A few weeks ago, I decided to bite the bullet and cut into the Liberty of London fabrics I bought 2 years ago. (Well, start planning the cutting anyway.) Sometimes I don’t know why I buy “fancy” fabric because I just get some sort of fabric-paralysis and become too scared to use it. Two years of waiting was long enough.

Voiles from top to bottom: Fuchsia, Rose Pink, Coral, Gold, Yellow, Cilantro, Green, Water, Seafoam, Heather, Purple, Sky

I thought if I was going to use these lovelies, I needed something soft and silky to go with them. I bought a variety of Free Spirit voile fabrics. I love voile…but it does pose some challenges. It is a bit slippery to work with, so I just pin more and try to pay extra attention when piecing. I purchased these from Hawthorne Threads. Pink Castle Fabrics also has some voile solids available.

They looks so pretty together.

I have started some paper piecing…future pattern maybe?

Can’t wait to show you more soon!

Updated to add some works in progress from today.

Piece, Piece.

Trim, Trim.

Despite the beautiful weather we’ve had here in Chicago over the last week, I managed to finish another quilt. I’ve had these blocks done for awhile now, waiting to assemble into a quilt top. I finally was able to work on that last week and then finished up the binding while we went on a trip to northern Michigan this weekend. Check out this cool photo my mom edited for me of my husband and daughter flying a kite.

This block is no doubt attributed to many quilt designers, but one of those happens to be…Nancy Cabot! She called this block the “Thrift Block” and you can find a paper piecing template for it created by Tamiko of Patchwork Notes in this blog post.

When I first made these blocks, I thought I would make about 25 and turn them into a mini quilt. Then I started brainstorming alternate quilt layouts and decided on a bit more unexpected layout. I am really thrilled with the finished quilt. Almost equally thrilled when we drove past this apple storage building on our trip and my husband suggested we stop for pictures!

The backing is Kona Ash, the binding is probably my favorite deep blue print, Lizzy House’s Outfoxed Jewels in Blue. The white is Moda’s Bella solids white. I have a bolt of it and I really just think it is the softest white. I quilted this in a free motion meandering design and the finished quilt measures 53″ x 59″.

This quilt is headed for a local charity auction here in Chicago in May, raising money for the Melanoma Research Foundation.

It has been one of those weeks where I wish I had more to share… Despite both kids being sick, I have managed to get some things done. Unfortunately some I can’t share yet. Others aren’t quite ready to be photographed. But I did finish the quilt top for the Solstice Stars Series. And then I took the photos of it upside down. But you get the picture, right?

The rest of the week I’m planning to finish up some things with upcoming deadlines, specifically my For the Love of Solids swap and my quilt start for The Traveling Quilts. Hopefully I will be able to post both of those soon!

Don’t forget to enter the Art Gallery Poetica giveaway if you haven’t already. I’ll be picking a winner tomorrow night!

It’s done! I finally finished up my Summer Sampler Series quilt. I am *so* happy with how it turned out.

Honestly I never thought I would make a Sampler quilt. They are definitely beautiful and a lot of work goes into them…but I always thought they were too traditional to peak my interest. I guess that just goes to show that you should never say never. Although these blocks all have traditional roots, I feel like the fabrics and sashing give this quilt a distinctly modern feel. Even my husband likes it! (And that is saying something. )

For those that didn’t follow along, the solids I used for the quilt blocks were from Pat Bravo’s Pure Elements collection. I am very much in love with the fabric – the colors, the silkiness. I plan on keeping some permanently in my stash. The 2″ wide grey sashing is Free Spirit Designer Solids Nugray. I also am really happy with their solids and plan to order more. I need a swatch card!

For the backing I used a print from Tanya Whelan’s Dolce Fabric collection. I had been saving this fabric to make some clothing, but….well, that never happened! And in the spirit of using what I have, I decided it would make a great quilt backing. There is also a dark purple stripe which is from the Pat Bravo Pure Elements line that I used on the front.

I decided to quilt this one in a free motion meandering style. There are a *lot* of seams on this quilt and I wanted to do some heavy quilting to make sure it all stays in place for a long time.

The binding is Free Spirit Designer Solids Manatee. The final quilt measures around 44″ x 58″.

I have really enjoyed watching so many of these quilts come together in the Flickr group. If you haven’t checked it out, be sure to stop by and be inspired. Also, if you weren’t able to quilt along with us, don’t worry. The tutorials will be up indefinitely, so you can always make yours at a future date.