I'm an Eternal Optimist

I must be -- that's the only way to explain why I'm entering the Finish-Along, even though I rarely have any finishes!

This year, the Finish-Along is hosted by Adrianne at On the Windy Side.  Click on the logo to get to her site.

So, here are my second quarter goals.

These are my blocks from the 2013 Craftsy Block of the Month (the Laura Nownes one).  I wasn't crazy about the layout that was offered, and thought it would be a good chance to try quilt as you go.  So, I've put the smaller ones together, and added white borders to most of them to make 9 blocks that are each about 15 inches.  They all need to be quilted and sewn together.

This one is less ambitious.  The top is all together. It needs a little embroidery to mark the watermelon seeds, and then to quilt it up, just in time to put it on the table and eat watermelon!

This one is a leader - ender project.  I cut scraps into 2 inch squares, and sewed lights to darks, then sewed twosies into foursies and foursies into sixteenies.  (Is that even a word??)  And before I knew it, I had a good sized lap quilt done.  It will be a charity quilt once it's done.  I've actually started quilting this one, so it shouldn't be long.

Think I'll get any of those done?  Of course I will!

Linking up to Adrianne - On the Windy Side.

Q4 Finish Along Goals

I've been suffering from serious quilters block over the last few months.  I blame this:

Yes, you have seen this before - it's Sand and Sea Glass, the block of the month project from (now defunct) Traditional Pastimes.  I have quilted the easy parts of this quilt - the sashing and borders.  I've started quilting the blocks, and I'm not having any fun.  And, I've got it in my head that I have to finish this one before I can enjoy starting any others.  I don't even like this quilt any more!  But I WILL finish it!  I will!  And, so, I'm putting it on my list for one more quarter.

You've also seen this one - another one I'm hesitant about.

This is Scrapitude, and it's still at the flimsy stage.  How to quilt it?  On the one hand, it's scrappy, so an all over pattern would be fine.  On the other hand, there are some nice white patches in there that could do with some custom quilting.  Decisions, decisions!

This one is new.  (I managed to push the quilters block aside for a bit.)   I won this pattern,  Sunrise, from Carolyn Friedlander, through  a giveaway on Modern Sewciety.  I spent some pleasant hours this summer, with easy paper piecing, and have started quilting.

This is baby sized.  The quilt ends at the teal border - what shows as white outside that is just batting.  I only have the white parts to quilt yet.  I'm actually pretty pleased with the quilting so far.  Just when I start to fall into despair (see Sand and Sea Glass, above), I look at something like this quilt, and I see that I HAVE improved my quilting.  I'll never be Angela Walters, but I'm coming along!

I also put together this one, in the early days of spring - hoping to have a nice table runner by summer. This is a Thimbleberries pattern that was kitted in more modern fabric. It's still a flimsy:

And - in for a penny, in for a pound - I might as well throw in these two once more:

 Maple Sugar, above, and Aqua Stars, below.

So, that's it.  List everything, I say, and perhaps I'll finish a few.

My list:

• Sand and Sea Glass
• Scrapitude
• Sunrise
• Watermelon
• Maple Sugar
• Aqua Stars

Linking up to the Q4 FAL at The Littlest Thistle

I'm Back on Board with the Finish-A-Long

After a dismal, disappointing year last year (for quilt finishes only - the rest of my life went along swimmingly!), I'm going to give the Finish-A-Long another go.

If you've been following my blog for awhile, you'll probably recognize most of the pictures.  (Sorry!!)

I haven't figured out the right strategy for the Finish-A-Long.  Should I list lots of projects, in the hopes that some of them "stick"?  Or should I mention just a couple, so I have a clearly defined goal?

I'm going for Plan A this time.  So, here goes:

Yup, I'm still showing Sand and Sea Glass.  What's it been now - a year or so?  I'm really stalled out on how to finish the quilting.  I've just got to put my head down and get'r done!

 And this one should be familiar too.  This is Maple Sugar.  I folded it up and put it in it's WIP bag after I took this photo - and there it still sits!

Is this getting boring yet?  Aqua Stars has been on my list before too.

This one hasn't been on my FAL list before.  It's the 2013 Craftsy BOM.  I've got to put the blocks together first.  Well, actually, first I have to decide HOW I'm going to put them together, because I've decided not to follow the layout used in the course.

And lastly, a picture that you haven't seen before.  This is Scrapitude, coming together!  I have to make 25 of these blocks - we're in the home stretch piecing this one!

So - five projects.  Keep your fingers crossed that I'll get some of them done!

As The Sun Slowly Sinks in the West

I frantically worked to finish and photograph this quilt:

Yes, this is my one and only finish for this quarter's Finish-A-Long.  And, it's finished just under the wire!  Good thing I live in the same time zone as Leanne.  I rushed home from work tonight, to finish sewing on the binding before the sun set.

So, this is a baby quilt for Jack, my nephew's son.  He was born last November, so I'm a tad late.  But, I'm sure he won't mind.  It's an I spy quilt, made with charm squares I collected in a swap several years ago. One of them is a saw and hammer - his daddy is a carpenter.  The sashing is actually a sage green - the colour didn't come out all that well, probably because it was twilight!

I'm linking up with the 2013 Finish-A-Long and A Stitch in Time Linky Party.

Finish A Long Q3 is Here Already

I have been strangely quiet about my Finish A Long (FAL) finishes for Q2.  Well, maybe not so strange.  I did not finish one thing on my list!  For goodness sake, this quilters ADD has got to me!

But, hope springs eternal, so here are my goals for the third quarter:

/Sand and Sea Glass

Yes, this baby is on the list again!  I do have the sashing and borders quilted, but that's the easy part.  I am procrastinating meticulously planning the rest of the quilting.

The little Eye Spy baby quilt has yet to be quilted, trimmed and bound.

These are going to be 4 placemats and a table runner. I've actually got borders sewn on them to make them the right shapes, but no photos of that.  You can use your imagination.

You've seen this one before. I think I did put the border on this quarter, so that's progress. It needs to be quilted too.

And this next one, you haven't seen before.

This is called "Maple Sugar".  It has one more border to go.  I took the picture in really poor light - the colours are much more luminous than they appear here!  It is a pattern by Toadusew, and it has gone together SO nicely!

So, there you go - 5 goals.  In for a penny, in for a pound, right?

FAL Second Quarter Goals

After my complete FAIL last quarter (when I only had two goals), I've decided to list more goals this quarter, in the hopes that something will pique my interest enough to get finished.

Goal Number One:
Of course, it has to be Sand and Sea Glass.

This one is soooo close to being done.  I've got the sashing and borders quilted, and have to figure out decide how to quilt the blocks.

Goal Number Two:
Aqua Stars

It has to be quilted - but I actually have some ideas about how I want to do it.  Surprise!

Goal Number Three
Table Runner and placemats

I dug these out from where I stashed them away when I didn't want to work on them last quarter.  They just need to be quilted.  (I think I'm detecting a pattern here!)

Goal Number Four
This is a new one.   I've had the fabric and pattern for this quilt for several years.  It is called Maple Sugar.

The pattern is by Toadusew. The photo doesn't do it justice - it is striking!  I don't know why I haven't jumped into this project before.

Goal Number Five:
No photos yet, but I've started stitching together a baby quilt using charm squares.  Weeks Ringle had a simple pattern in this month's American Patchwork and Quilting.  (You can see it here.  I don't know if it is appropriate for me to copy their photo.)  She didn't use charm squares, but it seems easy enough to modify. (Famous last words?)  I'm using brights - eye spy type charms.

So, five goals to get working on.   I'd better get on it!

Linking up to She Can Quilt for the Finish A Long.

Finish A Long First Quarter Report

I thought I would keep it simple.  When I set my first quarter goals here, I only listed two.  I thought that if I didn't make the challenge too hard, I would be able to accomplish the goals.

How did that work out for you , Colleen?

Goal 1 was to make placemats and a table runner out of these blocks.

Guess what?  They are still all piled up at the side of my sewing table.  I think I sewed some side pieces on some of them, but it's been so long since I've looked at them, I've forgotten.

Goal 2 was to finish up Sand and Sea Glass.

I did make more progress on this one.  I completed the top, and I've got it about 1/3 quilted.  So, it should be an easy finish for next quarter.

So, I can't link up at She Can Quilt, since I have no finishes - but I will play again next quarter, and I'm sure I'll be more successful then!

But, I can link up with WIP Wednesday, as I definitely have some WIP's.

Stars Around The Garden - Finished!

I've got the binding all sewn down on Stars Around The Garden.  I couldn't be happier with the way this quilt turned out!

The pattern is by Bits and Pieces Designs.  I did it as a Saturday Sampler at local quilt shop that is, alas, no longer in business.  They provided all of the fabrics for the blocks.  I bought the sashing, choosing brick red instead of the green they had in the shop sample.  The quilt is huge - this is a queen size bed.  I'll have to measure it again, but I think it's around 96 x 108!

The quilt was quilted by the very talented Chelsea, at Pins and Bobbins.  Here are some close-ups of her quilting.  Click on the pictures for a better view.

She echo quilted the applique, then some free motion stippling around that:

The pieced blocks each had a stencilled design that mirrored the gorgeous feathers in the sashing:

In the borders, she quilted leaves and flowers to mirror that applique, then echo stitched around them:

More of the border, and you can see the feathers better:

Thank you Chelsea - you have helped me create an heirloom!

Finished Blue Bayou!

Finally, finally, I finished the Blue Bayou quilt for my son.

This was intended to be a graduation quilt for his high school grad.  Well, that happened 2 and a bit years ago, so it’s a little late!  However, he should not feel bad, because his sister’s high school graduation quilt was about 4 years late.  Think I should get started on wedding quilts now?

You’re may be thinking that my son has a very tidy bedroom.  Ha!  I thought about photographing it in his room, but decided you really didn’t need to be punished by having to look at the chaos in there.  Actuallly, I put the quilt on the guest bed to photograph it.

It feels so good to get a big quilt like this done!  When I decided to make this, I spent a lot of time collecting various fat quarters, as I wanted it to be really scrappy.  Many times, I came home with some fat quarters, only to find that they really didn’t go with the other blues I had chosen.   I had decided to lean towards teal, and there are even some bits that are green, but they don’t show up so well in the photo.  I spent about a year collecting the fabric – that’s really my favourite part of quilting, so why rush it?  Then, cutting hundreds of squares! 

The pattern instructions were, in my opinion, annoying, as they told you to cut the squares into half square triangles, then sew them together in various combinations of dark, medium, light and white.  I would use the “draw the line diagonally across the square, then sew on each side” method, so I had to calculate myself how many of each combination I needed.  I do a fair amount of technical writing at work, so when instructions are vague or confusing – or not as efficient as they could be, it bugs me.   It’s not easy writing good instructions!

Here is an end-on photo that shows the pattern and quilting a little better.

I just did an all over pattern, as the quilt is so busy, the quilting would not show anyway.  And, it’s easier!

The pattern is from Fons and Porter magazine – the January-February 2008 issue.  I made the mistake of throwing away the magazine without writing down the name of the designer.  I e mailed F & P to ask them, but they have not got back to me yet.  If any of you save old magazines, perhaps you’ll be able to tell me.

Today is a glorious day – sunny and above freezing.  We had about 6 inches of snow a week or so ago.  That’s a bit early for us, although we usually have snow right around Halloween.  Then, it was cloudy and foggy for an entire week, which is REALLY unusual for Calgary.  We’re so dry, we rarely get fog, and we usually have lots of sun in the winter.    But, the fog has lifted, the sun is shining, and I have an extra hour today!  What could be better!

Finish A Long - Third Quarter Report

At the beginning of this quarter, I had three projects I planned on finishing for the Quilter in the Gap Finish-A-Long.

The first was my son's Blue Bayou quilt - which had also been on my first quarter and second quarter lists. Because it is a huge quilt, I had made it in two halves, and the plan was to quilt each half, then sew the two together.  Frankly, the plan terrified me - resulting in supreme procrastination.

 Here is the status of that quilt.

Yes, I have quilted the two halves, and the front has been sewn together!  The points don't match exactly, but close enough!  I just have to hand stitch the joint in the back and put the binding on.  So that one WILL be done next quarter!

The next quilt looked like this at the start of the quarter:

I just had to put the border on, then quilt it.

Today, it looks like this:

Yes, I admit it.  I have not touched this quilt this quarter.  Too busy procrastinating about Blue Bayou!

The only project that I did finish is this one - the table runner I showed you last week:

So, one finish.  But, I'm making progress!