Schnitzel & Boo Mini Quilt Swap Progress

I recently signed up for my very first online mini quilt swap. I was a little nervous about throwing my hat into the ring with such a talented group of quilters, but my excitement outweighed my nervousness and I signed up anyway! I had seen previous swaps on Instagram and loved the idea of showing sneak peeks of your progress as you worked on the quilt. We got our partner assignments about a week ago, and right away I went to work.

The quilter that I was assigned to is amazingly talented and has tried just about every technique you can think of. Of course, being me, I started to overthink everything. I wanted to create something that matched her tastes, but also included a little bit of my point of view (whatever that is). I scoured my quilting magazines and books and finally found a paper piecing pattern that looked like what I was picturing in my head. I pulled all of the fabrics from my stash and had JUST ENOUGH to make this pattern work. I'm really excited about where this one is heading and I can't wait for my partner to see it when it's finished.

Here's a picture of my progress as of tonight (hence, the slightly dim lighting... I was too excited to wait until tomorrow!). The deadline to mail the quilts is January 16, 2015.

Finished Green Value Quilt

My latest finish is this green baby quilt for a friend of mine. I saw pictures online of "value quilts" and I wanted to see if I could arrange darks and lights to get the same effect. I managed to pull all of these greens from my stash, so I didn't spend any extra money to make this quilt. I'm extremely pleased with how it turned out!

Here's a picture of my finished quilt:

Here's a picture of my inspiration from Sew Katie Did:

I used my leftovers to make an improv/scrappy backing. I also did some basic stitch in the ditch quilting because 1) I wanted to finish it quickly and didn't want to wait to get it back from a quilter, and 2) I loved the way the dark green rings stood out and I didn't want to do anything to distract from that.

I machine stitched the binding so it would be really durable and hold up to lots of washes (I'm told babies are messy).

This was a really fun project to work on. I got the idea in my head and I had the top finished two days later. When inspiration hits, it's best to take advantage of it! :) Let me know what you think in the comments. This quick little project has kick-started a "finishing spree", so hopefully I'll have more progress pictures to show you soon.

Welcome To My Blog!

Hello there! Thanks for stopping by to check out my new blog. I'm excited to carve out my little corner in the online quilting world. :)

The main reason I decided to make this blog is because I wanted a place where I could showcase my finished quilts and post progress pictures of the projects I'm currently working on. I love browsing through different quilting blogs and seeing what other people are creating. It's always a great way to kick-start my inspiration and motivation to start or finish a project. I'm also hoping this will help me improve my photography skills at the same time.

I hope you enjoy the content I post on here! Feel free to leave comments or questions. Let's see where this takes me. :)

- Jessie