Stash Additions

I have been very naughty lately!

It is not very often that I NEED a whole collection of fabric but recently there have been a couple that no amount of constraint could prevent me from owning!

Blueberry Park by Karen Lewis!  I can't even describe how much I love the colors in this collection.  I have had these two fat quarter bundles in my wholesale cart for months but just couldn't justify buying them.  Then, Craftsy had them for less than what it would cost me to get them through wholesale so I jumped at the chance.  You will be seeing these fabrics pop up in a few projects I am sure.  But right now I am just enjoying their loveliness!

Carolyn Friedlander is another designer I love.  I did resist getting the entire Carkai collection, but I had to have the Carkai coordinate bundle.  Some of my favorite prints in some yummy colors.

Now hopefully, I can resist any other purchases.  My fabric no longer fits in its home and has spilled out into another room.  Time for me to focus on getting some of it sewn up so I can close the closet door again!

But before I go, I want to be sure you have entered the Craftsy Class Giveaway for February.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Linking Up:

Molli Sparkles (Sunday Stash)

***This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase,at no additional cost to you,  I may make a small commission, which I appreciate so much!***

Park Bench Quilt Top Finish

I don't often celebrate the finish of just a quilt top but this one has been in the works for over a year!

When the Park Bench pattern came out, I knew it was going on my quilty bucket list.  I loved everything about the quilt that Julie Herman made for the cover of her pattern and decided I wanted mine exactly like it!  I think it is perfection as is!!   I was lucky enough to pick up the quilt kit at a ridiculous price through Craftsy at the end of 2014.

 I started the quilt in January of 2015.  At the beginning of each month, I would choose my fabrics to make two blocks.  I was in no hurry so I was really able to savor the process.

 Every month I was rewarded with two lovely block!

Soon two blocks became six...

By the Summer, my design wall was filled with these gorgeous blocks.

The blocks did sit for a month or two....

 But I did finally get them all sewn up into this wonderful quilt top!

I hope to start quilting this sometime in February.  First I want to take a refresher on Angela Walters Dot to Dot class out on Craftsy.  I love that I can go back anytime and review a course just before tackling a big custom quilt job like this one is going to be!  Stay Tuned!!

Linking Up:

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!)

TGIFF (Thank Goodness it is Friday Finish)

Fabric Frenzy Friday

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish it up Friday)
A Quilted Passion 

***This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, at no additional cost to you, I may make a small commission, which I appreciate so much!***

Architextures Quilt - ALYOF

For my August goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes, I wanted to take these orphan blocks given to me by a friend and turn them into a quilt for the 100 Quilts for Kids event.

Well, once again I found myself filled with some time and sewing mojo on a Friday night. Not having anything else on my design walls,  I grabbed these and thought I would play around with them.

I quickly laid them out in an alternating pattern.  Just by adding some sashing, this would make a cute baby quilt.


But I really wanted to make something a bit more challenging.
















Playing with the blocks a bit more on my design wall, I really liked the look of the lime green and dark gray creating a bar across the quilt.

I thought this might be a fun starting point.

From the moment I saw these blocks, I knew I wanted to see some Kona navy with them.  So I started by simply adding a strip between all the lime blocks. So far so good!

I then pulled out some Kona charcoal and added borders around the other blocks.  I wanted them to be staggered so I simply made one side of the border a bit bigger.

Because I only had a few blocks to work with, I needed something to stretch these blocks a little bit further.  I knew I had been hoarding some of the white and lime green shrub fabric from this line so I decided to add a bit from my stash.  I simply incorporated some strips of the white vertically between the gray blocks...

Then used the lime shrub fabric to bring back the navy on the top and bottom of the quilt.


I adore how this turned out!  The top is a nice size now (45" x 55") so it can be loved by an older kid.  Plus it will be great for some young boy as I am told by charities that boy quilts are always hard to come by.

Sunday I was able to get this on my longarm and quilt it up.  Then Monday evening was spent sewing on the binding.  I went with more of the navy for the binding to tie the whole quilt together.

For the quilting, I opted to just quilt horizontal way lines. Quick and Easy!

And while it was really hard to do, I gave up more of the white Architextures print for the backing.  I really didn't have anything else that looked good and it was just about the perfect size.  I did need to add a gray inset to make it wide enough but that gave me the opportunity to use the last of the lime orphan blocks.

I can't believe it is so early in the month and I am already finished with my August A Lovely Year of Finishes quilt. Could be I was jazzed having won a prize last month?

A big thanks to Sew Bittersweet Designs for helping me keep focused in my efforts to finish up the half finished and to Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs for donating some of her great patterns!

Can't wait to try out her Peanut Butter Pinwheel pattern.

This quilt will be donated to a local organization called Bags of Love as part of the 100 Quilts for Kids event hosted by Heather at Quilts in the Queue.  It will be added to the Triangle quilt I recently finished.  Now I get to figure out what to do next!!

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Linking up:

Stitch by Stitch 

Patchwork Times 

Freemotion by the River

Sew Fresh Quilts