FF: Magnolia Mystery Quilt Top.

This morning, chaos abounds! I set myself a reminder on my phone to email a picture of my finished Magnolia Mystery Quilt top to Cheryl so I could be a part of the parade. I had waited until today to send it, hoping that I would have a finished quilt, but that is not the case! And then, when I went to pull up the photos of this quilt, I realized I 1) can't find the photos I took of the finished top, and 2) I NEVER wrote a blog post about it. #winning!

So hooray for me, I managed to squeeze in a small photo shoot amidst homeschooling, and I'm dashing out a quick post before I forget again. I say quick...we'll see if I can tamp down my typical verbose self.

Here is my finished Magnolia Mystery Quilt top! Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs runs a mystery quilt every year, and this is my second time participating in the fun.

This quilt was a BLAST to piece. Like, I seriously thought to myself multiple times during the process that I was having so much fun, and for a girl in a chaotic season of life, that makes this all the more special. Team that up with the fact that this is destined for a very important person in my life, and I have some serious feels for this quilt.

I didn't participate in Cheryl's mystery quilt last year, and I kicked myself for that decision. You see, I STILL haven't finished my Midnight Mystery Quilt from the year before, and I told myself I couldn't until I finished that one. (It's all pieced, I'm just waiting to get it long-armed.) When this year rolled around, I told myself I could, as long as I could find all of the fabric I would need in my stash. And I did! The black batik was a huge piece of fabric a friend gave me a few years ago, the green is a super fun swirl print that I can't remember the name of, though it's quite possibly my favorite blender ever. The turquoise is a mix of an Alison Glass print and a Grunge Dot print, and the purple are two blenders that I had in stash. I have enough of the black to use as binding, and I scored a ridiculously loud print for the back for $2.49/yard, but I think I'll let that be a little surprise.

FF: Wayward Transparency Quilt!

I'm pretty sure you've seen fifty kajillion iterations of this quilt because everyone made one, but here's mine! (Of course fifty kajillion iterations were made--this pattern is bomb!) But just in case you haven't seen one, this is the Wayward Transparency Quilt by Quilting Jetgirl, which was part of a super fun awesome QAL. I always love Yvonne's patterns as they are extremely easy to read and understand, and they turn out some super sweet quilts!

These photos were taken after the quilt's first wash. I particularly love the crinkly goodness that a spiky meander leaves a quilt. I quilted everything in a mint thread that matches the lightest solid. I was concerned it might be too pronounced on the darker triangles or possibly distort the transparency effect given the quilting design that I had chosen, but now I think it's just fine.

I did machine stitch down my binding, something I'm choosing to do more and more often now, but this time I used my zigzag stitch. I've done this on a couple of other quilts, but I thought in this case it would particularly suit given the spiky meander.

And the back is a big chunk of a Joel Dewberry print, plus some scraps I pulled out, including my beloved C+S tigers. I only ever managed to find a fat eighth of that print, and now I'm left with a small scrap, but as this quilt is heading to a super sweet baby boy, I'm happy to share.

This is my first finish of my FAL Q1 list, and it's already February! I better get moving! :)

Purple Moneta Dress

I finished this dress a few weeks ago, but getting photos taken? Well, that was another matter entirely! This is the Moneta Dress by Colette. I used a purple knit fabric from Jo-Ann's to make a muslin for this pattern, but of course I hoped that it would be a wearable muslin. I think I have worn this three times since I finished it? So success! Because you see, I have some pink octopi fabric just waiting to be transformed into a super awesome dress!

The Moneta pattern was easy to follow, and the dress came together easily. The only area I struggled was the neckline. It was hard to get that to lay flat! (This is a complaint that I've heard from a couple of people, so if any of y'all have made this pattern and have any advice, help a girl out!)

Before I cut into my octopi, I think I'll try a size down. This feels a little big to me, particularly in the arms. But I do love it! And I'm excited to add more  Monetas to my closet.

Oh! And tell me! Are there any knit patterns you particularly like? I've got a few things from Patterns for Pirates on my list.