Swap Spectacular

Earlier this year I joined the #quietplayswap on Instagram hosted by @shoppershaz_swaphost and had us using paper pieced patterns by @quietplay. Her patterns are amazing and a lot of fun to sew so be sure to check those out! I joined the #qpteamlove in the swap - meaning I'd make a 16" Circle of Love quilt and get one in return.

I pulled fabrics from my stash, with an emphasis on orange, as my partner said it was her favorite color. I wanted my design break out from the layout options on the pattern, so it took me a few days to figure out the final layout & color placement. It came together pretty quickly for paper piecing.
This was on my Quarter4 2016 FAL list and linking up at CrazyMomQuilts for Finish It Up Friday. Linking up at SloStudio for the finale of the 2016FAL.

It's quilted with coordinating Aurifil threads in the color pops, machine bound with the background fabric and backed in an orange print complete with hanging corners. My partner received it this week and I hope she loves it!

In return - I received this circle of love quilt all the way from Maine and absolutely love it! It reminds me of a slice of fruit and I can't wait to put it up on my wall!

"I'm not Inclined to Resign to Maturity"

I've got several finishes to start sharing here with you readers. Last weekend Momm came down for our usual Fall quilt weekend. We use the time to make favors for our winter quilt retreat in Jan. & we got through a couple of those fairly quick. Meaning we could work on our own pile of WIPs & brainstorm ideas for finishing them!

The first one I'll share is my Psych-themed mini. It was Day16 in my #30daysofquiltdesign challenge, inspired by both the word quilts made by Jess at Quilty Habit & the pineapple blocks I was making for the #pineappleblockswap.  I used scraps to make up the baby pineapple, and thought the blue background really made it pop.

The words are taken from the theme song to the TV show Psych & Free Motion Quilted with a 40wt. Aurifil in light pink and the rest of the quilting is done with 50 wt. Aurifil in coordinating yellow, green & blue. Momm had the brilliant suggestion of stitching the speech bubbles around the words to help separate them a little and it turned out wonderfully. (Thanks momm!)

It's backed in a lime green plaid print and machine-bound with an Amy Butler Fat Quarter from my stash. Actually, everything for this came from my stash now that I think about it! It measures 20 1/4" square & I put hanging corners on the back instead of a sleeve so it's already up on my wall.
Linking up at Finish It Up Friday with Crazymomquilts &  it's my first finish for the Quarter4 Finish Along - original list here - (hooray)!  Linked up at SloStudio for the finale of the 2016 FAL!

Quarter 4 2016 plans

...so I managed to not finish anything from Q3! I did make some progress on that list, but I also started about 6 new projects too, so there's that.   hahaha  Linking up with SloStudio!

 This quarter *should* have actual finishes...

project swap: Joined the #quietplayswap on Instagram for the Circle of Love pattern #qpteamlove -it's quilted now & I'm tying off threads.

project Disco: mostly quilted now so progress is happening on this-hooray!

project celebrate: a word of the year inspired quilt, where I quilted in events that occurred during my 'celebrate' year. All it needs is binding!

 
 project Radar wave: basted  & needs a plan of action on the quilting

project Marsala-challenge: basted & needs a plan of action on the quilting

project Campfire: fabric pull with inspiration image on the background fabric as the beginnings for this quilt. It's a small challenge between Momm & I to make campfire inspired wall quilts using the same backing print.

project winter quilt: this came to be a quilt top at retreat in January...maybe it could be done by Christmas? Top is complete & backing acquired.

 
project mini: I'm using the free Moda love pattern to use a different mini charm pack for each block. So far I have 10 blocks sewn & plan to set them on point, so I'm not sure how many I'll need total yet.

project improv: this is still only a top, but I have backing & batting ready to go - waiting on basting pins to come out of other quilts before starting this.

project Medallion: figured out my final border plan- just need to make it happen.

project pineapple: one of my #30daysofquiltdesign ideas, I've quilted in the words 'I know, you know' from the Psych tv theme & need to add some other quilting.

project butterfly: a quilt for baby M - I have templates cut, a modified pattern & fabric pulled for this one.

meanwhile...

This Summer I posted more to Instagram instead of the blog (find me there @bumblybzs) so here's a little recap of the Summer.
 

I run Quilt Camp here at work each June where we have four half day sessions over two weeks. There are three skill levels and we have 60 kids ages 7-17 learning to quilt! As you can imagine, it gets a bit chaotic with up to 20 kids per session but they have a grand time choosing colors & fabrics, using the machines and going home with a finished quilt (about 30"x30") at the end of the week. Our project samples this year:

Samples L-R: Disappearing 9 Patch (Advanced Camp) - Darting Birds (Beginner Camp) - Wonky Plus (Intermediate Camp)

Made it out on the trail for lots of biking, took a Bumblebee Tortuga trip to Lousiville, got to see Pentatonix in concert! Had fun visits home for fireworks, a trip to see the Terracotta Warriors at the Field Museum and surprise Dad with MD crabs for his birthday! Here, summer goes out with the smell of BBQ and good eats at the annual BBQ on the River festival. Ribs, BBQ quesdillas, chocolate-dipped key lime pie, more ribs, tacos & it's always delicious.

Bumblebee Tortuga at Churchill Downs

Terracotta Archer @ The Field Museum

 

If you visit me on Instagram you'll notice I'm participating in the #30daysofquiltdesign sponsored by Rachel at Stitched In Color and Gotham Quilts. We're in the home stretch and I only have 7 more to go. It's been challenging and creative to draw out quilt designs and I'm already looking forward to making a couple of them.

In September we had Victoria Findlay Wolfe at work to teach a Double Wedding Ring Improv class that I got to take too - so much fun! She was a fun teacher, had lots of great tips and really encouraged everyone. I cut into my long-collected stash of music-themed fabrics and love how it came together.

That should bring us up to speed so welcome back readers and stay tuned!