Just like all of the Fast & Fun Lap Quilts, it is made with 1 Layer Cake and some background fabric. (I used a treasured Persimmon Layer Cake and Grunge Paper background :) And while this quilt might look a little complicated, it actually quite Fast & Fun to make, surprise, surprise!!! The quilt is made with No-Waste Flying Geese, (which if you haven't made yet, you are going to love!!) and Half Square Triangles. Those go together with some basic piecing of 20 blocks that are laid out in alternate rows to give you this amazing Thunderbird quilt. It finishes at 60" x 72" so it is a great lap size quilt ;)
And you might have noticed in the first picture, this bonus quilt comes with a bonus pillow/mini quilt !!! There wasn't quite enough leftovers in the Layer Cake to do a scrappy binding (like several of the quilts in Fast & Fun Lap Quilts ) but there was just enough to make this matching pillow/mini wall hanging. And yes, the FREE PDF Pattern also includes instructions for this bonus :)
When it came time to quilt my Thunderbird quilt, I decided to to an all over echoed paisley design. I love how it adds so much movement to all of those crisp points. And if you love this design, I just happen to have a free Video Tutorial for creating this free motion quilting design on your home machine ;) It's always fun to be Happy Quilting!!
I hope you love this Thunderbird quilt as much as I do and if you make your own (or any of the quilts from Fast & Fun Lap Quilts) I would love to see them! You can share your projects with me on social media with the hashtags #happyquiltingwithmcand #fastandfunlapquilts and tagging @happyquiltingmc or email me a picture at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com. I can't wait to see your Quilts!!
It's Month 3 of the Barn Star Sampler Quilt Along and I am just so excited to share another set of blocks!!! Thanks to Fat Quarter Shop' for hosting this awesome quilt along, I just get more and more excited with each passing month :) On the last Friday of each month I will be sharing my new Barn Star Sampler blocks, and this month we are sharing Block 3 :)
My Barn Star Sampler will finish at 100" x 100" square, so sometimes I will be making more blocks, but this month, it's just 2 like everyone else. And I am just loving the blocks in their Rainbow of Ombre goodness!!! This month's Block 3 is made . . .
in Strawberry
and Green
I just love these Carpenter Star Blocks!!! This month's colors had lots of contrast in them, and I think it just really makes these blocks pop. I just loved getting to line up all those points as well, so fun!! Now I get to look forward to Month 4, where we will be making more than one type of block, so exciting :)
So are you quilting along with all of the star fun as well?? Be sure to share all of your Barn Star Sampler progress on social media with #BarnStarSamplerqal and check out Fat Quarter Shops post for Block 3 for lots more Barn Star Inspiration!!!
And that's it for Block 3 - The Carpenter Star Block in the Barn Star Sampler Quilt Along!!!!
Thanks for popping in today ;) Have a Happy Quilting Day!!
Today, I am thrilled to be sharing one of my newest quilt finishes featuring the wonderfully patriotic Red, White, & True fabrics by Dani Mogstad for Riley Blake Designs. As soon as I saw this fantastic fabric line, I just knew it would be perfect. You see, I have been wanting to make a quilt from my Fast & Fun Lap Quilts book to show how amazing they would work as Quilts of Valor!!! Most of the quilts in my book fit the size recommended for Quilts of Valor, and what better way to whip up Fast & Fun Lap Quilts then to make it for such an amazing organization.
Don't those blocks just pop in the Red, White, Blue (and Tan :) I feel like Diamond Dash was a perfect fit for this patriotic quilt. Diamond Dash got it's name from taking the basic Churn Dash Block, and adding a Diamond to the center of it. Then for fun, I added a secondary Diamond block and I think it is the perfect compliment to the bedazzled Churn Dash block. And I love that this design allows you to make it look super scrappy, even though it is made with a Layer Cake/10" Stacker. And guess what, that scrappy binding is from the Layer Cake/10" Stacker as well, not a bit of waste for this quilt!!
And Diamond Dash might look a little daunting, but it really goes together fast and is so fun to make!!! You will mostly be making Half Square Triangles, with a few little Stitch and Flips thrown in. Add a bit of basic piecing and you are done!! And when your blocks are all complete, it is super easy to sew them all together as there is no sashing and the Diamond blocks float, so less points to worry about lining up. It truly is great for beginners and experts alike. Diamond Dash finishes at 64 1/2" square, so it is a great lap size to wrap up someone special in. And of course, it is one of the 9 quilts featured in my Fast & Fun Lap Quilts book.
And when it came time to quilt mine, I decided to to an all over big swirl design. I love how it adds so much movement to all of those crisp points. And I don't often quilt on this large of a scale, but I really think it added to the overall effect of the quilt and I wanted to make sure it stayed nice and soft, and large scale quilting is always great for that.
And that is my new Diamond Dash quilt! I hope you have enjoyed this post. To see more of my Fast & Fun Lap Quilts book, you can visit this post with all the quilts and all the details!!! Truly, all of the quilts in this book would make amazing Quilts of Valor. And again, to get started on any of the 9 quilts in the book , you just need one Layer Cake/10" Stacker and a background fabric. It just makes it so fun and fast to whip up these lap quilts!
Oh, and if you make your own Diamond Dash Quilts, (or any of the quilts from Fast & Fun Lap Quilts) I would love to see them! You can share your projects with me on social media with the hashtags #happyquiltingwithmc and #fastandfunlapquilts and tagging @happyquiltingmc or email me a picture at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com. I can't wait to see your Quilts!!
Oh, and one final reminder before I go. The Fast & Fun Sampler Quilt Along will start on April 5th, and we will be making blocks from each of the 9 quilts in the book and then combining them in this beautiful sampler layout! So grab a copy of Fast & Fun Lap Quilts, pop over to this post for all the details, and come quilt along with me!
Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by Thousands of Bolts . Thousands of Bolts has incredible prices that will have you super excited!!! There are thousands of bolts to choose from and all at amazing prices, staring as low as $5.39 a yard!!! And they have just introduced dozens and dozens of new fabrics to the inventory!! Be sure to check it out :)
And for Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway, Thousands of Bolts is giving one lucky winner at $25.00 Gift Certificate!!! You can get just what you always wanted :) And good luck picking because there are literally thousands of bolts to choose from!!!!
You have two entry chances here on the blog, 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 tells me What is something you have learned in the last week??
ENTRY 2 - Lets show Thousands of Bolts some Love!!!! You can follow them on Facebook or Instagram. Or you can visit The Shop and then share a favorite item ;) Just be sure to leave a comment of how you showed your Thousand of Bolts Love!!!
And that's it ;) The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, April 4th, when I will announce a winner at the beginning of next weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Post :)
You can also pop over to my Instagram and/or Facebook to enter there as well :)
Can you believe it! The Fast & Fun Sampler Quilt Along starts in just under 2 weeks! I can't wait. So today we are going over All the Details.
THE HOW TO
The The Fast & Fun Sampler is my own quilt design and uses blocks from each of the 9 quilts in my Fast & Fun Lap Quilts Book. I had so much fun working on the design for this quilt along and hope you love it as much as I do. While the layout gives the quilt a fun medallion feel, it is actually put together as a row quilt. It is a queen size quilt finishing at 92" x 92" and perfect for beginners and experts alike.
There will be a post every Wednesday starting April 5th until May 24th going over all the piecing. Then, On June 7th, there will be a Parade of all the finished quilts as well as a Grand Prize drawing on .
A new assignment each week means we are going to be sewing Fast and having lots of Fun along the way. But if life gets crazy and you fall behind, no worries. The posts and PDF Links will always be on my blog so you can come catch up whenever it works for you! The schedule will be as follows:
So count on checking back here on my blog each Wednesday for the new block assignment. I will be sharing a Weekly PDF Download that you will use along with the block making instructions from the Fast & Fun Lap Quilts Book to complete the weeks assignment. The two work together, so you will need a copy of my Fast & Fun Lap Quilts Book to quilt along.
But there is no need to sign up, just follow along each week, make the assigned blocks, and then share them to be entered to win lots of fun prizes!
And with that, we are ready to talk fabrics!
THE FABRIC REQUIREMENTS
Below is an image of the Fabric requirements along with the weekly assignments. You can go here for a printable version. You will need: 2 Layer Cake/10" Stackers , 9 Yards of Background Fabric and 5 1/2 Yards of Backing Fabric.
You can choose any 2 Layer Cake/10" Stackers for this Quilt Along, they don't have to be any fabric brand or type!!! And they don't even all have to be from the same line, mix and match as you desire. You can even do a scrappy quilt and just pull 10" squares from your scrap bin. Have fun making it your own!
And as a special bonus . . . Fat Quarter Shop has graciously offered to sponsor materials requirements for this QAL. Just use the coupon codeFAST10 at checkout to save 10% off Sitewide!!! You can get your Layer Cakes and Yardage Cuts so you are all set to quilt along on sale!
(Excludes gift certificates, sale items, pre-orders and clubs. Other exclusions may apply. Coupon is not combinable with other offers. Can not be retroactively applied to previous orders. Expires Friday March 31, 2023 at 11:59 PM CST.)
Also, I will be showing everything with a white background fabric, but you don't have to use white, feel free to choose any color you like for the background and also, it doesn't have to be a solid. The binding will be scrappy from our 10" squares so you don't need to worry about getting a fabric for that . And when it comes to the backing, we will be adding a pieced block section in it, so fun!
And just in case you like to plan things out in advance, Here is a coloring page of the sampler. You can download the coloring page here and fill it in with your chosen layout. And if you want to see how a particular fabric will look in the design, simply email me at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com and I can send you an EQ sketch of your chosen fabric.
THE PRIZES
I am so very excited about the Prizes for this Quilt-A-Long!! I don't know about you, but I know that I am highly more motivated to keep up and finish when there are Prizes at stake ;)
All those that finish their Fast & Fun Sampler Quilt Top will be eligible for the 3 Grand Prizes. The Grand Prize's are sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop and huge Thank You goes out to Kimberly for their generosity in these prizes. Want to know what they are?
The three winners will each receive a $75.00 Gift Certificates to Fat Quarter Shop! Talk about some amazing fabric Goodness! How about that for motivation to quilt along!
But . . . Sometimes it is hard to keep motivated when the end is so far away. So for that . . . We have a little weekly motivation. Every week you finish and share your blocks, you will eligible to win a Layer Cake from one of my amazing sponsors.
So there is going to be a lot of wonderful prizes to be won! So keep up and sew on!
SHARING It's always fun when we share so we can see each others progress and cheer each other on! It's also how you will enter to win prizes so be sure when you finish your weekly assignment to share it! Here's how . . .
If you use Facebook or Instagram be sure and use the Hashtags #fastandfunsampler and #fastandfunsamplerqal in your post. Then we can all easily find and see each others work on social media and I will be choosing winner's from the hashtags.
If you don't use social media, no worries. Just email me a picture at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com and I will post a picture for your with the hashtags included so you will be eligible for prizes as well.
LET'S GET GOING!!
So that just about wraps it up!!! You have another week and a half to round up your fabric and the first blocks will be posted on April 5th!!!
And you can always find all the posts for the Fast and Fun Sampler on my Quilt Along page here.
And if you have any questions at all regarding the Fast & Fun Sampler Quilt Along please do not hesitate to email me at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com or comment below. And again, please feel free to make your quilt your own. What ever you envision, you make it yours, all finished quilt tops will be eligible for the grand prize.
