Pansy Garden {Traveling Quilt Bee Finish}

It's really and truly finished! I really wanted to post this earlier, but here in Maryland it has been raining for essentially two weeks and I have been trying to wait to take outdoor pictures. I finally gave up this morning and took a few pictures inside.

I started this quilt in June 2016 as part of the Instagram-based "Traveling Quilt Bee" and received my quilt back in January 2017. I decided it needed a border, so I put my mom and sister in charge of that project and the top was finished in December 2017. I started the quilting in April, did another section of quilting in May, and finished up the quilting in July.

The quilting in each section (as explained in the above posts) is different for each person who added to the quilt! I realized once I trimmed the quilt that the backing is ever-so-slightly diagonal, but it's good enough for me!

I hand stitched the binding down over a few days this last weekend. I personally like a 2.25" double fold binding for my quilts.

This quilt is ready for the next person that comes to visit! Onward to the rest of the projects that I need to finish!

PS. We are starting to plan our *2019* quilt along! We have a poll up in the HBD Quilts Facebook group about what kind of quilt you prefer and what kind of fabric you'd like to use. Join the group and share your opinions!

Quilt Stats:
Name: Pansy Garden, Traveling Quilt Bee Quilt
Size: approximately 70" x 90"

Fabrics: scraps and stash from myself and the 7 people who added to the quilt

Quilting: 8 different FMQ fillers using white Aurifil thread

Future: Guest room quilt

Started: June 2016
Finished July 2018

Sharing at Linky Tuesday!

Sharing at Show Me Something {Purple} at Sarah Goer Quilts for January 2020!

The End of the Journey {Traveling Quilt Bee}

Despite it being one of my top WIP priorities for the last few months, it took until last weekend for me to settle on the final free motion quilting motifs and get excited about finishing the quilting on my Traveling Quilt Bee (TQB) quilt.

(Side note, this quilt needs a better name! Maybe something pansy-related given the color scheme?)

When I last posted, I had three sections to go -- two block sections and the border. I had planned to quilt the two block sections with a wood grain motif in one and an echoed daisy-ish motif in the other, and to quilt the border with wishbones. I changed my mind on all three sections!

For the first block section, I did an echoing motif that sort of looks like a sunshine but to me also looks like a fried egg. 

For the final block section, I decided that I wanted to do a sharp stipple (also known as a zipple by some!) instead of another curvy and round design. This is a design that I really enjoy quilting -- I like being able to intertwine the different passes of quilting with the points and echoing.

For the borders, I used a flower meander. I was originally thinking that I might quilt the border with black thread, but I am glad that I decided against it! I think the white flowers popping off the black fabric is fun.

This quilt is now trimmed and ready to be bound!

I initially thought I was going to have to buy something new for the binding, but look what I found in my stash!

I was even able to find out where I got this fabric: I got it while on vacation in 2012! The binding says that it's from In The Beginning fabrics in 2006! The lighter print looks great next to the border, and especially next to the black solid fabric. I cut my binding strips at 2.25" which enabled me to squeak in 8 strips out of my half yard of fabric.

My plan is to sew this to the front and stitch the binding to the backside over the next few days while we have company in town. Hopefully this will be finished by the end of the month so that I can finally cross this off my WIP list!

Sharing at Main Crush Monday!

Free Wheeling Free Motion {Traveling Quilt Bee Update}

Since I posted my first quilting-in-progress update on my Traveling Quilt Bee quilt, I have quilted two more sections of the quilt.

For the fourth section, I did a feather filler inspired by Angela Walters. This motif ended up *slightly* more dense than I had originally planned (and compared to the other sections of quilting) but I'm happy overall with how it turned out.

For the fifth section, I did my new go-to motif of leafy meandering.

I have two more block sections to quilt as well as the border. I still plan to use a wood grain motif for one of the sections and then plan to do a floral echo pattern (similar to Leah Day's Dandelion Puff without flower stems) in the other.

I plan to do some sort of loop-de-loop or wishbone quilting in the borders. I'm not sure if I should use one single motif for the border, or if I should use separate motifs in the black borders and pieced border. If I do the latter, I'm considering quilting the black borders with black thread.

What are your motif suggestions? Thus far, I've kept my motifs "curvy" and I've stayed away from motifs that are overly pointy. The major accomplishment at this point is that the quilt is halfway done being quilted! Hooray!

On The Road Home {TQB Quilting Progress}

The time had finally come for me to start the quilting on my Traveling Quilt Bee (TQB) quilt from 2016! When last I posted, the top had been finished and I was mulling ideas for quilting.

I did decide to go with my initial quilting idea of quilting each different person's section with a different free motion filler. There are seven sections on the main body of the quilt not including the black and pieced borders.

The first section I quilted was my original quilt starter, the four star block. I used a simple meander. (Side note: some of these pictures don't show the purple well and/or the background looks cream instead of white -- I took these pictures in less than ideal lighting conditions!)

The next section is an L-shaped section of two medium and five small blocks. I used a curly flower motif through this section.

The next section, which is actually two sections added by the same person, are four larger blocks -- two on each side of the center of the quilt. I quilted loop-de-loops in both of these sections.

Now the center third of the quilt is done! The next four sections are each long rows of blocks across the width of the quilt. My next planned motifs to use are the leafy meander (my new favorite!) and potentially a wood grain motif. My plan is to keep the different motifs "curvy" and since all of the piecing in the quilt is straight.

Happy Thursday! Sharing at NTT!

Traveling Quilt Bee {My Finished Quilt Top}

After a long while, I think that I can count the top of my Traveling Quilt Bee quilt as done!

This bee was an Instagram-based bee that ran from June 2016-January 2017. We had seven ladies in our group and rotated quilts each month. This was my starter block:

And this is what my quilt looked like when it came back to me:

I passed along the quilt to my sister who worked with my mom over Christmas to finish the quilt top for me. Here's the finally finished quilt top:

Instead of adding more block sections to the quilt, they added two black borders surrounding a pieced middle border. It's a fun frame that adds a good balance to the quite busy center of the quilt.

Now the quilt is approximately 68" x 90", so I think it's ready to be quilted and finished. I've had the backing fabric for this set aside since before this bee started and it was the inspiration for my color scheme. I bought about 8 yards of this fabric on clearance at my LQS a few years ago so that it would be big enough to back whatever quilt I ended up making.

I pieced the backing and I still have two yards of the fabric left, so I can use it to make matching pillows. The print is a little too big in my opinion to try to bind the quilt, so I'll be looking for something to bind the quilt once I am able to quilt it.

My initial idea is to quilt each person's different section with a different filler. This would be less involved than my Stash Bee Star quilt which had different motifs in every star, since it would need only eight different motifs -- one for me, one for each of the six ladies in the group, and one for my mom/sister. What do you think of this idea? Is it kind of crazy, or is it a good homage to each of the people that worked on the quilt? I am really interested in making quilts with more meaning and I think this could be a fun way to accomplish that.

Sharing at Let's Bee Social and Needle and Thread Thursday!

Traveling Quilt Bee {Wrap Up}

Today I wanted to share the finished versions of all seven of the quilts from my group in the Traveling Quilt Bee group I was a part of in 2016-2017. I'll start with the quilts I worked on first and move to the quilts I worked on more recently and finally show off my finished quilt.

The first quilt I worked on was Rheannon's farm and outdoor themed quilt. Here's her finished quilt:

The second quilt I worked on was Nela's. Here's her quilt top:

Tanya's quilt was third and here's her quilt in the wild:

Then I worked on Erin's quilt and here's a shot before it got mailed back to her:

Michelle's quilt was second last, here's it finished:

Lee's quilt was the last quilt I worked on, which I posted about a few weeks ago:

Finally, here is my quilt! It traveled all over the USA and has returned to me!

I am not sure if I will add on to this quilt or not, but part of me wants this to be a really big quilt. I am considering asking my mom and my sister to each add a section to the quilt.

Happy Wednesday! Sharing at Let's Bee Social!

Traveling Quilt Bee: Month #6

This is the last month of The Traveling Quilt Bee for my group! It has been a very fun process and an extremely well run bee -- thank you hosts!

For this last month, I had Lee's quilt. Her quilt was nature-themed in rainbow colors with scrappy low volume backgrounds. I was a little stumped at first with what to add but I knew that I wanted to get this one done over the long weekend so it was off my plate before I need to shift into "MOVE ALL THE THINGS" mode. (PS. Don't forget to check out my quilts for sale!)

The first blocks I added were six bird blocks in rainbow colors in some of my favorite fabrics. The pattern is from the Block Lotto and it was a really fun scrappy block to make! I trimmed my blocks down slightly from the pattern so that they would fit along the length of the quilt.

Here is my little flock:

I really like that the legs are all different! It gives them a little more personality. My favorites are the yellow and the blue birds -- what do you think?

Deciding on the second section to add was MUCH harder, but I ultimately decided to go with the Garden Snail block by Pen and Paper Patterns after seeing all of the cute snails on Instagram recently!

I made seven little snails:

I just love these little guys! I am so glad I broke down and bought the pattern because now I want to make lots of little snails. It was so awesome to be able to use all scraps for these blocks!

Here's the quilt all put together before I mailed it off to its home:

Isn't it gorgeous?!?!?!?! As of right now, this quilt is 49 inches wide and 54 inches long.  It will be fun to see how Lee finishes her quilt and see all of the finished quilts back with their owners! I don't have a picture yet of my quilt to show (sad!) but I am excited to get it back very soon! Hopefully when I get back my quilt, I will be able to share pictures of all six of the quilts.

Happy Wednesday! Sharing at Let's Bee Social and Needle and Thread Thursday!

Traveling Quilt Bee: Month #5

This month isn't actually a month -- it's a month and a half because of the holidays. For November/December, I worked on Michelle's quilt. She requested a palette of navy, coral. teal, and purple. I decided to try to add on multiple sections since I had the quilt for longer.

The first section I added was two sides' worth of four patches to break up the larger pieced blocks.

I used selected strips from an Architextures jelly roll that fit her color scheme. Neither edge came out perfectly "square" with an even number of four patches, but it still looks good to me.

Next, I decided that I would make a strip of 6 inch blocks along one of the long sides of the quilt top. I used a bunch of my favorite patterns from the Farmer's Wife blocks and added two 3 inch blocks to get it to the right length.

As of right now this quilt is approximately 54 x 51 inches. I kept toying with the idea of adding a third section , but ultimately decided against it when I had finished making my 6 inch blocks and just didn't feel like I had enough of the right colors to make a whole additional section. Instead, I went through my pile of abandoned bee blocks and sent off six 12 inch blocks for Michelle to add if she likes them!

My quilt continues to grow rapidly! Nela had my quilt in November/December, which I was very excited about because she and I had been in the Stash Bee together! Here is what it looked like when she sent it off to its last stop!

She added the row of HST blocks at the bottom of the quilt in this picture. As of right now, it is 54 inches wide and 67 inches long! One more row on each side of the quilt, and this thing will be nearly twin sized!

Sharing at Let's Bee Social and NTT Thursday!

PS. I have an end-of-year goal to be the 800th most popular DIY and Crafts blog on Bloglovin. I am currently 820th, so I am SO CLOSE to my goal. If you don't follow me in some other method already, please consider following me on Bloglovin!

Traveling Quilt Bee: Month #4

When I told you I would be back soon with this month's edition of the Traveling Quilt Bee, I wasn't kidding!

For October I was working on an all solid quilt for Erin. I decided to do a side piece of a half Lone Star, strip pieced from some solid jelly roll strips I had left over from my original Firecracker quilt. I used a tutorial from this Moda Bake Shop Tutorial to make my Lone Star, but only made half of a star -- four diamonds worth.

Here's a shot in progress, with Miss Clara inspecting my work.

Here's the finished product:

My addition DOUBLES the quilt in size. I was a little worried about the scale and how much grey vs. color is in this section compared to the rest, but I think once more parts are added to the quilt, it won't be quite so stark of a difference.

This lone star was actually really zippy to put together. Not having to worry about color order in order to make a pattern within the wedges (I just made sure the same color wasn't touching one another) made it much easier to add the strips as I went along. I actually ended up having enough strips to make a whole star so I might end up making myself a mini star at some point.

Tanyia had my quilt this month and she added a row of blocks on one side. They just happen to be some of my favorite blocks, how did she know?!?!

I love that she added larger 12 inch blocks next to last month's addition of 8 inch blocks. I also am crushing hard on the flying geese that she added too! Perfect way to break up the row and give it a more fluid feel. 

As of right now, my quilt is approximately 50 inches wide by 54 inches long, which is already big enough for a small throw and it still has TWO more stops before it will be returned to me. I think it will be at least 60 inches on each side (maybe not square, but it doesn't need to be) and then I can add on if I want to. Mine is actually one of the biggest ones in our group from what I can tell right now. 

Sharing at Needle and Thread Thursday!

Traveling Quilt Bee: Month #3

It's actually almost the end of month #4 of The Traveling Quilt Bee, but I wanted to share about each quilt I have been working on separately. I will have this month's post up very soon!

In September, I worked on Tanya's quilt. She requested that her quilt be all different styles of slice and insert blocks. Here's her quilt with my additions:

I added the upper right row of six inch blocks and the large panel on the left side. I used all straps from my scrap bag! (I hardly made a dent in it, but progress is progress!)

For the row of six inch blocks, I used a piece of grey and sliced and inserted throughout the whole piece (it was approximately a fat quarter size to start) and then cut 6 inch squares from it to add to the first side. I used a small scrap of that to make my label (which I forgot to take a picture of!)

For the large side panel, I used a strip of grey solid approximately 12 inches wide by WOF long. I folded it in half three times, and put some random cuts in the folded piece. I added strips so that it was all reconnected, folded it up again, and sliced so that my new cuts intersected my original additions. I added more strips to reconnect it, folded and sliced a final time, sewed it all back together with some final strips, and then cut it to the width of the quilt section. This was REALLY fun. I wish I would have taken pictures of the process. 

Here's my quilt before it was sent off at the end of September:

The very lovely 8" paper pieced blocks on the left side are the latest addition to the quilt. I am very happy with the variety of sizes of the blocks thus far and how LARGE it is! It is approximately 36 x 60 currently!

Stay tuned for October's edition of the Traveling Quilt Bee...

Sharing at Fabric Tuesday and Let's Bee Social!

Traveling Quilt Bee: Month #2

It's time for my monthly update on what I've been working on with the Traveling Quilt Bee!

This month I had Nela's quilt and was very excited to work on it. She is someone who I got to know through the Stash Bee, so I was excited to work on her quilt.

Her theme was stars and modern type prints with a low volume background and I decided to add on six star blocks. The pattern that I used is Sky Rocket from The Quilter's Cache. I pulled lots of bright florals (since her starting star used all Kaffe Fassett fabrics) and used some prints from the Architextures line for my background.

Check out what I'll be sending on to the next stop:

I am very excited to see how this one continues! Here's a shot of what my quilt looks like now:

It's gotten very long since I last showed it! At this point it is about 30 inches wide and 60 inches long! It's already on the way to the next stop where it will continue to grow!

Sharing at Fabric Tuesday and Let's Bee Social!

Traveling Quilt Bee: Month #1

A few months back I signed up to be a part of the Traveling Quilt Bee on Instagram -- last month I showed off my center block and this month is the first month of working on a quilt for someone else!

This month I am working on Rheannon's quilt -- she is looking for a whimsical garden quilt. Here's the medallion she sent me:

Isn't this just so fun and gorgeous?!?! I thought the best thing to do would be to add on things you might find in a farm or garden.

Here are my finished sections added to her center section:

On the right side, I added a peach tree and an apple tree. These are paper piecing patterns from an old issue of Quiltmaker magazine. On the left side, I added some root veggies, patterns also from Quiltmaker, and two modern butterflies.

I am excited to see where this goes! Here's what Lee will be adding to my quilt:

She made a variety of fun blocks in two different sizes and it is exactly what I am looking for!

Sharing at Linky Tuesday, Fabric Tuesday, Let's Bee Social!