May Goal Completed

My May ALYOF Goal has been met! My goal was to get this top pieced. It was a tedious job but I got it done. Up top it's all basted and being quilted. Below the top is laid out so you can see it better.

I have lots to say about this quilt, the pattern and the process. I'll post about all that when I post the finish. Personal life has taken over quilting time so I just wanted to stop in and share this top!

Snack Time Finish - Bloggers Quilt Festival

This is my quilt for the Bloggers Quilt Festival  Spring 2014! If you've never been, back up and follow that link, it's an internet quilt show and is always so inspiring! And if you are new to my blog and want to see more of my work, I keep a link to all my finished projects at the top - so easy to see everything!

I am entering my Nautical Snack Time quilt. I did the Baby size which measures out a 37" by 48" which puts me in the Small Category in the festival.

 

Those of you who follow my blog got a peek at this quilt already because I wrote a pattern review for it. That review is at Sew Sweetness' blog. Spoiler Alert - I love the pattern. I love all of Julie's patterns. She makes everything so clear and easy to follow. And my favorite part is she does all the math for you if you want to make a different size (which I usually do)!

My cousin had requested a baby quilt for her little boy in green and blue. She said she used whales in his room so when I found Michael Miller's The Littles line. I knew it would be perfect for her. I didn't know it would be perfect for this quilt at first. Here was my first block where I realized what is so important to this pattern:

Do you see it? It's a great block, beautiful fabrics, but there is no contrast and you lose that winding effect the other blocks had. And THAT is when I realized I had my quilt for my cousin.

I did simple straight line quilting on it so it would remain snuggly for the little one.

And a chevron border fabric for some fun.

The back was a nice stash buster of some fabric that I love, but the patterns are too large to cut small!

 Quilt stats:

Quilt name: Nautical Snack Time

Pattern: Snack Time by Jaybird Quilts

Fabrics: The Littles, Kona White

Finished size: 37" x 48"

Finished: 4/20/14

Queen bee this month

I am the queen bee at We Bee With It this month. I've asked my bee mates to help me make an Ocean Waves quilt in shades of blue. These were my sample blocks:

I used triangulations to help make my HST's. But because I'm a dolt when it comes to math I accidentally used the wrong size!  As a result, my HST's trimmed up to 3" and my unfinished block is 10.5".  A weird size, but I'm sure it will work in the quilt! I'm excited to see everyone's blocks.

May Goal setting

Just a quick post to set my goal for this month in A Lovely Year of Finishes. I'm working on a quilt for my mother and I got it all laid out on my design wall. My goal this month is to get the whole thing pieced! here it is up on the wall:

 

I forget the name of the pattern right now, but this is from the book Quilting Happiness.

Guest blogging for Sew Sweetness

Hi everyone,
Today I've got a guest post up at Sara's blog! I'm reviewing Jaybird Quilts pattern Snack Time. So head on over and see what I have to say about this one and find out more about the quilt I made!

Here is the rest of the schedule for the sew along if you'd like to check them out!

Here is the schedule of guest posts that will appear:

April 21 - Lynn @ The Little Red Hen – Science Fair
April 22 – Scott @ Blue Nickel Studios - Seaside
April 23 – Emily @ Mommy’s Naptime – Mini Disco
April 24 – Hadley @ Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle - Jawbreaker
April 25 – Kelly @ Kelby Sews - Giggles
April 28 – Becky @ My Fabric Obsession - Snack Time
April 29 – Sara @ Sew Sweetness - Tasty
April 30 – Michelle @ City House Quilts - Candy Dish
May 1 – Debbie @ A Quilter’s Table - Northern Lights
May 2 – Marci @ Marci Girl Designs - Lotus
May 5 – Kerry @ Verrykerryberry - Rock Candy
May 6 – Andres @ Mad Tesla - Mini Northern Lights
May 7 – Lee @ May Chappell - Day Break   &    Kim @ My Go-Go Life – Candy Dish
May 8 – Leona @ Leona’s Quilting Adventure - Wonton
May 9 – Heather @ House of a la Mode - Disco
May 12 – Jane @ Quilt Jane - Night Sky
May 13 – Lucy @ Charm About You - Tiny Dancer

finished blocks and completed April goal!

I finished my blocks for my friend Julie aka Jaybird Quilts. If you haven't heard of her project, she's putting together a quilt for her huppa for her upcoming wedding! I'm not thrilled with how my points came together. I always forget how problems multiply when you work tiny. But, these blocks are only 6" tall so unless someone is examining it, it shouldn't be a problem! If you would like to make a block, the details are on her blog.

And I finished my April Goal for A Lovely Year of finishes.  My April Goal was to determine how I was going to put together my tutorial for my month as bee queen. I had some mistakes, but I've got my plan all together. Here are the two demo blocks I did.

I'm really excited to make more of these!

Weekend sewing

Yes, it's Wednesday and the weekend was a while ago! But I got a lot done and had some fun and wanted to show what I did. My lovely friend Denise let me come use her long arm again to get done a queen size quilt.

I used the same spiral square pantograph that I used on my first anchor quilt because I loved it so much. And Let me tell you, I've been spoiled by this longarm. I really hate quilting on my domestic machine now! It's just so easy on the longarm. And I get to avoid my least favorite part of quilting - the basting process.

I love how this pantograph kind of makes it look wavy and gives some motion to the quilt. I'll show the final quilt once I get it bound and photographed properly!

I also worked on my blocks for We Bee Modern. Liane let us play with Geese this month! She asked for 12.5" blocks with flying geese in them, a blue background and candy colored geese. These are the two blocks I created.