Thursday, June 5, 2014

Winner

It's time to announce the winner of the fabulous Hubba Hubba Layer Cake ;)  Thanks again to Southern Fabric for sponsoring this giveaway ;)   And thank you, to all of you wonderful readers for your super sweet comments on my ABC quilt I made using these awesome Hubba Hubba prints ;)




So without further ado,  the winner is . . . #365 . . . .    Becky!!!


Congrats Becky!!!  I will email you shortly ;)

Now I am off to take the kiddos to swimming lessons ;)

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!



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Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Two Special Mini's :)

So as you can tell from my last few posts, I have been on a bit of a letter kick ;)   And if you remember from a  few weeks back I shared a Crazy Patch tutorial and at the end showed an A and an L letter block I made with the crazy patch pieces I made.  Well, today I get to share them all quilted and bound :)


These two minis' were made for two very sweet friends of mine and delivered at market.  Two friends who deserve so much more than a mini.  They are the greatest!!!   You can probably guess who they were for by the embroidery :)

The L is for Lissa, or Moda Lissa as most know her by.  She has been a constant support of my over the last few years.  She has opened opportunities for me and always been a cheerleader in my corner pushing me to bigger and brighter things.   She is an amazing women and a cherished friend.  Love ya Lissa :)


And the second if for sweet Amy.   I am truly grateful for the friendship I have created with Amy over the years.  She is the one gal I know I can go to when I need to "keep it real".  Our email chats are cherished and I go back to them often in times of frustration or doubt.  You are a rockstar Amy, Love ya!!!


I had so much fun making these 2 mini's.  I quilted them with a tight zig zag on all of the seams of the scraps and some straight line zig-zags in the back.   I love how it really made the scraps pop ;)   And I even did a bit of hand-stitching.  I know, crazy, huh :)  But I won't show you up close of that.  I am still the worst hand quilter out there, by far ;)   Now I totally want to make a little Happy Quilting Banner in purple to hang in the sewing room.  So fun, another thing to add to the list ;)

Oh, and I just thought, wouldn't little letter mini's be so fun for teacher gifts???   I need to write that in my next year calender so I don't forget ;)

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!
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Tuesday, June 3, 2014

ABC Quilt Finish!!

So I spent the weekend quilting up my ABC Quilt top that I blogged here and then put the binding on yesterday.  Yippee to have it all finished!!!   Isn't it just so cute ;)  I can't wait to take it over to my daughter's preschool :)


Each letter finished at 10" x 12" and the quilt top is 60" x 60".  The perfect size to hang in the lobby at the school :)  So fun!!!  I used Hubba Hubba by Me and My Sister Designs for Moda.   Those gals sure make the cutests fabric designs ever.  You just can't help but smile when working with these cheery colors and patterns ;)

I decided to try something new on the background filler.  I have always loved making daisies and usually just put little loops in between them (tutorial here) but this time I decided to try some echoing and adding leaves.  It was a trickier than loops for sure, but by the end, I had the hang of it ;)  And I am so pleased with how it turned out.  It is the perfect whimsical filler to go with this quilt ;)  I quilted the background with the Rainbows thread by Superior Threads.  I doesn't necessarily blend on the lighter colors, which made me stress a little more about my imperfect quilting,  but what could be more fun for a bunch of preschoolers than rainbow colored thread.  Love it!!!


I debated for a while about how to quilt the letters, but in the end decided on just quilting 1/4" echo around each letter.   I am so loving how it makes each of the letters just pop out of the quilt. Isn't it nice when things turn out just the way you hope they will ;)


Oh, and funny story, about 1/2 way through I started wondering why some lines were father away  from the edges than others when I was using the edge of the fabric to gauge, then it hit me as I was staring at the needle, it wasn't centered in the presser foot.  I had to adjust the long arm foot a while back as it was to low and kept getting snagged on seams and apparently, I didn't quite get it perfectly centered.   But trust me, it's fixed now ;)

So now this fun little quilt is all bound up ready to go to the Preschool.   I can't wait to deliver it ;)   They have done so much for my little girl helping her with her speech.  You never would guess now that she wasn't talking at three years old.  Amazing ladies and I can't wait to say Thank You with this special little quilt ;)


If you want to make your own ABC quilt you can either purchase an ABC Spell it with Moda Booklet a quilt shop,  (I know Fat Quarter Shop carries them here) or you can download each of the letters PDF's from the Spell It With Moda Blog Hop ;)

Have fun with those ABC's and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!

Linking this finish up to the fabulous Quilt Story :)
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Monday, June 2, 2014

New Address!!!

Good Morning Happy Quilting Readers :)

I have something very exciting to share this morning !!  Happy Quilting is changing addresses :)

Now, don't get to worried.  It's not a big change ;)   So when you came to visit before you were typing

www.happyquiltingmelissa.blogspot.com

Well now, you can simply type

www.happyquiltingmelissa.com

Yup, I finally figured out how to drop the blogspot :)  It only took me a little under 4 years.  All of that technical stuff I have been learning as I have to and I figured it was about time I get an address that was a little bit shorter.   I felt so bad for the Go Daddy person who was helping me, I pretty much just said "I am Lost, Help!!!"  I think he thought I was a moron because I noticed about a month ago that happyquilting.com wasn't being used anymore and I figured I could start using that. The worker kindly explained to me that just because it isn't being used didn't mean it wasn't bought.  Ya, the owner wanted something like $900.00 for happyquilting.com.   So, I opted to keep the melissa part at the end and stick with the $9.99 ip address :)   Learning a little more each day :)   

So . . . What does this all mean.   Not much really ;)  You can still type the address with the blogspot in it and it will forward you right over to happyquiltingmelissa.com.   I bet if you are reading this and look up at your little address bar it will have already dropped off the blogspot.com (well, at least that is what I hope :)

So, however you want to drop on by, just be sure to keep on popping in ;)  I love to hear from you all :)

And as far as quilting goes, I just need to bind my ABC quilt so I will be sharing that tomorrow :) 

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

And since every post needs a picture, here is a snapshot of our little family group getting ready to explore Mammoth Caves over Memorial Day Weekend.  Lots of fun :)  


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Friday, May 30, 2014

ABC Quilt Top and a Giveaway!!

So, if you remember clear back in the beginning of March, I had a plan for this little pile of super happy Hubba Hubba Fat Eighth's and my Spell it with Fabric book  (which you can find here if you are interested :)


And I started with 2 little letters.  A and B and I got super excited :)


I had so much fun with these letters because I wasn't trying to get them done asap.  They were my reward for finishing other deadline projects.   I would work on three-ish letters at a time just watching it come together.


Then, I got about half way through the alphabet and started getting antsy and wanted to see it come together.  So I spent an entire afternoon cutting out the rest of the letters.  What a time saver.  I really think in a lot of the the letters cases (sans X and K, those two were a pain) the letters often took more time to cut than to piece :)


And a few days later, I had the alphabet :)  So fun!!!!  At this point, I spoke to the wonderful gals at my daughter's preschool as the quilt was intended for them to hand on the wall at the school.  I found however that my original plan was to large as they only had small bulletin board spaces.


So, I revamped my idea and sewed the blocks into simple rows and added 4 fun corner blocks.  Simple, fast, fun, and 60"  x 60", the perfect size for the school.   I can't tell you how excited I am to see this quilt top finished!!!   I am hoping to get it all quilted over the weekend but we will see how it goes.  I sort of tweaked my back clearing some logs while making an ATV trail last weekend and standing and leaning over the long arm for long periods of times might be a little sore :)


Oh, and if you loved the Original Plan and are sad to not see it finished, never fear :)  I spoke to the wonderful gals at the Moda Bake Shop and guess what will be coming your way in tutorial form sometime in late August??   Oh yes, ABC . . . Read With Me using the new LOL line Me and My Sister Designs shared at Market.   Oh, those purples, love it!!!  


Now, Just because I have had so many fantastic people commenting how much they loved these happy bright letters on Instagram, I decided to share some of the Hubba Hubba fabric love :)  And thank you to Aubrey from Southern Fabric for sponsoring this giveaway!!!

Up for grabs is a fantastic Layer Cake of Hubba Hubba.  Seriously, I just love how bright and happy these prints are!!  You can't help but smile when you are sewing with them ;)  


You have two chances to win, please leave a separate comment for each.  

1 - Leave a comment here of your favorite color :)  Ya, you know I love purple :)  


2 - And for a second entry, since Southern Fabric has been kind enough to sponsor this giveaway, how about we show them some love.   Sign up for the Southern Fabric Newsletter  (on the top right) and then come back and leave a comment here that you did so, or already do :)  

And that's it :) The giveaway will close on Wednesday, June 4th at Midnight and I will announce a winner Thursday morning.    Good Luck to everyone ;)

 Have a Happy Quilting Weekend!!!

Linking up this quilt top finish with Amanda's, Sarah's, and Fort Worth Fabric Studio :)






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