garden snails quilt - bubbles & batiks

if you've been following along on instagram, you'll have seen the slow-along sew-along hosted by angie at gnome angel!  the pattern being used is garden snails quilt by pen and paper patterns.  initially, i didn't think i would participate, because i had NO clue what i would do with a snail quilt by the time it completed.  after fear of missing out set in, i devised a plan that would not only let me join in the fun, but also put the end result to a good cause.  well, here is phase one of it all!
i decided that instead of making one big quilt at the end of the sew-along, i would make three of the crib size quilts instead.  each crib quilt takes 16 of these little snails, which will put me at two and a almost a half by the time the sew along is over.  so yes, there will be about 6 snails that won't be included in the sew-along, but i am okay with that!
stashbusting is still going strong, as you can see yet another use of batik scraps that came from my grandma.  though, the stashbusting is in smaller pieces and still have to buy the fabric for the background.  not sure how much of a win that counts as, but at least the batiks are making their rounds!
i've also been using these as a practice for my long arm quilting.  i quilted this one when i did the olaf panel as well as the blue fancy foxes.  i love how this motif (african samba) turned out looking like snail trails.
instead of keeping these quilts, i've been donating them to my parent's church's humanitarian aide efforts.  they've been collecting quilts and tops for awhile now, and when i did my last attempt to stash bust by making tops i sent some their way as well.  now with having taken long arm certification and a few free motion classes for my janome at home, i feel like there will be more experimenting and dipping my toes in to try new things.
here's a few of my favorites in this posse of snails.
the prints are so bold and different, and i just love how they blend together.
plus, the quilting looks so different on each one!
here's a peek at the edge with the binding.  i used the same fabric on the front and back as well as the binding.  i got it on the clearance table at beverly's and thought it looked like splotches left from snails as well.  i tend to use more subtle prints that blend as a background (or gray...) so these big circles were a little out there but so much fun!
it feels great to be 1/3 of the way done with the garden snails quilt journey and have the finished quilt to show for it.  i've already begun phase 2, which has some of the same elements, but a few fun changes as well.  be sure to follow along on instagram!