Since last night's pictures were taken inside due to finishing my monthly goal after dark on the last day of the month, I just had to get Candy Shoppe outside this morning to take some more pictures.

I started quilting in 2002 and in the summer of 2003 I went on my first quilt shop hop, Shop Hop By the Bay. I rode along on a bus that someone in my guild organized for a day trip to visit many of the shops, and traveled to the other shops on my own the next day. At each location we were given one step in the directions for a mystery quilt, using 20 fat quarters and one contrasting fabric. The idea was to not look at the step in the directions until you'd finished the previous step. So I just looked at the shopping list and started shopping. I remember other women choosing florals or patriotic prints. At the first shop I bought a couple fat quarters that called out to me. Then I got back on the bus, having no idea what my plan was. I think it was another quilter who suggested I continue with brightly colored prints and along the way someone suggested a black and white fabric for my contrasting fabric.

Once I'd accumulated my 20 crazy fat quarters I was excited to get started and I think I pieced it pretty quickly. But back then I didn't know how to free motion quilt and I really wanted to learn before I finished the quilt. It wasn't until 2010 that I finally learned to free motion quilt, and finally this summer I started thinking more seriously about making a pieced backing which I had saved scraps from my fat quarters to make. I'm so glad to have finished this in September. And I'm thankful for Melissa and Shanna who run A Lovely Year of Finishes and Katy who runs the quarterly 2014 Finish Along for providing motivation for me to get some (and in cases like this, some really old) projects done.

Candy Shoppe is entirely machine pieced and quilted. It measures 57" by 67".

I'm linking up on Needle and Thread Thursday and Fabric Tuesday.