Squeezing in a little quilting!

So, it’s been a busy last couple of weeks and disappointingly I haven’t been able to work on my quilts much. As a result – I haven’t been able to blog at all. First it was a  week long trip to San Francisco for work. Then it was Thanksgiving and a 3-day weekend cruise to Mexico. While I enjoyed both, there was absolutely no way to squeeze quilting in. This week, I’ve been trying to get caught up and of course I’ve been quilting – continuing to work on MY quilt. I love the way it is turning out too! I was able to cut out most of the quilt before I left on my first trip and the last two nights I’ve been working on chain piecing my blocks. First was the gray. It’s Kona Coal of course.

Next was the black borders. Here they are all ready to be chain pieced.

And here they are all put together!

That was all I planned on doing but, I just had to start to lay it out to see how it’s going to look:

I’m so excited! My boyfriend came over and immediately claimed it as his own! I told him he would have to share it with me. Can’t wait until it’s done.

Flora & Fauna

So, I’m realizing that there’s something about me and black in quilts. Even when I do baby quilts – they tend to have  a little black in them (or a lot). It’s not intentional. I guess that’s just what I’m drawn to. Especially when it is paired with bright rich contrasting colors. Ooooh!  So, I guess that it should be no surprise that as soon as I saw this amazing new line Flora & Fauna from Patty Young (Michael Miller) I knew I had to have it. At the Fat Quarter Shop they say that it should be available in December. Well, it’s December! OK. OK. I’ll stop being impatient. But, I just can’t wait until it comes out. I don’t even know what I’ll do with it yet but, I love everything about it. I know I’ll get at least the Stone palette. But, the others look yummy as well.

Just look at the Mustard. . . Oh, and the Raspberry with the green. . . even the turquoise is wonderful and delicious! I guess I’ll have to wait. . .

I also visited Patty’s blog MODKID Boutique and found the most wonderful items made from her fabric line. She has some adorable pattens for girl clothes but, if you have a second, take a look at the doll clothes patterns that she has for American Girl dolls. I’m not really into doll clothes but, her patterns are SOOOOOOO cute – they make me want to make some!

Oh well, enough cuteness for one day. I guess since I have to wait on these anyway, I’ll just have to be resigned to dream about what quilt I’ll design out of these. . .

Strawberry Disco Fields

So, I bought this fabric over a year ago. A friend was having a baby girl and I wanted to make her something. That was before my quilting days where I usually just made blankets with a minky backing, bibs, burps, and a ball.Very cute, but, not a quilt. So, when I started quilting earlier this year – I quickly switched it to a quilting project. I had been eying circle quilts ever since my first quilt and I knew that I would try it on a baby quilt since it would be smaller and more manageable. And since I love circles I started researching how to piece and applique them. I was intrigued with the Dale Fleming six minute circle method and knew this would be one of the first I would try. It turned out to be pretty simple but longer than I wanted it to be. I had 48 circles so if it was really six minutes per circle that equals almost five hours not including any of the prep work. Anyway, I was happy with how it turned out.

The quilt is designed around the Alexander Henry “Very Berry” fabric and a couple of other coordinating Alexander Henry prints. Then I picked up a couple of coordinating fabrics from Joann’s – the black and the pink to complete the look. I am starting to realize that I like black in quilts. I guess I like the contrast. Plus the black print circles really drew out the black background in the “Very Berry” fabric and pulled the quilt together.

I quilted it in what I call a Loop de Loop pattern – don’t know what the official name is. It was fun and easy to do. I’ll definitely get better with this quilting thing over time. . .

The back is simple highlighting the “Very Berry” fabric with a strip going across the width of the quilt and another strip of the coordinating fabrics pieced with a circle in “Very Berry” thrown in.

I wanted the circles in the quilt to be very close together like the Michael Miller Disco Dot fabric – so of course the name of the quilt is Strawberry Disco Fields!
Let me know what you think!