I'm back!

Whoa. It's been a long time. I had a really busy spring and I guess I needed a couple of months to recover! Don't get me wrong though... I've still been busy. I just haven't had time to share!

After Little Loo's 1st birthday and school wrapped up, I took a couple of weeks to recover before starting my next big project-- Diva's new nap quilt for school. Unlike last year, when I whipped up her quilt (start to finish) in about a week, I wanted to spend some time and create something really special. When I asked Diva what type of quilt she wanted, naturally she told me "something princess-ey." I knew just what I was going to do!

At my first quilt show I had bought a pattern that I just adored called Happily Ever After by Ribbon Candy Quilt Company. The pattern was for a 42" square quilt which was just not the right size, but I was able to modify the pattern to work, and I love it even more.

In case you are wondering, I duplicated the blocks from the top row, adding them as a row to the bottom, and swapped the direction of the bottom (now middle) section. Then, I patterned the words "happily," "ever," and "after" and patterned the dragon from a coloring page I found online. I also omitted the flowers. This was the first time I tried applique, and I decided it wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be.

The other thing I wanted to do on this quilt was try out a whole bunch of new and different quilting techniques. I'm so glad I did. I tried all sorts of things. Below are my two favorite blocks, front and back. I love how I was able to quilt in the cobblestones and scales, and I especially love how you see the images from the back of the fabric, a blue minky dot.

And while we are on the subject, I heard nightmarish stories about quilting with minky. But what can I say, I'm a glutton for punishment I guess, so I decided to go big or go home. Honestly though, I had absolutely no issues with it! I used a combination of my 505 basting spray and straight pins and nothing shifted so much as an inch.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this quilt. I had a wonderful time making it. And I know Diva loves it!

I hope to be back soon... I'm half way through a Christmas wall hanging, and I also have another quilt that needs to be done by mid-October. I'll keep you posted!

Linking up with Made with Love Monday!, Market yourself Monday, and Let's Get Acquainted Monday Link Up (buttons of the right bar).