All Framed Up Alternate's

So I was just giddy the other day when Leah from Burgundy Buttons told me that the All Framed Up Baby Quilt kits in Ruby had already sold out.  I guess you all really like that quilt design.  I can't tell you how happy that makes me to know that people are super excited to whip up one of my tutorials :)  

Leah also mentioned, that she had some special requests to make some alternate kits.  So the same design, but different fabric lines.  So she got right to it and just listed those alternate kits.  So I thought I would pass on the word in case you wanted a kit but they were already sold out in Ruby.  You know have 5 other options.

Love the look of bright warm colors?

  A kit made with Flora might make

 you feel warm and fuzzy all over!

If you're a girly girl, 

Sophie might have just the feminine touch you crave.

 A vintage kit made with Curio
 has a place in any romantics home.

If you're a homebody, 
Hometown might be right down
 your neighborhood ally!

 Pay tribute to days past
 with a retro kit made with Circa 1934.

 So there you have it.  

Don't you just love how the same design can look
 so different depending on the fabric you choose.  

I always think that is just the coolest. 

 Have a Happy Quilting Day!

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Throw Back Edition

So I had intentions to make a new quilt to show for Blogger's Quilt Festival when it was first mentioned a couple of months ago.  But that just did not happen.  However, I am okay with that.  I have been busy with our new little bundle of joy (see here) and I already had a lot of previous commitments that I had to make some "escape to the sewing room" time for as it was.

So, I decided instead of sharing something new, I would share something old and it's little story.  Something from before I had a quilting blog that none of you have probably ever seen.  And more importantly, something that shows a technique from me that will probably never be seen again.  Hand Stitching!!!

I made this quilt in 2008 for my sweet Sister-In-Law upon the arrival of their first baby girl.  I absolutely love the pink and brown color scheme so I gathered up some of my scraps and set out to do something new.  See, at this time I was still fairly new to the quilting world and had stuck to just following patterns.  I had seen so many adorable baby stitches (mostly from my other SIL who stitches like crazy) and thought it would be fun to incorporate some into a quilt, but I couldn't find a pattern that had baby stitches in the quilt that I liked.  So at that point, I realized if I wanted it, I would have to make it up myself.  So I did.   I pulled out my trusty excel skills that I hadn't used since becoming a mommy and went to work trying my hand at designing for the first time.  This is what I came up with :)

Now this was my first attempt at designing so I stuck to squares and rectangles.  Nothing to fancy. (and it probably was good I did as I made a few errors in my math along the way and had to adjust later on :)  This was also one of mt first attempts at quilting.  My machine at this time, did not have free motion capabilities, so I opted for stitch in the ditch.  I learned a lot, especially a lot of what not to do's :)  But all in all I had a lot of fun with designing, piecing, and quilting this quilt and learned a lot along the way.

The quilt was fun, the stitching however, not so much fun.  I know many people love stitching and find it relaxing, I on the other hand found it slow and frustrating.  Hence, I don't think I have done much hand stitching since this quilt, and don't have plans to do a lot in the future :)    But I have to admit, even though I didn't like it, I really like the way the stitches turned out.  (So maybe some day I will suck it up and do it again :)

And here it is hanging above my nieces crib.  Her Mother loved it which made me love it all the more.

My favorite thing about a post like this . . .  To see how much I have learned since I made this quilt, how much better my skills are, and to imagine how far they will go in the future :)  It is a great thing!!

TNT Thursday goes Baking!!!

We'll it's the second week of TNT Thursday and it's going Baking.  Ya, so basically, this MBS post was scheduled long before TNT was born so they are sharing the spotlight today.  But . . . it is a lovely way for me to introduce a feature that I was toying around adding to TNT.

So I was thinking . . . Wouldn't it be fun to have guest bloggers that show you a great tutorial for some cool technique, or pattern, or whatever that you wanted to learn??? It hit me the other day that I can't think of a better way to encourage people to try new things than to have tutorials for new things.  I mean, step by step instructions has trying to figure it out on your own beat hands down!!!   But . . . I do need a little feedback.  First . . .  What do you want to see tutorials for and   Second . . .  Is anyone out there interested in being a guest blogger???  (Cause it would get a little dull if I did the tutorial every time :)

So since the stars aligned and these two features collided on the same date . . .  I give you the first Tutorial Feature of TNT Thursdays!!!   I call it "All Framed Up" and you can find the step-by-step tutorial to make  it over at the Moda Bake Shop!!!!

This baby quilt is super easy to make and honestly, I just can't get over how adorable it is!!!  I made it for the newest addition to our family, Baby Jocelyn!!  And isn't she just the cutest little model!!

And as always, the amazing Leah over at Burgundy Buttons has made an equally adorable All Framed Up Quilt Kit available for purchase at a fabulous price.

So Yippee Skippee for Tutorials on TNT Thursdays!!!!  (Wow, that is a lot of T's)

Oh, and don't worry, I still have a TNT for this week.  This post actually shows it.  I attempted to use some of the instruction that Vanessa Christensen gave us at the Sewing Summit on how to edit pictures.  I actually did more than hit the "auto correct" button.  I played with the brightness and contrast editing buttons!!!  Now I will admit, it was a little scarey, and I also still have a long way to go.  (I mean, Jocelyn is not normally that pink :) However, I do think they look better than when I started.  The colors pop more and the overall pictures is just a lot more crisp, although the lawn does look a little like astro-turf :)

So that is what I tried this week . . . What did you try??? 
 I can't wait to see!!!  So write up your post and link it on up!!!  Oh, And please remember our 2 little ways to play nice with the linky.  1 - Please link back here with either words or the TNT button and 2 - Please give your fellow "linkers" some comment love :)

WIP Wednesday

So, I have three new WIP and they are all post-Sewing Summit projects and they are all in the very earliest stages of being WIP.  Meaning I have ideas and that is about it.  The three projects include


 1 - Turning this tote bag into something fabulous.  I have a great idea, but the deadline for this isn't for a bit so it probably won't be tackled until closer to the deadline. (I work best under pressure :)


2 - The cute little stack of 4 fat quarters will be for my Post Sewing Summit mini quilt swap.  This is my first swap and I am so very excited to be participating!!!  I got these fat quarters during the shop hop so I figured it would be fun to use them for my partner to keep the Sewing Summit fell of things :)  I know the design I want to do I just need to sit down and figure dimensions :)


3 - Those cute little 3" squares needed to be turned into a 6 1/2" block to be sent to beebolt.  Everyone at the summit got some and they will be turning all of the blocks into a large quilt that will be revealed at next years Sewing Summit.  So cool!!!  I have no idea what I want to do with them.  Any suggestions???

And since between the projects I have promised and the ones that I am working on are getting a little to many for me to remember, I decided it was time to start keeping weekly stats.  Which is mostly for myself so I don't have things fall through the cracks :)


Designing Stage

• Baby Quilt for Special new Niece arriving in March
• Circle Meets Square Quilt
• 4th of July Table Runner for Sister-In-Law 
• Christmas Table Runner for Sister
• Sewing Summit Projects 1, 2, and 3

Piecing Stage

• Stars Quilt-A-Long
• Hugs and Kisses Quilt for Grandma
• Going Places Quilt
• High Flying Quilt
• Secret Project B&C 

Quilting Stage

• Secret Project A

And that is it for me.  Just a few projects to get working on :)  

A Few More VIBee Blocks

I just keep getting more and more excited about this "Going Places" quilt for my little guy!! Here are some of the newest blocks.

This block was done by Meghan. This is so adorable and I love that she stitched his initials into the boat!! How cute!!!

And then there is another block done by Krista but I couldn't get it to link from flickr. So take a second and check out these two links. She even put a dog in the window of the Firetruck!! How cute is that!!!

Fire Truck Block

Detail of Fire Truck Block

Thanks again to the amazing ladies of the VIBee Group!! This quilt is going to turn out so fun for my little guy!!

Fat Quarter Shop Giveaway Winner's!!!!

First off, Thank you to everyone who linked up to the first TNT Thursday!!! I am so excited for this new weekly feature and I hope you are as well. So start thinking about what you want to try this week. I can't wait to hear about it next Thursday :)

  

Onto the Winners of the Fat Quarter Shop Giveaway!!!  Once again, thank you so much to Kimberly and Crew for their continued support of Happy Quilting!!  And the lucky winners are . . .

Congrats to Happy Cottage Quilter and Stevens Family!!!

 Please email me (happyquiltingmelissa (at) gmail (dot) com)  your mailing address and I will see your 2 Ruby Charm packs get sent out :)  

And thank you to everyone who entered!!  Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Introducing T.N.T. Thursday!!!!

Welcome to the Inaugural post of Trying New Things aka TNT Thrusday!!!  I am so excited!!!

<br /> <a border="0" href="http://happyquiltingmelissa.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src=" http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2Nvn8X8uUEM/TqAuYbv1gZI/AAAAAAAAB3E/PTTYmGoijKI/s1600/TNT-thursdays-blog-button.jpg"/></a><br />

So what is TNT Thursday??  We'll lets back up just a bit.  A few weeks ago I attended the Sewing Summit and the main thing I gleaned from it was to keep trying new things.  You know, push out of your comfort zone and find out what you can do.  I was so excited I decided to make a goal to really try and consitenly push myself to try new things in my little hobby world.  So with that goal in mind . . . I decided to make a weekly link up for extra motivation for me and to help motivate you all out there :)

And that is how TNT came to be!!  TNT stands for Trying New Things.  (I wasn't really digging this name but when I figured out that the initials were TNT I decided that I could get to like the name better because I absolutely loved TNT, it just sounds so intriguing. )  It will be here each and every Thursday (hopefully earlier in the future ) for you to link up your post on the New Try of that week :)

Now, let me stress, this doesn't have to be anything big and please don't feel like you can't post if it isn't quilt related.  I would love to get the entire hand sewing / crafty / quilting / crochet / embroidery / ect, ect. ect. industry represented here :)  So whatever it is that you tried new just link it up :)

My TNT Thursday!!!!

We'll this week I really had to stretch myself.  I tried expanding my quilting blogging skills by adding a Linky to this blog so that I can do TNT going forward.  You wouldn't think it would be that hard, it is pretty straight forward, but of course, I still struggled. (Hence the reason this post is up later than I would have liked ;)  However, I persevered and now we have a wonderful linky powered by Linked In with pictures and everything!!  Yippee Skippee!!!!

SO  . . . That's mine, (see I told you it didn't have to be anything big) now you can share yours.  What is one new thing you tried this week.  Blog about it and then link it up :) Oh, and like all great linky parties please remember the following two things.
     1 - Show some comment love to your fellow linkers.  We all like extra encouragment and a bit of praise for tackling new things.
     2 -  Link your post back to my blog somehow.  You can use the awesome button above that was created by my wonderful blog designer, Becca!!  (just FYI . . . She does free-lance work on the side if you are need of a little blog makeover and her prices are really great :)

Enjoying the Moments

So I wondered what to post about this morning. I haven't been at my sewing machine to much so I don't have anything to show today.  I mean, I still have a stack of WIP,  but no work on the WIP to show.  Mostly, because I have been enjoying the moments with this little one.  My how time flies.  She will be 4 weeks old tomorrow.  So rather than blather on about nothing, I think I will just end here so I can go lay her down and watch her sleep peacefully :)

Oh, quick side note before I am off,  Remember the Trying New Things linky idea . . . Well, I will be back tomorrow with the announcement of TNT Thursdays :)  I am so excited!!  I think they are gonna be great :)

Freezer Paper Printing Tutorial

How do you print on fabric??  I assumed that as soon as I posted this picture of my name tag for the Sewing Summit that I would get people writing me that exact question.  And since I figured that question would come up, I actually remembered to take pictures of the process while I was making this name tag :)  Yippee Skippee!!  So without further ado . . . I give you the Freezer Paper Printing Tutorial.

Start by cutting an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of freezer paper and a  8 1/2" x 11" piece of fabric that you want to print on.  (It is probably best to use light colors here as I don't know how well the printing would show up on dark colors ;)  

Lay the freezer paper onto the fabric with the shiny side down (you know, the side that feels more slippery and less like paper.)      Press your little freezer paper sandwich.  It only takes a few seconds to adhere the freezer paper to the fabric.

Now just leave the freezer paper adhered to the fabric.  See how it is stiff now.  You can now feed it into the paper tray of your printer and it is ready to be printed on.  It just feeds through as one sheet :)

So get your desired design that you want to print all ready on your computer.  I like to put a box around whatever I am printing as it makes it easier to cut it out :)

When your design is all done you are ready to print.  In your printing advanced options you should be able to change the intensity of your printing.  I like to make the intensity darker since the printing on the material is not normally as dark as paper.

Once the design has printed give it a few seconds to make sure it is dry so it doesn't smear.  Then just peel the fabric away from the freezer paper.  (It will just come right off :)

Cut out your design.  Now just heat set your printed piece.  (note . . heat setting will help to prevent the ink from running in the case that it gets wet, however, this is not a perfect water-proof process.  Certain ink colors and inks can still run even after being heat set.  So if you are wanting to do this in something that will need to be washed I would suggest experimenting with the colors first before sewing it into something :)

Now just take your printed design and sew it into your project!!  Wha-La!!  Easy and affordable Printing on Fabric :)  Enjoy!!!

*** EDIT***  There were some wonderful tips left in the comments so I wanted to add them to make sure everyone saw them.  Thanks to Jessica Jo and NancyinSTL for their wonderful helps!!

1 - The freezer paper can be used many many many times over!
2 - This is a good way to transfer embroidery designs, as long as they are small enough to fit through your machine.
3 - Choose fabric with a high thread count to ensure better printing.
4 - Treat the fabric first with Bubble Jet to make it colorfast.
5 - Cut fabric and paper slightly larger than 8.5" x 11" just before ironing the fabric to the freezer paper, then cut the fabric stuck to the freezer paper to 8.5" x 11". This will help prevent the fabric from peeling back and jamming up in the printer.

Fat Quarter Shop Sponsored Giveaway!!!

So the Fat Quarter Shop, in a word, AMAZING!!!!  Whatever you are looking for, you have a pretty good chance at finding it here.  They have pre-cuts, yardage, patterns, quilt kits, block of the month, bloggers choice bundles, ect. ect. ect.  Their selection is enormous!!  So you can imagine, it was difficult to pick a few of my current favorite offerings.  

But of course, after some major enjoyable surfing, I was able to narrow down some of my particular favorites.  Here they are, my current wish basket at the Fat Quarter Shop

Talk about the ultimate Stash Builder.  Oh how I would love to find this Primatex Basics Bounty of Basics Fat Quarter Box under my Christmas Tree this year.

And it is totally time to start stocking up the Christmas Fabrics and I am so in love with Countdown to Christmas by Sweetwater.  Fat Quarter Shop has an entire Christmas Shop within the shop.  So Awesome!!!!

I love these Designer Select Fat Quarter Bundles.  They are so much fun!!!  And I am so in love with Ruby so this particular designer Fat Quarter just jumps out at me!!

And maybe you are in love with Ruby as well and would like a chance to win some :)  Up for grabs today are 4 Ruby Charm Packs!!!  There will be 2 winners that will each receive 2 charm packs.  (Which just might coincide perfectly with my new Moda Bake Shop tutorial that will be released on the 27th of this month, Yippee Skippee :)  

You have three chance to win, and please, leave a separate comment for each (for a total of 3 comments max :) If you leave one saying I did it all, Mr. Random.Org will only count it for one. 

1. Do any one of the following at Happy Quilting and leave one comment that you did at least one of the following.  Be a follower of Happy Quilting and/or follow Happy Quilting on Facebook and/or Follow Happy Quilting on Twitter and/or list Happy Quilting on your Blogroll :)
2. Do any one of the following at The Fat Quarter Shop and leave one comment that you did at least one of the following.  Follow The Jolly Jabber Blog, which is the Fat Quarter Shops Blog  (which always has amazing giveaways) and/or Sign up for the Fat Quarter Shop Newsletter (go to link and then enter email at the top of the page) and/or visit the Fat Quarter Shop and leave me a link of what you totally can't live without :)
3. Alert the Media - Post on facebook, twitter, or your blog about this giveaway.  Leave a comment saying where you wrote and a link :)  Like above, you can do more than one post but it will only get you one entry :)  

And that sums it up.  Thank you so much to the Fat Quarter Shop and Kimberly for sponsoring this giveaway.   You folks are so amazing!!!  You will have until Oct 20th to enter and I will announce a winner on the morning of the 21st :)  Happy Quilting to you all and good luck!!!

100 Quilts for Kids!!!

Today is the second link up for the 100 Quilts for kids.  I have been wanting to participate in this wonderful charity function since I first heard about it.  I figured I had the two strip quilts completed over a year ago and the blocks of the last quilt done earlier this year (poor abandoned projects) that would work perfect for "Kid Quilts", as they are so bright and cheery.  I figured with having a good portion of the work done and only needing to assemble the one quilt and then quilt and bind them all that I would finish in plenty of time.    

But of course, as life gets busy,  I was still adding the bindings on in the Sewing Room at the Sewing Summit in between classes.  (Which is why the pictures are horrible, as I took them on the hotel floor).   But now worries, they got done and delivered to Kate.  (And I have to say, handing them over in person had the huge added bonus to get to meet Kate, she is every bit as wonderful as you would expect from reading her blog, so sweet!!!!)   Yippee Skippee for Quilting for Kids!!  Isn't it just amazing how you do these types of things to bless others but you feel so great afterwards that you are practically blessing yourself at the same time!!  I just love that feeling :)

So here they are :)  A cute stripped boy quilt.  I just love all of the bright colors and the cute patterns :)  It is totally all boy!!!

I quilted some stars and loops on the large stripes, meandering on the medium stripes, and loopies on the small stripes.  I had so much fun quilting these!!!  (even though I was going so fast last minute that I did turn my backing under and didn't realize it until I was attaching the binding,  oops :)

And this is the girl version of the stripes.  My daughter just loves this quilt so I am hoping it will make another little girl equally happy.

And a huge accomplishment for me, I finally got over my fear of feathers and gave them a whirl.  I think they turned out pretty decent for my first attempt :)

And last, but not least, my abandoned Block-A-Palooza blocks.  I love the way this turned out, which is funny, because I was not digging the individual blocks.  It is just so fun and bright and I love the stripey border print I found to go with it.  It just ties it all in so well :)

And here it is all together :)  And if this makes you feel all warm and maybe you get the sudden urge to go donate some quilts you have finished for children in your community, then wonderful!!!  You have 2 more days to link up :)