Feb Bees - Check

First off, I want to say a HUGE Thank You for all of the sweet comments and emails you sent my way for my Back to Basics quilt making the Top 10 of the MQG Riley Blake Challenge.   You all are just so sweet, thanks for keeping me on Cloud 9 all day :)

I tell you, I love being part of such amazing bees.  The women I get to associate with are just amazing and each month I have the wonderful opportunity to try new things.  Oh, and I also love finishing those bee blocks and getting them in the mail so I can check them off my To Do list :)  (Do any of you write things on your To Do list that you have already done, just so you can check them off??? )

 For the Beejeebers block this month Jodi asked us to make some Scrappy Sprouts using this tutorial.  These blocks were so much fun to make and went together in a flash.   And of course, I made a purple one ;)

For the Bees Knees, Nedra asked us to make this Flying Geese Block.  I totally tried a new technique with this block with varying success.  Sorry Nedra, apparently I am the world's worst foundation piecer.  I don't know how I managed to get points not lining up when there were lines to do that for me.  Grrr.

You see, Nedra sent us these fun Triangle on a Roll sheets to piece these flying geese and she even spent the time to cut all of the fabric for us before hand.  This type of piecing is pretty new to me, and I have to say, I was missing the ability to chain stitch something awful.  I kept having issues with my fabric slipping on the paper.

When I was half way done I gave up.  I know, pathetic, but I wanted my block for Nedra to look good and I just wasn't having my points line up which was frustrating me like no other.  So I tore off the paper back of the four sets of three I had done to that point and opted to just made a bunch of flying geese the old fashion way.   Yes, I was sewing little baby triangles on the sides of triangles, and funny enough, they turned out better than my other ones.

In the end,  I think I was able to salvage the block.  There are still some points that are off, but  it is passable.  Obviously, I need to practice some more foundation piecing, only not with someone else's fabric ;)  Even though It didn't turn out great, I was happy to have tried a new technique.  It is always good to keeping stretching out comfort zones ;)

And speaking of salvaging things, I made a part of the originally requested Birthday Dinner from yesterday's post for dinner last night.  And can I just say, they were Delicious!!

Have a Happy Quilting Weekend!!

Linking these finished Bee Blocks up to Sarah's, Amanda's, and Fort Worth Fabric Studio :)

Back To Basics with No Power

Yesterday from about 2 pm until Midnight we had no power.  I haven't been without power for that long in a while and it never ceases to blow me away what doesn't work when you don't have power.  Like the internet.  So you can imagine my complete and utter surprise when I got on my email and found a bunch of emails congratulating me on making the top 10.  It took me a bit to figure it out, but when I did, I let out a little scream.  (which at 5:30 in the morning with a sleeping household might not be the best thing, but I was excited, what ya gonna do ;)

My entry for the Modern Quilt Guild Riley Blake Challenge, Back to Basics, made the top 10 finalist.  Oh my goodness!!!.  There were 390 entries total, wow!!!  I can not begin to explain how honored and humbled and excited I am to be a finalist.  There were so many incredible entries I can't even begin to imagine how the judges narrowed it down to 10.  The top 3 will be chosen and announced next Monday and let me tell you, I am glad I am not a judge.  I am amongst some amazing talent.   To see all of the top 10 visit the Modern Quilt Guild's Blog ;)   So I guess now I just have to wait until Monday, however it turns out though, I am just so incredibly honored to be a finalist, I so love this design and it is so happy making to know that others do as well ;)

And now with that, I want to share a funny little story that happened yesterday while we were forced back to basics without any power.  See, most day's not having power is a little inconvenient but you can work around it , right ;)  Well Yesterday happened to be my dear Husband's birthday :)  Can you see how that would just add a little twist.  Here's the story :)

In our house, when it is your Birthday you get to pick the dinner.  It can be as crazy out of the box, mom has never made this, as you like.  So for Jacob's birthday this year he requested Stuffed Crab Portobello Mushrooms, Asparagus Tips, and Pecan Pie  (and then whatever I wanted to make to turn that into a meal).  So off to the store I went that morning.  I found a lovely ham on sale and planned some cheezy potatoes to round out the meal.   I got the ham in the oven after lunch and just then the power flicked off.  It came on and off a few times and then stayed off.

At this point, I am a little worried that dinner will be a little late.  We were having Jacob's parents to dinner but they are flexible so no worries there.  And then we wait, and wait, and I start to worry about the food being out to long and I don't want to open the fridge to try and make space for it all.  I am crazy trying to figure out how I can bake mushrooms, potatoes, and ham really quickly.  And finally Jacob calls the power company to find that we don't expect to have power until 7:00 that night.  Utter defeat.  My beautifully planned special Birthday meal is not going to happen.  So I wrap everything in tin foil, use the garage step as a fridge and we head out to dinner at a local BBQ restaurant.

Dinner was good and we came home for dessert.  Luckily, I made the Pecan Pies in the morning so we could salvage the traditional singing and blowing out the candles tradition.  But when I went to get the pies Jacob asked where the whipped cream was.  I told him I normally make it right before we eat the pie and as there was no power it looked like there would be no whipped cream.  Jacob thought for a minute, smiled and out to the garage he went.  He came back in with a battery and wires and another little contraption that had plugs.  He was determined to have that whipped cream, even if it meant running the Kitchen Aid off of a battery :)

In the end, he got his Pecan Pie with whipped cream.  We sang Happy Birthday and he blew out the candles.  Sure the whole dessert was eaten by candle light and flashlight, but it is certainly not going to be easily forgotten ;)

And we spent the rest of the evening just talking and being with one another.  No TV, No Internet, No Stereo . . . A little bit of heaven.  I think we might have to have some more Back to Basics nights, they can turn out pretty special ;)

Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long - Center Stars

**  NOTE  - This post is part of a series of posts for the Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long.  If you would like to join (and have a chance to win one of 4 of the $75.00 Gift Certificate grand prizes sponsored by The Intrepid Thread and Fat Quarter Shop ) you can find a list of the post links here :)  Here is the schedule

Jan 15 - Intro, Fabric Requirements, and Prizes Announcement

Jan 29 - Cutting

 Feb 5 - Flying Geese

Feb12 - Half Square Triangles

Feb 19 - Building Block Centers

Feb 26 - Building Block Sides

Mar 5 - Building Block Corners

Mar 12 - Piecing Top and Grand Prize Linky

April 2- Star Light Star Bright Parade and Grand Prize Winners

Before we get to this weeks assignment, we need to pick a winner for the Half Square Triangle Assignment.   And great job to everyone on finishing that assignment, I know it is a ton of sewing and trimming, especially trimming.  And  I am sorry that some of you found the directions confusing.  I try so hard to write clear directions with plenty of pictures but when we are doing so many layouts and sizes I think that it can get a little crazy.  I hope you were all able to muddle your way through and that we didn't lose any of you.  If you are still lost, just email me, we will work through it :)

Okay, so let's get back to a winner.  The cutting  assignment winner who will receive 2 charm packs from The Scarlet Tread Quilt Co. is . . .                #52 - Cindy1959!!! - Congrats :)

  

So now, onto this weeks assignment ;)  If you are just finding this QAL, it's never to late to join in the fun :)  You don't have to sign up or anything, just start following along with the weekly assignments ;)

THIS WEEKS ASSIGNMENT - BUILDING THE STAR CENTERS

Yippee, I am so excited!!  We are finished with making units and now we are going to start making blocks!!  I can't wait to see how everyone's comes together ;)

Alright, to start go to your pile of HST's for your first (or only) block.  You should have 32 HST's.  For today's assignment you will only need the 8 HST's in the black box.  Those are the (4) Star 1 Fabric/Background HST's and the (4) Star 2 Fabric/Background HST's.  The other 24 HST's put aside back in those zip-loc baggies keeping them grouped as a block.

To those 8 HST's you will be adding some squares.  These are coming from your piles of squares that you haven't touched yet and they will be the same size as your trimmed HST's  :)  You will add 4 Background squares and 2 of each of the two Star Print Fabrics from your HST's for a total of 16 ;)

Now with your 16 squares you are ready to layout your Center Star.  Layout the Star as shown below.  You can sew these together in rows, or columns, but my favorite way is to sew 4 quadrants (4 blocks in a square make up each quadrant)  so that is how I will be showing it, but if you like doing it a different way go right ahead :)

Quick Note before we start sewing -When I sew stars after each seam I sew I lay my block back out into the star.  I find this keeps me from making mistakes in my layout :)  Oh, and for those doing multiple blocks, If you want to assembly line piece all of your star centers I find the easiest way is to layout the pieces on top of one another so that you are only ever looking at one star on top, and it has layers of stars beneath it.  Just take care when clipping your threads to always stack your pieces back up in the same order so that the same star always ends up on top ;)  

Okay, lets get to sewing.  Think of the layout as 4 sets of 4 blocks instead of all 16.  Place the right hand squares onto the left with right sides together and aligning raw edges.  Sew a 1/4" seam along the edges, chain stitching the 8 sets.  Press the seams towards the squares.  You will now have quadrants that are 2 rows.

Now you are ready to turn your 2 rows into quadrants.  Place the top rows onto the bottom rows with right sides together.  Nest the center seams and pin them in place.  Sew a 1/4" seam along the pinned edges.   Press the seams open.  And now you have 4 quadrants :)

Be sure that you layout your 4 quadrants so the prints are opposite each other in the layout as shown.

Place the right hand side quadrants onto the left with right sides together.  Nest the center seams and pin them in place.  Sew a 1/4" seam along the pinned edges,  *see next picture for sewing note.  Press the seams open.

When sewing the 1/4" seam you have a little guide in your seam allowance that will ensure you a perfect point.  The background fabric will make a little V in the seam allowance, sew your seam directly along the bottom of that V and it will give you that nice perfect point.  And yes, if that means I have to make a slightly larger or smaller seam in that area I will so that I can get pretty points ;)

So now your Star is in two halves.  Almost there!!

Just place the top onto the bottom with right sides together.  Once again, align your three seams and pin them in place.  Sew a 1/4" seam along the pinned edge and again, **see the next picture for another little sewing note.  Press the seam open.

On the two side seams, you once again have a sewing guide but this time you will see it in the thread as the seam is pressed over.  So look at your seam and find the V made from the thread.  Sew directly along the bottom of that V again to get those pretty points ;)

And now enjoy your beautiful Center Star.  Aren't they just so pretty!!!   If you are doing multiple blocks and were assembly line piecing, enjoy all your Center Stars.  If you were doing one star at a time, just repeat the process for however many blocks you have in your project :)

And that's it!!    And now you can enter to win the weekly prize :)

The Weekly Prize is sponsored by Southern Fabric and a huge thanks goes out to them for their support of the Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long.

This weeks prize is a $25.00 Gift Certificate to Southern Fabric.  Oh, nothing like a little shopping spree!!

    

So what do you have to do for a chance to win the charm packs?  Simple . . . Just link up your beautiful Center Stars :)  You can link to a blog post or a flickr picture, or whatever.  Just make sure to link up by next Wednesday morning as I will be announcing a winner in next weeks post :)

If you don't get your Center Stars 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.  So if your out of town, or just had a busy week, no worries!!!  Just link up when you can :)

And don't forget to add your Stars to the Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long Flickr group!!!  I can't wait to see them all, this is where it really starts to get fun!!!

So let's get sewing!!  Oh, and if you have questions, don't hesitate to email me at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com.  Have a Happy Quilting Day!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Up for the Challenge

Did you see??  The Modern Quilt Guild announced their next challenge!!  Yippee!! I had so much fun with the last challenge and have been eagerly awaiting the announcement of this one.   This time it will be using Micheal Miller's new line Petal Pinwheels.   I am loving these colors and designs!!!

I am all signed up and the ideas are starting to swirl.  I can't wait!!!

So how about you, are you up for the challenge.  It really is so much fun to be a part of.  It just blows me away seeing everyone's own personal creative take on the same fabrics.  The variety of projects created is just amazing!!

Kwyltyng To Kyrgyzstan

I have said over and over that quilters are some of the nicest people in the world so when Julie shared this with me I just had to pass it on.  You see, There is a child that has been waiting to come home to her family. 

Here are the worlds of her mother:

Six years is too long for a child to spend without a family. My sweet Diana has been waiting patiently in Kyrgyz orphanages to join my family since we first met in 2008, shortly before Kyrgyzstan placed the first of two moratoriums on intercountry adoptions. But another window is opening. Kyrgyzstan has re-re-started their intercountry adoption program. And I am trying for a third time to bring Diana home, to be her family at last. But it's with great humility that I tell you, Diana and I need your help.
While I have the resources to pay for her adoption for the third time (home $tudy, do$$ier, agency fee$, documentation and processing fee$), I will need help covering our travel expenses. I plan to travel with my daughter, Pilar, and stay in Kyrgyzstan for the duration of the finalization process, which will be approximately six to eight weeks if all goes smoothly (big 'if' there). I'm estimating airfare, lodging, local driver and translator services and living expenses to run upwards of--gulp--$10,000.
Because I really don't like asking people for money outright, I've created a fundraiser called Kwyltyng To Kyrgyzstan. For every $25 donated, you will earn a virtual raffle ticket. Winners will be selected at random, with gorgeous kwlyts (quilts), handmade by my friends and me, as prizes. You can watch the kwylts--and our family--take shape on the Kwyltyng To Kyrgyzstan Facebook page.

So what can you do . . . 
If you have a quilt that you can donate to raffle for this more than worthy cause, please consider doing so. Also if you would like to give $25 to get a chance to win one of the donated quilts you can do that too. 

I will be donating my Jelly Roll Jam Quilts so those will be part of the raffle drawing :)  

You can find all about this wonderful fundraiser here ;)