Checking In...

Hey there friends! I am at the library using their computer as I have no internet service yet. I am hoping that we can get satelite service soon and that I will be back to quilting and blogging shortly. I miss you all so much! I have such an adventure to share with you. I am very happy with our move and we are settling in nicely. I hope you all are well. I appreciate the e-mails I have received. I will try to reply to them as soon as we get internet service. I just want you to know that I am thinking of all of you also and will be talking with you soon.
xo Erin

1 and 2/3 rows...

I am so behind. This is all I have for the sashing on the hand pieced blocks. This is the busiest time of the year for me with practices and games, portfolios, yard work and what feels like a million more things. I have not had time to sew a stitch. So I'll be back later with some hand quilting discussion. If I haven't answered your e-mail yet, I will, and thank you for sending them :) Be back soon...hopefully with more sewing done!

A Finished Granny

Yay! I finished the Flea Market Fancy Granny Squares quilt! It's washed, dried and all crinkley!
I chose to bind it in red. The print has microdots. It's one of my favorites. (Please forgive the fold lines. I had the quilt all folded and ready to go when the sun decided to show itself and I thought I'd try for some half decent pictures!)

For the back I used the leftover Granny Squares I had from the strip sets.

I hope she loves it! Have a great weekend!

Quilting, Quilting, Quilting

I finished quilting the Granny Squares quilt for my friends wedding gift. I was so indecisive about the quilting on this one. At first I was going to quilt fans and include some hand quilting but couldn't find the right template for the fans and I was nervous about marking on the top.

Then I decided to do some free motion loopy quilting. I didn't like that at all.

Then I started hand quilting around the squares. I really liked the way it looked but I was having some puckering / poofing issues. After asking the opinion of my family they agreed that I should stick with the old favorite. So I picked all of the hand quilting and machine quilting out and settled on stippling. I guess that's a little boring but I know that it usually turns out great and it did! I do plan on hand quilting the other Granny Squares quilt I am making though. Now I just have to bind, wash and dry this one!!!

I also made 2 blocks for April for the Believe circle of do. good stitches. They were to be made with cool colors, blues, greens, purples and some kind of grey solid for the center and background. The tutorial can be found here. They were pretty fun to make. I'm looking forward to seeing the quilt that will be made with them.

That's all the sewing I have for this week. Hope y'all are having a great week and getting some sewing time!

I'm linking up with :
Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday
JAQS studio for Made By Me

Flea Market Fancy Granny Squares Cinco De Mayo Wedding Quilt

How's that for a title?

I finished the top for my friends wedding quilt. I used Katy's strip pieced tutorial but with fat quarters so I could make a variety of sets with fewer blocks because this is a smallish quilt. I was excited to lay these blocks out but when I started I just couldn't get a layout I liked. I finally decided on this diagonal layout of green, yellow, blue, green, yellow, blue etc... kind of... the blue block in the bottom corner should probably be yellow but I like the blue.. and looking at it now I think I could have definitely used more red but I'm happy with it. I have some Granny Squares left over that I will use on the back. Then I have to decide on quilting and binding. Any suggestions???

Hand Pieced Quilt-A-Long ~ Sashing and Border

Today I'll go over putting together the hand pieced quilt top. I am using 2 inch white strips for a finished 1.5 inch sashing and border. You can decide what size and color you would like. Also if you want cornerstones you would have to adjust this to your blocks measurements.I made this really simple and cut 2 inches by the width of fabric (WOF). You can also piece your rows together first then measure the length of your rows and cut the 2 inch strip by that number. One 2 in. X WOF strip "should" be enough for 2 rows but fabric widths vary so please measure first.

You will need:
8 ~ 2 in. x 6.5 in. sashing strips
5 ~ 2in.  x  length of pieced rows (3 for sashing, 2 for top and bottom border)
2 ~ 2 in. x WOF border strips (side borders)
Mark a 1/4 inch sewing line on all sides of all of the strips.

Piece together your rows putting a 6.5 inch sashing strip between your blocks.

Sew the 5 ~ 2 in. x length of rows strips to the top, in between and bottom of your rows. Trim off excess fabric from strips.

Take the 2 remaining 2 inch x WOF strips and sew them to each side of your quilt top. Trim off excess fabric from strips. Press your top gently.

That's it for this week. I think we will take next Friday off because hand piecing the sashing and border will take some time.  So the Friday after next we will layer, baste and talk quilting!!!

Here are the links for all of the hand pieced blocks:

Block #1 ~ Churn Dash
Block #2 ~ Jacob's Ladder
Block #3 ~ Ohio Star
Block #4 ~ Bear Paw
Block #5 ~ Granny Square
Block #6 ~ Shoo-Fly
Block #7 ~ Card Trick
Block #8 ~ Friendship Star 
Block #9 ~ Square in a Square
Block #10 ~ Log Cabin
Block #11 ~ Flying Geese Pinwheel
Block #12 ~ Honey Bee

The flickr group is here. Come on over and see all the other pretty hand pieced blocks.

Have a great weekend!!!

☆☆☆ Fabricworm Flea Market Fancy FQ Bundle WInner ☆☆☆

The winner of the Flea Market Fancy FQ Bundle from fabricworm is comment #418 ~ Paskiaq!

Thank you all who entered! Have a great weekend!!!!