Little Spring Splendor {Top and Tips}

After sharing about my baby-sized Spring Splendor project last week, I hustled this weekend and got the entire top completed and ready to quilt! Here are the four individual blocks:

As you can see in these blocks, I used four different blue and green fabrics for my "lozenge" pieces, an orange/gold for the accent color, and then the four patches within each block match. In the original Spring Splendor Quilt, all of her four patches were scrappy, rather than matching within the same block. Just a fun way to change up a pattern and give it your own twist!

Here's the top pre- pieced border:

...and post pieced border:

As I noted in my previous post, I decided to make the pieced border 4.5 inches wide rather than 6.5 inches wide as in the original pattern. Part of this was a scaling decision -- smaller quilt, smaller border. Part of this was making sure that the quilt was small enough to back with a single width of fabric -- this top is 40 inches square.

I'm planning to back this with blue flannel (so many snuggles!) and bind with the royal blue fish fabric, since I still have lots of it! Don't forget our Kona special is still going strong!

Sharing at Let's Bee Social, Needle and Thread Thursday, and WIPs with Friends!

Clover Sunshine Sampler {Finished Quilt}

This quilt was a very long term WIP -- started in 2014 as part of my QCQAL -- the top was finally constructed in 2015, and I finally have it quilted and finished! Hooray!

Most of the blocks used in this quilt were featured as tutorials on my blog in Summer 2014. Many of the other blocks have easy to find tutorials and patterns in other places.

I talked a little about starting to quilt this quilt here, and wanted to add a few more notes in this finish post. The further I moved out from the center, the easier and easier quilting this quilt became. It is about 70 inches square -- so a rather large throw -- so working on the center blocks was rather difficult. Finally getting to the edges was cause for celebration!

I didn't count the rings or sew my spirals to a particular width or size -- I mostly just kept continuing the spiral until it filled in the "nooks" left by my previous spirals. The spirals don't equally overlap because the blocks are not perfectly arrayed in the quilt. I also had to add in a few "tiny spirals" along the edges to fill in some open spaces as well.

Here's a picture of the backing (major kudos to Park Ranger Husband for being willing to put shoes on to help me take these pictures):

I ordered the backing and then got the dreaded email stating that I was getting the last of the fabric in stock -- but it was in two pieces. I realized after getting it that had it been in one piece, it would have actually not been big enough for the quilt! So I added in a half yard of Summersault fabric so that it ended up being the correct size. I also made sure all of my diagonal stripes went in the same direction.

For the binding, I had just enough of my white backing fabric! It has a different sort of look having a lighter binding with a slightly darker quilt. I sewed the binding by machine to the front and hand stitched it to the backing.

This is going to be my new summer couch quilt!

Quilt Stats:
Name: Clover Sunshine Sampler
Fabrics: Clover Sunshine by Alison Glass, Champagne Kona
Size: 70 inches square
Quilting: One extra large spiral per block, overlapping (with a few extra arches near the edges!)

Sharing at Finish it up Friday!

PS. Don't forget to check out our summer Kona special! The two sizes are the yardages needed for the Magnolia QAL, but it's always a good time to stock up on Kona, right?

Oh Baby! {Spring Splendor Pattern Remix}

Our July Island Batik Ambassador theme is baby quilts! I am at a time in my life where I make and give away a lot of baby quilts to family and friends, so this is my kind of theme.

One of the things I've also been working on behind the scenes is reworking some of our original Honey, Bunny, and Doll patterns with alternative sizes. This month I'll be working on a baby sized version of Spring Splendor which will be added to the current pattern!

The original version of this quilt, made by my sister, is a queen sized quilt made from a fat quarter bundle. For my baby sized version I had two options that would put me in the right size range: a nine block quilt without the piano key border, or a four block quilt with a piano key border. I decided to go with a four block quilt with a piano key border making blocks the same size as the original pattern.

I pulled out my Lake Life fabrics and started cutting. I went through and cut the main fabrics for one block at a time and put all of the parts into a zipper bag. Since I had already used quite a bit of the layer cake (pictured below when I first got my Island Batik goody box!), I mainly had yellows, oranges, and blues left.

Next, I cut the strips for the four patches and sewed those together. Each block has one 4-color four patch and four 2 color/2 background four patches. 

I also cut the piano key border pieces once all of my block pieces were cut. I decided to go with a 4.5 inch wide border instead of a 6.5 inch wide border.

Now I am ready to start sewing the blocks together!

This should be a relatively quick project from this point forward since everything is cut and ready to sew! These blocks have quite a few stitch and flip units, so those will take some time, but with only four blocks to make, it should be easy peasy to get this finished this month!

I am also excited to share that the Meadow Mystery QAL Kona specials are now live! The throw bundle contains 4.25 yards of Kona for $26 + flat rate shipping. The queen bundle contains 7 yards of Kona for $42 + flat rate shipping. We are currently offering the bundles in 10 different colors:

If you're interested in a color that we don't currently have listed as part of the bundle special, send us a message on Etsy and we can see what we can do!

Sharing at Main Crush Monday and Linky Tuesday!

Brutal Honesty {July 2017}

Happy July! I had another month of progress and I completed all four of the goals that I had for June!

1. Island Batik Ambassador June project - DONE
2. Coast to Coast Bee blocks for Chelsea - DONE
3. Finish quilting Alison Glass Sampler Quilt - DONE
4. Finish the top of the Gathering Mystery Quilt - DONE

Here's the status of everything else:

1. Farmer's Wife Quilt (RSC 2016 project) -- Sent to be long arm quilted and hoping to pick up when I go home in August.

2. Traveling Quilt Bee (2016) -- No progress

3. Coast to Coast Bee -- I made blocks for Chelsea and am now working on Audrey's quilt. Here's a preview!

4. Stash Bee Star quilt -- No progress

5. Top Spin leaders and enders -- No progress

6. Meadow Mystery QAL -- No progress

7. Pineapple Stash Bee Blocks -- I am waiting for a few more blocks to arrive before I can start putting it together.

8. Summer on the Coast Quilt -- No progress

9. Monthly Wall Hangings -- I finished my July wall hanging and now need to finish the September one. The June one has never actually been started.

10. Alison Glass Sampler Quilt - You can read all about my quilting progress here! As noted above, the quilting on this quilt is finished, and I am currently working on the binding.

11. Sew Kitschy Blocks - No progress

12. Romantic Garden Quilt - No progress

13. Mini Monthly Wall Hangings - No progress

14. Happy Houses blocks - I made three green blocks for May and three yellow blocks for June!

15. Birthstone blocks - No progress

16 . Monthly Island Batik Ambassador projects -- My June project is done and my July project is in progress.

17. Gathering Mystery Quilt with Cora's Quilts -- My quilt top is complete and also ready to be sent to be quilted.

New Projects:

I started one new project -- a quilt for Moda Bake Shop that will be published in the early part of August. I am actually ahead of schedule with this project and the quilt might be finished in July.

Here's what I'm planning to work on in July:

1. Finish July IBA baby quilt
2. Coast to Coast Bee blocks for Audrey and Stash Bee blocks for Mom/Lori (yes, my mom and I are in the same hive!)
3. Complete quilt top for Moda Bake Shop Quilt
4. Finish binding on Alison Glass sampler (this week!)

I am also excited to share that the Meadow Mystery QAL Kona specials are now live!

The throw bundle contains 4.25 yards of Kona for $26 + flat rate shipping. The queen bundle contains 7 yards of Kona for $42 + flat rate shipping. We are currently offering the bundles in 10 different colors:

Don't delay -- this special will only run until the end of July! If you're interested in a color that we don't currently have listed as part of the bundle special, send us a message on Etsy and we can see what we can do!

Gathering Mystery {Finished Quilt Top}

When last I reported on this quilt, it looked like this:

Since then, I was able to put the entire top together -- hooray! Since my designated quilt holder (husband) has been working crazy hours, I sort of had to finagle these pictures on my own.

This quilt top is queen sized, as you might recall, at a whopping 95 inches square! As such, I will not be adding a border. Here are some closer shots of the "stars" all surrounded by blocks and pieced sashing:

As I noted previously, while really only knowing which fabrics were darks vs. mediums vs. lights in the example quilt, I am quite pleased with how the colors have ended up in my quilt. I think there is good contrast between the colors that neighbor each other.

I also am in full recognition of my limitations, so this quilt will be sent out to a long arm quilter (identity TBD). I am still looking for a long arm quilter in central Maryland, so if you know of one please feel free to leave their contact information in the comments.

As for backing, I will likely use an 108" wide backing just for simplicity, even if the color might not be a perfect match. The darkest green or the black seem like my best choices at the moment.

As of right now, my plan is to use the orange day lily print as my binding since I have the most of that fabric left. I will need nearly two-thirds of a yard of fabric for the binding!

I am also excited to share that the Meadow Mystery QAL Kona specials are now live! The throw bundle contains 4.25 yards of Kona for $26 + flat rate shipping. The queen bundle contains 7 yards of Kona for $42 + flat rate shipping. We are currently offering the bundles in 10 different colors:

Don't delay -- this special will only run until the end of July! If you're interested in a color that we don't currently have listed as part of the bundle special, send us a message on Etsy and we can see what we can do! And if you're not planning to participate in the mystery quilt, feel free to use the sale and stock up on Kona for yourself!

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