July??

So I have decided that July is just busy.  That is what it comes down to.   I think I will gone in July more than I am home.  (although they are for family reunions so that is good stuff too!!)  So yes, very, very little time for sewing.  In fact, so little time that . . .

My Metro Hoops blocks are still sadly shoved in my travel box waiting to be pressed.  I am seriously embarrassed to even show this picture, but hey, let's keep it real ;)

And my Christmas tree quilt has been waiting for a binding for 2 weeks now.  The binding is made, I just can't get it on the quilt ;)

But I have been able to squeeze in a bit of time in the sewing room, but it is some of that "secret sewing".  (deadlines are the ultimate motivator :)   I will tell you, it involves these fabulous swiss dots from Riley Blakes Basic Collection and the secret will be out soon.   Tutorial coming next week :)

Have a Happy Quilting Weekend!!!   And just for my own sanity, is your July insane as well??  Is it just the month where no one gets to sew??

A Visit to Superior Threads!!

Yesterday, Barbara and I headed down to sunny St. George, Utah, emphasis on sunny (seriously, it was 104) to visit Superior Threads!!!  This is their warehouse and they ship all of their orders from here but it is also open to the public, so fun!!!   They totally let you walk among the shelves and shelves of threads, see all of the colors, and fill a basket ;)  And, their warehouse is right off the I-15, seriously, the next time you are driving through Utah on your way to Vegas or Cali, you totally want to stop by ;)

I was kindly greeted by Josh Every, general manager of Superior Threads. Everyone at the Warehouse is just so nice and willing to jump in and help you at a moments notice. And Isn't this a fun quilt!!!  It highlights all of the different types of threads that Superior makes.   So awesome!!

And then it was time for some shopping!!!  Seriously, is this not just eye candy!!!  Row, after row, after row of beautiful colors all wound on spools.  Ya, we were "shopping"  for 2 hours :)

I quickly found a box of my new favorite color, 402 Pearl!!!  Ahh, it is just perfect for white backgrounds :)  Love it!!!

And, then the purples, oh all of the wonderful, wonderful purples!!  You all know I love purple so I had to take a quick shot with my fave ;)

Quick Tangent - Since I happened to be sporting my Sew What Fat Quarter T-Shirt I posted this little selfie!!  Have you heard of Fat Quarter Shops new Selfie contest??  Take a selfie wearing your Sew What T-Shirt, and then post it with the hashtag #sewwhatselfie and be sure to tag @fatquartershop.  They will be giving $100.00 gift cards to the winners!!!     You can see all of the details of the contest here ;)  So fun!!!!  Where will you be when you take your selfie??

And yes, I got a hair cut last weekend, sadly, the heat of St. George made it go pretty flat, what ya gonna do ;)  

So back to our thread shopping trip ;)  This is what our little cart looked like close to check out ;)  We might have added a few more spools and some needles ;)  You will notice there are a lot of different types of thread in there.  I am often asked how I choose what thread I like to use.   Well . . .

That is the thing I love so much about Superior Threads.   Every thing you ever wanted to know about thread is on their website.  They are huge on Thread Education!!!  Seriously, here is a shot of their Education Index, and each of these topics have anywhere from 10-30 articles on the subject.    Let me tell you, the Tension section, A total lifesaver for me when I started on the long arm!!!    And you can also check out Superior Threads blog, they have fun posts that will make you a Master of Threadology :)

And just in case you are wondering, on the long arm I use Omni in the bobbin, and So Fine on the top, when I am blending .   If I want a bit of a pop, I will use Fantastico or Magnifico in the top and bobbin.

It was such a fun visit!!!  Thanks again to the folks at Superior Threads for making thread shopping oh so much fun!!!  And really, if you ever find yourself driving in Southern Utah, it is totally worth the stop!!!  Oh, I could get lost in there for hours and hours :)

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Coming This Fall!!!

Squeal!!!   I get to share a little something exciting today!!!  Late last year, I was asked by the fabulous folks at Kansas City Star Quilts to create a quilt for their newest compilation book, Modern Optical Illusions!!!  I so loved working on this project!!!  Optical Illusin quilts are just so much fun to design and to make!!!     I can't show you my quilt yet, but there is a sneak peek of it here ;)

Isn't this cover just so much fun!!!  I can't wait to be able to share more!!!  It comes out this fall and will be at Fall Market.  Ohh, so exciting!!!!

Now I am off to get ready for the day.   I get to go to the Superior Threads warehouse this afternoon and enjoy the shelves and shelves of thread.  It is totally like being a kid in a candy store ;)  I will be sure to share pictures tomorrow ;)

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

4 Year Blogiversary Winners!!!

First off, I want to say a Huge Thank You to all of you that helped me celebrate my 4 Year Blogiversary!!!  Thank you for all of your wonderful feedback, it really helped!!  I look forward to continuing to make Happy Quilting a place you want to visit each day :)  

So now, let's get to some winners!!!

Our first giveaway was for an Emmy Grace Fat Quarter Bundle sponsored by  Fat Quarter Shop

And the winner is . . . .   #66  Who happens to be . . .   *Tyler*   Congrats!!!!

Our second giveaway was for a $25.00 Gift Certificate to  Southern Fabric who is sponsoring this giveaway

And the winner is . . . .   #267  Who happens to be . . .   Lori   Congrats!!!!

 Our third giveaway was for a Fat Eighth bundle of Pine Fresh by Sandy Gervais sponsored by Green Fairy Quilts

And the winner is . . . .   #394  Who happens to be . . .   Patty D from NC   Congrats!!!!

 

Our fourth giveaway was for a $25.00 Gift Certificate to Cotton Bliss who is sponsoring this giveaway

And the winner is . . . .   #54  Who happens to be . . .   Pierro   (or Rosemary B)   Congrats!!!!

Our fifth giveaway was for a custom bundle sponsored by  The Intrepid Thread 

And the winner is . . . .   #250  Who happens to be . . .   Heidi (Banks of Frog Creek)   Congrats!!!!

Our sixth giveaway was for a Waterfront Park Domino Dot Fat Quarters bundle sponsored by The Scarlet Thread Quilt Co. 

And the winner is . . . .   #374  Who happens to be . . .   scottylover  (Sandy A)   Congrats!!!!

The winners have been notified.  Thanks again for celebrating my 4 Year Blogiversary with me.  It was oh so much fun and here is to another 4 years of Happy Quilting :)

Starburst - Finished!!!!

Note - If you are looking for my Blogiversary Giveaways, you'll find them here :)  Day 1,  Day 2,  Day 3 

Happy 4th of July!!!!   And what better way to celebrate the 4th than with a star quilt!!!  This queen size quilt top was pieced as part of the Starburst Quilt-A-Long clear back in Feb of 2013.  And over the month of June (like as in a year and a half later) it finally got quilted.   And today, I get to share it, Yippee!!!  So here she is in all of her quilted glory, the Queen Starburst!!!

This quilt is big!!!  Like big as in 40" blocks and a 95" x 95" finished quilt top.  And can I just say, I love those giant blocks!!!  They were so much fun to piece and quilting them was such a blast!!

The fabrics are a custom bundle made by Julie from The Intrepid Thread specifically for this quilt-a-long.  Aren't they just fabulous!!  I love the combo of raspberry, orange, and black.  Julie has such an amazing eye for color.  This is quickly becoming one of my new favorite groupings of color.  (but if you are wondering, this bundle is no longer available as it is a year and a half old ;)

For the backing, I grabbed some 1 yard cuts in raspberry, orange, and black from the stash and made a giant 9 patch.   I have to say, this is one of my favorite backs I have made in a while.  It really did come out cute and I love 9 patches :)

And now, how about some pictures of the quilting.  Warning, I might just go a little overboard here.  I really pushed myself with the quilting of this one and I feel like by the end of it, I had moved to another level with my long-arm quilting skills and I am so super excited about that.

So for starters, I tried something new in the background.  A feathered swirl.   Eeekk,  I just love these!!!  I was super scared after the first row, because goodness, these are feathers right.   But by midway through, I was totally loving it!!!  I am sure you will see these popping up a whole lot more ;)

And a few detail shots.   I loved making a few baby ones to fill up gaps.  They are so cute!!!

And a full circled feather.   My oh my, these are so much fun to make!!!

And finally, a half circle feather.  I loved playing with the amount of feathers on each swirl.  It really mixed it up and give the quilt so much variety ;)

Moving outward.  I quilted each of the "bursts" with some straight line ruler work.   There was a lot of starting and stopping here.  Not my favorite thing to do but the look is totally worth it ;)

I repeated the same look on the stars.  Lots and lots of ruler work ;)

And then between the stars and the bursts I did some pebbling.   I just love to pebble.  It is so incredibly relaxing and really, quite fun ;)  Isn't the whole star together just so fun!!!   Eeekk, and double Eeekk!!

And I saved my favorite for last ;)  Where the stars meet together in the center of the quilt, I marked and recreated a star with the same quilting design as the four print stars.   And it came out Amazing!!!  (if I do say so myself :)    I love, love, love it!!!!   And my 3 year old thinks it is a Frozen quilt now so that is a bonus ;)

While we were taking pictures,  my daughter said we should put it under the tree and take a nap on it ;)  I compromised with putting it under the tree and taking a picture.  I had to break it to her that this isn't a "picnic quilt" :)

And that is my Queen Starburst!!!!   My goodness, I just love this quilt!!!!  Time to change out a bed quilt for sure ;)   If you want to make your own Starburst quilt, you can find the tutorial here and the quilt-a-long here and I also have a pattern available if you like your instructions that way ;)

Have a Happy Quilting Weekend!!!!

Linking this Starburst finish to Amanda's, Sarah's, and Fort Worth Fabric Studio ;)