December UFO Finishes!

Wow!  I can't believe we are this close to the end of December!  It's been a hectic, yet wonderful month with the holidays to celebrate, family all around, and our DDs college graduation.  Even so, I did squeeze in a bit of time to finish up my December UFOs (and I already admitted that I was going a bit easy on myself this time around)!

This is "Leap of Faith."  The top was completely constructed when I began this month and it's a pretty small wall hanging, so all that was required were small pieces of batting, backing and sleeve made from the cut off fabric from "Next Door Neighbor."  Once quilted (with a small meander), I trimmed the corners and made this bias binding to attach.  The label was already made, with a cute little star stitch on muslin, and attached with the sleeve and binding.

"Next Door Neighbor" has been on my bucket list for a while now, and I'm glad it's finally finished!  What's not to like about a pink/brown color combo, tiny piecing of flying geese, and an adorable flying geese pieced border???  LOVE!  I also began this month with a completed top, binding and label (muslin with a leaf deco stitch border), so really all I had left to do was quilt (a feather panto) and add the sleeve, label and binding!  Can you tell I'm crazy for these toile-like prints lately???

Check out this blog post if you would like to read more about the goals I set for this month in regards to this project.  Otherwise, today, I'm linking up with both A Lovely Year of Finishes, & 52 Quilts!

December UFO Goals

As usual, at the beginning of each month, it's time to post my UFO goals.  Since it's December, and the holidays are upon us, and I haven't cleaned the house enough to get out the decorations, and I haven't begun to decorate, and my oldest daughter is graduating from university, and we have family coming into town, and the new quiltville mystery is in full swing, and it's just a busy month for EVERYONE in the world anyway...

I've decided that my goal will be to just finish up a couple of quilts I have hanging on my rack waiting to be quilted.  By the way, isn't this the cutest rack?  DH and I salvaged this panel from the front of an old piano that got tossed.  We then added 4 vintage cabinet door knobs with painted flowers and now I can hang my quilts there (it hangs on the wall right behind my longarm) that need to be quilted!  Now all I need are a set of vintagey looking hangers to complete the look!

Quilts waiting to be quilted

Both of these quilts are from our Prairie Women's Sewing Circle group and are designed by Pam Buda.  The pink and brown one is called "Next Door Neighbor" and is one of my favorites!  I made a bit of a mistake when I pieced the blocks (the directions call for alternating the centers in pinks and browns, but I made them all the same)...oops, but no one will ever know unless I tell them (or Pam Buda, herself, sees it, lol)!

Next Door Neighbor

The other quilt is called Leap of Faith.  It's a tiny little thing that gets a bit more complicated once it's quilted because it will get rounded corners that will require me to make a bias binding.  No big deal, she says, even though most of my previous continuous bias binding attempts have only been so-so.  Anyway...I think that this is the first time I've used a toile on the front of one of my quilts.  Have I ever told you how much I love a toile print?  I do, I love them and have backed several quilts with them!  As a matter of fact, both of these quilts are getting backed with the same toile print as is on the front of this one!

Leap of Faith

So, for December, I'm going easy on myself...just get these two quilts finished!  I must admit, I've got a great head start...both tops are finished, the backing and binding are ready for Next Door Neighbor, and the tags for both are also done!

Linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes!

Design Wall - Grand Illusion & Women of the Bible

Here's what my design wall looks like after this weekend...

Women Of The Bible:  Blocks 1-16

Hoppin' Bobbin's block of the week is still going strong.  There are something like 40 weeks (1 block/week that will make up into a king size quilt) and we're just starting on block #17 this week.

Block #16 - Deborah

This cute log cabin variation (courthouse steps) was last week's block to represent Deborah.  I am really loving how quick and easy all of the blocks of this series are and I'm also really enjoying working with the color palette I've chosen.  I sure hope it goes together well in the end!

And...have you been working on Bonnie Hunter's new mystery, Grand Illusion?  If not, you can get there by clicking on the link in the righthand sidebar for more info!

Grand Illusion - Color Palette

I always love the color palette that Bonnie chooses, so I decided to stick close to it again for this year's mystery.  These are the small pieces (1/2 yard or smaller) that I gathered for the project and I have a few baggies full of scraps in the same colors to pick from as well...I've used a good majority of the scraps already in the HSTs in clue #1!

Grand Illusion - Clue #1

I'm now all finished with clue #1...I always love seeing everyone's EARLY guesses!  Here are a couple of layouts with just the broken dishes blocks, but haha, it's only clue #1!!!

Grand Illusion - Broken Dishes block layout guesses

Linking up to BOMs Away, Quiltville, Design Wall Monday, & Scraptastic Tuesday!

Friday UFO Finishes!!!

Woohoo!  I've got several finishes to report today...and my November UFOs are done.  Just in time, too, because I'm headed to MO tomorrow to drop them off when I go to help out with the Gone to Pieces Quilt Guild Quilt Show in St. Robert!!!  Can't wait!

 Three finishes, and all three will be donated...

The baby quilt began with just 5 blocks.  I split one of the blocks and used two parts to create another block with 4-patches and a final block with 9-patches, thus making a lovely 6 block baby quilt.  This one is backed with the same pink polka dot fabric as in the borders and sashing.  It will go to welcome a brand new baby of a soldier at Ft. Leonard Wood!

I loved these blocks as soon as I saw them!  They are 14" and made up a beautiful quilt!  I didn't even think it needed a border being that each block was already bordered itself.  I just set them all together and backed it with an adorable neutral toile print and bound it in gold.  This quilt will go to a wounded warrior (or family of a fallen soldier) around Ft. Leonard Wood.

Last, but not least, is this cute Christmas sampler.  The blocks were rather "old fashioned" looking, but I really think this brighter green jazzed them up a bit.  I only had 8 block to begin with, so I dug out some "deep stash" Christmas fabrics and whipped up the card trick block in the upper left then sashed, bordered, backed and bound everything in the cheery green print.  This quilt will probably be gifted as a wheelchair quilt for a veteran just in time for the holidays!

Linking up to Let's Make Baby Quilts, Finish It Up Friday, Link-A-Finish Friday, & Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, A Lovely Year of Finishes, & 52 Quilts!

Friends & Companions

I've been pretty behind on my blogging lately...so many projects, not enough time to blog about them, LOL!  Well, today, I have a finish to share!

This is the finished setting for Friends & Companions (a 10 week sew along from Marcus Brothers).  It came out so much better than I had hoped...I just love it!  For the blocks, themselves, I use all scrap basket fabrics and of course, that didn't even make a dent.  For the setting, I did cut into a couple of FQs for the black irish chains and used yardage for the remaining setting fabrics (I even had to go purchase a new black fabric for the first border and binding because I always run out of black fabric).

The backing used up the remainder of the neutral setting square fabric as well as a couple of other fabrics I'm not really fond of.  I'm especially happy to use up the last of that green...it's a blended fabric (not really sure where I got it from to begin with) and its is a real pain to work with.  Why did I use it in the first place?  Well, I just can't stand to toss out fabric, so I used it up!

This is where Friends & Companions currently lives...it fits nicely on my kitchen table!  And looks pretty good next to the quilt ladder of Prairie Women Sewing Circle quilts in the corner!

Bailey claims Friends & Companions!

Friends & Companions  

59x59"

Pattern Designer:  Marcus Brothers Designer Sew Along

Quilting Design (Panto):  Hearts Plus (Keryn Emerson, designer)

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday, Link A Finish Friday, & Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?!

November UFO Goals

Here's what's on my design wall right now.  I pulled out all of these donated block sets to see if I could finish them up this month for charity.  So, that's my November goal...3 quilts for charity!

First, is this set of OLD Christmas sampler blocks.  I haven't seen fabrics like these for a long time!  I'm sure I have some scraps in the deep stash that can work with them to whip up just one more block and then I'll probably just add some very simple sashing.  I may add a border, too, to hold it all in and make a nice size lap quilt.

Next up is this set of cuties...I think with a bit of added rosey pink, they might make a sweet baby quilt, so my plan is to split up the 4-patch snail trail block on the bottom and make two blocks out of it, pairing the snail trails with alternate rose-colored blocks.  Six blocks will make a good baby quilt with sashing and a small border.

 My last UFO will be this beauty...I can't imagine why someone wanted to donate these blocks because they are just gorgeous!!!  It looks like this on may have been a civil war repro block of the month.  There are 12 blocks and each is already framed, so I'll probably set them right next to each other as is and add a border.  This one will make a really nice quilt for a fallen soldier's family!

Linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes!

October Finishes!

Winding down another month and I have two more quilts completed.  I can't believe that in just 2 short months we'll be saying goodbye to 2014!

"Happily Ever After" began the month as a set of jewel blocks.  I set them together, floated with a white border and then a multicolored outer border.  I think it came out really cute, perfect for a couch cuddle quilt, so I gifted it to a friend's daughter on her wedding day!

Happily Ever After

68x76"

Quilting Design (Panto):  Holly's Hearts (Patricia Ritter, designer)

Charming Stars has been my leader & ender project for the last couple of months while joining in with Terri's Treasures sew along.  I began with Moda's Odds & Ends charm pack and the brown tone on tone for the stars really brought everything together!  

Charming Stars

74x74"

Pattern:  "Charming Stars" Moda Bake Shop (free pattern)

Quilting Design (Panto):  Double Rose Vine (Simple Quilting Stitches)

Linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes, 52 Quilts, and the Charming Stars Sew Along.

WIPs Today...

What works in progress do I have going on today?  Well...

1.  Blocks #10&11 are finished for the Women of the Bible Quilt Along.

2.  The top is all finished for Friends & Companions Quilt Along and ready to be quilted (after I get the backing pieced together).  I've already made the binding in anticipation of getting it done!

3.  No real progress had been made on the Thai quilt, but that's my piecing station project for the next couple of weeks.  I'm hoping to get it finished by the end of the month...fingers crossed!  It still needs 8 more blocks to be pieced...

4.  Charming Stars is now quilted and I'm currently stitching down the binding in the evenings while DH has the TV turned on.  It even has it's label and hanging sleeve on!  Am I the only person that puts a hanging sleeve onto everything just in case I ever want to hang it (BTW, I rarely ever hang anything - and I use the flat sleeve method instead of the folded quilt show variety).

Linking up to WIP Wednesday and BOMs Away!

October UFO Goals

Autumn is upon us, so says the calendar, but I really can't believe it's already October!!!  This year has just flown by, but now it's time to declare my October UFO goal...again, this month, I've got 2 UFOs that need finishing.  And once again, one is a MUST finish because of an upcoming wedding!!!

 I've had these blocks put away for several years, just waiting to come out and play.  They are very simple scrappy HSTs set in a diamond layout.  They've been put away for so long because the piecing certainly left something to be desired (they were gifted to me some time ago and I thought I would be able to do something with them at some point).

Over the last couple of days I've cleaned up the blocks...trimming edges, resewing to match seams, and lots of thread trimming as many of the blocks were originally sewn with dark threads!

 As of today, these blocks are now a flimsy top.  I added a 3" white on white inner border and then a multi-colored paisley outer border.  I'm thinking this will make a nice sized cuddle quilt, at 63x72," for the newlyweds couch!

 This Thai inspired quilt was begun as an ostrich challenge hosted by Kimberly Crenshaw (aka Camou) over at Divine Inspirations.  You can read more about my journey thru this challenge here:  Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3.  Due to some unforseen circumstances, we never finished the challenge and thus, I ended up with yet another UFO.  Now, it's time to finish her up!

This quilt began with three metallic fabrics I picked up when we visited Thailand several years ago.  After the ostrich challenge got cancelled, I sent some of the fabric off in a squishie swap and got back nine blocks that others had made for me.  Now, it's time to put all of this together with at least 7 more blocks that I'll have to whip up!

Linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes.