining fat quarters so you have lots of variety.  Set these in piles with your (12) 8 1/2" strips and set them aside for the time being.

Gather your 93 high volume and low volume 8 1/2" strips.  Place a high volume strip onto a low volume with right sides together and stitch a 1/4" seam along the end.

Continue chain stitching to make 93 sets total.  (Chain stitching just means not clipping threads between each set sewn, just keep feeding them through your machine.)  Be sure to mix up your prints randomly as you go, don't sew all the save low volume prints to the same high volume print.  Once you have sewn all 93 set, clip your threads and press all of your sets towards the high volume print.

Divide your strip sets into 3 piles of 31 sets.  Grab that extra pile of 31 high volume 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangles.

Now, you will be chain stitching your sets together.  Take the first 2 sets of 31 and place them with right sides together matching a high and low volume end.  Stitch a 1/4" seam. along the edge.  Chain stitch all 31 sets.  Now, take the third set of 31 and the high volume pile of 31 strips and place them with right sides together matching a high volume and low volume end.  Stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge.  Chain stitch all 31 sets.   Clip your threads and press all of your strips towards the high volume print.

And now, you guessed it.  Take the 2 strip sets you just created.  Place them with right sides together matching a high and low volume end.  Stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge.  Chain stitch all the strips to make a total of 31 sets.  Press the seams towards the high volume print.

Divide your strips randomly into 3 piles.  One pile of 7 strips, and 2 piles with 12 strips each.  Grab those low volume pieces that you set aside earlier.  Chain stitch all these additions using a 1/4" seam.  To the pile of 7, add a 10 1/2" low volume strip to the end of each strip.  To the first pile of 12, add a 2 1/2"x 2 1/2" square to the beginning of each strip and then add a 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangle to the end of each strip.  Finally, to the second pile of 12, add a 4 1/2" rectangle to the beginning of each strip and then add a 6 1/2" rectangle to the end of each strip.  Press all seams towards the high volume print.

Lay 10 strips out as shown below. Take care to mix up your prints until it is pleasing to the eye.

Using a 1/4" seam, Sew the 10 strips into one section.  I find the easiest way to do this is to first sew the strips into groups of 2.    I just aligned the strips as I went and had no problem with stretching.  (Art Gallery fabrics have a great weave so that isn't a problem.)  But if you are worried about stretching or not lining up, go ahead and use a few pins to secure your strips in place ;)  Press the seams.

Lay the sets of 2 strips back out to make sure you don't mix up the orientation (easy to do).  Then sew the first 2 strip sets together, press, and then add on the third strip set and so on until the section is complete.

Your section should look like this.  Repeat to make a total of 3 strip sets in the same layout.

And now you have 3 large strip sets and one little lonely strip.  Lay out as shown below creating the quilt top.  Using a 1/4" seam, sew the lonely strip to the large strip set,  and the two strip sets together.  Press.  Finally, using a 1/4" seam, sew the top and bottom together.  Press.

And your quilt top is done.  Don't you just love the scale effect.  So fun!!!  I like my scale going side to side so I rotated the top in this picture ;)

And now, all you have left is to finish you quilt.  So . . . Baste it, quilt it, and bind it.  I know that's a lot of work to put into one sentence.  If you are new to quilting and need some pointers on how to finish your quilt you can see my video tutorials going over basting, quilting, and binding in detail.     You will need 1/2 Yard for binding and 4 yards of Backing.

And you are done!!! Now sit back and enjoy snuggling up with your 62" x 66" Playing the Scales Quilt!!!  

If you make your own Playing the Scales quilt I would love to see a picture of it.  You can email it to me at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com, post it to Social Media with #happyquiltingwithmc or  add it to my Flickr Group.

That's it for today.  I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial :)  Have a Happy Quilting Weekend!!

**  Note - This quilt would also work with Jelly Rolls.  If you are interested in making this quilt using Jelly Roll strips you will need 25 High Volume Jelly Roll Strips and 28 Low Volume Jelly Roll Strips.  This calculation assumes you can get (5) 8 1/2" rectangles from each strip which means 42 1/2" so cut close to those selvages :)

**   Addition - Many of you asked about making this quilt larger.  To make it a large queen (96" x 92"  )  you would need to add an extra (2) High Volume 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangles and an (2) Low Volume 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangles into each row you make.   Just add them in the middle ;)   You will also want to make and Additional 15 Rows for your quilt, or an extra section and a half.   
So from your High Volume's you will need to cut a total of (276)  2 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangles.  From your Low Volume fabrics you will need to cut a total of  (230)  2 1/2" x 8 1/2",  (18) 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares, (18) 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles, (18) 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangles, and (10) 2 1/2" x 10 1/2" strips.  

Linking this new finish up to Sarah's and Amanda's :).

Class Schedule Posted

The class schedule has been announced for the Small Town Quilt Show in a Big Town Way!!! So exciting!!! And now I get to share . . .

I will be teaching  "In Your Neighborhood" Friday afternoon.

And Summer Breeze Saturday morning.

I am so excited to be teaching these quilts.  Both are right at the top of my all time favorites list!!!  Both classes are going to be so much fun and I am so looking forward to them.

And hopefully I can squeeze in a few classes of my own.  I have already gone through the class listings like 5 times.  There are so many amazing classes and I wish I could take them all.   Now I just need to narrow down my times available and make a game plan.  So fun!!!

Take a minute and pop on over to check out all of the amazing classes offered by some wonderfully talented ladies.  (once again, so very honored to be in this group)   With over 40 classes there is definitely something for everyone ;)  Registration will open later this month so be sure to have your favorite classes picked out early :)   I hope to see you there :)