SS: Responsible Purchasing.

Oh Friends. I have been SO good lately. I've been buying stuff only when I've absolutely had to, and I've been using my stash, even bits I wanted to hoard instead! But seriously, when you use your stash, you use it. WHO KNEW? And I've depleted a handful of colors. So, when I had the opportunity to visit a super awesome quilt shop after a super awesome brunch with the super awesome Alison of Little Bunny Quilts, I jumped at it!

I have a healthy stash of green, but everything else is starting to run low, so I added this bunch of yum. From left to right: red polka dot from Sevenberry, orange something from Bear Essentials 3 by P&B Textiles, yellow dot without selvage information, Alison Glass Overgrown in Bluebonnet, some purple dot by Windham Fabrics, Timeless Treasures Sketch in Lipstick--had to replenish, I love this fabric!, Alison Glass Overgrown in Amaranth, C+S Add it Up, and the black is Imagine from Another Point of View fabrics.

But I wasn't completely good, though you could argue it would be irresponsible to leave these cuts of Tula Pink's Tabby Road behind. I'm totally in love with the center print, but I picked up some cats and 'Tula' cans--that name makes me laugh out loud EVERY TIME--because they were fun too.

What have you been stashing lately? I'm linking up with Molli Sparkles' Sunday Stash!

Coast to Coast Traveling Bee Quilt 2

I was chatting with my super wise quilting sensei, K, this week about the pendulum swing of self-doubt. And I've got be honest, this week was a doozy of a swing.

This is Susan's quilt for the Coast to Coast Traveling Bee. The thing that stuck out to me on her list was a request for lots of movement. Susan made this gorgeous feather and flying geese ring, and then Alison contributed a glorious batch of ninja stars--ahem, I mean friendship stars!--and I was left pondering, what can I contribute? How can I make this quilt move?

I spent a lot a lot A LOT of time thinking about this. And in case that sounds like I'm complaining, I'm not trying to--this kind of thinking was super invigorating and pleasurable. I was trying to hunt down the perfect addition to this already stunning WIP, and it was fun!

I pulled a stack of rainbow, which was probably the easiest part of this. Early on, I thought half-dresdens might be nice, so I started piecing wedges and when it was obvious they were going to be stunning, I thankfully was a smart girl and pieced one extra for me! (I might already have plans for it.)

And then this idea for arrows formed in my mind, but how to fit them? Why, around the corners, of course! This pattern is by Sew What Sherlock, and I always enjoy how crisp the points turn out.

And when I had pieced all the dresdens and all the arrows, and all I really had to do was fit everything together, I had a major moment of self-doubt. I was convinced it was all terrible and all wrong and horrible and WRONG. I started thinking of other things I could do and would I possibly be able to make them happen before the mailing date? And I was tired because I had felt so sure that the plan I'd had was solid and perfect, and here it was, a massive failure and who's to say the next one wouldn't be quite so horrible? (Admittedly, I can be a *touch* melodramatic at times.)

Except, it wasn't. Not at all. The swing back to confidence started with a good talk with K, who assured me it was great. The photo I took to send to her gave me a different eye. It shrunk down the quilt, and I was able to weigh my concerns using its help. I appliqued down the wedges, and I decided they could stay. I started adding the arrows, still half-convinced they were going to have to go. And slowly, I finished piecing my portion of this quilt.

And friends, I think it looks pretty smokin' awesome! I'm hoping that the next time I face such a moment of self-doubt, I'm able to continue forward because maybe, just maybe, it'll turn out grand.

Baby E's Northern Lights Quilt

You could say I'm a fan of Jaybird Quilts' Northern Lights pattern. You could say that, and you would be right since this is my FOURTH time making this particular quilt! But this is the first time I got to make one for a girl, and I really enjoyed this fabric pull.

I had originally tossed around some other quilt pattern ideas, but I made a Northern Lights quilt for Baby E's cousin, so it seemed fitting that I make one for Baby E too.

And while this is my fourth time making this quilt pattern, it's the first time that I actually did something fun with the quilting, which is kinda shameful, but we'll ignore that. For the first three, I echo quilted the lightning bolts. For this one, I added some FMQ spiky stippling. I purposefully chose Kona Charcoal for the background so that the bobbin thread would be really noticeable and scrumptious.

And here's a better shot of the quilting. I also chose to bind this quilt in Kona Charcoal, which I think lends it a nice frame.

This is my fifth finish from my Q1 FAL list, and my first quilt finish. I have another baby quilt up next to finish, and then NO BABY QUILTS for awhile. Exciting!