A Lovely Year of Finishes -- January 2015 goal

I tried this last year, but then life derailed my big sewing plans.  Hopefully this year will be the big year of finishes for me.  I already posted my yearly 2015 WIPs and goals, ALYoF will help me me on track on a monthly basis.

The first blog post I have of my x-plus quilt is June of 2013 (too long!), so my January 2015 goal is at finish at least the top, and move on to the quilting phase :)

linking up with A Lovely Year of Finishes 2015

2015 Sewing Goals and To-do

I'm putting this in writing so I hold myself accountable, and it will be nice to cross things off the list!  I'm sure this list will grow and change as the year progresses :)

my WIP box

Gifts + Swaps

basting my first quilt of 2015!

• Baby quilt for Tobin and Amy (Due Jan. 5) -- currently: Finished!
• Schnitzel & Boo mini swap (Due Jan. 23) -- currently: Finished
• Birthday present for Christine (Due Feb. 10) -- currently: cutting/piecing
• Birthday present for Shannon (Due March 14) -- currently: piecing
• Rainbow mini swap (Due Apr. 6) -- currently: quilting
• Sew South secret sister (Due Apr. 16) -- currently: planning
• Sew South fabric basket swap (Due Apr. 16) -- currently: planning
• Swap with Jess (Due Apr. 23) -- currently: planning and cutting
• Mid Atlantic Mod Secret Sewist (Due Apr. 23) -- currently: awaiting assignment
• Mid Atlantic Mod Mini Quilt swap (Due Apr. 23) -- currently: planning
• Briar Rose Quilt for Autumn (Due July) -- currently piecing

Monthly and yet to be assignment commitments

• Grace Circle blocks (monthly)
• Sisterhood of the Traveling (bi-monthly)

Quilt WIPs

• x-plus quilt (ALYOF January 2015 goal) -- currently: piecing

Pile of x-plus blocks

• DS disappearing 9 patch (Due June 7 so I can have it signed!) -- currently: piecing 
• Starbright Quilt -- currently: piecing

Starbright Quilt mock-up

• Penny Sampler (in time-out) -- currently: piecing 

Penny Sampler Blocks so far

New Projects

• Quilts for nephews (5) and nieces (1)
• C+S Single Girl quilt
• Stitched-in-Color "handstitched" class

Goals

• Sew 15 minutes every day
• #SewMyStash2015
• Blog at least bi-weekly
• Learn garment sewing
• FMQ!
• Try selling at a craft show

WIP Wednesday: xplus quilt progress

Since it takes 30 days to form a new habit, I started my New Year's Resolutions now so that they are already ingrained by Jan 1. Two of those resolutions are going to be be: spend at least 30 minutes every day sewing something, and start taking blog pictures on the weekends when I actually have sunlight (haha!).  My biggest obstacle to blogging lately has been lack of time, space and light to take quality pictures.  I would really like to start blogging more regularly :) 

That's me, sewing at work!

Despite my absence from blogging, I have been sewing quite a bit.  In November, my department at the library started a program called "Hand Maker-space" where all crafters are welcome to join us every-other Friday for snacks, fellowship, and of course, crafting time!  It's been great to have an excuse to make during work hours, since I help facilitate the program, I can bring my sewing and play along.

The nice thing about my slow speed of quilting is that I can use new lines when they are released!

The majority of my sewing room is still packed in boxes (this will be changing soon!), so I've had limited access to WIP's.  I could dig them out, if I really wanted to, but I'd rather just work on things that are handy at the moment.  Since we moved back in August, I've been working on my Japanese X and Plus quilt. 

This project has been languishing for a while because the blocks are pretty time consuming (since I sew one block at a time), but it's one project that has been easy to get to, and bonus: the majority of the pieces were already cut which allows me to just sit down and sew a few pieces together here and there.

I've been plugging away at sewing these blocks together, I have 33 sewn so far, and need 56 for a queen-sized quilt.  Ryan says he wants the quilt finished for Christmas... Will I finish it?  Probably not.  But I'm going to try :)

Linking up at WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced!

WIP Wednesday: 100 Quilts for Kids Edition

Happy hump day friends!  Welcome to my stop on the DC Modern Quilt Guild 100 Quilts for Kids blog hop.  Last Saturday member from the DCMQG met in Alexandria, VA to sew up some quilts that will be donated to a shelter in the Alexandria area.  100 Quilts for Kids was started several years ago by Katie Blakesley, the 2014 drive runs through September 30, so you still have time to donate a quilt!  If you're interested, you can find details on Heather's blog.  I would also encourage you to check out the other stops on the blog hop:

Lynne @ Tinkingalong

Meli @ Munchkin Quilts

Alyson @ The Hasty Quilter

Carla @ Modernbias

Susan @ Fuller by Design

Katie @ SwimBikeQuilt

About a year ago, I received a giveaway prize from Erica at Kitchen Table Quilting.  The medium flat rate box was generously stuffed with tons of fabric, including several large scrap cuts of Erin Michael's 5 Funky Monkeys for Moda.

Not being a novelty print kind of girl, I wasn't really sure what to do with these cute little monkeys, but when I received the email about the 100 Quilts for Kids drive these seemed like the perfect fabrics to use.  For those who are regular readers of my blog, you all know I quilt at a glacial pace, so I wanted something quick and easy but not just basic patchwork.  So I did a couple Google searches and came up with this adorable jigsaw puzzle block pattern.

 

Here's the layout as of the Sewing Day last Saturday, I forgot some fabric so I had to fill up the blank spaces when I got home.  I certainly got a lot more accomplished than I would have at home though, and managed to complete more than half of the quilt top at the sewing day!

Since the complete stash is still not unpacked, I had to resort to chopping up the scraps of sock monkeys along with other scraps to have enough for the entire quilt.  I threw in some red, lime, and yellow solids and was able to come up with enough for a lap sized quilt.  I decided to go with the 9" block so I had less sewing to do :)

As is my normal fashion, I finished the quilt top last night.  Despite the fabrics not being my taste, I am really pleased with how it turned out.  I just noticed taking the pictures that I sewed one of the strips on upside down (can you spot it?) so I'll have to fix that!  I have a larger cut of the white banana fabric to use for backing, and I was thinking of picking up a few yards of a DS Quilts Fancy Free plaid to complete the back (its on clearance for $7/yard!).  Hopefully I can get it quilted and bound in the next week or so!  I really need to start quilting on a deadline more often ::wink::

I also participated in making a few blocks for the group quilt.  DS Quilts donated a bunch of fabric for the Charity Drive.  Heather had us turn the fabrics into hourglass blocks. 

They turned out so cute, don't you think!  Keep and eye on the DC Modern Flickr Pool, and blog to see our finished quilts!

WIP Wednesday

It's been a while since I've done a WIP Wednesday post... sadly there hasn't really been much in-progress until this month.  My main project goal for Mid-Atlantic Mod was to work on my Briar Rose Sawtooth Stars quilt for my niece.  She will be 3 in June so I want to have it finished for her birthday.

--apologies I always seem to start off with crappy IG pics!--

I tried to get the majority of my fabrics cut so that I would be able to sew, sew, sew at the retreat, but at 2am on Wednesday before I left for lancaster I realized that wasn't going to happen.  As I was cutting I realized I was going to need more solids as well.

Since I knew I needed 4 flying geese per star, I sewed up a few test blocks using the no-waste-flying-geese method.  The about.com article even had cutting instructions for common block sizes, so I didn't even have to do quilt math for a 6 inch finished geese!

pretty stacks of solids :)

Between more cutting, and socializing, I only managed to get a few blocks done on the first day of the retreat.  I got down to business and sewed more Friday and Saturday and ended up with 18 blocks by the end of the retreat.... not too shabby considering all the other things I got up to :)

I've been sewing them piecemeal here and there as I have time.  I need 35 blocks total and plan to do a skinny border of Essex Linen in Flax to bring it up to twin size.  I'm not sure how I want to quilt it, but maybe I can get up the guts to try a loopy FMQ meander...

Linking up with WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.  What is on your sewing table?

A Lovely Year of Finishes: March Goal

Does anyone else feel like February went by way too quickly?  Between work, bad weather, and being sick all last week... I really don't feel like I got much done (except buy lots of fabric... but that's a story for a different post, lol).  I have to say, I'm glad it's March, because Mid-Atlantic Mod is only a month away!!!  This will be my first quilting retreat and I'm really looking forward to having 4 solid days of quality time with my machine and other quilters :)


I am a little embarrassed that I call myself a quilter and I don't have any travel handmade products to take along with me to the retreat.  So my March Goal is to make myself an Aeroplane Bag to tote my sewing machine, and maybe a little caddy for my supplies.



I really should make it out of fabric that I already have, buuuuuut... I want it to be more durable so I'm thinking I'd like to use Charley Harper and Bark and Branch canvases.

blocks in various stages of completion

I would also like to finish my Scrapper's Delight quilt.  I have a lot of the blocks made, or in progress, so I'm close to having a finished top.  I can't say for whom I am trying to finish, because I'm not sure if she reads my blog or not... but I would like to give a little lap quilt for her office.  

Since 72x72" is way larger than a lap size, I decided to copy s.o.t.a.k. Handmade's idea and increase the block size to 15.5" (which will produce a 60x60" quilt instead).

With all the colors and pretty scraps, I can't wait to see it together.  I just hope it's not too busy for it's intended recipient :)

A Lovely Year of Finishes: January Goal

2013 was a year of building skills and dappling in multiple projects that struck my fancy.  2014 will be my year to finish projects!  In order to hopefully keep myself on track, I am going to participate in a Lovely Year of Finishes.  I didn't really get into the blogging world until last summer so I missed out on a good chunk of the party last year.

(IG pics ahead since I generally work on things in the evening and I'm terrible at taking in-progress pictures)

My best friend is having a little girl, due in March.  Her shower is January 11.  So my challenge after the new year was to finish a baby quilt in 10 days!  Save the fact that I have not yet finished an entire quilt, I've been working my tail off to get this gift finished :)
 

The quilt top is finished, and I spent the weekend working on quilting.  I think the only thing that allowed me to get this done is the 1 1/2 snow days we had last week.  I hope to have it completely quilting, bound and finished by Thursday (I have to since I'm leaving for the shower in PA Friday night).

WIP Wednesday: Dogwood Petals

Greetings all!  Gosh it has been a hectic week around here.  We started moving to our new library building on Monday... I'm exhausted, and it's only Wednesday!!!  The first thing to be moved was our server... so the internet went with the server to the new building on Monday, and I have no daytime internet connection since (hence my lack of blog reading).  Despite the chaos, I have found some time to sew.

I've mentioned before that I am taking Rachel @ Stitched in Color's Penny Sampler class.  I am a little ashamed to say that I haven't even started the Penny Sampler blocks yet (yup, slacker, I know).  Our first applique practice project is the Dogwood Blossoms quilt.  Since I've had Madrona Road sitting (...languishing...) in my stash since I became interested in quilting, I decided that it would be the perfect line to use for this project

I chose 16 of the more colorful prints from the line and cut up all my 6" squares.  I decided that I wanted to do sew and turn applique (it looked like a lot less hassle than dealing with starch and pressing) so I cut up some muslin too.

Clockwise from Top: Cotton Couture Peony,  CC Apricot, CC Canary, Kona Perriwinkle, CC Denim, CC Watermelon 

To supplement the prints, I decided to fill out the rest of the blossoms with solids.  These were actually just delivered today... my stash is very low on solids so when I need some I have to order online.

Here are my completed petals.  I still have yet to sew the rest of the pinks and oranges (6 prints).  And I have to cut and sew my solids as well.  The chevron fabric is my favorite.  I had to cut the squares on the bias to get them going the proper direction.

Now I need your help deciding on a background print.  I got the spots at the expensive LQS in my area.  It's hard to see but it's more of a warm gray.  The solid on the right is Kona Iron.  I'm leaning toward the print, but if I use the print I have no idea what I will use for sashing.  If I use the Kona Iron, I can use one of the gray prints from the Madrona Road line as sashing...  What do you think?

Linking up to WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced :)

WIP Wednesday: DS charms

A few months ago, I received this beautiful pile of Denyse Schmidt Charms.  Finally this weekend, I started sewing them together :)

Sorry the pic is a little blurry, I cropped it out of another picture because I forgot to take on of the charms themselves...  I really need to remember to snap pictures BEFORE I start sewing :)  Anyway, you get the idea.

 I sewed all the charms up into 9-patch blocks, trying to alternate higher volume and lower volume prints.  This was also good practice getting the hang of my 1/4" seam!

See where I'm going here?

I sewed my whole stack of charms (minus the duplicates) and now I'm just waiting for Round 2 charms to get here.  Both rounds should give me a completed lap quilt at the very least.

 Since I had all of the blocks arranged on the floor between the couch and TV I kept looking at them during commercials.  Ryan asked me why I kept staring at my fabric, lol.  I told him I had to make sure there weren't too many "like" pieces of fabric together :)

In other news, the Penny Sampler class has officially begun!  Right now Rachel has only introduced the practice projects, but I am so excited to get started!  I think I may try my hand at the dogwood blossoms quilt practice project that way I can keep busy between making my Penny Sampler blocks :)

Linking up with WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced :)

Penny Sampler!

Well here is my exciting (to me) news.  A few weeks ago I registered for Rachel @ Stitched in Color's Penny Sampler class.

Courtesy of Rachel @ Stitched in Color

I'm excited because:

a) Rachel (as always) has designed the most beautiful quilt, I couldn't resist after seeing the pictures and block previews

b) I get to learn lots of new things and hopefully better the meager skills I already have
c) I learned that some of my New Blogger blog hop friends are also taking the class!

After looking at Rachel's fabric suggestions, and perusing online fabric stores for days, I decided that the Alexander Henry Mecca for Moderns, Urban Garden print would be my "inspiration" fabric.  Coincidentally I visited Joann's this weekend and discovered that some of the fabrics in Juliana Horner's new fabric linematch my color scheme perfectly.  I also ordered a slew of solids, and took a trip to a modern quilt shop today.  All the quilt shops in my area specialize in Civil War reproduction fabrics, so I have to travel down the road to get things that are more my taste... Plus we needed things at Trader Joe's and Penzey's, so I convinced Ryan that the quilt shop was right there so I may as well go ::wink::

So here's my "stack" for the Penny Sampler.  I am really happy with how it looks so far!  I think I might have to buy some more solids, but I think this should at least get me off to a good start with the blocks.

I'd name all the fabrics, but I don't know them all off the top of my head and I'm too lazy to look them all up!  I'm sure you can see all the DS prints in there because I'm totally obsessed.  I will probably add some prints from Florence when it comes out later this month.  I also need a print for the panel under the diamonds on the right bottom half... is this orange print from Heirloom too much orange?  

The solids are (top to bottom) Essex in Slate, Kona Glacier, Cotton Couture in Slate, Kona Aqua, Plum, Flesh, Medium Gray and Iron.  There's also a fat quarter of Free Spirit Tan in the neutrals row too.  I'm still debating whether I like it or not.  Not pictured are Kona Snow and Ash, since the cuts I have of those are >2 yards each and they don't fold well enough to fit in the picture.  I think I'm going to add Essex in Putty too 

In case you haven't seen the Penny Sampler in all of its glory, here's the full picture

Courtesy of Rachel @ Stitched in Color

I believe there is still space in the class if you're interested in joining the fun... the registration information is over here, and you can follow along with everyone's progress at the Stitched in Color Flickr Group!

WIP Wednesday: Swaps

Hiyas!  Seriously hellacious week around here /sigh...  I wanted to write this during a lull in my desk shift today, but it was so freakin busy.  Oh well, I'm home now and can knock a post out pretty quickly.

I know I've mentioned this a lot, but I love swaps.  Right now I'm in two sewing swaps over at Flickr.  Both of my partners (or maybe it's just one partner  ::wink::) mentioned they like bright rainbow colors.  Both swaps are scrappy swaps.  So I dug through my scrap packs from Hawthorne threads and my overflowing scrap bins and came up with some great rainbow prints to use for each swap. 

First off, I've been waiting for my chance to participate in the Modern Scrappy Bits swap.  When I joined the group, a round was already in progress, so I had to wait until this round to join in.  The assignment is to make a mugrug, coasters or cup cozy for our partner.  Here are the fabrics I chose: 

I honestly can't tell you what all the fabrics are since some are from swaps, and others are from scrap packs.  I know the Magenta is Metro Living rings, Pink is FMF seeds, Green is FMF leaves, Navy is AMH feathers from field study, and the teal is an Art Gallery elements.  The gray is Bella of course :)

I had a vague idea of what I wanted to make, here's what it has turned into:

I have a leftover piece of the Bella to use for backing, but it's not quite big enough so I'm going to have to do a scrappy pieced back I think.  I haven't decided how I'm going to tackle the binding yet.

The next swap I'm working on is the Simple & Sweet Scrappy swap.  For this swap we have to make a pouch for our partner, and send 50 charm squares.  I decided to go with Jeni Baker's Half Square Triangle Pouch.  Again, I pulled a pile of rainbow scraps out of the scrap bins.  I wanted each HST to be a different color, so I had to choose 12 scraps for this one.

Since this swap isn't due until Aug. 30, I have some time to work on it.  So far I have one panel done.  I'm a little intimidated since this will be my first zipper pouch, so wish me luck :)

So what have you been working on?  I have some exciting (to me) news to share later this week :)  Thanks for stopping by!