Garden Gala

Hello friends - I'm happy you stopped by for a visit today. I can't believe it has been over a month since my last post - I guess I just need a few more hours in each day so I can chat with you more often. I have been staying extremely busy in my studio, as my finishing business has substantially  increased (thank you to all my new customers) and my project bags continue to be extremely popular - I am blessed. My studio bins are full and I am steadily working through projects in the order received.

 Today I thought I would share a quilt with you that I finished last month - this cheerful quilt (titled Garden Gala) was the project in the April Sew Sampler Box from Fat Quarter Shop.

The April box was filled with all sorts of goodies, including: an At Home Jolly Bar by Bonnie & Camille for Moda Fabrics, the Garden Gala Quilt Pattern, a Scallops & Waves Quilting Template by Fat Quarter Shop, an Alphabitties Expansion Pack, Beeswax Thread Conditioner by Posey Handmade and the Greatest Hits Album Quilt Track #1 (mystery block of the month quilt pattern one). After seeing the At Home fabric collection, I knew I had to make the Garden Gala quilt...and I had yardage in my stash that was perfect for the background, binding and backing. I really enjoyed the easy straightforward traditional piecing and it went together rather quickly! There was a lot of talk on social media regarding the center of the quilt and the negative space - many were making an additional pieced block or doing a special applique or machine embroidery in the center...but I personally loved the "wreath" look of the quilt with the white in the center and had a plan to do some specialty quilting in the center.

I received a lot of questions on my quilting. No, I do not have a longarm quilting machine (it is my dream of dreams to one day have one!)...yes, I quilted this on my regular domestic machine...no, I did not do it free motion...yes, I used a design I printed out on my computer - made a few paper templates and used a fricton pen to draw the design on the center of my quilt (then just quilted on the lines). Yep, necessity is the mother of invention - I had an idea of how I wanted to quilt it and I made it happen with what I have. After quilting the center, I used a wavy line stitch on my machine to quilt all four sides.I used a transparent thread for all the quilting...

....and YES, I am keeping this one! I have made WAY MORE quilts than I can count...and this is only the second one I have kept for myself (the other is a quilt I designed and created for Quiltmaker Magazine). I am trying to work towards keeping some of my work for our home...so far I have been terrible about it...I would like to have quilts throughout our new house, so I am going to do my best to make some projects that are just for me.

I enjoyed this fabric so much - I am working on a few little pincushions for my Etsy Shop with the leftovers. I saved ALL my little scraps...plus I am adding wool and button embellishments. I have several larger pieces left for backings. The tops are done...now to find time to back and stuff. Here is a peek...

The May Sew Sampler box was also filled treats...and I have plans to make the quilt pattern that was included in this box, as well (I am waiting for the border fabric to arrive and my workload to slow down a bit). The quilt is called Rose Garden and it uses fabrics from Bloomington by Lella Boutique for Moda Fabrics.

Finally today - I am not sure if this is in the happy or disappointed category. On the happy note - I recently made a baby gift for a person in my life...I sewed up four reversible burp cloths and four reversible baby bibs. They are made from the softest quality cotton flannel. I had fun putting thought into them and choosing fun fabrics for a girl. They have a cute coordinating fabric on each side, so they are reversible and they are all nicely top stitched...I even washed them in scent-free gentle detergent before wrapping, so they were ready to use...plus the baby bibs have a velco tab to make them easy to put on and take off. I wrapped them on white cards with gift gloss and tied with a pretty pink ribbon and attached a label with all details and washing instructions...I even found what I thought was the most perfect card. All of that was happy, happy, happy!! The disappointing part was the gifting - the recipient could not have cared less - sat them aside and barely said thank you...and it was never mentioned again. I'm not going to lie - I was super excited about this surprise and was really trying to do something nice and unexpected (this wasn't a shower gift - just an act of kindness)...it kind of ended up being a MAJOR bummer. I did enjoy the process of planning, creating and wrapping, so I am choosing to focus on that...and the fact that they turned out super CUTE!

Okay, on that note, I MUST get back to work....the HUGE stack of project bags on my table are not going to sew themselves....so, I am off to my sewing studio...the stacks are cut and ready to sew, so I plan to spend the evening in my happy place!

Thanks for visiting - I have piles of needlework finishing to share with you, so I am hoping to be back real soon...