Niece and Nephew Quilts are Finished and A Recap

I've been sharing with you the quilts I've been making for my nieces and nephews, the ones who have not received one in a while.  I overlooked three of them so thought I'd get caught up on that and do a recap.

The ones I've already posted about are Josh, Ashley, Laura, Nikki, Travis, Paige, Natalie, Emily, Carrie, Karlie, Kourtnie, and Kacie's. (Each name has a link attached in case you'd like to see them.)  All of them were made since 2018.  Thank goodness, I have a fantastic quilter (Shirley Jackson) I can depend on!

Jason is the one nephew who had never received a quilt from me.  When he was born (and I'm embarrassed to tell you how old he is, so I won't) I was crocheting afghans for new babies.  I also crocheted a large afghan for him when he was first married.  (Oops, that hints at how old he is.  Don't pay any attention to that.)  Anyway, it was definitely his turn!  I named his quilt "Long Time Coming".

For Tim I tore into my box of batik strips (again!) and made a variation of the Jelly Roll Race Quilt, using different size strips and pieces (instead of WOF strips) and sewing some diagonal seams instead of straight. It wasn't nearly big enough to suit me, plus I wanted to change it up, so I added strips around it going in the opposite direction.  It ended up plenty big enough, and I ended up with another happy nephew.  

Tina's quilt was Amy Walsh's "Zen" pattern.  Yes.  I used batiks.  I've used this pattern before, but this time I sewed some of it in a hotel in Seattle.  I've set up a little sewing area in many a hotel.  An important thing to pack for that is my Ott sewing light.  You know how bad hotel lighting is.

You may remember that, in 2018, I went a little crazy cutting up my batiks into 2.5" strips.   

Now, that box looks like this .....

Hooray!

Now all the nieces and nephews have new quilts.  (Another Hooray!)  Should I start on the great-nieces and nephews?  Well, I do have all those scrappy squares I cut up a few years ago.....

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Quilter, and Super Scrappy.

An "All Stacked Up" Finish and a Stash Report

In September when I first shared about the "All Stacked Up" quilt I was working on for my niece (you can read about it here) I really hoped I'd finish it and gift it before the end of the year.  And I have!   

Shirley Jackson, once again, did a beautiful job quilting it for me.   She used the Juliette panto from One Song Needle Arts.  

So another loved niece ..... 

..... has her quilt from Aunt Sandy.  Doesn't it look perfect on her new green sofa?

And now every single niece and nephew has received a new quilt at some point during the last five years, most within the last three!  I know I've missed posting about several, so I'll catch up with a show and tell soon.

NOVEMBER

Fabric Added in November -  9 yards

Fabric Used in November -  22.8 yards

Fabric Added Year to Date - 86.7 yards

Fabric Used Year to Date - 218.4 yards

Net Used in 2022 - 131.7 yards

Days I sewed in November - 30/30

Days I sewed this year - 324/334

Percentage - 97%

Linking up with So Scrappy and Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Jelly Roll Baby Quilt

One of the goals I set for myself for this year was to make a baby quilt using this Zen Chic jelly roll.  I love this entire collection by Brigitte Heiltand for Moda.

I decided on this pattern I found online.  The tutorial is available as a free download HERE.  

It took a while to lay out the strips in an order I liked. Naturally, once I started sewing I rearranged (and rearranged!) and then ripped out seams and rearranged again!  (Ummm, this wasn't the first time I've ever done that.)

  

There is nothing more boring than sewing long strips together .....

..... unless it's ironing those seams open!

And there is nothing more frustrating than running out of bobbin thread and sewing for 40 inches without being aware of it .....

..... unless it's wearing a sweater that day and being covered with lint from those pinked edges on your pre-cuts!

I appliquéd the flower petals too far apart so I just added another smaller row.  I actually like the double row of petals better.

Now, it's basted and ready to quilt.  We've had some pretty cold weather lately so I'm happy to have some hand-quilting to do in front of the fire (and the TV....)

This will be the first of several quilts I plan to make and set aside for future great-nieces/nephews. I have lots of nieces and nephews ranging in age from 45 all the way down to 16, and the youngest six don't have little ones yet.  That's not even including future great-grands!

It looks like I have some serious quilting to get done.

I'm linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  Can I get a Whoop Whoop?

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June Goal for "A Lovely Year of Finishes"

It's difficult to believe that it's already June and time to set another goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  I'm glad there's plenty of year left to get something done, because so far I'm not doing well with goals at all this year.  I did complete my January goal and my February goal, but life interrupted.

While working on my February goal, my sewing room was torn up so new flooring could be installed.  When that was finished I decided to have the room painted.  Then for about six weeks I was faced with deep cleaning and getting things put back in order - not just the sewing room, but the entire house.  Looking back I realize that I never shared photos of my completed and improved sewing room.   So I'll do that first.

It's pretty awesome.  Yesterday, I spent some time in my sewing room for the first time in a long while.  It was so nice.  Just me and Michael Buble, and James Taylor, The Mamas and The Papas, and Jackson Browne.  Sigh........

I did a lot of cutting. 

I had fun with the fabrics, and got two baby quilts cut out.  

My goal for June is to get a baby quilt top put together for a new great-nephew. It's a pretty simple pattern.  So it should be doable.  Especially since I am going to retreat this month.

So, here we go again.  I am linking up to Fiber of All Sorts for their June Goal Setting Party (I am #18 on the list), and then I'm going to look at some of the other goals there. 

My New Projects for July and August - Nephews' Quilts!

I did actually start a new project in July, I just couldn't get the blog written within the seven day window in order to participate in that month's 2013 NewFo Challenge.  I do want to tell you about it though, so I'm including it here with the August project.  

The July Project -- When my sister-in-law, Debbie, passed away in 1999 she left behind this embroidered quilt top.  I saved it all these years so I could do something with it for her children.

I cut the center out of it and used some of the border stitching to make this quilt for Debbie's daughter, Ashley, in 2010 and blogged about it in this post.

I have 18 blocks left over to make a quilt for Debbie's son, Jason.  

My friend Shirley, who is a genius with her EQ designing program, came up with several designs for alternate blocks for me and I chose this one. 

Then she designed the alternate blocks for me complete with measurements.

So basically, the work for my July project was done by someone else!  LOL  That's okay.  I'll do the cutting, sewing, and quilting!

The August Project -- My nephew Josh asked me to make a wall-hanging based on the character Link from The Legend of Zelda computer game.  I found some pics online of the items in the game....

....and then sketched them out on graph paper.  

No, I do not know what all the items are.  I had to ask Josh!  I'm going to make a block for each figure and then use them in a border around a pieced center of Link.  

Getting the sketches done and buying some of the fabrics is as far as I got.

But it's a start.  Another start. I need a few finishes!!

I was going to link up with Barbara's Linky Party, but it looks like the deadline was early this month.  I'll be a little more on the ball next month. (I hope....)