Easter Bunny Blog Hop

Next week Melissa at Lilac Lane will be hosting an Easter Bunny Blog Hop, and I get to be one of the bloggers participating in it.  So excited!!!   The hop is all about Easter goodies and there will be giveaways going on as well.  Here's the line up!!

Monday, 3/4      Melissa from Lilac Lane with a patchwork bunny
Tuesday, 3/5      Nanette from Freda's Hive with Easter Egg Cups Table Runner

                          Caroline from Sew Can She with Bunny Treat Bag

Wednesday, 3/6 Sabra from Sew a Straight Line

                          Clara from Clover and Violet with an Easter Basket/ lunch bag

Thursday, 3/7    Megan from Quilt Story with a bunny shirt and skirt

                          Jenny from Sew Pretty Dresses with a quiet book

Friday 3/8         Melissa (that's me) from Happy Quilting with an Easter bunting

                          Robin from Create Kids Couture with a Girl's Patchwork Skirt 

Each project will be made using a charm pack (5" squares) of Happy Ever After by Sandra Workman for Riley Blake. This is such a fun spring line and I am so excited to see projects made using just a charm pack.  I mean, who doesn't have a charm pack lying around :)

So be sure to pop on over to Lilac Lane on Monday and follow along each day to get lots of adorable Easter Sewing Goodness!!  

I Missed This and It's a Him!!

While I loved  my vacation, It was wonderful to get back to my children and home.  It was also wonderful to get back to what my husband has deemed "my 6th child, Bernina".  I spent most of Monday unpacking and catching up.  But come Tuesday naptime, I was so excited to run down to my sewing room and break open these lovelies!!

Out came the rotary cutter, and then I flew through some piecing and even got some quilting started.  I can just show a tiny peek as this is one of those secret projects :)   It felt fantastic to be sewing again.  Sometimes it is fun to take a little break, just to remember, once again, how much I love, love, love quilting!!

I also got some fabulous news upon my return!!  My twin Sister is expecting her second child and she just found out that it is a boy!!  Yippee Skippee!!  Her first baby, little Nancy, received Snuggly Squares and it is hanging above her bed.

This new little arrival will be sharing a room with his big sister so he needs a semi matchy quilt.  And wouldn't you know it, I have been saving some fat quarters of Pure that I picked up from Sweetwater when they were clearing out their remnants.  I have always loved this line and am so excited that it will go perfect with Snuggly Squares but still be all boy!!  

Now to decide on a pattern.  I think I want to keep it squares but change it up a bit.  Luckily for me, the wee one isn't slated to arrive for a while, which is nice because I have a few more of those deadline projects to finish first.  But it sure is going to be fun to have this one in the back of my mind pondering over ideas :)

Aloha

So can you guess where I have been from that title??  Yup, I just got back from the beautiful island of Maui in Hawaii!!  My husband had a conference there last week and I was all for tagging along.  So for the last 9 days we have been  . . .

Walking along beautiful endless beaches.  The beaches really weren't that busy and so we enjoyed a daily walk in the morning or evening pretty much to ourselves.

Playing in the water.  We actually saw 2 sea turtles while snorkeling.  My husband wanted to swim closer to them but I admit, I chickened out and started backpedaling.  They are big!!

Chasing the waves on the black sand beach.  They call it black sand, but it is more like little black pebbles.  They felt really cool on your feet.  

Enjoying the tropical views while bombing around the island in this!!  Seriously, you can see so much with the top down that you would miss otherwise.  It is absolutely stunning to be able to see everything above you while driving through the super lush part of the island.

Hiking to lots of hidden water falls.  Some of the hikes were a little crazy and a bit more difficult that I was expecting, but they were all totally worth it.  The green is just so beautiful and the natural pools are so clear!

Rock hopping on the volcanic rock that made up some of the shore lines.  These were incredible, especially with the waves constantly crashing and spraying.

Exploring the island.  On one exploration we finally found this blowhole.  It was quite the trek and the winds were blowing at 40 mph.  Major crazy rock scaling, but oh so much fun!!

(And ya, we got a little to close to the blowhole :)

Watching the water.  I could watch the movement and color for hours.  It is so incredibly beautiful   So many shades of blue moving in and out and the sound of the waves crashing over and over.   In a word, Stunning!!

And finally, enjoying some absolutely stunning sunsets!!  I looked forward to this time every evening!

All in all . . . It was an absolutely wonderful getaway for my husband and I.  I feel like one of the luckiest gals around! (Yup, had to add the sappy photo at the end :) 

Thanks for indulging me in my little trip recap.  We took over 200 pictures so it was hard to narrow them down.  So how about some fabric!!!  I was so excited to find this Hawaiian fabric shop.  (Husband not so much, but he endured :)  

Rows and Rows of beautiful Hawaiian print bolts!!  I love all of the beautiful bright colors!!

And . . . I even got to take a little class on Hawaiian quilting.  I forgot to take any pictures during the class, but this is the general gist of what we were doing.  It is all hand quilting of turned applique.  It was major intense hand quilting.  I don't see myself making a Hawaiian quilt anytime soon (we all know I am not such a fan of hand quilting ;) but it was so much fun to learn how it is done!

So now it's time to get back into the swing of things.  I think Mother Nature is trying to help us get used to Utah again as it is snowing outside :)  Gotta love it!!

Starburst Quilt Back

Well, I decided that my Starburst Quilt is going to be quilted via a Long Arm.  And, I figured, why not turn it into a little girls day out!  So come Monday, my Mom, my Mother-In-Law and I will be cruising on down the I-15 to have a little date at Let's Quilt!!  Oh, I am so excited for another Long-Arm Adventure!!  I have absolutely fallen in love with working on those large machines!!   Both my Mom and my MIL have never quilted a quilt using a long-arm and they are so excited!!  We are guaranteed to have lot's of fun and I will try to remember to take pictures :)

So anyhow, in order to quilt this up . . . I need a quilt back!   I pulled some fabrics from the good ole stash in orange, pink, and black to match the top :)  I just love the look of a pieced quilt back.  They are always just so much fun!!

Have a Happy Quilting Weekend and I will catch up on Monday evening with all of the fun from the Girls Quilt Day Outing :)

Virtual Quilt Bee

So have you heard about Amy's Smart's new Virtual Quilt Bee???  I love Amy!!  She is the nicest person in the whole world, and I am being totally serious.  I met Amy at the first Sewing Summit and we became fast friends.  So of course I was all, "Uh Yes a million times over" when she asked me to be a designer for the bee :)

The Virtual Bee will be a lot like a Block of the Month except it will be every other week.  And each post will be done by a new designer who will be hosting a tutorial for an 8" block.  The cool part is that the block will be done in 2 ways.   One block will have a  traditional feel using the incredibly fun Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie and Camille and One block with more of a modern flair using a monochromatic color palette of Kona Solids!!

  

This Bee is going to be super casual, allowing participants to do as much or as little as they feel up to.  You can read all about it here.  So whether you want to jump on board or just watch from the side lines you should check it out!!  We are going to have so much fun :)