BluePip Designs

My Modern Fans quilt is done!  If you scroll back through the blog (or just click that link) you'll see that I finished this top back in November.  I bought a back for it online and when it arrived it was all wrong.  Then I couldn't find anything else that I liked, so the quilt was just in a state of limbo.  Enter my guild challenging us to try new things in 2019!  I took a look at this quilt again, particularly the madras print that was my jumping-off point for the rest of the colors, including the green solid and orange grunge that just scream "Fall!  Pumpkin Patches!  Cool nights!" when you look at them, and decided to take the leap: my first flannel-backed quilt! I wasn't sure what to expect with the flannel, but it didn't give me any trouble at all.  I did pre-wash it, something I normally don't do, but that was the only change I made. One other thing that I've been working on is not over-quilting my quilts.  Since the fans ...

I'm just popping in today to share my finished Sweet Treat quilt top! I was a few days late for finishing with the sew-along , but I'm thrilled with how it came out and have no regrets!  It's going into the "finished tops" pile for now - I decided the only acceptable backing is one of the new prints from the Ruby Star Society so I have to wait a few months for it to arrive.  Luckily I have plenty of other things to work on (or maybe I'll just be outside enjoying the beautiful spring weather!).

This is the first block I made for my Rainbow Blossom sampler .  When I finished it I hung it on my sewing room wall (as I sometimes do) and after looking at it for two months I decided I wanted it there permanently!  One morning to quilt it up and one evening to hand-stitch the binding also made it a satisfying fast finish. The back is just a solid piece that I had laying around - I think it was a freebie from the 2016 shop hop I participated in.  The important part is that it was exactly the right size and I think it's fun to be able to see all the quilting sometimes! Now back to quilting bigger things!

I celebrated by taking advantage of online sales and buying quilt backs for two different quilts.  I am apparently attracted to shiny new things - both of the backs I selected are only available for pre-order.  One should be here in a week or two, but the other won't come until July (but the wait is totally worth it!).  For now, I thought I'd share a few of the blocks I've been working on this week. I finished two more blocks for my scrappy trip quilt - that puts it at half-done. All of the treats in my Sweet Treat quilt are done and ready to be sewn together!  This is a lazy picture - I actually made four grape popsicles, ten ice cream cones, and eight sets of bomb pops. And I've dusted off my Trinket quilt, which hasn't been touched since Quilt Block Summer ended in September.  I had two big motivators:  Alison Glass started a quilt-along for it this week and I got two charm packs of Sun Print 2019 in my February Sew Sampler box' It is unf...

You may have noticed that I didn't have a celebratory post in February for the completion of my monthly goal .  What happened?  I spent a lot of time sewing blocks for sew-alongs , while telling myself that I could get my goal done in a day, I just needed to give myself a day.  And then, tragedy.  I set out to sew it all up on Sunday the 24th and I didn't have enough fabric to finish it up!  I changed the cutting instructions from the pattern to make half-circles instead of quarter circles and it was just enough to sabotage myself.  I jumped online to buy more instantly, but it didn't get here until the second.  On the plus side, I was able to finish it in two days of sewing!  Anyway, lesson learned: start the monthly goal earlier! This top has been set aside for now because I need to find the perfect backing fabric for it.  Instead, my goal for March is to finish the Modern Fans quilt top that's been done since November .  My quil...