garden snails 2.0

in the midst of all my "i'm going to catch up on my blogging!" hooplah, my laptop decided to give me a big fat OH NO YOU WON'T when it came to getting things done.  so after multiple chats with adobe representatives to get my serial numbers for programs to load on to my desktop and reinstalling my good friend "blogstomp" on there as well... we are back in action!  the same can't be said for my photography website... but that's another story for another day.
it is a little poetic that my first long arming experience at meissner's was practicing on my first garden snails quilt from the sew along hosted by gnome angel, and this 2.0 version was done at my last session there.  yes, that is exactly how long this quilt has been sitting around, quilted and waiting for binding.  the binding went on earlier this year, and then it sat some more.  it didn't have a home to rush off to, because i ended up loving it so much, i'm keeping it for myself.  granted, it is in no way any size to keep me warm... so some future child will be gifted with a snail quilt from years before.  its weird, its adorable... so there.
the main differences about this quilt compared to the first version is the background as well as the paper pieced shells.  i had a lot of fun making the scrappy shells for these, alternating in with the solid batik shells that i am STILL working my way through all the scraps from.  the bodies of the snails come from the scraps of my disgust halloween costume (which also got pieced on to the back as well)
the quilting pantograph is called "malachite" which in a sense gives it a wobbly snail trail kind of look.  it was actually fairly easy to quilt, and the wobbles just made it look a little more all over the place in case of mistakes.
this was also one of my first attempts at machine sewing binding, and with this one, i also used elmer's glue to help hold the binding in place instead of just wonder clips.  i can't remember who i saw that trick from on instagram, but shout out to them, it totally worked!  i finished this during the instagram quilt fest in march... so that goes to show you how long i have been delaying photographing and posting.  oy!
>revisiting this quilt (combined with a recent conversation about my closet shelf bowing from weight and fabric collecting and fabric using are two different hobbies) made me realize how much i enjoy stash busting to make quilts... which is clearly something i need to get underway.  i have so many pieces waiting to be used, which will help me validate the future of buying more (quality) fabric!
pattern information: garden snails by pen and paper patterns
quilt count: 120