Sugar Pop: DONE

I have officially finished my Sugar Pop quilt! Okay, it's more of a baby blanket. I have fallen in love with it though. I might even make another one for me to keep. I bet everyone says that about every single one of their quilts or creations that was made to be given away. Honestly, I put soooo much work into this! Much more than what I had planned on doing. I learned so much... mostly about what NOT to do. For instance, this was my first machine quilted quilt, (I generally just hand quilt), and I figured out too late that I need to baste my quilt sandwich much better. I just used safety pins. Spread them out way too much! Another thing is to pick out thread that blends in a bit better. I picked a variegated purple thread. 1) It doesn't look very variegated 2) It is a bit too contrasting. Contrasting looks best when hand quilted, in my opinion. I also did my cheated way of binding. I liked the backing fabric more than what I got to bind with, so, alas, I cheated. All in all, I am very pleased with this little quilt! Okay, I'm ecstatic! I just love it! Now for a picture overload:

From above. I quilting along the sashing.

Corner.

Up close of the quilting.

Yes. It's over my legs. I couldn't resist using it!

Back.

And now I leave you with a very, very close up of the quilting. This is a good section. I felt like I was drunk driving while machine quilting. Everything would be fine and straight, I'd look of for a second, come back, and I'd be swerving all over the place. I'm sure it'll get better with more practice. Right?!

Please don't look too closely!

Sugar Pop Quilt Update

I'm almost done with this little Sugar Pop quilt! Yay! I sewed all day yesterday to get the top completed. Just so you know, I'm the worst procrastinator in the world. I seem to not function unless there is a lot of pressure or stress. Drove. My mom. Insane. Anyways, I got it done, and today I will quilt it and hopefully get it binded.

Do you pin? I generally don't pin things, but for longer seams or those that need to be more accurate, I will pin it. It was soooo frustrating to get my sashing and seams to line up just how I wanted them to. Nesting my seams helped a lot. They aren't perfect, but I'm happy with them!

Fabric on left is what I'm using for my backing

Kinda the same pic, but I think you can see it a bit better.

Please don't look at my messy room! When I start sewing my whole apartment goes down the drain. Last Sunday I had it spotless and even put up my ironing board. It was so nice having it so clean. It's back to threads and messiness now. I'm okay with it though. Some things must be forfeited in order to create something so beautiful! I really am so happy with how this has turned out so far. Must I give it away?! Is it just me or is it hard to pass on the quilts you've made? I really want to keep this one haha

I will leave you with a picture of the back. I think it looks so interesting! You really see the work you've put into it. I took this pic right after I had sewn on the last row. Such an accomplishment! I love the feeling of the weight in my hands of a completed top. It makes me so giddy! Like that hard work is finally starting to come together and make something real.

Sneak Peak at Sugar Pop Quilt

Okay, first things first! Here is a few pictures of my surprise quilt for a little girl I know. Her birthday is coming up, and I really hope she likes it. I'm making this with two Sugar Pop! by Liz Scott for Moda charm packs. I actually found this particular pattern from Deb over at Aspen Hill. She has a great little tutorial on making these blocks :)

This first picture is of the blocks I have actually completed. My original plan was to have it just be a 6x6, but after talking to my mom about it, I decided to make it an 8x10! 

Here is the 8x10 layout. I really love this quilt so far! *Note to self* If you are going to make this block from her tutorial and decide to alter the width of the sashing.... remember that you have to alter the length of the second sashing strip! I completely did not think to do this at all after I increased the width of the sashing by 1/4 inch. When I added in the second sash, I realized it was a 1/4 too short! I just had to do some major squaring off, but it came out okay ;) If you're confused, pop over to her tutorial, and you'll see what I mean.

My pictures aren't turning out as well as I want them too. I have a Nikon Coolpix S9100. I feel as though my pics are just falling a bit short... or perhaps a bit flat! I've played with the settings some, but I don't know. Any suggestions!?