C2C2: Alison's Quilt

After finishing up with Stephanie's quilt for the Coast to Coast Traveling Bee, I quickly jumped into getting Alison's done. There are two reasons for this: 1) I'm moving soon. I don't want to accidentally lose or pack any of this lovely quilt! and 2) Get a look at those fabrics! How could I not get excited to work with such a cheery group?

For C2C this year, Alison requested a 48" row featuring any kind of block we liked--within reason, of course. I opted for a Greek Cross block, and I used Fresh Lemons Quilts' tutorial. Alison had sent along this super fun set of charms and some additional yardage, and I opted to use a yellow solid for my background fabric, mostly because none of the other rows had gone yellow, and isn't it such a sunny shade?

This is my favorite of the four blocks that I made. I really like the fabric used for the center cross.

And here are all the rows making friends with each other. If I'm remembering correctly, Alison is planning to sash these lovelies together, then throw a border around the entire thing. Yum yum yum yum.

Friends, this concludes the Coast to Coast Traveling Bee for me for this year. Well, until I get my own quilt back, of course! For the second year in a row, this bee has proved to be challenging, but super rewarding. I'm so thankful to the ladies who sewed along with me. Onto next year!

Finished Magnolia Mystery Quilt

BAM. It's done, and none too soon, as it was a gift for my super awesome good friend L, and I am so excited that after working on it for A YEAR, I finally got around to finishing it and sending it along its way. Spoiler alert: she loved it!

This is the Magnolia Mystery Quilt from Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs. This is the second mystery quilt that I've finished by Cheryl, and I LOVE them both. I'm a bit ashamed to tell you the first one STILL isn't completed, but it's waiting longingly for its time to shine. One of these days....

I kept it simple and straightforward with this one's quilting. Black stipple in the batik areas, and straight line quilting in a lime thread through the blocks. Woulda shoulda coulda gotten a picture of the back to show you the yum lime against the super awesome Grunge dot print, but I didn't. Lately, it's a struggle to remember my first name!

I so enjoyed making this quilt, and I am so pleased to know my friend loves it. She has been such an important influence on me, and I was thrilled at the idea of gifting her something that I made with my own two hands.

I'm going on seven years of quilting now, and there's something still so magical about that!

C2C2: Stephanie's Quilt

It has come to my attention that I still have not one but TWO Coast to Coast Traveling Bee quilts in progress to share with you! I've actually finished up my commitment to that bee for this year, and this year's quilt tops have me soaring with excitement. BONUS: I can't WAIT to get my own quilt back!

First, up, Stephanie's quilt. I lucked out and found Stephanie's original blog post showing her quilt start and a bit of her inspiration. Stephanie shipped it to K, who shipped it to Chelsea, who shipped it to me, so I'm the fourth person who had the privilege of working on this lovely.

This is the bulk of Stephanie's quilt as of now. You can see her original trees, and also the flying geese K added and the tulips from Chelsea. I added a row of butterflies down the right side to follow along with the nature prompt. I felt like there was a lot of plant life, so we needed some insect life too.

I had so much fun picking out the fabrics for the butterflies. I kept the bodies the same fabric, but each butterfly had different colored wings.

But I didn't feel right about just sending the super fun to piece butterflies, so I went back to the cutting board...

...and churned out a row of Ohio stars. Of course, I did my quilty math totally wrong, and instead of fitting over the top of the quilt, it hung seriously over! Thankfully Alison, the next person in the chain, is a total peach, and she said she'd add the stars for me after making her own additions. Whew!

I'm not gonna lie, I struggled with the theme for this one. Not because it was particularly hard, but the prompt was nature, and I am SO not a nature-y kind of girl. Have any of y'all seen the Jim Gaffigan sketch on camping? I think it's in his King Baby special, but the line that always sticks out to me is when he says he's "indoorsy." SPOT ON, Jim Gaffigan. I'm not a nature kind of girl, I'm just indoorsy.

I'm starting to think about round 3 of the bee...sure, it's only June, but I'm a planner! Hopefully I'll have Alison's quilt to share with you next week!

A Geranium Dress for Vanilla

One of the perks of taking a three month blogging hiatus is that I actually have a few things to share with you! This whole, I'm moving soon business has been taxing to say the least, but I've managed to get a few things finished, including this super cool Geranium Dress by Made by Rae for my Vanilla Bean.

This green and white print came from my grandmother's stash, as did the gingham lining. I'm fairly confident they were purchased at the same time, and for the super high cost of eighty-six cents! I don't know when my grandma purchased these lovelies, but my daughter is rocking some sweet threads, let me tell you.

It's obvs not perfect, but I am so pleased with how it turned out. The buttonholes aren't *perfectly* spaced, but I like to think people will be so enthralled by my adorable daughter that they won't even notice the buttonholes.

Speaking of perfect, it looks as though I was totally bomb at matching those stripes and pleats from the skirt with the bodice. Between you and me, because we're friends and all, it was a TOTAL accident in cutting. But like, I'm not complaining. It looks fierce.

I also finished up these stuffed pups from the Woof Woof Panel by Stacy Iest Hsu. The little pups are done too. I was watching a friend's kidlets when we suddenly encountered a quilt store in the wild. It wasn't my neck of the city, so I kinda sorta dragged three young boys into a quilt shop. (For the record, they were extremely well behaved.) We saw these pups stitched up, and the oldest boy suggested I make the pink one for Vanilla and the blue one for his baby bro. It was a most excellent plan, so of course I agreed.

Coast to Coast 2: C's Quilt

I shared K's quilt with y'all earlier this week, and today I'm back to share C's quilt with you!

C's quilt was the first one (other than my own) that I tackled for C2C this year. I feel like the first round is always super tough--you're setting a major tone for future additions! And I struggled with C's quilt. I felt like I could go a conservative route and tack on some trees, or a sunshine in the sky, or a river underneath, and I sketched out numerous plans. I researched natural features in NH, where C is from, and I even considered improv piecing a waterfall. But none of those ideas felt right.

What did feel right was a retro travel poster idea. I reached out to C, who was okay with my idea, and I went to town! I googled retro travel posters and looked for ideas. I ultimately decided to frame the mountains with a white-on-white print and a chocolate shot cotton, which totally looks black and way too much in the pic above, but it's really a tad more demure.

For the lettering, I used a red and white polka dot because I knew I wanted red. Yummy, yummy red. I bought an alphabet pattern from From Blank Pages, and it was awesome. I would totally recommend it!

This was a teaser I put up on instagram, and I asked readers to guess what it was going to say. Some of the responses were totally awesome.

Next I'll work on S's quilt, but I have a brief break because I haven't received it just yet. Here's hoping I can squeeze out another quilt or two and maybe even cut into the fabric I purchased for two dresses this past weekend. (Yes, two. Apparently my fabric-buying self-control went out the window this weekend. I blame it on the snow and my need to wear sundresses without heavy tights and boots.)

Do you have any fun weekend sewing plans? I'm going to be staring longingly at my tangerine knit fabric and my Moneta dress pattern. Maybe???

Coast to Coast 2: K's Quilt

So, apparently I haven't posted about the second quilt I've worked on for Coast to Coast 2018, but I just finished this one yesterday, and I'm super excited about it, so you get to see K's first. (Though I'm not gonna lie, C's is another sort of super cool.)

This is what I received in the mail a few weeks ago. K had started with the awesome paper pieced center, and C had put it on point (SUCH an awesome decision) and added the patchwork. K requested movement, and I thought one way of furthering that goal would be to put it on point again.

So I did.

My initial plan was to do stripes. The starting point is gorgeous with a yum low volume/color balance, but I thought the use of minimal LV and bold colors in my round would be a fun contrast. (It also feels like a total Audrey move, not gonna lie.) But stripes seemed kinda...boring. And since K is not only my quilt bee buddy but ALSO the person who introduced me to quilting, I couldn't just slap together a set of stripes and call it done. So I added triangles, which I think was the right move.

The fabrics I chose for this were a yellow pin dot I had in stash, an Alison Glass print in orange (one of my fave prints from her), some grunge in a cream, a fun batik I picked up, and this purple stripe print, which I think seals the deal. Like, it would be cool without it, and I almost chickened out and went with a grunge in purple, but the saleslady caught me putting back the stripe-y bolt and pretty much strong-armed me into it. (In the best sort of way--she was lovely.) I was worried the stripes wouldn't line up and it would be super obvious, but I think it works out okay.

I also chose to piece the yellow and orange at different widths, so in two corners, the yellow is more prominent, and in two, the orange is more prominent. I obviously didn't make the width too different because I don't think most people would notice, but I had hoped it would add to the movement theme.

I seriously love this bee!

Finished Tula Pink Patina Quilt

FRIENDS. I am so incredibly pleased to let you know this quilt is DONE. I need only drag it down to the post office and send it to my niece, woo! (And when I say drag, I mean drag. This thing is heavy!)

This is the Patina Quilt from Tula Pink and Angela Walters' book, Quilting with Tula and Angela. I had originally intended to echo quilt around each colored bit, but the turning was wreaking absolute havoc on my shoulders, and I wasn't going to be able to finish it! So, I just did the center row, and then I stippled the two ends.

For the back, I used a tie-dye flannel because these are my niece's fave colors, and she loves tie-dye! So it was meant to be. However, using this flannel is part of why the quilt was so heavy! It should be nice and comfy for snuggling though. Worth it!

For the binding, I used Cotton + Steel's Sprinkles print in navy, plus a hint of lime (Kona Chartreuse, probably). This is my second finish from my Q1 FAL list, and I am SO excited that it's done! Definitely a win in my book. It will most likely be my last finish from that list, but two is better than none!

Now, if I can manage to get a few more quilt tops basted, we'll be in business!