A Year of Quilts 2014 (photos only)

Finishes and Christmas Countdown Progress

In case you didn't already know, there are 67 days until Christmas.  With that being said, I'm making great progress.

In this post, I mentioned all of the projects I'd like to get completed by/before Christmas.   I've already finished the 2 charity quilts, both of which I did FMQ on. They both measure 36" x 36".

I've already started quilting mom's quilt.  Ever since I started making this One Block Wonder, well over a year ago, I planned to quilt it in orange. I'm using the color Pumpkin from Connecting Threads which is no longer available.

However, I'm not doing FMQ. I'm doing wavy lines which I've also seen called the Serpentine stitch. Mine is a lazy serpentine. You can see the quilting better from the back of the quilt. I really like it so far. I will do fmq/meandering in the borders.

back of quilt

 When mom's is finished, which should be by the end of this week, I'll get busy on my kid sis' quilt. Then I'll start knocking out the small quilted gifts, I've got 3 of 40 done so far.




Lastly, I'll start quilting Diamonds and Purples. I'm making it a quilt w/o binding AND keeping all the points. I'm trying something I've never done before and I'm excited to see how it turns out. It might even turn into a tutorial.  Stay tuned!

I spent some time this weekend organizing my stash. I usually get overwhelmed trying to figure out where to sort/file the multicolored prints, but this time...I just did it! I didn't touch the shelf on the right, but it has batiks, Christmas fabircs, pre-cuts and other miscellaneous stuff.

And since I was taking pics of my stash...I decided to straighten up the lab (that's what I refer to my sewing room as) to share some pics.

I guess that's all for now. I've got to get back to the lab.

Until next time, Happy Quilting and God Bless!

A Thread for Life

Where the spirit of the Lord is, There is freedom

Lift Your eyes to heaven, There is freedom

Freedom reigns in this place, Showers of mercy and grace

Falling on every face, There is freedom

If You're tired and thirsty, There is freedom

Give Your all to Jesus, There is freedom

Freedom reigns in this place, Showers of mercy and grace

Falling on every face, There is freedom

If your burden's heavy, He brings freedom

If you're hurt and broken, He brings freedom

Freedom reigns in this place, Showers of mercy and grace

Falling on every face, There is freedom

Great is Your faithfulness

Freedom Reigns by Jesus Culture

Linking up all over the place! 

Anything Goes Mondays
Freemotion by the River
Val's Quilting Studio Tuesday Archives
Let's Bee Social
Free Motion Mavericks
Needle and Thread Thursday
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop
TGIFF!

She's Still Stitchin'

Two months ago tomorrow, I insisted my sis come to quilting.  You can read about it in the Bitten post. Kinda long story short, she was instantly hooked! I'm proud and happy to say she's still stitching strong!  

She gets frustrated at times, especially when she's rushing to get something finished, but she's been very productive. She's already completed 3 patchwork quilts, several pillows and a couple “jellyroll” tops.  I often have to remind her to slow down. What's the rush? But we all know how it is when you want to see a project complete.  

I maybe should sometimes take my own advice about not rushing. Well, not rushing so much as just not having so many projects going at once.  I know this is the norm for many of us quilters but what's not normal is the other craziness going on in my brain. Like me thinking that since I didn't start quilting until I was 40 that I have at least 15 years of quilting to make up for, because I would've loved quilting when I was 25yrs old if someone would've just introduced it to me !! Crazy huh? LOL! Anyway having multiple projects you want/need to finish is definitely more stressful than having just one. All I can say is, I NEVER get bored! 

And speaking of projects, I finished one last night! I did different FMQ in each block. I also used Jera's Quick Binding method.

And, I finally decided what I want to do w/the One Block Wonder I put together many moons ago and hated. You can read about it here and here.  It's going to be a large lap quilt for my mom instead. Her b-day is on November 3rd so I've got several weeks to complete it. I've already taken the too wide borders off and reduced the overall size of the quilt a bit. The orange will still be the 1st border and I'll add a 2nd wider border of the brown floral. The back will be pieced w/the plain aqua and white/light aqua floral AND the extra strips I removed from the quilt top will serve as binding.

I've got a few other quilt deadlines too!  The Summer Star Mini and Bento Box are due on November 6 for a charity we are working on in QA. They've yet to be basted and quilted.

These Double Option Stars Blocks are for a quilt I'm making as a Christmas gift for my little sis. Three down, 39 more to go.

I'd like to have Diamonds and Purples completed in time for Christmas as well. Waiting to be basted and quilted too.

In addition I have several small quilted gifts I'm working on. I've got a lot to accomplish so I better get sewing.

Until next time, Happy Quilting and God Bless!

A Thread for Life
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,  and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. Isa 61:1-3

I'm linking up at:
Whoop Whoop
TGIFF!
Let's Bee Social
A Quilting Reader's Garden 

More Finishes and a New Addition to the Family

I finished the college bound, scrappy strip twist quilt for my niece. I'm extremely pleased w/how it turned out!  She is going to love it!

I practiced FMQ -  meandering in the pink borders. It's not the prettiest job, but the important things are:  I'm practicing, thus getting better AND I used a light colored thread so you can't see how not-so-curvy it really is. ;)






I've been experimenting more w/taking pics of my quilts. This one was too long to hang where I usually do to get a full frontal. I realize pics don't have to be full frontal but whenever I just "lay" the quilt over the end of the sofa or a wall, it looks stupid.  Anyone have any pointers?

I also finished this little charity quilt. At the last QA meeting, someone brought in a bunch of individual 10" squares already quilted.  I grabbed a handful and this is what they became.






I came across this handy dandy post by +bellezza squillace on how to fold and store quilts. I've tried this several times. Mine still aren't as neat looking as the originators pic seen here, but they will no longer have hard creases down and across the middle! =)

Remember the puppy I wrote about in this post? I named her Ivy. I brought her home last night. I got her from my dear friend +Pam Hammond. If anyone is interested in a Blue Heeler aka Australian Cattle Dog, she has 4 pups for sale; 2 females, 2 males.  I'm hoping Ivy and Inka (our cat), will be fast friends soon.

3 wks

Look how much Ivy has changed in 5 weeks. They are born white and quickly develop their colors/spots like Dalmatians (because they were cross bred with Dalmatians way back when). She has beautiful markings w/ a single mask and was the only pup in the litter w/brown ears.

7 1/2 wks

I'm still hanging w/Bikram Yoga. I just completed my 4th week. Only 8 more to go. I have to adjust my schedule to 2 classes a week starting Monday because I drop my grandson off at school. I may have to adjust it even more to accommodate Ivy. I'll keep you posted.

Oh, I almost forgot, my blog's 1st birthday is this month and I want to do a give away. Any tips/pointers you can give for a successful giveaway will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time, Happy Quilting!

A Thread for Life
But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Heb 3:13 NASB