fussy cut sampler - chapter 9

the book calls this chapter "geometrics as a focal fabric"
i call it "my fabric with a hint of geometrics"
this collection of blocks also fell back to a very dark blue/gray/hint of yellow vibe, leaving little to no green left in the bunch.  BUT i did get some good use out of fabrics i haven't used yet as well as those cute moon cats.  can you believe we are officially 3/4 of the way done with the book?  this cat & dinosaur vibe is still going strong!  and apparently, much like in chapter 3, my "fussy cut-less" block was instantly drawn out to be yellow and gray.  at least i'm consistent!  will just need to ensure those blocks aren't near each other.  :)
after looking at all of these, i'm ready to brighten up the next batch!
i "accidentally" bought some new fabric this month, that may just have to make their ways in to the blocks.  and time to work in some more greens!  all the more reason for "accidental" fabric shopping with intention ;)

shabby strawberry delight baby quilt

this quilt was the first one my aunt asked me to do this summer, and it came out better than i could have even imagined!  this was quilt number 2 for her other niece, and the request was simply to see if i could find any strawberry fabric to make her a quilt out of to resemble the strawberry outfits purchased for her when she was little.  as i was looking for strawberry fabric, i stumbled across an ADORABLE pattern that made strawberry blocks.  and it was free!
i also found the PERFECT strawberry fabric that wasn't pink on pink on pink.  sure, there is some pink, but also yellow, red and blue.  the line is called shabby strawberry by emily hayes and as soon as i found a shop online that had all the colors i needed, i bought a LOT.  i managed to find everything in one place, with the exception of the green & background fabric.  those i shopped for locally, since i wanted to make sure the colors were correct, since a computer screen can only do so much for you.  besides, it is always important to shop local when possible! (i shopped at fabric garden locally this time, for those that are curious)
this one would have been a lot of fun to long arm, but due to time constraints i didn't have a chance to.  but i love how the grid effect has a sort of strawberry crate feel to it, like we have out here at the pop up strawberry stands this time of year.  i used a green thread, similar to the color of the leaves to stitch the grid pattern.  the back (shown briefly in the first photo) is the yellow colorway of the print used in the blue & red strawberry blocks.  it totally helps create the summery quilt without it having to be girly pink all over.
i got to work on a lot of this quilt at sew day we had in june, which made the tedious half square triangle sewing, cutting and ironing a little bit more enjoyable.  the entire time i was there i didn't get a single block done because of all the little piecing that happened first.  but at least it was done in good company!
because of these fabrics being one way prints, i had to buy a little bit more than the pattern called for, which means i have a good amount more of strawberry fabric still hanging around!  i have been toying with the idea to make a similar one as a donation quilt in the future, tweaking the design of the strawberry blocks in some way to make it look different.  all in all, this was such a cute, fun quilt to make that i would (clearly) make again if needed!
quilt pattern: strawberry delight by sweet bee designs
quilt count: 115

100 days 100 blocks - 71-80

so i know i said i was excited for triangles (which i still have no shame in saying i love triangles at all) BUT i think the squares section produced some of my favorite blocks.
yes, i put fussy cuts in ALL OF THEM... because i had to.  they were perfect, and i love them, and yay.
these blocks actually feature a majority of my storybook fabrics, which started to become an underlying theme of the quilt as well, and my faux mr. rogers tribute block (more about that one on my instagram) fit right in with the batch.  i cannot believe that we're inching closer to the end, with the final block to be posted just weeks away on instagram.  before we know it, it will be time to quilt this beast and throw it on my bed for a good rainbow filled night's sleep.

bright colored butterfly cherish quilt

prior to the twin quilts, my aunt asked me to make two quilts for her other niece (on my uncle's side of their family) who was due to have a baby girl this summer.  this particular quilt was based off of their nursery theme, which was simply said to be bright colors and no pink.  well... i couldn't exactly eliminate pink entirely, but i did keep it to a minimum... i'd been doing baby boy quilts for SO LONG... what else would you expect from me?
i found this cute little pattern at the quilt shop closest to my apartment, during a day of quilt shop hopping, knowing this quilt was in the plans.  as soon as i saw it, i thought it was perfect, and actually baby quilt sized compared to my other recent ventures.  it was fat quarter friendly, which meant a trip to joanns was a quick fix to get all the pieces needed for it.
the bright colored butterflies helped bring in all the colors needed to create the blocks without throwing too much pink in to the mix.  the top went together super smoothly, and i had no issues getting any of the blocks to line up.  the hardest part was probably trying to balance out all of the colors!
i felt like the binding needed a little bit of a pop to it, and since the backing was the same butterfly print, i felt like the magenta color was the perfect pop to edge off the quilt.  the quilting i did in a peach thread, stitched in a grid pattern to not make it too busy.
i would absolutely use this quilt pattern again if i ever needed to make a quick fun quilt for a baby shower.  the stripes across are a great feature if there is a true "theme" for the baby shower or nursery decor (can you imagine this as a seuss theme? SO CUTE) and it could easily be done in a day... especially since i know how to machine bind now!
quilt pattern: cherish by villa rosa designs
quilt count: 114

100 days 100 blocks - 61-70

not gonna lie, i had a lot of fun with some of these stripes!
i'll admit, some got a little wonky towards the end when it was stripes on stripes on stripes... but i'll probably tweak those ones a bit (and starch the crud out of them) before they become a final quilt top.  i'm also coming to find i'm going to have a LOT of random fabrics leftover... which means i'll have SO many more options for future quilt project!  i mean in these 10, there are multiple fish/ocean themed ones... must be my initiation for a life of fussy cutting.  hoorah!

twin baby girls quilt - zack

and here we are at the matched set for the "zoe" baby quilt seen earlier this week!
this layout of the blocks turns the quilt in to a big zig zag shaped pattern, which was so much fun to mix and match to get the layout of colors just perfectly.
this quilt was the perfect matched set, despite the accidental over sizing for a baby quilt.
my aunt even commented that my quilts are getting bigger.  ha!  talk about math issues.  oops!
these quilts were also my first experience machine sewing on binding, and i think for a first timer i didn't do too bad!  being able to alternate the binding and backing colors from the other quilt was another fun way to tie the two together besides just the colors of the front fabric!  i hope these quilts get lots of love for years to come, and i look forward to someday repeating these patterns!
quilt pattern: zoe or zack by the fat quarter gypsy
quilt count: 113

twin baby girls quilt - zoe

in the midst of all my summer plans, my aunt asked me to make a set of quilt for one of the ladies in her office who happened to be having twin girls!  i knew exactly which pattern to use, as it featured two different layouts of the same blocks.
this "zoe" version uses the scrappy half square triangles and turns them in to these parallelogram/diamond shapes letting the white be the negative space and not overly quilt it a lot.
it was a fun and quick little project, and i can't wait for you to see the "zack" part two coming up soon!
for this quilt, i used the pink colorway of the purple with hearts used for binding and followed the edges of the half square triangles for the quilting to frame everything up and help make it pop!
my sizing may have been a little bit off for a baby quilt, but at least they will be able to grow in to it!
quilt pattern: zoe or zack by the fat quarter gypsy
quilt count: 112