November's Goal Met! -- "Otherness"

 I have to say this was a fun goal to work on, and I'm glad I finished it.  It was outside my comfort zone, but something I want to do more of.  The little art quilt I started for my sister last April has been pinned and basted for a long time.  I had tried to do a little free motion quilting on it and hated it so much I ripped it all out and threw it into a pile of "stuff!"

Starting over, I decided to take it one section at a time and see what happens.

Straight-line quilting gets a little boring, but it sure looks good!

Once I had the binding on it still needed a little something so I dug out the BeJeweler I bought and never used.  (I have tons of tools, notions, and rulers that have yet to be removed from their original packaging.  I bet other quilters never do that!)

That was fun!  It's a good thing I'm not a sweatshirt gal or I might have been up all night BeJewelling away.

I did "just enough" to give it a little pizzazz.  

I call it "Otherness" which is a word I came across in a novel and loved.  It perfectly fits my sister.  I can't wait to see this hanging in her home. 

I am linking up with the ALYoF November Finishes Party at Fiber of All Sorts.   My original goal was #66 and my finish is #41.

November Goal -- Dee's Wall Hanging

It's nearly 11:00 at night on the 7th of November, and I need to set my ALYoF goal for this month before midnight.  It's a good thing Hubby reminded me or I would be popping up in bed in the middle of the night remembering, then realizing it was too late.  

I started this little art quilt for my sister's new apartment back in April.  It's about time I finished it.  

I need to keep this short and to the point and get myself to bed.  I'm not normally up this late!

I'm linking up with Fiber of All Sorts and their November Goal Setting Party. 

October's Goal Met - Eloise's Baby Quilt

Another goal met.  Hooray for me!  Even with that "inconvenient" broken arm I'm 9 for 10 so far this year.  My goal for this month was to make a baby quilt with brights and lots of pinks.  I had everything cut out and organized and was getting ready to spend a few days in a motel in St. Louis by myself, so I took my machine with me and planned a mini-retreat -- for one!  I set up my machine and got busy.

In the short time I was there I had a doctor appointment and a birthday party to attend, but I did get most of the blocks made and started putting them together.  The bed made a decent design wall.

This quilt needed something fun for the backing so I stopped at Hancocks of Paducah on my drive home and got a Robert Kaufman print by Valori Wells called "In The Bloom" and some batting.

I think the fabric designers are making the selvedge edges even prettier than they once did since quilters are using them for so many projects.  Look at these  cute flowers.  So much more interesting than just plain old dots!

When I got home, I cut out the hearts.  Instead of appliquéing them onto the top, I just zigzagged around them after it was quilted.

Hmmm, I don't know how I got those two yellow strips so close together that they made an upside-down "T."  So much for moving carefully from the design wall to the machine.  A little too random looking for me!

I had thought to make the binding scrappy or from the backing fabric, but after auditioning both options I didn't like the way either one would look, so I made a bright aqua flange first.  Another Robert Kaufman fabric, this one by Patrick Lose.  What is it with me and flanges lately?  

I'm so happy to have completed another sweet baby quilt for another precious little one.  

Baby Eloise Beatrice is sure to love it! 

I am linking up with Fiber of All Sorts and their ALYoF October Finishes Party.  My goal was #48 and my finish is #43.  

I'm also linking up with Quilting is More Fun than Housework.  

October Goal - Pink!

My goal this month for A Lovely Year of Finishes is a baby quilt for a little one who made her way into the world two days ago.  I want to have it completed quickly because, as you know, every baby needs her quilt.  We weren't told Baby's gender ahead of time so I wasn't really able to start until now. 

I cut out about a hundred 2.5" by 6.5" colorful strips along with ten 6.5" squares and pulled a bunch of pink charms.  I'll be spending a few days in a motel by myself this week so I'm taking my sewing machine along for company.  

I think I should be able to do something with this, don't you?

I am linking up the October Goal Setting Party at Fiber of All Sorts, where my goal is #48.

Also linking up with Quilting is More Fun than Housework.  This is definitely a scrappy project.

September Goal Met - Liam's Baby Quilt

This month it was touch and go, but I finished my September A Lovely Year of Finishes goal with a whole day to spare.  Whew!  I was beginning to think I should have set a simpler goal - maybe just make the top and not the entire quilt.  

This quilt was not on my Projects List for the year until my sister asked me to make a baby quilt for a special friend.  Baby's room is navy and grey so I chose a Herringbone pattern from a website (Newly Woodwards) I found through Pinterest.  She shares an excellent tutorial there. 

Normally I trim off all the dog ears from my half-square-triangles on my cutting board, but I trimmed them this time as I sewed and let them fall onto the floor. I just had to take a picture. 

I almost always press my seams open for more precise piecing. 

I actually remembered to use the double pinning method when I sewed the rows together so the corners of my HST's match well.  It helps to pin on each side of the seam when your design is graphic and you have high contrast pieces.  

I've only done straight-line quilting once before, and it was on a quilt with lots of prints so it didn't show up as much as on this quilt with all solids.  It is a lot harder than it looks! The walking foot helped, but it's far from perfect.  

Last night I got to sit and relax while stitching down the binding.  Ahhh, my favorite part.

So Baby's quilt is done and my goal is met.  I am a happy girl.

I am linking up with Fiber of All Sorts for their ALYoF September Finishes Party.  

September Goal -- Navy and Grey

I have several goals for this month, but we're only supposed to share one goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  That one goal is another baby quilt.  I know I've made quite a few already this year, but that's one project I never grow tired of.  Besides, those babies just keep being born!  This particular baby will be coming home in October to a navy and grey nursery.  I plan to add a bright white to make a variation of a chevron quilt and use a fun geometric print on the back. Here are the fabrics .....

I am linking up with the September Goal Setting Party at Fiber of All Sorts.

August Goal Met -- Chance's Baby Quilt!

I am so happy to have completed my goal for this month.  It was for a precious little guy - our newest great-nephew, Chance.  It was fun to sit and hand quilt the first few weeks of August as I worked on this special gift.   I did some basic outlining in the blocks, a diagonal grid in the center, piano keys in the outer border, and some wavy lines in the small yellow border to give it a little interest.  

It finished at 41" by 43" - large enough to be used into the toddler years.

My friend Penny made a sweet (and very fitting!) label for me.  She sure does nice work!

The new mother, our beautiful niece Ashley, was surprised when the mail was delivered a few days ago.

She put it to good use right away, and I think young Chance approves!

I'm linking up with Fiber of All Sorts for their ALYoF August Finishes Party. 

August Goal - Yet Another Baby Quilt!

It's time to set my August goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  This is an easy one -- another great-nephew will be making his arrival very soon, and his quilt is still not finished.  I made a good start on it and blogged about it in this post.  Now it has the final borders added, and I'm thinking it looks pretty cute.

Piecing the backing was kind of interesting.  As usual I used up the leftover fabrics from the front, and at first I was satisfied. 

I decided it needed a little more yellow so I set about inserting a strip through the middle of the dark blue Batman fabric.  I removed a 5" strip of the Batman fabric and added a 5" strip of blue and yellow fabric.  BUT, when I went to re-sew the seam there was a big gap. And, the left side of the backing was now longer than the right side.   How does that happen?  That is not possible!

It just does not make any sense!  I measured and measured, and the strip I removed is the exact same size as the strip I added.  I just don't get it!  I took the rest of the (now) oversized section apart and removed a piece of the other Batman fabric then restitched it all. I will never figure this one out.  BUT, if it can happen, it will happen to me!

The important thing is that the whole thing is basted and ready to quilt.

My goal for this month is to hand-quilt and bind this quilt and get it to baby when he arrives.  Wish me luck!

I'm linking up to Fiber of All Sorts for their August Goal Setting Party 

Golden State Warriors Wall Hanging -- Done!

I can't tell you how happy I am to have completed my July goal for ALYoF.   (A certain little boy is, too!)   This project, however, was not without its problems.

The fusible web I bought at my local quilt shop did not have the best directions I've ever seen.   Even though I read them repeatedly I ended up wasting several hours (and a bit of fabric) by cutting out the logo without having reversed the pattern before tracing it.   Honestly, the directions never said anything about that very vital step.  That means it ended up backwards, and I had to start over.    Thank goodness I got it right after that.

Once the logo was stitched down I decided to baste and quilt before adding the team name.  I didn't think it would be too much fun quilting around all those letters.  

The original plan was to stipple inside the logo and do some straight-line quilting on the background, but I needed to finish this so I decided to keep it simple.  And this is how much of the quilting was left to do when the bobbin ran out.  Isn't that always the way?

It's been a long time since I used my Clover mini iron.  Just a reminder -- don't hold your letter down with one hand and blindly reach over and grab the iron with the other hand.  Ouch!!

Then don't just drop it onto your cutting mat when you run to the sink to put cold water on your hand.  Oops!!

The top letters were just too small to cut out and iron on (for me, anyway!) so I embroidered them with a double row of outline stitch.  I really like the way it looks.  

Finishing this little quilt was so much fun.  I'm really happy with it. 

Aidan is pretty happy, too.  Look at that smile!  All decked out in his Golden State Warriors cap and Championship shirt and standing in front of his new wall-hanging.  It doesn't get much better than that!  

I'm linking up with Fiber of All Sorts for their ALYoF July Finishes Party. 

I'm also linking up with WIPs Be Gone Week 31 at A Quilting Reader's Garden.