Old Dutch - Optical Illusions Blog Hop

So last week in my Fall Market recap post I shared some fun photos of Angela Walters and I presenting the schoolhouse for a great new book, Optical Illusions.  Today, I get to share the quilt that I made for the book, and here it is!!!  I named it Old Dutch :)

I was so excited when the folks from My Stars asked if I wanted to contribute a quilt to their new Optical Illusions book. This book is full of amazing designs that really make you look twice.  They are all so fun!!!

 I love designing quilts and when I started thinking of optical illusions I was reminded of the illusion of windmills moving forward as well as around that I saw on one of our family trips.   Old Dutch is my version of that illusion and I just love the way it turned out.  The windmills really do seem to move out of the quilt ;)

When it came time to quilt this, I decided to do a large spiral moving out from the center.  I really think it added to the overall movement I was trying to create in the illusion.   I always think it is fun to quilt this design, and made a giant swirl video tutorial of how I quilt this design, just in case you want to try it out ;)

I am so excited to finally get to share Old Dutch with you and hope you like it as much as I do ;)  

I have two wonderful friends guest blogging about Old Dutch and Optical Illusions today as well.   So please be sure to pop on over and check out Daniar from Fat Quarter Shop and Lynne from Lily Quilts posts as well  (and they have giveaways too!!)

     

   

 And of course, there is a giveaway here too!!!   I used an Oakshott Cotton Italy Bundle to create Old Dutch and Oakshott Cottons has graciously provided a brand new Autumn Oakshott Bundle for one lucky reader!!!    

To be entered to win this gorgeous bundle, simply leave a comment at the end of this post telling me what your favorite thing about Autumn is.  

One entry per person please.  International Entries are welcome.   Giveaway will end at 8 am Monday morning  (November 10th) and I will announce a winner shortly after.   

And be sure to follow along with the rest of the blog hop!!!  There are lots of amazing quilts that will be shared over the coming days and inspiration galore ;)  And of course, there will be lots of prizes along the way :)

Nov. 4
My Stars - Blog Hop Kickoff

Nov. 4
Angela Walters

Nov. 5
Penny Layman

Nov. 6
Melissa Corry  You Are Here ;)
Lily’s Quilts
Fat Quarter Shop

Nov. 7
My Stars on behalf of Mary Kay Fosnacht and Karen Hansen, http://www.mystarsblog.com

Nov. 10
Jamie David, http://www.patchworkarchitect.blogspot.com

Nov. 11
Tia Curtis, http://www.tiacurtisquilts.blogspot.com
Elizabeth Timmons, http://www.andpins.wordpress.com
Tammie Schaffer, http://www.craftytammie.com

Nov. 12
Katie Larson, http://www.thecraftingshell.blogspot.com

Nov. 13
Jenifer Dick, http://www.42quilts.com
Trisch Price, http://www.hadleystreetquilts.com

Nov. 14
Jessica Toye, http://www.jesstoyequilts.wordpress.com/blog-2/
Jacquie Gering, http://www.tallgrassprairiestudio.blogspot.com
Shea Henderson, http://www.emptybobbinsewing.com

That's all for today.  Thanks for stopping by and  Have a Happy Quilting Day!!

Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!!

It's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day . . . let's have some fun :)

First, we need to announce the winner from last weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway!!   The winner of the  Good Natured Cool Bundle from The Intrepid Thread is . . .   Number 383 . . . Congrats Renea !!  I have emailed you :)

    

  

And on to today's

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by The Scarlet Thread Quilt Co.  Along with hosting the giveaway, Julie is offering a special deal for all my readers.  Take 10% off your cart with the coupon code TENPERCENT !!!!!  The code will last until next Terrific Tuesday ;) 

And the Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is for a Retro Christmas Fun Half Yard Bundle made up of fabulous Micheal Miller prints.   This totally makes me want to get going on my Christmas sewing.  Love it!!!

You have two entry chances, the second being optional, and please leave a separate comment for each.  All Entries are welcome, including International Entries.  Please just be sure to leave an email address if you are a no-reply blogger ;)  

ENTRY 1 - Simply leave a comment that telling me your Christmas sewing plans.  Have you started?  What do you want to make?  What fabrics do you want to use?  Anything will do :)

 ENTRY 2 - Show your Scarlet Thread Quilt Co. love.   You can follow them on   Facebook, Instagram, or Favorite their Shop.  Or you can visit The Shop and then share a favorite item ;)   Just be sure to leave a comment of how you showed your Scarlet Thread Quilt Co. Love!!!

And that's it ;)  The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, November 11th when I will announce a winner at the beginning of next weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Post :)

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Some Reminders

Oh my goodness, this weekend was crazy busy, and crazy fun.  We had a wonderful Halloween with beautiful temperatures and the kids had so much fun trick-or-treating.  Then Saturday was spent with family playing games, chatting, eating lots of candy and general good times.  And then Sunday we had the first snow of the season and celebrated with hot chocolate.  What fun!!!  And I didn't sew a single stitch all weekend.

So today, I am just sharing a few reminders . . .

First off, the Optical Illusions Blog Tour Starts Today!!!  Yippee!!!  Pop on over to the My Stars Blog to get the full schedule of all of the stops ;)  There will be lots of prizes and opportunities to win a copy along the entire hop ;)  I can't wait to share my quilt with you, more on Thursday ;)

Second, the Blogger's Quilt Festival Entries have ended and it is time to vote :) Be sure to pop through each of the category and check out all of the amazing quilting ggoodness  Then vote for a favorite in each category ;)   I will be browsing through during nap time and am so looking forward to all of that quilty goodness ;)

And one last reminder, today is the last day to enter this weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day ;)  The Intrepid Thread is sponsoring this adorable Good Natured Cool Bundle ;)  I will be choosing a winner tomorrow morning and announcing the new weekly giveaway ;) So enter if you haven't yet and then be sure to pop back in tomorrow to see if you won and what new is up for grabs ;)  

Thats all for today ;)

Have a Happy Quilting One :)

Smooth Sailing

I have a new finish to share today that was one of those secret projects that I didn't get to show anything of until now ;)  And I just so happens to align perfectly with Bloggers Quilt Festival so I am adding it to the Large Quilt Category!!!  Yippee!!!   So if you are popping over from BQF and visiting for the first time, Welcome!!!  So glad you stopped by :)

This quilt is called Smooth Sailing and I made it to hang in the United Notions booth at Fall Quilt Market.   The fabric is Daysail by Bonnie and Camille for Moda and the pattern is by Bonnie Olaveson of that amazing duo ;)  Isn't it just so fun!!!

This is a big quilt finishing at 83" x 91" :)   And oh my goodness, was it a fun one to put together!!!  It was like creating 16 little mini's and then putting all of those mini's into boats :)  It was so much fun picking the placement and colors of each boat and then making sure they were all facing the right direction, I had to double check a few times ;)  But really, oh so much fun to make, and it is all just traditionally pieced, no foundation or paper ;)   What an amazing design!!

When it came time to quilt this I really wanted to go all out ;)  For the background I went with a mixture of designs.  I wanted to create a lot of movement that just flowed so I quilted swirls, echoed paisleys, pebbles, and curls all interchangeably.   I used my favorite 402 Pearl So Fine Superior Thread so it blends just beautifully while still showing the quilting ;)  And can I just say I LOVE it!!!

For the boats, I quilted wavy lines in the sails, woodgrain in the boat, scallops in the water, and 1/4" straight outline on the block, flag, and mast ;)  I switched colors to match and blend with the color of the sail.  It took a minute more but was so worth it ;)   I don't consider myself a professional long-arm quilter by any means, but I have to say, I was pretty proud of this one ;)

Back to a little bit of the piecing . . . I just love how each of these little boats turned out ;)  I played with a lot of different color layouts and in the end I just loved the matching color sails look :) All of the water and masts have the same colors in all the boats to tie them all together ;)   And It is probably hard to tell from the big picture but I matched the little flag to each of the block, just a fun little detail that makes me smile ;)   

The backing is one of my favorite prints from the collection :)  These adorable sail boats which I was so happy to use as I stuck to basically the tone on tone prints on the front to give the overall look I was going for ;)  It's fun to see all of the quilting on it as well ;)

This really was such a fun quilt to make, and I am so glad to be able to share it now with all of you ;)  I also got to share it with one other special person . . . Bonnie Olaveson!!!   Wow, what a special moment ;)  She loved it and was super impressed with the quilting, yup, perma-grin all day ;)

I

 Thanks so much for stopping in today ;)  I hope you love the quilt as much as I do ;)  Be sure to pop back to the Blogger's Quilt Festival to see all of the other amazing quilting goodness!!  There are over 400 Quilts!!!

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!

Linking this finish to Sarah's and Amanda's ;)

Bloggers Quilt Festival - Off Kilter

Hello Sewing Friends!!!  I am so excited for another edition of Bloggers Quilt Festival!!  I so look forward to this event, it is just endless amounts of quilty goodness!!! If you are visiting Happy Quilting for the first time, welcome :)   I hope you browse around and come back often ;)  I love to share my daily quilting adventures here ;)

 This year, I am featuring 2 quilts for the event and today I am sharing the first.   Here is Off Kilter and I will be putting it in the ROYGBIV Category, big surprise there ;)

While at Spring Quilt Market last year I sat in the schoolhouse where Free Spirit Fabrics showed off this beautiful collection of Modern Solids by Denyse Schmidt.  I knew I wanted to do something with that amazing box of goodness and started sketching in the airport on the way home ;)

After a few ideas, I came up with Off Kilter and it just clicked. Don't you just love when that happens ;)  I couldn't wait to get home and sketch it up in EQ ;)  One of the first things I did when I got home was sketch up this quilt and then I got all kinds of excited!!  

 2 months ago, working with the lovely folks at Free Spirit Fabrics, I was able to transform it from a sketch to a quilt.  And I can not tell you how happy I am with the results ;)   I wrote up a free Off Kilter tutorial to go along with the quilt so if you want to make your own Off Kilter Quilt you can ;) The tutorial has instructions for both a large lap and twin size.

I quilted it with just straight-ish lines about 1/2" apart across the entire quilt top ;)  Not only do I love quilting like this because it is fast and fun, it also has the added benefit of giving you lots of exercise walking back and forth across the quilt top so many times ;)

And Off Kilter and I had a pretty awesome experience last week. I was asked by the folks at Free Spirit Fabric to bring Off Kilter to Fall Market to hang in their booth.  I was so excited to see it there and then noticed Denyse Schmidt sitting near by.  Like a total fan girl I asked if she could take a picture with me and my quilt ;)  ,  Yup, total perma grin, what an amazing moment!!

And that's Off Kilter :)  Thank you so much for stopping by today ;)  I hope you are enjoying the Blogger's Quilt Festival, and if you are just finding out about it, or just want a link back, you can click on the image below to take you to the main page of Blogger's Quilt Festival and enjoy an  amazing array of quilty goodness!!!

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!