Finally - some stash busting!!

Yay!  I'm happy to say that not only am I a third of the way through my goals for the week, but I have some serious stash busting to report!  That's right - two finishes to share!

First up is Scrap Metal Stars, using some of my Robot Factory stash.  As I mentioned yesterday, I used Gigi's Thimble's Scrap Jar Stars tutorial for the pattern.

 Instead of going for a random, scrappy look, though, I went for a more planned, symmetrical layout.  Since I was working with only a couple of prints and solids, it was easier for me to plan it out, rather than worry about having enough "randomness" in my random layout.

I finally opted for a simple, pieced back.  I didn't have quite enough fabric left to do a full solid or patterned panel, and with all the white on the front, a solid white back just seemed a bit overwhelming.  Plus, I'm a relatively new parent of a messy, messy boy - white is SO impractical! :)

I used a low-loft, cotton batting and decided to go with very simple, straight line outline quilt, but used orange thread for a pop of color.

The quilt is finished with solid red for the bindings - I've totally been on a  solids-as-bindings kick lately! - and is all set for tomorrow's party!


My other finish was actually a project for Aiden's Easter basket ... which we were incidentally feeling too crummy to put together!  Of well - he's enjoying all the goodies and will never,ever remember how they came packaged!

The quilt top is actually a pre-made panel I found recently at Jo-Ann', that I paired with some coordinating blue Farmyard Animal flannel for the back and brown Basket Weave flannel for the binding.

I've never used the pre-made panels before and they definitely have some pros and cons:

Pros: You can't beat having the quilt already pieced for you - and all the edges on the back are sewn together and serged for durability.  I put this baby together in under three hours, including the time that it took me to hand-stitch the binding to the back.

Cons: Unless you get the first cut off the bolt (like I happened to), or the person doing the cutting is patient enough to undo all the serging and then rip the seams out and then cut (which they absolutely never are), you'd have to buy more yardage than you need, and take the cut home and rip the seams apart from the previous cut edge just to start with the extra 1/4" seam allowance on both sides that you'd need.  Also, the fabric is super, duper stretchy, especially on the edges.  It was a little challenging to keep the fabric tight enough to quilt it without wrinkles without totally distorting it.

Bottom line, though - little man loves rolling all over his new snugglie!

I'll be back tomorrow with my official stash numbers, plus more information about the Northern California Quilt Rush running this week.