Penny Patch: A Finish!

I did it. I free motion quilted a whole quilt. A pretty big quilt at that. And . . .  IT'S AWESOME!

I don't really know what else to say about it. I am over the moon proud of myself on this one. Plus, I said most of it here.

I will make one confession though. When I very first sat down and was quilting my first row, I was having a heck of a time. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. I knew it would take a bit to get back in the groove I was in when I finished my drawstring bag, but this felt like more than that. Not sure exactly what finally made it click, but I realized that I hadn't lowered the feed dogs. DOH! Me, myself and I had a pretty good laugh about that, and now you can too.

It has taken me a lot longer to share than finish than I intended but alas, the short and often rainy days here in the Pacific Northwest make is difficult to get good, well any, outdoor photos. Thanks to our current lovely false spring, I was able to get to my mom's house and take some pictures! We were still a limited on what we could do with the very damp ground and lack of greenery, but still, pictures to share!

I love how the back came out. There wasn't enough of the purple print to do the whole thing so I supplemented with some giant squares of coordinating fabrics.

I almost didn't manage to leave my mom's house with this with the quilt, she has been trying to claim it for her own each and every time she sees it, despite the fact that I made her a quilt all her own, in fabrics she picked out! More on that later!

Starting Hopscotch

Needing a little reset

At the beginning of the year I made a pretty big push to get more items completed and listed in my Etsy shop.  I managed to add eight more things, which doubled my inventory, woo hoo!  The main reason for this was that I was trying to get into the o-so coveted Crafty Wonderland show in May.  Despite all my best efforts, this did not happen.  I wasn't terribly surprised, but still kinda bummed.  

At that point, I decided that I needed to take some time and make something for me.  It has been awhile since I have done this.  I was going to make myself the perfect sized make-up bag to put in my gym bag, but that ended up in my Etsy shop.  Also on my list is a case for my Kindle Paperwhite, an awesome Christmas present from my hubby.  I even have the fabrics picked out, but since I need to make some pattern tweaks, it just hasn't happened.

Have to have it!

I did not start reading quilt blogs (or any blogs for that matter) until pretty recently.  One of the first blogs that caught my attention was Jolene's.  I saw a cute granny square quilt somewhere and went looking for a tutorial.  It lead me straight to her lovely blog!  Recently she posted this beauty.  OMG, love, love, love!  Instantly, I knew what my project for me was going to be.  My very own hopscotch quilt!  Truthfully, I would have preferred to be a total copy cat because the yellows and pinks in that fabric line are to die for, but, alas, despite thorough web searching, there is very little Dream On left to be found.  The other thing I love about those fabrics is that they have that vintage sheet feel of which I am a total fan.

I was not dismayed for long though, because Miss Spain has a new fabric line out, Honey Honey.  There isn't any yellow in the line, but there are all of these bright, yet pastel-ly fabrics that are so fresh and so spring.  Plus, it also has some of the vintage sheet feel to it.  Hooray!  I did not delay in purchase of the pattern or Honey Honey jelly roll.  The only thing that gave me a little pause was what color to use for the stars.  I have been trying to push myself not to make things so matchy matchy. The safe bet was a blue that would look lovely with everything, but I knew I wanted the stars to stick out a bit more.  Being brave, I decided to make my stars out my new favorite color, mint, and purchased Kona Cotton in Pool. 

Getting Started

Something that I have found to be useful in my time as a sewist is to search the blogosphere for tips and tricks on popular projects.  It helped me out quite a bit when I made my Amy Butler Weekender Bag (god, what a chore that one was).  First, I learned from Jolene that making a template is a good thing, so I did that, even though I only ended up really using the triangle and  trapezoid.  Next, I learned the two most important things about making this quilt here: 1. Press seams open 2. Do not trim the dog ears (I can't tell you how much this helped me with lining things up).  With all of my found knowledge I set about making my blocks.

This is by far the most complicated quilt that I have ever made and I was pleased as punch when most of points lined up!  There are some not so stellar examples, but instead of fretting about it, I decided that I could just put them on the edges that would end up being cut off :)

Not so good points.

Good points here.

And good points here.

Several sessions later, voila, my blocks are done!

I am feeling pretty good about my choice of mint for the stars, I am kind of obsessed with that color.

Laying the blocks out is going to be so much, I just need to have some time.  I know it won't be this weekend, the husband and I have an out of town wedding to go to!