Square Dance

** Note - If you are looking for the FWFS Blog Hop Party Giveaway, You can find it here :)

It's a secret reveal day!!!   Yippee, I have such a hard time keeping these secrets so I just love when I finally share.  So, without further ado,  here is Square Dance!!  I designed this quilt probably 2 years ago and it was just sitting in my EQ program waiting.  And then in Spring the fabrics,magazine, and design all fell together and Square Dance went from an EQ sketch to a finished quilt!!

The pattern for Square Dance can be found in the Fall 2013 issue of Modern Quilts Unlimited.  This was my first time publishing with MQU so that was a new fun experience.  It always makes me smile to see how different the publishing process is from one company is to another.  You really learn a lot :)

It's no secret that I like bold geometric designs.  I love how they can often give an almost 3-D effect.  Square Dance allowed me to really showcase some fun prints and since this quilt was all about Fall, I went with Smore's Love by Julie and Eric Comsotck from Moda Fabrics.

I quilted Square Dance with an all over Wood Grain effect that I learned from Angela Walters Craftsy Class.  I think this stitch really added to that Fall feel.  And, it had the added bonus of being incredibly fun to stitch!!!  It just flows and while it is more dense and takes a little while to quilt . . .

the overall effect is totally worth it.  Just look at all of that yummy quilted texture :)  It just makes me want to snuggle up in front of a fire.

And since it came back a few days ago, and I just happened to have caught my children's cold, I think I just might go do that :)

Have a Happy Quilting Day!

Linking this finish up to Amada's and Sarah's :)

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??