Happy Quilting

Monday, June 25, 2012

Mod Mosiac Block

I have always loved Elizabeth Fransson's Mod Mosaic Blocks so I was super excited when Erica asked us to make one for this month's Beejeebers Bee Block. Erica asked us to use the same color palette as last month . . . which I was super excited about because 1 - it is just a joy to work with as it is so calming. And 2 - I had not put away my scraps from last month so I was all set to go :) Ahh, Beautiful blues, aquas, grey's, and yellow based greens. This is what I made. Such a fun block to put together :) I think I will have to make more of these some time.

Oh , and happy update . . My On The Go quilt is being featured at Sew Mama Sew - Trends with Melanie feature. Yippee Skippee!!!

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Some Quilting Time

My mom left to go home last night. We had a marvelous time together. (as we always do). And we got so much done. (Which is impressive as we had my niece and nephew as well so there were 7 kids to keep happy). My yard looks like it has gone through a virtual transformation, I finally have living room curtains, and my entire house has had a super cleaning. But with all of that . . . Sadly, there was no time left for quilting.

After my mom left I found myself standing in my living room with nothing to do. My husband had taken the 3 older kids up the mountain for the night and day and the 2 younger ones were sleeping soundly. So, after taking a moment to enjoy the silence, I decided to turn this on

And enjoy some prime chick flick time while pinning these together.

Ahhh, a little slice of heaven!! Now this morning, I am ready to get piecing :) I am so looking forward to it!!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

TNT in my Living Room

So my mom has been visiting for the last few days, and our huge plans to sew all day together, not so much :) We started in the yard, and it took the entire weekend and then some to get my yard and garden to a state that my mother was okay with. (Which I soooo appreciate because I am far from a good gardener.) Once my yard looked passable we pulled out the sewing machines.

We decided to start with the Living Room curtains. (There are several rooms that need curtains, this one was just top of the list.) So we figured we would just whip that out during nap time and then move on. Ya right :) Whenever I think I can just whip something out, I should plan right then for it to take 4 times as long.

2 different curtain rods later, 2 different color sets of grommets later, and about a million interruptions later which all equaled about 2 days later . . . The new living room curtains are done :) And I love them!!!! (It is really hard to take a picture of curtains with the sun pouring in the window :)

We went with grommets (first time trying them in a curtain, Yippee for TNT) because we want these to be super easy to open and shut. We love the sunlight in the day but are a little tired of living in a fish bowl at night :)

My mom found this beautiful upholstery fabric at a depot center in Salt Lake. $3.00 a yard!!!!! Can you believe it. The grommets were so easy to put in. We found them in the curtain rod section of JoAnn's and you don't even need a tool to install them. Super sweet and I just love the look of them!!

And I couldn't help but add this shot. I put my daughter in her high-chair with some cereal to keep her happy while we put the finishing touches on the curtains and hung them up. When we finished I came into the kitchen to find this. Yes, that is a Corn Pop coming out of her ear. Too funny!!!!

So that is what I have been trying new this week. Breaking out of the quilting comfort zone (I have not pieced anything in over 5 days and I am really starting to have withdraws) and playing around with upholstery fabric, grommets, and curtain rods :) Good Times!!!

What have you been up to this week?? Link on up :)

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

A Finalist!!!

So I was doing my regular blog inspiration surfing this morning and came across a wonderful surprise!!! My Double Dresden Delight quilt has been choosen as a finalist in Jennifer's Summer Sewing Contest. Yippee Skippee!!!

There is some amazing sewing goodness going on in the finals. So take a second and pop on over to Ellison Lane Quilts and vote for your favorite finalist entries :) Trust me, you will be glad you visited, I am talking major fabric inspiration!!!

And once again, thank you for all of your sweet comments on this quilt!! I really can't believe how many "hits" it has had since it has been posted. I am just thrilled with the wonderful response it is getting and each of your comments just make me grin from ear to ear!! Quilters really are the nicest group of people!!!

Monday, June 18, 2012

The Tetris Quilt-A-Long and Color Charm Swap!!!!

Yippee Skippee!!!! It's time for another Quilt-A-Long. And this time it's Tetris!!! (Insert Doh do Dut Dut, Dut, Dut, Dum, Dee, Dum, Music here :) It's a game I loved playing as a kid and I think it is going to be a blast to Quilt-A-Long to!!! Interested??? Here's how it's going to work!

We will be playing with the standard Tetris pieces and using print fabrics in the colors of Red, Orange, Yellow, Pink, Green, Blue, Purple, and White. (The Color Charm Swap will be a great way to accumulate all of these prints, more on that later :)

Once a week you will start with a blank grid that is 6 x 6 square. You can draw it, use graph paper, or just print this little picture off.

In the weekly Quilt-A-Long post I will give you a piece and the alteration shapes it can convert into. Then you will get another piece, and another ect . . until you have enough to fill the entire block.

Your job . . . To play Tetris!!! Start with the first piece in the post and color it into your grid. Then insert the next piece. Just pretend it is dropping down into place. Don't think about this to much, just pretend you are playing and the higher up it gets the faster it gets, to where you just start throwing things in there.

Once you get tot the top of your grid you are done. You will have some white spaces, that is the way the game works :) Now just simply take your color grid and sew a duplicate. We will be using 5" squares. You can participate in the swap to accumulate these, or if you are on a fabric diet, you can use your stash, or if you like solids, you could accumulate a few Solid Charm Packs. Whatever works for you, I just want to make it super easy for every one to play along!!!

We will be making 6 blocks in 6 weeks and in the end you will have something that looks a little like this!!! So fun huh :) The Quilt center will finish at 55 x82 and then you can add on borders as you desire to make it the size you would like. How perfect for colorful, happy, random picnic quilt!!!

And since I know you all love fabric as much as I do, and since I know this is a busy time of year, and since I know it is easier to keep up when you are motivated . . . this Quilt-A-Long will have Prizes Galore!!!!! Grand Prizes Drawings for those that finish their project, Weekly Prize Drawings for those that finish their blocks, and just good old Random Prize Drawings, just for fun!!! Lots of Fabric Goodness and lots of Gift Certificate Goodness!!! (There will be more details on the exact prizes as the start date gets closer :) Thank you to my wonderful, generous, sponsors for providing these prizes!!!

The Quilt-A-Long will be starting around Mid-July!!!! This will give those participating in the Color Charm Swap time to get their fabric and those of you participating from your stash time to cut up your scraps :) (You will want around 225 ish 5" squares in the colors mentioned earlier. Or if you don't like a color, you can always swap it out for a different color, just know which one it was originally as the pieces will be shown in the weekly posts in the original colors ) If you will be Quilting-A-Long please feel free to join my Flickr Quilt-A-Long group :)

And now that we have gone over the general layout of the Quilt-A-Long, let's get the the Color Charm Swap!!! This is going to be a fabulous way to get all of the fabric you need for the Quilt-A-Long with lots of yummy variety.

So this Color Charm Swap is a monster!!! Because each Tetris piece is made up of 4 squares, I thought it would be fun to do a 4 yard swap!! So you provide 4 yards of 1 fabric cut into 224 charms and will be receiving 224 . . . 4 sets of 56 charms in 8 colors, 28 charms of each of the 8 colors) This allows you to make each Tetris piece out of the same fabric using the 4 charms. (But you are welcome to mix them up as well if you like :)

Now, I know, lots of us are on fabric diets and trying to keep the fabric purchases to a minimal. So . . . to help you out with the purchase of 4 yards (since most of us don't have 4 yards of the same fabric lying around in our stash) Julie over at the Intrepid Thread has created a special custom listing in her shop just for this Quilt-A-Long. Here's how it works. Shop around (And yes, you can add more than just the custom listing in your cart if you find something you want for yourself and want to save on shipping) and find the perfect fabric in the color you are assigned (assignments will be made soon) . Then go to the Custom Listing Here and in the notes section list the fabric you want. No matter what fabric you pick, your 4 yards will only cost $28.00. That's $7.00 a yard!!! Sweet!!! A huge thanks to Julie for this great discount :)

So do you want to Swap Along with me??? Sign-Ups start Today and will end as soon as the Swap is filled. You can read all of the official guidelines, rules, ect and officially sign up at the Tetris Color Charm Swap Flickr Group here ;) So yes, you need to go here to sign up!!!! (And if you want to participate in the swap but not in the quilt-a-long, that is fine too :)

I think that just about covers it all!!! Hoolay that was a long post :) Sorry, lots to cover :) I hope you will Quilt-A-Long with me, we are going to have so much fun!!!! If you have any questions just email them my way. happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com. And one last thing . . . Everyone loves buttons!!!