Friday ~ First 4th Quarter Finish

Even though I debated on whether or not to add more quilting, I decided to leave the blocks alone and let them be themselves.  :)  Finished and washed and ready for snuggling ~ my City Sampler quilt!  

This is also my first finish for Quarter 4 of the 2014 Finish-Along.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.

2014 Finish-A-Long ~ Third 3rd Quarter Finish

Can it be?  Another finish?  Why yes ~ yes it is ~ one more finish for my Q3 list.  This is my Good Night Irene quilt that I started back in February for Terry's quilt-along.  I missed all the deadlines for prizes, but I think this quilt is a prize in itself!  I love love it.  :)

(I really need to find a more creative way to take photos of my finishes ~ this closet door just isn't getting it!)

Here's a closer look at the quilting ~

and a roll-up shot :)

I love the straight line quilting I went with ~ the grid pattern it makes on the sashing looks really interesting while not overpowering the blocks.  

Quilt:   Good Night Irene 

Size:      Approx. 50" x 50"

Fabrics:  Delighted by Quilted Fish for Riley Blake

Batting:  Warm and White

Thread:  Aurifil 50 wt

Pieced and quilted by me!

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday and TGIFF!

2014 Finish-A-Long ~ Second 3rd Quarter Finish

Yes, it's true!  I've finished another quilt on my Q3 list.  I know ~ pretty hard to believe, right?   Well, here's the proof.  This is where I was Wednesday morning:

and by Wednesday afternoon I had finished hand-stitching the binding, but I waited until yesterday to take photos outside.  (BTW, I'm in Michigan at my daughter Jen's house (that's her graciously holding the quilt), so do I get bonus points for finishing something while I'm on vacation?)

Here's the finish:

I even took an action shot since it was a little breezy.  :)

This quilt finished up at about 40" by 60".  I probably should have added another column of heart blocks to make it wider, but it's good enough for curling up on the couch!

Linking up with Fabric Frenzy and TGIFF.

A finish for my table!

It's finished!  My Midwinter Reds tablerunner, that is.  I started this in a class EONS ago and I do love the way it turned out!  

So that's finish #3 for my first quarter 2014 Finish-A-Long over at The Littlest Thistle.  Six weeks left to finish the 3 projects left on the list!  I think I can ... I think I can ...

Linking up with Needle & Thread Thursday, Crazy Mom Quilts and TGIFF :)

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

A little finish for Friday

Just one little finish today ~ not quilting exactly, but it involves the use of my sewing machine!   

I tried out a new tutorial to make some last-minute gifts ~ microwaveable fabric bowls by Kathy at Tamarack Shack.  Kathy defines these as "a hot pad that allows you to take a hot bowl right out of the microwave without burning your hands!"  Here are a couple of pics from her tutorial:

I made my first set (just the 8" and the 10" for now) out of some nautical/beachy fabrics.  The tutorial is well written, with lots of photos ~ easy to follow ~ and I LOVE the way they turned out!  The only change I made was to stitch across the diagonals on each side.

As you can see, they're also reversible ~ bonus!

Linking up with Gingersnaps Quilts for TGIFF and crazy mom quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

Friday Finish(es)

Tree skirts are done!  I posted pics of the first two here.  The last two are on their way to their forever homes  :)  So I think it's safe to post some pics here.

First up ~ tree skirt #3.  I used fabrics from A Merry Little Christmas by Zoe Pearn and this pattern I found at Moda Bakeshop.  Here's the front:

I actually had to piece the back since I didn't quite have enough fabric, but I love the way it turned out!  (BTW, I hadn't put any ornaments on my little tree when I took pics of this tree skirt.)

Tree skirt #4 was a more traditional patchwork, although I used this pattern that I found at Craftbuds as sort of a basis for the design.  Same fabrics as #3.

I love the way it looks under my little tree (with the ornaments on!)

It's almost kind of sad ~ I've been working on these for almost 3 months and almost hated to let them go.  :)  Oh well ~ time to make something for me!  I have a few WIPs in the works and lots of FMQ to practice up on, but for now I can take a deep breath and relax!

Linking up with Quilt Matters for TGIFF and crazy mom quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

Friday finish ~ In From The Cold

Finished my In From the Cold quilt top!  Which I'm really happy about in the midst of all these tree skirts.  I love this pattern!  :)  I'm sure it won't be totally finished and quilted until I learn to FMQ (free-motion quilt) ~ probably after Christmas.  

Linking up with crazy mom quilts for Finish It Up Friday.  :)

Finish Friday

Finis!  Tree skirt #1, that is.  I spent all day catching up on episodes of Sleepy Hollow and The Blacklist while I hand-stitched the binding and added a label.  Can't post a full photo of it, but here's a peek.

Only two more tree skirts to go!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

Finish Friday

So I finished Christmas Tree Skirt #2! (I know I haven't finished #1 yet, but that's a bit more complicated.)  Not only is it a finish for this week, but it's a Christmas gift out of the way.  Yay me!  (I don't think the recipient reads this blog yet, so I think I'm safe ~ shhhh)  Really happy with the way it turned out ~ I used Winter's Lane fabrics and a disappearing 9-patch design.  I spent last night hand stitching the binding while watching the first few episodes of this season's American Horror Story.  (Weird show)  Here are some pics ...

 

 

The only other thing I finished this week was last week's City Sampler blocks ~ 61, 62, 63.  

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.  (Love the baby quilt she just finished!)

Saturday catch-up

I fully intended to put up a post for Finish Friday, but we ended up gone for the day and I was too tired by the time we got home at almost midnight.

Anyway, as far as finishes go ~ I have a few, but the first two do not entail any sewing at all.

I've been wanting to accomplish two things to help me as a quilter ~ and I got them both done this week.  The first was creating a large pressing board (since my ironing board with all those holes in it just plain sucks!).  So my hubby and I went to Home Depot to buy a piece of plywood for that purpose.  I thought it would be good to get his input on what would work for this project.  I wanted something that would be easy to store in case I needed to get the ironing board out of my sewing space which is actually in my kitchen/dining room (we never hardly ever eat at the table ~ it's usually covered in fabric and cutting tools!).  

So once I found a piece of wood (24" x 48"), I covered it in two layers of an old flannel sheet and a piece of home dec fabric (Joann's was having a 50% off sale on their red-tag fabrics, so I paid $4.50 for a yard which fit perfectly!).  I wrapped the board with the flannel - taped that down, then wrapped that with the home dec and taped that down as well.  (I'm not going to show you the back, but imagine lots of bright turquoise duct tape holding everything nice and tight!)  And here's the finished pressing board which for now just sits on top of my old ironing board ~ it's light enough that I can move it anywhere I need to.

I love the fabric ~ makes me happy :)  Since I took these photos, I've moved it so that it's parallel to the big window and it gives me lots of natural light during the day.

My second project was putting up something for a design wall.  Sounds easy enough, but I put it up in a guest bedroom (aka storage room) on the only big wall, which then entailed splitting a king bed into two twin beds, moving them to a different wall and cleaning out some of the things that were stored in there.  But the initial design wall is now up (I hung up two crib-size flannel backed vinyl sheets by sewing loops at the top corners and hanging them on little nails).  Works for me (although I may need a bigger one down the road!).  (BTW, that bag hanging on the closet door is my Aragon Bag ~ love it!)

Now for the sewing part!  I followed traceyjay's Continuous Bias Binding Tutorial, and turned 1/2 yard of fabric (from Deb Strain's Christmas Countdown) into more than 9 yards (!) of bias binding for Christmas tree skirt #1.  Love this method!

 

Last, but not least ~ I finished this week's City Sampler Blocks  # 58, 59 & 60.

So that's it for my belated Friday Finish!  Time to relax with some Tiger baseball, college football, NASCAR & Red Wings hockey  ~ oh, and Mecum auto auction ~ (my husband flips the channels while I catch up on sewing/quilting blogs).  Go Wings!

Finish Friday ~ sort of

I know this post is supposed to be all about finishes, but do partial finishes count?

I did finish the three City Sampler blocks scheduled for this week at Sew Sweetness:

I finished piecing  Christmas tree skirt #1 ~ I know I said no more peeks, but here's a little one:

I ordered the fabric for the binding ~ so I just need to figure out what to do with the back.

Last but not least ~ I cut into the Winter's Lane layer cake for Christmas tree skirt #2 and finished sorting all the 5" squares into a layout that I can live with. (I consider that a "sort-of" finish!)  I'm thinking of doing a disappearing 9-patch for this one.  I've never done one before, but I love the pattern and it looks pretty straight-forward, so I think I can handle it!

Here's a first peek at that one (please excuse the yellow and blue bedspread ~ I really need to put up a design wall!):

So that's it for this week ~ I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for finish it up Friday.  I'm totally jealous of her handmade scrap baskets ~ maybe once Christmas is over ...  :)