friday finish - butterscotch tart!

Guess what? It's D-O-N-E! The Butterscotch Tart quilt is finished! It's time for some fireworks!

I hope that you'll allow me to gush about my own quilt. I love everything about this! The goal was to do a patriotic quilt, but without any patriotic fabrics. There are no stars or fireworks here, but there are plenty of dots, flowers, cherries and strawberries. And then I dared myself to add light blue and pink. 

I feel a little bittersweet now that this is completed. I was in a big rush to complete it (yeah, I missed my July 4 goal), and yet, I felt a bit of sadness when I sewed that last border strip. Sadness as in, oh no, it's done and I won't get to sew any more of these cute blocks!

The quilt pattern is Butterscotch Tart by Fig Tree and Co and measures 66" square. I used a happy fabric mix from Pam Kitty Morning and Lori Holt. Special thanks to my Instagram buddies who cheered me on throughout the whole process. You can follow me there at @greydogwoodstudio to see daily updates of my projects. 

And, just for fun, I put the quilt onto my bed. It blends in perfectly with my collection of new and vintage Ralph Lauren bedding. The red and white faux drunkard's path was the second quilt that I ever made, and it's hand quilted with Baptist fans and dated November 98 - November 99. I'll never tire of red, white and blue quilts!

I'm linking up today with Finish It Up Fridays at Crazy Mom Quilts. Hop over there to see what other quilters have finished this week. And happy weekend, everybody!

assembling the butterscotch tart quilt

Finally! I have started to put it all together!

As you can see, it's always helpful to have a friend. (Ok, maybe not so much!) I like to use LOTS of pins. I pin about every half inch, and even more if it's a tricky block. And I even have a color coded system. The blue pins are removed just as the needle approaches the presser foot. But the yellow pins anchor hidden seams that point away from the presser foot, and I sew right over them to hold the seams flat. 

Putting these together takes a little longer than I'd like (you know that I'm dying to work on the house blocks, right?!) but I pin and go slowly to make sure that I don't accidentally chop off any star points. 

I think that these little pinwheel setting stones are just so cute. They add the right amount of movement without distracting from the larger blocks. 

The next three rows are ready to be sewn. I have my hopelessly old fashioned way of keeping everything organized. The row number is always pinned to the left block of each row. It helps to keep my layout accurate without having to look at the blurry photo on my iPhone. 

And now I need to stay focused so that I can finish this. I started exactly one month ago today, and I'm really looking forward to the big finish!

Butterscotch Tart is a quilt pattern by Fig Tree Quilts, and my fabrics are a mix of Pam Kitty Morning and Lori Holt. Thanks for stopping by today!

pinwheels!

I'm nearing the end of the Butterscotch Tart quilt! I needed a break from the tart blocks so I worked on the pinwheel sashing posts. 

There are 24 of these guys. They measure 3" now, and will be 2.5" when finished.

I've completed 11 of the tart blocks and have just two more to make before I can start the big quilt assembly!  The blocks will be sashed with a pale blue print from Pam Kitty Picnic that I used very sparingly in my blocks. I used no light blue or pink in the pinwheels because I want darker colors to "pop" against the sashing. Can you believe that the sashing print is actually current and in stock? No midnight Ebay and Etsy searches this time! It's due to arrive in the mail tomorrow, so you'll see it very soon. 

I actually like making half-square triangles. I know that I'm in the minority here. I make them too big, and then trim them down to size using my 6" square ruler. This ensures that I always have exactly the correct size. (I take the pattern measurement and add 1/2" regardless of what the directions specify.) Yes, there's waste involved. But I don't need to squish and mash and stretch the blocks to get them the right size. I did that for years and was always unhappy with the results. And really, what's a little waste? It reduces my stash faster and frees up space for more new fabric!

Butterscotch Tart is a pattern by Fig Tree Quilts, and my fabric is mostly by Pam Kitty Morning. The tart blocks also have several red and pink prints by Lori Holt, plus a few random pieces of Lakehouse, Riley Blake and Bonnie & Camille. 

butterscotch tarts + a special quilt

I've finished another three Butterscotch Tart blocks! See that red rose print? Probably one of my favorite prints from the past few years. Love it. It's Annie's Farm Stand by the talented Holly Holderman at Lakehouse. I knew that I wanted to use this fabric. It's so American Beauty - the rose, not the movie! Just one problem. I checked my stash and found none in the studio. I used it all up on last year's Quilty Barn quilt. Panic! I considered sending a note to Holly or putting out an SOS on Instagram. Never mind that there are a gazillion other rose prints. I needed THAT one. So, late one night I searched online and found just one seller who had some. When it arrived I made one block with a rosy center. And then another with a rosy ring. 

Plus, I made another block with an alternate rose print by Pam Kitty Morning. 

I've been working towards an even distribution of red and blue outer rings which isn't so easy because I've come up with lots of fabric combinations! The final three blocks might see just a bit more pink. And so far I've avoided stripes and gingham because of the fear of wonkiness. I expect to finish the last three by early next week, and then I can start the sashing with fun pinwheel posts. I've been auditioning sashing fabric (scrappy whites? pale blue print?) and thinking about my outer border. 

On a more serious note... 

I read just a few days ago that fabric designer Aneela Hoey was scheduled for surgery for breast cancer this week. I've loved Aneela's fabrics for a few years. They're so naively whimsical. She opened up her quaint English house to us on her blog. She's given us lots of fun fabric collections, such as Sherbet Pips, Little Apples and Cherry Christmas. And now a group of quilters is getting together to create quilt blocks that will be assembled into a special quilt for Aneela. The request is to create two simple blocks using Aneela's fabric and to ship them by the end of the month. You can read how you can help here. I'm happy to contribute. And now I need to admit that I ran out of my supply of Aneela's fabric when making the Quilty Barns last year. So I just bought more of her Posy collection from an Etsy seller and asked her to put a special rush on my order. Are you noticing a common thread here with me always running out of the perfect fabric?! Oh well. I can't wait for it to arrive!

butterscotch tart's new colors

The experimental blocks are done for my Butterscotch Tart quilt. I've completed the blue-on-blue star, and the red-on-pink star. And here they are!

And you know what? I'm loving the addition of the pink! I was positive that the light blue would work, but the pink was iffy. But I didn't just stop there. Oh no. How about some blue strawberries?

And maybe some pink and red polka dots?

I'm having so much fun putting fabric combos together that this is the only quilt that I want to work on! I'm not the slightest bit bored. And I am sooo excited that I'm more than halfway through. 7 blocks done and 6 to go. Woo hoo. I can finish these blocks by the end of July. Yes, I can! Now I just gotta come up with a few more fabric combos. Hummm, maybe some stripes will be next...

The Butterscotch Tart pattern is by Fig Tree Quilts, and I have used an assortment of fabric by Pam Kitty Morning and Lori Holt.

Thank you for stopping by. I'll be back in a few days with an update, and I promise to not add any green or yellow!

butterscotch tart

I've made it official. I have now pledged allegiance to my latest quilt blocks. 

It's so much fun to see these blocks come together. The first block was easy (but time consuming) to sew and I hoped that the next one would go together as easily. I reversed a few of the pressing directions so now the seams all nest perfectly. Just for fun I checked to see how many pieces are in each block. Sixty five pieces! These are definitely a make-one-at-a-time blocks. But once I've turned on iTunes radio I'm good to go!

(Have you checked out iTunes radio? You choose an artist that you like and then you get an endless stream of similar music. So for anybody curious, tonight's block was courtesy of Kylie Minogue radio - all dance. Last night's block was accompanied by Martina McBride's country radio.)

And coming soon are some experimental blocks! I'm curious to see light and dark blue together, and red with pink. Yes, pink in my patriotic quilt. It's just light red, right?! I think that light blue and pink will add a bit of whimsy and help to reduce the sameness of the blocks. The Butterscotch Tart quilt pattern is by Fig Tree Quilts and you can pick up a copy here. I've had a few requests about my background. It's Pam Kitty Love and is now out of print, but there is a similar white with pink dots currently available in the Pam Kitty Picnic collection. Here's a sneak peek of some upcoming star fabrics - the reds are Lori Holt's out-of-print Polka Dot Stitches, and the light blues are Pam Kitty Picnic and Pam Kitty Morning. I'm making strawberry print stars. Imagine that, it's my never-ending strawberry addiction. And look at how different and soft the pattern can look when made from Fig Tree fabrics. I think that this pattern would be perfect for a Christmas quilt, too. 

I'm off to slice up this new fabric stack. Be back soon with more stars!