Out with the old...

And in with the new.

2015 brought many life changes for me - some good, some bad - and had me re-evaluating the load I placed on myself with work, family, hobbies and other commitments. As much as I wanted sewing to be a priority because I enjoy it... over the summer I was so overwhelmed that sewing became an obligation and no longer very enjoyable. I dropped some sewing commitments that I enjoyed and wanted to be a part of, but just couldn't handle at the time and took a general hiatus from all things sewing related for about 6 months.

In the new year I'd like to keep up with the blog in order to keep track of my progress and not have to track down pictures of my makes, but I'm not sure if it will be realistic or not to make that resolution. Regardless I wanted to do a re-cap because even though I had a really turbulent year I still got a lot of sewing done.

I finished 1 baby quilt for a co-worker, and completed 3 tops from my long suffering WIP pile (not pictured are my first gemstone quilt blocks assembled into a baby quilt - I will use it to practice some FMQ).

1. Baby Quilter's Mixology medallion (blogged here)  2. Heather Ross Saw Tooth Stars (twin size)  3. starting to quilt my massive queen sized X-Plus quilt at the Nov. DCMQG retreat

I had the good fortune to attend 3 quilting retreats this year - Sew South, Mid Atlantic Mod, and the November DCMQG retreat. Sew South and Mod were back-to-back in April so I was a little burnt out sewing wise by MOD time but it was still a great couple of weeks. I participated in Secret Sister/Sewist at both retreats, and a private swap with my friend Jess at MOD.

1. Sew Together Bag made for Laurel, my Sew South secret sister (pic by @singallyouwant)  2. items made for my Mid Atlantic Mod Secret Sewist, Cathy from the Philly MQG (pic by Cathy)  3. Mug rug for Laurel (pic by @singallyouwant)  4. Jess with the Aeroplane Bag I made her, and me with my amazing mini she made me at Mid Atlantic Mod

I also participated in 5 mini quilt swaps (4 hosted through Instagram and 1 at Mid Atlantic Mod), and a guild hoop art swap.

1. Schnitzel and Boo mini for @fernsfrocks  2. Rainbow mini for @blotchandthrum  3. Selvedge mini quilt for Mid Atlantic MOD  4. Cotton +Steel mini for @eloquentmime  5. Anna Maria Horner mini for @emileemason  6. Winter Solstace hoop art for @smartash (DCMQG swap)

I also participated in my first craft show. I didn't sell much at the show, but I sold several items to co-workers who saw my pictures on Facebook. All-in-all it was a good experience and something that I hope to do again in 2016.

I wasn't going to set any year-long goals for myself but I did think of two that are pretty non-specific: 1. make things for me and my family/friends  2. use fabric in my stash! I did treat myself to a new sewing machine last month... so here's to getting stuff done in 2016!

Since I'm generally terrible at blogging, you can follow along on my Instagram where I'm much more active. Happy New Year :)

Medallion Baby Quilt

So far, 2015 is off to a great start for me in my quilting pursuits.  True to form, I work better under a deadline and managed my first finish of the year in a mere 3 days :)

 I found out several months ago that a good friend and co-worker's wife was pregnant with their first baby and had been planning to make them a quilt since they made the announcement  Of course with me binge watching Gilmore Girls and Orange is the New Black slacking off, and with Holiday crazy-ness, I didn't get a start until after Christmas even though I knew the baby shower was quickly approaching.

I got a copy of of Angela Pingel's A Quilter's Mixology and from the moment I picked it up, I wanted to make every single quilt in it.  I thought the Medallion Baby Quilt would be a good start and perfect for a gift for the expecting couple.  Angela's instructions for how to sew the curves and the patterns are fabulous.  I will definitely be making more quilts from this book :)






Keeping #SewMyStash2015 in mind, I took stock of my fabric stash and did an initial sketch and pull.

The hardest part for me was cutting the templates accurately with the curves.  I purchased "heavy weight" template plastic from Joann's several months ago, but it was total junk and my rotary cutter sliced right through it and my pieces weren't accurate at all.  Frustrated, I broke down and bought Marti Mitchell's Drunkard's Path templates which made the job so much easier!  I ended up getting all the sizes available so I can make other quilts in the book more easily :)  The proportions aren't exactly the same as the templates Angela has in the book, but I think it still looks great.

Other than the difficulty cutting, the quilt came together so quickly.  Ryan actually made a comment that if I could finish this in 3 days, why had I been working on our bed quilt for a year and a half (because this quilt only has 72 pieces and is baby sized!)  The top is made of a variety of prints, entirely from my stash.  Each block finishes at 7" square.

For the quilting, I decided to go simple and just concentric circles using my walking foot.  The circles are randomly spaced over the quilt at 1/2" or 1 1/2" increments.  I used a lovely blue, white and pink variegated Aurifil from the Tula Pink collection.

After a quick poll of my Instagram friends, I chose a print from Anna Maria Horner's Field Study for the binding.  It's completely by chance that the print contained all the colors that I used in the quilt.  I had just enough to finish off the binding (another 1/2 yard used from the stash!)  I machine stitched the binding down since I was on a deadline and for durability.  I found a dark purple Gutterman I had in my thread stash that blended really well.

The backing is the only fabric I purchased for the quilt.  I knew the baby's room was a minty green, so I thought this large scale Heather Bailey Up Parasol print would be perfect.  The pattern calls for 2 1/2 yards for the backing, but I only ended up using a yard and a half since the quilt finished at 42"x42".

I gifted the quilt at the baby shower and soon-to-be mommy and daddy both loved it.  I hope the baby will love and use it for a long time :)

Specs at a Glance:
Top: 7 inch Drunkard's Path blocks in various cotton prints
Finished size: 42" square
Pieced and Quiltied with Auriful 50 thread
Batting: Quilter's Dream 100% Cotton Batting
Pattern from A Quilter's Mixology
Finished: January 3, 2014

Linking up with TGIFF and #sewmystash2015on Instagram