#BFTPqal with Katie

Oh my goodness -- this is the LAST WEEK of tutorials! I can hardly believe we're at this point, doesn't it seem like we just started? For this week's tutorials, go to Katie's blog HERE.

#BFTPqal with Marion

This week is back at Marion's blog -- and do you feel like we're getting close? Last week will be the last week of tutorials, and then we're on to construction tips. It's going to be EPIC!

#BFTPqal with Tiffany

This week will be my friend Tiffany at Always Sewin' Somethin'. She's so adorable -- and BRAVE. She has 2-year-old twins, and just had another baby! Oh, I'm tired just thinking about it -- but hopefully things will be a little easier this time with just one little bundle of joy. :)

#BFTPqal - my extra blocks

I laid out my #BFTPqal quilt on Monday to see how things were coming, and something was just a little off. I originally planned to make a lap-size quilt, but life got busy and I'd only done my required blocks. Three blocks a week is actually really hard to accomplish, especially if you're making 39 apple blocks and a t-shirt quilt and various bags for Teacher Appreciation (which reminds me, I need to blog about the quilt and those bags -- they're so super cute!).

I decided to try laying out the quilt as per Marie Henry's sashing instructions, and this cute little quilt really came to life -- I tried to fight the on-point layout, but in the end, it really worked for what I want to do!

Anyway, so I only had 15 blocks, which isn't enough for much of anything. Luckily, I have a sister-in-law who's about to have a little girl, and the color palette I chose is perfect for a cute little someone! But to complete my layout, I needed three more blocks -- two applique, and one pieced. Here are the blocks I chose:

Page 17 -- Clay's Choice

I really wanted to do this one, because Clay is my Dad's name. Marie Henry has you do half-square triangles, but I really wanted to use a graphic print for the main part, so I just cut four 2" x 3 1/2" rectangles and did stitch-and-flip corner squares in the background print. It was such a fast finish, I love it!

Page 67 - Laurel Spray

This was one of the block I avoided originally, because it's meant to be on point. I think it's really pretty, though, and since I changed my layout it will fit in nicely.

Page 68 - Lyre 

This block was definitely one I didn't want to do originally -- but Baby Girl's mom is super musical, so I thought a nod to her love of music would be nice. The polka dots are Aunt Natalie's contribution. :)

And here's my final layout -- I think it turned out so pretty!

It's definitely even prettier in real life -- up close, and personal. My favorite blocks are probably the applique ones -- I love the top left so so much, and the floral wreath block just under the lyre, and my absolute favorite is probably the one with three flowers on the right-hand side. I might play around a bit more with the layout, and I haven't completely decided what the cornerstones will be (although I've almost decided to make it scrappy), and the setting triangles -- should I keep them "background" colored? or, once again, scrappy? The choices are endless -- but with a niece scheduled to come in the next couple of weeks, I'll be hurrying to make some final decisions! :)

#BFTPqal - pages 53, 83, & 91

Whew! I made it today -- I wasn't sure I would, I caught a bad cold from my husband and felt kind of bad all day. But I prevailed, and here are my blocks!

Page 53 - Road to Fortune

For this block, I followed Marie Henry's instructions, mostly. I did all the cutting like she said, but instead of the way she said to construct the double hourglasses, I just made double hourglasses and put them together four-patch-style.

Page 83 - Cucumber

I made this block pretty quickly, due to my Heat-n-Bond Lite method of applique. I should have consulted the diagram a little better, though -- I'm a little sad I didn't place my yellow leaves properly; they're not supposed to overlap the cucumbers. The one downfall with fusible applique is that you can't reposition it if you make a mistake!

Page 93 - Storm at Sea

I've been excited to make this block, and for this one I knew I'd need to do paper piecing. I tried the method from Cristy Fincher's Craftsy class, Pain-Free Foundation Piecing, and while I'm relatively pleased with the results of paperless paper piecing, I don't love it for this particular block. It's just a little too little and fiddly -- but I absolutely loved the method, and my favorite part was NOT tearing off a million bazillion teensy pieces of paper and ripping out my seams!

Stay tuned Thursday -- I was having so much fun, I actually did three extra blocks, and I've got my layout all ready to go! I'll be using Marie Henry's sashing instructions after all, so I'll have some fun with cornerstones and setting triangles. I'm so excited -- it's going to be the cutest little baby quilt!

#BFTPqal with Barbie

Today's #BFTPqal is with my sweet friend Barbie from The Quilting Mill. I just love her! She does the most amazing custom quilting -- I've promised myself that someday I'll give her a special quilt top to finish up for me!

And I'm completely MIA -- because I'm at Girls Camp this week! Joel is holding down the fort, so give him a little extra prayer if you have one. He's not looking forward to flying solo, but I'm confident he'll do great!