Strawberry Shortcake Quilt Finish ~ UFO Quilt

Hello Quilty Friends!  After nearly three weeks of blog silence, I’m back! Where did I go? Absolutely nowhere! I’ve been right here in Podunk, buried under a mountain of quilting ideas and plans. Hopping from one project to another, rummaging through fabrics, planning, sorting, sewing, snapping pictures of my progress, and even managing to finish a couple of quilts along the way. I was deep in the quilty zone! This week, I’ll be sharing all the quilty goodness I’ve been up to during my blogging hiatus.

First up is the Strawberry Shortcake quilt.  This quilt top has been waiting to be quilted since April 24, 2012.  

I love everything about quilting...except for the feathers. It’s one of those classic cases where the design looks amazing in your head but turns into a hot mess on the quilt. Sometimes you nail it, and other times you just power through because ripping out stitches is a royal pain in the keester.

The rest of the quilting tickles me pink. I was shooting for a traditional quilting look.  Mission accomplished.

The backing is two pieces of yardage.  The purple is Joann fabric purchased from estate sale years ago. I bought two truckloads of quilting supplies for $200.  The white is not the bright white I normally use.  It's called Kona Bone, sent to me by mistake.  I ordered two bolts of Kona White from MSQC, they sent one White bolt and one Bone bolt.  When I pointed out the mistake, they sent the white bolt free of charge and let me keep the Bone bolt. I'll keep using it for quilt backings.

I discovered some of the pink border fabric hiding in the scrap bin and used it for the label. I named this one Strawberry Twirl way back in 2012 but totally forgot to add the name to the label. Geesh...I suppose I could write in on the label.

 Originally, I planned to use the same solid purple as the inner border for the binding, but I wanted something with a bit more flair. After searching two local quilt shops without success, I decided to check out Walmart's fabric. It felt like fate to find this purple plaid since the quilt top is made from cheap and upcycled fabrics. The purple plaid added a nice pop to the final look.

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Bumpkin Baskets And Strawberry Shortcake

Over the last couple of months I've been working on small projects.  It's been a fun ride and there's plenty more small projects to finish but I'm ready to move onto a larger project.  My Bumpkin Baskets quilt has been waiting patiently for about two months.

The backing was loaded to the frame. Then the quilting design plan began. I spent many hours over a few days working on a quilting plan.  Drawing designs, erasing designs and not having any fun.  At the end of the day three or four (I lost count) it was time to toss in the towel, put this gal in the UFO storage and find a different quilt to finish.  The problem is I LOVE the Bumpkin Baskets quilt top.  This LOVE of the quilt top puts a lot of pressure on the quilting design.  What I need is a quilt top I don't love and don't care if I love the quilting design

A quick dig in the UFO quilt tops and.... a Strawberry Shortcake quilt top is perfect. I'm not a fan of novelty prints or the color purple. She's cute but didn't make my heart go pitter-pat.  I'm sure some little girl will love having her on their bed.

 

How old is this quilt top?  13 yrs old.  The top was started on April 21, 2012 and finished on April 24, 2012.  Wow!  That's a quick quilt top!  Obviously, I had more time and energy 13 yrs. ago.  

At the time of making this quilt my youngest child had just finished high school, and my fabric stash was a small bookshelf that was 24 x 32.  All of my fabric stash was Walmart fabrics and Goodwill sheets.

  The fabrics in this quilt were free.  Even the white muslin background.  It was gifted to me from an 81 yr. old quilter (a friend of my mom) who was happy and excited to share her years of stash building and quilting knowledge with a younger quilter, me.  She changed my quilting life with the gift of a 55-gallon bag of fabric and a bolt of white muslin.  All from her fabric stash.

 I may not love the prints in this quilt, but I do love its story.  I feel a little pitter-pat as the quilting begins.💗💗

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