Rolling in at the Last Minute!

With 12 years (!) to prepare for my niece's high school graduation quilt, of course I decided to wait until the very last minute to finish it! 

I will say I did start the quilt when she was a freshman.  My niece has taken lessons and competed in dance since she was 3 years old.  My original plan for her quilt was to make a quilt made entirely in pieced dance terms.

This block had been waiting for three years for more to join it but only about one a year was made.

I always felt I had lots of time to work on this quilt!

Then about a year ago I bought/won these fabrics and decided to make her a quilt from them using my all time favorite block - Rolling Stone.

I immediately made up a few and fell in love!  

So I would occasionally get them out and make a few more blocks.  Mostly so I could play around with them!

And then I received her graduation announcement in the mail...Yikes!  I still had a lot of blocks to go.

 My sister soon let me know that rather than a graduation party, they were planning a college send off party at the end of summer.  Whew!  That gave me a few more months to sew this up!

Well, I admit I procrastinated a bit more but the quilt top was finished and was loaded up on my longarm last week.  Which was when I noticed this....either two different colored solids in the background or dye lots of Kona Ash were quite different.

Thankfully I didn't dwell on it long.  As a scrappy quilter, I can just say it has a scrappy background!

Here is the quilt all finished up!  It is a large twin size should she want to use it at college.  I wanted to add some length to the quilt so I pieced in a thin horizontal sashing between the rows and added some colorful squares to just the top and bottom.  I also made a scrappy binding to tie everything together.

I wanted this quilt to be extremely durable so I quilted some stacked swirls all over it in a light gray thread.

On the back, I wanted to remind her to always make time to Dance, Love and Dream...

...and most importantly, Call Your Aunt!

To remind her of what this archaic form of communication is, I drew old school phones in the hands of Thing 1 and Thing 2.  Even included the cord!

My niece will be off to USC this fall.  I am so excited for her and know she will do great things in the future.  I am delivering this quilt in person and look forward to seeing her to give her a big hug.

Beautiful and Brilliant!

(And let's not forget getting to see my nephew who will be a freshman in high school next year.  Maybe I should get started on his quilt soon! )

I am also rolling in at the last minute to link this finish with Sew BitterSweet Designs.  I achieved my July goal!

Linking Up:

My Quilt Infatuation

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

TGIFF

Fabric Frenzy Friday

Richard and Tanya Quilts

Crazy Mom Quilts
WIPS be Gone

More Boxy Pouches

My sewing group recently got together and we made some cute boxy pouches using this tutorial by kelbysews.  For those curious, we made all of our pouches with fusible fleece, nylon zippers and home decorator fabrics.

I made mine from some Kaffe Fassett home dec fabric I have been holding on to for quite some time.

Some cute polka dots for the lining thanks to some fabric sent to me by Little Penguin Quilts.

Someone in the group was very inventive and lined theirs with some clear plastic.

And she used the cut off bit from her extra long zipper as the side tabs.  So brilliant!

Our group was able to sew up 12 pouches which will be sold at a fundraiser for a local charity who aids kids in crisis.  For many, this was the first time sewing in a zipper!

I hope to make a few more to have handy for around the holidays.  These will make great gifts!

Linking Up:

Blossom Heart Quilts

QuiltStory

Sew Fresh Quilts
Freshly Pieced  

My Quilt Infatuation

Oh Scrap! : Seeing Spots

I have been seeing lots of spots lately!  The good scrappy kind!

Last month for Scrap-A-Palooza, I finished up my offset log cabin and I have been seeing where some of you have joined in the fun!

Check out the vibrant blocks that Susan over at Crazy Birds Studio is making!  I wish my pink scraps had been that vivid.

Sandra over at Musings of a Menopausal Melon has also been busy sewing up these blocks.  Sandra hasn't sewn her blocks all the way together so we might be surprised with a different layout in the final quilt.

And Lois emailed me this photo of the one she is working on.  Love all that scrappy negative space!

A Big Thanks to Lois, Sandra and  Susan for sharing!

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Now it is time to link up and share what scrappy projects you have worked on this week.  Here are the details for linking up:

• This linky party is for any scrappy project - It can be in-process or a finished piece.
• You can link up your blog post (not your homepage please) or Instagram photo from the past week that features your use of scraps.
• If you are linking to a blog post, I ask that you link back to my blog somewhere in your post. So if you are writing about scraps, just get into the habit of including a link as there will be a linky party available every week!
• If you are using Instagram, please use the hashtag #ohscrap.
• This is a party so remember to socialize and comment on the posts of others.
• Following my blog is not necessary but it sure would be great if you do!

<a href="http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54Z8EyMCoCg0j1sBoz_APBotiRQveh32vQoL2dCSO4nQFAi8du60IuUCQp3Hb18vGD8IrM0W6_vmuufImGcr4Pf2Ve2dNIWd5LbQJfyDTRjtcekT6coT7c2nSCOG_9dvjiKGVAnuTN70/s1600/Oh+Scrap+Button.jpg" alt="Quilting is more fun than Housework" width="125" height="125" /></a>

So if you love scrappy projects, feel free to grab my button for your sidebar or posts and get ready to share all your wonderful projects from scraps.  And if you have a great idea for using scraps and would like to be featured, feel free to contact me!

An InLinkz Link-up

I Can Finish That!

Every quilter seems to reach the point where their storage space for fabric just doesn't work for them and it is time to make an adjustment.  Recently, a friend of mine reached this point and as she organized her fabric in her new space, she reevaluated all of her fabric and her half done projects.

One project she had been storing for quite some time was a string quilt she started years ago.  She offered me the 13 blocks she had sewn and all the fabric - of course my response was 

"Heck Yeah -  I can finish that!"

I love to sew string quilts.  I think it is the fact that you don't need to be that accurate and you can sew at top speed!  So I find them to be a great stress relief after a busy day.  When I sew up string blocks, I either chain sew a bunch of them at once or I use them as a leader/ender so before I know it, the blocks seem to finish themselves.

String quilts are one of my Scrap-A-Palooza quilts.  You can see how I construct my blocks here.  I love to use a foundation fabric so I don't have to deal with the mess of paper. 

There was even enough fabric from my friend for a backing.  Some simple stippling for the quilting and this was one quick finish!

Linking Up: 

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

TGIFF

Fabric Frenzy Friday

Richard and Tanya Quilts

Crazy Mom Quilts

WIPS be Gone

Sew can she

A Quilting Chick

BTW - For those of you that asked me to let you know when Craftsy was having another big sale on Supplies and Kits, they are having their Summer Closeout right now.
Great prices on Kona solids!!

Continuing Progress - Park Bench Quilt

I am still keeping up with my goal of completing two blocks a month on my Park Bench quilt.  I really like the blocks I finished this month.

The completion of these two blocks means I have just passed the halfway point.  Yep, I have 8 out of 15 blocks completed.  I have more pretty blue fabric pulled for the next two blocks.  August looks to be super busy, so I am hoping to start the cutting soon!

I also want to give you all a heads up on an event I participate in each year.  Quilts in the Queue is hosting 100 Quilts for Kids again this year (sorry, only an old button is available right now).  The event this year will run August 1st - September 30th. 100 Quilts for Kids is an annual charity quilt drive to encourage quilters to make a quilt, donate it to a child in need (it can be in your local area), and be entered for fabulous prizes for your efforts.

If you are not familiar with the event, you can read more about it here.  And if you need some ideas for quick quilts using up some of your scraps, take a peak at the Scrap-A-APalooza Quilt Gallery for some inspiration.

I am off to start some new kids' quilts!

I would love it if you joined me!!

Linking Up:

Love Laugh Quilt
Patchwork Times
Cooking Up Quilts

Freemotion by the River
I have to say

Blossom Heart Quilts

QuiltStory

Sew Fresh Quilts
Freshly Pieced  

BOMs Away