March Goals

My goal for March is to get started on this commission quilt:

It's a queen sized Plus quilt in solids (Kona Snow, Black, and Robin's Egg). My goal is to at least start cutting out the fabric, maybe even finish the cutting. But I really just want to make a dent in it. It needs to be done by June.

My stretch goals are as follow:

• Write the letter to go with the Community Quilt and send it off.
• Figure out a design for a coworker's baby quilt.
• Finish piecing the top of the plus quilt for my brother and get a picture of it to send to my future SIL. Fabric for the back is going to be used as a guest book and then incorporated into the design. I already have an idea or two.
• Work on some "selfish sewing" (I entertained the idea of joining the 30/30 challenge), if I do, my goal for that is to get some work in on one or both of the quilt I'm making for myself (Japanese X and Plus quilt or the Giant Churn Dash blocks)

Linking up with A Lovely Year of Finishes.

February Finishes

Well, let's see how I did with my February goals.

My goal for February was to finish the community quilt.

I made it! I put the finishing touches on the binding tonight. :) Now all that's left is to write a letter explaining why we made the quilt and then send it all off. A longer explanatory post to come when I'm relatively certain the package has reached the intended recipient.

Stretch goals:

Choose quilt blocks for my January pink solids for the Nearly Insane and the Farmer's Wife quilt.

Done for the Farmer's Wife quilt, since I've decided to focus on that one. I still haven't made much of a dent in the brown blocks for the Nearly Insane quilt. You can see the numbers here.

Print out several of the December Farmer's Wife paper piecing templates and complete a block or three.

Done. Made brown block 30 and pink block 9.

Keep working on the Nearly Insane block that I have fabric cut for.

Not so much. Although the block I'm working on is currently living in my purse, I either grab my Nook for some reading or bring my cross-stitch and work on that instead. EPP seemed like a great alternative to cross-stitch, but since I've gotten back into that, I'd rather do that.

Keep working on the Michigan quilt for my hubby.

All the blocks for this one are done! Read about the quilt and see the blocks here. Next step, make sure they are square and then sew the top together. I've already spoken to a long-armer about getting it professionally quilted, because that's just not happening on my tiny machine.

Finish the border for the Once Upon a Time Sampler from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery (yes, I caved).

Not quite, but I did make a dent in it.

Keep track of the blocks as they roll in for the Stash Bee.

Yup. I've received some beauties. Just waiting on three more people to send me theirs, and one person has already contacted me to say hers would be late. I'm fine with that. It's a quilt for my mom, with no specific deadline.

I am linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes.

February Update

February has flown by, I can't believe it's almost over! Here are some of the things I've been working on this month:

I chose the 10 blocks for the Farmer's Wife quilt for my January solids (Pink).
January blocks: 9, 29, 41, 43, 56, 58, 64, 70, 95, 98

"Selfish" sewing for my birthday:
1) Farmer's Wife Block:

Block 9

Pink

11 pieces

Paper Pieced

 

2) Japanese X and Plus Block

thematically appropriate since my birthday is on Valentine's Day

I've also done some work on two of my cross-stitch projects, the Once Upon a Time Sampler and the Alpine Flower Sampler.

I also finally bought, and I'm super excited about this, EQ7! I have already created a New York Beauty block for the following mini quilt project (input appreciated):

Option 1 (Red on Black), Option 2 (Black on Red)

 

I am trying to figure out if the red on black or the black on red is better. Bonus points to anyone who can guess what I was inspired by.

 

I also finally worked up the pattern for the plus quilt I envisioned for a commission from a family member.

 

 

I've sent it to the person who commissioned it, and am waiting for feedback. I'm also thinking of adding one more row of white and black rectangles to the left side, so it's not quite so unbalanced.

 

I also found a home for the Riley Blake Challenge Quilt, and embroidered my initials and the year I completed it ('13) into the bottom right corner before gifting it.

 

Last but not least, I made the backing for the Community Quilt and got it basted.

 

 

Hopefully I'll be able to post about a finish by the end of the month, or at least the quilting done, as I got an offer from one of the other contributors to do the binding. We'll see if I take her up on the offer.

February Goals

My goal for February is to finish the community quilt and send it off.

I showed the completed top to you in my last post, so I won't bore you with it again until I actually finish it. To finish it I need to piece the backing (already have plenty of fabric), quilt it (still trying to figure out how to quilt around the houses), and bind it (binding fabric to be determined). No problem, right?! .... Hey, no laughing. Despite my indecisive nature and the fact that I haven't done hardly any sewing the last few weeks, I think I can, I think I can.

Stretch goals:

• Choose quilt blocks for my January pink solids for the Nearly Insane and the Farmer's Wife quilt.
• Print out several of the December Farmer's Wife paper piecing templates and complete a block or three.
• Keep working on the Nearly Insane block that I have fabric cut for.
• Keep working on the Michigan quilt for my hubby.
• Finish the border for the Once Upon a Time Sampler from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery (yes, I caved).

• Keep track of the blocks as they roll in for the Stash Bee. February is my month! In case you're wondering, here is the questionnaire and tutorial I posted.

January Finishes

I have been pretty sick this month. First a regular chest cold, with lingering cough. And last week something else fun and exciting involving dizziness and extreme skin sensitivity. And it's super cold outside, so I hope I don't get sick again.

Anyway, let's look at my January goals:

1) Make the January block for Stash Bee and finalize my plans for February, make a block, and write a tutorial.

 

Completed! I made three blocks for the Stash Bee in January, two for my hive mama (Hive 8), and one for another hive (Hive 6), because I liked her pattern. I also decided on my block for February, and wrote up a tutorial that will go live on the Stash Bee blog on February 1.

 

Hive 6 Block

 Hive 8 Blocks

 My Block for February

2) Finish putting together the Community Quilt top; I've given up on waiting for other people to make additional house blocks. 

 

Completed! I actually got it put together, finally. The hardest part was squaring up all of the house and signature blocks. Layout and putting the rows together was good fun.

 

 

2)  Keep cutting half hexies.

 

Completed! I didn't cut many, but I did cut a few. So I'm going to call that a win.

Goals for 2014 and January

Having closed out another year, it's time to look back and reflect but also time to look forward and plan. I feel I do both pretty well. So here are my finishes for 2013:

 

1. Fracture Quilt - Complete Top, 2. Applique Toucan, 3. Red and White Star Quilt, 4. Low Volume Baby Quilt, 5. Christmas Quilt, 6. Riley Blake Challenge

The Riley Blake Challenge quilt was finished on New Year's Eve, I just don't have a final picture yet.

I will be participating in the 2014 A Lovely Year of Finishes again. I also decided to wait to restart Color Bee Shocked, because of some issues later in the year that I haven't quite gotten over. Instead I somehow managed to sign up for the Stash Bee, without actually remembering signing up. I have February as the queen bee. 

My January goal is to make the January block and finalize my plans for February, make a block, and write a tutorial.

As a stretch goal I have the following:

1) Finish putting together the Community Quilt top; I've given up on waiting for other people to make additional house blocks. 

2)  Keep cutting half hexies.

My sewing goals for 2014 are as follow:

1) Finish the Community Quilt

2) Finish the Hexie Wedding Quilt

3) Finish the top of the Plus Wedding Quilt

4) Make a commissioned plus quilt

5) Learn how to use a longarm machine

6) Make baby quilts as necessary (perhaps one for us, we'll see, no news yet)

December Finishes

So my goal for the December "A Lovely Year of Finishes" was to finish the Riley Blake Challenge top. I did that the day after I posted my goal on Flickr. So here it is, with the backing done and basted for quilting. I may even get it finished before the new year. We'll see.

I am particularly pleased with the backing for this quilt. It works with the front perfectly. But you'll have to wait for all the pictures until I have finished it.

I also completed my Christmas Quilt, which I've decided to name "Snowed In," in time for Christmas. My hubby and I sat under it to watch Aladdin on Christmas Eve. It was one of his gifts and we always unwrap one each on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas Day.

Here I am, hand stitching the binding down on Christmas Eve. My cuddly Sir Galahad is perched behind me, unhappy that the quilt is taking up all of his lap space. It was so great to be able to snuggle under it together while we played Guild Wars 2 after everyone had left on Christmas Day.

I leave you with a panorama picture of our Christmas Day Open House spread. We had Mucho Gusto, Bruschetta, charcuterie and cheeses, root veggies, vegetarian and sausage stuff mushrooms, Swedish meatballs, raw veggies with ranch dip, cream cheese logs, easy Swedish apple pie, buckeyes, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and spiced pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting. Also homemade eggnog  (alcoholic), mulled cider (with optional alcohol), and an assortment of beers, juices, milk, or sparkling cider. We had a blast, had quite a few people drop in, and played Munchkin and Cards Against Humanity.

December Goals and Upcoming Contest/Give-Away

I am working on getting a quilt naming contest/give-away together since I am horrible at naming my own quilts and I need some help. I am just working on some suitable prizes for the winners and one bigger give-away item for a random winner. Stay tuned.

So I set my December goal for "A Lovely Year of Finishes" via Flickr this month. It was to finish the top for my Riley Blake Challenge hosted by the Modern Quilt Guild.

Fabrics were already cut when I made myself that goal. But guess what... I already finished my goal for the month. The very next day!

Now what am I supposed to do with the rest of my month!?! Just kidding, I have plenty of projects.

So here is my to do list for the rest of December. December for me includes a whopping two weeks off from my job for Christmas and we're not going anywhere because my hubby has to work, so in my mind that equates to two weeks of sewing!

1) Get the top of the Community Quilt put together, at least in a 5x6 block layout. I'm still missing one Skyline block, which someone has offered to make, and four house blocks, which I don't have any takers for yet. It took me long enough to make one, so I'm not keen on making another four.

My house block.

The Skyline blocks so far.

The four "odd" shaped road pieces.

I still need to put together several straight road pieces, square up the house blocks, and sew blocks together. I am already loving the Skyline blocks.

2) Finish sewing together the Giant Churn Dash blocks. Fabric is already cut out, just need to piece them together.

3) Start cutting half hexis for my sister's wedding quilt. Colors requested were blue-green and dark green, with potential grey. I may choose something besides grey, depending on how dark the rest of the quilt gets.

4) Work on the Java wedding quilt. I'm very tempted to just rip out the second borders I have on the first set of blocks and put the blocks together as is. Won't be much of a pineapple blossom design, but it may save my sanity and actually get this thing done.

5) Continue putting together the Plus Wedding Quilt. All the rows are done, just need to sew them together.

6) Keep cutting fabric for the Scrappy Swoon Wedding Quilt.

7) Decide if I want to participate in the Modern from Repo guild challenge. If I do decide to participate, I need to come up with a design by December 15. However, except for the solids and the blenders, none of the fabrics we're actually supposed to showcase really speak to me. So I'm having designer's block big time. Benefit of participating is that we get all the fabric needed for the project for free. Front, backing, and binding.

8) Decide on a project for the February quilt show at the Anacostia Arts Center. We need to have pictures of at least the front (or a portion of the finished front) by sometime in January. I might actually start on that Pixelated Michigan quilt I promised my hubby. Who knows. Alternatively, I may enter my Riley Blake Challenge or the Giant Churn Dash quilt, if I get it done in time.

I think that's plenty, although I have two other projects I could/should be starting on.

October Goals

My "A Lovely Year of Finishes" goal for October is to make as many Giant Churn Dash blocks as I have background fabric for.

Here is what I have so far:

First block. Turned out great.

 

Love the crisp edges on this one.

Most green on green that I'm going to get out of this fabric line, first one with a seedhead center.

My favorite so far, despite the cutting mistake

I will be making 20 24" blocks. No sashing, with some seedhead centers. Background is Kona Sprout. Tutorial for the blocks can be found at Elvy Crafts. I have background fabric for about eight more blocks.

 





My other goals for the month are as follow:

1) Continue making Christmas quilt blocks as Leaders and Enders for the Churn Dash blocks
2) Make at least one house block and one additional skyline block for the Community Quilt and start putting the top together
3) Order more Kona Sprout and a fabric for the backing and binding
4) Keep working on the wedding quilt
5) Quilt the split rail baby quilt

Split Rail Quilt top complete

September Goals

My September Goals are as follow:

1) Make the September Color Bee Shocked Block - Kris sent some lovely fabrics, so I'm excited

2) Finish piecing the top for the first Low Volume Baby Quilt. Right now it's 8x6, and I would like it to be at least 10x8.

3) Make at least one or two house blocks for the "Quilt for a Friend" project.

Stretch Goals:
1) Surprise wedding quilt - I really should be working on this exclusively, but I cannot seem to get myself motivated to do so.
2) Work on the Christmas quilt which has been sadly neglected with all these other projects
3) Keep cutting fabrics for the second Low Volume Baby Quilt and start piecing some of the HSTs

That will be more than enough for this month, but I doubt I'll stick to those specific projects as I always have new ideas and plenty of fabric.

August Finish - Toucan Quilt

My goal for August was to finish the Toucan Crib Quilt. I am horrible at coming up with interesting names for my quilts, so they end up being called something simple based on the main attraction.

I did actually finish the Toucan Quilt.

I cut 33 5.5" squares each of yellow, green, and tan/brown. Putting those together into the quilt top was by far the quickest part of the process.

Next I found, blew up, and mirrored a picture of a toucan to use as the basis for my applique. I used rough edge applique with a straight stitch around the edges to anchor the fabric.

I ended up having to take a row off the top and the side because it wouldn't fit on the pre-cut batting I wanted to use. Instead I used one row on the back in between some striped green flannel.

Quilting was relatively easy as well, until I got to the toucan. I did stitch in the ditch along the edges of the squares, and then outlined every part of the toucan and leaves. That part took forever.

Binding is a Denyse Schmidt fabric I picked up at Joann's.

Finally I embroidered my initials and the year in the bottom right corner. It's kind of hard to see, since it's green on green. Now I just need to wash and send it.



August Goals

My giveaway is still open until August 16th. Please check it out and comment on the give-away post to enter.

My goal for August is to finish the Toucan baby quilt. Need to finish the quilting, bind it, embroider my signature on it, and wash it.

How cute is that?!

 



My stretch goals are the following:
1) Finish adding the second border to my wedding quilt blocks
2) Continue working on my Christmas quilt
3) Continue cutting fabric for the Plus Quilt
4) Continue working on my X and Plus blocks

I doubt I'll get through all of that, but I really need to get working on that wedding quilt. My deadline is nearing steadily.

July Finishes

So I completed my goals for the month!

My goals for the month were to do the following:

1) Make bee blocks for the 3x6 Bee - 12 due by July 15

2) Make bee blocks for the Scrappy Trip Around the World Bee - 5 due by July 30

I completed both goals before July 15. See July Progress post for Pictures.

My flex goals were to do the following:

1) Put the next border on my wedding quilt blocks, I'll leave the corners for next month.
I didn't complete this, but I did managed to get a start on adding the border.

2) Keep adding red corners to my X and Plus blocks and maybe put another one or two together.
I did put several more blocks together, but did not add red corners to my X fabrics.

 

I'm pretty proud of both of them. Many more to come.

3) Start cutting my In From the Cold Layer Cake for my Christmas/Holiday quilt?
Completed. I cut all of the fabrics in the layer cake as well as some Kona Snow. I even started putting some of the blocks together.

 

  They are very simple but I love them.

July Progress

I did it! I got through all of the bee blocks and have half a month to go.

Here are my blocks for the Scrappy Trip Around the World Bee. They were due by July 31, finished the last three blocks yesterday.

 

My 3x6 2013 Q2 Hive F - Sampler blocks. Due today, finished Saturday.

 

The 3x6 2013 Q2 Hive B - Stars blocks. Due today, finished last weekend.

 

Color Bee Shocked is on ice, because our July person has disappeared from the face of the earth. So besides Color Bee Shocked, I am free from all bee obligations now. That's a beautiful feeling! Not that I didn't enjoy my time in the bees I've participated in, but they've started getting really overwhelming. Let's see if I can get at least one of these stretch goals accomplished.



July Goals

Unfortunately, I did not finish my June goals so I could link up to the end of June finishes post. However, it's going to make me more aware of what I can actually accomplish. I feel a bit bad, but I have decided to be more selfish with my time. I have a ton of quilts that I need to finish for friends, family, and myself. And I just can't also make stuff for strangers right now. Maybe when a few of these projects are off my plate.

So, my goals for this month are as follow:

• Make bee blocks for the 3x6 Bee - 12 due by July 15
• Make bee blocks for the Scrappy Trip Around the World Bee - 5 due by July 30

After that I will be dropping both of these bees for a while until my life calms down again. I have also dropped out of the HOPE do.good Stitches bee, although that hurt the most, being charity and all. The only one I will continue on with for now is Color Bee Shocked, since I started it and I committed to a full year. Plus it's fun to get fabric to play with every month.

Provided I manage to make that ridiculous amount of bee blocks, here are my stretch goals for the month:

• Put the next border on my wedding quilt blocks, I'll leave the corners for next month.
• Keep adding red corners to my X and Plus blocks and maybe put another one or two together.

Here is the block I made last month instead of adding red borders to the X portions. 

• Start cutting my In From the Cold Layer Cake for my Christmas/Holiday quilt (in fact, I think I'm going to go get started on that now, who said I had to do these in order?)

Yummy layer cake!

June Goals

My number one goal is to get all of my bee responsibilities taken care of. These include:
June block for Color Bee Shocked
April blocks for BBC
Hive B and F for 3x6 Bee (stretch goal as I have until July 15)
Hive 2 for Scrappy Trip Bee (stretch goal)

Furthermore I hope to complete the following:
Finish adding red corners to my X pieces for the Japanese X and Plus blocks

Finish adding the first round of brown corners to my Wedding Quilt
Finish cutting fabric for the Plus Quilt (stretch goal)

Ambitious, but I do have a sewing retreat coming up. So I hope to get a few things accomplished.

I am linking to A Lovely Year of Finishes.

April Finish

I made it. Both of my goals, for that matter. I finished the fracture quilt.

I quilted it in a sunburst pattern. The binding is from the same solid dark purple I used in the front and a purple print I was going to use on the back.

The back is a larger version of one of the front blocks. I even managed to embroider my initials before the end of April.

And I cut all of the light text prints for my Japanese X and Plus Blocks and started adding in the red triangles.