A hat trick of finished quilts and an ugly fabric challenge gone wrong...

I've been very productive lately.  I'm caught up with the Tewksbury Piecemaker's guild mystery quilt.    All the yellows in this quilt are making it very happy!  I'm loving how its coming together.

Tewksbury Piecemakers Guild Mystery Quilt

 One of the quilts I finished yesterday has a bit of a sad tale associated with it.  Here it is...The Ugly Quilt....

We received a collection of fabric at the shop I work at that can could never be described as attractive.  Some might even use the word ugly to describe it.  I took it as a challenge.  I figured if I could use this fabric in a great pattern, people would flock to it and buy this as a kit.  Alas, even after being made into this really cool Turning Twenty pattern this fabric did not sell (in shop or online).  The quilt top sat around the shop unfinished for a few years and when I got back from Abu Dhabi I noticed the lonely binding sitting in my binding tote.  I inquired as to the whereabouts of the "ugly fabric quilt" and the shop owner knew exactly what I was talking about.  I had my mom quilt it and I finished the binding yesterday.  I have no idea who to give this to because I don't think it will go with anyone's decor, but this is actually a really soft, snuggly quilt and would be great for snuggling with while watching TV.  I may end up donating it to charity.  The cats really seem to like it and don't think it is ugly at all.  I think the quilt looks better with cats on it, so I didn't shoo them away while I was taking my photos.

The princess and the pea?

The cats don't mind this fabric at all!

My next finish is a fun little throw I made using a layer cake of Moda's Sweet Serenade fabric.  I love the colors.  This fabric features birds and music notes on it.  I had my mom quilt it with birds using Fabulux thread in the color Meditation.  This pattern called for a jelly roll, but the layer cake worked just fine for making this 4-patch quilt.  I bought the layer cake some time ago along with a couple yards of coordinating fabric.  I had to look for a pattern that didn't need more background fabric than I had since I REALLY wanted to use what I had and didn't want to have to purchase more.  This pattern fit the bill nicely! I had enough for the border and binding with no issues.  The backing is another story....

Sweet Serenade Layer Cake Quilt

I also wanted to use what I had for the backing without purchasing any additional fabric.  I used leftovers from the border and some extra 4-patches to piece the backing from yardage I already had.  Alas, I used every trick in the book and was JUST A COUPLE INCHES too narrow. Agh!!!  I had to go online and purchase a half yard of coordinating fabric (the light one shown below) to finish the backing.  This also gave me enough to make the coordinating label triangle, so it all worked out in the end.

Pieced backing using all available scraps!

The final quilt I finished yesterday is my first-ever Bargello.  I didn't start this quilt when I wanted to because I couldn't find a good pattern that didn't require me to buy a ton of extra fabric for background, borders, etc.  I'm trying so hard to use what I have and I also find that getting background fabric to match batiks is a challenge.  White solid didn't work for this collection and doesn't work for a lot of the batik jelly rolls I have.  I searched all my patterns and just couldn't find anything that would work.  For the first time ever I saw quilting magazines in an airport news stand (Baltimore airport!).  I snatched them up and low and behold, a pretty bargello pattern that works PERFECTLY for the Tonga Treats strip sets!  The Tonga Treats strips come with two sets of 20 matching strips.  This bargello pattern (Fons and Porter, Fire and Ice Bargello) calls for four sets of 20  matching strips.  I rushed to my LQS to get another pack of strips.  Luckily this is a current collection and luckily the shop also had coordinating fabric for the binding!

The cats feel their presence in quilt pictures adds to the artistic value.

 I love how the quilt came out.  This bargello went together nicely and the whole process was easier than I imagined.  I will probably make this quilt again.  I had my mom quilt this using Fabulux Meditation thread and it blends in great with the quilt top.  I bound this by hand and will enter it in the Tewksbury Piecemaker's quilt show.  This is my final entry into the show, so as of now I am ready for the show with time to spare!

Two more finishes for 2017- Getting ready for the quilt show!

I started quilting my Arcadia Avenue BOM.  I'm two diamonds in on this lovely motif.  It does show up better on the front in real life than in this picture, but you can see it very well on the back.  I'm using Fabulux 40 wt. polyester on the front and 80 wt. Decobob in the bobbin.

This quilt is my third finish of 2017 and is the guild challenge quilt for this year's Tewksbury Piecemaker's Quilt Show.  I was wracking my brain over what to make for the 12" or smaller challenge.  I couldn't decide and time is running out (quilt show is April 8 & 9).  I picked this magazine up in the Baltimore airport on my last business trip and loved this block!

Quilt top done and partially marked out for quilting

The flying geese in this pattern were an off-size for using my Quilt in a Day rulers so I dug out my Wing Clipper for the first time. I found the ruler very simple to use.  I didn't find the sewing as easy to do as the QIAD  method, but I think the ruler works great!  Sadly though, I didn't completely read the instructions and constructed the block wrong twice before finally assembling it properly.  Oops.....it happens to the best of us.

Flying geese complete and trimmed.

Quilting partially complete...

 I used So Fine 50 thread for quilting this little beauty.  I'm very happy with how it came out.  I did all the straight lines and stitch in the ditch with my walking foot on my home sewing machine since the project is so small.  I did the FMQ on my Sweet Sixteen.

I used scraps from the Posy (Moda) fabric line.  These were leftovers from making The Cozy Posy Triangle Quilt from the Moda bake shop.  I absolutely HAD HAD HAD to make that quilt as soon as I saw it.  I use it as the springtime throw on my couch.  I have a ton of scraps left from this project and the small size of the pieces in this quilt lent themselves perfectly to making this pretty little project.  I know there are at least another couple projects worth of scraps left of my beloved Posy fabric.  I'll be savoring it for a while.

Complete!!  I'm in Love!

 In other news, I'm caught up with my guild's current mystery quilt.  I'm using fabric from my stash that I bought about 6 years ago.  Hooray for stash busting!  The mystery is finally at the block assembly stage. I really like how these are coming out.

Guild mystery quilt blocks

 My second finish of 2017 is the Bonnie Hunter En Provence Mystery Quilt.  This quilt will be entered into the local quilt show.  Since its 87" x 87" the hand binding and attaching of the hanging sleeve took me some time, but it was well worth it. This quilt is a stunner!  My mom's machine quilting and perfect thread choice was just the icing on the cake for this beauty.

Last but not least, I finished my first Bargello quilt top.  This is the perfect pattern for Tonga Strips because it takes 4 sets of 20 matching strips.  Each Tonga Strip pack has 2 sets of 20, so with 2 packages you can perfectly make this beautiful Fire & Ice Bargello.  I found this quilt very easy to make and the end result is stunning.  I can't wait to see this quilted!

That's it for now.....I have one hanging sleeve to sew on before the quilt show and then I'll be completely ready.

Fire and Ice Bargello Quilt Top