A Kitty Finish

These past two weeks have been a big zero when it comes to anything fabric related (including this blog).  It started out as a trip to Michigan for a late family Christmas get-together, then back home to unpack and repack for another 4-day trip out of town ~ and after those two round-trip flights, I got sick.  What, really?  I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.

So last night I started feeling halfway human and finally finished stitching the binding on my Cat Quilt.  I love the scrappy binding and I'm really happy with the way it turned out ~ and it's my first finish for the 2014 Finish-A-Long!

I went with the Aurifil 2600 (lt grey) for the front and 2810 (turquoise) for the back.  Warm and White batting.

Linking up with Fresh Squeezed Fabrics for Show and Tell Tuesday and Riddle and Whimsy for TGIFF.

2014 Finish-A-Long

OK ~ Here's my list for the 1st Quarter of the 2014 Finish-A-Long hosted by Katy at  The Littlest Thistle.

A couple of things were moved from last year:

1 - This table runner I was trying to finish before the Jan. 8th deadline ~ which of course didn't happen. :(

2 - Verona Hourglass quilt.  I finished piecing the top in February.  The backing is ready and I've made the binding ~ so why has it taken me so long to finish?  Originally, it was the fear of doing the actual quilting ~ I've wanted to do free-motion quilting on this one and it terrified me.  I have since taken a FMQ class and I've been practicing, so maybe I can do it this quarter!  :)

Now for the new things on the list:

3 - My In From the Cold quilt.  I LOVED putting this together!  I'm gathering ideas on how to quilt this one ~ so I'm excited to get it done.

4 -  Cat Quilt.  This one was fun to do as well.  I've begun the quilting and prepared the binding, so I'm sure I'll finish this quarter!

5 - I decided to jump into the "2014 It's a New Year Sewalong" at Sew Can She.  So far I've only got my fabrics ready, but I'm heading up north for a week or so, so I haven't really done much else!  Looking forward to learning how to make log cabin blocks.

6 - I'd also really like to finish up the Tula Pink "City Sampler" Sew Along hosted by Sara at Sew Sweetness.  I think I'm up to block 70, so I still have 30 blocks to go.  

I think that's it for now!  Linking up with Katy at The Littlest Thistle.

WIP Wednesday ~ The quilting frustrations of a newbie quilter

I managed to get both the Charm School tablerunner and the Cat Quilt spray-basted and ready for quilting yesterday morning.  I really wanted to see my kitties quilted, so I auditioned different threads on the black and white fabrics to see what I liked best ~ the light grey Aurifil thread won the toss.

I really wanted to quilt it like the original in a checkerboard pattern, so that's how I started.  I did two diagonal rows in one direction and one in the opposite direction.  Well ~ after staring at those lines ~ both the stitches looked painfully uneven and the lines were crooked.  And with the light grey on the black fabric background, it was just glaring at me and I decided that the straight lines just would not do.

Soooo ~ I added some wavy lines next to the straight lines and TA-DA!  They might not have been perfect, but they looked SO much better and the unevenness (is that a word?) of the stitches wasn't nearly as noticeable.

Needless to say, I spent last night watching Moonrise Kingdom (which I loved ~ very quirky) and ripping out two rows of straight stitching.  Today, I managed to finish the wavy lines in one direction and, while not perfect, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out!  I did leave the one straight line to use as a guide for the next batch of wavy lines, but that will be ripped out eventually and replaced with the last wave.

Linking up at Freshly Pieced and My Quilt Infatuation.

Happy New Year's Day!

I hope everyone had a fun and safe New Year's Eve!  Ours was pretty quiet ~ we found a new Mexican restaurant we hadn't tried before, Mr. Tequila's in Naples, and they had the coolest decor ~ loved the chairs!

And the chips were as colorful as the decor.  :)  The food was delicious ~ so we'll definitely be back!!

We had dinner fairly early (I guess that's why it was so empty), then drove to Downtown Naples and wandered around there for a bit.  Best ice cream on 5th Avenue S?  We decided it was the Bear Claw ice cream at Regina's!

We also had to go to Kilwin's to buy a couple of dark chocolate covered Oreos to take home.  Yummm!  (sorry no picture ~ we ate them!)

Anyway, today I managed to finish the quilt back for the Cat Quilt-Along.  

I've pretty much decided to use invisible thread for the top, mainly because I couldn't decide on a thread color that would blend in with both the black background and white/colored kitty faces.  :)  I was a little leery at first, but I found a great post on Quilter's Review that really helped set my mind at ease.  We'll see how it turns out.  I'll use either a grey or turquoise thread for the back.

I was blog-surfing this morning and decided I'm going to jump in and join the 2014 "It's a New Year Sewalong" over at Sew Can She!  I've never made a log cabin block before, so it'll be a chance to learn something new.  I've been wanting a cover for my sewing machine, so I think this will work perfectly for that! 

It feels good to be into a new year ~ I'm excited to continue on my quilting journey and looking forward to whatever the next year brings!

  

A little New Year's Eve progress

I can't believe it's 2014 already ~ I feel like this year just flew by!  I blame part of that on the quilting bug that hit me this year ~ I've been so inspired by all the quilting blogs I've found and all those creative, amazing quilters I've come to "know" online.  It's definitely because of them that I've become so addicted to this craft!

I did make a lot of progress on the Cat Quilt yesterday ~

I decided to add a couple of scrappy strips to the top and bottom to make it a little longer ~ I like it!

I also decided to make a scrappy binding!  Hope to get it quilted and bound in the next few days ~ I'd say that's a good goal to start the new year!

Linking up with Kelly for Needle & Thread Thursday!

A little Friday Finish (sort of)

Busy week with Christmas and spending extra time with friends and family ~ I never get tired of seeing our tree lit up every day and I usually leave it up until January 2nd, the day my youngest daughter was born (almost 33 years ago!)

So the only thing I finished were the blocks for the Cat Quilt-Along ~ 25 cute little kitty faces ~ but I hope to have at least the top done by next week!

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts for TGIFF

Monday Kitty Update

I'm three/fifths of the way through the Cat Quilt-Along over at Oh, Fransson!  

As of yesterday, I've made 15 of those cute little kitty faces.  :)

So here's my dilemma.  I'm planning on doing a black background and the same type of quilting as the original, but I'm trying to decide what color thread I should use to do the quilting.  If I use black thread to match the background, should I use a white thread to do the cats?  Or should I just use the white thread to do the all-over pattern?  Hmmmm.

WIP Wednesday ~ more kitties and a beginning

A couple of (super)quick WIPs ...

Two more kitties finished for the Cat Quilt-Along over at Oh, Fransson!  This is such a fun and simple block-a-day project and I can't wait to see it finished!  My blocks so far:

FINALLY got started cutting fabric for Christmas tree skirt #4!  It's the same fabric collection (A Merry Little Christmas) I used in #3, but the pattern I'm using is totally different.

That's it!

Monday Progress and a Cat Quilt-Along

Almost done!  I ended up sewing the binding on to Christmas Tree Skirt #3 yesterday (not Thursday as I had originally planned).  I discovered a great way to keep the binding handy while I did that ~ I'm sure a lot of people have done the same, but it was an AH-HAH! moment for me.  :)

I grabbed my Wonder Clips and spent some time last night hand-stitching it on the back and I'm hoping to finish it tonight.

On Saturday, I got an early Christmas present from my awesome hubby ~ I think he got tired of watching me stack pillows on the kitchen chair I've been using.  It's a Koala chair and it's SO comfy!  We picked it up at my favorite LQS ~ Flash Sew & Quilt in Naples.

 Speaking of Flash, I was there for a few hours with a group of great ladies making pillowcases for the military ~ one of the teachers there has a niece in Afghanistan who's collecting them for the troops in her unit.  We ended up with 70 (collected in the last month or so) and they're being mailed out today.

I know I've had a lot going on lately (for me), but I couldn't resist getting sucked into this new Cat Quilt-Along over at Oh, Fransson!  

Starting December 1st through December 25th, a new cat block will be posted ~ or you can purchase a pdf from her shop (30% discount now through December 7!).  Check out the post for more info.  

I found a charm pack at Joann's that I loved in yellow, turquoise and grey prints and I decided to make the quilt with a black background (kind of unusual for me!)  Here's my first two cat blocks:

Should be fun!  This is about as close to cats as I get because of my allergies!  :(

Linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts.