Ah-oooogah! Ah-oooogah! Warning! Picture-heavy post ahead!!
First, before I show you my finish . . .
Back, by popular demand, are the boyz. Yes, we have had requests to see what Padsworth and DragonDrop are up to lately. They are a fun-loving pair, and keep things hopping here at the Lilypad!
I thought I would show you what I saw when I came to my sewing area today -- they'd been diving in my scrap bin and brought up all of the Happy Town scraps to play with!
They love the bright colors, and I do too!
I'm so glad that I was able to design a quilt around the cute panel that Jacquelynne Steves created! And now I am able to show you the finish. I am SEW excited! (Grin)
The whole front, spread out to see. . .
And here is the back. I cut my scraps into charm squares and pieced the entire back for a scrappy, happy backing.
I am in love with how the striped binding looks with the charm squares . . .
And of course, having a flowering cherry in bloom for the backdrop can't hurt, right? (Wink)
I know for a fact that my quiltie won't receive any kudos for technical merit -- my FMQ still leaves a lot to be desired! (Giggle) But I had a ball designing and making this quilt, and I hope that the fun keeps going for a child who can play with this on his or her hospital bed.
I quilted lines on the roadway to draw attention to those. I can imagine a youngster "varooming" along with a Hot Wheels car on the road, and pulling up to a stop at the light:
Then a meander in the areas of houses, fire station, school, and more:
And I outline quilted around my own design at the top -- the tow truck and bulldozer are workin' hard to get those letters in place!
Those balloons might be makin' it hard for the drivers to see where they're going!
I especially like the look of the binding when it's rolled up:
All in all, I'm happy with my results, and I'm also happy that this quiltie is winging its way to Pennsylvania, to the Henry Glass and Quilts for Kids folks.
Keep your fingers crossed for me!! I'd love to win a prize, or just to know that my quilt was picked for the display at International Quilt Market!
But if truth be told, all of us that made quilts for this effort are winners, because we have helped out in a really great cause! I'm honored to have had the opportunity!
Love,
Barbara at Catpatches always throws the best parties! Today I'm linking up with the March NEWFO party . . .
I started my Happy Town project in March, and I'm hoping to finish it soon enough to send it to the Henry Glass and Jacquelynne Steves effort for Quilts for Kids!
Hop on over to Catpatches and see all of the other fun projects entered in the March party! And say hello to Smitty and Gracie, too!
Love,
Be sure to click here and enter our giveaway . . . then you can come right back and check out the tutorial!
Remember this?
This is the top of the Happy Town quilt that we are making for the Quilts for Kids effort.
This has been so much fun . . . I want to show you how I put this together:
The middle, of course, is that cute panel from Jacquelynne Steve's line, Happy Town.
See this print with the stripes of happy little houses and trees and cars?
I know, I know, it's a little bitty picture . . . but here is what it looks like when I sliced it up a little!
Aren't those vehicles adorable? Here's a closer look at those happy houses. (I'm starting to sound like Bob Ross with his happy little trees, aren't I? Haha! I love those videos!)
I trimmed the slice of vehicles leaving a quarter inch on the edge that was green -- the next color in was the same red as the edge of the panel.
I figured (crafty, aren't I?) that you wouldn't be able to tell if I stitched a little crooked that way.
Check this out:
I did the same thing with the row of houses across what would be the top of the playmat:
By using those lines on the fabric, I made it nice and straight!
Now, if you would like to make one of these, and you like my letters and my "heavy equipment" you are in luck! I'm listing the links on my "Tutorials" page, and all you have to do is click on them and you'll have immediate access to the Lilypad filing cabinet --- you can print out the patterns for the letters, and for the truck and the dozer, too!
Be sure to trace the letters IN REVERSE on the Steam a Seam if you use that wunnerful product . . . . . don't ask, OK? Just do it. You can say a little frog told you. (Grin)
Then you can apply it to the wrong side of your fabric and cut the letters out. All that is left is to blanket stitch them to your background, like these:
The little red heart can perch there on top of the letter "H". . .
Here is a close up so that you can see how to overlap the hook from the tow truck, and make the truck be hoisting the letter H into place:
I stitched around all of the parts of the heavy equipment, so that this can be ready for rugged use and lots of washings!
Here is the power portion of the 'dozer:
I'll be adding just a little more stitching to show the treads on that bad boy, and then he's ready to roll.
Some stem stitching made the strings for the balloons and the tow lines on the truck:
As soon as I finish those last embellishments on the dozer, this playquilt will be ready to sandwich, quilt and bind!
Now, if you are still reading this far, congratulations! 'Cos I'm going to give you one more way to enter our giveaway! Jacquelynne Steves has a new Facebook page, and you know how it is when you do that....you can't take your buddies with you! So go and like her new page, and then leave me a comment here --- I'll add these comments to the ones on the giveaway post, and you'll have yet another chance to win!
Yay!!!
Happy Sewing! Don't forget to enter the Happy Town contest!!
Love,
This giveaway is now closed...thanks for your interest, and please enjoy looking around here at the Lilypad!
Let me clarify that title . . . We have TWO big bundles to give away!!
(Are you happy dancing yet?)
Padsworth says that I'd better warn you there are lots of pictures ahead. You might want to grab your cuppa:
And maybe a snack:
And settle in for some fun!
Most of you have seen the photos of the Lilypadquilting team working on our project for the Happy Town fabric line designed by our fav, Jacquelynne Steves of The Noble Wife fame. We be havin' fun, as they say! (grin)
Here (imagine a beautiful trumpet flourish here, and maybe some angelic voices, too) is our Phase I completed:
This is going to be one portion of our quilt for the Quilts for Kids effort!
Wanna see some closeups?
Aw, please, say you want to see 'em! (It will make the team so happy.)
OK, here we go . . .
The Happy Town fabric is so cute.
Just look at some of these!
I chose the red dot for my dozer and my tow truck, and embellished them a little:
I'll be posting a tutorial for this project in the next few days, with line drawing patterns for the heavy equipment and for the letters!
The tow truck is hoisting the letter "H" in Happy Town, and the dozer is pushing the "n" into place!
A tow truck can't see what he is doing without headlights, can he?
And he wouldn't consider himself to be well-dressed without his hubcaps:
The balloons are a motif that I saw on the Happy Town panel that Jacquelynne created, and I repeated it for this section of the quilt:
Here are some close-ups of the letters:
I'll show you some more when the tutorial is posted, and I"ll give you some tips to help create your own Happy Town project!
Have you heard that there is a contest with a $500 prize to be won?
If you haven't already, hop over using this link and see what all the excitement is about!
Now, I know that you are itching to start earning chances to win one of these bundles:
Now, quit drooling on your keyboards and I'll tell you how you can enter to win a bundle of twelve fat quarters. (Grin)
Entry number 1: Do you follow Jacquelynne's blog? Ka-ching! Leave a comment to tell me.
Entry number 2: Do you follow here at the Lilypad? Zowie! We love our followers, so leave another comment!
Entry number 3: Put on your thinking cap and tell me what you might make with all of that Happy Town fabric goodness.
Entry number 4: Click here to see the fabric line, and come back to tell me your fav -- just say, for example, that you're crazy about the color red, and so #88 is your favorite!
Entry number 5: Do you get Jacquelynne's newsletter? If you don't, hustle to this link, sign up on the right side of the page and then come back and tell me! (If you already do, then tell me that!)
Entry number 6: If you share the news of this giveaway via Facebook, Twitter, or on your blog, please leave a comment with a linkie!
Now, you have lots of ways to earn entries....but you DO NOT have to do them all!! (Grin) I fully expect that some of you will be loading us up with comments, tho, cos this really IS cute fabric! (Just please don't get in a swivet if I don't get around to answering all of your lovely comments, though --- I love to read them and I love each and every one of you --- but I have to work and eat and run to the restroom and play with the Studio Cat and, and, well, you get the idea!)
We'll leave this giveaway open for a week....through next Monday night. We'll try our best to announce the winners the next day!!
Good luck, everyone!
We're linking up today with the March Goal Setting Party over at SewBitterSweet Designs today! Hop over and check out what everyone is doing!
Love,
