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??