Aurifil 2017 March Designer of the Month – Melissa Corry

I’m Designer, Author, Talk Show host Pat Sloan.

This year we are celebrating the rainbow of colors in our color wheel. Each designer is assigned a color to create their block in.

You might have thought we’d select colors by month, the but color wheel isn’t that co-operative! And we HAD to give Melissa Corry Purple… you’ll see why when you meet her!

When I first had a chance to see Melissa in person she was as bubbly and warm and MEGA talented as her writing at her website. And this girls can SEW .. like the WIND! She creates amazing things and if you are new to Melissa’s work.. get yourself signed up for her article notices ASAP…. whew.. now we can go on!

You can listen to Melissa and I talk about her being part of the Splendid Sampler and other projects she was working  on at my Talk Show  

And the Challenge part continues as each month we select one random winner to receive a 12 spool BOX of Aurifil thread for just making the challenge block and sharing it at my website! (details at the end plus last month’s winner!)

Let’s get to know Melissa!

• Where do you live and what is your favorite spot there?

I live in Cedar City, Utah. It is a small town in Southern Utah about an hour North of Zion National Park and an hour and a half South from Bryce Canyon Nation Park.

I love Cedar City and there is always something going on here, we are Festival City USA after all. My favorite place is actually just a little way outside town. My husband’s family has property up Cedar Mountain and it is our family’s favorite place to hang out.

Winter, Summer, Spring, and Fall, there is always family fun up the Mountain!!

(do you see they are spelling their last name, what a fun family!)

• When was your FIRST quilt sighting?

My first “quilt sighting” would have to be the Double Irish Chain Quilt my mother made for my wedding quilt. She learned a whole lot about how to make quilts while she lovingly pieced that Irish Chain quilt. I remember coming home and just sitting by her side while she worked away at her machine. Those are such treasured memories chatting with my mom all about the joy, excitement, maybe a little bit of nerves, and happiness of marriage.

It’s no surprise that that Double Irish Chain became the inspiration for my book, Irish Chain Quilts. A few years later when we were getting to travel cross the country for school and I realized I needed a hobby to keep me busy in the evenings I immediately thought of quilting. My mom taught me the basics and it started this amazing journey. This picture was taken to go in the front of my Irish Chain Books and it is of the ones I cherish most on that very cherished Double Irish Chain my mother made.

• Did you have a career prior this, what was it?

Yes, I actually have a bachelors degree in accounting and worked in an office for 4 years when we were first married and my sweetheart was finishing school. I still do a little accounting on the side for a family corporation and always find attributes of accounting in my quilting. Whether it is the quilt math on a multiple size pattern, or the balance of a design, it all comes back.

• Have you had a ‘light bulb’ moment in making 

My Light Bulb moment came the day I tried making the binding before I did any piecing. I am not a huge fan of binding, so one day I just thought, get part of it done first and then it won’t be so bad at the end. I have never gone back. I love that as soon as I am done with the quilting, the binding is pressed and ready to go on, which means it normally goes on that afternoon.

I also love to see all of my bindings stacked on top of my scrap drawers because it helps me keep track of all the quilts I have in the works. The smaller the stack of bindings, the fewer Works in Progress I have. It’s just my own little motivation to keep finishing things up.

• What does your studio look like, and what would you change in it?

The best way to describe my studio is “everything in it’s place”. Remember when I mentioned before about being an accountant, well when it comes to organization, I fit the stereo type. I have a hard time creating in a mess, so ya, the way it looks in the picture is just about how it always looks. I am normally working on 4-5 projects at a time so I need to keep things super organized to not lose anything. I keep those projects sorted to the right of my machine, and my cutting table to the left of my machine. This gives me maximum efficiency when chain stitching.

Then my ironing board is just a few feet away, because it’s always good to stand and stretch for a bit. I also love that I have built in shelving across the upper part of the wall. There is just nothing more inspiring than walking into my sewing room each day and seeing stacks and stacks of beautiful fabrics!!! I just love my little space to sew and feel so incredibly blessed to have it. (It was kitchen table sewing before we moved to our current home 😉 But with all that said, if I could change one thing it would be to have windows. I am in the basement so that doesn’t work, but I do miss the sunlight 😉

• Do you have a GREAT tip on either storage, organization, sewing, stitching

One of the tips that help me stay organized is to put everything in it’s designated place each time I leave my sewing room. And the biggest part of that is dealing with the scraps when I am finished cutting out a quilt. So before I start piecing, any fabric scraps large enough to be cut into a pre-cut size (ie. . . charm pack or jelly roll strip) are cut right then and tied into a new pre-cut set.

Then all other scraps are sorted by color into my scrap drawers’ immediately. This just allows me to have a clean workspace every time I sit down at my machine which ends up saving lots of time and makes for some happy sewing.

• What are your 3 favorite colors of Aurifil thread?

Goodness that is a hard question. I keep all of my Aurifil threads in a sewing basket that my mother passed down to me and I just love opening the lid and seeing a rainbow of colors!!!

But if I had to choose . . . well how about I narrow it down to 2 sets of favorites . . . the first set of favorites are favorites because I use them the most, they are my work horses and my go-to threads. Those would be White 2024, Black 2692, and Red 2250.

But my favorite’s colors of Aurifil thread, even though I don’t get to use them that often, are the purples!!!! I love, love, love purple (which is why my sewing room is painted purple) and I think my favorite 3 shades of purple threads would be Lavender 2540, Medium Purple 2545, and 4030 Plum.

• Anything else you’d like to share?

I have been doing a lot of secret sewing behind the scenes in the last little bit. I have 8 projects that will soon be released in 3 different Compilation Books, some magazine publishing’s that will be releasing soon, and I am working on a few new patterns that I hope to release later this year. I just love this amazing industry and am so grateful each day that I get to be a small part of it!!! I love this picture because it shows just how amazing this industry is!!!

At Spring market I carried my first advanced copy of Irish Chain Quilts around with me. The pages are now full of sweet wishes from all of the wonderful friends I have made over the years in this incredible industry. This is indeed a cherished first copy and it’s the amazing people that have helped me along the way whose words of kindness are now forever in its pages that make it and each of those friends so special!!!

• What is it about your color that inspired you, made you explore.

Like I said before, I love purple. There is something so happy and yet calming at the same time about purple. Every time I walk in my sewing room I just smile at the happy walls. And now that they are filling up with lots of purple mini’s they make me smile all the more. And the thing that is so neat about all those mini’s is that even though they are made with a vast array of shades of purple, they all are so happy together. So when I designed my block, I tried to show just that. I love the mixture of so many happy purples and how fun they are when they all play together. Also, my favorite things to piece are Stars, and of course, I love a good Chain, so I tried to incorporate those two elements in all of that scrappy goodness.

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DOWNLOAD Scraptastic Stars by Melissa Corry

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And a few on the light side… answer ones that apply

• What’s the most interesting thing you see out of your office or kitchen window? Out my Kitchen Window I see my kiddo’s playing out back because the snow has finally melted. I just love when Spring arrives!!
• Are you a Dog or Cat person?  Neither, I am afraid of both. My poor kids 😉
• What is your favorite book you have ever read?. Wow, as they say in one of my favorite movies “I could no sooner choose a favorite star in the heavens” (10 bonus points if you can name that movie) . I don’t really make time to “read” books anymore, but I love to listen to books while I sew and quilt. It makes it possible to keep up with my love of reading while still being super productive in quilting 😉 I love to read Young Adult fiction normally in the fantasy realm and especially if it is a series. I am currently in the middle of about 5 series each waiting for the next book to arrive 😉 You can always friend me on Goodreads (under Melissa Corry) to see what I am listening to now.

Visit Melissa at

• Blog – www.happyquiltingmelissa.com
• Craftsy Pattern Shop – https://www.craftsy.com/profile/happy-quilting
• Etsy Pattern Shop – https://www.etsy.com/shop/melissacorry?ref=si_shop
• Book Shop – http://happyquiltingmelissa.bigcartel.com/
• Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/happyquiltingmc/
• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/happyquiltingmc/
• Twitter – https://twitter.com/happyquiltingmc
• Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/happyquiltingmc/
• Flickr – https://www.flickr.com/photos/51787081@N05/

For 2017 I am making all my blocks with French General fabric. I have all 3 blocks together at my website  … they look great!! Melissa is also sewing blocks (see her Feb block)

ENTER YOUR BLOCK so you can be in the running to win a box of thread, last month’s winner is below

And  JOIN my fantastic online quilt group with the most incredible  quilt show each day… I’d love to meet you!

******* JOIN our Aurifil Family  *******

EACH MONTH we will pick one random winner that has made a block.. that person will receive a special Aurifil thread prize! Winners are all contacted email

Our RANDOM picker this month selected is Christine!  She has WON a BOX of Aurifil thread! Such gorgeous blocks entered .. see all the great versions at the FEB post HERE

REMEMBER – The Photo entry is moved to my website where more people can enter, right HERE

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