A Great Christmas and some Color Help Needed :)

**  If you are looking for the Fat Quarter Shop Gift Certificate Giveaway you can find it here 

We had such a wonderful Christmas.  The holiday was spent (and will continue to be spent) with lots of family, just the way I love it!!!  We are so happy to be back home and close to those we love.   For me families are what make Holidays so special.  

So do you want to see some Quilting presents??  My amazing Mother In Law gave me this awesome trio!!!  A little pincushion / thread catcher basket, (which is so perfect because I keep trailing threads all over the house, oops ) a free motion design DVD by Leah Day, and some new quilting gloves!!!!!  Oh my goodness, I am so excited!!!  I can't wait to try out those new gloves and I think I will be watching the DVD before I go start quilting the next little quilt :)

 My amazing Sister In Law designed this little stitch for me.  Isn't it just fabulous!!!  I love it!!!  It is being mounted on the wall next to my sewing machine today.  My Sister In Law and her mother have been making these types of stitches for years and they sell them at boutiques and such. They design all of the pictures, do the stitches and even make the frames.   They also have a great shop online called Live Well Stitches.  I just loved that she designed this for me :) Does my family know me or what?????

And here is where the Color Help comes in.  My husband and I got ourselves a new bedroom set for Christmas.  Yippee Skippee!!!!  This is our first actual bedroom set, it is a deep brown finish and I love it.  And if you are thinking, does that look really high?? The answer is yes, they ordered the wrong box springs so we have to poll vault into bed until the new ones come :)    This bed also happens to be our first king size bed so we have no bedding for it.  The walls are green, obviously leaning more towards a minty color than a sage color.  So . . . . If you were going to be making a king size quilt for this bedroom, what colors or what line would you use???

Merry Christmas

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

To Your Family From Ours!!!

4th and Final Christmas Extravaganza Giveaway with Fat Quarter Shop

It's the last Friday before Christmas and that means it is time for our fourth and final Christmas Extravaganza Giveaway.  This week's giveaway is sponsored by the fabulous Fat Quarter Shop!!  Now if you haven't heard of the Fat Quarter Shop it might be that you have been living under a rock :)

Have you checked out the Fat Quarter Shop's Countdown to Christmas sale??  Oh my goodness , I could fill up a cart in seconds with these amazing deals.  If you haven't checked it out yet make super to click on over for some fabulous deals!!!  

Now, onto the giveaway!!!   Up for grabs, a $50.00 Gift Certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop!!!!  You can use it to buy whatever is on the top of your Christmas list.  Isn't that just the perfect Christmas present!!!

                                    

For a chance to win just do the following . . . and please, only one comment per option for a max of 2 comments :)

1 - Be A follower of The Jolly Jabber, the Fat Quarter Shop Blog, and leave a comment.  How about you tell me something that makes you Jolly :)

2 - Pop on over to the Fat Quarter Shop and tell me what item is that perfect Christmas present that you would use your Gift Certificate on.  (Again, I always love gifts that are to me, from me, tee hee hee :) 

So that's it :) The giveaway will close on Wednesday the 29th and I will announce a winner shortly after.   Good Luck to all and Happy Quilting!!!

Winner!!!

Thank you again to Leah at Burgundy Buttons for sponsoring our giveaway!!!  Leah just announced her Year End Blowout Sale!!!  There are some great deals.  You will totally want to make sure you pop on over :)

So let's get to the winner.  Mr. Random.Org choose . . . 

#251 . . . Who is Leslie can't stop quilting!!!!!   Congrats Leslie, I sent you an email :)

Tomorrow morning is the start of the fourth and final Christmas Extravaganza Giveaway!!!  See ya then :)

TNT Thursday

This week I had so much fun trying something completely new to me.  I put together 2 virtual bees for 2012.  And it was a lot less scary then I thought it would be :)  I can not believe the response that I got from those of you who wanted to "Bee with me."  Thank you so much.  I truly wish I could have created enough groups for everyone, but alas, my sewing time just won't allow it :)  I will be the Bee Mama for the US group and my good friend Cherie took the reins for the International group :)  I can't wait for next year to get going on some blocks :)  And since every good post needs a picture, here is the button that Leah from Burgundy Buttons has made up for the group.  Isn't it just fabulous!!!  She is working on one for the other group and I can't wait to see it :)

So . . . .   What have you tried new this week????  Let's see those links :)

There's Always Next Year :)

So do you remember this beautiful fabric I bought (sometime in July) to make my three girls amazing matching Christmas Dresses??  Sadly, it is still in the same state as you see in this picture.  And there are no plans to try and frantically sew them together by Sunday.  I kept thinking I needed to work on them, and I would always find some excuse to procrastinate this scary project.  Then my daughter got some Christmas dresses handed down from her cousin and that was the final straw.  No sense in making more when she already has some.  (At least that is what I rationalized to myself :)  So back in the drawer it will go until next year.  and hey, at least Baby Jocelyn will be able to wear it more than 1 month next yer.  She is growing like a weed :)

and while I am on the note of putting things to next year . . . Let's see what other projects will become 2012 projects :)


Designing Stage

• Baby Quilt for Special Nephew arriving in April
• Circle Meets Square Quilt
• 4th of July Table Runner for Sister-In-Law 
• Secret Project MB

Piecing Stage

• Stars Quilt-A-Long
• Baby Quilt for Special new Niece arriving in April
• Hugs and Kisses Quilt for Grandma
• Going Places Quilt

Quilting Stage

• Nursery Crib Quilt
• Baby Quilt for Special new Niece arriving in March 

Completed Stage

• Christmas Tutorial
• Flying in Squares Quilt - Coming to a bakeshop near you on the 28th!!!!

Twisting Take 2!!

Yesterday everyone decided to give me an early Christmas present.  The little ones took a 3 1/2 afternoon nap and the older ones enjoyed some unsupervised craft time :)  Which meant I was able to finish my Twister.   This is a gift I am trying to finish up by Christmas.  However, when I finished I was not quite as happy with my results.  Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it or anything, I had just planned for a brown row, a brown-pink row, and then a pink row to pop.  The pink row really pops but the brown-pink row just blended to much with the brown row.  You know when it just doesn't quite turn out the way you had seen it in your head :)

So . . . . I grabbed the remaining pieces from the Heidi Grace pile and decided to use the tan brown instead of the brown I used previously.  I didn't use it initially because it has the same print as one of the brown prints but I think I can handle that if it makes a greater distinction between rows.  So this is what I will be working on today :)

Twisting again :)

** If you are looking for the 3rd Christmas Extravaganza Giveaway you can find it here :)

Do you ever have one of those days where you know you should be doing something else but you just want to do that special something :)  Ya, that was last Thursday for me.  I have WIP that need to be completed, Bee's that needed to be organized (which I did this morning :) , designs to be put into EQ, a tutorial to finish, and I had to pack to go out of town for the weekend.  So what did I do????

Started another "Twister" baby quilt!!!  I have been thinking over a stack of Heidi Grace on my shelf for a few weeks now and while lying in bed Wednesday night decided that it would be so adorable in a twister quilt but I wanted it to have more of a layed out look then a random look.   I got up (at 1:00 am mind you :) and figured out the design I wanted to do.  I wen't back to bed for a few hours and then got up and after getting the kids off to school went right downstairs and started sewing together the grid :)  I am so loving it!!!  I am about a 1/3 done.  Here's hoping I can get some more done today :)

Christmas Giveaway Extravaganza with Burgundy Buttons!!!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

It's Friday again so that means it is time for our third Christmas Extravaganza Giveaway.  This week's giveaway is sponsored by the fabulous Leah at Burgundy Buttons!!  Leah's shop is so fun and filled with all kinds of Moda goodness.  She has yardage, pre-cuts, snuggles, flannels and wovens.

And did you know that she has been having a fabulous 12 Days of Christmas sale???  Each day was a different sale.  Well if you didn't know, don't fret.  As the finale of the sale, you can get all of the sales from all 12 days!!!!  This Finale ends Saturday at Midnight so you best hop on over quick if you want to score some great deals :)

Now, onto the giveaway!!!   Up for grabs, a California Girl Jelly Roll.  This is Fig Tree Quilts newest line slated to come out in March.  That's right, you can't even buy this yet, but you can win it here!!!!

For a chance to win just do the following . . . and please, only one comment per option for a max of 2 comments :)

1 - Be A follower of Burgundy Buttons blog and leave a comment.  How about you tell me something you love about their shop or let me know you are new to Burgundy Buttons :)

2 - Pop on over to the Finale of the 12 Days of Christmas Sale and tell me what item you just are dying to put under your Christmas tree.  (I always love gifts that are to me, from me, tee hee hee :) 

So that's it :) The giveaway will close on Wednesday the 22nd. and I will announce a winner shortly after.   And Don't forget to stop by next Friday for our final Christmas Giveaway!!!  Good Luck to all and Happy Quilting!!!

Winner, Winner, Winner!!!!

First off, thank you to Julie and The Intrepid Thread for sponsoring such an amazing giveaway!!!  Obviously, it was well like because WOW, there were a lot of comments.  1079 to be exact. So lets get to announcing the winner (who obviously has the luck of the Irish) of this fabulous Power Pop Giveaway!!!

And according to Mr. Random.Org the winner is . . . . #222

Who happens to be . . .  In Black and White!!!   Congrats!!!  I have sent you an email

Didn't win today . . .  It's okay.  Stop by tomorrow for our Third Christmas Giveaway!!  It's gonna be good!!!

TNT Thursday

So my big New Thing this week was actually talked about on Monday. I made a new Holiday Oven Mitt as part of the Quilt Story Gift Tutorial hop.  I worked with Insul Bright for the first time (Which I really like) and I made my first oven mitt, (kind of obvious :)   I also realized that releasing a tutorial on the first day of Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day makes it really easy to get missed.  So just in case you missed the tutorial over at Quilt Story I thought I might add it here.  It is TNT Thursday after all and who knows, maybe you want to try sewing your first oven mitt together :)

To make this oven mitt you will need :

   2 Pieces of Christmas fabric each  measuring 10" x 16" for the outer oven mitt

   2 Pieces of Christmas fabric each measuring 10" x 16" for the inner lining

   1 piece of Christmas fabric measuring 2 1/2" x 16" for the binding

   2 pieces of Insul-Bright batting each measuring 11" x 17"

   2 pieces of Warm and Natural batting each measuring 11" x 17"

   

You start by making 2 mini quilt sandwiches.  Layer each sandwich starting with the lining print faced right side down, then the Insul-Bright, followed by the Warm and Natural batting and then the outer print fabric with right side up.  Baste your two mini quilt sandwiches.

Print out a copy of the Oven Mitt template.  Trace the template onto each of your quilt sandwich making sure to flip it over for the second tracing.  (So the thumbs should be on opposite sides of the sandwiches.)  The template is for a standard size oven mitt but if you want yours longer (I like mine that way) you can add 2" to 3" at the bottom of the template.

This is my favorite part.  Quilt inside the tracings of each quilt sandwich.  (I like to stay inside the drawn line so that I don't end up cutting any of my quilting lines.)  You can quilt a basic cross-hatch design or you can spice it up and do some fun free motion quilting.  I did swirls to match with the candies :)  Once you are done quilting your two sandwiches go ahead and cut out on the trace lines of each sandwich.

To make things a little easier when binding we will stitch up the bottom of the oven mitt.  If you have a serger just go ahead and surge along the bottom (and only the bottom) of each side of the oven mitt.  If you don't have a serger (like me) stitch a straight line 3/8" in from the edge and then go back and do a tight zig-zag stitch right along the edge.

Place your two oven mitt sides with right sides together so the linings are both on the outside.  Pin along the outer edge but not along the bottom of the oven mitt.

Now once again, if you have a serger, go ahead and serge around your pinned edge.  If you don't go ahead and stitch your straight stitch 3/8" in from the edge and then go back and do a tight zig-zag along the edge.  This is a lot of layers so if you have a heavy duty needle and a walking foot it will help :)

Turn your oven mitt right side out.  This takes a little work along the seams.  Use a sharp tool if necessary to push out some of the curves.

All that is left is binding the bottom.  So take your binding strip and iron it in half.

Measure the amount of lining you will need to go around the inside of your oven mitt and overlap 1/2".  Trim the excess.

Take your newly trimmed binding strip and open it up and place it with right sides together.  Stitch a 1/4" seam along the raw edge.  Now fold your lining in half again with wrong sides together and right sides out.

Place the lining inside the edge of your oven mitt with the raw edge of the lining along the edge of the oven mitt.  Pin in place.

Now stitch a 3/8" seam along the edge of the binding on the inside of the oven mitt.  This is a little tedious but a walking foot and heavy duty needle will help.

Lastly, flip your folded edge of the binding over the oven mitt and pin. You can hand sew the binding down or use your machine.  Whatever your preference :)

And you are done!!  Wasn't that easy.   Now just fill it with some fun Holiday baking goodies and it is ready to give to your friends and family :)  Enjoy!!!  And if you make some of these fun Holiday Oven Mitt's I would love for your to post a picture of them in my Happy Quilting Flickr Group :)

So that's my new thing :)  So what have you been up to?? 

<br /> <a border="0" href="http://happyquiltingmelissa.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src=" https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjERmOwnuoN_yJzxwDc-0EeiilcFD1-q0nwIYFJi8QgWQomMNyUe-mWSSLzpB1MHklEHvw7R3SgK4qNy-XzyNo0-QVoY6bWsu3_ACS-uXIDSqii5EEEEgawSE6dBGJI0DWhpWddnS0yvLs/s1600/TNT-thursdays-blog-button.jpg"/></a><br />

Do you want to Bee with Me????

*** NOTE - I had such a huge response that I acutally created 2 bees but I can't commit to doing more than that.  Thank you for your interest.  I am sorry to say that the bee is full :)

So this year I participated in my first Bee (the VIBee's) and I LOVED it!!!!  It was so much fun and I learned something new with each block each month.  Sadly, this bee is not continuing next year.  But I so want to participate in another block bee for 2012.  So I thought who better to participate in a block bee with then all of you that I feel like I have come to know through Happy Quilting.

So what do you think??  Do you want to participate in a block bee for 2012 with me??  If so please send me an email to happyquiltingmelissa (at) gmail (dot) com with your name, where you live, and the answers to the following questions.

1 - Are you interested in a bee that when it is your month you
        A - Send your own fabric to the other bee members to make blocks with
        B - Have the other bee members make a block with their own fabric with colors specified by you

2 - Are you interested in a bee that makes
        A - Traditional Blocks
        B - Modern Blocks

3 - Are you interested in a bee that exchanges
        A - One block a month for 12 months
        B - Two blocks a month for 12 months

4 - Are you interested in a bee that exchanges with members that live
        A - Only in the US
        B - Anywhere

So that's about that.  I will determine the interest from the emails and go from there :)  Who knows, maybe we'll end up creating 2 bees :)  That would be fantastic!!!  Can't wait to hear from you :)

Holiday Oven Mitt Tutorial

** If you are looking for the 2nd Christmas Extravaganza giveaway you will find it here :)

I am  super excited to be guest posting at Quilt Story today!! Meagan and Heather asked me to participate in their Holiday Gift Tutorial hop.  One of my favorite things about the Holidays is baking!!!  So when I started to think of what type of holiday gift to create I instantly was drawn to the kitchen.  Who wouldn't love an adorable Christmas Oven Mitt.  So pop on over to Quilt Story to see how to make one for yourself,  for your neighbor, for your friends, or for whomever likes to spend time in the kitchen at this time of year :)

Giveaway Day with The Intrepid Thread!!!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

First off, if you are new Welcome!!!   I hope you find lots to be happy about here at Happy Quilting :)

On to our second Christmas Extravaganza Giveaway Sponsor and it sponsored by Julie from The Intrepid Thread!! Julie carries an amazing selection of fabrics from Andover, Free Spirit, Westminister, Northcott and more.  And you will always find fabulous prices and great sale selections at The Intrepid Thread.  And hold on to your Santa hats because you aren't going to believe the giveaway Julie has in store for you!!!!

So let's get to it.  Wouldn't you just love to find an entire Fat Quarter Bundle of Power Pop under your tree??  I know I would!! These colors and prints are fabulous and oh so much fun!!!  And yes,  That is 29 Fat quarters equaling 7 1/4 yards!!!!  

You have two chances to win, and please, leave a separate comment for each (for a total of 2 comments max :) 

1 - Be A follower of my Blog, Happy Quilting, and leave a comment.  How about you share with me your favorite thing about Christmas and then add "Follow" to the end of your comment :)   (I might be bias but this is a pretty fun place to follow along with, lots of quilting fun, free tutorials, and of course, fun giveaways, including 2 more this month :) 

2 - Be a follower of The Intrepid Thread Blog and leave a comment.  How about you share with me something about the Intrepid Thread, (why you love it, if you just found it, ect.) and then add "Follow" to the end of your comment :)  (Julie's blog is fabulous and keeps you totally updated on everything in her shop, and oh ya, she has a giveaway each Friday, Yippee!!!)

So that's it :) The giveaway will close on Thursday the 15th and I will announce a winner shortly after.   And Don't forget to stop by next Friday for our third Christmas Giveaway!!!  Good Luck to all and Happy Quilting!!!

                             

TNT Thursday

So this week I tried a new free motion quilting all-over pattern.  I started with the basic swirl that I have done before but I wanted to change it up a bit.  I added in a sharp point in the center that created a fun little circle inside the swirl and then instead of the edges all being round I tried doing some more points and then echoing those.  It is going to take some more practice but I like the way it is turning out :)

And a slightly sad point of this post .  I tried to make a video of me quilting this so I could upload it.  However, I lost my SD card (I left it in the Wal-Mart printer when printing our Christmas Picture and it wasn't there when I went back.) and so I am using my backup SD card that came with the camera.  It only holds about 10 photos.  I tried to record a video and it had enough memory for about 4 seconds of recording.  Bummer.  But know that I have it on my mind to make some free motion videos and as soon as I get a new SD card, it will be at the top of the list of things to do :)

So that is what I tried this week :)  What did you New Thing did you Try??

Green Fairy Winner!!!

Thank you again to the Green Fairy for sponsoring our first week of Christmas Giveaway!!!  Let's get a winner!!

With the help of Mr. Random. Org the winner of the Coming Home Fat Quarter Bundle is . . . 

 And #38 is . . .   Caren!!!  Congrats!!!  I bet you believe in Santa now :)

Thank you everyone for participating.  It was so fun to see what fabrics you all loved most :)  Don't forget to check back Friday for our Second Christmas Giveaway!!  It's gonna be good!!

Done and Done

***  If you are looking for the Fat Quarter Bundle Giveaway you will find it here :)


I am so excited!!!  As of yesterday afternoon, my Christmas "to do's" are done!!!

Homemade Christmas Chocolates Made - Check!!

Family Christmas Letter Sent - Check!!

My Tree Put Up and Decorated - Check!!

The Kids Tree Cut Down and Decorated - Check!!

The Presents All Purchase and Wrapped (and stuffed under the stairs with the luggage since it is the only place we can think of that the kids don't get into :) - Check!!

I am so ready!!!  And can I tell you, it feels like I just got rid of a 10 lb bowling ball that was strapped to my ankle.  Bring on the Holidays!!  And hopefully, bring on some quilting, I have been missing it doing all of this :)