Finish-A-Long 2018 Q4 Goals

Last quarter I completed 4 out of 6 goals.  Not so bad.  I've been doing these goals for a couple years now and I think it has really helped.  I don't even have that many UFOs anymore (UnFinished Objects). 

So for this quarter's goals, I will be carrying forward the two I didn't finish, and adding one more: 

1.  Green BOM Sampler - Only a few more sampler squares to go.  Layout is decided.  Need to put them all together, baste,  quilt, and bind.

2.  QAYG Roman Stripes - Several squares are done.  I decided to do this as a do.good stitches quilt.  It was already going to be donated, so now my bee-mates are just helping me finish the blocks. 

3.  Wool Nativity Set - pieces are cut out (mostly).  Now I need to stitch, fill, and assemble the pieces.  No picture, but it is super cute!

I am linking up to the FAL linky party at She Can Quilt.

Gingiber Christmas Quilt

I bought this very cute fat quarter pack after Christmas last year.  I don't usually love creatures on fabric, but these ones were kind of irresistible.  I struggled to know what pattern to use -- I really wanted to make this Merrily quilt, but didn't have enough background fabric.  So instead, I made a few of houses from that quilt and then made several blocks with rectangles and put them all together.  :)

I did some Lazy 8 quilting.  Still working on getting them more evenly spaced and consistently sized.  But its still not bad.  I do think my stitches are better length (not too long, not too short.)

I am really trying to stick to my goal of not buying new fabric....so I pulled out this hand-dyed (I think) fabric.  It is a neat fabric -- with some texture to it.  The green color matches well with the fabric on the front.  But I think some people might find it an unpleasant color.  I love most greens, which is why I bought it, but it is quite pea-soup-like.  Nonetheless, it does match and I did not buy more fabric!  :)

  

This is one of my Finish-A-Long Goals for Quarter 3 -- linking up at She Can Quilt.

Airplane Quilt

Another finish from my FAL goals!  This is another quilt I will donate.  I used a pattern called Breezy by Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew.  Her book, "Growing up Modern", has a lot of great patterns and I wish this quilt did it justice.  I've decided this fabric is just too bold and busy for this pattern.  Sometimes I don't recognize a mistake until it's already made!  (Little life lesson for myself. :)) 

The fabric is cute, with motifs of airplanes.  I had plenty of fabric, so I used some for the back.  

I quilted it using a meandering loop pattern. As I quilted, I imagined I was "flying" the airplane around in loops.  :) 

This finish is on my FAL Goals for this quarter.

I am linking up to the Finish-a-long Link Up party at She Can Quilt.

Do.Good Horse Quilt

A few months ago it was my turn to be the "Quilter" for my Do.Good Charity Bee.  This means that I get to choose a pattern, and ask my Bee friends to send me a couple of blocks to help me make a quilt for charity.

So a while back I found this horse fabric on sale for $1-$2 a yard.   I'm always on the lookout for some good fabric for boys -- I know most charities get lots of pretty girl quilt, and fewer boy quilts -- especially for older boys.  So I bought enough to back a good size quilt.

The pattern I chose is "Joyous Picnic" and it is a free pattern from AFG.  And the colors I chose were browns/blacks/rust to match the horse fabric.  Here is the picture I sent to my Bee group -- sample blocks and horse fabric.

I really enjoy receiving the blocks in the mail.  My group was really generous -- many of them sending more than two.  So I had enough for the front of the quilt, plus a section for the back.  

For the quilting I had the idea to do some horse-shoe looking loops.  Of course I was too lazy to do any marking and just thought I'd be "organic" about it.  Well, it wasn't that successful.  So I did some, but also did some wavy lines.  It'll keep the quilt together, anyway!  I hope!

This finish is on my FAL Goals for this quarter.

I am linking up to the Finish-a-long Link Up party at She Can Quilt.

Bee Pillow

I have a couple of brothers who keep bees.  So every time I see a bee pattern, I wonder if I should make it for them.  :)  This was a block from a Block of the Month club at a local shop.  It was half off, so I bought it -- without a firm plan -- but it had a bee hive!  (Which doesn't look at all like my brothers' hives...or any that I've seen.  Are there really some that look like this?)

Anyway, I finished this off as a pillow.  I enjoyed doing the little bit of hand stitching that was required.

This my first finish on my FAL Goals for this quarter. 
I am linking up to the Finish-a-long Link Up party at She Can Quilt.

Finish-A-Long 2018 Q3 Goals

Here are my goals for this quarter.

1.  Green BOM Sampler - Only a few more sampler squares to go.  Layout is decided.  Need to put them all together, baste,  quilt, and bind.

2.  QAYG Roman Stripes - Several squares are done.  Not enough for one quilt, so need to decide what size I want to make it and finish.

3.  Merrily Quilt - Pattern is decided.  Needs to be pieced and finished.

4.  Boy Airplane Quilt - Top and back are ready -- need to baste, quilt, and bind.

5.  Horse Quilt -  This is a quilt for do.good stitches.  I have all the blocks, need to assemble, baste, quilt, and bind.

6.  Bee Mini Quilt - Not sure if I'll make this into a pillow or frame it.  

I am linking up to the Finish-A-Long party at She Can Quilt.

Modern Hexagon Table Runner

I have really admired the work of Nicole at Modern Handcraft.  So several months ago I sat down and made my first EPP (English Paper Pieced) hexies. 

Then I waited a few months to get up the nerve to actually assemble this table runner.  I put it on my Finish-A-Long list, and put it off until the very end.  Not sure why I was so hesitant -- just the newness of the technique, I guess.  Good thing I had a deadline!  Because I finished it and I LOVE IT!  Everyone I know may start receiving pillows or table runners like this!  :)

This was one of my goals for the Finish-A-Long.  I'm linking up to the linky party at She Can Quilt.

Ombre Quilt

Well, many moons ago I started a quilt with this mini jelly roll of Ombre Fabric.  I had one thing in mind -- but it didn't end up panning out.  I can't even remember why -- maybe I didn't have enough fabric?  So the blocks have been sitting in my sewing room for years.  Until now:

I quilted it very simply with straight lines.  I used some brighter color threads, which was unusual for me, and kind of fun.  So now I have this small quilt.  I'm not even sure what to do with it.  It doesn't really look like a baby quilt, but that's about how big it is.  Not really a good wall quilt for my house either.  But it's finished!

This was one of my goals for the Finish-A-Long.  I'm linking up to the linky party at She Can Quilt.

Sports Quilt

All of my boys love sports.  My oldest is now 13 and is moving to his own bedroom in the basement this summer.  So, I think I'll give him this quilt as a little "bedroom warming" gift.  :)

I made this using a Varsity by Sweetwater jelly roll.  I used the pattern called Sunset Ridge at the Moda Bakeshop. It was a fairly quick pattern -- and a good one for this particular Jelly Roll.  I was able to divide it into 4 colorways, and only needed to supplement a little with some extra yellow fabric.

 

I quilted with a loop in the gray section, and zig zags in the colored sections.  

This was one of my goals for the Finish-A-Long.  I'm linking up to the linky party at She Can Quilt. 

Christmas 16-Patch

For this Christmas quilt I used a jelly roll of Kate Spain's North Woods fabric.  The pattern is on the Moda Bakeshop - Road Fifteen Sixteen Patch.  I only used 1 Jelly Roll (rather than 2), so my quilt is smaller.  

I struggled a bit with the decision of what color to do the sashing.  There are a lot of light and dark fabrics -- including white, so I didn't want to use that.   I finally resolved on tan.  

I insisted (to myself) that I use some fabric from my stash for the backing.  It's a cute green polka dot.

I quilted it with meandering loops.  

This was one of my goals for the Finish-A-Long.  I'm linking up to the linky party at She Can Quilt.  

Merry Go Round Quilt

For many months, years even, I've had this little package of hexagons (a honeycomb precut) sitting in my sewing room.  The fabric is "Wishes" by Sweetwater.  I have not done much with hexagons in the past and was intimidated to sew them together.  But when I saw this tutorial for an adorable quilt at A Bright Corner, I decided to give it a whirl.  Andy's tutorial uses yardage, rather than precuts, but I was able to skip all the cutting and just whip this up.  

I did find that I didn't have quite enough bright fabrics in the "honeycomb" to make 9 blocks.  So I improvised and made one block with a colored background so I could use the light colored fabrics too.  I don't LOVE it that way, but it did make a square quilt!  :)  That center background is actually not quite as bold in person, I think.

I had some soft, green flannel -- barely enough -- for the backing.  I think it looks pretty good!

Another Lambkin Quilt

Using some leftovers from this quilt:

I made this quilt:

The colors look quite different, but most of those fabrics are the same.  It was almost dark when I took the picture above, so that has probably affected the colors too.  I added in the darker triangles because I felt like it needed some more contrast.  I was wishy washy about that decision, and seeing the picture I'm questioning it again now.  But it's done now!  Here is a picture of the whole bundle.  

I quilted it with simple straight line quilting.  It will be nice and soft.  

Finish-A-Long 2018 Q2 Goals

Last Quarter I finished 2 quilts that had been on my list multiple times.  Yay!  But I didn't even touch a few things on my list at all.  So those are at the top of my list this time. 

1.  Sports Quilt - Top is pieced.  I've decided to add some length to this quilt.  Of course I can't find the right background color now.  :(

2.  Christmas 16 Patch - Need to piece together with sashing -- but to do that I need to determine the  color of the sashing.  Also, on point or not?  It's these decisions that have kept me from finishing this!

 

3.  Ombre Quilt- I started this one a few years ago and didn't like it.  So, I have several blocks that I want to try and figure out how to change it. 

  

4.  Hexagon Table Runner - Made these little hexagons some time ago.  I'd like to make a table runner using the Modern Handcraft tutorial.

 

I am linking up the Finish-a-Long 2018 Q2 party at She Can Quilt.

Raindrops Quilt

Rain is one of my favorite kinds of weather.  It's very calming to me.  Of course, in Utah it doesn't rain all that much, so I welcome the change.  I decided to make a raindrop quilt to hang on my wall in the spring. 

I appliqued the raindrops on -- I have done very little applique.  The raindrops are not evenly distributed -- this was intentional, as rain does not fall evenly.

The quilting is straight lines -- which took a while because I didn't want to quilt over the raindrops.  I considered trying "Trupunto" on the raindrops, but chickened out.  Leaving the raindrops unquilted still lets them poof out a little bit.

 

I'm still a little uncertain -- one minute I love it, the next minute I wish I had been more careful about the raindrop angles/placement/shape.  And in the pictures above there is one background color that looks way off -- the light blue.  It doesn't look quite that drastic in person.  Here it is on the wall. 

 

One great thing is that this one was on my Finish-A-Long list for this quarter.  It's almost time to link up, so I'm glad it's finished in time.   

I am linking up at She Can Quilt - Finish-A-Long Q1.

Baby Girl Quilt

Remember the Dolls Like Me quilt drive?  Well, everyone who submitted a quilt was entered into a drawing for some prizes.  And I won a prize!  A very generous prize.  It was a fat quarter bundle from Art Gallery Fabric -- Lambkin.  I was very excited because I have a good friend who is having a baby and I thought this would be perfect.  So I made this quilt:

 

 The fabric was very cute, but I wish I would have chosen a different pattern.  The original pattern had a lot more contrast between the different fabrics.  I think this needed it.  Looking at the picture, I'm starting to wonder if it's just that I'm not used to using such soft, pastel colors.  The quilt is really quite pretty.  In a house full of boys, you just don't get soft and pretty very often.  :)

And I'm not sure if the quilting pattern distracts too.  Or maybe the fact that I chose a pink thread.  You can't see it well in the picture, but maybe I should have stuck to white.  Oh well, at least I tried something new.   And just look how cute that fabric is!  Those little lambs are adorable.

 And I actually really like the back of the quilt!  Simple, but I like it.

So I ended up giving my friend this other quilt.  It was good because she said that quilt matched her nursery.  yay!  I'll save this one for someone else.