Fireworks Block

I bought the Fireworks pattern from Thimble Blossoms and i quickly jumped onto making this block.  It took me many hours, and I don't have intentions for a full quilt using these fabrics, but I just really wanted to make it!  I'm not sure what I'm going to turn it into... a pillow.. a mini quilt... no idea!  It's a 16" block, so if it went to a pillow I'd have to sash it to 20".  I'm leaning towards a mini quilt as I type this... I need more decorations in my messy sewing room :)

Come What May Quilt

I finished this quilt last fall.  The pattern is Come What May by Jaybird Quilts.

When Joel Dewberry's Aviary 2 collection came out, I bought the entire purple colorway without a plan in mind.  After I purchased mine, my best friend saw the collection, loved it, and her mom made her a quilt out of the black/yellow colorway (I posted about that Pendant Quilt here).  That was October 2011 - so I've been sitting on this for a while!

It took me a while to find a pattern I wanted to use with it.... and one that required the amount of fabric I bought (I had 1/2 yard cuts of all of it).

And that is the problem with how I shop for fabric.  When I have a plan in mind, stuff goes fast!  I don't get nervous cutting into it, I don't want to change my mind in the middle of the plan... I just move right along!  When I don't plan, I end up buying gobs of fabric that I love and it just sits there looking pretty.  Although I don't mind gobs of pretty fabric, by the time I get around to using it I wonder if I will still love it as much as I originally did?  That is what was pushing me to get this quilt done once I decided on a pattern.

I quilted straight lines 1/4" on either side of each column and row.  I love the woven look of the finished product.  It's a really simple quilt pattern - it would be great for beginners.

This purple should look eggplant colored, but the morning light did some funky stuff.  The back is all birds - with my best attempt at matching the birds in the seam with the amount of fabric I had available for it.

Although I love this quilt, I ended up gifting this to my mom.  I was on video chat with her one day and she saw it in the background and asked about it.  She is a very picky person when it comes to fabric/quilts.  I went through about all of my collection with her before to see what she likes and she nixed all of it.  And I mean all of it.  I showed her other examples online, other fabric styles, I tried everything... and she nixed all of those too.  So when she showed interest in this, she got it.  She obviously gets first choice!

I flew out to visit and gave it to her while she was in the hospital.  Apparently it made conversation with every nurse that came in the room - which she loved!

Windows Sewing Machine Cover

(This makes my desk look clean.  Just prior to taking this photo I took a big swipe and pushed all my crap on the floor.)

My friend Andrea made a sewing machine cover like this from the full line of Flea Market Fancy and used linen as the sashing.  I loved it and made one for myself, with a little different selection of FMF prints and white sashing.  This pattern is "Windows Sewing Machine Cover" from the book Fresh Quilting: Fearless Color, Design, and Inspiration by a stitch in the dye.

I quilted it in the ditch... which I never usually do but I thought it worked well for this small pattern:

On the back is one of my favorites - Bouquet in Turquoise.

My husband was the one that suggested white binding.  (He gave an opinion on fabric..wtf??!)  It does work so well...