A "Dapper" Finish

My first finish for 2015 (which I'm happy about since we were gone half of the month!)  I decided on walking-foot quilting (my favorite) with a triple-ray pattern inside the pinwheel blocks and straight lines across the sashing.  I used a red & white stripe bias binding ~ hand-stitched on the back.

I can't believe I put those two blue blocks right on top of each other on the back ~ guess I'll have to add my label to one of them! :)  Check one off my Finish-Along 1st Quarter list!

Linking up with Fabric Frenzy Friday and Whoop Whoop Friday.

2014 Finish-Along ~ 4th Quarter Results

I didn't do quite as well for the 4th Quarter of the 2014 Finish-A-Long hosted by Katy at The Littlest Thistle.  (See my original list here.)  I'm blaming it on travel and the holidays!

1 - Tula Pink "City Sampler" Sew Along that was hosted by Sara at Sew Sweetness ~ WAY back last year. FINISHED!  Blogged here.

2 - Star Light Star Bright Quilt.  Another quilt-along that I lagged way behind on ~ I still only have 2 blocks done and hope to make at least some progress this quarter.  NO PROGRESS.

               

3 - Dapper quilt from the book Simply Retro by Camille Roskelly.  Almost finished!  I'm in the process of quilting this one now  :)

4 - Diamond District.  Two more blocks done ~ six total.

5 - Triangle Frenzy table runner.  This one's for me for Christmas!  FINISHED!  Blogged here.

So 2 out of 5 finishes for this quarter ~ not too bad considering the last month was really busy!  

It's hard to believe this year is over! I actually finished 13 projects ~ and 11 of those were for this 2014 Finish-Along.  I think that makes it a successful year for me!  Can't wait to get started on 2015!!

Linking up at the Littlest Thistle.  :)

WIP Wednesday ~ some progress on a Dapper Quilt

Really didn't get much sewing time in this week ~ we took a trip to South Carolina for our grandson's graduation from the Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island.  Seeing all those new Marines sure makes us proud!  

I did manage to work on my Dapper quilt a little once we got home.  The top is pieced (there's actually a 2" border that I added after I took this pic) ...

and I started trying to figure out how to piece the back.  Hoping to get this quilt finished by the end of the quarter!

Linking up with Freshly Pieced and Let's Bee Social!

Friday finish ~ Feathered Christmas

I'm really happy with the way my Feathered Christmas wall hanging turned out!  I changed the pattern just a wee bit ~ putting a little red square in all the corners rather than just two and eliminating the outer border.  And as much as I love the quilting done on the original at the Cherry Blossoms Shop, I went with a totally different look using my ever faithful walking foot ~ an echoed starburst off the star and a checkerboard underneath with the tree outlined.  

One more Christmas decoration for me ~ makes me happy!

Linking up with Fabric Frenzy Friday and Whoop Whoop Friday.

Custom finish and a few WIPs

Has it really been 4 weeks since I've made an appearance on this blog?!  I guess I've been too focused on making sure that the custom tree skirt was made perfectly (or as perfect as I could make it).  I have a really hard time sending out anything that I don't love, especially when I'm getting paid for it!

The important thing is that the tree skirt is on its way to its new owner ~ hopefully to be treasured for a long time to come!  (sorry for the bad photo)

WIPs:

Dapper Quilt  ~ I finished the 12 blocks for the Dapper quilt, but when I had it up on my little design wall I was having a hard time with the block placement.  Trying to keep similar patterns far enough away from each other ~ and not being happy with the result.  

So I decided to throw in two more fabrics and cut out enough fabric for 4 more blocks ~ I'm hoping that will help mix it up enough!

Better?

I've finished 6 blocks for the QAYG Quilt-Along (I know, I'm not making very much progress on that one!) ~

and started an applique project for a Christmas wall hanging called Feathered Christmas by the Cherry Blossoms Shop on Etsy.  I haven't done much applique and there are lots of little pieces to this project, but I love the design and I got to use my scraps for this one!  Hopefully I'll get this done and up before Christmas.  :)

Linking up with Lorna for Let's Bee Social!

Fourth Quarter 2014 Finish-Along ~ Finish No. 2

I realize that this was the easiest project going, but still ~ it's a finish!  With Christmas coming up fast, it might be the last finish of the quarter from my list.  :)

I found the binding to be a little tricky around those 45 degree corners and that might have been because in a couple of spots the seams in the binding ended up in the corners making them a bit bulky.  My bad ~ I should have made sure they wouldn't before I started.

I did my usual straight line quilting echoing the hexi shapes inside the white areas and following some of the border lines  (which is kind of hard to see in the photo) and I love the way it turned out ~  especially from the back!  The fabrics in this table runner were from Naughty or Nice by Dana Brooks for Henry Glass.  Made from the Triangle Frenzy Runner Pattern.

Linking up with Kelly for Needle and Thread Thursday!  BTW, she has a giveaway from Shabby Fabrics on the blog for this gorgeous Up Parasol fabric!  Drool ...

WIP Wednesday and my first quilty commission!

I have to pinch myself ~ someone actually wants me to make them a tree skirt!  It's basically a copy of this one:

and, although I had to think about it at first, I decided to jump right in and just do it!  And since I've made this tree skirt before, this new one is going much faster (thank goodness!)  One of the hardest parts is deciding which fabrics go where.

But by yesterday, I had all them all sewn into strips and cut into wedges!  (LOVE my wedge ruler!)

I've managed to finish 5 QAYG blocks for the QAYG Quilt-Along.  I'm still behind in the quilt-along, but I'm can already see I won't have enough fabric for 20 blocks (how did that happen?!), so I'm not sure what I'm going to make with this ~ stay tuned!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social and WIP Wednesday