Starburst Parade and Grand Prize Winners!!

We have reached the Finale of the Starburst Quilt-A-Long and  WOW!!!  This has been such a fantastic quilt-a-long and I am just so excited about all of the amazing finishes.  I have to say, I squealed last night when the 50th link was emailed to me.  And then they just kept coming :)   I am just blown away, you guys are the greatest!!   And to read your wonderful stories of trying new techniques, learning little tidbits, having this be your first quilt-a-long, or even having this be your first ever quilt, I can't tell you how much that makes me smile!!

So . . .  how about some finishes.  Let's get to them!!    To see all of the completed quilt tops you can see the links at the bottom of this post or check them out in the Happy Quilt-A-Long Flickr Group.  And seriously, check them out, they are amazing!!

Today, the Starburst Parade is of those quilt tops that were also quilted and bound.  No work in progress for these ladies, their quilts are ready to be loved!!  And they are from all over the world!!  So fun :)

Abby from Michigan, US 

Angie from Wisconsin, US

Bethany from Washington, US

Chelsie

 CJ from Idaho, US

Emily from Louisiana, US

Erica from New York, US 

Isabelle from Quebec, Canada

Jana from Maryland, US

Jennifer from California, US

Jennifer from Wisconsin, US 

Jo from British Columbia, Canada

Julianne from California, US

Laurel from Illinois, US

Laurel from Illinois, US

Lorraine from Washington, US

Marit from Oslo Norway

Mary from England, United Kingdom

Sharon from New York, US

Aren't they just stunning!!   Be sure to click on each and read about these wonderful finishes :)     Enjoy your beautiful Starburst quilts ladies, and thank you so much for sharing them with all of us!!  

And now to finish off . . .  we need to pick some winners!!!  

A huge Thank You goes out to Julie at The Intrepid Thread for sponsoring our Grand Prize Giveaway's!!!  All those that have linked up their quilt top all eligible for the grand prize!!  There will be three grand prize winners and each will receive . . . 

A $75.00 Gift Certificate that you can spend as you like!!

I know I would love to win an Intrepid Thread Shopping Spree I am sure you all feel the same.

So, lets get to it!!   Drumroll Please . . . . . . .

******The First Grand Prize Winner is . . .

     

******The Second Grand Prize Winner is . . .

         

  

******And the Third and Final Grand Prize Winner is . . . .

         

  

Congrats Ladies!!!  Enjoy your shopping spree!!

Thank you to all of you who participated in the Starburst Quilt-A-Long!!!  I can't begin to explain how much I love having so many wonderful friends quilt-a-long with me!!  I had a wonderful time hosting and  I hope you had a wonderful time quilting-along!!!

Now to start thinking up a new Quilt-A-Long :)  Until next time . . . Happy Quilting!!!

Finish Up those Starburst :)

Can I just say, you guys blow me away!!!  There are over 50 Starburst Quilt Tops done!!  Yippee Skippee!!  I just keep looking over them all!!  They are all so beautiful!!

So this is your last call reminder!!  There are 2 days left, well the rest of today and tomorrow :)  The Grand Prize Winners and Parade will be on Monday Morning!!  So whatever stage you are at, try and get some weekend sewing time to finish on up :)  

For the Grand Prize Entry you need to finish piecing your quilt top together and then link a picture of it at the bottom of this post.  

To be in the Parade you need to quilt and bind your quilt top and then email me a picture with your deets (name, location, and flickr of blog link) to happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com.   It is sure to be a grand parade as I have already received lots of stunning pictures!!

And last but not least, I have to admit some news that I am feeling pretty guilty about but it can't be helped so I am just going to admit it and move on.  My quilt will not be ready for the parade, and I am super bummed about it.  I am sorry.  Here's the story . . . 

Remember how I planned to go rent time on a long arm this Monday.  Well I scheduled that time without really thinking ahead.  Ya, that whole being gone for 9 days to Hawaii and returning Sunday night . . . Not the best combo for leaving the very next morning.  I was so tired from the time change, sore from the flight, and most importantly, there was no way my baby and 3 year old would have been okay with Mommy leaving all day.  I underestimated the missing mommy factor.  They were clung to me all day Monday.  (Which I have to admit, was pretty nice.  I always love it when they want to snuggle :)  So ya, the Long Arm trip got cancelled.  Then I thought about doing it on my home machine, but I  had 2 secret projects (that took longer than expected, they always do)  that had to be finished and mailed by today.  Long story short, my quilt top and back are still folded in the corner of my sewing room. Le sigh!!   But I promise, I will get them done.  I am actually teaching a class on this quilt in June so I have that deadline to keep me honest :)

With that . . . I leave you with a Happy Sewing Starburst cheer!!  I am off to work on the parade ;)  So excited!!!  

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!!