Free-motion quilting practice is on the menu, and a new baby in the extended family is coming in August. Time to pull together pastel leftovers from a host of different projects!
Faded Gems came together rather quickly; all the pieces were assembled in one night. Except! I can't believe I needed one more 2.5-inch strip to finish it off!!! I can't believe I had to buy a yard of gorgeous fabric for just one 2.5-inch strip! Stitchy McFloss stated it well a few days ago with yarn... 5,000 skeins of yarn, and not a single one suited for the newest project.
Yes, that's my own photo!
Good thing I love Stonehenge!
I plan to quilt motifs into each square. What motifs, I'm not sure yet. Snowflakes, of course, are a continual temptation. Since this is going to be for a baby whose personality I don't even know yet, perhaps cartoon characters or flowers might be in order.
It will be fun to figure out, and I'm looking forward to increasing my skills with this project.
Another thing I ran out of was batting. This is a very big plus for me. My year-long goal is to finish at least 12 of my WIPs. I think I have eight flimsies now ready for quilting. I probably won't get to do much quilting until after several big bicycle rides ahead (just one month until my first century of the year!), but it's so good to know the blocks and strips are coming together and I'm using up all the bits and pieces of batting I've accumulated over the past five or six years. All I have left was two blocks barely big enough for a couple of project bags or purses.
One thing I'm not running out of is fabric. My newest Spoonflower fabrics have arrived, and oh, are they fun!
First is my Snowbike, without all the hours and hours of crochet and applique! Just hours and hours of Photoshopping. This baby took two weeks of about three hours every night after work last winter. All the snowflakes in the project are my designs. I even turned a few into chrome for the silver portions of my bike!
I bought a fat quarter bike and a full yard bike. I am not sure how to quilt them yet, but I'll think of something. I'm thinking a pastel blue Kona solid for the backs... Either that, or my stash of blue snowflake fabrics.
Next are a couple of fireworks fabrics. One required a bit of stitching, but was fun nevertheless. Nothing like fireworks to brighten a spring storm! (We're expecting more snow as I type this blog post.)
I played with some Lake Dillon fireworks photos a few years ago, hoping to one day make a quilt with the special effects results. Back then, I thought I'd one day print the fabric myself on my own computer and printer. Not long after, our computer died. After we finally were able to get a new computer, the perfectly good printer was not compatible. I've ranted about that many times.
Now that I've used Spoonflower a few times, I can see their colors are much more intense than mine when I was printing fabric at home. I think this particular fabric was worth the wait.
The rainbow-colored flimsie might make another great baby or kid quilt. I may have just the perfect rainbow fabric to go on the back already in my stash.
Meanwhile, I haven't stitched the red, white and blue Spoonflower fabric yet because I'm considering adding some stash fabric. I have been collecting red, white and blue fabrics for about 15 or 16 years with the intention of one day making a Quilt of Valor, although Quilts of Valor did not exist when I first started my collection. Growing up near an Air Force base instilled in me a love of the military, and I've always been drawn to service projects that benefit our men and women in the armed forces.
When I first began my patriotic fabric collection, I was making Velcro pajama pants for wounded service members. As the stash grew, so did the yearning to make a very special quilt. Quilts of Valor might be the perfect home for my patriotic Photoshopped fireworks and a few pieces of red, white and blue.
Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts.
wowie zowie there's a lot in this post!
ReplyDeleteFirst, the baby quilt. If you are practicing, check out the zillions of filler patterns and try a different one in each block. The spoonflower fabric is awesome, truly. That bike is my fave of all your stuff. Such a wonderful idea to try designing fabric, and I've known about Spoonflower but never put two and two together that I might also like to design something with a focus. I've really only noticed the overall patterning done. Thanks for the visual excitement! LeeAnna at not afraid of color
Thanks, LeeAnna! I think you would design some awesome - and colorful!!! - fabrics on Spoonflower!
DeleteThat is a lot of time on the bike one indeed, but as long as the time is enjoyed, nothing wrong with that. A new baby is a good excuse to do up another too.
ReplyDeleteI should put that many hours in the saddle on the actual bike, too, huh, Pat? Man, those rides are coming up fast!!!
DeleteToo bad these aren't finished. I wouldn't mind snuggling in one since there's about 3 inches of new snow outside and it's still dumping.
ReplyDeleteAwwww! You can always cuddle in the Snowbike, Lizard! Take your pick; you can warm up in any of my quilts any time!
DeleteIt always feels so good to use up what you have and batting is no exception. Love the baby quilt made from the pastel Stonehenge fabrics.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jasmine! We just found out on Friday the baby is a boy, so I may have to make another one. I thought pastels would be universal, but the more I look at it, it looks somewhat femine to me. Nothing like a good excuse to rebuild my pastel Stonehenge blues!!!
DeleteThat firework fabric is really something special ... and the Snow Bike fabric is over the top awesome!
ReplyDeleteHave fun deciding on a quilting motif. Sometimes I think the planning is more fun than the execution. :)
Thank you, Sue! I love my Spoonflower fabric! I literally can't use it up fast enough. I've got a hundred new design ideas burning in my head, and I won't let myself do them until I finish up this stuff!
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