Saying Good-Bye to July

It's been almost three weeks since my last post and part of my reason for this brief respite is because it involved indulging in way too much July Sidewalk Sales, both online and on foot, which resulted in my having to reorganize my studio. I don't dare show photos of my latest acquisitions which also include my winnings of 33 fat quarters from participating in MMM Quilts Plus Playtime QAL (Thank you Sandra and Cali Quilt Co.) or my new storage unit; I'm just glad my studio is once again organized and a fabric diet will be planned for 2019.  I spent the last week of July catching up on some sewing and can post some finally finished quilts.

First up is my Stacked Squares Quilt designed by Erica Jackman of Kitchen Table Quilting and is a free pattern available from Moda Bake Shop.  I first became aware of this pattern through Kelly Young of My Quilt Infatuation and this is the second one I have made.  

I started making this quilt last year when I purchased Lynette Jensen's Quilts with a New Attitude being the Modern Traditional quilter which I am and also in possession of a bit of both Thimbleberries and Cotton+Steel fabrics, both RJR lines. I liked the idea of combining one of Lynette's traditional pattern with the modern C+S fabric so my intention was to make the Sky Blue Waters pattern.  I changed my mind when I realized that I needed a new wall quilt to go with the new blue and green bedspread for our "guest" bedroom (truth be told, I still call this Mike's room even though he hasn't occupied it in our ten years and is only used when he and his family comes to visit) and thought the Stacked Squares patten would make a better wall quilt. However, I did get the idea to combine both Thimbleberries and Cotton + Steel fabrics together since I thought some of the blue and green prints I had in both of my stash would go so well together.

I made these blocks almost a year ago and sadly I didn't feel the urgency to finish this quilt.  It was on my 2018 UFO list and my only impetus to finally finish this quilt is because there is another quilt I want to make similar to the Stack Squares pattern using blue and yellow Cotton + Steel.  Sometimes my UFO list has to take precedent and a DrEAMi project has to wait.  Also, I was really hesitant about cutting up these blocks since cute animal prints were involved and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be--the squirrels sewed up nicely.

My C+S+T (Cotton+Steel+Thimbleberries) quilt measures 60" square. Here are some close-up photos of the quilt.  Can you spot which prints are Thimbleberries and which ones are Cotton + Steel?   I quilted it with curvy lines, about 1" apart, with mint green thread and the funky dot backing is a ten year old print from the backing vault.  I used a green Thimbleberries print for the binding not only for nostalgia sake but also as a way to use up more of the Thimbleberries stash which has been quietly sitting on my shelf.

Now that this quilt is finally finished, I'm wondering why I didn't finish it sooner.  Also, since I've become reaquainted with the Thimbleberries book, I may do a variation of the Sky Blue Waters pattern with the blue and yellow Cotton + Steel prints.  It's funny how quilt inspiration can strike you or is this what you call serendipity?

And speaking of quilt inspiration or should I say impetus, I finally finished my sweet granddaughter, Micah, Fish Quilt which I mentioned in my last post that I had forgotten about it and needed to finally finish it since my claim that every quilt I started in 2018 were all finally finishes was not true because of this top.

The Anne Kellle fish fabric used for the backing was purchased last year when Micah was just months old and the 4.5" squares was pulled from stash but the top was not made until March of this year.  There's no better impetus for finally finishing this quilt than a visit to see Micah this weekend and I'm pretty sure she's going to love it since she's in a Fishie phase right now.  I love the wavy grid quilting with the variegated thread on the top and thankful that I had enough of the stripe fabric for the binding.  I think I'll be using this quilting pattern again for my one-patch quilts, a favorite of mine  for baby quilts.

Some of the other sewing I did was another Staggered Squares and Strip quilt top which I am doing for the Fabulous Freebies Blog Hop, August 20-24th hosted by Calico Joan of Moosestash Quilting where Bloggers are presenting their favorite or their own free quilt tutorial.  Here's a sneak peek of the quilt which I will be posting on my day which is August 24th and should be no surprise that it involves Cotton + Steel fabrics.  I'm being very partial when I say I love making these quilts because it's, easy,  a great pattern to use a lot of different fabrics and the quilting comes easy for me.

I'm calling it a month now and saying good-bye to July.  It's been a busy and fun month for me and I expect more of the same for August except for the fabric buying.  We'll be traveling in September and  hubby saids there are four quilt shops around where we will be staying so I need to do a fabric fast for August.

Linking up with:  Tish Adventure in Wonderland, UFO Busting, Cooking Up Quilts, Main Crush Monday, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Oh Scrap!, My Quilt Infatuation, Needle and Thread Thursday and Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop Friday