Quickie quilt done!

Lately I was feeling a little low in the quilting mojo. No lack of inspiration (or fabric), just not much energy in the tank and starting something new (or finishing up other quilts) felt daunting.

I needed a quickie.

So, when I had an unexpected afternoon off work recently, I neglected to pick up the kids from daycare or do my "to-do" list (it never gets any shorter, anyhow). Instead I spent 3 uninterrupted hours cutting up and sewing together my AMH Little Folks that I bought, in full, May of last year! A very simple strip quilt, completely inspired by the ones by Red Pepper Quilts. I made sure I did it with the rules of:
1. no thinking and
2. no pulling apart seams, no matter what.

Just pulled a fabric from the pile, cut a strip of whatever width, sew it on, etc until it was long enough. One strip was even sewed on with the back facing outwards! Whatever. Left it like that. And I didn't die or anything!


For the backing, I used a sheet I bought on clearance from IKEA. Easy peasy! It is a charcoal color and has a sheen to it that I just LOVE. I normally go for a fancy pieced back, but really like how this simple solid accents my quilting.
I did some simple line machine quilting, using grey on the back and colors that coordinated with the fabric on top. I popped on the binding (by machine) and hand stitched it here and there with Perle 8 thread in contrasting colors until I felt it was "done." Love the randomness, and how the hand stitching pops against the solid back.

I love it. It was stress free, simple, and as far as I am concerned, looks fantastic. Been so overwhelmed with all that is life lately, this was a much needed escape.

I was feeling guilty about my unfinished vintage sheet quilt, and also that I hadn't started the promised birthday quilt for The Middle Child (her birthday is this weekend) but I will get to those, eventually. Had to take time to remember that quilting is supposed to be FUN, right??

Bring on the next project!