But first - an intermission

So I was making good progress on my Puddle Jumping quilt when I got an invitation to test a paper-piecing pattern by Alyce Blythe of Blossom Heart Quilts.  Even though I haven't done much paper-piecing, I decided to take a break from my 2015 Finish-Along list and jumped right in!

The mini quilt pattern is called Happy Star and you can find it in her pattern shop here.  

Here are a few pics of my process.

Fabrics - mainly Notting Hill by Joel Dewberry

1st four sections ~ the two pieces on the left should have been on the right

All pieced and sewn together!

Top's finished ~ yay!

 Here's a peek at the back and binding ~ 
it's Folklore Paisley Pumpkin Orange by Lily Ashbury

Happy to say that it's now hanging in my sewing space!

Just wanted to say Thanks to Alyce for letting me test this lovely pattern ~ check out her post to see all the different Happy Stars made by the other testers!

OK ~ now back to Puddle Jumping!  

Linking up with Lorna and Kelly!

Sloan Bag Reveal

Back in March, I hinted that I was testing a new pattern by Sara Lawson of Sew Sweetness.  So today on Sara's blog, she introduced the release of her Sloan Travel Bag pattern.  Which means that I can finally show some pics of the one I made!

This bag is BIG ~ 18" x 14" x 6" ~ and it's perfect to carry most of my stuff when I join my fellow quilters for a "Sit & Sew" session.  Sara has explained all of the features in her blog post, along with LOTS of photos by her other testers, so I'll let her tell you more of the details.  I do love that it has a recessed top zipper, side pockets (inside and out) and comfy padded straps.

Here's a few pics of my new favorite bag (the pattern, by the way, is on sale in Sara's shop through May 20, 2015).  :)  I used fabrics from the Boat House collection by Sweetwater.

A big Thank You to Sara for letting me test this great pattern!  

2015 Finish-Along ~ First Finish for the 2nd Quarter

It always feels good to finish a quilt ~ even if it's just a small one.  I finished my Garden Fence quilt yesterday and I'm lovin' it!  And I'm proud to say it's my first attempt at free-motion quilting on an actual quilt.  Most of the quilting is straight-line,  but I did add a little flower in each of the block centers.  I now see what they mean when they say your quilting doesn't have to be perfect to look good ~ especially from far-away.  :)  I'm happy with my little flowers!  So here are some pics:

Thirteen of the sixteen blocks were from the members of the Newbie Quilt Bee Hive #8.  They all sent gorgeous blocks, but I think the block with the little bug jars has to be my favorite!

You can see the flower centers a little bit better on the back.  :)  The fabric for the back is Lotta Dots in Honeysuckle from Connecting Threads with a grey and yellow floral that I had in my stash.

I love a good stripe binding, so I had to add a grey & white stripe to this one.

Here's to checking off the first quilt on my 2nd Quarter List!
Linking up with TGIFF at Quokka Quilts.

WIP Wednesday and something completely different

More progress this week on my yellows and greys!  

I finished sandwiching and quilting the Garden Fence quilt and it's ready for binding.  

I have the sashing almost finished on the Puddle Jumping quilt ~ no new pics of the front yet, but I did finally decide what to do with the back!  Here's just a sneak peak because I haven't shown it to anyone yet - shhhh.

Now for the something different ~ I've always wanted to learn how to make a fabric coiled bowl, so when one of our guild members offered to teach us, I had to say YES!  Here's my first bowl ~ love it!!  I see more of these in all kinds of shapes and sizes.  :)

That's it for today!  Linking up with Lorna at Let's Bee Social and Lee at WIP Wednesday.

Progress in yellows and greys

I know it's been kind of quiet on this blog lately, but I've been working on a couple of projects for my 2nd Quarter Finish-Along

First up is the Puddle Jumping quilt for my youngest daughter.  I've finished 9 more blocks since the beginning of April which means all 16 blocks are done.  I really love this pattern with the Modern Folkloric fabrics!  The blocks measure 15-1/2" and my design wall wasn't big enough to hold all of them, so what I ended up doing is taking pics of all the blocks and then printing them on paper and cutting them all out.  That made it SO much easier to move them around and decide on a layout!

I'm so excited to get this quilt finished ~ I'm having a hard time deciding how to quilt it, but I'm sure it will come to me eventually.  :)  

I've been waiting for a 20-1/2" square ruler so I can square up these big blocks, so I started working on the next project ~ the Garden Fence quilt made up of blocks from my bee mates in the Newbie Quilters Bee (Hive #8).  I finished up 3 blocks of my own for a total of 16 blocks.  

As of right now, I've sewn all the rows together, so I just need to finish the sashing to have the top completed.  It's interesting how both these quilts ended up in yellows and greys.  I know I'll be ready for a little more color once these are finished!

Linking up with Alyce for Sew Cute Tuesday and Lee for WIP Wednesday!

2015 Finish-Along ~ 2nd Quarter list.

I'm ready!  I have great hopes for the second quarter of the 2015 Finish-Along with Adrianne at The Windy Side.  I had a great time doing this last year and hope to accomplish even more this year!  

Here's my list for the 2nd Quarter:

Continuing on with a couple of things from last year ~ although, honestly, they're on the back burner at the moment due to the quilts I'm working on for my girls.

1 - Star Light Star Bright Quilt.  Another quilt-along that I lagged way behind on ~ I have 4 blocks done and hope to make at least some progress this quarter.

               

2 - Diamond District.  I'm still on six blocks ~ maybe by the end of the year!

New on my list ~ I promised my girls that I'd make them a quilt this year.  So here goes:

3 - Puddle Jumping.  I started on this quilt in January.  I've actually finished 7 blocks so far ~ 9 more to go ~ so I have a good start on this one!  It's a great Thimbleblossoms pattern by Camille Roskelley.  I'm using the Modern Folkloric collection by The Henley Studio from Andover Fabrics with a few other fabrics thrown in.

4 - Flag quilt.  My middle daughter picked a flag quilt because her oldest son is a Marine.   We found a quilt designed by Tish Douglas in Electric Quilt, so I'm going to try and enlarge it to make a large lap-size quilt.  Wish me luck!  I've started pulling some reds and a blue I had in my stash ~ but this calls for a trip to my LQS.

5 - Garden Fence quilt.  February was my month for the Newbie Quilters Bee (Hive #8), so I have lots of Garden Fence blocks to put together.  Might as well add it to this list!

So that's my list for this quarter.  I'm sure I can get at least one of these finished by June.  :)

Linking up with Adrianne ~ thanks again for taking over this year!!

2015 Finish-Along ~ 1st Quarter Results

Here are my results for the 1st Quarter of the 2015 Finish-Along.  (See my original post here.)

1 - Star Light Star Bright Quilt.  I did manage to finish two more blocks this quarter, so that makes a total of four.   

               

2 - Dapper quilt from from Simply Retro by Camille Roskelly.  I love this pattern (although I changed it a bit) and the fabric collection I chose for it  ~ Zoe and Zack by Bethany Berndt Shackelford for Quilting Treasures   FINISHED!  Blogged here.

3 - Diamond District.  I've finished six blocks so far ~ I'd love to finish this one!  NO PROGRESS.

4 - QAYG Quilt-Along.   FINISHED!  Blogged here.

So two out of four finishes ~ I'll settle for that!  Looking forward to the next quarter.  :)