Little Lou Quilts!!!!

So if you have been following my blog for a while, you know all about my sweet nephew David, who was born 7 years ago and had to undergo open heart surgery.  He then spent the first part of his life in the NICU at Primary Children's Hospital, where he recovered and received the best of care.   Since that time, I have made a quilt for the Festival of Trees every year to help Primary Children's continue to give the best of care.

But when I was recently talking with my sister she mentioned how much it meant that when I visited the hospital I brought David's new baby quilt.   She told me how much comfort it gave to swaddle him in it, and how it has become a cherished keepsake that is hanging on his wall.  It has so many memories tied up in it ;)  

So when my good friend Jamie, from Lou Lou Quilt's contacted me with her new Little Lou Quilts idea, I was all in ;)  You see, Jamie's youngest sister deliever twin boys via emergency c-section at 29 weeks.   They are now just 3 weeks old and currently in the NICU.   Jamie, has seen through her sister's experiences , just as as I did, how much of an emotional roller coaster it is to have a baby in the NICU.   So she came up with an idea to give back . . . Little Lou Quilts!!!!  

Image courtesy of Lou Lou Quilts

So what is Little Lou Quilts, it is an effort to provide new handmade baby quilts for infants currently in the NICU.   What a wonderful comfort it will give to the parents and a treasured keepsake it will become.   And all you have to do is make a baby quilt, and we all know how much we love making baby quilts!!!!  There are more details at Little Lou Quilts .  It is such a wonderful cause and I am so glad Jamie is starting it and I hope you will consider joining in!!!!   I will be shipping these 4 quilts today.  They have all been stacked in my "for babies to be born" pile, and I can't think of a better way for them to be loved.   

 And of course, you could easily make a quilt from my new Charming Baby Quilts book and donate that!!!   They all go together fast and would make wonderful Little Lou Quilts!!!  Jamie's goal is 100 quilts this month, and each and every quilt will make a difference!!!  

In fact, I want to help motivate you so how about this . . .  Grab a Charm Pack or 2 (I know you have a stack of them ;)  and whip up a Charming Baby Quilt and then send it off to Little Lou Quilts!!  Send me a picture of your quilt (happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com)  or post it on social media with #charmingbabyquilts and #littlelouquilts.  At then end of the 1 month goal, (March 21st) I will draw a winner from all those that made a Charming Baby Little Lou Quilt to receive this awesome Prize Bundle of "Little" Quilting Goodness!!!!  . . .

 GIVEAWAY CLOSED . . .THE WINNER IS HeatherK   I have emailed you :)

I know quilters are just amazing and are donating to so many wonderful causes, so I just wanted to add this fantastic cause to the mix.   Please consider making and donating a  Little Lou Quilt this month ;)  And thank you, I love being a part of this industry because of all of you!!!!

Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!!

It's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!! Let's have some fun :)

First, we need to announce the winner from last Terrific Tuesday Giveaway!!  

The winner of the $25.00 Gift Certificate from Thousands of Bolts is . . .   Number #249 . . . Congrats eloise123061!!!   I have messaged 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 blow me away 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!!   And not only do they have a daily deal, they have a Fabric Basic, Pattern, and Notion of the Month!!!!    And this month you will score big on all of them!!!  All Bella Solids are on sale!!!  Also, All Clover Products are on sale for the Notion, and All Cluck Cluck Sew Patterns are on sale for the Pattern.  (and she has so many fantastic patterns!!!)    Save 20-30% off of all of them for the whole month of February!!  So great ;) 

And for today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Fat Quarter Shop is giving away a beautiful Modern Farmhouse 10" Stacker by Simple Simon and Company for Riley Blake Designs!!! I just love this line, the colors and prints are so pretty!!  

You have two entry chances here on the blog, 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 if you lived on a farm, what "chore" would you like to do best???  

 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, March 3rd, when I will announce a winner at the beginning of next weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Post :)

You can also pop over to my Instagram and/or Facebook to enter there as well :)  

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

So Happy to Sew!!!!

I haven't sewn in a week!!!!   Between putting the house back together from the remodel, having my book arrive early , and having family visit all last week, I just couldn't get to my machine.     And of course, all three of those things were so incredibly exciting that it was totally okay not to sew.   But I tell you what, first thing this morning, I wanted to be sewing ;)

And as luck would have it, the first thing I found when returning to my sewing room was that I had miscalculated yardage and didn't have enough to cut out the center section of a new quilt.   So, scraps to the rescue.   I made an 18 1/2" square from 16 - 5" squares.  And you know, I missed my machine so much, I didn't even mind, in fact, I think it is pretty cute ;)

Gotta love just getting to Sew!!!! 

I am hoping things will get back to "normal" and I can spend a little more time stitching :)  Can't wait to share all of the new projects I am working on ;) 

Tutorial Throwback Thursday (on Friday) - Diamond Drop

So yesterday was Tutorial Throwback Thursday and I totally dropped the ball.   I have been crazy busy the last few days, and I just missed posting.   I am sorry.   But better late than never right ;)   So for Tutorial Throwback Thursday, on Friday, I thought Diamond Drop would be perfect ;)  (hence the dropping of the ball :)    And isn't it just so pretty!!!!

Diamond Drop is such a fun and fast quilt to make!!!  It uses Half Square Rectangles and I have a fun way to trim them up so your points are perfect every time .  It makes for a nice twist on the basic Half Square Triangle quilt ;)    It finishes at 56" x 75", so it makes a great lap size quilt.  

The Diamond Drop tutorial is written to be use 10" squares, but you could also use Jolly Bars and save one step of cutting!!!  And to your pre-cut, all you need is some background rectangles and a binding, which makes cutting this quilt out so super fast :)  

And the fun thing is, just like Half Square Triangles, once you have these Half Rectangle Triangles made, you have endless possibilities for a layout of the Diamond Drop quilt.   I shared a few alternate layouts for these in this post here.   Isn't it fun how different each quilt looks just by mixing up the layout of the units!!

And for the quilting of the Diamond Drop I used a favorite of mine!!! The all over Echoed Paisley design is always a perfect match for quilts with lots of points.  It gives it a lot more movement.  And I even made a Video Tutorial of how I do this free motion quilting on my home machine, just in case you want to quilt one like it ;)  

And that is my Diamond Drop  quilt.  I hope you have enjoyed today's Tutorial Throwback Thursday (on Friday) !!!    To make your own Diamond Drop quilt  just click on any of the quilt name links for the free tutorial.    And when you are done, I would love to see your quilt!!  You can email me a picture at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com, post it to social media with #happyquiltingwithmc  or or add it to my flickr group here ;)  I can't wait to see your Diamond Drop Quilts!!!!

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

Charming Baby Quilts has Arrived!!!!

This has been a very large Work in Progress and it is now finished and arrived!!!!    Charming Baby Quilts has hit the shelves!!!   So exciting!!!!  My boxes of books arrived last night and I just wanted to hug the delivery man ;)

Charming Baby Quilts is published by Its Sew Emma and is a collection of 10 Baby Quilts that all feature one, two, or three Charm Packs!!  You can mix and match collections, use one fabric line, or even use scrap 5" squares!! 

Charming Baby Quilts is available to order directly from It's Sew Emma, or from Fat Quarter Shop  or if you would like to order a signed copy directly from me, that is an option as well ;)   

The book measures 6 1/2" x 9 1/2", is 50 full colored pages, and has a spiral binding.  And I think that all just adds to the Charm of this book :)  It's just so cute!!!!  

Each of the quilts in Charming Baby Quilts are fun and easy to make.   And because they are smaller projects, they go together super fast!!!   The easy to follow step by step instructions and images make the book perfect for beginners and experts alike.

And Fat Quarter Shop even has some of the quilts from the book made up in quilt kits so you can just whip them up in no time.   There is a Ring Around the Rosie Quilt Kit and Backing Kit as well as a To The Moon Quilt Kit and Backing Kit.

And there will also be A Star is Born Quilt Kit and Backing Kit but it won't be available until the fabric comes out in April ;)  But you can sign up for notification of when it is available, and this one is totally worth the wait ;)  

And I am so excited for the Charming Baby Quilts Sew Along!!!  We will be making this sampler that has blocks from each of the 10 quilts in the Charming Baby Quilts book.    You will need a Charming Baby Quilts book to Sew Along so just as a reminder . . . you can order directly from It's Sew Emma, or from Fat Quarter Shop  or order a signed copy directly from me.

The quilt is a twin size, finishing at 66" x 88".  Here are the Fabric Requirements so you can start thinking know about what Charm Packs you want to use.   And of course, you can use more than one fabric line, it would be super cute to mix and match Charm Packs in this design or even use scrap charm squares ;)  The Charming Baby Sew Along will start on April 8th and I can't wait!! 

And of course, I will be sharing each of the quilts in Charming Baby Quilts over the coming weeks before the Sew Along starts.   I am excited to share some of the details and fun tidbits about each quilt.   I just can't believe it is here ;)  

And I wanted to finish today with this adorable video the amazing folks at It's Sew Emma and Fat Quarter Shop made!!!   It is a Trailer for Charming Baby Quilts, how wonderful is that!!!!

I will be back with more Charming Baby Quilts soon ;)  If you have already Pre-Ordered a copy, thank you so much!!! They will be mailed out today ;)    And if you are wanting to order a copy, again, you can order directly from It's Sew Emma, or from Fat Quarter Shop  or order a signed copy directly from me.

Thanks for popping in today and sharing this wonderful finish with me today :)

I hope you all have a very Happy (and maybe even a little Charming day!!!)