Just under the Wire!

As I dig through my old unfinished projects, with each discovery comes the decision do I finish the quilt or simply abandon the project and put the fabrics into my stash.  Many of these projects are older fabrics and not to my current tastes so finishing them is not that enjoyable.  But some are a past challenge that I gave up on for technical reasons and I hate to feel like it got the best of me.

This fabric and partial blocks have been hiding away for years taunting me.

Well, I finally decided to not give up and fight this one to the end!


I could no longer remember exactly what I had planned but this is the final layout I came up with.  A lot of the squares and the sashing pieces were already cut so I had to use them as they were.





Lining up all those tiny 1/2" sashing was a real bear but I carefully measured and pinned each piece, which paid off when all the intersections lined up!

    

 For the backing, I simply surrounded a lovely floral with leftover fabrics from the top.  The fabric collection is by Moda and is called Ivana, probably circa 2008.

 

Some echoed leaves for the quilting just to give it a nice all over texture.

 

 

So needless to say, I am super happy to share this finish.  It was one of the items I included on my Second Quarter Finish-A-Long list with Katy at The Littlest Thistle so with this being the last day of June, I am finishing it just under the wire! 

(Thanks Katy at The Littlest Thistle for keeping me focused on these older projects!)

Linking up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, Stitch by Stitch for Anything Goes Monday,  Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday, and Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts.

Scrap-A-Palooza! Quilt #6 Finish (Part Three)

I can't wait to show you the adorable quilts made with this month's design.  This pattern is so quick and easy, I had my top sewn up in a day! 
But before I reveal the finishes, let's review the steps to this quilt so far.

Just a reminder, if you are ready to sew up some of your scraps, all of the quilts from the series can be viewed in the Scrap-A-Palooza quilt gallery tab above.  Not only can you see the quilt I made but I love to share what others have done.  There is all sorts of inspiration!

In Part One, we pulled our scraps and determined the best size to cut our rectangles.

Part Two had us choosing a layout and sewing the rectangles into rows.  We then sewed the rows together to quickly complete a top.


You can add sashing or simply sew the rows directly together.  This step is where you can really make the quilt uniquely your own.

Here is my quilt all finished up.  Too Cute!

For the quilting, I used the piecing layout to quilt in large scale wavy lines.

 

As I was cutting the rectangles for the top, I saved some of the larger pieces to use for the backing. 

As I begin a quilt, I like to start considering what I am going to use for the backing. A little pre-planning can really keep the costs down on your quilts!

 

We all have these leftover bag of scraps.  This is the perfect quilt to use them up!

A couple of other quilters joined in this month and take a look at what they did!



 

This is the quilt Diann is working on over at Little Penguin Quilts.  She is using some leftovers from a Kate Spain Honey Honey designer roll.  Love the little black sashing she floated between the bricks.





And Sandra over at Musings of a Menopausal Melon has already finished her quilt top from some leftover Simplicity fabrics.  She added some horizontal sashing and a lovely border.  She named it Floral Dreams - very inviting!



With July almost here, I need to get cracking on next month's quilt.  I think we are going to play with color this time.  Probably working with strings and gradating color.  Hope you join in the fun!


Why Scrap-A-Palooza?  Because Quilting is more fun than Housework!

This quilt is one of the NewFOs I had on my 2014 Bloom Project list at Joanie's Trendy Quilts so we can check the June Scrap quilt off the list!.

I will also be linking up with TGIFF, Richard and Tanya Quilts, Fabric Frenzy Friday, Crazy Mom Quilts,  Sew Can She, and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

A Kaffe Fabric Wallhanging - ALYOF

When I set my A Lovely Year of Finishes June goal, I really didn't have a lot of hope of achieving it.  But a tiny hole opened up in my quilting schedule so I loaded it up and quilted away into the wee hours of the morning. While I hate to loose the sleep, it sure feels good to get another old project off my dwindling to-do list.

This was a round robin project I was involved in about 3 years ago. This top was made by myself, Sheila Sinclair Snyder (Licence to Quilt), Lisa Bee-Wilson (Towerhouse Quilts) and my good friend Penny. It has been in the closet waiting to be quilted all this time.  It turned out a bit larger than I expected and won't fit on the wall I had planned.  I considered removing part of the piecing but I just couldn't part with any of it.  I will just have to find a new place to display it.

Because I had a short time to quilt this, I kept the quilting pretty easy so no marking was needed.  Some tight swirly fill, matchstick quilting and pebbling densely quilted some areas.  Other areas I left unquilted or put in some simple geometric shapes.

I even used squiggly lines in the striped fabrics so I didn't have to get out my rulers.

 On the back is a big, beautiful Kaffe Fassett print.  Yum!

I quilted the entire top using a rust and an olive green thread.  And I love the rust solid fabric I used for the binding.  Really tied everything together.

So far this year, I have achieved 5 of my 6 ALYOF goals so I am quite pleased with myself. Thanks Sew Bittersweet Designs for helping me focus on getting old projects into a finished state!

And thanks to everyone who entered my recent giveaway.  Sorry I didn't get a chance to respond to all of your comments but know I appreciated each and every one!

This lovely bundle of Mirabelle fabric is going to:

# 45 Lauren Deel.  She has already been contacted and is pretty excited about winning!

I am off to link up with Needle and Thread Thursday, Inspire Us Thursday and I Quilt Thursdays.  Hope you get a chance to follow the links and see what others are up to.

More Scrap Finishes

I thought today I would take the opportunity to share a few more Scrap-A-Palooza finishes.  All of these beautiful quilts have been made using one of the previous month's patterns. Many of you have expressed you really enjoy seeing the different quilts made from the same patterns and I didn't want you to miss out on these!

Sandra over at Musings of a Menopausal Melon made this lovely woven picnic quilt using the pattern we played with in April. You can read more about it and check out her beautiful photos here. 











Alycia at Alycia Quilts quilted up this wonderful quilt she made using the pattern we played with in March.

Check out the fun quilting she put on it and the promotion she is running on quilting until the end of June.

And Sandra also collected up some of her christmas scraps and made this festive quilt for her adorable grandson.  She used the pattern from February for her inspiration.

To see all the quilts from the Scrap-A-Palooza series, you can check them out on the gallery page.  I am continually amazed at the beautiful quilts that my readers make from thier scraps and I hope you find inspiration in them to sew up your own.

I know many of you have already seen the fabric giveaway I am sponsoring to show my appreciation to my readers, but I also want to share my gratitude to those that have made their own Scrap-A-Palooza quilts.  So Raye, Diann, Julie, Joanie, Jenny, Barb, Sandra, Alycia and Candy I put your names in my cute little Fiesta pitcher and...

while it is hard to read because I wrote in pencil, Alycia is going to get a little gift in the mail!

As soon as I saw Alycia's name, I knew exactly what I was going to send to her.  I pulled some red and blue fabrics from my coveted Robert Kaufman Quilter's Linen collection and a  fun stripe from Red Rooster's Quilts of Valor collection. 

As sewing on a binding is not her favorite part of a quilt, she might even be able to use one of these for the binding on the quilt featured above. 

Why Scrap-A-Palooza?  Because Quilting is more fun than Housework!

 

 Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation and Sew Fresh Quilts

Sunday Stash + Giveaway

This post should actually be titled Thankful Sunday...as I truly am thankful for so many things.

 I am thankful for bloggers like Maureen Cracknell who put together this beautiful bundle and for the Fat Quarter Shop who sponsor such generous giveaways.  

And I am very thankful for my luck because I did in fact win this beautiful bundle.

I have always been intrigued by the colors Maureen uses in a lot of her beautiful quilts as they are colors and prints I don't think I would put together.  So being able to play with her fabric bundle and see how the fabrics played together in real life has been eye opening.

Upon getting the package, I did have to open it up and stack the prints various ways.

I was really intrigued by the solids. A black, a citron green and a mint green.

And to top it off, these very graphic prints are in the mix too!

I truly cannot wait to play with all of these.  Being challenged by working outside my usual box is so exciting to me.  I know I will learn a lot working with Maureen fabrics.  I am already forming an idea for a quilt in my mind.  Hope to have some time soon to start playing.

But the best surprise last week was this little message that was in my in-box!

I'm truly thankful for all of you who continue to follow along with what I am up to.

Wow!
Quilting is more fun than Housework... just reached 1000 followers!

So I think it is time again to show my appreciation and share a little fabric love.  I have 8 more fat quarters from the Fig Tree &Co. Mirabelle collection that I want to share with one of my readers.

 

To enter, just leave me a comment letting me know how you follow.   One entry per follower with no extra hoops.  Easy Peasy! Just please make sure you’re not a no-reply blogger (or leave an email address in your comment if you’re not sure).

The giveaway is open until Wednesday June 25th, 11pm PST. 

International readers are always welcome too!  

 

Good luck everyone!  

And thanks so much for all the support!! 

***Sorry, this giveaway is now closed!  Best of luck to all that entered!*** 

Saying Goodbye to the 1930's

Last November, I decided to purged my stash of all the 1930's reproduction fabrics and get them sewn into some quilts.  Most of the fabrics I had for years, others I had inherited along the way.  Some of the pieces were fat quarter size but many were smaller so I figured a couple of quick scrappy quilts and they would all be gone.  I could then move on to something new!

First there was this large log cabin lap quilt.  I figured making a very scrappy quilt would hopefully make a big dent in the fabrics.  Boy, was I wrong!

So I sorted up the remaining fabrics into some coordinating fabric piles.  The blue and red pieces were made into this large churn dash lap quilt.

 Still having some blues left and needing a class sample for a class I was teaching, I made this baby quilt using my Tangerine Dreams pattern.

The green, oranges and pinks went into one of my Scrap-A-Palooza quilts.
This one is a nice size lap quilt.

...and because I still had quite a few pieces in this colorway, I made a second variation for a baby quilt.

 That left the purples.  I was teaching my pattern again so I made another baby quilt for a class sample.

I still found myself with quite a few scraps in blue so this week I sewed up some string blocks and quilted up this final lap quilt.  While I still have the odd scrap piece, finally the stash of 1930 reproductions fabrics are all sewn up!  Woo Hoo!

I wish I had taken a photograph of the fabrics I started with.  It is hard to believe that little pile of fabrics made all of these quilts.  It just goes to show how far scraps will go!

Sharing this post with TGIFF, Richard and Tanya Quilts, Forth Worth Fabric Studio,Crazy Mom Quilts,  Sew Can She, and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Paper Piecing Progress

  After many hours of sewing (and ripping), I finally finished up this month's block for the Sew Kitschy series of paper piecing with Kristy over at Quiet Play.  With each month, the pieces are getting smaller and the assembly is getting tougher.  I am so glad there is only one block a month!

I have been taping them up on my sewing room wall as I complete them.  Only three more left.
Woo Hoo!

 

...and I finished up a second block using the Basketweave Star pattern by The ADD Crafter.  I have now started a third star in purples.  Not sure what the final layout will be but I am toying with the idea of setting them on point or using them as a border for a center medallion.  I am just letting this one evolve as I go!

 

Linking up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, Stitch by Stitch for Anything Goes Monday,  Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday, Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation,  Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts, and WIP Wednesday with Freshly Pieced!! 

Whew!  That's alot of places but well worth checking out!

 

And of course I am linking up with Kristy at Quiet Play.  If you think my mixer is cute, you should see some of the others!