TGIFF: A Moxie Finish!

If you have read my last few posts, you might have noticed that I have mentioned Sarah, of Georgia Girl Quilts, quite a few times. We became fast friends after connecting over conversations about the Brother PQ1500S sewing machine. Which we both have and (I think I can safely speak for Sarah when I say), we both LOVE.

Sarah and I are quilty twins.  One way we know this is that we both absolutely love Tula Pink‘s fabric. When Tula’s Foxfield line came out along with the free Moxie quilt pattern we immediately wanted to make the quilt.  So we decided to sew it “together”, although we live many many MANY miles apart. Unfortunately, this pattern and fabric release came out right before summer vacation, so I asked her to wait until August to sew our quilts. Since she is such an awesome friend, she agreed to wait.

This quilt sews up super quick, even with the curves…which are easy!! I wanted to make the quilt a bit bigger than it’s original finished size (50″ x 59″), so I told Sarah I was thinking of adding a border.  Since we are quilty twins, it was no surprise to me when she said that she was also thinking of adding a border. I am pretty sure we both had our quilts completely finished about four weeks after starting them.  That’s a pretty good turn around for me!  If you’d like to see Sarah’s quilt, you can find her post HERE.

I made the quilt as shown in Tula’s pattern.  I didn’t really do anything original, other than to add a 5″ patchwork border all around.  So my finished quilt measures 60″ x 69″.  I used my favorite thread, Aurifil, in the creation of this quilt.  I used my standard choice of #2021 in 50wt for piecing, and for the quilting I went with a color out the the Tula Pink collection, #4670 in 50wt.

I chose to do free motion quilting, using Tula’s original Moxie quilt that was quilted by Angela Walters as my inspiration.  I was really scared to take the leap and quilt it this way, but knew that if I didn’t start somewhere I would always be too scared to free motion quilt.  I practiced the designs on small quilt “sandwiches” until I felt comfortable enough with the movement and only then did I start on my quilt.  I figured the quilt would be like a massive practice sandwich… and it certainly was!

While making this quilt I decided that it would be a gift for my niece, Jaci. Her birthday is a little over a month away and what little girl would not love a Tula Pink quilt?!  This is the first time I’ve had a quilt done months in advance of gifting it.  I’m super glad I won’t be rushing to get this finished.

Jaci and her cousin (my other niece), Kaiya, are the best of friends. That’s important to note because they like to have the exact. same. things. Thankfully I always order an abundance of Tula fabric, so I have enough for another Moxie quilt.  While I will never be able to make a quilt that is exactly the same as another, I will get it all mostly the same.  The border will be slightly different, and the backing and binding will be from other prints in the line.  I figure that way the girls will know at a glance which quilt is theirs, yet they’ll have the “same thing”.

I had a lot of fun sewing up this quilt along with Sarah.  Big thanks to her for waiting until after summer to sew this pattern with me!  I’m linking up with Laura of Quokka Quilts for Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday.