Thursday, July 8, 2021

Texas Monthly - Month 7!

It's a new month and that means another block for the  Texas Monthly Block of the Month program!  This BOM is hosted by Stitchin' Heaven  and is so much fun!!!    And we are moving on to Month 7 today and there is applique!!!   You all know I just love Applique :)   

So let's get going with this month's block :)   



The Center Texas Applique Block

Cutting

Start by pressing all of the fabrics and then it is time for cutting!!! Cut all the pieces according to the instructions.    

And with all your pieces cut . . . you are ready to start Piecing the Background Strips.  



Piecing the Block

Layout the 7 Block Strips in the following order. 


Place the second strip onto the first strip with right sides together.   Stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge.   


Then Place the third strip onto the now sewn together first and second strips with right sides together.  Stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge.   Continue in this process adding one strip at a time until you have stitched all the strips together. 


Press the seams downwards towards the yellow strip.   You will now have a block that is 24 1/2" X 24 1/2" unfinished and you can set it aside while we turn to working on the applique.  


Piecing the Texas Applique

First up, we need to piece three fabrics together for the Applique.   Layout the Blue Rectangle, and White and Red squares as shown.  


Place the White square onto the Red square with right sides together.  Stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge and then press towards the Red square.  


Now place the pieced Red/White Square onto the Blue Rectangle with Right Sides together.  The squares will be slightly larger than the rectangle so just center the overlap.  It won't matter that they don't match up as we will be cutting the applique from this piece.   Stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge and then Press towards the Blue rectangle.  


Making the Texas Applique

NOTE - I will be walking through all the applique steps, but if you are new to applique, you might find my Applique Basics Video Tutorial helpful as well.   You can find them here.    Just surf down past the finishing the quilts basics videos.  

And with your Applique unit Pieced, you are now ready to make the Texas Applique.  So to do this, we need to first make the template.   Start by trimming the left hand template side right along the Vertical plus mark as shown.   This will make it easier to align your two template pieces.  


Align the plus marks of the two templates and tape the two together.  Then cut out the template using a pair of paper scissors :)  


Now cut a 16" x 16" piece of HeatNBond (I like the Lite for applique).  *Note, there is a typo in the instructions, it says 6 x 6 but you need 16 x 16.    Trace the template onto the paper side of the HeatN Bond with the template reversed as shown.   


Now you will align the Heat N Bond transfer onto the Pieced Applique Unit.   When Aligning, there are a few things to make sure you have right.  First, you want to align the Wrong Side of the Pieced Appliue Unit to the Adhesive Side of the HeadNBond.  Make sure the White, Blue, and Red pieces are opposite your final layout as shown.   Finally,  be sure that the Seam Line between the white and blue is aligned with the Vertical Line as shown.   And be sure it is the actual seam line, not the pressed edge.   You should be able to feel the bump to match it up.    


Once you are all aligned, move to the ironing board and press the HeatNBond to the Pieced Applique Unit with a dry iron.   Using a dry iron makes it easier to remove the paper later.  Make sure you are fully adhered by double checking the edges.  


Now using a pair of fabric scissors, cut out the Texas Applique. 


Now remove the paper backing from the Texas Applique.  Also, if you haven't already, cut out the Star Applique, you should only need to clip the notches, and remove the paper backing. 


Attaching the Applique to Block

And now, it's time to grab that Stripped Block and your Texas and Star Appliques and move to the ironing board.  Align your Texas Applique onto the Stripped block centering it on the block.   It should be 4" in from either side and the top of the Texas will be just barely onto the Lime Green Stripe and just barely touching the Yellow Stripe at the bottom.   Then place your Star Applique onto the Blue part of the rectangle, just above the intersection of the Red and White pieces.  Be sure your star point is in the top center.   


Then press both appliques with a dry iron.  Again, I like to double check with my fingers around the edges, just to make sure it is fully secured.  


And all that is left is to secure stitch your applique to your block.   I choose to use a light tan color but you can use any color thread you like.   When secure stitching, it is best to use Needle Down option on your machine if you have it and you can choose from several stitches ie, blanket stitch, zig-zag, or straight stitch.  


Stitch around the entire Texas Applique using desired secure stitch.  I like to backstitch 1-2 stitches at the beginning and the end of my stitching just to secure it.  


And don't forget to secure stitch the Star Applique as well. 


And with that, you are done and you have a beautiful 24 1/2" x 24 1/2 unfinished Center Texas Applique Block.   Isn't it just so pretty!!!

I just love Applique!!!  Wasn't  Texas Monthly Month 7 just so fun!!! 

If you have any questions on this tutorial, please don't hesitate to email me at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com or leave a comment.  

Hope y'all enjoy making this month's blocks! 

 Looking forward to Next Month!

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Tuesday, July 6, 2021

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 #294 . . . Congrats quiltmaker93551!  I have messaged you :)  

 

         
And on to today's

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by Green Fairy Quilts.  Green Fairy Quilts is your home for pre-cut goodness and they always have amazing sales going on every weekend on a selected pre-cut or notion!!!   And did you know that Green Fairy Quilts has a Deal of The Day, I just love these!!!    And right now get even more savings at Green Fairy with code JULY4.  So much fun shopping!!!
And for today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway, Green Fairy Quilts will be giving one lucky reader 3 Moda Scrap Bags!!!  These bags are filled with Scrappy Goodness of some of your favorite Moda Lines, and it will be such a fun surprise to see which ones you get!!!!  



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 What food you have never eaten but would really like to try??? 

 ENTRY 2 - Show your Green Fairy Quilts love.   You can Sign up for their Newsletter which I highly recommend as it will ensure you catch all of their amazing sales!!  You can follow them on Instagram or Facebook,  or you can visit the Shop and then share a favorite item ;)   Just be sure to leave a comment of how you showed your Green Fairy Quilt Love!!!

And that's it ;)  The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, July 13th, 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!!!
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Saturday, July 3, 2021

Cabin Among the Stars - Free PDF

I am so very excited to share my finished Cabin Among the Stars Quilt and the Free Cabin Among the Stars PDF with it!!!!   I know you have all been patiently waiting for me to finish this up, which makes it all the more fun to share it.   Didn't it just turn out so incredible, I love it!!! 

This quilt is made with 2 simple blocks.   The first block is a basic Sawtooth Star made in a Light and and Dark layout.   And of course, I use the No Waste Flying Geese method to make those stars ;)    And the second block is a basic Log Cabin block, alternating dark and light prints.   Both blocks are super easy to make, and this quilt is an amazing stash buster!!!  It's nothing but scraps!!!  

I choose to use scraps in all neutrals.   The lights are neutrals in whites and cremes and the darks are neutrals in black, greys, and browns.  I have been wanting to make an all neutral quilt for sometime, and I have to say, I just love the way it turned out and can't wait to make another one!!!  And double bonus, I can now close my grey, brown, and black scraps drawers that were overflowing ;)

When it came time to quilt it, I decided on an all over Open Centered Swirl.  I quilted on a slightly larger scale than I usually do so it went really fast and was oh so much fun to quilt. I used my favorite 402 So Fine which blended perfectly into the low volume background and still blended great on the darker prints.  Have I mentioned how much I love 402, and I broke into my last spool with this quilt, time for another thread order :) 


And isn't that just an awesome texture!!!  And I love how this angle really shows off the "stripe" design of how the log cabin blocks are set around the stars.   So fun!!!   



And I have to just share my new favorite backings!!! Ombre Wide Backs!!!  They are so great.  I love the gentle change of color, and not having to piece a back for a queen size quilt just makes me do a happy dance.    And I love how the thread pops in the black parts and blends in the grey parts, so fun :) 


So now, it's your turn to make your own Cabin Among the Stars Quilt.   I am toying with the idea of doing another one in the fall for a quilt along, but we will see.   I am pretty sure that once you all have the PDF, you will be just like me, and not want to wait to whip up this great stash buster!!!


I made the Queen/King size, but I included 5 size options in the Cabin Among the Stars Free PDF.   Here is the details of what you will need and the finished sizes for each of the 5 quilt options.  



I hope you enjoy this free Cabin Among the Stars PDF Pattern and that you make your own quilts!!!  And if you do, I would love to see them ;)   You can email me a picture at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com or add it to social media with the hashtag #happyquiltingwithmc and #cabinamongthestarsquilt ;)  I can't wait to see your Cabin Among the Stars Quilts!!!


Thanks so much for popping in and sharing this finish with me.  If you have any questions at all on making your own, don't hesitate to email me at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com  

I hope you all have a very Happy Quilting Weekend!!!!  

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Thursday, July 1, 2021

Serendipity Quilt Along - Release 8

  Today is the Eighth Release for the Serendipity Quilt Along and we are putting Quilt Tops together!!! It is so exciting to see this top finally all finished!!!   This is Fat Quarter Shop's 8th Annual Charity Quilt Along to benefit Make a Wish and I always love quilting along :)     So here  the Serendipity Quilt Top 


I just love it!!!   Isn't it just so fun how all of those colors just pop on that grey background.   I just love how it makes them even brighter ;)    I am using Happy Days Fabric by Sherri and Chelsi, which was supposed to be out in the beginning of the year but actually just arrived in shops (covid shipping delays :) But now you can totally get some of this super happy fabric as well!!!


So are you joining in with the Serendipity fun???   You can download the quilt top finishing pattern right here and it is requested for each pattern you download to donate $5.00  to the Make a Wish Foundation :)  And  Fat Quarter Shop's annual charity QAL has made it's stretch goal of  $70,000 and actually just broke $80,000, how amazing is that!!!   I love to think of all the wishes that are going to be granted with that.   So amazing!!!  


Fat Quarter Shop is doing Live  You Tube video tutorials this time.  Kimberly will walk you through the process of making the Quilt Top and sew right along with you.   The Quilt Top Live Video will be Released on July 5th at 9 am CT.  So fun!!! 



Be sure to share all of your Serendipity progress on social media with #serendipityqal and check out Fat Quarter Shops post for Release 8 for lots more Serendipity Inspiration!!!

And that's it for the Eighth Release in the Serendipity Quilt Along!!!!    
  

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





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Wednesday, June 30, 2021

My Favorite Color is Moda Sampler - Block 1

 So remember at the beginning of the year when I said I was going to  join in the QAL  for the  My Favorite Color is Moda Sampler???  Well, I am thrilled to say, that I finally started and made Block 1.   And boy oh boy, this was a big first block!!!  This finishes at 36".  It could be a baby blanket all on it's own.    And isn't it just so bright and happy in these Sunrise colors!!


You might recall, how I mentioned that I had just enough "morning sunrise"  grunge goodness to make this quilt.   Well, I did have just enough, but I highly recommend just using the directed yardage in the pattern or getting a Kit.    I think not having the right cuts of yardage is what took me so long to get started on this.  


It's not that the cutting was hard, but it was written for that specific amount of yardage.  So because I was using smaller scrap pieces, I had to check every cut to make sure I had enough of the piece I was using to cut out all the pieces in that color for a specific block.   So ya, basically, I made this much harder than it needed to be, spent 6 hours, and nearly made my head explode . . . but am happy to say it all worked out, and I had about 1/8 yard left of one red piece.   (and yes, there were several times I was piecing together smaller pieces to make the size piece I needed, gotta love piecing to make 1 piece ;)  


But now, it is done and I am so excited.   I bagged up each of the blocks, and already just want to start sewing them all together.   Who knows if I will catch up and actually QAL or if I will just make up all the blocks.   I am just thrilled they are all cut and ready to go.   And I just love the way the colors came out in the first block, it is making me all the more excited to get some more done!!!  


You could always join in this quilt along too.  Obviously, it is never to late to get started :)  Just grab your My Favorite Color is Moda booklet and a stack of 10 Colors (but again, get the right amount of yardages stated :)   and away you go!!


I hope you all have a Happy Quilting Day!!

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