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...
