Irish Chain Twist Quilt-A-Long - Finish Parade and Grand Prize Winners!!!!

Today is the final day of the Irish Chain Twist Quilt-A-Long!!!  Yippee ;)  First off,  I would like to say a huge Thank You to all of you who quilted-a-long with me.  I had so much fun doing this Quilt-A-Long and watching all of your progress.  I was so excited to read about so many of you stretching outside your comfort zone and trying new things, especially the applique!!  (wasn't it so fun!!)  You know I say it all the time, but that is what Quilt-A-Longs are all about!!   And it was so fun to see each of you take your own creativity to the design and really make your quilt your own.  Just fabulous!!   And what beautiful finishes you each have now!!!  

And speaking of finishes . . . there were 53 of them!!!   That is just incredible.  I know many of  you worked super hard over the last few weeks to get caught up and still finish!!  Way to go!!!     It was just so fun to Quilt-A-Long with you!!!  To see these 53 quilt tops just pop on over here and check out the links at the bottom of the post.  They are absolutely stunning!!!     And if you want to see everyone's progress along the way, you can check out the  Happy Quilt-A-Long Flickr Group or see it in other social media with #irishchaintwistqal.  It was so much fun to watch each one of your quilts come together :)

And one last tidbit before we get to the parade, if you are just popping over and finding the Irish Chain Twist Quilt-A-Long for the first time, or just want an easy reference for the future, you can find all of the Tutorial Posts for the Irish Chain Twist Quilt-A-Long at any time in the future under the Quilt-A-Long tab at the top of my blog.  You can also reference the following links here :)  They will always be there :)

Teaser Post

Schedule, Fabric Requirements, and Prizes

 Cutting

Improvisational Piecing Units
Improvisational Piecing Block
 Twists on Tradition Units
Modern Patchwork Block

Appliqued Chains Block - Assembling

Appliqued Chains Block - Stitching

Piecing Top and Grand Prize Linky 

Parade and Grand Prizes - April 23rd - You are Here

Alright, Let's get to the Parade!!!!  You all did amazing!!!  Last week we had 4 finishes, and today, we have 30!!!  Nothing like a deadline to make us quilters move :)  And now we get to enjoy everyone's beautiful finishes!! We have 5 countries represented.  England, Hungary, New Zealand, 3 from Canada, and 24 from 14 different states here in the US :)  So Fun!!!   Now, just sit back and enjoy the Parade!!!  You can click on the picture or the name to go to that persons individual link site and see more about their project :) 

Cynthia Brunz from Oregon

Susan Grancio from California

Sue Ellen Hafen from Utah

Emma from Leicestershire, England

Colleen from California

Esther from Alberta, Canada

Susan from California

Susie from Pennsylvania

Lesley Foy from Alberta Canada

Agi from Budapest Hungary

Cheryl Brickey from South Carolina

Susan Smith from Georgia

Jyothi Saravu from Michigan

Kate P. from Michigan

Katie from Texas

Stephanie Graveen from Wisconsin

Roberta Smith from Texas

Cheryl Buchanan from North Carolina

Tracy Hansen from Tennessee 

Cyndi Black from Tennessee 

Barbara from Utah

Becky from Louisiana 

Cindy from Canada

Elizabeth from Wisconsin

Marti from Michigan

Susan Caldwell from Michigan

Amy from New York

Lynn from New Zealand

Shannon from Idaho

And to finish it up . . . My Quilt Finish ;)

Aren't they just stunning!!   Enjoy your beautiful Irish Chain Twist Quilts ladies, and thank you so much for sharing them with all of us!!  

And with the parade complete, that leaves us with one last thing . . . we need to pick some winners!!!  

A huge Thank You goes out to Kimberly at Fat Quarter Shop and Julie at The Intrepid Thread  and  for sponsoring our Grand Prize Giveaway's!!!  All 53 of you that have linked up your quilt top are eligible for the grand prize!!  There will be four grand prize winners that are going to have some serious shopping spree fun!!!! 

    

So, lets get to it!!   Good Luck Everyone!!!  Drumroll Please . . . . . . .

***The First Grand Prize Winner who will receive a $100.00 Gift Certificate to Fat Quarter Shop is

 . . .    Lynn

***The Second Grand Prize Winner who will receive a $100.00 Gift Certificate to Fat Quarter Shop is . . .

. . .    Cynthia

***The Third Grand Prize Winner who will receive a $75.00 Gift Certificate to The Intrepid Thread is . . .

. . .    Tracy

***The Fourth Grand Prize Winner who will receive a $75.00 Gift Certificate to The Intrepid Thread is . . .

   

. . .   Jyothi

Congrats Ladies!!!   I will be emailing you :)  Enjoy your shopping spree!!

Let me finish up today with one last thank you to all of you who participated in the Irish Chain Twist Quilt-A-Long!!!  I had such a great time hosting and  I hope you had a fantastic time quilting-along!!!  It was so wonderful to see each and every one of your finishes.  I can't tell you how exciting it is to see your designs come to life in the hands of so many quilts.  It just makes me all the more excited to see my Irish Chain Quilts book come out next month so I can see you transform all of the beautiful Irish Chain Quilts within its pages into your own beautiful creations!!  It is just so fantastic to have so many wonderful friends to quilt-a-long with me!! Thank you!!!

 Until next time . . . Happy Quilting!!!

My Irish Chain Twist Finish ;)

Well, Tomorrow marks the finish of the Irish Chain Twist QAL!!!  We will have the Grand Parade of all the finishes and of course, the drawing of the Grand Prize Winners!!!!   So, today, I thought it would be fun to share my Irish Chain Twist finish ;)  (That and I need a place to link it to in my quilt archive)   I am so loving how it turned out!!!  

I am so excited with how many of you have participated in this fun Irish Chain Twist Quilt-A-Long!!!  If you are just now finding this, no worries.   Each of the posts for the Quilt-A-Long will always be on my blog.  You can follow these links to walk you through each step week-by-week on how to make your own Irish Chain Twist Quilt finish!!!

Teaser Post
Schedule, Fabric Requirements, and Prizes
 Cutting
Improvisational Piecing Units
Improvisational Piecing Block
 Twists on Tradition Units
Modern Patchwork Block
Appliqued Chains Block - Assembling
Appliqued Chains Block - Stitching
Piecing Top and Grand Prize Linky
Parade and Grand Prizes

As I mentioned at the beginning of this Quilt-A-Long, I really wanted the design to incorporate lots of technique and styles and show how they can all blend together ;)  I wrote my new book, Irish Chain Quilts, with the same concept.  I was so excited with how many of you stepped out of your comfort zone and really tried new things with this quilt!!  That is what Quilt-A-Long's are all about!!!

When it came time to quilt mine, I decided to do some custom quilting ;)  I used Magnifico by Superior Thread in matching colors on the prints as it has a little extra sheen to it that I just love.   I quilted curly cues in the petals, arches in the squares, and ribbon candy in the X''s,  And in the background I just quilted a simple meandering stitch.  It has been so long since I quilted meanduring, I forgot how much I love it, so relaxing!!!

I just love all of the beautiful texture the quilted created!!! And I just love the gorgeous colors from the bundle that Julie of the Intrepid Thread curated for this!!!  It just makes me want to take it out and lay under a tree with a good book, so happy!!!

And, I  will finish off with this favorite shot ;)  Don't you just love the way it highlights the beautiful chain!!  I hope you enjoyed the Quilt-A-Long as much as I did and thank you again for quilting with me.  I loved it and am so happy with this beautiful finish!!!

And one last quick note before I sign off.  This post also is serving as a last reminder that the QAL will finish tomorrow ;)  So get those last few stitches done and link up or email me ;)   I can't wait to see all of your beautiful quilts!!!

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!!

It's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day . . . let's have some fun :)

First, we need to announce the winner from last weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway!!   The winner of Custom Spring Bundle from The Intrepid Thread is . . .   Number #453 . . . Congrats Cathy!!   I have emailed you :) 

    

 

    

And on to today's

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by Shabby Fabrics!!   Along with hosting the giveaway, Shabby Fabrics is having an amazing Spring Cleaning Sale that includes a fun promotion of the more you Spend, the More you Save!!!!   They just added a whole ton of fabric to make room for new stuff, so be sure to check it out!!  So fun!!!  

And the Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is for a Feed Company Jelly Roll by Sweetwater Moda!!!   Oh, this fabric line is absolutely fantastic and one of you lucky readers is going to win this roll of fabric goodness!!!  

You have two entry chances, the second being optional, and please leave a separate comment for each.  All Entries are welcome, including International Entries.  Please just be sure to leave an email address if you are a no-reply blogger ;)  

ENTRY 1 - Simply leave a comment that tells me what will you be Feeding on for dinner tonight??  (I need some ideas ;)    

 ENTRY 2 - Show your Shabby Fabrics love. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Pinterest, or Instagram.  You can Sign up for the Shabby Fabrics Newsletter (top right hand corner) or Follow their Blog,  or you can Visit the Shop and then share a favorite item ;)   Just be sure to leave a comment of how you showed your Shabby Fabric Love!!!

And that's it ;)  The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, April 28th , when I will announce a winner at the beginning of next weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Post :)

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Quilting It Up Today

The Irish Chain Twist Quilt-A-Long Grand Parade is on Thursday, Yippee!!!  So of course, I am just starting to quilt mine today ;)  I just loaded the quilt top and back on the long arm and I plan to quilt, and quilt, and quilt until it is done ;)

My plan is to do some custom quilting using a variety of colors to match my piecing.  I am using my favorite 402 Pearl So Fine Thread by Superior Threads for the background because it just blends so perfectly and will quilt a smallish basic meandering stitch ;)  Then on the print fabrics, I am going to use Magnifico Thread in matching colors!!!   Magnifico is a extra strength, polyester thread that has a beautiful High Sheen to it that will give the quilting on my prints that extra pop!!  I just love it, seriously, you should give it a try sometime and you will see what I mean ;)

And don't worry, if you are in this same Irish Chain Twist Quilt-A-Long procrastination boat with me ;)  We still have 4 days and this is your friendly reminder.  So if you are trying to finish piecing it up by Thursday to enter it into the grand prize linky, pull out those blocks and get sewing ;)  You can do it!!!   And if you are quilting it up for the Parade, get stitching, you can do it!!!   Can't wait to see all of your beautiful finishes!!!

Endless Summer Quilt

I am so excited to get to share this finish with you today ;)  This was another one of those secret sewings.  At the beginning of the year, I was asked by  Vanessa Christenson if I could make a sample of one of her new patterns to be released.  Well, the pattern was released yesterday and so I get to share today.  This is Endless Summer and I absolutely love it!!!!

As soon as Vanessa sent me a picture of the pattern, I loved it!!  What a gorgeous design!!!  The quilt uses her new line Simply Colorful RED, ORANGE, YELLOW line that comes out in July mixed with some beautiful Bella Solids.

Photo courtesy of Vanessa Christenson

 This quilt is so much fun to make!!  Each of those blocks are a super cute 8" and oh, what fun it was to play with all of the points ;)  You know how I just love perfect points ;)  And working with all of those beautiful prints and colors just made me smile!!

Photo courtesy of Vanessa Christenson

When it came time to quilt it, I had a bit of craziness.  I quilted the star blocks with echoed arches and petals in the center and they went just fine.  Then just as I started with the first x blocks, I made a super oopsie.  I wasn't paying attention and my hopper foot jumped up on top of the ruler and cracked the ruler, I was so freaked I screamed and yanked the ruler out from under it, proceeding to turn the crack into a break.  Nice going.  

We don't have a shop in town that sells long arm rulers, and I was trying to hurry fast as the quilt needed to get back ASAP, so I pulled the quilt off of the frames, set my home machine up on the dining room table, and started quilting straight lines.  All in all, I think it worked out well, and I was happy with how the quilting turned out (although a few of my lines are less than straight).  But ya, a little stressful and I still need to go buy a new ruler ;)

And I just had to share this picture as I think it is a little ironic.  Ya, this quilt is called Endless Summer and the day before I finished it we had a huge snow storm, so the only pictures I could get were on a blanket of white.  So thank you Vanessa for letting me borrow some of your gorgeous pictures for this post ;)  

So do you just love this quilt pattern as much as I do??  Well you are in luck then!!  For the release of her 2 new patterns (Endless Summer and Sunrise) Vanessa is giving a 30% off discount code!!  You can find out all about both patterns, the code, and where to buy them at Vanessa's blog here ;)

It is so fun to get to finally share this little secret sewing project!!!  This is such a wonderful quilt design and I just loved making it!!  Thanks Vanessa :)

Thanks for popping in today and each day.  I hope you have a very Happy Quilting Weekend!!

Linking to Sarah's , Amanda's and Quilt Story ;)