Baby Elephant Dance Quilt

I just went through my stash to pick out green and blue fabrics appropriate for a boy’s quilt to make this month’s Stash Bee block.

Those fabrics became this stacked coins block.

The colors seem to be wildly popular these days, as I’ve made quite a few bee blocks in this same color scheme.

I ended up loving it so much, those fabrics became this quilt top.

And that’s where the name came from.  My mom was a flute teacher and so the song kept getting in my head every time I worked on the quilt.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Mod Mosaic Quilt Block

I just made this block from Elizabeth Hartman’s tutorial found here.  It was fun to make and I enjoyed picking scraps for this block.  Sometimes I have a hard time sticking to just using scraps for a bee block project, and usually end up cutting into my fat quarters and bigger pieces, but this time I stuck to only scraps and I’m quite happy with how it turned out.

Today was 1/2 price at the “Treasure Store” (aka The Salvation Army Superstore).  My daughter found this cute clock for $1.

A little bit of paint scratched off on the 3 when I removed the price tag, but otherwise it’s in great condition and works.  I have a little beef with the way the price tags are attached to everything in the store.  It would have been way better to stick the tag to the back of the clock, and many times the clothes have permanent holes from the price tags.  But it’s still a fun and cheap shopping trip.

Flora Charm Quilt

Last week I finally put the binding on this quilt made with Lauren and Jessi Jung’s Flora.  I used two charm packs I bought at the LQS and supplemented what I needed with solids from my stash and the border fabric purchased at Hancock’s of Paducah during an online sale.   The finished size is 61 x 77 and the pattern came from the book Simply Charming by Moose on the Porch Quilts.  It is one of the first books I bought and think it’s so great for a beginner.  I’ve made 3 of the patterns in the book since I first started quilting.

I had a little trouble deciding on the binding.  The fabric I purchased online looked more greenish than yellow, and I wasn’t happy with the look.  So, I put the quilt in a pile in my sewing room for a week or two while I decided what to do.  I almost purchased the green lattice print from this collection since I have a thing for striped binding and the lattice is the closest thing to stripes in Flora (there are no polka dots either).  But my practical side won out and I ended up binding it with leftover fabric from the border.  I like!!!  And it was free!  The backing is a striped sheet from Target. 

My fmq is getting a lot better, and I completely machine-bound this quilt using Kaelin’s machine binding tutorial.  I have done it a couple of times, but this is the first time it’s turned out nearly perfect.  It literally took about an hour to make and attach all the binding.  How cool is that???

I really love Lauren and Jessi’s style and color choices.  I have a massive cache of “Hideaway” and I can’t wait until their new line “Birds and Berries” comes out.  Here is a preview courtesy of the Fat Quarter Shop.

I love how the colors are similar to the other collections, but I really am excited about the purple added to the mix.

I am linking up to Quilt Story today. 

WIP Wednesday

I don’t normally link up to this since I am never organized to have a blog post on a Wednesday, but I just finished up my Colorblock quilt last night and wanted to share a few pics.  The finished size for me was 40.5” x 55” exactly, which is the perfect size for Veronica.

I am going to use this quilt as my entry for the My Precious Quilt A long.  If you haven’t seen this on another blog, you should check it out.  You don’t have to make a quilt for an entry (pretty much anything sewn is fine), and the fabric doesn’t necessarily have to be HTF, just special to you.

This quilt is made from DS Quilts fabrics that I have been collecting and some Hello Pilgrim prints.  I bought a Hello Pilgrim fat quarter bundle recently, and after using up most of the butterfly prints for this quilt, I ordered a half yard of the dark blue and aqua butterflies to replace the ones I used.  Not the best practice if you’re trying to use up your stash, but I love them so much I don’t ever want to be without!

The back is one of my first sewing fabric purchases ever.  It felt good to finally use it (most of it).   I fmq’ed squiggles all over with light aqua thread on the front and back.  Currently my walking foot is out of commission and I need to buy a new one, but the $50 pricetag is holding me back.  Why is it that I *must* buy new fabric, but I can just fmq until I finally get around to purchasing a walking foot???

I can’t wait to look at all the WIPs on Freshly Pieced when the kiddos go to bed tonight.

First Quilt Finish 2012

I finally got around to taking photos of the first UFO quilt I have completed this year.  You may recognize it from the Charmed Prints Quilt Along from December.  I finished the quilt top and had it basted, but I just didn’t get around to quilting it until the hecticness of the holidays wore off. 

Esther really liked the heart fabric I used in one of the featured blocks on the front, so I used the remainder to make a strip of hearts across the back and put two extra blocks on it, too.

I framed another one of my Spoonflower labels for the back.

This is the first time I’ve done “organic straight line quilting” and I am extremely pleased with how it turned out.  I used a mid-loft polyester batting which I pretty much detest, but it was pretty easy to do the straight line quilting without getting many tucks or wrinkles.

 

After washing and drying it, Esther and Veronica had a birthday party for their stuffed animals on it.

On account of trying straight line quilting for the first time, I am linking up to Happy Quilting’s Trying New Things Thursday.