A Lovely Year of Finishes – December Goal Complete

I didn’t finish nearly as many monthly goals as I’d hoped this year but it sure does feel good finishing the year off with a completed goal. I finally finished my Black and White Splash Quilt for my oldest daughter’s Christmas present. (I also finished two other quilts in December but I’ll blog about those later…one still needs pictures!)

I began this quilt in the spring of 2014 and finished all the blocks. Then this quilt went into my UFO stack. I finally dusted the blocks off over the summer and finished the quilt top. It was even my October finishing goal but I didn’t quilt at all in October (I was so very miserably pregnant that month.) It has taken me a bit to get it all done though and I didn’t baste, quilt or bind until well into December. I’m going to blame being pregnant and having a newborn for my procrastination.  🙂

I’m very happy with how this quilt turned out. It was a lot of fun to make.

The quilt in the book was an aqua quilt with an orange block in the center. Although I was worried my quilt would look Halloweenish, I really wanted to do a black/white with orange block for the feature block because my daughter decorates in orange, turquoise and black/white. I’m actually very pleased with these colors and do not feel that they are Halloweenish at all. I think the fabrics used – and the addition of some yellows in the orange fabrics helped a lot.

There really are some fun fabrics in this quilt – I adore the tennis shoes, bicycles and music notes…

By the way, neither of these girls are the quilts recipient…I was photographing this before Christmas and wanted some people in the photographs. I will post some after Christmas pictures of Shiloh with her quilt later.

It may not be their quilt but they are enjoying it anyway. My kids love playing with quilts!

I loosely followed the pattern for the Splash Quilt in Sunday Morning Quilts to make this quilt. Seriously, I say this all the time, but you all need this book!! You’ll thank me for recommending it later. I love every quilt in it!!

I’m linking up at Sew Bittersweet Designs for A Lovely Year of Finishes. Click the button below to see what goals everyone else completed in December!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Lovely Year of Finishes – December Goal

Well, my October goal of finishing my 18 year old daughter’s quilt I plan to give her for Christmas was a no-go. I do not think I even touched the quilt. The last months of my pregnancy were kicking my butt. November came and I made no goal (unless getting out of bed each day was a goal – and some days I didn’t do that), and then the baby girl came (yay!), and then I was busy with a newborn, so yeah, no quilting in November.

December is here now, and Christmas presents need to be completed. I’m no longer pregnant and the baby is sleeping better at night (finally!) so I’m jumping back in one last time for 2015. I’m going to keep my October goal though because I need to finish this quilt (along with three others, a table runner, some pot holders and oven mitts) before Christmas! Whew!

However, my ALYF goal for December will just be finishing Shiloh’s quilt.

I did finally baste this top so it is sitting, rolled up on my sewing table, ready to be quilted and have the binding attached. Honestly, once I get a quilt basted I feel a bit like I’m home free – it is certainly my least favorite part. I hope to start quilting this on Monday  and should have it done by the end of the week.

So, there you have it..my December A Lovely Year of Finishes goal. You can see more goals at Sew Bittersweet Designs by clicking on the button below.

A Lovely Year of Finishes – October Goal

I’m so stoked that I’m actually remembering to post my goal in time. Yay!!

Last year, I began working on the Splash Quilt from the book Sunday Morning Quilts. I originally intended it as a gift for a couple I know but my then 16 year old took a liking to it. She’s rather picky and doesn’t always like the items I make so I decided I’d let it be her quilt. After completing the blocks I abandoned it a bit in lieu of other projects.

Earlier this year I decided to gift each of my children a quilt for Christmas this year. I pulled the Splash Quilt blocks out and completed the quilt top late in August.

I put it aside once again because I needed to shop for the perfect backing fabric. (The quilt made a huge dent in my black and white scraps!)

Well, it’s getting time to finish these quilts if they are going to be ready in time for Christmas (I have two more to make after this. Three are complete!) Also, the black and orange colors are very October, are they not?

I’m still super busy with work, chasing five kids that are in band, drama, art school, ballet, etc, and dealing with being 33 weeks pregnant, so it’s a smallish goal that I feel confident I can complete. I do, fortunately, have a great basting helper (my son Landon rocks at this job!) so I’ll make him do most of the crawling around on the floor. Me doing that right now would be pretty special!

Click over to Sew Bittersweet Designs to see what everyone else has set for their October goal!

A Lovely Year of Finishes – September Goal Complete!

I think my favorite things to post are completed quilts. I know it’s my favorite part of quilting. I do enjoy the process but I’m all about the finish! (You’d think it would make me finish more, right?)

In September, my finishing goal was to quilt and bind a baby quilt for my sweet girl coming in November. This is my first quilt to make her (although I have the blocks for another one all ready!) I used blocks from a former Block of the Month class that I never finished.

Here’s the finished product!

I’m happy with how it turned out and think it makes a really sweet baby quilt!

Since it was a block of the month (or a partial one, since I never finished) I also completed my goal of making a sampler quilt this year!! Yay for meeting goals!!

A few more pictures…

Love this binding. Here’s a peek at the backing fabric as well.

I’m linking up with Sew BitterSweet Designs  and Fiber of All Sorts for A Lovely Year of Finishes! Click the button below to see who all made their goal!

A Lovely Year of Finishes – August Finish

Yay! My second A Lovely Year of Finishes actual finish! My goal was to finish quilting and binding my Wacky Web Selvage quilt that will be my nine year old daughter’s Christmas gift this year.

Here she is…

All finished.

Boy does that feel good. I think I may have mentioned that I’m a bit obsessed with the quilt. I’ve wanted to do a selvage quilt for awhile and this one was just too stinkin’ fun to make. I highly recommend making a wacky web quilt. It’s a blast to watch the pattern come together and grow…each block a new happy surprise!

The selvage edges are fun too. It’s neat to see my favorite designers names on this quilt…it’s almost like an autograph quilt for celebrity designers. Oh look, I see some Jennifer Paganelli, Amy Butler, Sarah Jane, Heather Bailey, Josephine Kimberling…

Here’s a look at the backing fabric and the binding. I love binding. Love it!

I think my daughter is going to love this bright, happy quilt. Now the hard part is keeping it hidden away in the closet for a few more months. It needs to be draped somewhere to be admired…

I’m linking up at Sew BitterSweet Designs for A Lovely Year of Finishes and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework for Oh Scrap. Click the buttons and hop over to see what everyone else is working on!

  

A Lovely Year of Finishes – August Goal

When I found A Lovely Year of Finishes in January I was so excited. I was too late to join in January. I joined up in February and then didn’t finish my goal. Gah. In March I finished my goal! Woohoo!

Then life got crazy with a capital C. Whoa! I didn’t feel well. School ended. We had some personal issues, that were exciting and good (hopefully more on this one day) but boy did it make our lives crazy. Summers are usually when I get the most done but this summer has been so full of events that I just haven’t gotten to much in the sewing world.

Things are, however, settling down a bit. I really want to keep participating in these challenges whenever I can. I start back to work on Monday but I think I can manage an August goal anyway!

It’s not a huge goal – very conservative. Just finishing the quilt I’ve been a bit obsessed with all summer.

I finished the top about two weeks ago.

I always seem to get stuck at the basting, however. After discussing our lack of finishing quilts once we have quilt tops with my sister-in-law, we decided we need a plan. Once a month, we are going to try and get together to have a basting day. It’s much more fun (and heaps easier) to baste quilts with a buddy. On Monday, she showed up and we basted two quilts. One for me and one for her. (We each have one more ready to go for our next basting day as well! Yay!)

I started quilting this selvage quilt last night. I’m about halfway done with the quilting and then will need to bind it.

So that’s my goal! It’s small but I’d rather work towards something I can accomplish – especially with school starting!

I’m linking up at A Lovely Year of Finishes at Sew Bittersweet Designs! Hop over to check out other goals for August!

A Lovely Year of Finishes – March Goal Complete

Can we just yell this from the top of a building please?? I’m over the moon excited to have this project done. I ran into several snags along the way and it is also the largest (by quite a bit) quilt that I’ve managed to quilt on my domestic machine! And it is finally finished! Wahoooooooooooo! 

This quilt was a beast to quilt. I was frustrated so many times. My machine jammed up on me in the middle of the project and had to be serviced. I had some issues with blocks not lining up perfectly and thought that since it was a bit of an improv quilt it wouldn’t matter much….until it came to the quilting. Oh my goodness did I have a hot mess! (This quilt will not be entering the fair anytime soon!) I love it though. I love it so much. It is now on my bed and I smile every. single. time. I see it! And what is better than that? I’d much rather this quilt I love so much than one perfectly constructed. (I suppose I should really start working on being more accurate though. Gah! Self improvement is tough!) Here are a few lot more photos of the completed quilt!

Oh yes. You noticed that is not my usual model? This quilt was a bit large so I grabbed a taller model. Isn’t he handsome?

He even enjoyed running with the quilt. I guess you do not outgrow some things! (Totally his idea!)

Ignore those threads. I swear they multiply. I always think I’ve trimmed them all until looking through my pictures.

She may have been feeling a bit left out…

Yeah, my models were bored and decided to play in the trees…

Just a few more looks at this gorgeous fabric…

I’m linking up with Sew Bittersweet Designs and Fiber of All Sorts for A Lovely Year of Finishes! Click the button below to see more!!

A Lovely Year of Finishes – March Finishing Goal

February was my first month to join in for the Lovely Year of Finishes. It motivated me to keep on working towards the end of my quilt (I really, really didn’t want to quilt that baby!!) I did, sadly, fall short on the challenge. Some issues with my machine kept me from finishing the quilt in time. So sad! I even tried to power quilt the last day of February to complete the challenge. I kinda forgot what a huge quilt I was quilting!! Now it’s March and time to decide what my finishing goal will be for the month. My February goal was ambitious…I had to sew a large quilt top, quilt and bind it (I’d already completed the blocks.) I do believe I’m going to be a little less ambitious this month. March is a pretty busy month. I’ve spent the last week working on the quilting for this quilt.

I want to add a few more vertical rows of quilting to it and then bind it. It was my February goal but now it’s my March goal. I want to make sure this quilt is completed. It needs to be on my bed!! Here’s another up close shot of the gorgeous fabrics. I do not get tired of looking at these fabrics!!

Here is a glimpse of the backing fabric. I used Dictionary Pages from Tim Holz Eclectic Elements fabric line. I’m a little geeked out about this entire line of fabric. I love them all!

In fact, I plan to use the Rulers print for the binding.

I’m linking up for A Lovely Year of Finishes over at Sew BitterSweet Designs. Click over if you’d like to see other quilting goals for March.

A Lovely Year of Finishes – Recap

Remember these lovely fabrics that were going to be a quilt for my bed? And my February finishing goal?

Yeah, well. It’s not going to happen. So sad.

I was on track to have it done. I really was. I was about halfway through the quilting on Tuesday evening when my machine locked up on me. I took it apart, cleaned it, re-threaded it, changed the needle, checked the bobbin. It was still locked up.

I immediately decided it needed to be seen by an expert. I dropped it off on Wednesday but alas, my quilt is still only halfway quilted.

To get through the disappointment of not finishing my quilt in February, I’m going to lose myself in two new books that showed up in the mail on Friday.

Good stuff, my friends, good stuff. I’m enjoying them very much!

I also am on track to finish at least one quilt each month since I did finish a quilt in February. You can read here about my the last quilt I completed!! And to think…I almost made this quilt my February goal!!! Darn it! Oh well, that is what I get for setting the bar high. 🙂

Overall, I’m very happy with how I did in February.

This just in!! I had a call from the repairman and my machine is DONE!! Woohoo!! I’ve now picked her back and and I’m ready to have an all nighter with this quilt of mine. If I do not finish, then I do not finish. I am, however, going to go down kicking!!

A Lovely Year of Finishes : My February Finishing Goal

A lovely year of finishes. Isn’t that a nice idea? How often do we crafty people have piles of unfinished work lying about? I know I have my share of projects lying around half done. It’s always nice to have a little motivation to get something finished!

I recently joined a facebook group called A Lovely Year of Finishes. The goal is to set monthly challenges and actually finish the challenge. I thought this the perfect place to hang out and try and work on my 2015 quilting challenges! Unfortunately, I joined in too late to complete a challenge in January (although I did make and finish a quilt I’m very happy with in January) but I’m very anxious to hop on board for February!!

I’ve been thinking about what I want my February challenge to be. I have two three  a bazillion quilts I’ve already begun that I’m anxious to complete. I posted about a sad quilting story here but I have pretty much caught up on that quilt…it only needs binding. I also have all the blocks made for another quilt I’ve already posted about this year.

This weekend, however, I finally started a low volume quilt. I’ve been dying to make one for awhile now. I decided to use the pattern from a favorite quilting book, Sunday Morning Quilts. It’s the quilt named Sunday Morning! My son took a bunch of 2.5″ strips I’d cut and trimmed them to size for me. I have the blocks made and sewn into rows. I still need to sew the rows together, find backing fabric, baste/sandwich my quilt (this is were I get lost!), quilt and bind it. It’s also the largest quilt I will have quilted so far. I think this is the project I’ll go with. I want to have this beauty done by the end of February!!

I made 72 blocks that are approximately 11″ square.

Aren’t these fabrics fun? It all came from my scraps! I have an unholy amount of scraps…

Now to sew these rows together!! I cannot wait to see this finished. Let the fun begin!

Check out the button below to see other February Quilting Challenges!

Edited: I’ve also added this to the link-up at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework as well and you can find that button below!