WIP Wednesday - Avant Garden part 2

I started working on those Avant Garden leftovers this week.  My original vision was to use Camille Roskelley's pattern Sweet Life from her Simply Retro book.  I thought it would show off some of the large patterned fabrics great.  But... her pattern calls for 12 1/2 inch squares and my leftovers were only 10 inches.  So after a little math magic (who says you won't use math after school?!), I reworked the pattern to create a slightly smaller version!  I also adjusted the directions to make "no-waste" flying geese so that I could use up every piece of my fabric.  Yay for no waste!!

Originally I was going to use a cream background with a brown/cream sashing.  But, this sat for a week before I started and when I did start it was late one night after putting the kids to bed.
Result - I started cutting into my go-to white and piecing.  I was 3 blocks in before I remembered that I wanted to use cream.  Boo.  Unpick and try to redo? No.  I didn't want to risk stretching those seams. Oh well.  Maybe a cream for sashing?  We'll see..

I was super excited to get that last black pieced yesterday and couldn't wait to get it spread out on the floor!

Oops!  One short. Back to the machine one more time.

That's better!

 

I tested out a cream as sashing last night.  I'm not liking it.  Not enough contrast.  I'll play some more today...

Thnaks for stopping by!

Tracy

Wedge Quilt Flimsy Finish

Woo Hoo!  I finished my wedge quilt top yesterday - just in time to catch the last few minutes of sunlight.

I ended up adding two more rows to the bottom in order to make it a size I liked.

I'm so happy this little charm pack has been turned into something cute.

The border is a bit big at 6 inches, but I really wanted to show off the writing in the fabric. I am really happy with how it turned out.  It ended up being 51" x 52 1/2", a nice size.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy

I will be linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

WIP Wednesday

Working on a little wedge quilt...

Another Superstar

I got my second Charm Pack Superstar pieced together.

 I started with a charm pack of Fresh Cut.  And just like with the last one, I took out the really light, low volume prints and,  I added in some other pretties from my stash to fill it out.

Look at how nicely Tula's prints play with the Fresh Cut!  I mean this bee is just too cute.

And these trees - LOVE them.

Lori Holt's cute little bees made an appearance as well.

 I managed to get the quilt all marked before our trip to Grammy's house so that I could get some hand quilting done in the car.

I got quite a bit done!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy

Scrappy finish

I've got another binding done! 

Scrappy quilt = scrappy binding.

I LOVE scrappy quilts that use up all of that leftover fabric.

This is heading straight to the washer and dryer to get all crinkly.

And here is what is currently in my hoop.

I am just getting started on this one and really enjoying it.  This is a fun scrap quilt I put together about 2 years ago and it has just been sitting and waiting patiently for its turn in the hoop.  However, since it is for me it always gets pushed aside.  I have 2 quilts that will push this one to the side again as soon as their backs are pieced and they are basted.  One day she will be done...

Here is a picture of the whole quilt.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy

Playing with low volume and two flimsy finishes.

Good Morning!  I have lots of goodies to share today...

First up, a small low volume sample for our LQS.  Cyndi, the owner of the store wanted a little sample to show customers how to incorporate low volume fabrics into their quilts. I volunteered.  A quick little scrappy quilt is always fun and gratifying.

Here is a picture before I tacked down the binding.  (I forgot to take one after, oops)

Please excuse the terrible picture taken with my phone. 

This was made with 44  5-inch squares of low volume fabric as the background.
The stars are made from scraps; a 5-inch square and leftover triangles from other projects. 
It is bound with a grey and white dot.
Quick and fun.

I was also able to finish up a couple of quilt tops.

First up is my quilt top for the Irish Chain Twist Quilt Along over at Happy Quilting.

I got all of my blocks and rows sewn together, now to decide how to quilt it.  Any suggestions?

The colors turned out great together.  So springy, don't you think?  I just LOVE the green!!

And finally I finished up my delectable mountains quilt.  The fabrics are just so fun together.

This started with a few pieces from Urban Chicks that I just fell in love with.  Hello feathers! And the rest came from my stash.  Yay for stash busting!

This quilt makes me happy.  I have always been drawn to scrap quilts, so busy quilts like this that mix together fabrics from all over just make me smile.

Have a great day!

Thanks for stopping by,
Tracy

My hand-quilted star is done!

I just love this simple quilt.  It started as a way to use up a treasured charm pack of Gypsy Girl that I really wanted to use.  I had held onto it for a long time because I didn't know what I could do with a single charm pack since I tend to like my quilts big.  And I didn't want to waste it because I just loved all the colors and prints in this line.  Then, I found this quilt on Pinterest and knew it was perfect!

I made just a few changes.

First, I pulled out the really low volume prints, because I really wanted the vibrant colors to stand out. And I knew that since I would be adding a border I would be pulling extra fabrics from my stash anyway.

Second, instead of making the half square triangles the way that Julie suggested, I cut a patterned square and white square 5 1/2 inches, drew a line from corner to corner on the white fabric, and sewed them together 1/4 inch on either side of my drawn line.  Then I cut them apart on the line and pressed them open, making 2 half square triangle pieces. I used pieces from my stash for all of the points.

Finally, I added the borders to frame the star and make the quilt larger.

This quilt needed to be hand quilted. It was quilted 1/4 inch inside of each square.  And then I marked out the rest of the echoing lines with a Frixion pen.  I am still nervous when I draw on a quilt with those pens, but they always come right out with my iron.

 This quilted up pretty quickly.  I took it with me to visit my family down in southern Mississippi.  My aunt put it on her frame and my grandmother, mom and aunts and I started to quilt the center while I was there.  By the time I got home I had just some white and the two outer borders to go. All those straight lines went quick!

The quilt is backed and bound with a perfect pink and aqua print.

I enjoyed this quilt so much that I am already working on another one made with the Fresh Cut fabric line.  This one will be for a sweet family that will be hosting us this summer on our travels.

And wouldn't this pattern be great in all red and white scraps....

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy