Clementine Quilt Along - Watermelon Wheel

It's the 25th and that means it is the start of the Clementine Quilt Along hosted by the Fat Quarter Shop!!!!  Today I am so excited to share the first set of  blocks!!!  These first set of blocks are called the Watermelon Wheel blocks and they are just so much fun to piece!!!!  Look at all of those fun points and I just love all of the movement ;)

Each month, for the next 6 months, there will be two blocks to make.  They are the same block design, but one is a wonderfully larger 12" block that is great to piece and goes together in a snap.  And the second is a super cute 6" block that is wonderful for building technique of piecing with smaller sizes :)   They are both just so fun to make!!! 

So are you joining in the Clementine fun???  If so, you can download the block pattern right here and it is requested for each pattern you download to donate $5.00  to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital  :)  This is Fat Quarter Shop's annual charity QAL that is raising funds for an amazing organization that is leading the way in understanding, treating, and working to defeat childhood cancer.  What a wonderful way for us all to make a difference !!   And Fat Quarter Shop and Moda will match up to $20,000 of the donations raised.  So let's help them reach that goal ;)  

This year it is all about Fat Quarters for this Quilt Along and after some playing around in my stash, I decided to use Farmer's Daughter by Lella Botique for Moda and I just love the chic colors and prints!!!  I have already gone through and paired my fabrics into groups of four for each month, so excited!!!   If you are quilting along and want to use the original Mama's Cottage fabrics you can find a Quilt Along Kit right over here, or if you want to pick a different fabric like me, you just need 24 Fat Quarters, an accent fabric and some background fabric ;)    You can find the Fabric Requirements here ;) 

And like always, Fat Quarter Shop has made awesome  You Tube video tutorials that walk you through making each month's blocks.  There are some great helpful hints and you can see it put together step by step!!!   

Be sure to share all of your Clementine progress on social media with #clementinequiltalong and check out these fabulous bloggers who are quilting along for some Watermelon Wheel block inspiration :)  

*April of April Rosenthal (@amrosenthal)

Bonnie of Sunset Family Living (@sunsetfamilyliving)

Cara of That Crafty Cara (@thatcraftycara)
Carrie of Moda Cutting Table (@modafabrics)

Denise of Pieced Brain (@piecedbrain)

Elise of Elise and Emelie (@eliseandemelie)

Gina of Carpe Quiltin (@gina_tell_carpequiltin)

Heather of A Creative Pursuit (@acreativemama)

Hilary of By Hilary Jordan (@byhilaryjordan)

Jan of Cocoa Quilts (@cocoaquilts)

Jen of Heritage Threads (@heritage.threads)

Joanne of Quilts by Joanne (@turtlequilterjo)

Kairle of Kairle Oaks Handcrafted Goodness (@kairleoaks)

Kendra of Good Starter (@good_starter)

Kristen of 3 in the Nest (@threeinthenestraleigh)

Kristina of Center Street Quilts (@centerstreetquilts)

Leah of Ponderings from My Heart (@ponderingsfrommyheart)

Melanie of A Bit of Scrap Stuff (@mellierc)

Melissa of Happy Quilting (@happyquiltingmc)

Pat of Pat Sloan (@quilterpatsloan)

Pat B. of Life in the Scrapatch (@scrapatches)

Patty of Elm Street Quilts (@elmstreetquilts)

Rebecca of One Wee Bird (@oneweebird)

Sarah of 123 Quilt (@123quilt)

Seema of SSK Craft Shop (@sskcraftshop)

Sherri of A Quilting Life (@aquiltinglife)

Sondra of Out of the Blue Quilts (@sondradavison)

Stephanie of Quilt 'n Party (@quiltnparty)

Tanya of Tanya Quilts in CO (@tanyaquiltsinco)

Teresa of Aurea's Kitchen (@aureaskitchen)

Vickie of Crocheting Vixen (@crochetingvixen)

So that is the first block in the Clementine Quilt Along!!!!   I will continue to share a new set of blocks on the 25th of each month.  So fun!!!  So what do you say, wan't to come Clementine Quilting Along??  You are going to have so much fun!!!

Thanks for popping in today ;)  Have a Happy Quilting Day!!

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Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!!

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

But first, we need to announce the winner from last weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway!!  

The winner of the $25.00 Gift Certificate from Lou Lou's Fabric Shop   is . . .   Number #117. Congrats jec!!!   I have emailed you :)      

      

  

And on to today's

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop.   Fat Quarter Shop is amazing and they never cease to amaze me with everything they have going on at their shop!!!     And did you know they have a 24 Hour Flash Sale every day with 2 Flash Sales on Tuesdays!!  You will find some amazing deals there ;)

And for today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Fat Quarter Shop is giving away a charming Love You Jelly Roll  by Sandy Gervais for Moda to one lucky winner!!! This is just perfect for making up something special for Valentine's Day!!!

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 has the word "love" in it ;)

 ENTRY 2 - Show your Fat Quarter Shop love.   You can follow them on   Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, You Tube or at their Blog.  You can Sign up for their Newsletter which will ensure you catch all of their amazing sales, or you can visit The Shop and then share a favorite item ;)   Just be sure to leave a comment of how you showed your Fat Quarter Shop Love!!!

And that's it ;)  The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, January 30th, when I will announce a winner at the beginning of next weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Post :)

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

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Sick Slow Down

So Friday afternoon I posted this picture on Instagram and wrote how excited I was that at this rate, I really was going to be able to manage getting this quilted and bound before my class this week!!! 

And Friday evening I had some extra tidbits of time and managed to get the blocks sewn together and the final pieced border on!!!  Isn't it just so fun!!!    I was so excited.    The quilt top was finished, I had the binding cut and ready to press, and the backing picked out so that first thing Saturday morning I could get this on the long arm and finished up.

And then Friday night it hit me.  The Flu!!!  Boo to the Flu!!!  I was down for the count all day Saturday and Sunday.  I am feeling a bit better today, and thought about quilting this,  but my sweet husband reminded me that if I plan to be up and on my feet teaching on Tuesday and Wednesday I best take it easy today.  And of course, he's right.  So I guess this will just be a quilt top for show :)  Oh well, sometimes life just goes that way.   I am just reminding myself to be grateful that I can get out of bed today, because it would have been really bad timing if it was two days later :)  

So since I didn't get anything done this weekend, how about you tell me what you worked on???  Any fun projects for your weekend sewing?? 

Lone Star and Sewing Started!!!

This Month in our Bees Knees group my good friend Corey asked us to make a Lone Star block using this tutorial that takes out the Y seams and uses triangles instead.  So awesome!!!   She sent us some of her gorgeous prints from her past collections and some Moda Cross-weave background, so pretty :)  I had so much fun making this block!!!  I always love a block that challenges me with lots of  points to line up, and these points were even matched on the angle, so great!!!    And I have to say, I am pretty proud of how it all came together, and you know I totally want to make an entire quilt of these now!!! 

And after I finished sewing my bee block, I read through your wonderful and very helpful comments (thanks so much for that!!!)  from yesterday and came to a decision.  I am going with the black background!!!   I really do love how it makes the colors pop and it is indeed something New to try, which is always fun.   As was mentioned in the comments, I was a little worried about the darker blue otter print showing up on the black, but after looking at it right next to it, I decided there is enough contrast.  And once it is all sewn together, if it blends to much my backup plan is to stitch around that particular block (it will be the center) in a gold thread to make it stand out more ;)  So now, I am off to the machine to get these Flying Geese started!!

I hope you are having a very Happy Quilting Day!!! 

No School Monday Equaled Lots of Sewing!!!

The kids were out of school on Monday, and after a crazy weekend runaround, we were ecstatic to realize we had absolutely nothing planned for Monday, insert huge sigh of relief :)  And you can imagine my excitement when my daughter asked if she could work on her quilt since we had no plans.   Absolutely!!!!  We made a Pajama day of it, and sewed to our hearts content ;) 

Jessica learned a lot and got a whole lot of practice pinning and pressing to get nice seams.  It was so fun to see her grow more confident with both as the day moved on!!!   By the end of our sewing session, she only had a few seams left :)   She decided she wanted a break so she moved on to picking out her border and binding fabric.  She found fabrics she likes, but not she can't decide which to use for which???  Mint border and Purple binding or Purple border and Mint Binding.  Decisions, Decisions ;) 

It was so much fun to sew with Jessi!!!  And a bonus is that as she gets more confident she is also getting quite independent, which means I could work on some projects as well, right by her side ;)    Which meant Tuffet Time!!!   (see my previous posts here and here)    I managed to get it covered and the button added to the top :)   Isn't it just so cute!!!   All I have to do now is paint the legs and cover the bottom.

And speaking of the bottom, I wish I could have gotten a picture of us trying to get that button added through these little holes in the bottom but  there wasn't a spare hand for picture taking ;) .  It was a little tricky, and for sure a two man job, but after a few tries, we figured it out ;)  We learned it was best to get two huge upholstery needles and while Jessi pushed down on the foam that was sitting on the counter top with half of it hanging over the edge, I threaded a needle up through each bottom hole at the same time. Then while Jessi continued to hold down the foam, I threaded the strings that we had attached to the button beforehand, and then pushed them both back down through the same holes.  The key was to keep the tuffet flat enough so that the upholstery needles never left the top side of the wood base of the hole in the wood. (otherwise the needle gets lost in the foam ;)     Hopefully that makes sense if you are planning on working on your own tuffet :)
    And one last helpful hint, I wish I would have back stitched at the beginning and ending of my piecing.  When I went to pull it over the Tuffet, the seams started to pop a little.  I was super careful, and then stapled it down like crazy so I didn't have to worry about it coming apart, but I think a little back stitching would have made it a little more stable ;)    Things to remember for my next Tuffet Kit!!

Once I had my Tuffet covered, I didn't want to stop the PJ Sew Fest to run to the store for paint, so I moved on to picking out some fabric for more projects ;)   Always fun right!!!!   The Clementine Quilt Along  hosted by Fat Quarter Shop just released the Fabric Requirements on Monday.  They have Quilt Kits if you want your fabrics to be just like the originals, but I decided to use my stash and in the end, I choose a bundle of Farmers Daughter by Lella Boutique for Moda ;)   I sorted my Fat Quarters into 6 stacks of 4, with each stack having a black, pink, tan, and yellow print.  So now I can just grab a stack each month and I am ready to make the blocks ;)  The first blocks are coming out later this month and I am so excited to start sewing them!!!

And finally, I decided, at totally the last minute, to add another new project ;)  I am teaching my Pave the Way design at the Cedar Quilt Retreat next week.  I have been working on the pattern (which I will release soon)  to add size options and thought it would be fun to make another sample in a new size for class (ya, like in a week, we will see if I get it done or not ;)    I decided on the lap size which needs 9 Fat Quarters, and I instantly thought of my Tula Pink Spirit Animals bundle that I got in my Sew Sampler box a few months ago!!!  It had 8 Fat Quarters so I grabbed another Tula FQ I had in my stash, which of course, still matches great, love that about Tula!!!

I pressed all my Fat Quarters and cut them up, and then got to the yardage and was stumped.  I can't decide. . .  do I do a dark grey background, (which is very similar to my original Pave the Way)  or do I step totally outside my comfort zone, and try a black background (which I have never tried before)  ???     What do you think . . .Grey or Black????

And that was our Holiday Sewing and it was of so much fun!!!  How about you???  Did you get some extra sewing in on this Long Weekend???  What are you working on????

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