First finished project of 2013: Houndstooth Heritage, Easter style!

Y'ALL.

I finished something!

I haven't really been doing much sewing of late, but I did FINALLY settle down and complete the binding on this fun little number:

It's from The Tulip Patch's Houndstooth Heritage pattern.  She's a 'Bama girl, so her original is in black and white.  I'm a Tennessean--but I refuse to do orange and white!--so instead I made mine from Kona Bone and Kona Pear, two nice Spring-like colors I really love.

Because I'm lazy, and lose interest fast, I went with her newer "Houndstooth Magic" method of piecing, which uses strip piecing and tubes to make the blocks.  The pattern came together pretty quickly.  It was my first time working much with a lot of bias edges, but this method eliminates the need to piece a zillion tiny triangles. 

I backed it with a cute print (the name of which I do not remember) in cream and pear, and then decided to bind with the other color in the print.  *ETA:  The backing  fabric is Robin's Egg Meadow Dot from Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet 2 line.  It just came to me!*

I pieced and basted this quilt and let it sit around a loooong time.  I couldn't figure out how to quilt the thing.  Any straight-line pattern seemed wrong--I really didn't want some other pattern interfering with the houndstooth. 

It was crying out for free-motion.  I took a deep breath and obliged.

We will not be viewing THOSE photos.  Let's just say...I won't be giving this away, or teaching classes in free-motion anytime soon (though I may be teaching a quilting class in the near future!)  I've got a long way to go.

Well, ok...maybe I'll show you guys one closeup photo:

I'm still struggling--a LOT--with keeping my stitches consistent.  I got a "Solid State" pedal for my Kenmores and that helps--it is actually possible to sew slower now--but convincing my hands and feet to work in tandem is a process.  (How I manage to drive is a mystery.)  Also I have to learn to think ahead--you can see indecision here, which resulted in a corner rather than a curve.  grrr. I should practice more, but I just hate wasting fabric! 

Ok--I feel like I need to give you something else to rest your eyes on.  Here's a quilt made by my late grandmother (probably hand-pieced and hand-quilted, without a pattern and from dress/clothing fabrics): 

That's better.