2019 – Happy Cloud Creations

Posted on December 27, 2019January 3, 2020 by happycloudcreatons — 2 Comments

Finish those UFQs WEEK 9

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Welcome to WEEK 9 of the Finish Those UFQs challenge!

Download the FREE Quilt Project Tracker: Finish Those UFOs

Have you made any progress this week? I know it can be a busy time for people. Having my kids home for winter break makes it so I have less time to sew. But I’m enjoying spending extra time with them.

This week the kids finished making their Aprons! We had cut them out during their Summer break, other projects got in the way. So we finally finished them up this week. The kids had a lot of fun making these. They picked out their own fabrics and did all the sewing. I helped with ironing and pinning.

We also had some fun making some bread from scratch. Our first loaf didn’t turn out too good. So we tried again an our results were much better! I love baking in the winter time and it fills your house with yummy smells!

This week I found some time to baste and quilt my baby size Left The Nest Quilt! I love using spray baste. It makes the basting step go way faster! I used Sulky KK 200 Temporary Spray. I love that there isn’t any overspray left on my tile floor.

I decided to go with a large zig zag pattern for the quilting. I used my seams as a guild. I quilted about 1/2 inch from all the top flying geese. Then I started quilting in between each of those lines to make the lines all about 1 3/4 inches apart.

The last project I worked on this week was my new quilt pattern the Flower Party Quilt! I made some progress and am close to having some blocks done! Yay!!

Finish Those UFQs 2020!
Since we will be postponing the next quilt along in my quilt along until probably March of 2020. I’ve decided to extend the Finish those UFQs into January of 2020! Yay! More time to get our boxes checked off our list!

You can continue with your current list, or you can print off and new one and start fresh for the New Year!

Download your FREE Quilt Project Tracker here: Finish Those UFOs

Goals for this Week!
My goals for this week are to finish up my baby size Left The Nest Quilt and to work on my Flower Party Quilt top!

Join the Facebook Quilt Along Group to share your progress!

Happy Quilting!
Andrea

Finish Those UFQs 2019!
Nov. 1st – Week 1 – Intro
Nov. 8th – Week 2
Nov. 15th – Week 3
Nov. 22nd – Week 4
Nov. 29th – Week 5
Dec. 6th – Week 6
Dec. 13th – Week 7
Dec. 20th – Week 8
Dec. 27 – Week 9

Finish Those UFQs 2020!
Jan. 3rd – Week 10
Jan. 10th – Week 11
Jan. 17th – Week 12
Jan. 24th – Week 13
Jan. 31st – Week 14

Posted on December 20, 2019December 26, 2019 by happycloudcreatons — Leave a comment

Finish Those UFQs WEEK 8

This post may contain Affiliate Links. When using the link, you pay the same amount for the items, I just receive a small commission.

Welcome to WEEK 8 of the Finish Those UFQs! Did you make some progress last week? Did you get to check on any boxes?

Download the FREE Quilt Project Tracker: Finish Those UFOs

This week I was so happy to finish up my Happy Block Swap Quilt! It’s been pouring outside, so I haven’t been able to get a full shot of the quilt. Once the rain lets up I’ll take one.

You can find the FREE PDF block patterns here!

I love how the floral binding looks on this quilt! It makes me want to use floral binding more often!

I started working on my NEW Quilt Pattern, the Flower Party Quilt. I’m using these gorgeous Road Trip fabrics designed by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics.

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My goals for this week is to complete some of the Flower Party blocks. Also, I would like to baste and quilt my baby size Left The Nest Quilt! My kids start winter break tomorrow, so I’m going to need to manage my time wisely to get some sewing time in!

Join the Facebook Quilt Along Group to share your progress!

Happy Quilting!

Posted on December 13, 2019December 16, 2019 by happycloudcreatons — 2 Comments

Finish Those UFQs WEEK 7

This post may contain Affiliate Links. When using the link, you pay the same amount for the items, I just receive a small commission.

Welcome to WEEK 7 of the Finish Those UFQs challenge!! I hope you are making great progress on your lists!

You can download the FREE Quilt Project Tracker here: Finish Those UFOs

This week I finished my Happy Flower Garden Quilt!! I had made this quilt top during the Quilt Along in 2018. It feels good to check this one completely off my list!! It’s been super overcast and rainy here in Western Washington this past week, so I haven’t had a chance to take a full length photo yet.

Next up this week was finishing the quilting on my Happy Block Swap Quilt. I decided to go with a slight wave from top to bottom, then I echoed that way arrows the quilt in 1 inch lines. I didn’t have much quilting left to do, so I was also able to make the binding, attach it to the front and I started hand sewing it to the back.

Next week my goal is to finish the binding on the Happy Block Swap Quilt.
I would also like to get my baby size Left the Nest quilt basted and quilted!

I received the background fabric in the mail for my next Quilt Pattern, I think I’m going to call it Flower Party Quilt! I’m really excited to share this one with you all. It might be a contender for the next quilt along that will start in January 2020!

I’m using Wasabi by Kona Cotton for the background and the main colors will be this gorgeous Road Trip fabric by Alison Glass.

What did you finish this week? What are your goals for next week? Join my Quilt Along Group and post your progress photos!

Happy Quilting!
Andrea

Posted on December 6, 2019December 11, 2019 by happycloudcreatons — Leave a comment

Finish Those UFQs WEEK 6

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This post may contain Affiliate Links. When using the link, you pay the same amount for the items, I just receive a small commission.

Welcome to week 6 of the Finish Those UFQs! How did this week go for you? Did you get to check off any boxes?

Download the FREE Project Tracker Here: Finish Those UFOs

Sometimes you have those weeks that life just gets in the way and you don’t get to complete everything that you would have hope to! That’s what kind of week I had!
I was able to do an hour hand binding on my Happy Flower Garden Quilt on Monday morning.

But Tuesday my intestines started giving me trouble. I have an autoimmune disease called Crohn’s Disease. It causes inflammation in my digestive track which can lead to scar tissue. I have a lot scar tissue in a couple areas of my intestines, so when my Crohn’s decides to inflame it can cause an intestinal blockage. Which means I have extreme abdominal pain and most the time I can’t keep any food or liquids down. Usually when I get an intestinal blockage it clears up after 24 hours and I start feeling better. For some reason this one took a lot longer.

So even though this week I had planned to finish my Happy Flower Garden Quilt and finish quilting my Happy Block Swap Quilt, I ended up laying in bed all day Wednseday and Thursday, with no energy to do anything.

Thankfully I am feeling better today and hopefully will be back eating some solid foods soon! I went in for some lab work today, so hopefully my doctor can find a better treatment plan.

So my goal for this next week is to finish my Happy Flower Garden Quilt and finish quilting my Happy Block Swap Quilt!! I hope my intestines don’t get in the way again!!

Join me Monday at 1 pm for a Live Chat in the Facebook Quilt Along Group! I’d love to hear what you all have been working on!

What did you work on last week?? Let me know in the comments!

Join my Happy Cloud Creations Quilt Along Group and post your progress photos and see what everyone else is trying to finish up!

Happy Quilting!
Andrea

Posted on November 28, 2019December 6, 2019 by happycloudcreatons — 2 Comments

Finish Those UFQs WEEK 5

This post may contain Affiliate Links. When using the link, you pay the same amount for the items, I just receive a small commission.

It’s WEEK of the Finish Those UFQs Challenge! It feels so good to be making progress on my list and my pile is getting smaller!

How is it going for you? Are you making some progress?

DOWNLOAD the FREE Project Tracker here: Finish Those UFOs

This week I worked on two of my quilts! On Friday I basted my Happy Block Swap Quilt (FREE Pattern here). I had previously been using the June Taylor Brand I had found at Joann Fabrics. They recently changed their formula and the new spray was too sticky, smelly and it got all over the place.

Someone recommended using the Sulky Temporary Adhesive Spray. I’ve seen some really good reviews about this spray so I ordered some on Amazon.
You can find it 1 bottle or 2 bottles or more!

This Sulky spray had very little smell and just the right amount of stickiness. I was able to pull my top back up and reposition it in spots. And if I touched the sticky area, it didn’t leave my hands sticky.
Very little overspray, which I loved!
Since the bottle is kind of small I used the whole thing on this throw size (which I may have sprayed too much)
I will definitely buy it again, I’ll just buy 2 cans at a time because I like to baste more than one quilt at a time.

On Tuesday I read that can and realized that the spray bonding will disappear within 2 to 5 days. So I needed to start quilting this beauty!

I decided to go with a slightly wavy line from the top to the bottom of the quilt. I marked a wave on the right side of my quilt using my Hera Marker. Then I set my walking foot guide to 1 inch, so I could echo out 1 inch lines. I’m almost done quilting this! Yay!

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I also made and attached the binding to the back of my baby sized Happy Flower Garden Quilt.

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My goal for this week is to finish quilting my Happy Block Swap Quilt and attach the binding. And sew the binding on my Happy Flower garden quilt.

What did you work on last week?? Let me know in the comments!

Join my Happy Cloud Creations Quilt Along Group and post your progress photos and see what everyone else is trying to finish up!

Happy Quilting!
Andrea

Posted on November 21, 2019November 22, 2019 by happycloudcreatons — Leave a comment

Finish those UFQs WEEK 4

This post may contain Affiliate Links. When using the link, you pay the same amount for the items, I just receive a small commission.

It’s WEEK 4 of the Finish those UFQs challenge! Have you been making progress? Download the FREE Finish Those UFOs Project tracker!

It feels so good checking those little boxes off the list! Last week I finished my Cloudy Day Quilt Sampler!

Also, I finished all the pot holders I was working on! And they are now listed in my shop! Yay!

You can find the FREE PDF Pot Holder pattern here!

And I finished quilting my Happy Flower Garden Quilt! I’m waiting for the binding fabric to arrive in the mail, because I accidently used it for a different quilt. While I wait I think I will baste start working on the next quilt on my list!

What did you work on last week?? Let me know in the comments!

Join my Happy Cloud Creations Quilt Along Group and post your progress photos and see what everyone else is trying to finish up!

Happy Quilting!
Andrea

Posted on November 15, 2019November 21, 2019 by happycloudcreatons — Leave a comment

Finish Those UFQs WEEK 3

This post may contain Affiliate Links. When using the link, you pay the same amount for the items, I just receive a small commission.

It’s Week 3 of the Finish Those UFQs challenge! Are you getting things finished? Checking off some of those boxes?

You can download the FREE Project Tracker here: Finish Those UFOs PDF

This past week, I decided to go with scrappy binding for my Cloudy Day Quilt Sampler! And I’m so happy I did! I’m loving how it is looking so far. I made my binding on Monday, sewed it to the front of the quilt Tuesday and then started hand sewing the binding to the back of the quilt on Thursday. I’m hoping to have this finished soon!

Find the FREE Cloudy Day Quilt Sampler Pattern HERE!

I also sewed the binding onto my stack of pot holders, next I need I need to finish sewing the loops. Then I can hand stitch the binding to the backs.

This post may contain Affiliate Links. When using the link, you pay the same amount for the items, I just receive a small commission.

You can find my FREE Pot Holder Pattern HERE! These are a fun quick and easy project and make great gifts!

What did you work on last week?? Let me know in the comments!

Join my Happy Cloud Creations Quilt Along Group and post your progress photos and see what everyone else is trying to finish up!

Happy Quilting!
Andrea

Posted on November 8, 2019November 8, 2019 by happycloudcreatons — 1 Comment

Finish Those UFQs WEEK 2

finish those ufqs

This post may contain Affiliate Links. When using the link, you pay the same amount for the items, I just receive a small commission.

How is the 2019 Finish Those UFQs going for you?

Have you filled out the Project Tracker yet? DOWNLOAD HERE: Finish Those UFOs

I set the goal of working on my UFQs for 1 hour a week! I started out the week working on some pot holders, because starting new projects is so much fun! A customer had requested some pot holders in the colors Eggplant, Pumpkin and Cream. I found this gorgeous Autumn Vibes fabric designed by Maureen Cracknell for Art Gallery Fabric.

You can find my FREE Pot holder pattern here!

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It was Wednesday and realized I still had not worked on my UFQs yet! So first thing Thursday, well after I had some coffee. I pulled out my Cloudy Day Quilt Sampler! I made the top when I hosted the free quilt along in my Happy Cloud Creations Quilt Along Group in end of 2018. I had finished almost half of the quilting and set the quilt aside to work on other projects.

So I decided it was time to finish this quilt!! I quilted it for about 1 hour before the kids woke up. Now I have less than 1/3 of the quilt left to quilt! I’m so excited to finish this quilt!

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Seeing others in the group finishing quilts really has motivated me to work on mine too! I hope it will motivate you too!

Join me today at 1pm PST in my Facebook Group for a LIVE Chat to talk about what you are working on and what your goals are for next week!

Happy Quilting!
Andrea

Posted on November 1, 2019November 8, 2019 by happycloudcreatons — 6 Comments

Finish Those UFQs!!

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This post may contain Affiliate Links. When using the link, you pay the same amount for the items, I just receive a small commission.

Most quilters love cutting into new projects, so they end up with a big pile of UFQ’s! Most people refer to them as UFO (Unfinished Objects), but I’m trying to focus on my UFQ’s, Unfinished Quilts! I have a bigger pile than I would like. Some people have 2 unfinished quilts and some people have 50 unfinished quilts!

So, I’ve decided this November and December I’m going to try to make my pile smaller! I’ve created a PDF where you can list 15 of your Unfinished Quilts, check off which stages you have completed. If you have more than 15 UFQ’s, print off as many sheets as you need.

DOWNLOAD The FREE Project tracker:Finish Those UFOs

I’m hoping this will keep me more organized and help me visualize what I can finish before the end of this year. It would be awesome to start 2020 with no UFQ’s, but I don’t think that is physically possible. I have 6 unfinished quilts and 2 New ones I know I work on before the end of the year. So I’m hoping to finish at least 3 of the UFQ’s and work on my 2 new ones!

To accomplish my goal, I plan to spend at least 1 hour each week on my UFQ’s. This way I can still work on new projects, but I’m still chipping away at those unfinished beauties!

You can choose to work 10 minutes a day, 1 hour a week, 5 hours a week. It’s up to you!!

JOIN ME!! From November 1st to December 31st

Printed out the PDF
Write your time goal
Getting working on those UFQ’s!

Each Friday I will put a post in my Quilt Along Group where you can post a photo or let me know what you worked on the previous week and what you hope to work on the following week!

JOIN THE HAPPY CLOUD CREATIONS QUILT ALONG GROUP

I’m hoping we can motivate each other to get some of our UFQ’s finished so they can be snuggled and loved!

Use this Hashtag on Social Media #FinishThoseUFQs

Happy Quilting!!
Andrea

Finish Those UFQs 2019!
Nov. 1st – Week 1 – Intro
Nov. 8th – Week 2
Nov. 15th – Week 3
Nov. 22nd – Week 4
Nov. 29th – Week 5
Dec. 6th – Week 6
Dec. 13th – Week 7
Dec. 20th – Week 8
Dec. 27 – Week 9

Follow me on Social media to see what project I’m working on!
Facebook or Instagram

Here are my UFQ’s

#1 – Cloudy Day Quilt Sampler

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#2 – Happy Flower Garden Quilt (Baby size)

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#3 – Left the Nest Quilt (Baby size)

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#4 – Colorful Tiles Quilt (Throw size)

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#5 – Stepping Stone Quilt (Throw size)

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#6 – Happy Block Swap Quilt (Throw size)

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#7 – Lovely Star Garden Quilt (Throw size – want to start)

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#8 – New Quilt Pattern – For my soon to be born nephew! : )

Fabric has not arrived yet!

Posted on October 25, 2019October 25, 2019 by happycloudcreatons — 2 Comments

WEEK 6 – Happy Block Swap with National Quilters Circle

happy block swap 2 This post may contain Affiliate Links. When using the link, you pay the same amount for the items, I just receive a small commission.

Welcome to the last week of the Happy Block Swap Quilt Along! I can’t believe this quilt along is already finishing up. It has been so much fun quilting with you all! Thank you to the National Quilters Circle and Sulky Threads for making this quilt along happen!

You can download the finishing instructions here!

This week we will be putting our quilt tops together, the we will make this quilt top into a real quilt! Yay!!

JOIN ME today at 11:00am PDT in the NQC Block Challenge Facebook Group! I will be going over the finishing instructions and answering any questions you have!

Things you will need:
Backing Fabric (at least 6 inches wider and longer than your quilt top)
Quilt Batting (at least 6 inches wider and longer than your quilt top)
Basting Spray or Basting Pins
Binding Fabric
These are helpful but not necessary:
Hera Marker to mark out your quilting lines
Walking Foot (Helps pull your quilt from both the top and the bottom)

Finishing our Quilts!

Quilt Sandwich:
First you will need to make your Quilt Sandwich. You will need to cut and sew your backing fabric to make it fit under your quilt correctly. Make sure it is at least 3 inches wider than your quilt top on all sides (quilt top size + 6 inches). Trim your selvage edge off after joining your pieces.

Make your quilt sandwich by first laying down your quilt backing, wrong side facing up. Tape down to a hard surface, making fabric taut. Next lay your batting on top. Smooth out with your hands, do not stretch. Then lay your quilt top right side up, smooth out with your hands.

Basting Your Quilt:

Spray baste: My favorite way to baste my quilt is by using Spray Baste! It makes basting so much easier. If you have allergies, this is probably not a good option for you.
Find a place where you can lay out your quilt. Make sure to tape the backing fabric taut to the floor (or large table).
Here’s great spray baste tutorial by Cluck Cluck Sew: Spray Baste Tutorial

Pin basting: You can use safety pin about 3 to 4 inches apart (about the width of your hand). I like to use the large curved basting pins. This takes a little longer than the spray basting, but is a great option.

Quilting your Quilt:
This step is totally up to you!

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For my original quilt I went with 1 inch apart multi-zig zag stich from the top to the bottom of the quilt. This is quick and easy way to quilt and it gives your quilt great texture!

Hand Tie your Quilt: Some prefer to tie there quilt.
Here’s a tutorial on how to do this on BluePrint.

Hand Quilt: Here’s a wonderful video tutorial by Suzy Quilts all about How to Hand Quilt.

Machine Quilt using your Walking Foot:
Emily Dennis from Quilty Love has a great tutorial on how to Zig zag quilt your quilt with a Walking foot. Click here I love this method of quilting, it give your quilt great texture.

Free Motion Quilting:
Free motion quilting can give you great texture and if you aren’t great at quilting straight lines, this would be great for you. Suzy Williams from Suzy Quilts has a great Free Motion Quilting Tutorial. Click here.

Binding Your Quilt:

Binding is the fabric strip that goes on the edge of your quilt. It covers all of the unfinished edges and rounds out your quilt.

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You will want to make sure to square up your quilt before you attach the binding. Cut off the extra batting around the edges and make sure your sides are straight and corners are squared.

Most quilters will cut 2 /12 inch by width of fabric strips and then sew them together at the ends at a diagonal. Then press the strip in half, so that you are wrapping 2 layers of fabric around all of your edges.

You can machine sew the binding to the front of your quilt and wrap it around to the back and hand stitch it down. Or some prefer sewing the binding to the back of the quilt, wrapping it around to the front and machine stitching it down.

One of my favorite binding tutorials is by Suzy Williams of Suzy Quilts. Go check it out!

I’m so excited to see everyone finished quilts! Make sure to post them in the NQC Block Challenge Facebook group or on Instagram with the hashtag #NQCBlockSwap

QUILT ALONG SCHEDULE!

Meet Andrea Smith of Happy Cloud Creations
Happy Block Swap Fabric Requirments
SEPT 20th – WEEK 1 – Quilter 1 (Block A) and Quilter 2 (Block B) and Flying Geese Supplemental
SEPT 27th – WEEK 2 – Quilter 1 (Block C) and Quilter 2 (Block D) and Flying Geese Supplemental
OCT 4th – WEEK 3 – Quilter 1 (Block E) and Quilter 2 (Block F) and Flying Geese Supplemental
OCT 11th – WEEK 4 – Quilter 1 (Block G) and Quilter 2 (Block H) and Flying Geese Supplemental
OCT 18th – WEEK 5 – Bonus Block Instructions
OCT 25th – WEEK 6 – Quilt Assembly Instructions

JOIN THE QUILT ALONG GROUP!

Make sure to join the NQC Block Challenge Quilt along group! In the group you will get weekly reminders of the NEW blocks. You will be able to see everyone fabric combos. And you will can view the LIVE weekly check in videos! All the information you need for the quilt along will be listed in the Announcement section of this group!

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE GROUP!