Big Finish for 2013!

2013 is almost gone.  It honestly flew by for me.  This is the year that I fell into the blogging world.  A wonderful place where quilters share lots of ideas, tutorials, inspiration, thoughts, blocks, fabric stashes, books, patterns, photos and a piece of themselves.  A big, giving community that I have become enamored with.  Addicted to because we share the same passion.  My tastes have changed over the past year with ROY G BIV being one of my latest and greatest loves.

2014 is almost here.  I look forward to it!  My resolution is to use up a lot of the fabric lines that I have stashed.  I have big plans for most if not all of them; but time is a limited asset for me.  I have purchased the borders, the backing, strips for these quilts in my head.  Another is to finish the quilts I have started.  (Thank goodness for FAL's!)  Yeah, I took the quiz in Quilty magazine and I am mainly a "Finisher".  Hah!  Bits of the others, too.  If you haven't seen the magazine, it is one of my favorites.

Now, here is the finished, washed, dried Easy as ABC quilt.  Please click on the link to go to Blossom Heart Quilts.  Alyce is awesome!  I started doing quilt alongs this year and have totally enjoyed them even though in some I am behind.  But not too worry, after all I am a "finisher"!

Here is the front:

Close up:

Closer up of the quilting (E2E ABC/123 pattern in King Tut - Temple):

The striped black and white binding along with the Spot On Wide backing:

I love it! 

Without the support and love of my dear husband, I could not do all the things that I do.  Today is our 17th Anniversary!  Gotta dash because we are going out to dinner.

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!

xo~

Finishing up 2013

Okay, now that the Christmas rush is over, it's back to looking working on my 4th Q FAL projects.  A few will be carried over to 2014.  (A few!?!  Who am I kidding?)

Last week, I finished 3 small flannel lap quilts to be donated by CCMQG to a local nursing home.

Pulled out two stacks of Eat Your Fruits and Veggies charms, a bundle of low volume fat quarters and worked on this disappearing 9 patch.  Haven't made a disappearing 9 patch quilt before and wanted to give it a try.  I have spent way, way too much time arranging, rearranging, tweaking, looking, rearranging...driving myself crazy!

I needed a fast, easy quilt fix and the disappearing 9 patch with charm squares was perfect.  Except for the rearranging!  Yes, it's been changed from this photo.

I have my in house quilt holder here tomorrow to help display a couple of finished quilts.  Yay!  More later.

Sunday Stash Last of 2013

Here are some photos of these bad boys I have started making a quilt with in my spare time between other quilt projects.   They will be in a king size quilt that will be on my FAL list for 2014.

Now these are some of my most favorite fabrics yet.  It was love at first sight.  The colors, the saturation - my photos do not do them justice.  The fabrics are by designer Alison Glass; Clover Sunshine, Party Streamers, and Corsage.

A 2014 prediction:  the black streamers fabric may end up in some binding.

There you have it - some of my most favorite stash yet.   Linking up now to Finding Fifth Sunday Stash.  Thanks for stopping by.  Happy Holidays to you and yours!

T'was the Friday before Christmas...

My sewing room?  A complete disaster.  My house?  Not much better.  (Thank goodness we are not having company for Christmas this year!)  Between wrapping presents, carrying a doggy girl outside to do her business (she's recovering from knee surgery), doing payroll, cutting, piecing, sewing, blah, blah, I am happy to have TWO quilt tops done!  The backs for both are done as well.  Not completely finished but getting there.  Both of these are on my 4th Q FAL list.  (Whoooo Hooo!  Get to mark them off my white board.)

Easy as ABC QAL with Blossom Heart Quilts.  Sashed with 2.5" strips, this top ended up at 72" x 98".  Nice for a twin size bed.  The fabric is from Sew Lux Fabric.  Every month I would get the fat quarters from them for the blocks.  Great colors and fabrics!

I didn't have much to prepare on the backing because I used Robert Kaufman's Spot On Wide fabric in aqua.  Except that I only got two yards and needed 2 1/2 yards.  I did have to cut off some of the extra length and sew it on the side.  It is still going to be close.

Not sure what to bind it with yet.  Black polka dot fabric?  Some navy and green mum fabric from Simply Style (the fabric that the O is made with)?  Any ideas?  Would love to hear them!

Here are pictures of both quilt tops draped over the long arm frame.  It will be a quilt-a-thon weekend here with the house getting dustier and messier.  It'll wait.  Right?!?

Linking up now to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.



WIP Quilts

Just about ready for Christmas!  (I think...)  August is the month I start working on quilts and other hand made gifts and yet it seems that I have something that is not finished until right before. This year is no exception.  Today, I pieced the last 5 blocks for the Easy as ABC QAL and got the first row sewn together.  This is one WIP quilt.

 

 

I plan on having the quilt top pieced together and ready to be quilted by Saturday, but we all know how plans go.  Aren't those some great colors?  Thanks to Sew Lux Fabric for the colorful bundles that I received every month from them.  Can't wait to see this one all pieced together!

 

Here are a couple of pictures of another WIP quilt.  Yes, it is another Dr. Seuss quilt.  This one is for my Granddaughter.  Yes, this is the 6th Dr. Seuss quilt I've made.  My friend Jessica joked, "That's a lot of Sam I Am!"  Yes, yes it is!  But I LOVE Dr. Seuss.  I have so many fond memories of reading the books with my Dad.

 

 

Here it is ready to be quilted; draped over the long arm frame.



Both quilts are twin sized, about 75" x 90".

This year, I am wishing for a couple of elves to come and help.  Does anyone else feel the same way?  Linking up now to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

TGIF! The 13th?!?

I am so glad there is something called "Finish it up Friday" hosted by Crazy Mom Quilts!  It motivates me to get things done!

I don't know about you, but this past week has been absolute craziness!  I have been drinking too much coffee, trying to accomplish too many things at the same time, wrapping presents, shipping presents, wrapping more presents...work, oh yeah, that too.  Work has been insane as well.   Not to mention one of our doggies has had knee surgery (poor baby!) and has to be kept in a doggie kennel, carried outside to do her business, medicated 3 times a day.  Been falling in bed at 9ish dog tired (hah!). 

Enough of that!  Odds are at this time of year, most everyone is busy, busy, busy and don't need to spend time reading about my boring busy-ness.

So... pictures below of what I finished:

Doll Quilt and Pillow for my Granddaughter.  Stitched in the ditch with flannel backing and satin binding.

Hourglass pattern made with some of my Heather Bailey charm stash.

Hop Skip Jump BOM #7  (Caught up!)

One of the blocks for the Coastal Carolina Modern Quilt Guild Bee.  Made with the HSJ Block #7 pattern.

 



Pictures of the Winter's Stars quilt all washed and ready to go!  (It's been shipped and should arrive at it's destination today!)

 

Linking up now to Crazy Mom Quilts and to TGIFF!

Finish it Up Friday - Winter's Stars

I have a finished quilt top for today!  The fabrics are Winter's Lane by Kate & Birdie Paper Co., charm packs (2), plus some tone on tone off white fabric from the local fabric shop.  Used the Creative Grids Lazy Angle ruler to make the stars.  Hence the name, Winter's Stars.  The quilt is about 63" x 68".  Nice throw size to cuddle under.

 

 

It is THAT time of year, and finished is better than perfect!  Not that I ever achieve perfect anyway!  This quilt is a Christmas gift for a wonderful family in Arizona.  I hope they like it!  The backing is pieced and ready to go.  Tomorrow, it goes on the long arm for some edge to edge quilting in a pinecone pattern. 

 

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts with my finish!

 

UPDATE:  On the longarm now ~

 

And now, all quilted in an E2E poinsettia pattern.

Another 4th Q Finish Dad's Quilt

I have had this quilt kit for almost a year. I have a lot of guilt for not getting it done last year.  It is from Connecting Threads and I bought the kit to make it for my Dad.  The quilt just looks like something my Dad would love; the colors, the flannel, the wildlife, everything about this quilt is my Dad.  But my Dad is in the final stages of Alzheimer's Disease.  He hasn't known who I am for a long time.  Not even a glimmer of recognition in his eyes.  My Dad was a very active, outdoors kind of guy.  Always had to be doing something.  If he sat still, he would fall asleep.  He used to feed the deer that were around on his property.  He even had a pet deer!  He's actually a farmer, which makes me a farmer's daughter.  (Oh, you know I am going to do something with that quilt block!)  So, anyways, it kills me to see him the way he is now.  Alzheimer's is called the long goodbye.  It is heartbreaking.  Seriously heartbreaking.  And another part of why I started to quilt a few years ago was because I saw the Alzheimer's Memory Quilts.  The second quilt I made was for my Dad.  A flannel rag quilt.

This quilt will be mailed off to my Dad today.  He is in Utah; I live in North Carolina.  Yeah, that part sucks.  Big time.  So, please, go hug your Dad if you can!  Tell him you love him.

 

Quilted edge to edge with deer antlers and hooves.  So appropriate!

 

Picture of the deer eating the hay put out for them.

Me (in red) with my older brother and my Dad.  Look at that John Deere combine!

Easy As ABC Black Friday Finish

Happy Black Friday!  Thanksgiving Day is for overeating and Black Friday is for overspending.  Right?  My thanks to those bloggers who did take the time to post where all the good deals are at. 

I am caught up with my Easy as ABC QAL.  Yay!  Here are pictures.

 

 

Going to link up to Blossom Heart Quilts and Crazy Mom Quilts.  This will be a Christmas gift to my Grandson.  He is almost 3, loves the alphabet and is reading some words!  Having fun with this although the X and Y were a bit tricky for me. 

 

So, that is how I spent my Black Friday other than surfing some great fabric sales and now I am off to go help my husband trim the tree.

 



Hop Skip and Jump Blocks Link Up

Here are my six seven blocks for the Hop Skip Jump BOM.  I have seven because I did the bonus block.  We are at the halfway point.  (Really!!??  It has been six months??) 

Because there are prizes, and I am a sucker for prizes, linking up to the Hop Skip and Jump Link Up.  : )  This BOM is hosted by Sew Lux Fabric.  Here is the link to the shop and their Thanksgiving Specials!

These are actually on my 4th Q FAL and are caught up! 

Sew far, sew good,
Julie

A Big 4th Quarter Finish!

Drum roll, please!  Finally!  A 4th Quarter Finish!  Whooooo hooooo!

I can now cross Constellations quilt off of my project list.  I could go on and on about all the things that went wrong during this project.  There was some blood shed with a sewn finger (um, don't ask) and scissors falling off the ironing board with the pointy end stuck in my foot.  Unbelievably, I didn't get any blood on the quilt.  Whew!  It's done!  Finished!  Yay!

Here is a picture of Constellations quilted with binding sewn on the front:

 

The pattern is one called Midnight Sky by Michael Miller.  I made the pattern bigger in EQ7 and it ended up at  approximately 78" x 89". 

 

Here is a picture of the back:

 



The quilting pattern really shows up on the back of the quilt.  I used King Tut in the top and bobbin.

It's a Sham!

I have a Friday finish!  It has been a loooooong week.  I finished the quilt top and, upon request, made a quilted sham to go with the quilt.  But nothing has gone according to plan or smoothly. Probably because I was cajoled into finishing the quilt (and to make a sham) by Thanksgiving instead of before Christmas.  (Silly me,  I do know how to say, "No" - certainly wasn't in my right mind).  The quilt top, pieced backing are upstairs draped on the longarm.  The binding is sewn together, pressed and ready to go.  I will be busy all day tomorrow quilting and sewing on binding.   I do hope tomorrow goes a lot more smoothly than today!!

Constellations Quilt top done!

Today, I finished sewing the blocks, rows together and the borders.  Whew!   Weekend of sewing but yay!  The quilt top is done!  Now for the backing, the quilting and the binding.  This will definitely be a finish for 4th quarter.  There are 30 blocks and each block has 45 pieces.  Lots and lots of flying geese! 

 

 

I love this one!  But alas, I can't keep it.  I made it for my neighbor and friend.  It is going to be a Christmas present for her 10 year old Grandson in Ohio. 

 

Need to catch up on some BOM's that I am in - just what I need after this quilt!

Buckeye Beauty Baby Quilt

I recently found out that a cousin of my husband is going to have a baby boy soon.  As they are big fans of OSU Buckeyes, I wanted to make a quilt with the Buckeye Beauty block - a traditional block.  As luck would have it, this Missouri Star Quilt Company Jacob's Ladder tutorial was e-mailed to me a couple of days ago.  I brought out a layer cake of Deb Strain's Meadow Friends from my stash.  Jenny uses charm packs in the tutorial, but I wanted to see what I could do with a layer cake.  I pulled out 16 squares that I liked and went to work.

Here is a picture of the top:

(Buckeye Beauty is also called Jacob's Ladder)

 

For the half square triangles, I marked a line diagonally from each corner.  I sewed a scant 1/4" from each side of the line drawn.  I then cut down each of the lines and down the middle.  Here is a picture:

 

 

 



I used my 4 1/2" HST Bloc-Loc to square them up.  (This is a gadget that I am using and enjoying!)

 

 

 

Here is how I made the 4 patch from the layer cake squares:

 

 

 

I marked a line down the middle of the square and then stitched a scant 1/4" on each side of the line.  I stitched down each edge of the squares going in the same direction.  I cut on the line in the middle, rotated the block 90 degrees and cut down the middle (5" in).  I rotated the block back and cut 2 1/2" from the middle cut parallel to the stitching 1/4" in from the middle and on the edges.  I pressed those open, laid them right sides together with the same colors opposite and seams nested, and sewed down the two edges again.  I then cut 2 1/2" in from the edge.

 

 

To use up the other layer cake pieces, I decided to go with a keyboard border.   I used leftover pieces in the backing. 

 

 

There you have it, how to make a Buckeye Beauty baby quilt with a layer cake!  A great time saver!  The ending size is about 42" x 42".  I did have about 5 pieces of the layer cake left.  So glad that I bought fabric for backing and binding back when I got the layer cake!





Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2013 - Mini Quilt Entry

Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2013 Mini Quilt Entry

If you love a good quilt show with lots of eye candy, please go on over to Amy's Creative Side and have some fun!  Wow!  Talk about gorgeous and inspiring quilts! 

This entry came about with a Mini Quilt Challenge by Jennifer Ellis at Ellison Lane and my love of Roy G. Biv.  It is paper pieced.  I am challenged when it comes to paper piecing so I had to do this one!  The pattern is by Lynne Goldsworthy at Lily's Quilts. 

I would love to do an entire quilt with several of these blocks!

Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2013 - Scrappy Quilts Entry

Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2013

Scrappy Quilts Entry

I have entered this quilt into Amy's Creative Side Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2013:

 

 

 

I had some leftover Amy Butler 'Lark' strips just hanging out in my closet that were begging to be used!  I came up with this quilt in my head and decided that these strips would be perfect for this quilt.  Or did I come up with this quilt to use the strips?  Not sure, but either way, I love the results!  (That doesn't always happen, BTW.)  I didn't write anything down and didn't take pictures while making it.  : (  Since it is in my head, I am certain I could make it again, though.  Really need to write it down!  I practiced my free motion quilting on my domestic sewing machine and tried doing a few things I hadn't really tried before.  Two blocks that didn't turn out quite right were put in with the backing.

I haven't entered this before and thought I'd jump in!  Here is the link:  Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2013  Looking forward to seeing all the inspiring and creative quilts!