Surprises!

This was a weekend of surprises, both totally unexpected!

I entered my Day Break quilt in the Naples Quilters Guild show this weekend ~

and it came home with a ribbon ~ Yay!!

But an even bigger surprise was this:

Our daughter is expecting twins!!  She and her hubby are over-the-moon excited, as are we.  💓💓

It's going to be a great year!

2016 Finish-Along ~ Third Quarter Results

Much better this quarter ~ especially considering the finish of that totally paper-pieced Sea Swept Quilt!

This was my list for the 3rd quarter:

1 - Seasonal Silhouettes.  This pattern book by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts is my first attempt at such detailed applique work.  I've decided to make each block a separate wall-hanging, so each block will be a mini-quilt.   This quarter I created the mini for October, so I'm counting that as a finish!

   

2 - Day Break Quilt.  Pattern by Jaybird Quilts.  FINISHED!  Blogged here.

 3 - Star Light Star Bright Quilt.  Another quilt-along that I lagged way behind on ~ still have only 4 blocks finished.  NO PROGRESS.

               

4 - Diamond District.  I'm still on six blocks ~ hopefully a few more blocks by the end of the year!  (This makes a good leaders-enders project ~ I really should take advantage of that!)  NO PROGRESS.

5 - Garden Fence Comfy Quilt #2.  February was my month for the Newbie Quilters Bee (Hive #11), so I'm doing another Garden Fence quilt and have lots of blocks from my bee mates to put together.   FINISHED!  Blogged here.

6 - Sea Swept (pattern by Cotton Patch Quilts).   FINISHED!  Blogged here.

7 - Sew Together Bag (pattern by Sew Demented at Craftsy)  FINISHED!  Blogged here.

So that makes 5 out of 7 finishes this quarter and my best quarter ever!!  (Patting myself on the back)

Linking up with Debbie at A Quilter's Table for this quarter of the 2016 Finish-Along!

2016 Finish-Along ~ 2nd Third Quarter Finish ~ Day Break

Happy to say I have another finish for this quarter!  It's a quilt I started a little over a year ago, so I'm really happy to have it done.  :)

The pattern is Day Break by Jay Bird Quilts.  I used the Simply Colorful collection by V & Co with Architextures in black by Carolyn Friedlander as the background.  

I love the contrast between the background and the sunny colors of the Simply Colorful line!   I had a hard time deciding on a binding, but I thought the Yellow Geometric Frames set it off nicely.  Backing is Orange Leaves with a star block split in two.

Binding in progress

The quilting on this one is simple with lines on the sashing surrounding the stars and inside the stars.  If I ever get decent at FMQ, I may go back and add some accent stitching to the stars.  :)  (But don't hold your breath!)  The quilting is hard to see because of the dark fabric, but it shows up a little in this sunny pic.

So this makes finish # 2 for the Third Quarter!

WIP Wednesday ~ Trying to catch up

I've been making a little progress on a few things here and there.  Once I finished my Elephant Parade quilt, I was dying to start on the quilt for Granddaughter #2.  Of course I realized that it wasn't listed on my Finish-Along list, but I didn't let that stop me!

GD#2 picked a pattern called Sea Swept by Cotton Patch Quilts which is totally paper-pieced (of course she did).  Now I haven't had that much experience with paper-piecing, so I told myself that this will be a great skill-builder.  The easiest part of this quilt is the fact that she wants just two colors - blue and white (which means less stress not having to decide which fabrics should go where!).  I picked up some Kona Lagoon for the blue and Kona White.

So far I've cut all the pieces (my lifesaver has been the Creative Grids Stripology Ruler!), organized them in baggies, and started the paper-piecing.  So far, so good.  :)

Feeling the need to get back to my Finish-Along list, I managed to piece together the backing for my Day Break quilt.  

I keep debating whether or not to square off the top and bottom of this quilt ~ but it's hurting my brain to figure out how to do it.  So I won't.  I love it anyway!

Made a little progress on my Little Love mini - half finished with the blanket stitching on the hearts.

That's it for now.  There's no way I'm catching up this quarter, but I'm having fun anyway.  :)  Linking up with Lorna for Let's Bee Social!

2016 Finish-Along ~ 2nd Quarter List

I really need to focus this quarter ~ which is going to be a little difficult since we'll be taking a road trip and will be gone for 5-6 weeks.  :)

So here's my list for the 2nd quarter (which is a total repeat of last quarter's list ~ plus two extras):

1 - Elephant Parade.  I love this pattern by Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts, so I was pretty excited when my granddaughter picked that for her quilt this year.  I have the rows finished and ready for sashing.  I added an extra row and a few more baby elephants, so it's a little bigger than the original pattern.  Really hope to finish this one by the end of June!

2 - Seasonal Silhouettes.  This pattern book by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts is my first attempt at such detailed applique work.  I have the first three blocks fused and I've decided to make each block a separate wall-hanging so that I have one to show off each month.  :)  It's definitely a long-term project!

   

3 - Day Break Quilt.  Top is finished and I really need to finish piecing the backing ~ hoping to make some progress this quarter!

4 - Star Light Star Bright Quilt.  Another quilt-along that I lagged way behind on ~ still have only 4 blocks finished.

               

5 - Diamond District.  I'm still on six blocks ~ hopefully a few more blocks by the end of the year!  (This makes a good leaders-enders project ~ I really should take advantage of that!)

New this quarter:

6 - Garden Fence Comfy Quilt #2.  February was my month for the Newbie Quilters Bee (Hive #11), so I'm doing another Garden Fence quilt and have lots of blocks from my bee mates to put together.  Might as well add it to this list!

7 - Heart's Content "Little Love" mini quilt project by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts. It's made with a mini charm pack which is included in the kit along with 7 small spools of Aurifil thread.  I've decided on the layout I wanted and finished fusing the hearts (another fusible applique project ~ yay!).  This one may end up as a hand-quilting project, since we're going to be traveling.  :)

Linking up with Debbie at A Quilter's Table for this quarter of the 2016 Finish-Along!

2016 Finish-Along ~ 1st Quarter Results

Where in the heck has all the time gone??  Seems like I've been busy, but apparently with projects other than the ones on my list. Anyway, here are my results for the 1st Quarter of the 2016 Finish-Along.  (See my original post here.)

1 - Elephant Parade.  Made some progress on this one ~ at least I finished all the blocks and they're all sewn together in rows.  Time to start adding the sashing and border.  

2 - Seasonal Silhouettes.  I finished fusing the first three blocks and I love the way they're turning out so far.  Like I said, it's a great long-term project.  Maybe I should focus on working on the blocks for the months coming up so that I can actually hang each one during the month it was intended for!

 January

 February

March

3 - Day Break Quilt.  Top is finished ~ will definitely finish it this quarter!  (I lied - NO PROGRESS!)

4 - Star Light Star Bright Quilt.  Another quilt-along that I lagged way behind on ~ I have 4 blocks done and hope to make at least some progress this quarter.  NO PROGRESS

               

5 - Diamond District.  I'm still on six blocks ~ hopefully a few more blocks by the end of the year!  (This makes a good leaders-enders project ~ I really should take advantage of that!)  NO PROGRESS

This is the first quarter since I started the Finish-Alongs that I had ZERO finishes.  I had such high hopes for this quarter ~ I guess I'll set my sights on the 2nd quarter.  After all, the only pressure I'm under is my own, right?  :)

2016 Finish-Along ~ 1st Quarter List

Yay!  It's a brand new year!!  Last year wasn't bad ~ 10 finishes ~ but

I'm happy about that since I'm a pokey quilter and some of them were pretty labor-intensive for me.  Time to get excited about all the projects I'm going to finish in 2016!  :)

So here's my list for the 1st quarter:

1 - Elephant Parade.  I love this pattern by Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts, so I was pretty excited when my granddaughter picked that for her quilt this year.  I have most of the fabrics cut into strips, so I guess it's time to get started!

2 - Seasonal Silhouettes.  This pattern book by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts is going to be my first attempt at such detailed applique work.  I have a feeling that it might  not probably won't be finished by the end of the year, but it's a great long-term project!

Those are the two new entries for this quarter.  I've decided to put my leftovers at the bottom of my list this year (I get tired of them glaring at me when I open this page!)

3 - Day Break Quilt.  Top is finished ~ will definitely finish it this quarter!

4 - Star Light Star Bright Quilt.  Another quilt-along that I lagged way behind on ~ I have 4 blocks done and hope to make at least some progress this quarter.

               

5 - Diamond District.  I'm still on six blocks ~ hopefully a few more blocks by the end of the year!  (This makes a good leaders-enders project ~ I really should take advantage of that!)

In the meantime, I'm going here for some much-needed nourishment!

Linking up with Rhonda for the 2016 Finish-Along!