Last Week - Going All Out!!!

So this is the last week of school.  Crazy!!!!  I am super excited for all of the fun things we have planned this summer but it is going to be busy :)  And, I lose my uninterrupted nap time (le sigh).  Which means I am going to be having a little less time in the sewing room.  (As most of us probably do in the summer time).  So, with that in mind, I went all out this week trying to tie up some little WIP's that needed some attention.

First off, I decided on a block for my Bee Month :)  (Appropriate as it is a week away).  I figured, I totally fell in love with this design I did for the Accuquilt Barn Block Contest (Which I didn't win but I had so much fun designing for it and totally appreciate all your support.) so why not have my amazing bee mates each make one and I will have an entire quilt in just over a month!!  Yippee Skippee!!!

And once I decided on the block, it was easy to decide that I wanted it in the Countdown to Christmas!!!  This will make such an awesome throw to wrap around in Christmas morning :)  I am so excited!!  So I immediately went to work on making a sample block.  And of course, as my Bee-mates are going to need a tutorial of how to make it . . . Coming Tomorrow on TNT :)

After the sample was all set and I was sure on sizing and so forth I cut up 11 sets to send out :) (which I mailed on Monday, Yippee Skippee for being on time )  I mixed up the colors so there will be backgrounds in red, green, black, and white.  I am so excited, I really think this will come together so cute!!

So with the bee taken care of I turned my sites to my 2 Braided Irish Chain's I am making as samples for my class in January ;)  (But I have to have them done by end of July for advertising purposes :)  I spent an entire afternoon cutting all of the pieces.  Yea, that was a lot of cutting and this picture doesn't show the strip piecing cutting either.  (Too bad they didn't have the Solid Jelly Rolls in the colors I was using, it would have totally been worth the extra few bucks :)

So after all of the pieces were cut I started working on the strip piecing.  That is a lot of strip piecing also, but I love how much time this saves in piecing!!!  So now I am on to pressing and subcutting.  I managed to get a few strips sub cut (See picture above) but still have a ways to go :)

I also finished up a few little projects this week.  Don't you love little projects!!  It is so good to feel the accomplishment of a great finish and only have spent a few hours to get it!!  I finished my bee blocks and sent them off in the mail (which I posted about yesterday) and I made the matching pillowcases for my daughters bedspread.  It's not like I could showcase the quilt for  Blogger's Quilt Festival without having the matching pillowcases, funny how that works to motivate me to cross another thing off the list :)  Love it!!

I also finished up another quilt but I can't show it yet.  But at least this one is only a 3 week wait, and there will be a tutorial :)  I am so excited to show it to you all.  It is one of my favorite finishes :)  (but then again, I say that about almost all my quilts :)

So . . . Here is the rundown.  With a little bit of summer schedule juggling I might just be able to keep moving things on down the line, hopefully :)  I guess it would help if I stopped adding things to the top of the line, but we know that isn't going to happen any time soon :)

Designing Stage

• King Size Serenity Quilt
• Circle Meets Square Quilt
• Snip and Clip Quilt

Piecing Stage

• Jessi and Me Quilt 
• Sew Bee Create Quilt
• Father's Day Rolling on Out Quilt
• Braided Irish Chain - Queen and King

Quilting Stage

• Solids Quilt for Free Motion

Completed Stage

• DDD Baby Quilt
• Stars Matching Pillows
• May Bee Blocks

Bee Blocks for May

**Note - if you are looking for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Post you will find it here :)

So I got my Bee blocks in the mail yesterday.  A little later than I normally like but hey, it is still in the month so we are all good, right :)

Karen asked for a beach themed orange peel block.  I loved working with these colors, and it was so fun to go through my scraps and pick them all out!!  And it was even more fun to make the block, but I totally love applique so no surprise there :)

Tony sent each member of the bee 4 solids and asked for anything improv or wonky.  Now this gets the creative juices flowing.  I decided on doing a 16 patch block and then slashing and whacking and spinning and sewing.  This is how it turned out.  I love that there is one (brown) square that never got touched.  Kind of fun how that works out :)

And . . .  I have had a few more of my bee blocks come rolling in from my month of the Beejeebers group.

Pat sent me this awesome semi :)  I love that it is hauling chickens and roosters.  I would hate to be following that on the freeway :)  And aren't those wheels just so cool!!

Danny sent me this awesome truck!!  I love the colors (Very Optimums Prime) and the fabric she made the trailer with is so cool.  It has maps on it.  My dad will love it!!!

Jamie Lee sent me this super cute patchwork truck!!  I love the little headlights on the top of the truck as well.  That trucker is probably a bit of a rebel :)

and lastly Colby sent this log hauling truck :)  I so love the fabric that she used for the logs.  It totally looks like they are actually timbers :)  So cool!!

So now I am just waiting on 2 more trucks!!!  Yipppee Skippee!!!  I best get to making that large semi for the center of the quilt :)  Father's Day will be here before I know it :)

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!!!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

It's Sew Mama Sew Giveaway day!!!  I love this day!!!  Now I know you have lots of places to visit so lets get right to it :)

Up for grabs is a $50.00 Gift Certificate to Green Fairy Quilts!!!  Judi's shop is amazing and has so much to offer!!

And for fun I will also throw in copies of my patterns to the lucky winner!!!  Yippee Skippee!!!

   

So what do you have to do for your chance to win???

Pop on over and visit Green Fairy Quilts and then come back here and leave a comment of what you would spend your $50.00 Gift Certificate on :)  (For me it would be the Summersville Bundle, love it!!)

For a bonus entry you can sign up for the Green Fairy Quilts Newsletter and leave me a comment that you did so or already receive it.

That's it.  Up to 2 entries per person.  Giveaway is open to international entries.  It will close on Friday, May 25th at 6pm and a winner will be selected randomly and announced shortly after.

Oh, and by the Way . . . If you are stopping by for the first time, Welcome!!  You can tell by now that I like to use a lot of  ! and :) in my writing.  I am so glad you visited and hope you will come back often.  I have so much fun sharing my passion for quilting here.  If you would like, you can follow Happy Quilting and ensure that you catch all of the Quilty Goodness :)  (I mean, look how close I am to 2000, help a girl out here :)

Market Winners!!

Have you seen all of the Fabulous pictures of Market???  Oh, I have had oodles and oodles of eye candy!!  So wish I was there :)  I guess there is always next year right :)

So let's have some Market Giveaway winners and make someones Market Weekend a fabulous one!!!

Thanks again to Fat Quarter Shop for Sponsoring our Market Giveaway.  And have you checked out the Jolly Jabber???  Kimberly has a whole slew of pictures from Market!!!  Yippee Skippee!!!

Okay, The winner of the Skyscraper Grand Hotel Fat Quarter Bundles is . . . 

And the winner of the High Rise Grand Hotel Fat Quarter Bundles is . . .

Congrats Kalynn and Heather!!!  I have send you emails :)

And thank you for everyone who entered.  And if you didn't win today you can always come back Monday and try again.  Yup, you better believe I am participating in Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day :)

Stars Quilt for Bloggers Quilt Festival Spring 2012!!!!!

The Spring 2012 Blogger's Quilt Festival is here!!!!  This is only the most amazing linky party!!!  It is such a great opportunity to check out so many amazing blogs and welcome new friends to your own blog.   Thank you to Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side for hosting this each Spring and Fall!!!!

For this edition of Blogger's Quilt Festival I am sharing my STARS Quilt-A-Long Quilt!!!  Finally, I get to reveal the finish work :)  I had so much fun designing this quilt and even more fun hosting this Quilt-A-Long.   I just love meeting new people and making friends through this wonderful virtual quilting world!!

And I am so excited to share that I can now say there is a Printer Friendly Version of this Quilt-A-Long!!!  I have been getting some requests so I bit the bullet and set to work converting 110 pages down to 18 :)  I have uploaded the PDF to my Google Drive where it can be Downloaded for Free :)

So, I started this Quilt-A-Long last September, had a baby and then managed to finish the quilt top some time around Feb/March.  Then it sat on the shelf waiting to be quilted. (for a while) Until the beginning of this month when I went to play on a Long-Arm Machine!!  I posted all about that day here :)

I decided to really give the experience of Long Arm Quilting an all out go so I did my own Free Motion Quilting.  I tried a new design for me and did echoed tear drops and swirls.  It was so much fun!!!  And I am so happy with how it turned out.  Not bad for a first timer I figure :)

And now that it is all finished I have made my 6 year old daughter the happiest little girl!!!  She has been waiting for this for a while so I am just ecstatic that she loves it so much :)  And don't you just love how the Heirloom line totally matches her walls!!  Fabulous :)  

And of course, I couldn't show pictures of the quilt on her bed with her old Cinderella pillow case.  That would just spoil the whole effect.  So yesterday I whipped up 2 new pillow cases.  They are the perfect finishing touches :)  (Although, now I am thinking about doing one more decor pillow with a star on it :)

 And one final thing about this quilt that was a mistake but turned out to be, in my opinion, totally awesome!!!  So when I loaded this on to the rollers of the machine I came up a tiny bit short on my backing but only in the one corner.  I told them not to worry, I wasn't to concerned about the back.  So I quilted away and then went ahead and bound it. This is what shows up in that tiny corner :)  Just in case I ever forget the line or who designed it, Love it!!!!  And who knows, maybe someday this quilt really will be an heriloom.

So that's my STARS quilt!!!  If you are new, thank you so much for visiting.  If you are a regular Happy Quilting Reader, Thanks for all of your support!!!  Enjoy Blogger's Quilt Festival :)

Oh, and one last little note . . .  Since I am now officially done with this Quilt-A-Long it is probably time to start a new one . . . What do you think, are you ready to Quilt-A-Long???