2016 Finish Along {Q1 Goals}

Looking back on my 2015 finish along goals, I didn't do so hot.  Sure I got a lot finished in Q1 but not much of what was on my list.  In Q2 I did much better at following and finishing what was on my list.  I didn't even manage a list for Q3 or Q4.  Check out all of my posts related to last years finish along here.

I'm aiming to be much better this year though.  I have some big plans for that long WIP list from last year.  So let's get down to it with my list of goals for quarter 1.

1. Finish the match for this commissioned quilt.  

I'm really excited about this one!  No picture yet though so I'll just share one of the first memory quilt I made for this customer.

2. Complete a T-Shirt quilt for my cousin using her college tees.

Sarah made this lovely quilt with her Gramma and I'm totally stealing her idea.  It's a Sweetwater pattern made with embroidered blocks but I'm thinking it's going to be perfect for the t-shirt quilt too!

Photo courtesy of Smiles Too Loudly

3-4-5. Finish quilting three baby quilts.

This fall I made three baby quilts while I was at retreat.  I have one about 70% quilted,  The other two still need to be basted but then they are ready to go.  They are surprises so I only have this one WIP picture to show you for now.

6-7. Complete these Open Wide Zipper Pouches.

I have several pouches started so far.  Some are for a trade with girlfriends (they crochet, do needle point, and weave, I'm very excited!), others are for gifts.

8-9-10. Quilt the three different versions of this Liberty and Peppered Cotton butterfly quilt.

I have been having so much fun playing with these Liberty of London scraps and some pretty forest green peppered cotton.  I made two quilt tops and one mini-quilt out of these absolutely lovely fabrics.  I'm planning on keeping one and perhaps selling the other two.  We'll see!

11. Quilt my Tree Skirt

Over Christmas a close family friend was state-side for a bit and she let me borrow her pattern and ruler to make a tree skirt.We went shopping together the year before when she bought the fabrics for her two versions and they are absolutely lovely!  I finished sewing my Cotton + Steel and Carolyn Friedlander version in an afternoon!

So there you have my list!  Looks like I'm going to need to buy some more thread and batting so I can get all this quilting done!  Let's see how I do!  Linking up with A Quilter's Table for the FAL and with WIP Wednesday today too!

This year the FAL is hosted by several different bloggers.  Be sure to visit them for all the details!

Debbie - A Quilter's Table - USA

Jess - Elven Garden Quilts - Australia

Stacey - SLO Studio - Canada

Jennie - Clover & Violet - USA

Helen - Archie the Wonder Dog - UK

Nicky - Mrs. Sew and Sow -UK

Cindy - Fluffy Sheep Quilting - Ireland

Rhonda - Rhonda's Ramblings - USA

Leanne - She Can Quilt - Canada

Baby F Quilt {a finished quilt}

Remember this quilt I was working on?  I finished it back in mid-August just before baby arrived on August 22nd..  The new mom and dad, family of my husbands, commissioned me to make them something special for their first baby, a boy.  

The new mom has a great eye for color and suggested a color palette of Mint, Aqua, Navy, White, Grey, and Apple Green.  We looked at a few patterns so that I could get an idea of what she liked and didn't like and then she basically let me run with it from there.

I used a simple equilateral triangle pattern, cutting my pieces at 5 inches tall.  Once I was done cutting I had a quilt top done in less than a day.  I quilted it the next day using a simple light blue thread echoed along the diagonals.  It's bound is a solid dark green that picks up on some of the darker fabrics in the quilt itself.

The quilt is backed in this beautiful wood print fabric.  I'm not sure who the manufacture is but it was too perfect to pass up for this quilt.  I snagged it a few years ago at a large fabric de-stash sale in Manchester, NH at a great price.   The grey of the logs coordinates perfectly with their gray crib and the overall feel of the piece really helps play into the woodland themed nursery.  

I also made a coordinated bumper for baby's crib to match the quilt.  I didn't get a ton of good photos of it before it was gifted though.  I used a solid minty-aqua for one side of the bumper and a piece of Lotto Jansdotter for Joann's Fabric on the other side.  Out of everything I made, the bumper took the longest.  It was over 160 inches long and was quilted using my walking foot roughly every quarter-inch.  I used scraps from the top to make the ties.

I'm so happy that the new Mom and Dad asked me to make something to be a part of their son's life.  It was a lot of fun to work on this quilt for them and I hope that they will get many years of use out of it.  

Linking up with Caroline at Sew Can She for Show off Saturday.

2015 Finish-Along {Q3 Goals}

I did pretty good on following through with my goals from Q2.  Read about my goals and what I finished here and here.

Now to set some goals for Q3.  I'm taking the approach of listing all potential finishes with the hope that I'll finish 4-5 of them.

1. Finish Commission Quilt 2 of 2.  Read about the first one here.

2. Photograph and blog my Modern Hexi's Mini Quilt.

3. Finish hand sewing the binding on this commissioned baby quilt for a family member.

4. Finish my Rocky Mountain Puzzle bee block quilt.  I need to make a few more blocks then put the whole thing together.

5. Finish making additional blocks for my Low Volume Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt then put the whole thing together.  I think I want to back this one in Voile or Lawn for a nice, light, summer quilt.  (This is part of my LQG 2015 challenge.)

6.  Make fabric baskets for Mom and I to use in our locker at the gym.using the One Hour Basket pattern.  I'm going to use some of the Cotton + Steel prints I got during the VT Shop Hop.

7. Finish my Modern Double-Cross Quilt.  It's a graduation gift for a cousin who graduated high school LAST YEAR.  No pictures yet, since it's a surprise.  (This is part of my LQG 2015 challenge.)

8.  Bind the wedding quilt made for my Uncle and Wife who got married in October 2013.  Also very late.

9.  Complete my Delectable Mountains quilt.  I need to finish making the blocks and sew the whole thing together.

10.  Finish the signature quilt from our wedding.  This one will also depend on USPS and how fast they can mail some additional blocks to and from people who weren't able to sign blocks already.  (This is part of my LQG 2015 challenge.)

11.  Sew together this massive pink, grey, and yellow bee block quilt.  (This is part of my LQG 2015 challenge.)

12.  I have fabric washed and pulled and patterns picked out to make some new shirts to add to my wardrobe rotation.

13.  I joined the #SimplyMiniSwap on Instagram and will be making a simply awesome mini quilt for my secret partner.

14.  Finish ripping stitches and then re-quilt my Triangle Quilt Along quilt top.  I wasn't happy with the quality of the straight line quilting I started with.

15.  Finish up some secret sewing for a blog hop coming up very soon!

16.  Sew the final hem on my Colette Dress.  I took the sides in to make it more fitted and just need to hem it!

17. Make a matched pair of quilts using bee blocks I received about two years ago.  I know who they are intended for but I can't say on here.

Linking up with Adrianne at One the Windy Side.

2015 Finish-Along {Q2 Recap}

I did pretty good this quarter getting some of my goals finished.  Let's review what I accomplished.


1. Finish Commission Quilt 1 of 2 by the end of April.  The top is done.  I just need to sew the backing and then baste/quilt/bind for my customer to gift.

Done!  My customer gifted it to her brother on July 4th, her mother's birthday.  He loved it!!  You can read more about it here.

2. Finish this fun Modern Hexies mini-quilt I started working on.  Quilting is done, just need to bind and hang.  

I Finished the binding in the nick of time on July 1st while listening to Moby Dick on YouTube with my husband, but ran out of time to photograph.  Hopefully I will do so in time for the Q3 linkup.  

3. Pull fabrics for a commissioned baby quilt for a nearby family member.  We'll be using this pattern and have decided on a color scheme:  gray, light blue, mint, navy, white and a green apple color.  

We didn't use the pattern we had first chosen but did stick to the color scheme. I just need to sew the binding down and take some photos.

4. Start/Finish some secret sewing I have to finish for a secret person that I can't tell you anything about yet.

This was my delectable mountains blog hop quilt.  I have all the fabric cut.  I just need to sew up the rest of the blocks and put it together.

5. Finish making additional blocks for my Low Volume Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt then put the whole thing together.  I think I want to back this one in Voile or Lawn for a nice, light, summer quilt.  

I got the fabric strips cut but haven't had time to start sewing more blocks.

6. Finish my Modern Double-Cross Quilt.  It's a graduation gift for a cousin who graduated high school LAST YEAR.  No pictures yet, since it's a surprise.

Still not put together.  Late is better than never right?

7. Quilt and bind my #orangepeelQAL quilt from last year.  

Done!  It's called Hot + Cold.  You can read about it here.

8. Quilt and bind my scrappy red and white hourglass quilt, also from last year!  

DONE!  I'm calling it Sailor's Take Delight.  Blogged here.

9.  Bind the wedding quilt made for my Uncle and Wife who got married in October 2013.  Also very late.

Not bound yet.  Hopefully soon!

I'm linking up with Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story today.

In Memory Of, #1 {a finished quilt}

As I have mentioned several times, I was commissioned in November to make two memory quilts by a local woman who lost both of her parents in 2012.  She found my blog through my Local Quilt Guild website and we started discussing:

...I am looking to hire someone to make two quilts for me.  They do not/will not necessarily be identical.  One is for me, one for my brother.  Our parents passed away six months from each other in 2012 and were known for their whimsical personalities and style.  I thought it would be fun to take the mix of fabrics from some of their signature wardrobes and have quilts made....Despite living in Vermont, they met on Cape Cod and lived life to the fullest.  They tended to be rather preppy and at the holidays could be seen in a lot of plaid...

She describes her parents as fun, whimsy, and prone to off-the-cuff style, often showing up in thrift store tux's or plaid pants and skirts.  We agreed on a pattern and I got to work sewing, deciding to start on the quilt for her brother first.  My design was based on Dots & Dashes by Bethany Fuller of Grace's Dowry Quilts (gracesdowryquilts.com).  I did not purchase a pattern.  I ended up using freezer paper as a foundation and sewing alternating strips of background fabric and clothing fabric to create the blocks.  What I ended up with I think accurately reflects both my customer's style and her parent's style.

The block were laid out in a grid formation alternating the direction of each block, horizontal or vertical.  The resulting quilt is both modern and simple but still evokes some of her parents plaid loving spirit.  Fabrics include neck ties, skirts, whale pants, paint stained sweatshirts, knit sweaters, and navy shirts.

The whole thing is quilted in a square grid using matching Aurifil thread in lines spaced about and inch and a half apart.  The quilt is bound using a solid navy color.  It finishes at 53.5 x 62", just smaller than a twin, so it's a good size lap quilt.

For the back of the quilt I used a solid taupe brown and off-set one extra block from the front with squares from her father's wool Navy blanket, a t-shirt with special meaning, and a piece from her parent's hand pieced and hand quilted drunkards path wedding quilt.

I learned a lot about myself and commission quilting during this process and was thankful for the opportunity to stretch myself and my skills.  My customer was wonderful to work with but we often had competing ideas about what would and wouldn't look good for the quilt.  I found that I often lacked motivation to work on the quilt and had to really force myself to push ahead and finish it.  With my own quilts, when I'm not feeling great about them, I can put them down and come back to them when I'm ready.  With this one, I was on a deadline to finish it for a customer and didn't have that luxury.  That was really difficult for me to do.

My customer was very understanding though and recognized that this was my first attempt at making a commissioned quilt.  In the end I think she was really happy with the final quilt also.  I can't wait to hear how her brother likes it.

After this experience I would definitely make another commissioned quilt but I would be more picky about what I would and wouldn't take on.  For instance, I'm not sure I would make another memory quilt like this.  I felt a lot of pressure to not screw it up... after all I can't just run to the store to buy more fabric if I do.  What are your thoughts, have you made a commissioned quilt before or better yet, a commissioned memory quilt?

Once again, Thanks to my Dad for holding the quilt for me to take pictures.  (Thanks Dad! You're the best!)

Linking up with Adrianne at One the Windy Side.

And with:

Kelly at Needle and Thread Thursday

Hot+Cold {a finished quilt}

I am proud to report that after 10 months of procrastination and straight up ignoring this quilt top I have another finished quilt to show you today!

The Orange Peel Quilt-A-Long originally took place from June 30 through September 8, 2014 and was hosted by none other than Jess from Quilty Habit.  You can find all of Jess's posts here.  It was a ton of fun to participate in and I met a lot of new quilting friends through the process.

I'm calling this quilt Hot+Cold because of the progression of my love-hate relationship this quilt.  I was so excited to start the quilt but when I got the blocks laid out I hated it.  Then I sewed it together and kind of liked it again, but it sat for months because I wasn't in love anymore.  Finally I picked it up, quilted and bound it, and now it's my favorite again.

This quilt was originally much bigger.  It's one of the one's I brought with me when I visited Ellie for long arm lessons and due to an accident on my part the backing for this quilt and my Sailor's take Delight quilt I had to swap them out.  This one ended up getting trimmed down in the process.  Oh well!  I'm still happy with it.

Per my original quilting plan, I went ahead with quilting phantom orange peels on the empty squares of my quilt top, as you can see in the picture below.  I really like how it completes some of the peels and makes the whole thing feel a little more balanced in my opinion.  The outer borders were quilted in a stipple which ended up being much smaller than I anticipated when I first started off.  It took a long time to do!  All Ellie could do was laugh at me as I complained about how tired my arms were! 

This quilt is the perfect lap size for me when cuddling on the couch, though my husband still complains about all of the "tiny" quilts I make.  And my older cat Martin has decided that laps are a safe place to sit when there is a quilt in them.  I didn't capture a picture of him but the other night he was curled up in my lap on his back with both legs sticking up in the air while I scratch his tummy.  He's such a doofus, all I can do is laugh at him with his tongue hanging out of his mouth!

You can find related posts here, here, here, and here,

I'm linking up with some new posts today!

Lets Bee Social and MCM

and

Linking up with Adrianne at One the Windy Side.