a finished quilt back, fabric feature, & why I need a sewing space slash design wall

How's that for a post title?

I finished the quilt back for Ava's quilt late last night.  It surprisingly took me longer than I thought it would. I don't know why that is surprising.  I should realize by now that everything takes me longer than I think it should.  Here's a picture:

You didn't think I was going to show you the whole thing, did you?  That would ruin the surprise of the finished quilt.  That would require me to iron the backing, only to fold it back up again until it is ready to go to the quilt shop for quilting.  More about the quilt back in a future post when the quilt is finished!

Next up.... a fabric feature!  Awhile back, I had decided I was going to do this "segment" on my blog where I would show fabrics in my stash.  My original plan was to do it the first Friday of every month and call it something gawd-awfully cheesy like "First Friday Fabric Feature".  But since I finished the backing for Ava's quilt last night, I am ready to move on to Ella's quilt that will be her Christmas present, and so I wanted to show the fabrics before I dig in with the sewing.

Little Apples, A Walk in the Woods, & Sherbet Pips all by Aneela Hoey

I bought this fabric many months ago - like maybe last November or December.  I had seen this quilt made by Rita with the same fabrics and thought it would be so cute for Ella.  Rita's quilts are so amazing & inspiring.  Her postage stamp quilt inspired the quilt I made for Ava.  I seriously love her work so much!

Anyway, I purchased 3 charm packs, which are 42 squares, one of each fabric in the line, and they are 5" square.  I had originally thought I would do a tumbler pattern like Rita's quilt, but after seeing the charm squares I just can't bring myself to cut anything off of them.  I'm already sad I have to lose 1/4" on each side for the seam allowances!  I wish I would have purchased yardage of these lines, but the charm squares will be nice to work with as my sewing space is very, very limited.  The charms are "Little Apples", "A Walk in the Woods", and "Sherbet Pips" all by Aneela Hoey.  They are 3 different fabric lines, so the colors are not identical between the lines, but it doesn't really bother me oddly enough.

I am also going to use some additional fabrics in order to make the quilt larger and also just to incorporate some other fabric that I like and think will complement well.  I think some of these fabrics were in Rita's quilt as well.  

The fabrics above are all Michael Miller fabrics - the same brand as the horse fabric I just used.  I am really looking forward to using this fabric because it is soooo nice to work with!  The polka dots are called Ta-Dot.  I purchased an entire fat quarter bundle of the line because I love them so much and they will work great in lots of quilts.  The other 4 fabrics are from the "Children at Play" line and from left to right are "Pinwheels", "Mini Mikes", "Summer Gardens", and "Dolls".

I think the fabrics go together pretty well considering they are really from 5 different fabric lines.... I'm a little iffy on the red - but hopefully in the quilt it will look like it is supposed to be there.

And lastly, why I need a sewing space and preferably one with a design wall:

Yep, that's my kitchen counter

Laying out leftover scraps from Ava's quilt to see what I had left and what I could do with it.  I think maybe a doll quilt for my daughter since she is constantly getting dish towels out of the drawer to use as blankets for her dolls.

And this is currently laying on my bed

Surveying leftovers from Ava's bulletin board project... Not sure what to do with this yet... maybe a pillowcase?

Thanks for reading!
-V