2017 Finish-A-Long: 4th Quarter List

Quarter #4 is here!  Last quarter I finished 3 out of 3 ~ really happy with that!  I don't think I've ever finished all the projects on any list, but the list was pretty short because I knew we were going to be out of town for a long time.  Here's my list for the 4th quarter:

1 - Seasonal Silhouettes - December.  Still working with the Seasonal Silhouettes pattern book by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts.  I love this month's pattern ~ haven't started it yet, but I have all the fabrics and I'm hoping to get it up by Christmas.

2 - Seasonal Silhouettes - January.  I have this one fused ~ hoping to finish it this quarter ~ it's one of my favorites!

3 - Christmas stockings for the twins.  Since we have new grandkids in our family, they desperately need stockings!  I happened to have a pattern by Sex Lux Fabrics for a Scrappy Spiral Stocking.  I don't think I'll do the spiral, but I love the size of this stocking, so I'll use it as a template.  I haven't decided whether to use this layer cake, or look for some brand new fabrics.

4 - C'est La Vie.  I used this pattern by Lella Boutique (from Fat Quarter Shop's November Sew Sampler Box) for a Christmas Mini.  I've been wanting to make this into a lap-size quilt ~ just like the pattern shows, I'm going to use charm packs of Olive's Flower Garden (just because I LOVE these fabrics!).  

5 - Freshly Picked Table Runner.  I love Bonnie and Camille fabrics, so when I opened up my September 2017 Sew Sampler Box I decided that I HAVE to make this gorgeous table runner!  Can't wait to dig into that Good Life charm pack!!

OK ~ I think I'm going to stop right here.  Five seems like a good number (actually 6 because I'm making 2 stockings) and with Christmas coming up ~ well, you know how that usually goes!  Good luck everyone!

2017 Finish-A-Long: 3rd Quarter Results

Quarter #3 has left the building!  I finished all three of the projects on my list ~ woohoo!  I kept it short this quarter because I knew we were going to be out of town for half of that ~ and then a hurricane happened.  

1 - Seasonal Silhouettes - May.  FINISHED!  Blogged here.

2 - Outstretched - from the book Cabin Fever: 20 Modern Log Cabin Quilts by Natalia Bonner and Kathleen Whiting.  FINISHED!  Blogged here.

3 - Bubblegum Kisses - The pattern is a Sew Sampler exclusive for June and the fabrics are from Lori Holt's Bee Basics collection.  FINISHED!  Blogged here.

So 3 out of 3!  I guess I need to start a new list ~ looking forward to Quarter 4!

2017 Finish-A-Long: 3rd (and last) Third Quarter Finish - Seasonal Silhouettes May Block

I was bound and determined to finish all three projects on my 3rd Quarter List ~ and I succeeded!  I know 3 isn't really a huge number of finishes, but between being out of town for a few weeks, a hurricane and no power for another couple of weeks definitely took time away from stitching.

So I finished another Seasonal Silhouettes wall hanging ~ this one was the May block and definitely one of my favorites!

  Looking forward to the 4th Quarter!

2017 Finish-A-Long: 2nd Third Quarter Finish - Bubblegum Kisses

Just a quick post to say that I finished #2 on my list!  It's called Bubblegum Kisses - the pattern is a Sew Sampler exclusive for June and the fabrics are from Lori Holt's Bee Basics collection.

It was a quick finish, which I love!  I changed the layout a little bit and added some yellow sashing ~ just to make it a little bigger.  It ended up about 33" x 38".  For the backing I used a blue bouquet fabric from Lori Holt's Flower Patch collection that I've had in my stash FOREVER, so it's pretty hard to find now!  

 Quilting was a simple stitch in the ditch along the sashing.  Although I'm still thinking of adding some big stitches around the "kisses."

The binding was Bee Basics Turquoise Basics TV (one of my favorite fabrics in this line!)

So, this makes finish #2 for this quarter ~ I finished binding it just before these two little girls were born on Saturday.  Two more granddaughters for us ~ Sawyer and Everly.  

Gotta go now and get some more newborn snuggles :)

2017 Finish-A-Long: 1st 3rd Quarter finish - Outstretched

Finally ~  I've finished all the grandkids' quilts!  It's only taken a year and a half.  :)

Let me introduce you to Outstretched from the book Cabin Fever: 20 Modern Log Cabin Quilts by Natalia Bonner and Kathleen Whiting.  This one is for my oldest grandson who is turning 25 this year.  He chose this pattern asked that it be made with green and black.  

This is the first photo I took when I finished the top ~ I never noticed the secondary diamond shapes until I saw it with the light shining through!

I don't see any diamonds in the finished quilt.  But I love this pattern!

It looks so different in these colors than the quilt in the book.  (BTW, I used totally different fabrics than those I posted in my 3rd Quarter List.)

I used the blocks a little differently on the back.  I love the background and binding fabric ~ Modern Background Essentials by Brigitte Heitland for Zen Chic.  I definitely bought extra yardage of this!

The other fabrics are Toscana Amazon by Northcott and Jinny Beyer Palette Eyelash in black.

It looks like a guy's quilt, doesn't it?  I tweaked the pattern a little but, just to make it square, so it ended up approximately 70" x 70" - great for a big lap quilt!

This makes finish #1 for the 3rd quarter.  And now that I'm done with the grandkids' quilts (all 11 of them!), I really should decide what to make for my own bed.  Wish me luck!

For the Babies

I had mentioned earlier in the year that my daughter is expecting twins, so you can imagine I've been pretty busy making a few things!  

First on my to-do list were quilts for the babies.  Let me tell you, it was really nice being able to make smaller quilts for a change!  

My daughter lives on a farm up in Michigan and I found the cutest fabric collection that I thought would be perfect.  I bought two layer cakes of Farm Fun by Stacy Iest Hsu for Moda.  The fabrics are bright and fun with farmhouses, cows, milk bottles, eggs, tractors and chicken wire!  I wanted to use the same fabric but a different design for each of the quilts, so I chose an hourglass pattern for one and a pinwheel pattern for the other.

Farm Fun Hourglass Quilt

 Farm Fun Pinwheel Quilt

I did simple line quilting on the diagonal.  The fabrics are so cute I thought simple was better.

For the binding I used chicken wire fabrics ~ one in red and one in green.  And I kept the back simple with just a scrappy strip on each.

Once I finished the quilts, I made some burp cloths

 Then I grabbed the Divided Basket pattern by Noodlehead (I've had this on my bucket list for a while!) and made a basket to put them in.  :)

I loved every minute I spent on these ~ now we're just waiting to see those babies!!

2017 Finish-A-Long: 3rd Quarter List

Quarter #3 is here!  Last quarter I finished 2 out of 4 ~ not too bad.  Out of the two that were left, I'm only leaving one on this list.  Here goes!

1 - Seasonal Silhouettes - May.  Still working with the Seasonal Silhouettes pattern book by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts.  I have this one fused ~ hoping to finish it this quarter ~ it's one of my favorites!

New this quarter:

2 - Outstretched - from the book Cabin Fever: 20 Modern Log Cabin Quilts by Natalia Bonner and Kathleen Whiting.  I have the pattern and the fabrics (although those might change!)  It's the last quilt on my list that I'm making for my grandkids.  This one is for my oldest grandson ~ and I really appreciate his patience!

3 - Bubblegum Kisses - The pattern is a Sew Sampler exclusive for June and the fabrics are from Lori Holt's Bee Basics collection.  

So I'm stopping at 3 this quarter because I know most of my time is going to be spent with family in Michigan.  Wish me luck!