Wednesday, February 13, 2013

A New Video Tutorial - FMQ Traveling Loops and Hearts

Have a little Valentine's projects in the works??  Trying to decide how to finish it up??  If so, you might be in the same boat as I was yesterday.  In finishing up my new Valentines quilt (Tutorial coming to the MBS soon, just waiting to hear on the date :)  I decided to try a new Free Motion Quilting design that would represent this holiday full of love.  So what represent love more than hearts??  So I created a little all over design that travels with loops and has adorable little hearts tied in.   And since I thought it might be helpful to you as well, I made a little video.  Enjoy ;)


I hope this helps in finishing up and of your Valentine's projects :)  Boy oh boy, do I like to procrastinate :)  Nothing like day before the holiday :)
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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

X Marks the Spot

For this month's Beejeebers block Jamie asked us to make a Scrappy X Block.  She wrote up a fabulous tutorial here for it and it was a quick and a whole lot of fun to put together.  Double Bonus!!


I love scrappy blocks.  Using all these bright colors just made me smile!  I steered away from the tutorial just a bit here as I didn't bother to take the time to trim my scraps to size.  I just started piecing together whatever I had until it made a long enough row.  I love piecing like this.  There is something so freeing about it!!  And anything that uses up more scraps from my overflowing bins is always good.



 I trimmed the rows to the designated sizes and then it was ready to add background.


Before I knew it, I was done.   Jamie's quilt is going to be so fun with so much scrappy goodness.  Can't wait to see it all done :)


On a side note, I just love lattice quilts.  They are so pretty in their simplicity.  Keep an eye out, there will be a lattice tutorial with a twist soon :)
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Monday, February 11, 2013

Starburst Quilt-A-Long - Finished Quilt Top

**  NOTE  - This post is part of a series of posts for the Starburst Quilt-A-Long.  If you would like to join (and have a chance to win one of the $75.00 Gift Certificate grand prizes sponsored by The Intrepid Thread ) you can find a list of the post links here :)  Once again, here is the schedule, but if you want to work ahead you can use the tutorial  just be sure to take pictures of your weekly assignments so you can link them up for weekly prizes :)

January 14 - Cutting Post
January 21 - Goose in the Corner and Half Square Triangles
January 28 - Flying Geese
February 4 - Building Blocks - At least 2
February 11 - Finish Blocks and Sashing
February 18 - Baste it, Quilt it, Bind It
March 4 - Starburst Parade and Grand Prizes


Alright, We need a winner for last week's assignment!!

The 2 Blocks winner who gets a $25.00 Gift Certificate to Fat Quarter Shop  is . . .#6 -Lori- Congrats :)


I am so excited for this week!!  This weeks assignment is to finish your quilt top!! I just love seeing it all come together!!    


THIS WEEKS ASSIGNMENT - PART 1 - FINISHING BUILDING BLOCKS

The first part of this week's assignment is nothing new.  Use last weeks tutorial to finishing sewing your remaining 2 Big Blocks :)  From the looks of flickr, many of you have already done this :)


THIS WEEKS ASSIGNMENT - PART 2 - SASHING YOUR BLOCKS

First off I just want to mention that this is just the way I sash this quilt.  If you have another plan in mind of how you want to finish your quilt top please do so.  You can still enter it even if you don't finish it the same way.  This is your quilt, you do with it as you like :)

Okay, so now, onto the little sashing tutorial :)  I love this part because it comes together so quickly and then you have a completed quilt top!!  So exciting!!

 Start by laying your 4 blocks out.  Then take your 2 smallest sashings and lay them as follows. We will be adding them between the blocks to make 2 rows.


Place the sashing on the first blocks of each row with right sides together.  I do not use pins but if you are a beginner or just like using pins go right ahead and pin along the raw edge.  Sew a 1/4" seam along the raw edge.  If you are using a light fabric, you should be able to see through the sashing to make sure your seam is sewing right along the Burst points.  Always press your seams for sashings towards the sashings.  They lay nice and flat that way :)


Now you can finish the rows by laying the second block in each row onto your attached sashing strip with right sides together and raw edges aligned.  Optional pinning now :)  Sew a 1/4 inch seam along the edge.  Be sure to sew right along the tips of your Burst points to ensure you keep those nice points :)  Press.


 And now your rows are complete and you are ready to add the sashing between the rows and to the top and bottom.  Gather your 3 medium sashing strips and lay one along the top of the first row.  Lay 2 strips on the second row, one on the top and one on the bottom.  All rows should be right sides together and aligned along the raw edges.  Pin if desired.  Sew a 1/4" seam along the edges and then press.


And now you can sew the 2 rows together.  Lay the first row onto the attached sashing and second row with right sides together and raw edges aligned.  Pin if desired.  Sew a 1/4" seam along the edge once again making sure to sew right along the tips of the Burst points.  Press.


And your almost done!!   Lastly, gather your 2 largest seams.  You know where this is going :)   Place them on the right and left hand sides of your quilt with right sides together and raw edges aligned.  Pin if desired.  Sew a 1/4" seam along either raw edge and press.


And your quilt top is completed!!!  Yippee Skippee!!!  Now just sit back and admire!!


 So that's it!!!  Finish your Quilt Top and your assignment is complete!!!  And now you can enter to win the weekly prize :) This linky will also be the linky for the GRAND PRIZE.  See further down for details :) 

The Weekly Prizes are sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop and a huge thanks goes to them for their support of the Starburst Quilt-A-Long.

This weeks  prize is an Amy Butler Spots Charm Pack!!!  I know you all love polka dots as much as I do :)  



So what do you have to do for a chance to win??  Simple . . . Just link up your Quilt Top at the end of this post :)  You can link to a blog post or a flickr picture, or whatever.  Just make sure to link up by next Monday morning as I will be announcing a winner at the beginning of next weeks post :)

**This linky will also serve as the GRAND PRIZE linky.  Those that finish their Quilt Top or Pillow Top or whatever will be entered to win one of the $75.00 Gift Certificates at the Intrepid Thread.    Quilting and Binding your top is not required for the Grand Prize Linky but will be required to be showcased in the Parade on March 4, just as a little encouragement to keep this top from becoming a UFO ;)  

So  if you don't get your quilt top done by next week you want to be sure and still link up here by March 4th so you are eligible for the Grand Prize.

And don't forget to add your Quilt Tops to the Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long Flickr group!!!  

And remember - Questions??  Please don't hesitate to send them to me at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com

I can't wait to see everyone's tops!!   Have a Happy Quilting Day!!



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Friday, February 8, 2013

Electronics, Grrr!! and a Quilt Top

I have been anxious to sew the last few days, but found instead that I had to spend most of my free time transferring all of our data to a new laptop.  The old one was starting to randomly shutdown and then take forever to turn back on. Not a good sign.  So after a time of babying it along, we decided it was best to do a little out with the old and in with the new.  But . . . In with the new, always takes more time than you anticipate.  Electronics can be so frustrating to me.  I won't bore you with all of my struggles, but I am happy to say, that with a lot of help from my dear husband, I think I have all of the programs, files, and so forth loaded and hopefully am good to move forward.


So today . . . I got to sew!!!   And sew I did.  I spent the morning putting my  40" Starbust blocks together!!  I am so happy with how they came out.  I just love these colors together.  Julie did such a great job in creating this fun bundle!!


And I couldn't stop there.  I spent the afternoon adding the sashing so now the quilt top is complete!!  Yippee Skippee!!  Sadly, it is snowing right now so I can't take it outside and get a nice picture.  But I was to excited to share to wait.  What ya gonna do :)  At least I am all set for writing up Monday's tutorial for the Quilt-A-Long.  It's nice to feel like everything is not last minute :)  I'm linking this finish up with Amanda :)


Now, it's off to basting, quilting, and binding.  I have no idea how I want to quilt this yet.  I keep thinking of maybe trying some custom quilting but then the size intimidates me and I lean towards an all over design.  I am open to suggestions ;)  How do you think I should quilt this top??

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Wednesday, February 6, 2013

I Need a List

I haven't done a WIP post for a little while and boy oh boy do I need one.  The list in my head is starting to get a little long and I am worried things are gonna fall out :)  So many wonderful projects and only 24 hours in a day.  Guess we will all just have to keep trying to squeeze more time out of each day ;)

I spent majority of last week teaching and getting ready to teach.  It was so much fun and I can't wait to get emails from class members with their finishes. Once the classes were done it was time to crank out a few of my own WIP.  First on the list, Starburst.  Wouldn't want the hostess to get behind :)  I have some more work on this to be ready for next weeks post :)  Good thing I still have 4 days!


Second on the list is my Honey Honey quilt.  I just have to sew these pinned blocks and then add some sashing and then I will be ready to start sewing the blocks into a top.  I really am hoping to get this one done by the weekend :)  Here's hoping ;)

And of course, there are  a whole lot of projects just waiting for these 2 to make their way to the finish stage so that I can bump them into the Piecing Stage :)

Designing Stage
  • Circle Meets Square Quilt 
  • Pillow Cases and Table Topper for Master Bedroom
  • Pillow Case for Kristian's Bed
  • Read with Me
  • Ring Around
  • Boxed In and Out
  • DD 
  • SD
  • KS
Piecing Stage
  • Jessi and Me Quilt 
  • Block of the Month - Lucky Stars
  • Scrunchy Strips - For Kami
  • Starburst Quilt-A-Long 
  • Hugs Before Kisses
Quilting Stage
  • Solids Quilt for Free Motion
Completed Stage
  • Jan Bee Block
  • Class Samples
    • I had to add something here, otherwise I will wonder what I did all January ;)


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