Finished Circle of Circle of Circle of Flying Geese Quilt

April has been my month in the Sew Beautiful Bee. In 2011, I asked my bee mates to make me circle of flying geese blocks using yellow, green, blue, and gray fabrics. It was fun to see the blocks begin to show up in the group photo pool.



A year later, in April 2012, I finally got my act together to piece the center double circle of flying geese block and then pieced all the blocks together.



Then that quilt top sat for several more months until I finally pieced the back. By this time, Christmas was approaching and I knew I'd have to put it aside again. As the year came to a close, I decided that if I wanted to make a quick dent in my WIPs, I needed to be okay with the idea of sending some quilts out for quilting. (Before this past Christmas, the only longarm quilting I'd had done proved to be a bad experience. While the quilting looked nice, the lady charged me double what she quoted me PLUS she was really condescending about the design and fabric selection - not her style I guess, but she should have just kept her opinions to herself.)

Anyway, I talked with my good friend, Kayli, about doing the quilting for me and I think she did a great job! I really wanted there to be circles in the quilting since the whole design is circles upon circles. I really love the design she did and it wasn't something I had seen before.




She also added two layers of batting, so not only is the quilt nice and heavy and warm, but the quilting really stands out. And with all that white space, it's even cooler!



There were two blocks comprised of three colors, so I put those on the back with three colors of Lizzy House's Pearl Bracelets. (See? More circle repetition!) I also included the quilt label that Lee made for everyone in the bee that has all of our names and locations on it.



I made a scrappy binding of yellow, green, blue, and gray prints. (I'm really loving scrappy bindings right now!)

Quilt Stats

Size: 70x70 before washing
Design: Circle of Flying Geese paper piecing template found here; Double Circle of Flying Geese paper piecing template designed by Lynne of Lily's Quilts; design arrangement by me
Quilting: Kayli Taylor

WIP Wednesday 1/23/2013

This is my first WIP Wednesday post of 2013. I thought it'd be a good time to check in and post a bit of my finish it 2013 progress. I've neglected my camera lately, so these photos are courtesy of Instagram (@pitterputterstitch).

Last year, I pieced a few quilt tops and then set them aside while I worked on other projects. My first order of business for 2013 was to get those quilt tops quilted. They were all bee quilts so I chose to send them off for quilting.

Kayli quilted my Sew Beautiful Bee quilt top from 2011, Circle of Circle of Circle of Flying Geese. She did such a great job! I've cut the binding strips for this and just need to finish making the binding so I can cross this quilt off my list.

Barbie quilted my SLMQG bee quilt from 2011, my 1001 Peeps Supernova quilt (photo courtesy of Barbie). I love the wavy line quilting she did! The binding strips are cut and ready to turn into binding for this one too.

The last quilt top I sent off for quilting is my Gradated Mod Mosaic quilt top, my 2012 Sew Beautiful Bee quilt. I haven't gotten this one back yet, but I'm really excited for it!

Next up on my WIP list is my Madrona Road Challenge quilt. I initially wanted to make a quilt with a lot of Lynne's ET Phone Home blocks,

but then I changed course and went with Anna Maria Horner's Spinning Stars pattern instead. I've been wanting to make a quilt like this so I figured I may as well kill two birds with one stone.

I hope to finish this one up next week in time for the Modern Quilt Guild's deadline.

I also finished a quilt top for my new nephew.

I plan to baste this one when I baste my Madrona Road quilt. Then I need to get back to this baby, my Castle Peeps Lucky Square quilt. The mister is really looking forward to having a quilt of his own. This pattern is by Jessica Kelly and is for sale here.

Linking up to Lee's:

WIP Wednesday: Granny, Melons, and Fabric

I've been slowly chipping away at my to-do list this week. Let's get on with it, shall we?

Accomplished this Week

I managed to make another Granny Squares block - a Halloween version.

I also put together this bee block for Andrea. The directions she gave us calls this a melon block. I'm not sure if that's the correct name or not, but I sure do like it. I want to make a pillow out of this block for my living room, but with each quadrant rotated so the finished block looks like a giant cathedral window instead.

I also finished my Sew Beautiful Bee 2011 quilt top, which I'm calling Circle of Circle of Circle of Flying Geese. Read about it here.

I also made some x&+ blocks, but haven't taken any photos yet. Stay tuned.

No Progress Made

I haven't worked on any of my other WIPs. I realized too that I need to start yet another quilt for my BFF who's getting married in June. She and her new hubs needs a quilt, methinks.

My in progress items include:

• 1001 Peeps Supernova Quilt
• Single Girl/Retro Flowers Quilt
• Twin Quilts
• Mom's Quilt
• Lorax Quilt
• Daughter's Quilt
• Gradated Mod Mosaic Quilt

But, I did manage to take some photos of new fabric that's arrived at my house lately. I get so happy just looking at all of it!

Flea Market Fancy

Chevrons

Alphabet Soup and Pezzy Prints

So that's what's been going on around here. What about you? What have you been working on this week?

A quilt top a year in the making

Way back in December of 2010, I decided to have the girls in the Sew Beautiful Bee make circle of flying geese blocks for me. My month was April, so at the end of March 2011, I cut up all my fabric and shipped it out. I received back ten gorgeous blocks and was so excited to put the quilt together. But then they sat and sat and sat.

I toyed with a few layout ideas, but ultimately settled on a circular one. This week I made a double circle of geese block (design credit goes to the amazing Lynne of Lily's Quilts) for the center. And I kinda like how the quilt top turned out.

There are two more blocks that will go on the back, one with gray, yellow, and green geese, and one with gray, yellow, and blue geese.

I definitely need to practice my paper piecing skills though. This quilt top literally wouldn't have been possible without the help of the ladies in my bee. Thank you so much, girls! You are all so talented!