Magenta and Teal make 6!!!

While I do have a finish (or 2) from this week, I can't share them yet, but, I can share the two additional Scraptastic Star Blocks that I finished from my Leader and Enders from making those two can't share finishes :)    The first one was the Magenta color scheme, and ya know, I was totally loving this because it's in the purple family!!! 

And the second is the Teal block, and funny thing, this is my daughters favorite color!!!  So she was totally wanting this block as soon as I finished it.  But ya, I told her this is all part of my Scraptastic Stars  Leader and Ender project  and so she will just have to make her own :)    And I for sure have enough 2 1/2" squares for her to do just that!

And that means 6 down and only 10 to go!!!   Eeekk, I am so loving these!!   Each time I make another block and do a little happy dance seeing these rainbow of colors come together.   Next up is the light Yellow block and it will for sure add some more sunshine to this stack!!!

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

Work in Progress Wednesday!!!

Wow, Two in a Row!!!  I am on a streak now ;)   So here is what I have been working on since last week ;)

If you remember, I got to take the the Vintage Charm Class from  Sherri McConnell at the end of January.   I finished 3 blocks in class, and it was oh so much fun!!!    I am using Harvest Road by Lella Boutique  and I just love seeing how these blocks came together ;)

Since then, I have been squeezing in some chain piecing here and there.   I have finished all of the Units for the 25 blocks and so now I just need to sew the three rows in the Ohio Stars together, and then just assemble the blocks ;)   This project is going great and I can't wait to put it all together!!!

And then the other day I did some serious cutting!!!  I cut up all of my  Sugarhouse Park  Fat Quarters from Amy Smart and then moved on to squares from the bold Navy background.   Talk about a whole lot of squares!!!!    This is going to be a  Quadruple Ring Around The Rosies Quilt from my (so very) soon to be released Charming Baby Quilts Book.   I am hoping to start some chain stitching on this one today ;)  Can  I just say, I am super glad I have my Clearly Perfect Angles Cling so I don't have to draw lines on all 896 of those small squares!!!!!

And finally, You might recall from last year that I planned to make a Halloween Sparkly Stars quilt . . .  Well the blocks are ready to be sewn together ;)   These stitch and flip corners have been my Leader and Enders project ever since I finished up my Scraptastic Star blocks.   And I just finished the last one yesterday and was so excited to layout all the blocks!!!   Now I just need to make some Star Filled 9 Patches!!!    So fun ;)

Here's hoping by next week, I have a whole pile of blocks finished ;)

Hope you all have a very Happy Quilting Day!!!

P.S.   Speaking of Works in Progress . . . There is still the Semi-Finals of the Pillow Fight in progress!!!!   Today is you last day to vote and tomorrow we will find which pillow moves on and which pillows are knocked out ;) 

What's Sewing On :)

With the Starstruck Quilt Along starting to wind down to it's close, there is suddenly more time to work on some more projects!!!   So I thought it would be fun to share that today as it has been awhile since I did a "what I am working on" post, other than of course, the weekly Starstruck posts, tee hee hee ;)  

So first off, I am super excited that I finally got my "Vanessa Squared" blocks sewn into a quilt top!!!   If your remember, I shared last month  that I am using the Smart Cookie pattern from Vanessa Goertzen's new Jelly Filled book, combined with Vanessa Christensen's  new Ombre Fabrics.  I loved the quilt blocks but basically just needing enough time to figure out a color layout I liked.   So this weekend I did that.   And funny thing,  once I had the layout figured, the blocks sewed up into a quilt top in an hour ;)   And I can't wait to get this quilted and share the finish.  My stop on Vanessa's Book Tour is Nov. 8th, so not to much longer to wait!!! 

And I have also been working on a new Leader and Ender project while constructing all of the Starstruck Quilt Along tutorials and Charming Baby Quilts.   Since I finished piecing all of my Scraptastic Star Blocks  I needed a new Leader and Ender project and my Be Fruitful project I planned back in June was the perfect fit!!! I have now finished all of the block centers, and corners, and only have the 4 sets of side blocks and cornerstones left ;)  I can't wait to see these blocks come together, it is going to be such a pretty quilt!!!

And finally, you know I can't help but start a new project when I have a little open time, right!!!  I was thrilled when my good friends at Fat Quarter Shop  asked if I would like to participate in their new Perfect 5 Quilts Quilt Along!!!   Of course, with the announcement of my Charming Baby Quilts book it is no secret that I am a big fan of working with Charm Packs, so I was all in for playing with the new Perfect 5 Ruler (specifically designed for Charm Packs) and making a new project from the amazing pages of the Perfect 5 Quilts book.  I plan to use 2 Wonder Charm Packs and a combination of 2 blocks to make a super soft and adorable baby quilt!!  Can't wait to share more ;)

So that is what I am working on . . . So how about you???  What's on your cutting tables, sewing machines, and ironing boards today??? 

Scraptastic Stars for my Leader and Ender WIP

 I have shared here in the past how much I like Leader and Ender projects.  They are such a great way to work with scraps, and make "bonus" quilts while working on others.  But this last year, I have been kind of slacking on the whole Leader and Ender thing.  Here's what happened . . .   In this post  (a year ago!!!)    I decided my new Leader and Ender Project for 2018 would be my  Scraptastic Stars Block . (pattern can be found here)   I gathered my squares and decided that  I was going to use 2 1/2"squares instead of 2" squares so that the blocks finish at 16" and planned on making 16 blocks. When I went to sort my stack of 2 1/2" squares into 16 piles I found I was needing more squares.  Quite a bit actually, as I was trying to stick pretty closely to tone on tone prints.    So the new plan was to just cut some extra 2 1/2" squares when working on other projects until I had enough.   Well here we are in 2019  :)

Seriously, if I just needed blues or greens, I would have been ready to go in a month as I cut a whole lot of fabric!!!! But there are just some hues of colors (like that gold one on the bottom) that you don't cut a lot of.  So last week I saw all these squares sitting on my desk and I thought, "why in the world am I still waiting to start this project on a few squares."  I pulled out the scrap drawer and after a bit of digging, found the colors I needed to finish the few piles of missing squares.   And TaDa!!   Bring on the Leader and Ender stitching!!!

I decided in way back to make this project more Leader and Ender Friendly I would change the pattern to do Stitch and Flip triangles for the star points instead of traditional HST's.  That way every piece is the same 2 1/2" square size to start with. (which meant more squares as well, 48 of each color to be exact :)  I have found that  I like grouping my squares into the three types of Leader and Ender I need for the project, then I don't have to think about what I need to sew, just pick up two from a group and stitch.

And after I had made everything into 2 patches, I figured I might as well continue on with the block.  So I added a third patch onto the two patches for the corners and then it was just sewing the Three Patches into the Corner Units and the 2 Patches into the Side Units. And then just finish the block.   I did all of this still as Leader and Enders.   This is a little different for me as I would normally do all the two patches for all 16 blocks, but I am thinking where this block has a few more "moving pieces" it makes it easier to do one block at a time.   And I have to say, it sure makes the process more fun to have little finishes along the way.  1 down and 15 to go!!!  (You knew I would start with the purple one ;) 

So I am hoping to share more Scraptastic Stars blocks over the next few months.   I am just loving getting back into the swing of Leader and Enders and I can't believe I let a whole year go by without these "free" quilt blocks :)   I think it is a good lesson for me to remember, just stop and cut so you can sew!!!!

How about you . . . do you have a Leader and Ender project that you are working on???

Upcoming Teaching Times!!

I know I say it every time, but I just love getting to teach quilting classes!!!  It truly is a favorite :)  I just got back from teaching at The Stitching Room in Richfield Utah and we had such a wonderful time.  And I made me realize, I needed to announce a few other places I will be teaching in the next few months, because it would b oh so much fun to quilt together ;)      First up . . . 

Garden of Quilts

Date - Sept 14-18, 2022

Place - Lehi, Utah 

I have to say, I can't wait for this next month!!!!  Garden of Quilts is an experience unlike anywhere else I have taught :)   Something about combining the love of quilts with the beauty of the gardens is just refreshing to the soul!!!    There is still room in all my classes, although some are getting close to full.   I will be teaching my new Blossoming Stars pattern on Wednesday morning and my Wishes pattern on Wednesday afternoon.  Then on Thursday morning it's Flower Child  followed by my new Swirling Leaves pattern on Thursday afternoon.  Friday morning I will teach my Stamp Collecting pattern, and then Petal Pop on Friday afternoon.   Finally, on Saturday morning I will teach Aurora (a sneak peek from my upcoming book!!!) and on Saturday Afternoon I will teach Scraptastic Stars.   It's going to be so much fun!!!  I hope you can come and join in, it is so worth the trip ;) 

  

  

 

And then it's off to teach on the Aloha Quilt Cruise, which sold out pretty much as soon as it opened.  But I have some other exciting news to go along with that . . . I am teaching on a Scrappy and Happy Alaskan Quilting Cruise next year!!!!  It's going to be so fun, and this one is not full, so you can sign up and come quilt and cruise along with me ;)  

And when I get back from Hawaii, it's a few days turnaround to head North to  . . . 

Quilt Fest

Date - Oct 19-22, 2022

Place - Ogden, Utah 

Although I have taught at this retreat before, this year it is at a new time and a new venue.   So at the moment, registration has been a little slow, which means there is still plenty of room to sign up for class ;)  I will be teaching 4 classes at Quilt Fest held by the Utah Quilt Guild.   I will be teaching my Scraptastic Stars pattern on Thursday morning, followed by my Moroccan Lullaby 2 class on Thursday afternoon.   Then on Friday morning I am teaching my new Swirling Leaves class followed by my new Blossoming Stars pattern on Friday afternoon.       

 

 

And then the next month, I get to venture South to teach at the . . . 

Lake Powell Quilt Retreat

Date - Nov 9 - 12, 2022

Place - Paige, Arizona

And I am so excited to get away from the cold in Cedar and go to sunny Paige Arizona to teach at the Lake Powell Quilt Retreat!!!  This is my second time teaching at this particular retreat and I am so happy to return again!!!  I will be teaching 2 classes and I will also be sharing a Trunk Show of my new Book!!!    I am so super excited for that!!!!  Friday morning I am teaching my new Swirling Leaves class and then on Saturday morning I will be teaching my new Blossoming Stars pattern.  Those two new ones are super popular right now, so fun!!!   

  

And that concludes teaching in 2022, but I am excited that 2023 is starting to open up as well.  And the first place I am teaching in 2023 is my good ol Home Town of Cedar City at the . . .

Cedar Chest Quilt Retreat

Date - Feb 1 - 4, 2023, 2021

Place - Cedar City, Utah 

And registration just opened yesterday!!!  I will be teaching 4 classes at the Cedar Chest Quilt Retreat.   I will be teaching my  Blossoming Stars  pattern on Wednesday afternoon.  The next day, I will be teaching Aurora (another sneak peek from my upcoming book!!!) in the morning followed by my Scraptastic Stars class Thursday afternoon.   Then on Friday morning I am teaching my new A Star is Born class from my Charing Baby Quilts Book.       It's going to be so fun!!!

 

   

  

So ya, it's going to be a super fun few months of quilting!!!  Just check back on my Teaching Page to see where I will be next!!!  And if you are interested in having me come to teach at a retreat in your area or at your guild, just send me an email at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com.  I would love to come and visit and share my love of quilting!!!  

I hope I get to see some of you in class!!!!   Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!!

Back Home!!

Sorry things have been so quiet this last week.  I was away teaching at the Canyonland Quilts retreat in beautiful Moab Utah.  I normally try and schedule a few posts when I am out of town, but life was busy, so here I am after the fact :)

The Canyonland Quilts Retreat was oh so much fun!!!  Mom and I taught 5 classes and did a trunk show in 3 days and enjoyed meeting so many amazing quilters.   And the gals that put this retreat on are just amazing!!!  They had the sweetest gifts, yummiest food, and happiest faces to welcome all the quilters each and every day.   And guess what . . . we even had 2 finishes from the A Star is Born class!!!   

Mom and I loved teaching newbies and sage quilters alike.   We learned curves in the Nordic Nights and Blossoming Stars classes, tackled angled seams in the Summer Breeze class, and had fun playing with scraps in the Scraptastic Stars class ;)

   

   

And a real treat this retreat . . .we got our sweethearts to come along.  They spent the days playing in Arches National Park and then we got to spend the evenings with them.  It was just great ;)

Wan't to take a quilting class from me??  Check out my Teaching Tab for everywhere I will be this year teaching, you could even cruise and quilt with me!!!  

3 More Projects Added to the Mix

I am super excited to be starting some new projects!!!  Don't you just love getting  a new pattern and finding just the right fabrics for it :)  Envisioning what it is going to look like when it's all done!!  It is just so fun!!!    And I got to play in my fabric stash 3 times this week for 3 new projects, triple bonus!!!

First off, I raided my stash of black and white scraps and threw in a solid red for a new quilt from my good friend Andy Knowlton's new Fresh Fat-Quarter Quilts book.    I am super excited for this project ;)   The quilt will make an awesome Rally quilt, which of course, is why it is in classic Red, White, and Black.  Yup, this one is destined to get an SUU logo and be donated next year ;)  I got this all cut out on Tuesday and started some stitching on it yesterday and I am already just thrilled with how it is coming together.  Can't wait to share more on this in a couple of weeks!!

Next, I agreed to get in a Pillow Fight this week and I will explain more on that in the future.  But for now, I am super excited to pull my color/white squares off the shelf.  I sorted these squares separately when I was starting to work on my Scraptastic Stars Quilt.  They all read a white background with a color and I figured they would make a cool project someday.   And I excited to see them in a pillow from Edyta Star's new Pillow Talk Book :)    I am thinking patchwork rainbow, eeekk!!

And lastly, my sister called and asked if I could make her a "baby dragon girl" quilt.   And of course, I love my sister so I said yes, even though I had absolutely no idea what I was going to make.   So I searched baby dragon images and found this adorable little sketch.   Cue the Layered Applique.   And with all the applique, I knew I wanted to use a basic fabric, and I found these Riley Blake Shades in my stash.  And I think they will be just the perfect amount of solid with some texture to make these dragons.   This is going to be so cute!!! Here is hoping I can make what is in my mind work out ;)  Wish me luck!!

So that is what I am going to be working on this weekend :)

What are you going to be Happy Quilting for the next few days??  

Oh, Scrap! Blog Hop and Giveaway

Today I am so very excited to share with you all a fantastic new book, Oh, Scrap! by my very good friend, Lissa Alexander !!  And let me just tell you, this book is incredible!!!  I can't stop adding to the list of  "to make" quilts from this!!!   And since they are all scrap quilts, and my scrap bins continue to overflow, I just might have to make them all (eventually ;)

You might know Lissa as Moda Lissa.   She is the head of Marketing at Moda Fabrics and is an amazing quilter!!!  This is her first stand alone book, but she has been the creative genius working behind the scenes on lots of compilation books, like the Moda All Star Books, and the Sweet Celebration book which just happened to be my first time being published in a book.   I am still so grateful that she sent me a little invite to be a part of that book as it really got me started on the publishing path.   Lissa has been a wonderful friend and mentor guiding me through a lot of this industry and giving me wonderful opportunities to share my work :)   I can not thank her enough for her friendship and guidance!!

Lissa has been working in the quilting industry for over 25 years and this book is like getting all of that scrappy quilting knowledge tied up with lots of pretty pictures and a bow on top :)  Seriously, it is amazing!!!  You will find so many wonderful tidbits of scrappy goodness that Lissa has picked up over the years and is now sharing in her own fun way.  Reading through the book truly feels like I am sitting at Lissa's kitchen table with a pile of scraps as we go through it and decide how best to use them.   Which, I would totally love to literally do someday!!! 

And as I said before, Oh, Scrap! is full of amazing scrap quilts and you will want to make every single one of them.    And now I am excited to finally get to share that I was so very blessed to have made one of the quilts in  Oh, Scrap! !!!  It's called Kismet and I just love it!!!   A long while back,  Lissa asked if I could take her Courthouse Steps block and make it up in my own color layout  to give it a new spin and of course, I couldn't say yes fast enough!!  

  I went to my scrap bins and instantly realized that I had an overflowing box of blues and greens and thought they would be perfect for a relaxing type feel.  I started cutting a string of blue in green from every piece of scrap in my bins.  This was such a fun trip down memory lane for me. I love that about scrap quilts, they really are a wonderful representation of so many other quilts and more importantly, the people those quilts were for ;)    And they also look pretty fun all laid out in a row ;)  

I had so much fun making up the Kismet blocks and they really went together fast as I just chain pieced each new row on all the blocks.   And before you knew it, Kistmet!!!  I can't say how happy I am with how this scrappy quilt came together and I am again, so grateful that Lissa asked me to be a small part of her incredible Oh, Scrap! book!!!   I will share lots more about this quilt later on, but for know, I want to get back to more quilts from Oh, Scrap!

I knew as soon as Oh, Scrap! arrived in my mailbox, that I totally needed to start another scrap project, but the hard part is, which quilt to start on???  They are all just so fun!!  I debated on starting with the cover quilt, called Izzy Squared with all of it's yummy squared goodness, or maybe even this gorgeous Sherbet Stars quilt as I am a big fan on Lone Stars and their super fun construction.  

But in the end, it had to be Lissa's Surrounded quilt.  In the intro to this quilt, Lissa wrote about how she found she always had leftover light-colored prints from her Moda precuts that are known as "low volume" fabrics that didn't quite fit in her planned color schemes.   So she challenged herself to create a low-volume quilt and Surround was the result.    

This intro spoke to me as I find I am in that same boat of not using my Low-Volume prints from my pre-cuts :)  I have another scrap drawer that I throw all of these bits and pieces in wondering what i will ever use them for.   Well, the bin was tossed on the cutting mat yesterday and I started cutting.   Another super helpful tidbit from the book, you don't have to cut a scrap quilt out all at once!!!!

I love that Lissa's includes what pieces you need just for each block so you can cut until you get a tired of it, and then pull out the pieces you need to make a block.     I love those oh so cute, 1" finished chain blocks, but with hundreds of them needed in a quilt, I am happy to cut as I go ;)  And another helpful tidbit, Lissa helps explain about value and how it can help you determine what is "low-volume" which I have always wondered about ;)    See what I mean, so many jewels of scrappy hints!!!

So I have 1 block done and lots to go, but I am just thrilled to be making this scrappy Surrounded quilt!!!  I plan to use all solids in the chains and make a serious dent in my "low-volume" bin.   It's not often I make a quilt this way, one block at a time I mean,  but I am super excited to really take this project slow and enjoy the scrappy process.

And that is a small taste of Oh, Scrap!   I can't say enough good about this book!!  It truly is scraptastic and I don't see it going on the shelf for a long time.  I think I will finish one scrappy project and then just choose another from it's pages ;)  

And if you haven't had a chance to check out Oh, Scrap!, you are in for a treat!!   One lucky reader is going to win their own e-book copy of Oh, Scrap!  Lissa and Martingale are giving away of Oh, Scrap! along each stop of this fun Blog Hop!

 All you have to do to have a chance to win is leave me a comment telling me your favorite scrappy quilt you have made or want to make!!

I will choose a winner on Saturday, the 24rd :)    Good luck to all!!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED - The winner is #21 - Congrats to Linda!!!  I have emailed you ;) 

And be sure to follow along with the Oh, Scrap! blog tour for lots more chances to win and a ton more Oh, Scrap! eye candy!!!

Thursday – March 15 – Lissa Alexander

Friday – March 16 – Pat Sloan

Saturday – March 17 – Corey Yoder of Coriander Quilts

Sunday – March 18 – Barbara Brackman  

Monday – March 18 – Alison Dale of Fabric Expressions

Tuesday – March 20 – Melissa Corry of Happy Quilting

Wednesday – March 21 – Moi ~ The Cutting Table

Thursday – March 22 – Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life

Friday – March 23 – Kimberly Jolly of the Fat Quarter Shop

Saturday – March 24 – Teresa Silva of Quilting is My Bliss

Sunday – March 25 – Jane Davidson of QuiltJane

Monday – March 26 – Jenny Wilding Cardon of Martingale/That Patchwork Place

Thanks for popping in today and I hope you have a very Happy (and Scrappy) Quilting Day!!!

P.S.  It's still Tuesday and we are also have Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day along with this Giveaway.   If you are looking for that post, you will find it here ;) 


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