Crocheting

So here's the deal,  I am not a big fan of hand stitching.  In fact I pretty much detest it.  So much so that whenever I have to hand tack down a binding for a quilt to be published I ask my Mother In Law to do it for me.  (Yes, I just admitted that, and yes, I have the most amazing Mother In Law!!)  But I am torn because I love seeing on everyone's blog that they have a little hand project to do while waiting for buses or watching kids play sports.  Then, last week my amazing Sister-In Law, Charlotte, was visiting and we were chatting away and she pulled out her little bag of crocheting and proceeded to crochet while chatting.  And I thought, hey that can be my hand project!!!

So I have decided, the next time Charlotte is in town, I am getting a 101 crash course on crocheting.  I figure I can start small.  Like dishcloth small.   Charlotte has made me dishcloths in the past for Christmas and now I can never go back to the dime a dozen ones.  I love the crocheted dishcloths, so maybe it is about time I learned to make them instead of always hitting up Charlotte :)  Fortunately for me, (and you) Charlotte has just produced a new PDF pattern that has not 1, not 2, but 3 of my favorite dishcloth patterns and the pattern is only 3 bucks.  (I bet you didn't see this little plug coming, what can I say, I love my Sister :) 

Ya, notice these from the picture above.  They were a gift to me.  Lucky me!!!  And I am determined to figure out how to make these on my own!!!

And who knows, maybe one day I will be able to make something a little more fancy, like this beautiful blanket Charlotte made for Jocelyn at her birth.  (And can you believe, Jocelyn will be 1 next week!!!  I will be sure to post about her on her birthday :)  

And if you aren't into learning how to crochet, you can always just pop on over to Charlotte's Etsy Shop and see what she has :)  I'm just saying. (okay, last plug, I promise :)

I am off to work on a new quilt :)  It will be for a tutorial in a little over a week, and since I am currently pressing the fabric to cut, I best get going :)  But I will leave you with a little sneak peak on what to expect :)

Guest Blogging at Fave Crafts!!! (and TNT)

Today I am hopping on over to Fave Crafts, a part of Fave Quilts, to do a little guest blogging in honor of National Sewing Month!!!  For the special occasion I made a series of video's on how to finish your quilts.  You can check it out at Fave Creafts or see below :)

Do you ever find you get to the end of a tutorial or pattern and it says something along the lines of "Finishing It Up - Baste It, Quilt It, and Bind It".  I know I have written it several times at the end of my tutorials.  Well, today I am adding a little more!!!  I have created a 3 Part Video Series on Finishing Your Quilt!!!  The first part is 10 minutes dedicated to basting your quilt, the  second, 10 minutes to quilting your quilt, and the third, 15 minutes dedicated to binding your quilt!!!  I hope you find these video's helpful to aid you on your quilting journey.  (And if you laugh at some of my silly stumbles or tripod filming that is great too :)

BASTING YOUR QUILT

(Just remember, always smooth from the center out :) 

QUILTING YOUR QUILT

(Practice makes perfect, just keep stitching :)

BINDING YOUR QUILT

(Yup, a little bit of math :)

I hope you enjoyed the videos and found some helpful information from them.


Oh, and this is the quilt I used as my demo :)  Thanks again to the wonderful ladies at Sew Bee Create for their beautiful blocks!!!  And if you want to see the tutorial for Spinning or Spiraling you can find it here :)

And don't worry, I haven't forgotten TNT :)  This week I tried something new in the wee hours between night and day.  (So I am not guaranteeing it is good :)  One of these video's was a a tad too long to upload onto You Tube.  So I searched around and found a program on my computer for editing movies.  I actually figured our how to cut out tidbits where I rambled because I couldn't think of the right words to say and then add some words onto the screen where my big shoulder got in the way.  Ya, video editing, totally TNT!!!


So what have you been up to???  Link on up!!!

<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>

Fab Little Quilt Swap

Well my Mini for the Fab Little Quilt Swap is in the mail and on it's way to my partner :)  I am so happy with how it turned out :)  My partner really loves stars, rainbows, and lots of quilting :)  Do you think it hits the mark??

I quilted the star with mini stars and loops.  It is pretty dense quilting and I love the texture it gives the star :)

I did straight line echo quilting around the star alternating my thread color on each echo.  Ya, I had to change the thread in my machine a lot, but it was totally worth it :)  It really finishes it off, I think :)

So now I have the anticipation of seeing what comes in the mail to me :)  There are so many amazing minis in this group I can't wait.  Yippee Skippee!!!

Tetris Quilt-A-Long - Parade and Grand Prizes!!

It's Here!!!  Yippee Skippee!!!  We have reached the Finale of the Tetris Quilt-A-Long.  I am so excited with how many of you amazing friends quilted a long with me :)  I had such a great time!!!

So . . . do you want to see some finishes.  There are lots of quilt tops completed linked at the grand prize link up post here :)  But our parade today is of those quilt tops that were also quilted and bound.  No work in progress for these ladies, their quilts are ready to be loved!!  So here they are!!!

Erica from New York

Debbie from Minnesota

Sandy from Washington

Lisa from Kentucky

Sara from Oklahoma

Anne from Colorado

Sheila from North Carolina

Carolyn from New Jersey

Jana from Maryland

Shar from Utah

Amanda from Michigan

Carin from Minnesota

Alisa from British Columbia, Canada

Julie from Iowa

Each of you ladies did an amazing job!!!  Your finishes look fabulous!!!  Thanks for sharing them with all of us :)

And now . . . The parade is over but the fun certainly isn't.  We need to pick some winners!!!  And before I do that, I have a little extra surprise!!  I was contacted by Tetris, the actual game company and they wanted to add a little Tetris flare for each of the winners.  So now, our three grand prize winners will also be sent a Tetris Carabiner, which is basically a handheld Tetris game!!!  So cool huh!!!!  A huge thank you goes out to   Tetris for sponsoring these prizes for our winners!!!!

A huge Thank You also goes out to Julie at The Intrepid Thread for sponsoring our Grand Prize Giveaway's!!!  All those that have linked up their quilt top all eligible for the grand prize!!  The first winner will have their choice of the three grand prizes, and then the second, and the third winner will receive the remaining prize :)  So how about a quick recap of the prizes up for grabs!!!!

A $75.00 Gift Certificate that you can spend as you like!!

A Build your Own Bundle Certificate that you can use to create the perfect Fat Quarter Bundle for you!!

A Complete Fat Quarter Bundle of La Dee Da by Erin McMorris!!!

I know I would love to win any of these amazing prizes and I am sure you all feel the same.

So, lets get to it!!   Drumroll Please . . . . . . .

******The First Grand Prize Winner is . . .

     

******The Second Grand Prize Winner is . . .

         

  

******And the Third and Final Grand Prize Winner is . . . .

         

  

Congrats Ladies!!!  I will be getting in contact with you shortly :)

Thank you to all of you who participated in the Tetris Quilt-A-Long!!!  I had so much fun hosting it and I hope you had just as much fun sewing in it!!!  Until next time . . . Happy Quilting!!!

Dreaming of Paris - A New Pattern!!

Introducing Dreaming of Paris, my newest pattern which is now available in my Pattern Shop :)    I have been in love with Little Black Dress by Basicgrey from the moment I saw it and new it would be perfect for this super chic quilt design.

I love how my eye sees individual blocks at one moment and then lattice strips at the next moment.  It just goes back and forth creating some amazing movement.

And I am super happy to say that this is my first pattern with size options!!!!  Dreaming of Paris has options for a Baby, Twin, Queen, and King size quilt!! 

This cover quilt is the Twin size and it now belongs to my niece who hugged and thanked me at least 30 times for it.  Which just made me oh so very happy!!

A little detail :)  I love the way the secondary pattern of diamonds is created!!

I quilted an all over echoed feather shape going every which direction with some random swirls thrown in for fun.  (And I am totally in love with this quilting!!)

So what do you think???  I hope you love it as much as I do.   And, if you do happen to love it, and want to make one for yourself, you are in luck!!!  Leah, at Burgundy Buttons, has made up a Dreaming of Paris Quilt Kit featuring the same chic Little Black Dress prints I used!!!!  The kit will work for the Twin or Queen size!!  (or the baby but you will have a lot of scraps :)   The kit also includes the PDF pattern for free and the fabric itself is at a major discount.  What a deal!!!  So pop on over and grab a kit for yourself so you can get going on your Dreaming of Paris quilt.

Thank you so much for stopping by.  I can't say how much I appreciate the support of each of my readers You are what make Happy Quilting grow.  When I created this blog two years ago I never dreamed I would be writing patterns or getting published, or basically having people interested in what I create.  It is an amazing and humbling feeling.  Thank you!!!