~ Happy Little Things MONTH 1 and a GIVEAWAY! ~

***Giveaway Closed***
Welcome to month one of the Happy Little Things BOM hosted by Jacquelynne Steves.  This is my third year being a feautured blogger for Jacquelynne's yearly Free BOM.  If you haven't already  signed up for this FREE BOM you can do so here.  Also make sure to hop over to check out her post about this months block here.  Thank you Jacquelynne for all you hard work putting together another amazing quilt along!

Each month from August through December there will be giveaways on each participating featured blog, with a big grand prize in January.  This months giveaway is sponsored by Olfa, details are at the end of this blog post.

If your new to my blog please take some time to explore the many free tutorials and free patterns, not all are listed on my tutorials page at the top of the blog, but you can find many more by searching for tutorials in the search box on the right side of this blog. If you sign up for my newsletter on the top right of this page you will receive a free quilt pattern and get occasional updates about new patterns and tutorials.  No worries about you email being spammed by me, I rarely send out newsletters and I do not sell you information.  Your email is safe!  If you are on a mobile device you will need to scroll to the bottom of this page, click view Web Version in order to access the sidebar with the sign up and search features.

So lets get to this months free block.  Each year Jacaquelynne encourages everyone to do your own thing.  That's what I love about her BOM.  She always gives several option for finishing the block and gives us the freedom to do the same. The blocks can be finished as applique, embroidery, or just a plain pieced block.   This is a good opportunity for me to get out of my comfort zone.  For this years quilt I'll be doing a monochromatic color scheme.  Which basically means a one color quilt.  In my case it's a 2 color quilt, Red and white.  Those of you that know me know I love red.  It's getting harder and harder to find a good red fabric these days, what's up with that?  The bundle I've chosen is a scrappy red bundle curated by a local shop that recently closed.  The red gingham is from Joann's .  This gingham is a little stiff, I think it's painted instead of dyed.  However when it's washed it softens.  The solid white background fabric is by Choice Fabrics.  I buy this by the bolt directly from the company because I use solid white in most of my quilts.

To transfer the embroidery lines to the background fabric I'm using a blue water soluble marking pen.  It too can be purchased at Joann's or just about any crafty type store.  By the way, I don't receive any money for link clicks.  Just a happy customer sharing ideas.

Now this  may make some of you cringe.  For my applique and piecing I'm using Maxi Lock Serger Thread.  I know it can be taboo in the quilting community but I'm not one to let the quilt police tell me what to do.  I've never had any issues.  The only thing to keep in mind when you use Serger thread is it does put off more lint.  So you would want to treat it with mineral oil or thread conditioner of some sort or clean your machine more often.  There are several benefits to dipping your threads in mineral oil.  I use this mineral oil and this information on dipping the cones from a award winning quilter.

To add a little stability to my background fabric I added Pellon Fusible Ulta Lightweight Interfacing to the back.  It gives just the right amount of stiffness without needing to be removed.  

For my raw edge applique I always use Heat N Bond Lite.  I love this stuff.   It's a really good product that does what it says it will do without making your quilt super stiff.  If you do as the instructions suggest it works perfectly every time.  I've never had it come loose on my projects after washing.  The link I provided is for Joann's but honestly I buy it most of the time at WalMart.

All of the stitching was done by machine.  Yes, I'm a lazy quilter.  I love applique but I do not like for it to take forever.  Machine stitching cuts the time down so I can get onto the next project.  If things take to long I become bored and the project becomes a UFO.  

With today machines having so many stitches that we never use this is also a great time to try out some of them.  To be honest these are my go to stitches.  I use these 2 the most.  The one at the very top of this picture takes a stitch, back stitches one stitch and takes a stitch.  So your getting 3 layers, making it look like hand stitching with 3 strands of floss.  The second stitch is the basic blanket stitch.

The next 2 stitches were spur of the moment.  Getting out of my comfort zone using these.

Here's a close up of how they look when finished.  The blanket stitch was reduced to a very tiny stitch.  I suggest doing a few test stitches on a piece of scrap to see what looks best for your thread and fabric.

Jacquelynne's instructions are always easy to follow and understand but I'm old and set in my ways so I chose to do some things a little different.  The cutting was the same for the first block but I didn't want to draw lines.  Instead I use the lines on my machine for making the flying geese blocks. It super simple to sew from corner to corner.   If you would like to try this technique I have a tutorial for how I put the lines on the bed of my machine here. 

Sewing a second line about 1/2" away from the first line will give me a spare half square triangle to use in another project.  Just remember to move the needle over a little and then remember to put it back when finished.

Then cut between the two sewn lines.

The same process was repeated on the other side of the flying geese.

Trim it away and you'll have 2 tiny Hst's.  Cute!

Here's one of my bags of bonus Hst's.  I've collect 4 bags of these over the years.  They come in handy for small projects.  Someday I may try to make a quilt from all of them. 

The block went together super quick.  I love how it turned out.  

If you make these blocks you can use the following hashtags to make it easier for everyone to find your blocks on social media   #HappyLittleThingsBOM and #HappyLittleThingsQuilt

You can also join the Facebook group to share your project, get help and be inspired by the many different quilters.  

AUGUST GIVEAWAY

This months giveaway is sponsored by Olfa.  One winner will be chosen from each participating blogs listed below.  You have several chances to win this bundle of goodies!

Make sure to visit all the blogs and follow the rules on each blog for entering the giveaway for the most chances to win.

A Quilting Life  https://www.aquiltinglife.com/

Podunk Pretties http://podunkpretties.blogspot.com/

The Crafty Quilter   https://thecraftyquilter.com/

Flamingo Toes   https://flamingotoes.com/

Allie-Oops Sweet Happy Life   http://allie-oopssweethappylife.blogspot.com/

Happy Quilting Melissa http://www.happyquiltingmelissa.com/

The Quilting Nook https://thequiltingnook.wordpress.com/

Kathy's Quilts  https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/

Attachments area

The Official Giveaway Rules

• Giveaway is open to US and Canada residents. International winners will receive an alternate prize.
• One prize per person per giveaway.

 To enter the giveaway on my blog

All you need to do is leave a comment.  Any ole comment.  Giveaway will close on Sunday, August 11, at 11:59 pm.  I will announce the winner on August 12th.  So you'll either want to check back here on August 12 or leave your email address in the comments so I can contact you directly.  You will have 24 hrs to confirm or a new winner will be chosen.  It's just that easy! 

To leave a comment on this blog just scroll to the bottom of this post and find and click on the word comments.  Then scroll till you see a comment box.  Add your comment and click on the word comment below your comment.