The Rebecca Bag, take two!  I usually don't make a purchased pattern twice, if it is my own design I'll make it a lot, but normally with a purchased pattern I will make it once and then I move on.  I think for me it is a way to learn techniques and then once I have learned from that project, it is time to move on.  Well obviously this wasn't the case here.  Case in point is the Rebecca Bag from the book, Bags the Modern Classics - Clutches, Hobos, Satchels & More by Sue Kim.  My first time with the pattern was for Craft Book Month at Craft Buds, and you can see the finished bag and review HERE.

After the blog hop, I had the bag hanging around in my house and my mom spotted it, she fiddled with it a bit and decided it would be the perfect style for her with a few modifications.  She wanted more pockets, inside and out, and she wanted a shorter version, it didn't need to be as tall if she was going to use it as an everyday handbag.  So I let her dig through all of my home dec fabrics (more than I care to admit) and she pulled out a mismatched stack of things she liked and gave me the job to surprise her with the final pick.  Well little did she know that of the stack she picked, only one or two of the prints actually had enough yardage to make the bag, thus limiting the choices in the end.  I think it worked out quite nicely though.  The main fabric for the bag is a home dec from Joel Dewberry (a few years old) and the handles are a lovely Echino (also a few years old.)  The interior is some random toile print that I had in my stash, whose origins are completely unknown, but works perfectly for a bag interior!

Be it that I had made this bag before, it stitched up really quickly and I only referred to the directions once or twice, making the construction that much faster.  I do believe that fabric choice, cutting and ironing interfacing took longer than the actual bag construction.  The modifications included shortening the overall length of the pattern by around 4", thus shortening the front pocket a bit too.  I added quite a bit of length to the handles also, just to make sure they would fit easily over the shoulder.  I did not modify the top curve, as I didn't want to have to make changes to the zipper length and I left the depth alone because it is pretty darn perfect.  Just like the original that I made, I added a zippered pocket to the back for keys or cell phone and it is nestled neatly in between the two handles (shown below.)

I used a hot pink zipper and top-stitched everything with hot pink to accent the center of the flowers in the Joel Dewberry print.  The top zipper was a neutral beige, so it would blend in, and is a "purse zipper" which has two toggles and is super thick and sturdy (I bought it at JoAnn fabrics.)  I used a short zig-zag stitch to reinforce the handles where they separate from the bag body, I just wanted to have some extra stitching there, just making sure it was secure.  I used a size 16 needle for the majority of the construction of this bag as there are many layers of home dec fabric and interfacing.  For the final layers of stitching (the bias tape on the interior seams) I switched to a "denim needle" which would be equivalent to a size 18.  It worked like a charm.

Once I had finished the bag and it was already inside out, I decided to take a few pictures to really show you what the interior looks like.  I added in the larger side pocket and another zip pocket for extra storage.  You can see that all the layers are sewn together and then to finish the raw edges you attach bias tape to the unfinished seams.  It seems like it would be hard, but it really isn't.  I used Clover Wonder Clips (which are awesome by the way) to hold the bias tape on the seams and with that denim needle just stitched slowly and carefully around each side.  It really isn't that hard, just takes a little patience.  Some spots of the interior aren't perfect, and the stitching is a bit messy, mostly at the zipper ends and that short run of bias tape, but honestly what does it matter, it is the interior of the bag and barely visible.

In conclusion, I love this pattern, and the book itself is filled with a ton of great projects.  I think my mom loved the finished project (at least I hope so) and should be just big enough to hold all of her everyday essentials.  The front divided pockets are just large enough to hold a cell phone, sunglasses, keys or anything you would want quick access to.  The interior is just the right size to hold a magazine plus all of your normal purse goodies.  The pattern really is a keeper!

On a side note I normally take my bags outside to photograph them as I have more space and hanging opportunities outside.  After I had taken the photos outside and then downloaded them to the computer I noticed that the bag really blended into the background, so I guess my colors were very nature inspired! LOL  I ended up taking more photos on the white background so you could really "see" the bag.

I am linking up to The Crafty Traveler over at Ellison Lane and the March Craft Book Sew-Along hosted by Live.Love.Create.

This project was also my second finish in the first quarter of the 2014 Finish Along hosted by Katy at The Littlest Thistle.

A teaser shot to show off my latest work in progress.  I designed a paper pieced pattern and am in the chain piecing a million pieces mode. Oh and have I ever mentioned that I don't really like paper piecing.  I'm sure I have.  But, I will say the end product will definitely be worth it!  Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Happy Monday!  I thought I would pop in quickly to share a few things going on in my world.

My husband took the kids to my Sister-in-law's house this weekend, thus freeing me up for a few hours.  My mom was also visiting and helped me to tackle basting my KING SIZED City Sampler quilt.  Yeah, I was majorly dreading this project, as it measures a whopping 104" x 104" but with the help of my mom, it really wasn't so bad.  Actually it went really smoothly and her help was very much appreciated!  I am estimating that over 500 safety pins went into this one, roughly every 6" or so.  Whew, so glad to have that task over with and very excited to start quilting this one!

I received some super exciting news on Saturday, that I was chosen as the Second Place winner in the Mosaic Tiles Quilt Along hosted by Craft Buds!  I couldn't be more thrilled and excited, I'm still so pumped up!  I wanted to thank Craft Buds, all of the awesome judges and lastly all of the amazing sponsors of the quilt along.  Hop over to Craft Buds and show all of the other participants some love, because there was some amazing entries in this contest, they all deserve praise.

Lastly, after doing some figuring and traveling confusion from my husband (don't ask.)  Austin, Texas is only a 6 hour drive from my house, making QuiltCon totally doable!  I actually plan to travel via Amtrak (kinda excited about that alone!)  So yes, I'll be there, QuiltCon 2015!  Hope to meet you there!

I am really behind in showing off the last few (ok the last 6 months) worth of bee blocks, so here I am today, trying to rectify that situation!

First up are the simplest blocks that I think I may have ever sewn!  This block is the Belle Wave by Faith of Fresh Lemons and can be found HERE.  These were for Michonne (Watch Meesh Run) and I believe she was making a wedding quilt for a friend.  How sweet!  The block finished as 11.5" x 13" and literally took 10 minutes to stitch up.  Nice and easy.

September's blocks may have been the easiest, but October's blocks were definitely the hardest I have ever done!  I'm not just saying that, these were the hardest blocks I have ever done!  The Windmill pattern from the book "Modern Blocks, 99 Quilt Blocks from your Favorite Designers" was designed by Lynne Goldsworthy of Lily's Quilts fame.  Stephanie (spontaneousthreads) sent us the background Heath print and we used scraps for the triangles.  We made 8 quadrants, and she is going to sew them together randomly with all the other bee members blocks, making them totally unique.  I worked on and off on these blocks for two weeks, and logged in well over 8 hours sewing these babies together.  That was some serious paper piecing and I don't think I will ever make these blocks again.  That being said, it was a great learning experience for sure, and isn't that what these bees are about?

November's blocks were for Leanne (She Can Quilt) and she requested these half square triangle based blocks, called "Ocean Waves."  The fabrics were from the Blitzen line and Kona white.  Leanne wrote us a wonderful tutorial for these blocks, which can be found HERE.  I was pleased as punch with these blocks, as most of my triangles still have their points and mostly lined up well.  I think this was my most successful half square triangle blocks to date.  This will certainly be a lovely Christmas quilt.

Staying with the Christmas theme, January's blocks were for Toni (HoosierToni) who is getting a huge jump start on Christmas quilts for her children this year.  Isn't that a great idea!  She had us make Spiderweb Blocks from the tutorial found at House of A La Mode, tutorial HERE.  I have made several of these blocks in the past (and I have a WIP Christmas quilt myself using this same pattern!)  Needless to say, these were easy and quick.  She sent the background plus all the scraps and asked for 5 quadrants.  I then sewed the leftover scraps together, so the few she would have to make herself would go together even more quickly.

We are now arriving at my blocks (that I actually made for myself,)  March is my month, and I have chosen Modern Maples as the blocks I will have everyone make.  I am excited about this one!  The tutorial can be found HERE and is by Amanda Woodward-Jennings of Hey PorkChop!  I sent everyone a selection of low volume prints, plus strips of both Denyse Schmidt Chicopee and Anna Maria Horner Field Study lines of fabric.  These blocks go together really quickly and measure 12.5" x 12.5."  The top block is Lush Uptown by Erin Michael, and is the basis for this quilt.  I love that line and wanted to base a quilt off of those colors, they seem very autumn to me.  So I made that block and then picked the other two fabric lines based off the colors and prints.  I hope to have this one done by the fall of the year, as I really want to use it, so I am using the low volume prints in the "solid" blocks and using them as leaders and enders in my current projects, which is really cool and getting two projects done at one time.  All of my packets have been mailed out and I can't wait to see the blocks come together!

Hopefully, next time I post pictures of bee blocks, it won't be 6 months from now.  I am so glad to have this post done, as it has literally taken me all week to write...goodness gracious.  I'm off to do some cleaning, picture taking and I have presents to wrap.  Have a great weekend!

The Two in One Tote, two challenges, one tote!  It all started last year when I joined the Modern Quilt Guild as an individual member.  How exciting to be able to have that opportunity, I was and am thrilled.  The first thing that I loved about being a member was that now I could participate in the fabric challenges that I had seen so many groups participating in.  So here is the very first, The Riley Blake Challenge.  The guild sent all those who signed up 6 fat eighths of Riley Blake fabric and we could make whatever we wanted, just so long as it was quilted.  We could add any solids, or any Riley Blake fabrics.

Right from the start I new I wanted to make a beach bag.  We need a new one desperately.  The old one was skin chaffing and just all around terrible.  Even though I knew I wanted to make a tote, I really had no idea on what to do with the fabric, or how far the fat eighths would really go on a large tote.  So there the fabric sat for quite some time, and then the Guild extended the competition and therefore my fabric sat even longer.  At the beginning of the year, while blog surfing I came across a blog post from Craft Buds announcing theMosaic Tiles Quilt Along.  Oh, now there is an idea.  So I ordered the book, Modern Bee by Lindsay Conner, and once it arrived, a plan was formed.

The Mosaic Tiles block is a 11.5" x 11.5" block, and I roughly figured that if I made four blocks, that would be right around the right size for my tote (or one side of it at least.)  The Riley Blake Challenge included the dark gray solid, so I added in two coordinating shades of gray and set to making the blocks.  I purposely arranged the layout, the grays in diagonal lines, and then the prints just random.  Once I had the four blocks completed and sewn together, I attached the panel to fusible fleece and quilted with a medium gray 1/4" away from the seams with my walking foot.

I loved it, the only problem was that I didn't have enough fabric, solid or print to have a matching second side.  So now what?  I started with taking the prints that I had left and cutting out 18 - 4.5" x 4.5" squares, leaving only a 3" x 9" piece of fabric left.  I randomly sewed these together, creating a small panel the same width as the front, but quite a bit shy of being tall enough.  I pondered for a while and thought of my intended purpose of the bag, a beach bag and decided to try a modern applique beach wave.  Any why not add in a little ombre too?  I dug through my stash found 3 coordinating blues, and drew up a wave template.  I didn't want to use raw edge applique, so I put two layers of the dark blue together, traced my template and sewed on the line in a short 1.5 stitch.  I then cut with my pinking shears close to the seam, cut a few notches, then turned the fabric.  After fidgeting with it a bit, I then Ironed the HECK out of it and created a smooth-ish wave that contained no raw edges on the exterior.  I then machine stitched this wave on top of the patchwork panel about 1/8" away from the edge.  Now that the hard part was done, I added the two blue solids and now I had a second finished panel.  I also fused this side to fusible fleece and then was faced with how to quilt it.

I knew that I didn't want to repeat the straight line quilting, and wanted a totally different look for this side.  I decided that the patchwork colorful part reminded me of the umbrellas and people on the beach, so I free motion quilted the circle "umbrellas" on the "beach."  Then I knew I had to echo the waves onto the beach a bit and of course in the water.  I used my walking foot to quilt the waves, which I guess? was the most accurate way to do it?  Maybe if I was super skilled I could have free motion quilted it, but I don't that at this point my skills are quite that good.  The only problem I ran into during this whole process was when I had to free motion quilt the circles.  The first and second round went fine, but when I made the third and fourth loop of stitching the fabric really pulled in and distorted, creating a "bubble" of sorts in the center of the circle.  I know that the problem was probably caused because I didn't have enough layers and was only quilting through cotton and fleece.  I ironed the HECK out of that section, but in the end, it definitely has texture.

Now that my quilting was complete, I found a matching gray solid for the lining, and started to assemble the bag.  I stitched the sides and bottom.  Created a gusset, and was overall pleased with the size and shape.  it really was just right.  Just big enough to hold several beach towels, a few toys and such, but not too big.  When it came time to sew the lining and the bag together, at the last moment I decided to add piping to the top edge, just to add a little extra touch.  I am really glad that I did, it really separates the exterior from the interior.  This bag is pretty floppy, does not stand on its own, but that is exactly what I wanted, because when it is time to travel and store it, I can just roll it up and tuck it out of the way!

The plan all along was to have rope handles, I mean you can't have a beach bag without rope handles, right?  So once the bag was all sewn, I installed 4 silver grommets that had a 1/2" hole opening.  Now I just needed to go to the local hardware store for some rope.  I ended up buying a 3/8" natural sisal.  It slipped perfectly through the grommets, I tied knots on each end and it was just the right size.  Now I complained earlier about my old beach bag chaffing our skin, so of course I couldn't have the rope raw against our bare shoulders.  I looked at the scraps I had left, took the 3" x 9" pieces, cut it down to 2.5" x 9" and created lined tubes that slipped onto the rope, nice and slim little handle covers.  My bag was now complete!  It measures 20.5" wide, 18" tall and an 8" gusset, and a 12" handle drop.  It is LARGE!

I really enjoyed the process, the finished tote and being able to participate in two challenges, simultaneously.  Thank you Riley Blake for providing the fabric, and for the Modern Quilt Guild to host this challenge.  Also, thank you toCraft Buds for hosting the Mosaic Tiles Quilt Along, because honestly, that side of the tote is my favorite, and in my opinion the most modern!

I almost forgot, but this is also my first finish in the first quarter of the 2014 Finish Along hosted by Katy at The Littlest Thistle!

I don't know about you, but I'm sick of this wintery ice slush weather we have been having.  I'm ready for Spring!  Since I can't change the weather, I can change your mood!  Looking through old blog posts and my photographs, I realized I never showed off the finished Bloom Bloom Pow quilt top.  So here she is!  Almost exclusively Denyse Schmidt and matching solids, this top measures 57" x 67" and will be a great lap quilt.

Here is the wrinkly quilt top photo, in full sun.  The only reason I include this picture is because the colors are the most true in this photo.  So bright and sunny, I do love this quilt!  Now I just have to figure out how to quilt her!  Feel free to share any ideas you might have, I would greatly appreciate it!

Interested in making your own?  This quilt was part of a fun quilt along hosted by Lee of Freshly Pieced.  You can find all the details HERE.

A few months ago I received the most lovely gift in the mail.  Do you recognize it?  Last year it was part of the Zakka Along 2.0 - Patchwork Please sew along.  It is the Sweet Trips Embroidery Pouch (week 18) and this one was made by my friend Debbie over at A Quilter's Table.  Isn't it the sweetest!

Debbie made it for me as a "just because" and boy did she nail it!  It is so perfect, adorable and oh so handy.  You see right at the time I received this lovely gift, I had just started the Autumn Sampler by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, and was using a gallon size Ziplock bag.  So sad.  So I threw that sad Ziplock bag away and immediately stuffed my new pouch full of all my cross stitch goodies!

You can see my pouch filled to the brim below.  It had a space for everything and holds it all so well.  You can see back in the day when I took these photos just how far along I was with that cross stitch project (not very far!)

On the left side it holds my floss, the actual cross stitch piece (folded) and my chart of colors and symbols.

On the right side it holds my needles, and the current thread I am using, plus my scissors tucked away in a pocket that keeps my boys from getting their precious hands on them!  I have been using this embroidery pouch every single day, traveling in my purse, car and by hand for months now, it is the perfect size and perfect thoughtful gift for me!

Below is where I am currently on the sampler.  My background fabric wasn't quite dark enough, so the white kinda disappeared.  To solve this issue, I am adding in a gold thread with the white to make it pop, and hopefully stand out a bit.  If you look hard at block number 13 you can see the gold on her hat.  I have been steadily working on this one, enjoying every minute and enjoying my little gift even more.  Thank you Debbie!

While we are on the topic of Debbie, I was thrilled to find out yesterday that she won 2nd place in the Tula Pink City Sampler Quilt Along, hosted by Sew Sweetness.  Tula Pink herself picked the winners and I couldn't be more thrilled for Debbie, she completely deserved it and if you want to check out her awesome winning quilt, "Unlocked" then click HERE to see what a beauty this quilt really is!

Ironically, after publishing this post, I was browsing through my old blog posts and discovered that today, exactly four years ago is when I started blogging!  Wow, time flies and it is so hard to believe that it has already been four years   Thanks so much to all of you for joining me on my journey and for all the friendships that I have formed in these years through this little blog!

As of January 1st, I had officially finished 70 of the 100 City Sampler blocks from the book, 100 Modern Quilt Blocks by Tula Pink.  Knowing that I had worked on these blocks in spurts for at least six months, I knew I wanted to finish them all and get the quilt top done!  Finishing blocks 70-100 took about 3 days total.  I picked out all the fabrics, cut everything out and then chained stitched like crazy!  Now I had all 100 blocks complete.  Yeah!!!

All along I knew that I would be making the "City Planner" quilt layout that is included in the book, so I had to decide on the sashing solids.  Why didn't I order these fabrics months ago?  Who knows, that would have made so much more sense.  So I got in touch with Hawthorne Threads, and the lovely Becky helped me with picking two gray fabrics that complimented each other and complimented the blocks, which were constructed out of the line Constellations by Lizzy House and a variety of blue solids.  I ended up deciding on two solid (Silver and Charcoal) fabrics from Hawthorne Threads new line called Hawthorne Hues.  They were perfect, and have such a beautiful hand to them, it really was a dream to work with these new solids.  Oh and I bought these fabrics, so I'm totally not biased or anything, they really are nice.  They ironed really well too.  Just saying.

Now it was time for construction.  The City Planner layout uses all 100 blocks and makes a king size quilt.  Oh my, what have I gotten myself into?  So I started cutting, and sewing, and laying out blocks, and sewing some more.  Goodness gracious!  I included the below shot to show what it looked like when I was laying the blocks out on my living room floor.  I started with the layout that Tula used in the book, then had to move around blocks according to the same fabrics or solids being next to one another.  By the end I moved a lot of them, but the original layout concept is still there.

Once I had finished all the rows, then it was time to add the sashing in between.  I don't think I have ever sewn 104" seams before and needless to say it took way longer than I ever thought it would.  It grew and grew and got big and heavy, oh my.  Here it is, in all its finished glory!

I will start with saying that I have been working on this steady for two weeks now, and everything in the world has been trying to stop me from finishing it.  Originally my husband was going to keep the kids one weekend so I could finish, then that fell through.  Then we had the crazy snow storm here in the South, and in total the kids missed four days of school.  Talk about a freak occurrence, and then of course I had to go and get sick, like fever, all the cold symptoms...yuck.  Needless to say that DayQuil has been my best friend as of late and the only reason this quilt was actually finished in time tolink up with the Sew Along over at Sew Sweetness.

I also want to apologize for the poor quality of these photos, this quilt is really too big for me to wrestle by myself, and be it that I was working in a fevered stupor today, this was the best I could do.  Laying it on the dry spot in the yard.  Standing on my step stool, tip toeing, the photo below almost shows the whole thing, which measures 104" x 104."  Though the colors look a bit dull in the photos, in real life it really is pretty, be it that the Constellations fabric line technically has no gray in it, the blocks really stand out from the background.  All those shades of blue, both warm and cool, all in one harmonious mixture.  There is a touch of yellow throughout, and bits of black and white and all those constellations and stars.

This quilt is for my husband, using his favorite colors and will be for our bed.  At one point he was helping me adjust a row (he isn't aware this quilt is for him) and said, "I really like this one, did you know it is my favorite color combinations of blues and black."  I chuckled inside, because yes, I did know that.  Now the test will be to see if he reads my blog! HA!

At this moment, I do plan to quilt this one myself.  I just ordered king size batting, and I bought 108" wide backing fabric (3 yards) so I wouldn't have to piece the back.  I think I may try spray basting on this one, because the idea of pin basting it makes me want to cry.  You can see my little "helper" below, who desperately wanted to be included in the photo shoot and didn't understand why I wouldn't lay down on it and let him take a photo of me, on the quilt.  Nope, not today.  Maybe when it is finished.

Thanks to all who sponsored the quilt along, and a super big thanks to Tula Pink, who wrote an awesome book that didn't have any mistakes (or at least none that I found,) which is pretty impressive for a book based on measurements and numbers!  It was a fun 8 months, I loved seeing all the other entries and all of the blocks posted to Flickr.  Though the quilt along is over, you can make the blocks at any point, trust me, they really are rewarding and fun!  Well I think it is time for another dose of medicine (NyQuil this time,) so I will sign out for now!

P.S.  I titled this post "Labor of Love" because just like when you first have a baby, you think, why would I ever do that again?  Then time passes, you forget about all that hard work and you have another.  Thus, this is how I feel with this huge quilt.  I am hoping in time I forget how hard it was to wrestle this beast and will make another large quilt!  But for now, nope won't be making another king size quilt anytime soon!

I am happy to be joining along in the third year of the Finish Along, this year being hosted by Katy at The Littlest Thistle.  This year I am setting smaller goals for myself and am going to work hard at getting them completed in a timely manner.  Honestly I am tired of carrying things over and over again.  Each quarter I will pick 2 quilts to finish (Ideally one that is already a top and one that is needing to be put together,) 2-3 smaller projects (things that can be completed in a day or two) and an optional extra project.  The optional extra project is one that I don't care if I finish it during the quarter, but if I do get it done, then great for me, otherwise, I'm not stressing that one.  I am also putting a lot of thought into the list and being very deliberate with my choices, because honestly I have over 20+ works in progress and I know that I can not get them all done in this one year. That being said, here is my list, and hopefully by the end of the quarter, all of these will be completed!

1.  Small Project - First up are two medium sized open wide pouches (tutorial by Noodlehead,) you can see the patchwork exteriors above.  Other than the exterior being pieced and having the rest of the supplies, these need to be put together.

2.  Small Project - The Riley Blake Modern Quilt Guild Challenge, I have begun piecing, and know that this will become an over-sized beach bag.  This one has a deadline of mid February, so I better get to it!

3.  Small Project - Construct another Rebecca Bag, as per requested by my mother.  I have the fabric cut out, the supplies have been bought (as of yesterday) and it is awaiting construction.  Since I have made this pattern before, I imagine it will go together quickly.

1.  Quilt (Large Project) - Finish my City Sampler quilt.  I have all 100 blocks sewn.  I have ordered my sashing fabrics and my backing fabric.  As soon as my sashing fabrics arrive, I will buckle down and get this quilt top sewn up by the end of the month.  Then in the following two months focus on getting it quilted.  Shown above are an assorted 18 blocks that I photographed last year and never got around to blogging about.

2.  Quilt (Large Project) - My Lattice Work quilt is basted and simply waiting to be quilted.

Optional Project - Finish up my Autumn Sampler.  I have been steadily stitching on this one, pretty much every day for the last few months  I can actually see the finish line, but don't know how long it will take to honestly finish it.  If I do, great, if not, that is ok too, because I LOVE working on this.

A total of six project, three small, two large and one optional.  I can do it!  Interested in joining along?  You still have time, click on the 2014 Finish Along picture below for all the details and more information!

My last quilt finish of 2013, just in time, four days before Christmas.  I say just in time because I wrapped it up on the last day that my son was in school, so it was a total surprise.  He never saw the fabric, the process or anything, the whole thing was done during school hours and then quickly hidden before he got home.  This quilt started when I bought the panel designed by Jill McDonald from the Out of this World collection.  I just loved it and knew my son would too, he has been fascinated with the planets and space this year.

Once I had the panel, I decided I liked the overall size, be it that I wanted this to be a wall hanging in his room.  The length was great, but the height was a tad too skinny, so I added in the skinny Lizzy House Constellations black borders and then the yellow polka dot by Micheal Miller (dumb dot maybe?)  Oh and before I forget I also had to add a skinny white border in between the panel and the black border because the panel was cut in a way that I needed to add some white in order for it to look even and correct.  It was a struggle to match the white from my stash, but in the end, found a "close enough" and went with it.  Thankfully you can't even see the seam and you certainly can't tell that it wasn't originally there..

The backing was totally from my stash.  The ABC print on the left is from JoAnn fabrics a few years back.  The middle yellow dot is the same print as the front and then the B&W tickets to the right are a Timeless Treasures print.  I used a high loft polyester batting for this one.  I wanted that plush and soft feel to it.  I am also super proud to say that I lined up the backing perfectly straight in reference to the lines on the front panel.  All of my quilting that is on the back is perfectly straight, especially since a lot of lines ended up on that narrow strip.  I was super nerdy excited about that, my backs always end up a tad wonky, but not this one, it was perfect!

I knew all along that I wanted to quilt this one by hand with pearl cotton and large stitches, which I did around every motif, actually twice around every motif, you can see that below.  What I did not expect to do was to end up tying this quilt also, a technique that I have never tried before.  After I was finished with the hand quilting, I felt that it needed a tad bit more, but couldn't decide on what to quilt and in the end I ended up tying in the center of each motif.  If you look really hard below on the Mercury block you can see a little yellow knot on the planet.  I tried to blend in all the ties, especially on the motifs.  I didn't want that to stand out.  I also tied around every 5" on the yellow polka dot border.  That was so easy and quick, I may have to do that more often, especially on quilts that won't be handled a ton.

The finished quilt measures 36" x 42."  I used a solid matching Kona red for the binding, which was totally machine stitched on (so quick!)  I also added five loops to the back top, to be able to hang this one on the wall.  Opening his present Christmas morning, my son seemed to love it and quickly explained to me all of the planets.  It was so nice to have it finished in time, a total surprise and seeing him open a handmade gift on Christmas.

This was my second (and final finished) project listed on my fourth quarter finish-a-long list. I am happy to say that I met this goal and can link up over at She Can Quilt.  Thank you so much Leanne for hosting a great year of the Finish-A-Long!