Stitching Away

Little Pink Rose has had a productive week of sewing.

I was able to finish the {after the fact} additions that I made to my "Next Iron Quilter" entry.  Oh by the way, if you didn't already know, my entry finished in the Top Ten with a 7th place finish!!!

Go here to see the pictures I sent to enter the Challenge. It didn't have a border or even any binding on it yet. Thankfully, this wasn't easily noticeable in the small pictures posted for voting.

Since then, I've added a matching blue border and practiced creating free motion feather stitches all along it.

This backing fabric, full of butterflies, was the inspiration for the butterflies that I quilted over the entire quilt.

I like how the border and feathers give the quilt a feeling of completeness and coziness that just wasn't present before these touches were added.

But, that wasn't the quilt that garnered most of my attention this week. It was a special ordered T-shirt Quilt, with all the T-Shirts being from playing baseball.

Since this is made of all baseball T-shirts, diamonds seemed like the perfect touch for the red inner border.

On the outer border I stitched what would be called piano keys,  except I put them on an angle

The back.

I always a bit fascinated by the back of the quilt. In a unique way, it's its own piece of art. You might be able to tell in this picture that there are several different colors of thread on the back. I know that some quilters always match the bobbin thread to backing fabric {in this case it would have been white}. But, I've found that the white bobbin thread tends to want to poke out and show on the top. To avoid this I've matched the bobbin thread to the top thread.

Just needs some binding. 

 My goal is to finish the binding this weekend and get this in the mail by the first of next week.

The final project of the week was a special ordered 24-slot crayon roll up.

Also spent some time planning some future quilts, but I can't show any of that just yet. Getting excited about the possibilities!!!

Thank you for sharing some of your time with me, hope you were inspired and enjoyed all the pictures.

~Marcia
a.k.a. The Little Pink Rose

The Next Iron Quilter

Just for the fun of it, I'm entering The Next Iron Quilter sponsored by Missouri Star Quilt Co.  The Special Ingredient was Moda's "Summer Breeze" Charm pack, purchased from them. When the contest was announced I made my purchase and then stayed too busy to even begin working on my submission.

With Christmas all wrapped up I've had a few days to pull it together. Thankfully I had already found my inspiration pattern "Trellis Effect" in the Sew Scrappy Quilt magazine from Better Homes and Gardens. I love the colors {all my favorites in one quilt} in the featured piece so much I may have to make this pattern again, in those same original colors.

The inspiration pattern

Charm packs sorted into color piles

To the Charm pack I added Kona white, a marbled sky blue and a yellow butterfly print {not pictured} for the back.

Assembled blocks

 I always marvel at how the fabric is transformed as it goes from simple squares of fabric into patterns and designs that bring out the beauty of the fabric.

Quilt Center

 Love how the small sashing strips in the middle of each block combined with the larger sashing strips that surround each block really do make it look like a trellis.

I'm thinking that butterflies along with some loops or curlicues quilted all over it would make for a nice finishing touch.  Now I'm off to add some borders and do the quilting,  with just 4 days until the deadline for submissions, I better hurry.

Blessings,
The Little Pink Rose
Marcia