I Loved It!!!

So the nerves lasted for about 5 minutes, and then, it was pure quilting delight :)  I Love Teaching!!!  (Teaching quilting that is, trying to teach my kids to read, not so much:)    It was so much fun.  I loved seeing everyone's fabric choices, their different ways in sewing their blocks together.  I loved jumping from table to table to answer questions and share little tidbits.  And most of all, I loved getting to know the amazing ladies in my class through a medium that we all love.

I hope all of my class members enjoyed being in the class as much as I enjoyed teaching it.  They really were a great bunch of ladies.  I used my hanging quilt as a "posting board" as there was no where else to hang it.  It was kind of fun to see it come together as we added piece by piece :)  This is what it looked like towards the end of class. (And my MIL said I needed to be in at least one of the pictures so I jumped in this one :)

Here are half of the ladies in my class.  My MIL is the one in the middle in the blue jacket.  She and another guild member were the official "helpers" for my class.  They did a lot of pressing and cutting and were such a huge help to so many members of the class!!

Here is the other half of my class.  We had 21 ladies total and I really do think they all enjoyed it. They close the class as 20 members but we let one extra squeak in :) We pinned, pressed, sewed,  and chatted.

By then end of the 3 hour class there were over half that had their first block done and one super speedy class member that had 2 blocks done.  It is so much fun to get to see everyone's finishes!!

All in all, a  spectacular experience!!! I am so looking forward to my class on Saturday and then to teaching 5 classes in June at the Panguitch Quilt Walk, which happens to open registration tomorrow.  Got a few spared days in the beginning of June and in the vicinity??  I would love to see you there :)  It will be so much fun!!!

EDIT - To answer the question . . . The plan is to have this PDF Pattern available tomorrow :)

I'm Teaching Today!!

I am so totally excited, and a little nervous, but mostly totally excited!!!!    I can't believe I will be teaching in just under an hour.  I mean, how awesome is that I get to share with others one of my all time favorite things to do.  Squeal!!!

I spent most of yesterday printing my patterns for the class members.  This took way longer than I anticipated and it was a little crazy before dinner last night. (I was trying to keep the patterns cheap for class members so I printed them at home on my printer vs at Staples, cheaper but time consuming :) It probably didn't help that I had to spend the first few hours of the morning writing the end of the pattern.  Ya, writing the actual pattern is not so much fun, so I tend to procrastinate that part.  What ya gonna do :)  I have to admit though, it looks cool to see a huge pile of them :)  (I will be uploading these patterns in the next few days, stay tuned ;)

Last night before going to bed I made a big pile on my sewing room floor of everything I could possibly think of that I would need for my class.  I have my quilts set to display at the front of the class.  

I have my samples all put together and ready to teach with.  Shout out - Thanks again Mom for helping me with these. She is making a Braided Irish Chain so I wouldn't end up with a bunch of widow blocks, and is letting me use her fabric and pieces for the samples.   Isn't she the greatest!!

And then I just started to add to the pile.  I threw in anything that I thought would aid in the class, mostly in case someone forgot something.  Irons and boards, since that always seems to be the hold up when people are sewing in large numbers.  My cutting mat, rulers, and rotary cutter.  And then a bag full of extra seam rippers, scissors, thread, pins, and extension cords.

I think I have everything covered.  Did I forget something??  Oh well, to late now.  I am out the door and off to teach!!  Yippee Skippee!!  Wish me luck :)   Oh, and I will try to remember to take some pictures so I can share,  (But don't hold me to that :)

Starburst Quilt-A-Long - Flying Geese

**  NOTE  - This post is part of a series of posts for the Starburst Quilt-A-Long.  If you would like to join (and have a chance to win one of the $75.00 Gift Certificate grand prizes sponsored by The Intrepid Thread ) you can find a list of the post links here :)  Once again, here is the schedule, but if you want to work ahead you can use the tutorial  just be sure to take pictures of your weekly assignments so you can link them up for weekly prizes :)

January 14 - Cutting Post
January 21 - Goose in the Corner and Half Square Triangles
January 28 - Flying Geese
February 4 - Building Blocks - At least 2
February 11 - Finish Blocks and Sashing
February 18 - Baste it, Quilt it, Bind It
March 4 - Starburst Parade and Grand Prizes

Now, before we get into this week's assignment let's get a winner from last week!!

The GC and HST winner who gets a $25.00 Gift Certificate  is . . .#41 -Izzy - Congrats :)

Wow, can you believe January is almost over already!!  Time flies :)  This weeks assignment is to make a whole flock of Flying Geese.    My fabric finally arrived after it's scary postal ordeal so I am super excited to have new pictures for this week!!  Yippee Skippee!!  

THIS WEEKS ASSIGNMENT  - FLYING GEESE

The great thing about making flying geese this way is that you don't waste any fabric and you never have to sew a triangle.  Double bonus!!  So let's get to it.

Start by gathering those piles you have marked as FG (Flying Geese)  You should have 4 large squares cut from your background fabric and 4 large squares, 4 each from your 4 different print fabrics (all measuring either 7 1/4". 9 1/4", or 11 1/4").  You should also have 16 smaller squares cut from your background fabric and 16 smaller squares, 4 each from your 4 different print fabrics, (all measuring either 3 7/8", 4 7/8 , or 5 7/8 ).  Separate the fabrics into 2 piles with the small background squares matched with the large print squares and the large background squares matched with the small print squares.
NOTE** Once again,  To save time, repeat each of the following sub-steps in an assembly line fashion making a whole flock of geese, vs 4 at a time.   I will be showing  an example of the print as the "sky" on the left hand side of the pictures and an example of the print as the "geese" in the right hand side of the picture.

With right sides together, lay two small squares onto your large square as shown.  Using your ruler, draw a pen line diagonally from the top left corner to the bottom right corner.

Now pin both sides of each square adjacent to that drawn line.  Make sure to put them out far enough that your presser foot won't hit them as you sew on by :)  Stitch a 1/4" seam along EITHER side of the drawn line (the black lines represent your stitching lines :)  Remember, you are doing these assembly line, so like the HST's,  first chain stitch all the 1/4" seams on the right hand side of the drawn line then clip threads and proceed to chain stitching all the 1/4" seams on the left hand side of the drawn line. 

Once again, clip your threads and then align your ruler along the drawn center line.  Cut along the edge of the ruler creating 2 large triangles.

Press the seams up towards the 2 little triangles.

Now, take 2 more little squares and align them on your two stitched pieces as follows with right sides together.  Once again, draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the little squares from corner to corner.

Now pin each piece far enough to leave room for the presser foot, then once again, stitch a 1/4" seam along either side of the drawn diagonal line.  (Remember to chain stitch all the left and then all the right sides :)

Clip your threads and then using your ruler aligned along the drawn line cut your 2 pieces in half to create 4 pieces.

Press up to match the other seam.  Lastly, trim off the little corners at either side and the top of your unit.

And you are done!!!  Perfectly precise flying geese blocks without throwing away any scraps and without sewing a single triangle.  Fabulous!!  You should have 32 Flying Geese total, 16 with print geese, and 16 with print sky.  

Here are my 32 geese, all ready to fly away!! 

EDIT -   For those of you that are new to this method of No Waste Flying Geese,  I wrote a previous tutorial on  No Waste Flying Geese that also goes over the math of making them so you can make any size Flying Geese you like.  thought you might like it :)

  And that's it!!  Get your Geese made and your assignment is complete!!!  And now you can enter to win the weekly prize :)

The Weekly Prizes are sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop and a huge thanks goes to them for their support of the Starburst Quilt-A-Long.

This weeks  prize is a Honey Honey Charm Pack by Kate Spain for Moda.  This is a beautiful line!!!

So what do you have to do for a chance to win??  Simple . . . Just link up your "Geese" at the end of this post :)  You can link to a blog post or a flickr picture, or whatever.  Just make sure to link up by next Monday morning as I will be announcing a winner at the beginning of next weeks post :)

Like always, if you don't get your blocks done by next week you can still link it up :) (just not in time for the prize :)    The linky will remain open until the end of the Quilt-A-Long.  Link up when you can :)

And don't forget to add your blocks to the Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long Flickr group!!!  

Next week we will start to make blocks!!   So exciting!!!!

And remember - Questions??  Please don't hesitate to send them to me at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Just Keep Stitching, Just Keep Pressing, Just Keep Pinning

This has been my mantra the last few days.  I have been a stitching, pressing, pinning machine!!  And I am so excited about it because I feel like I am getting on top of things again!!  I am working on 4 different projects  all at once and I managed to finish a portion of each of them in the last 3 days!!  Yippee Skippee!!

First off, my fabric for the Starburst Quilt-A-Long finally found it's way to me on Tuesday evening after a scary postal trip :)  I instantly sorted my fat quarters into groups.  I really love this fabric bundle Julie put together.  It is just so happy and fun to sew with!!

Before I went to bed, I managed to get all my fabric cut.  (And it was before midnight :)  This was my number one priority since as hostess of the Quilt-A-Long it is kind of nice to keep up :)

And by last night, I had finished all of my building blocks.  This weeks assignment of Half Square Triangles and Goose in the Corner blocks, and next weeks assignment of Flying Geese!!  That means, next's week's tutorial will actually have new pictures, Yippee Skippee!!  (Now I just need to go change out the older pictures for new ones, on the list to do :)

My next finish was finishing up all of the samples for the 2 classes I am teaching next week.  It feels so good to have that taken care of because now I am way less nervous about teaching as I feel like I have a plan.  In fact, I am pretty darn excited!!  It's funny how seeing it makes it so much easier to explain :)  (This pictures shows my samples for how to make no waste flying geese :)

And remember how I mentioned that when the class was over I would turn the samples into a new quilt pattern.  Well, I figured while I was playing with this fabric I might as well whip up the HST's and  extra Flying Geese that I would need.   Now that is a flock of geese!!  Yes, that was a lot of pinning, pressing, and trimming!!!  But doesn't it just look so pretty :)

My last big finish I am so excited about!!  I finished my whole cloth quilting!!  Wow, this took 18 bobbins to quilt and I think around 7 hours.  (I tend to loose track of time when I am in the zone :)  I can't wait to move onto the next step of this quilt :)

Don't you just love all of that yummy texture!!  (Sorry these photo's aren't great, it is super gloomy outside and the flash just kept making a huge bright spot, le sigh)

So those are my finishes from my stitching, pressing, pinning 3 day marathon :)  It has been so much fun and I am so excited to start seeing things turn into finished quilts :)  I'm linking these finishes up to Amanda Jean's :)

Have a Happy Quilting Weekend!!  Here's hoping mine can be as productive as the last few days.  (Although, I really should take a break and clean the house ;)

Row Along - Winter Wonderland!!

So I have never done a  row-along but have always wanted to.  So when I was asked to design a row for one I was super excited.  I love designing and it would give me the opportunity to finally participate in a Row-Along,  Double Bonus!!  This fun event is being  hosted by Patchwork Posse,  The theme is “Winter Wonderland,” and every 2nd and 4th Monday of each month there will a tutorial posted at Patchwork Posse for a new row.  The rows will be 48" wide and up to 10" tall.  So you will have a pretty nice size winter throw when you are done!!

Here is a list of the designers and when you can expect the new rows :)  I am so excited to be part of this amazing group of quilters!!

January 28: Patchwork Possie

February 11: Jo’s Country Junction

February 25: Robin Quilts, etc.

March 11: Quilter Chic

March 25: Buttons & Butterflies

April 8: Quiet Play

April 22: The Tulip Patch

May 13: Spring Water Designs

May 27: Twiddletails

June 10: Happy Quilting - That's Me :)

June 24: 42 Quilts

July 8: CraftyTammie

July 15: Patchwork Possie - Finishing it up and Prizes!!!

I have decided that I will be using my Blitzen Fat Eighth bundle to Row-Along.  I love this line and think it will make a wonderful Winter Wonderland quilt :)  So grab some Winter inspired fabric, and  get ready to  row along!!