Meadow {Finished Quilt}

Finishes make me SO happy!

The last little bit of quilting on my Meadow Quilt involved more meanders and loops in each corner.

I pulled four different binding fabrics -- I didn't have enough of any of my original fabrics left to use for binding, and I decided against using the blue floral backing. I narrowed it to two -- magenta and emerald -- and finally settled on magenta!

I decided to hand bind this one -- mainly because it was good timing to sit and stitch on a binding while watching TV! I am so pleased with how this quilt came together!

This is the perfect throw size - 60 inches square. I love all of the quilting textures in this quilt and am so happy with the way the different prints coordinate and contrast with one another.

While there isn't actually much white in the quilt top, I think the white background of the binding print is a good contrasting element without being too different. The magenta color is the same as the magenta print fabric and the magenta in some of the pansies.

The binding looks especially good with the backing! I honestly just picked this backing because I loved the print (and I love a large scale print for a backing any day of the week!) and it was on super duper sale. I also am happy with the large chunks of this print that I have left over. :)

The navy print also shows off the white thread that I used so well! The white thread blends with the fabrics on the front for lovely texture, but I like being able to see the white wiggles, loops, and curls on the navy backing.

It was SUCH a nice break from projects with deadlines and projects for others and to do something just for me! Now back to reality!

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: Meadow Mystery Quilt by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs
Size: 60 inches square
Quilting: Custom FMQ with curls, loops, and wiggles in white thread
Binding: double fold, hand stitched to backing
Fun facts: Everything but the backing came from my stash!
Started: July 2016
Finished: November 2017

Sharing at Finish it up Friday!

Meadow {Quilting in Progress}

Despite the fact that this quilt doesn't have a deadline, I used my Friday off work to start the quilting on my Meadow Mystery quilt because I had already cut the batting for it and already knew how I wanted to quilt it!

I started at the center and was quickly able to complete the first block with meanders in the pink background and loops in the pansy print. 

Next came the four blocks with magenta piecing -- more loops in the pansy prints, curls in the dark teal, and squiggles in the magenta/background sections.

In moving from one section to the next, I was able to quilt a significant portion of the background section between the center piecing and the "diamond" of pansy print around the center blocks. This meant a lot fewer necessary thread breaks which is always good! I did the entire loop of green triangles with one pass! The next set of dark teal fabrics also has loops, curls, and wiggles in the pink diamonds.

The best part? The hardest part of the quilting is done! I always struggle with the center of a quilt, and now that it is done, it's easier to move the quilt and I have less fear of puckers, tucks, and pleats in my backing! Once I got done with the outer section of teal blocks, I went ahead and trimmed the quilt to eliminate some of the batting and backing bulk -- I trimmed it larger than I do when ready to bind, but enough to eliminate a lot of the excess bulk.

Oh, and check out this beautiful backing fabric!

Looking forward to sharing this finish later this week!

PS. I would really love your input on what kind of quilt along to host next year! There's a post on the Honey, Bunny, and Doll Facebook page!

Sharing at Main Crush Monday and Linky Tuesday!

Meadow Mystery {Finished Quilt Top}

Before we moved I finished up all of my blocks for my Meadow Mystery quilt and over a month later, I finally sat down and put the quilt top together. Here's a quick shot of all of my individual blocks as I put them together:

Here is my absolutely lovely finished quilt! 

I am just squeaking in at the deadline to get this quilt entered into the quilt parade in April! Now to decide how to quilt it -- any suggestions?

Sharing at Let's Bee Social and NTT!

Meadow Mystery {January}

This month we received the directions for our last 12 blocks for the Meadow Mystery QAL hosted by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs!

We made four Block 2 units:

We also made eight Block 5 units:

Despite my initial worries that my fabrics were all a bit too "medium" and that there might not be quite enough contrast, there is definitely enough contrast between the colors. If I had to do it all over again, I would swap out the teal for either a darker purple or a darker green, but I'm still very happy with it!

As of right now, all of our blocks have been completed, we just have to wait and see what the final arrangement of the blocks will be! There have been many people guessing and laying out their ideas of what the final quilt will look like, and they all have been fun suggestions.

Have a happy Wednesday!

Sharing at Sew Fresh Tuesday and Building Blocks Tuesday!

Meadow Mystery {December}

My December Meadow Mystery QAL blocks were quick and easy to put together since we were just making 9 blocks out of the units we had made in the previous months. Much less trimming than previous months, too!

Here's block #1 --

...block #3 --

... and finally block #4 --

Here are all of this month's blocks put together for fun:

There are still lots of pieces and units that we haven't sewn at all or haven't sewn into blocks just yet! We had previously made block #6 in September, so we will find out soon (hopefully!) what is in store for blocks #2 and #5.

The blocks we made this month didn't use any of our fabric A (my magenta ziggy stripe) or our fabric D (my purple floral), so I'm guessing those might make an appearance again in January!

Don't forget to enter my Sparkle Giveaway!

Meadow Mystery {November}

This month for the Meadow Mystery QAL, our assignments were flying geese and square in a square blocks. I was excited to finally use my pink Fabric A!

Check them out!

As you might remember, both my Fabric A and my Fabric B are tonal stripes. I arranged my Fabric A triangles so that every unit is the same direction of the fabric print. I figured that this was going to be easier than trying to have some going up and down and some going side to side. My Fabric B in the flying geese is arranged half up and down and half side to side, but we will see how they arranged in the final quilt.

I am hoping that we start making some more blocks next month. We still have some strips that we haven't used yet, as well as some squares, but I am anxious to start guessing how this will all come together!

Sharing at Let's Bee Social!

Meadow Mystery {October}

This month I got my "assignment" done early!

This month we made half hourglass units and full hourglass units. Three "flavors" of half hourglass units, one "flavor" of full hourglass units.

For those of you who are also playing along, my dark teal ziggy stripe is my Fabric B, the pansy print is my Fabric C, the purple floral is Fabric D, and the pink dot is my Fabric E/background.

Here are my units for this month:

Unlike last month, where we put together a whole block from the units we had made, we just made sub-units this month. I continue to be very happy with my color choices, and surprisingly pleased with the contrast between my fabrics. Of course, I still have lots of unused pieces left in my box, so we will continue to see how this quilt evolves!

Sharing at Fabric Tuesday!

Meadow Mystery {September}

I definitely didn't finish the September installment of the Meadow Mystery QAL in September, but I did finish before the October instructions come out tomorrow! I actually made and trimmed all of my HSTs rather early in the month and then had to shift my attention to my Favorite Frames quilt. I just finished up my Block 6 units this weekend.

Here are my Block 6 units:

(For reference for those of you also doing this QAL, the pansy print is my Fabric C and the purple and cream floral is my Fabric D/secondary background)

Here are my Fabric C/Fabric E HSTs:

I was slightly worried about the contrast between Fabrics C and D, but I am extremely happy with how my Block 6 units turned out!

If you haven't joined in yet, there is plenty of time to join in! Hop on over to Meadow Mist Designs to it check it out!

Sharing at Let's Bee Social!

Summer Solstice and Meadow Mystery Updates

Last week, both of my QALs had new sets of directions that came out! I just love QALs, especially when I don't have to worry about putting up directions. :)

For the Summer Solstice QAL with Melissa at Happy Quilting, this week we made all of our Drunkard's Path blocks. I've done some curved piecing before (in my NY Beauty quilt) but this was all 3.5 inch unfinished blocks! For my quilt, I needed to make 16 green/magenta units and 32 magenta/black print units. Here are my finished units:

These curves were SO EASY to put together and there was minimal waste. Melissa's cutting instructions and templates made it so that the waste you had was just about as small as it could be -- hooray! I ended up with a lot of extra arcs and edge pieces because of the color arrangement in my quilt, but I think I will be able to make a table runner or something similar with the extras. Next week, we'll be putting our blocks together!

This month's assignment for the Meadow Mystery QAL with Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs was to do all of the basic cutting for the quilts -- which right now is all squares, rectangles, and strips. Check out how my fabrics all chopped up:

Since I had enough (more than enough!) fabric, I did the optional step of cutting the squares that will be used for triangle units with an extra 1/4 added on. Hopefully this will mean all of my units will be gorgeous! Next month we start sewing -- hooray!

Sharing at Sew Cute Tuesday and Fabric Tuesday!

Quilt Along Update: Flying Geese and Fabric Selection

This summer seems to be the summer of quilt alongs!

I am participating in Melissa at Happy Quilting's Summer Solstice quilt along and I showed off my fabric selection a few weeks back. 

This week we are making flying geese and here are mine!

I am making all four of my star blocks the same colors so I only need two different colors of flying geese and 16 of each one. They went together so fast and they came out as the perfect size! Hooray! now to wait another week and a half until the next clue comes out!

I'm also participating in the Meadow Mystery quilt along hosted by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs. I participated in her mystery quilt along last year (here's my finished top) and I loved it! This month is fabric selection month for that quilt along and here are my picks:

I really like how she explains which colors are next to which other colors because that is such a huge help in picking your fabrics! I started with the light pink dot as my background since that was my largest cut needed at 2.25 yards. I pulled the pink, dark teal, and purple fabrics next since they are the accent colors in the background fabric. The pansy print was pulled last and while the other fabrics don't have green, the pinks and purples in the pansies themselves are a perfect color match to the other fabrics I had pulled.

I hope that this fabric pull turns out well for the quilt! This QAL is a month by month project, so the cutting step won't be revealed until the first week of August! Between now and then, I luckily have LOTS of things to keep me occupied at my sewing machine. :)

Sharing at the normal Tuesday places!
Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts
Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River