Fast & Fun Sampler Quilt Along - Week 1

 **  NOTE  - This post is part of a series of posts for the Fast & Fun Sampler Quilt Along.  If you would like to join (and have a chance to win some fun prizes ) you can find a list of the post links here :)  Here is the schedule

Introduction and Details

April 5 - Dash and Diamond Blocks - You are Here

April 12 -  Puzzle Box Blocks

April 19th - Treasured Blocks

April 26th - Jacks Blocks

May 3 - Dutch Days and Three O Blocks

May 10 - Aurora Block and Key Blocks

May 17th - Merry-Go-Round Blocks

May 24th - Putting it All Together

June 7th - Parade of Finishes

WEEK 1 - DASH BLOCKS AND DIAMOND BLOCKS

It's the first week of making blocks for the Fast & Fun Sampler Quilt Along and I am so excited!!!  And just a reminder,  I am making 2 versions of the quilt, so I will be sharing extra blocks.  You only need to share one set of blocks ;)     You will need your copy of Fast & Fun Lap Quilts (which is available in both hard copy or e-book format)  for the piecing instructions as well as the Week 1 - Dash & Diamond Block Pattern  supplemental directions for making your blocks ;)  This week we will be 8 blocks  from the Diamond Dash quilt!!!

We will get started with the Dash Blocks from the Diamond Dash Quilt.  We will be making 4 Dash Blocks.   You will be using directions from pages 19-24 in your book and the Week 1 - Dash & Diamond Block Pattern  for supplemental directions to make your blocks.  

And as you can see, we will be adding sashing to the blocks so they will be ready to fit into the sampler layout ;)

And now, it's time to make the Diamond Blocks also from the Diamond Dash Quilt.  We will be making 4 Dash Blocks.   You will, again, be using directions from pages 19-24 in your book and the Week 1 - Dash & Diamond Block Pattern  for supplemental directions to make your blocks.  

And again, we will be adding sashing to the blocks, just take note that two blocks are sashed top and bottom, and the remaining two blocks are sashed just on the bottom. 

WEEK 1 - SHARE YOUR BLOCKS

And just like that, you are done with Week 1!!  And now, you get to share your progress!!!   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 Dash & Diamond Blocks to share them!  Here's how

If you use Facebook or Instagram  be sure and use the Hashtags #fastandfunsampler and #fastandfunsamplerqal  in your post. And you can tag me @happyquiltingmc as well, if you like ;)    

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.  

WEEK 1 - PRIZES

 And just a reminder, everyone that finishes their quilt top between May 24th - June 7th will be eligible to win one of three amazing Grand Prizes of  $75.00 Gift Certificates to Fat Quarter Shop!!!  Thank you to Fat Quarter Shop for these generous grand prizes to help keep us all motivated to keep up!! 

   

And just to keep you motivated each week, we also have a giveaway for everyone who finishes their Dash & Diamond Blocks!!!   This week, you can win this beautiful Fruit Cocktail Layer Cake by Fig Tree & Co!!!  Green Fairy Quilts is sponsoring this giveaway and I thank them for helping to keep us motivated!!!  

To enter this giveaway, all you have to do is share your Diamond & Dash Blocks with Hashtags #fastandfunsampler and #fastandfunsamplerqal  on  Facebook or Instagram or email me a picture of your blocks to happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com by April 11th at midnight.     I will share the winner at the beginning of next weeks QAL post :)  
                           

And that is it for Week 1 of the Fast & Fun Sampler Quilt Along!!!  I can't wait to see your Dash and Diamond blocks.   And of course, if you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to leave them in the comments below, or email me at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com

I hope you all have lots of Happy Quilting times as you Quilt Along for Week 1 :)  

Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!

  It's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!! Let's have some fun :)

First, we are going to announce the winners of last week's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway!!  

The winner of the $25.00 Gift Certificate from Thousands of Bolts is . . . #117 . . . Congrats to koolchemist!!  I have messaged you :)

     

         

And on to today's

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by Happy Quilting!!!  Yup, little ole me today ;)    In Celebration of the start of the Fast & Fun Sampler Quilt Along beginning tomorrow . . . I am giving away a signed copy of my Fast & Fun Lap Quilts book today!!! 

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

ENTRY 1 - Simply leave a comment telling me what have you done this week that was just fun ;) 

 
 ENTRY 2 - Show your Happy Quilting love. You can follow Happy Quilting on Bloglovin, or Email Updates, to get daily updates. (see on right side of blog)  Or you can like Happy Quilting on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest   Any one way will do . . . Just be sure to leave a comment of how you showed your Happy Quilting Love!!!

And that's it ;)  The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, April 11th, 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 :)  

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Fast & Fun Lap Quilts - Bonus Quilt with Free PDF Pattern!!!

In celebration of my Fast & Fun Lap Quilts being newly released with C & T Publishing, I am sharing a brand new Bonus Fast & Fun Lap Quilt!!!   Here is Thunderbird and you can get the FREE PDF Pattern here ;)    

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  #happyquiltingwithmc and #fastandfunlapquilts and tagging @happyquiltingmc or email me a picture at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com. I can't wait to see your Quilts!!

And one last note before I sign off . . . Just a reminder of The Fast & Fun Sampler Quilt Along that starts on Wednesday!!!   

You can see all the details of this Fast & Fun Sampler Quilt Along in this post.   I can't wait to Quilt Along with each of you :) 

 

I hope you all have a very Happy Quilting Day!!!

Barn Star Sampler QAL - Block 3

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!!

Red, White, and True - Diamond Dash Lap Quilt

 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.

And here it is, my Diamond Dash Quilt featuring Red, White, & True

One of my favorite things about the quilts in my Fast & Fun Lap Quilts book is that they are all made from one Layer Cake/10" Stacker and a background fabric. So all I needed to get started was a Red, White, & True 10" Stacker and I combined it with the Denim Bee Cross Stitch Basic for the background and away I went.  

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!

          

I hope you have a very Happy Quilting Day!!!