Darla Rag Quilt - Free Spirit Fabric!

I have been so busy lately (read: a BIG thank you to all of you out there buying fabric to create lovely crafts with!), I haven't had much time to make any rag quilts - but I finally carved out some time this weekend and put my new Pfaff to work. After almost 8 years of sewing with my basic starter sewing machine purchased at Sears, I finally upgraded. So I REALLY wanted one of those $9,000 Viking models that does everything but pick the fabric for you, but that's another story, (and another upgrade!). I saw these at International Quilt Market in Portland and Houston this year - they are incredible!

I chose six red and blue fabrics from the Darla collection designed by Tanya Whelan, who has awesome designs. I then selected a complementary blue and white gingham for the backing. I used batting for the middle layer of this quilt, but sometimes use flannel to make the seams a little fluffier. I then spent some quality time with some snips while parked in front of the TV to rag those seams before putting it in the washer. I haven't yet broken down and used the Accucut rag quilt rag quilt set - have any of you used it before? If so, I'd love to hear from you as to how you like it - do you get the same quality as you do from hand snipping? If so, it sure would save a lot of time!!!

I am still really new to the blogging thing, but at some point, I may give away one of these rag quilts. Right now, I'm still not getting a huge amount of traffic to the blog, but at some point, when there is a lot more readers out there, it may become a reality. Would any of you care to wine one? Drop me a comment and let me know!