Monday, July 28, 2014

Bear Creek Winner!!!

Thank you to all of you who entered the Bear Creek Quilting Company giveaway!!   I am sure you all got to find that they are an awesome shop!!  And now, the lucky winner that gets a $50.00 Gift Certificate to buy some of their favorite wish list items is . . .


#63 . . . Who just so happens to be . . .




Congrats Debbie!!!!   I wills send you an email ;)

And again, thanks for entering.  If you didn't win today, be sure to check back tomorrow for another fun giveaway. . . think Miss Kate!!!

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!

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Friday, July 25, 2014

Dancing Daisies - A "Keeping It Real" Finish



And now with those notices, let's get to today's post ;)

Yippee, today is the last day to enter the Modern Quilt Guild Micheal Miller challenge and I am posting my entry today :)  Little last minute, but sometimes you just have to roll in under that deadline :)  My entry is called Dancing Daisies and measures 49" x 50".   


When I first got the fabric for this challenge, I knew I wanted to do something with a flower design.  So I played a bit with some sketching and came up with the squared pixelated looking daisy block.  From there I added putting them in a layout that  would look like  they were blowing in a summer breeze.  So, that was my vision, and then I started working on the project.  And now,  this is where I start the story of who this quilt actually went down and totally "keep things real" around here . . . 


Never have I had so many things have to be reconfigured, redone, and just pushed through on a quilt.  There is a reason this little guy is being posted just under the wire.  Because honestly, there were many a time I just wanted to forge about it and move on.  It started with piecing my flowers.   We only had a bit of each fabric, but I wanted to fussy cut the flowers to stand out.  Well this particular fabric and


This particular fabric gave me some issues.  I got the flowers cut out, pieced them together, and couldn't stand the way they looked.  Originally, this top and bottom row were pieced in with straight lines running up and down, and you couldn't tell the difference from the petal and the background.  And the top blocks center row wasn't much better.


So, after going back and forth for a while, I decided that it would always drive me crazy and I was going to need to unpick.   So out of the center of the finished blocks came these pieces.  And then I had to get super creative in making piecing some scraps of what I had left together to make enough to replace to squares (see arrows above) and then back into the block they went.   (I was so wishing my local quilt shop carried this line at this point :)


So then, the blocks were all put together and I went to put them in the layout I had figured and realized and then smacked myself in the head, that I had accidentally trimmed my blocks down 1/2" to small.  Grrr!!!  Out comes the sketch book and a little trimming to all of the background pieces.   



 And so I finally have to top together and I am all kinds of excited to start quilting it because I know just how I want to quilt it.  I get going and the long arm just starts shredding the thread and skipping stitches.  And after a few hours I have some wavy lines, a whole bunch of skipped space because it won't do a swirl for the life of me and I am ready to scream.  (Okay, maybe I did actually scream)


And so, I move on over to the home machine to do the swirl and petal quilting ;)  And man, I can totally say I am a bit rusty on the home machine ;)  It took me a bit to get back into the swing of things, and even when I was feeling comfortable again, I was wishing that the design hadn't already been started because it was on a larger scale because of the trailing tails then I was used to quilting between my two hands ;)  But once you have started one way you gotta finish that way :)


So yup, I bet my quilt is the only one in the entire contest that is half long arm quilted and half domestic machine quilted ;)  Super special!!  I did have fun quilting up the little daisies ;)  I wanted to add to the flower effect so I did little rounded overlapping "petals" on the petals and then pebbling in the center.


I have to say, even with all of the stress of quilting this one, I am so happy with how the quilting turned out.  I really think it added to the effect of the daisies dancing on the breeze ;)  And the one part that didn't give me any trouble, the fun solid scrappy binding, which I think might just be my favorite of the whole quilt!!!


And, just when you think our story is all finished, it has one last surprise.   When I took this quilt out to photograph, I noticed in the beautiful sunlight that a few of my background squares looked a little off.  Now, I love my sewing room, but the lighting is not ideal as it is in the basement and has no windows.  Which meant, I didn't see when cutting that somehow, (see little children) my white solid pile I had been working from had a few extra pieces mixed in that didn't match exactly.  Not enough to see under florescent lighting, but it sticks out just enough in the sunlight ;)  At this point, not much I can do about that but smile through it, I just told myself it was more Modern ;)  



So how about that for a crazy story :)    I hope you enjoyed this segment of "keeping things real" but I hope not to share another one soon.   I understand that sometimes this is the way things roll but I would be happy not to roll through that again any time soon :)  But I am glad to share this story if it helps us all to remember that everyone makes mistakes, everyone has oopsies in their quilt, and sometimes we just have to move on, push through, rework to make it work,  and just try to smile on through  ;)


In the end, I love Dancing Daisies!!!  She was totally worth it :)

Have a Happy Quilting Weekend!!

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

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Thursday, July 24, 2014

Fun-Size Quilts & a Giveaway!!!

Martingale Publishing has a new compilation book compiled by my good friend Karen Burns that has just been released and it is all about Mini's!!!!!   It's called Fun-Size Quilts and it totally fits it's name.   I think the whole quilting world is finding out just how fun making a mini can be!!!  They allow you to try something on a tiny scale that you would never dream of wanting to do for a full size quilt.


My mini quilt contribution is called Quiltilicious!!  It is a fun basic geometric design that has a lot of movement and an almost 3-D effect.  I love how it turned out and had oh so much fun putting it together ;)  it is just so fun to play with tiny half square triangles and 1 inch rectangles.  Such great happy quilting times and it is so fun to finally be able to share it!!

For this hop, I thought it would be fun to share a fun little story about some of the inspiration behind the quilt.  The first day I was ready to start pulling fabrics for colors I was totally overwhelmed.  Of course, I could have done this quilt in any number of color combinations so I began making several piles of color combos trying to decide which way I wanted to go.  In comes my sweet 5 year old daughter. 

 Kami asked me what I was doing making my sewing room so messy and I told her I was trying to pick colors for a new quilt.  She insisted, (in her most matter of fact tone) that a perfect quilt would be made of Pink, Purple, Silver, and Gold because those are the favorite colors of Pinkalicious.  And of course, Pinkalicious is her favorite and so those are her favorite colors as well.  That would soon followed with how incredibly happy it would make her I used her favorite colors in this quilt.   It was so adorable, I couldn't resist (although I did draw the line on adding gold ;) .   And when it came time to name the quilt,  Quiltilicious just seemed to fit ;)


 I know you are just going to love this Fun-Size Quilts book.  There are so many incredible mini's made by so many incredible designers.  Seriously, I am so honored to be among these group of ladies.  Here's a quick peek at all 19 of the Fun-Size Quilt designs :)


You can see more about each Fun Size Quilts at each of the authors websites ;)  You will find a list of them all at the Martingale Blog right here :)  Have fun checking them all out and of course, at each site you will find more giveaway opportunities!!  But don't pop away just yet, because . . . 

I have a Giveaway here!!!! Martingale has graciously offered a Fun Size Quilts e-Book to one lucky Happy Quilting Reader and I will be sending out a paper copy of Fun Size Quilts to one lucky reader!!!  Yup, that's 2 winners!!!!

You have two chances to win, please leave a separate comment for each.  

1 - Leave a comment that has the word MINI in it.  I can't wait to see what you come up with ;)

2 - All Happy Quilting Followers can have a bonus entry, just leave a comment here of how you follow  i.e.  Bloglovin, Email, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter :) 

And that's it :) The giveaway will close on Wednesday, July 30th  and I will announce a winner Thursday Morning.    Good Luck to everyone ;)

Oh, and if you are visiting Happy Quilting for the first time, Welcome!!!  I am so glad you popped in and hope you come back often .  Please feel free to click on some of the tabs above and find some fun free tutorials, quilt-alongs, and all around fabric goodness ;)  And you are welcome to follow my blog to be sure and catch all of the Happy Quilting times :)

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!



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Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Weekend Roll Haulted

Well, I was on quite a sewing roll last weekend ;)  I got quite a lot of work done on 2 projects and was so in the groove and loving every minute of it!!!

My first project was the Metro Rings quilt that I started at the Small Town Quilt show.  I am so loving this pattern and playing with the Quick Curve Ruler from the Sew Kind of Wonderful gals!!!  

 I got all of the setting triangles added to my quarter blocks.

And trimmed them all up.  Dont you love that pile of trim??  It reminds me of a cheerleaders pom-pom ;)


And I even got the quarter blocks sewn into halves!!!  Now I just need to sew the halves into blocks and then the blocks into a quilt top!!!  Eeekk, I can't wait to finish this one up :)  


I am also working on a new sample for some classes next year.  In Jan and March I will be teaching my Wonky Irish Chain pattern and am making a queen size version in Basic Grey's newest line Persimmon.  I am so loving these beautiful fall tones!!!    I have half of the blocks made and the other half of the blocks are half way done ;)  Comin along :)


But . . . That sewing groove came to an end.  Because as of Monday afternoon, I have been painting with my Mother who is visiting to help me paint.  And what might we be painting . . . Oh, just a new little space for the long arm ;)   Eeeekkk!!  I am so excited :)  Yesterday was all about ceilings.  My mother was getting quite a kick out of the drips in my hair, face, eyes, and even a few in my mouth, yuck.  


I am off to paint some more ;)  Have a Happy Quilting (and for me painting) Day!!


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Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Welcome Bear Creek Quilting Company and a Giveaway!!!

Today I am so excited to welcome Bear Creek Quilting Company as Happy Quilting's newest sponsor!!!  Bear Creek Quilting Company started twelve years ago by simply making beautiful quality quilts as gifts for family and friends.  As word of mouth spread, so did their custom designing of those handmade quilts,  and  Bear Creek Quilting Company grew from there.  Today they are located in Washington state and have a wonderful website that has been designed as a complete online store. They currently do not have a store-front but hope to include that in future plans. 




Bear Creek Quilting Company Offers a wide variety of  premium cotton, flannel and batik quilting fabric. And I love that you can shop for that yardage by color!!!  I love building my stash when shopping by color is an option, so much easier!!!   Along with all of that beautiful yardage, you will also find all of your favorite pre-cut  bundles (fat quarters, jelly rolls, charm packs and layer cakes) from your favorite manufactures.


    


Bear Creek Quilting also carries a wide variety of patterns, books, notions and tools.   Their book selection is amazing, I have so many on my wish list ;)  And they always have amazing prices on their everyday selection.  


  
       




Bear Creek Quilting company is continuing to expand weekly with the arrival of new product shipments.  You can always check out what is on it's way in their Coming Soon section.  Here's my list that I am watching that will be coming soon :)

          



And you always have to be making room for those coming soon items and that means you will also find an incredible Sale / Clearance shopping section  at Bear Creek Quilting Company.  You better believe you will find all kinds of yummy yardage, bundles, and notions at stellar closeout prices here!!

       


Bear Creek Quilting Company understands that you have choices in purchasing your quality quilting fabric and supplies.  They believe that the more quilting fabric and supplies they  have available to them the greater ability they have to create their beautiful custom designed quilts.  And so they want to pass that along to you and include savings to you with your every order.  









Welcome Bear Creek Quilting Company!!!  I am so excited to have them as part of the Happy Quilting Family!!!

 And as part of their welcome debut here at Happy Quilting, Bear Creek Quilt Company is giving away a $50.00 Gift Certificate to one lucky reader!!!   Now that will be some fun shopping!!!




You have two chances to win, please leave a separate comment for each.  And since Bear Creek Quilting Company is new here, I thought it might be nice for your entries to allow you to get acquainted :)

1 - Pop on over to Bear Creek Quilting Company and find a favorite item that you might like to spend the gift certificate on if you won ;)  Then pop back here and leave a comment of that favorite item.  

2 - Sign up for the Bear Creek Quilting Company Newsletter  (in the top right hand corner) and leave a comment here that you did so or already do.  

And that's it :) The giveaway will close on Sunday the 27th  and I will announce a winner Monday Morning.    Good Luck to everyone ;)


 Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!
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