My New Mini, aka Julie is Awesome!!!

Isn't it just the cutest mini ever!!!!   I received this fantastic mini from Julie as part of the Fab Little Quilt Swap!!!  Julie could not have possibly made a more perfect mini for me!!!  I love it to pieces!!!

 I was so excited when I got this little squish in the mail and saw Julie's name on it!!  I had been stalking this mini in the group for weeks and just hoping that it might come my way!!

I have always loved cathedral windows and Julie even took the time to hand stitch each of these, amazing!!  The little tiny buttons in the points are just the cutest finish!!  And yes, I love, love, purple!!!

Photo courtesy of Julie

And if the mini wasn't enough to must make my day, there were also lots of fun goodies in the squish package!!!  Julie is just the nicest swapper ever!!

How cute is this little basket!!!  So adorable :)  It is now on my shelf and holds all of my precious cards and notes from sewing friends :)

And Julie loves purple just as much as I do and was so sweet to share some of her purple stash!!  Seriously, freaking out of what to make with all of this fabulous purple!!

And here it is on my wall of purple mini's right about the ironing board so I can ohh and ahh over it ever time I press!!!

Thank you a million times over Julie!!!  I could not be happier!!

Happy Mother's Day

Thank you to all of you who visited during the Celebrate Mom event!!!  I am sure, like me, that you enjoyed hearing all about how things run in households of some of our favorite mom bloggers!!  It was such a fun event and that is because of all of you!!!  So thank you!!!!  And a huge thank you goes out to Heather and Megan, Angela, Maureen, Natalia, and Jenny.  You were all fantastic!!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

So let's give away a few Mother's Day Gifts!!!  It's time to choose the winner's from the Celebrate Mom event!!!  So exciting!!!

The winner of the Posy FQB  from Green Fairy Quilts is . . . Tracey

  

The winner of the Happy Go Lucky Jelly Roll from Fat Quarter Shop is . . .  Harley Dee

  

The winner of the Spring Fat Quarter Collection from The Scarlet Thread Quilt Co. is . . .  Joanne G

  

The winner of the Custom Color Bundle from Christa Quilts is . . . Chris S

  

The winner of the Madhuri Fat Quarters from The Intrepid Thread is . . . Stacy

  

The winner of the Happy Quilting Patterns is . . . Karen

Congratulations to all the Celebrate Mom Winners!!  

And since, with all of the Celebrate Mom fun, I forgot the 2 other giveaways . . . there are 2 more winners.

The winner of the 100 Blocks Magazine and 3 of my patterns is . . . Kacey

And the winner of the Between Heaven and Texas novel and 3 of my patterns is . . . mabear

And that about wraps it up!!!  Again, thank you so much for your participation in the Celebrate Mom Event!!!  You all are the greatest readers ever!!!

Celebrate Mom with guest Jenny Pedigo!! (and giveaway)

It's Day 6 of Celebrate Mom here at Happy Quilting!!!  A fun filled week of  daily guest posts and daily fabric giveaway's for you !!!  Today, I am super excited to welcome my guest Jenny Pedigo of Sew Kind of Wonderful!!

I had the great opportunity to meet Jenny at fall quilt market and she has become a wonderful friend.  Jenny is the creator of the Quick Curve Ruler and along with it has created a vast line of fantastic Quick Curve Ruler Patterns.  She is also a very talented  long arm quilter!!   Jenny never ceases to blow me away with her amazing quilt designs, you should she her Curve It Up QAL.  Take it away Jenny!!


First off, I wanted to thank Melissa for this fun event she's doing this week!  I was a little surprised when she asked if I wanted to participate and then remembered I now have 6 kids and would probably make for a good candidate!

My name is Jenny Pedigo with Sew Kind of Wonderful.  I've been married for close to 18 years and 6 kids later.  Our 6th child Ty, is only 2 1/2 months old and has been the most sweetest little surprise in our lives!

About 6 years ago I bought a longarm quilting machine so I could start working from home. Then a couple of years ago my passion went from longarm quilting to now creating quilt patterns, which has brought on a whole new business of it's own.  I have come to find out the reality of just how hard it can be to work at home and manage being a mom at the same time!   

I have a plaque on my wall that says "Welcome to the Zoo"!!  Sometimes and many times it can feel that way!  I really try to involve my kids with what I'm doing, whether it's getting a 2nd opinion on a quilt design, color fabric choice for a quilt, stuffing patterns, wrapping rulers, packaging orders, carrying heavy boxes to the car...and so on. 

Here is Brittany and Brooke stuffing patterns for me.  I can only get them to help me if I pay them of course!

I would also love it if my daughters, one day, became obsessed with quilting like their mom!  We have managed to make some quilts together, we made this one for their bed.

It was a big accomplishment for them and we had lot's of fun spending time together to work on it!

I've also let my kids play around on the longarm.

   

Here's Brittany quilting a top that she actually designed her self.  Starting soon, Brittany is going to start longarm quilting for customers to make a little money in High School.  Wish I could have done that in High School!

 I will admit there are times when work at home took over my life.   Looking back at the last 6 years, I wish I had slowed down and spent more time with my kids.  My baby Ty has been a blessing in my life in so many ways.  One being, I have learned to slow down and enjoy my family more.  I've had more fun with my kids in the last couple months and have learned how important it is to balance work, quilting and just being a mom.   

 Funny story.  Yesterday Brittany and I were playing a humming game with her phone.  She holds the phone over her head, I read the title of the song and try to hum it to her and she try's to guess what song I'm humming.  Okay.....I'm not sure what I was thinking when I said I'd play along, but I'm the worst singer ever!  Oh...and the phone takes a video of you also.  I tried to hum a Lion King song and in my head I thought it sounded really good, but was startled when Brittany started laughing and my baby Ty, who was sitting on my lap, starting crying!  We have watched that video over and over and over.  It's so hilarious and I'm so glad I was able to enjoy that moment with my daughter!

Thanks Melissa for this fun "Mom" week and for letting me share a bit about me and my family, it was fun!  

Fast dinners for us on a busy day consist of rice, cooked in a microwave rice cooker (20 minutes).  Costco's frozen fish (salmon or tilapia) baked in the oven for 15-20 min. and a frozen vegetable (steam for 5-10 min).  Fast, easy and healthy!

---  Jenny

Thank you so much to Jenny for being part of this Celebrate Mom event!  

And how about a final giveaway!!!

Today's Celebrate Mom giveaway will be a copy of each of my patterns.  Yup, all 7 to one lucky winner!!!

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

Just leave me a comment of one thing you love about your Mom :)

That's it.  Up to 1 entry per person.  Giveaway is open to international entries.  It will close on Sunday, May 12th and a winner will be selected randomly and announced shortly after.

Thanks for stopping by.  We will wrap things up with the winning post :) 

Celebrate Mom with guest Natalia Bonner (and giveaway)

It's Day 5 of Celebrate Mom here at Happy Quilting!!!  A fun filled week of  daily guest posts and daily fabric giveaway's for you !!!  Today, I am super excited to welcome my guest Natalia Bonner from Piece N Quilt!!

Natalia is an amazing friend and has some mad quilting skills!!   Nataila runs has a wonderful long arm quilting business, has written 2 books, and has been published in lots of magazines and books.  Natalia's is always creating something clever and her blog is loaded with lots of free tutorials!!    So without further ado, let's toss it over to Natalia!!

Hi there, I'm Natalia Bonner and I blog, quilt, play, design and whatever else over at Piece N Quilt.

Ever since Melissa asked me to share in her Celebrate the Mom series so many thoughts have been running through my mind. Six years ago I decided to quit being a "normal" part of society and quit working a "normal" job. I gave that all up so I could be a mom. Little did I know... I didn't have a clue what was in store for my future and for sure had no idea how difficult yet rewarding it can be to be a mom. My children are some of my biggest joys.

I cannot express how grateful I am that I have the ability to be with my kids all day every day, even though most days are NOT picture perfect, the studio is generally.....lets just say my kids have a lot of toys, our hair is not always done perfect, our lunch isn't always the healthiest but we manage to make it through one day at a time. Even though I only have 2 kids of my own generally we have a 3rd child here with us, my niece. She's become like my 3rd child. 

Just this past weekend my grandma was here in the studio for a couple days and she asked me "how do you do it" really I don't know... hahah. Some days I really ask myself how I made it through another day. I'm pretty sure every mom feels that way. One thing that I have learned being a mom, when my daughter was born my husband told me that we needed to have a "schedule" I was so confused by this whole concept. As a child I never had a bedtime, I was very well taken care of, but a schedule was something I couldn't grasp. Now, I can't thank him enough for teaching me about a "schedule" napping, eating, playing, quilting, and so on, at certain times each day are the only way I can survive, maybe I should be celebrating the dad here. :) Really, since my studio isn't actually in my home I've learned that a schedule is the only way I can be productive, actually I don't even have a sewing machine in my home. Every day, my children and I go to "work" from 8:30 - 5, some days my daughter cries because she doesn't want to go to work, some days she's excited, and my baby, he doesn't care, as long as he has food and toys. :)

I'm pretty sure none of us moms are perfect, we all wish we could do more, but at the end of the day I'm pretty certain that we are all grateful that we have the opportunity to be a mom!

Hope you all have a fabulous mothers day!

~Natalia Bonner

Thank you to Natalia for being part of this Celebrate Mom event!  

And you know whats next, the Giveaway!!!

Today's Celebrate Mom Giveaway is sponsored by The Intrepid Thread.   One lucky winner will win this fantastic Madhuri fat quarter bundle as their Mother's Day gift!!  I just love the elephants!!

 

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

Leave a comment here of your what Fat Quarter Bundle The Intrepid Thread carries.  

That's it.  Up to 1 entry per person.  Giveaway is open to international entries.  It will close on Sunday, May 12th and a winner will be selected randomly and announced shortly after.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to come back tomorrow when Jenny Pedigo will be stopping by and I will be hosting our final giveaway!!!

Linking up to SMS Giveaway Day - And just in case, here is Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4

Celebrate Mom with guest Maureen Cracknell (and giveaway)

It's Day 4 of Celebrate Mom here at Happy Quilting!!!  A fun filled week of  daily guest posts and daily fabric giveaway's for you !!!  Today, I am super excited to welcome my guest Maureen of Maureen Cracknell Handmade!!!

Maureen is an amazingly creative individual and I am so happy to have her as a good friend!!   She runs a thriving Etsy shop with the cutest handmade crowns, is a member of both the Riley Blake and Art Gallery design teams, and uses her amazing sense of color, design, and artistic talent to constantly create unique and stunning projects!!  So without further ado, let's toss it over to Maureen!!

Hi, I'm Maureen and I blog at Maureen Cracknell Handmade, I'm so excited that Melissa asked me to join in as a "Celebrate Mom" guest! When Melissa reached out to me, by her second sentence, "I realized a while back that one of the most frequent comments I get is "how do you do this all with kids...," I was ready to respond YES! to her invite right away. This is something I am asked quite I bit as well, and was thrilled to have the chance to share a little on this topic! Thank you so much Melissa!!



As a busy mother of three, finding the time to pursue this passion for sewing has and will always be an ever-changing work in progress. Thankfully, my children are all intensely creative individuals, and are wonderfully encouraging when it comes to my own creating. Especially when they get to be a part of the process, often "helping" me in someway -- that's the key! When I started blogging, I wasn't sewing yet, I was a big knitter and everything I made was either for my children or inspired by one of them! When I would get a new project idea, I would describe what I was hoping to make to at least one of them and ask them to draw out "the pattern" for me. This would both get their creativity flowing and make them feel proud that they were a part of what was being made. They would be so excited to see the finished item, they were more than happy to see me working away until we were all done! Mwah, my super tricky secret!

Here are a couple examples of just that, that I had shared back in the early days of my blog, before I even began to sew!

A Jedi sweater, designed by and for Jacob : :



A Kaiden inspired stitched, felted basket : :



When I decided to learn to sew, my children continued that same role. They have always been a huge part of this amazing journey -- helping me, creating along side me, and more than anything, inspiring me!

An impromptu sewing session  -- silly felt hats, designed by Jacob : : 



Since we bought our first home in November, we have all been sharing a creative space, and so far that is working out perfectly! 



The activity table in the center of the room is full of art supplies for the kids to use while I sew!



I try my best to keep our space organized and fun, so when we are sharing the space together, everyone is happy and comfortable, and we can make the most of our sewing/craft time together. Being surrounded by beautiful fabrics and having lots of supplies on hand is really important to me, so I make sure to keep the kids stocked with new, quality supplies of their own, too.



For me, my blog isn't just a place for me to share my daily makings, fabric stashing, tutorials, and giveaways -- it's a journey of not just how I have grown as a creative person, but how we have together as a family. Perhaps what I'm most proud of, and I know my boys won't mind me saying this, is how all this sewing has formed such a special relationship between my daughter Haila and I. I could never put into words how much a part of all of this she has been! I'm getting emotional just thinking about it now. Besides being the inspiration behind so many of my projects, she is such a great little helper. I believe that sewing will be a very special part of our relationship forever!



It's my wish that each of my children grows up to be just as passionate about something, as I am about sewing, and that they find the love, encouragement, and support that I have found through them and the amazing people in this community!

Thank you so much for having me today! ♥,  Maureen

And thank you to Maureen for being part of this Celebrate Mom event!  As you can see, she certainly makes her passion a family affair :)

And before we sign off, how about today's Giveaway!!!

Today's Celebrate Mom Giveaway is sponsored by Christa Quilts.   One lucky winner will win one of Christa's Custom Color Fat Quarter Bundle  as their Mother's Day gift!!  And the winner will even get to choose their color bundle!!!

  

 

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

Leave a comment here of your what Custom Color Bundle from Christa Quilts you would choose :)

That's it.  Up to 1 entry per person.  Giveaway is open to international entries.  It will close on Friday, May 10th and a winner will be selected randomly and announced shortly after.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to come back tomorrow when Natalia Bonner will be stopping by and The Intrepid Thread will be hosting another fabulous giveaway!!!

Linking up to SMS Giveaway Day - And just in case you missed them, here is Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3