The Stars and Planets Aligned... and a Scrap Quilt GetsFinished

Finally!!

A dry, sunny day when 2 of my quilt holders were home.  Yay!  Time to drag out some recent finishes and take some pictures.


First up is a sweet little quilt top I finished today.

This little string quilt has been in the works for a while,  Every once in a while when the strings called, I pulled out the pastel ones and made a few blocks.  They called again today.  When I realized I just needed 2 more blocks to make a decent sized little quilt, I decided to finish it up.

I had just enough of this little rose fabric to border it.  With the border the quilt measures 45 x 57.

So soft and sweet.  I have been working on this one with the intention of donating it to our local foster care system.  It will be a tough one to give away.  I will just have to picture some sweet little girl hugging it tight.  Scrappy quilts really are the best!

Next up is my scrappy purple tulip quilt.  I used all the purples.  Every shade.  If it was purple, it went in.  And the background fabrics are scrappy too, lots of different low volume prints playing together in there.

The pattern is a free Cloud 9 pattern found on their website.  It is called the Amsterdam Quilt. I can definitely see myself making this one again, the blocks go together easily and are a great use of scraps.

I am tempted to hand quilt this one, I think that is what it wants.  I will be setting it aside for a while to see if that feeling sticks. :)

Next up is my scrappy bear paw quilt.  It just needed that final border and I got that on this morning.  This is such a bright fun scrappy quilt.  Anything went with these scraps as long as they were bright and colorful.  I used a brown background which is a new thing for me, but I really like it.  It allows the scraps to just pop.

This one is pretty big at about 92x94.  I really, really like scraps.  Can you tell?

And finally, a real finish.  I just got my Star BOTM back from being quilted by Cyndi at The Dancing Bobbin.  Since all of the colors I used were based on the amazing butterfly fabric featured in a couple of the stars as well as the backing fabric, I thought it only appropriate that it be quilted with butterflies.  And I just LOVE it!  Thank you Cyndi!

I mean seriously, is this fabric not AMAZING!!!  I just love it.  And yes, I did save every single tiny piece that was trimmed off.  It will find its way into many more scrap quilts.

Thanks for stopping by for some show and tell!!

Tracy

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts.

April Stash Bee Fun

Helen over at midgetemquilts.blogspot.com is queen bee this month in our stashbee hive.  And she has requested the cutest little scrappy cross quilts in red.  I whipped these 2 up in no time!

I love scrappy and low volume, so this little gem of an idea will be going in my "someday" pile.  I may even whip up a few more before I get these shipped off to her.

I heard all about Stash Bee last year from my friend and owner of our LQS where I work.  She had such a good experience last year that we all signed up to join this year.  And we ALL made it in! So now, if I see a cute block in one of their hives, I make one for them as well.  They are mailing their own blocks anyway right? :)

Here are a few more that will be heading out across the quilty world.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy

Comfort quilt and tutorial

Yesterday I shared with you my quilty girlfriends' new tradition of working together to create 2 quilts each quarter for our local foster kids.  The blocks we picked for this quarter will be "donut" blocks.

This block is quick and easy to make as it is basically just a simple 9-patch with a few HSTs thrown in.  And if you use my following tutorial then you will end up with 2 blocks in reverse!

For this quarter's quilts we chose pink and green for the girl version and grey/black and orange for the boy.

1. Chose 2 fabrics for your blocks.  From each fabric cut:

(4) 5 1/2 " squares and (5) 5" squares.

2. Pull the lighter 5 1/2" squares of fabric.  You will be drawing a diagonal line down the back of each.
TIP: If you are using a directional fabric, make sure that you are drawing on the directional fabric. When you turn the fabric over make sure all four are facing in the same direction.

Then, rotate 2 to the left and 2 to the right.  This will ensure that they all line up correctly on the final  block.  Can you see how 2 are facing left and 2 are facing right?

3. Lay your (4) 5 1/2" squares of fabric right sides together and sew 1/4" on either side of the drawn line.

4. Cut on the drawn line and press. Trim your HST to 5".

5. You should now have 5 each of fabric 1 and 2, and 8 HSTs. Now the fun part...

6.Lay out your blocks to create 2 blocks with reverse fabrics as the donut/background.

7. Sew together as you would a 9-patch.

Here are the first 4 girl blocks.

And the first 4 boy blocks.

I am so excited to see what all of the other girls will come up with.  These are going to be so scrappy and cute together!!

Thanks for stopping by!!
And if you are on Instagram, stop by and see me there @tracysbitsnpieces

Tracy

Linking up to Let's Bee Social and Crazy Mom Quilts.

Dancing Bobbin Quilt Retreat

I am lucky enough to work at The Dancing Bobbin, our LQS with some fabulous, generous and fun ladies.  Once a quarter we meet to spend the whole day together eating, laughing and of course quilting.  This last quarter we started our new tradition of making and donating 2 quilts to a local organization for foster children.

When we met in January we chose a block and colors for both a boy quilt and a girl quilt.  Then we all contributed to sash, quilt and bind them. So much fun to work together on a quilt and the final results are just fabuous!

We chose the free blocks from Robert Kauffman called Genny & Ruth. They are super simple and quick to put together.  And they finish up big making a nice sized quilt.

For the girls quilt we chose navy, aqua and pink.

 

We sashed the blocks with all the leftover greys we used in the blocks and then  bordered it withe the navy fabric used in the center block.

 

It turned out so cute, with ballerinas, purses, Paris, macaroons, polka dots and flowers.

For the boys we chose navy, country blue, brown and orange.

It is so much fun to see all the fun fabrics coming out of everyone's stashes.
This quilt is full of cowboys, mice, dogs, bears, boats and fun plaids and geometrics.

We sashed it with a great brown and backed it with a  brown flannel.  This is going to be so cozy and comforting for some sweet little boy.

And here we all are with out finished quilts ready to be sent off and loved!

We also shared our finished log cabin swap quilts.  If you have been here before you might remember that we were inspired by a swap we saw happening on Instagram and decided to do one of our own.  So we chose colors and a finished size, created log cabin blocks, quartered them and then swapped.

Then we put them together however we wanted to. I put mine back together into squares and separated them with white sashing. 

This picture is awesome because this is probably the only time it will ever happen.  My binding finished perfectly!! 

It was so fun to see all the different ways that everyone put their blocks together.  All were beautiful!!

Show and Tell rocks!!

Check in tomorrow for our next quarter challenge.  I will even include a little tutorial for the simple blocks we will be creating!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy 

Linking up to Let's Bee Social and Crazy Mom Quilts

Purple Comfort Quilt

I finished up my comfort quilt for March today.  I'm really pleased with it.

As I mentioned in my last post, this quilt is made up entirely of stash fabric that needed to be used up.

I used a variegated thread that I have had sitting around forever.  I honestly don't even remember why I ever bought it, it is not my style at all.  But it was perfect for this quilt.  I quilted with simple lines 1/4 inch from each seam.
 

The backing is my favorite part.  It is a Lizzy House print that I found on clearance for $1.48 a yard!!  I bought it knowing that it would be the backing to a purple comfort quilt one day.  I just love it!!

I used a matching purple in my bobbin instead of the variegated thread because I didn't want to distract from those adorable castles.

But, I did use the variegated thread on the binding - so cute!

It is amazing what a difference lighting makes.  The pictures above where taken outside under the shade of a tree.  Below is the same quilt in the house.

The inside pictures are closer to the actual colors.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy

March Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Purple

March's color for the rainbow scrap challenge is purple. 

I love purple, but purple can be hard with all of its different shades from reddish to bluish. 

Luckily, all of the rainbow quilts I am working on this year lend themselves to separating all of those different shades.

First up, my "birch tree" blocks.

My Medallion Log Cabin blocks.

My "made-fabric" wonky stars.

And finally, my flying geese blocks.

 

And since I had all of that purple out, I decided to whip up a quick comfort quilt top with it.  I pulled some fabric pieces that have been lingering in my stash forever.  One piece was leftover from a sundress I made for myself in 1992.  Seriously.  It was time to go.  I pulled some "ugly" fabric I couldn't see myself using anytime soon(dark purple tie dye)  and mixed in some pretty fabrics I adore (large purple flowers) and they just kinda work.  I also had some random white triangular cutoffs from another project that would work perfectly as wonky star points.  So I went with a quick and simple go to pattern.  I used up some stash, saved some fabric from the trash and make a purplicious quilt!  I hope to get it quilted up in the next couple of weeks.

And finally, my stash bee queen this month picked this Wanta Fanta block in purple for her block this month.  Lucky me!  I hopw she loves it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy

The three little bears - quilt style

If you know me, you know that I am a scrap quilter at heart.  This means that I save every little piece and I hate waste.  I will dig fabric out of the trashcan what others have thrown away.  And I will go out of my way to avoid waste if possible. 

So, when it comes to the sew and flip method, I have a love/hate relationship.  I LOVE how easy it is and all of the possibilities for precise piecing.  But, I hate those odd leftover pieces.  I save almost all of them to be used SOMEWHERE.

When the new block for the Crossroads quilt along came out a couple of days ago and I saw all of those sew and flip corners, I cringed just a little.  I am using a layer cake for most of my fabric, so every little piece is precious.  I decided to do a little experimenting and try to figure out how to make those square in a square blocks without the waste.  And here is where the story of The Three Little Bears comes into play.

Using a little quilty math guesstimation, I decided to try cutting that center square at 2 1/8 inches.  From the background fabric,  I cut 2 squares 2 1/2 inches and then cut them diagonally to make 4 triangles.

Well those center squares came out just a little bit too small.  They didn't quite touch.

I decided to try the center square at 2 3/8 for the next one.  A little too big, I really had to work to make these fit and they are a little wonky.

So for the final block I went in the middle with a 2 1/4 inch square.  Ahhh, just right.

Am I going to redo the first 2 you ask?  No, I am going to be ok with those blocks.  First of all, the point of this experiment was to SAVE fabric, so it would seem wasteful to toss them aside.  Secondly, these blocks are not going to be next to each other in the quilt, they will be separated by other blocks and sashing blocks so I am pretty sure no one will notice but me.  And finally, this quilt is for me, and I am ok with imperfection.  Every quilt is a learning experience.  :)

Here are the diamond blocks all together.

And here are my house blocks together.

Are you quilting along too?

If not, it is not too late to join in.  The pattern is free over at The Fat Quarter Shop.  They are asking everyone to donate to the March of Dimes this year in return for a fun year of quilting along.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Tracy