Birthday Baking and Moda Baking!!

Yesterday by little one turned 2!!!  Hoolay smokes time flies!!  My older daughter saw a picture of one of those cool new rainbow cakes and told me I should make a "girlie" one for Kami.  This was my interpatation of "girlie" version.  I think it looks pretty alright :)

Unfortunatly, I am horrible at stacking cakes and keeping them even, so to help I use extra icing.  I went a little overboard on this particular cake using 2 tubs of frosting.  That's right, that little cake has 2 tubs of frosting.  Can we say sugar headache.  However, I don't think the Birthday Girl minded all that much :)

And since we are on the baking subject, I thought I would give you a little sneaky peek of what will be coming at the end of the month!!  I just love these prints!!  I can't wait to share the whole quilt :)

Oh, and it's the last days to enter the Celebrate Giveaway :)  You can find it here :)

Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long Finishing Up Instructions

Okay, so most of you probably don't need this last step, and there are several that have already done it, but I figured just to complete it off, I will post some instructions on how to put your blocks together into a top.  So here we go, the last step of the Happy Quilting Quil-A-Long!!

Start by laying your blocks out in your rows.  Go ahead and play with your blocks until you get a look that you like.

Once you get a layout you like go ahead and mark your blocks so you don't forget what goes where.  I usually use pins.  I have a slightly cryptic way of how I place my pins so that I know where they go.  Do what works for you.  You can also just take a picture and then refer back to it.

Okay, so once you have your blocks marked you are going to start pinning them together.  Take Block 1 from Row 1 and lay it over on top of Block 2 of Row 1 with right sides together.  Don't spin it or anything, just flop it over :)  (how's that for a technical term.)  No go ahead and pin your seam line together.  Make sure to pin your seams first making sure to line them up.  After that pin your ends.  If you have any bubbles just smooth them down with your finger and put in a horizontal pin.  

Repeat pinning with all of the first block for all of the rows of your quilt.

Now it is back to some stitching.  Once again, stitch a 1/4" inch seam along your pinned line.  Make sure to remove your pins as you go and smooth out seams from underneath.  Continue to chain stitch all of your sets.

Clip your threads between blocks and then go ahead and press your seams open.  Once again, this is just to help keep the bulk down.

So now you will have a stack that looks like this.  Don't you just love those little "nubbins between the sashing.  (I actually like them so much I made my seams a little larger to highlight that feature, so my nubbins might be slightly larger than yours :)  I love how it makes the diamond sashings in the middle float :)

So now lay your blocks back out with the rest of your quilt layout.  Use your pins or your pictures to ensure you have everything back the way you originally laid it out.

Now it is just repeat.  Go ahead and lay your Block 3 onto your now sewn together Block 1 and 2 in each row.  Pin all of your blocks.  Then go ahead and stitch your 1/4" seam along all the sets, clip your threads, and press.  Repeat this process for however many blocks you have in your rows :)

So now your rows are all put together and now you just have to attach the rows to each other.  And it is the exact same process just on a larger scale.

Lay your entire Row 1 onto your Row 2.  Pin along the seam line.  Once again, make sure to match your seams first.  Sew a 1/4" seam along your pinned line and press open.

Now just repeat the process for each row, adding one after the other.  And there you have it!!!  Your completed top!!!  Yippee Skipee!!!

Alright, Make sure to add your completed top to Flickr.  I will give everyone 2 weeks to finish your tops.  On  March 28th we will have a parade of tops and announce the winner of the Burgundy Buttons Gift Certificate.     I can't wait to see all of your finished tops!!!  I hope you have enjoyed the Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long.  I know I have!!

Celebration Continued!!!!

Side Note *** If you are looking for the Celebration Giveaway just click here.

So I was just over at Piece N Quilt reading about the new magazine Perfect for Precuts by Better Homes and Gardens.  Doesn't it just look fun!!

Thank you Natalia for allowing me to use your picture

I continued on reading and got to this picture on Natalia's blog!!!!  I am freaking out!!!! Why you ask??  See that quilt up in the top right hand corner?  That is my Sugar Pop N Change quilt and my name is underneath it!!!!  Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness!!!  I am on a magazine!!!  You better believe I have already jumped on-line and purchased it :)  Can't wait for it to arrive!!!  Thanks Moda Bake Shop, you have given me another  reason for my super Celebration to continue!!!  Oh ya, Happy Dances going on here!!!

Thank you Natalia for allowing me to use your picture

Celebrate!!! (With a Giveaway, of Course)

Today is a day for major Celebration, why you ask . . .  Well a few reasons :)

First, we take pictures of our house today to put on the market.  And I am actually  ready for pictures!!   It only took all day Saturday to get to this point :)  I don't want to paint again any time soon, I opened over 20 gallons of paint to touch up every inch of our house :)  (EDIT . . to clarify, I did not paint 20 gallons worth of space, I just had to open that many gallons to touch up all the painting that I did 2 years ago :)

Second, I reached a major milestone in a huge WIP yesterday!!  I will show pictures on Friday as it is not quite ready yet.  How is that for cryptic :)

And lastly, and I saved the best for last, We reached 500 followers at Happy Quilting!!!  Oh my goodness, I am so excited!!!!  I am hoping to get something big in the works over the next few weeks to properly celebrate this massive milestone, but, that doesn't mean we can't celebrate in the meantime :)

And what better way to celebrate than with a giveaway :)  What's up for grabs??  How about some amazing Fat Quarters from Riley Blake's new collection Penny Lane!!!  I just happen to be in the process of whipping up a little something for Riley Blake's Cutting Corners College, (more on that to come) and I am so excited to share some of this lines amazing goodness!!

So How Do You Enter . . . .

Be a Follower (this is a follower celebration after all) and Leave a Comment!!!  That's it . . .Simple Right :)

If you are not a follower already no worries, just simply click on the Follow button either on the left hand column of the blog or on the navigation bar at the top of the blog.  After that just leave a comment!!

One Entry per person, Please :)  You are welcome to Blog or Twitter about this giveaway, Like me on Facebook, Add me to your Blogroll, ect, ect. ect.  It won't get you an extra entry but it will make you and especially me, Very Happy :)

I will end the giveaway on the evening of March 16th and announce a winner March 17th :)

Well that just about covers it - Good Luck and Happy Quilting!!

Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long Attaching the Corners Instructions

Good Morning Happy Quilters!!  Are you ready for the final step of putting your block together??  We'll according to your Flickr progress I would say you are.  So let's get to it.  Here are the instructions for adding your corner sashings onto your disappearing 16 patch block and finishing up your block :)


So for each block you will need one of your disappearing 16 patch blocks and 4 corner sashings.  The layout is as follows.  As before, try not to stress to much about what fabrics you put where, just keep it fun and random :)

We'll start by attaching 2 opposite sides first.  It doesn't matter which 2 corners you pick as long as they are opposite each other.  Lay the corners over onto your disappearing 16 patch block with right sides together.  It should line up pretty close to the seams below.  The edges might hang over a bit depending on your seam allowance size.  Just try your best to keep it centered as possible.  Go ahead and pin along the seam edges.  Repeat with all of your blocks :)

Now go ahead and sew a 1/4" seam along your pinned edge on one side.  It is okay if when you start you are not on your sashing.  It will all get trimmed in the end :)  Continue chain stitching the one side on all of your blocks remembering to remove pins as you go :)

No go ahead and clip your threads between your blocks, and go to the opposite pinned side.  Once again, chain stitch a 1/4" seam along the pinned edge of your blocks.  Once you are done stitching all of your blocks go ahead and clip the threads between blocks.

On to pressing.  I went ahead and pressed these seams out again.  It makes everything lay nice and flat :)  Press both sides of your blocks on all blocks :)

And now you are ready to add your remaining 2 corners.  (sorry, I just realized I turned my block :)  This is done the exact same way as before :)

Once again, lay your corner blocks onto your disappearing 16 patch block and center along the seam lines.  Remember, it is okay if your edge hang over :)  Go ahead and pin all of your blocks.  Now I figure you don't need pictures for the next steps as they are right above :) Go ahead and chain stitch your 2 sets of seam and press your seams out :)

You should have a stack of blocks that look like this now :)  Aren't they just cute!!  Almost done, just a little clipping left.  

Go ahead and clip off the little triangle edges on the 4 sides of your block making everything nice and straight for when you are ready to sew all of your blocks together.  Repeat this for all your blocks.

And there you have it.  A stack of blocks all ready to be sewn into an adorable quilt top.  And this is where my favorite part of the entire quilt comes out.  See where that arrow points.  I call it a "Nubbin".  Totally made up word, but I just love how the sashing "clips" the corners.  It just gives the block a little bit of personality that you don't get with HST's.  I hope you love it too!!!

Alright, so there you have it.  We are getting so close to finishing.  I am just having so much fun and I hope you are as well.  Don't forget to post your blocks to our flickr group when you get them finished up :)  I am just loving watching all of the amazing progress of our group!!  You guys are awesome!!!