My Michael Miller Quilt top is done!!

Woo Hoo!  It is done and done.  Quilt top and backing.

And it is HUGE!  98x106.  This picture taken under overcast skies just doesn't do it justice.  The colors are so vibrant and fun.  This was quite an endeavor, but worth every minute.

Thanks to my very frugal cutting and saving of every little piece, I was left with quite a few big pieces of fabric.  I had also inherited some friends' leftovers so I was able to use those bits and pieces before cutting into the pieces from my kit.  I decided to try and piece a backing from only leftovers.  I envisioned a very wonky and scrappy backing.  But thanks to the 4 yards of the black roses that I already had on hand, it was not as scrappy as I originally thought it would be.

I had about 2 yards of the black left from my kit, so with the extra 4 yards I was able to get the 2 sides done.  Then I thought I might have enough of the green left to be done with a green strip down the middle.  But, wouldn't you know it, not quite wide enough.  I had about 1/2 yard of the stripes left.  EXACTLY enough for (6) 3" strips to go on either side of that green.  Not only the perfect size, but I actually love the way it turned out!

Since my roll of batting is only 92 inches wide it looks like I'll be piecing some batting this week too.  :P

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy

Foxy Friday Finish

I've got  a very sweet finish this week, a special gift for a sweet little baby girl.

No pink for this sweet little lady.  Her nursery is done up in cute little woodland creatures.  So what better to make than foxes?

I decided to use Elizabeth Hartman's Fancy Fox pattern to whip up a 1-Hour Basket and matching pillow.  I adjusted the basket pattern to make it a little bit taller. The background fabric is a yummy linen.

 I'm really happy with how they turned out and hope that she will enjoy them for years!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy

Log Cabin Swap

Have you seen all the log cabin swap fun happening on instagram?

The basic idea is that you make 12 large scrappy log cabin blocks, cut them into quarters, keep one quarter from each block and swap the rest out with other quilters.  This gives you a very scrappy and fun quilt.  Here are some pictures from Melissa's red, white and blue blocks from her swap.

 

I've also seen some people participating in a Bonnie and Camille swap in which everyone must use all fabrics from Bonnie and Camille's lines.

So, my quiltiy friends and I decided to join in.  We pulled colors from out threads and came up with this color scheme.

 

Such fun and pretty colors!

Here is my fabric pull:

 

 I always start with my smallest pieces first.  So, I raided my scrap strips and then started to pull larger pieces.

I decided to work on 4 blocks at a time since it is easy to chain piece log cabins. 

Here are my first 4 blocks:

I started with some leftover April Showers charm squares, the colors were perfect!

With the second group I decided to go with colors that were a little more saturated.

Sigh.  So pretty.  They will be hard to cut into.  And just look at those bees!!

The last group:

And a close up of one of the blocks:

I am so in love, and I can't wait to see everyone else's finsihed blocks!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy

Paper pieced pillow

I finished this pillow a couple of weeks ago but forgot to snap a picture of it before I took it down to our local county fair.

I am new to paper piecing, but I think I am hooked!  I LOVE the way it looks, but I hate waste (it makes me twitch to see wasted fabric), and there is some waste involved with paper piecing.  I tried to cut pieces that were JUST big enough, but ended up frustrated when they didn't fold over right.  So I had to take a deep breath and just cut nice big pieces.  And, I survived!  The final product is definitely worth it. 

This pattern is from The Paper-Pieced Home by Penny Layman

And guess what?  It won 2nd place at the fair.  Whoop!

This was my first time entering anything at the fair.  I entered 5 items and all 5 placed.  Yay!! 

I'll try to get pictures of all the winning items up this week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy

Still Catching Up...

Month 9 and 10 of my Michael Miller Quilt Kit are done!!  Woo Hoo!

 

Only 2 more months to go.  My fabulous friend Cheryl and I are both working on this kit and keeping each other focused and on task.  Quilty friends are the best!

Here is the end of month 9:

And the end of month 10:

 I am just LOVING all the colors and fabrics!  I have been saving every little leftover piece from each month and trying to use up scraps before I cut into the next months fabric, which means... I have a few big pieces left.  I am hoping that all those pieces, plus the leftover cutoffs will piece together for a scrappy and thrifty backing.  

For now, it is all folded and packed away until next month so that I can start catching up on Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage quilt.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy

Row by Row

Have you guys been "Rowing" this summer?  It is a fun nationwide shop hop.  This is my first year participating and it has been so much fun mapping out shops to stop at on every road trip.  I have discovered some fun shops and happy, quilty people.

Row by Row

 

I have been traveling around so much this summer that I haven't had time to do much sewing.  But, now that summer is coming to a close and the kiddos are headed back to school, it is time to bust out all of those patterns I've collected and get down to business.

This year's theme is water.  A pretty broad topic that can be interpreted many different ways.  I've got rows about bathtime, rain, rivers, deep sea and of course the beach.  I decided to pull out the beachy rows first.  Here are my first 4 finished rows:

First up is a row from Quilt 'n Sew Studio in Katy, TX titled "It's 5:00 Somewhere.

Next up is a set of beach balls from The Dancing Bobbin in Spring Hill, TN, our very own LQS!

Cute little crabs from Couture Sewing Center in Macon, GA.  After this quilt is all put together I'll be adding cute little button eyes on these guys.

Finally, some fun flip flops from My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe in Logan, UT.  Once these are quilted I'll be adding straps and buttons to these as well.

A great start I'd say!  There are A LOT of applique rows which is not typically what I chose to do, but these have all been so cute!

I'll share some more rows next week as I get a few more done.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy

What a summer!

All school year I dream of a relaxed summer of late nights and sleeping in, freedom from schedules and unfilled time stretched out before us.  This was NOT one of those summers.  But it was amazing!!

One of my oldest son's best friends moved to Japan last year.  He and his other buddies were crushed.  But, this amazing family invited the boys to come and visit them in Japan over the summer.  They were thrilled and started saving immediately.  The boys worked all year and each saved up enough to buy their plane tickets.  That is no small task as the tickets were quite expensive.  I happily volunteered to chaperone the journey.  It was amazing!!

We were there for 2 weeks. When we came home, we had 10 days until our next adventure.  In that 10 days I had to shake off the jet lag, take part in a 3 day vintage market and repack for our family of 5 to travel from middle Tennessee to West Texas to go camping. It's a looong drive, but worth it to spend time with my Dad, stepmom and sister camping where I was a kid.  So many memories made.

We are finally all home for good with less than a week until school starts.  Yikes, that went fast!

So, needless to say there was not much sewing happing and I have A LOT of catching up to do.
I got started last night and was able to catch up on my #starbotm, at least until later this week when the August block comes out. :)

Here are my blocks for June:

And July:

Next up is binding on my Aloha quilt and an August challenge for my retreat.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy