September Goal

It's about that time to make my September goal! 

It's another small one due to our upcoming move, but I want to take these fabrics (JoAnns) and make this with it...

A Bright Corner's Holly Jolly Tree Skirt pattern 

... it will be a wedding present for a lovely friend! I'll only be able to get the top pieced and the binding cut, but I hope to have that done by the end of the month. I'll quilt it and finish it up after our move sometime!


Thanks again to Melissa and Shanna for hosting such a wonderful series... "A Lovely Year of Finishes."

 

August Goal Reached

My August Goal (of piecing the blocks together into this quilt top) is finished and photographed! 

I have been working on piecing this top all summer, and I think I will add a border or two to it once my fabric stash and I are reunited this fall after our big move.

In my head, the neutral diagonals were going to pop more. However, I wanted to use all the colorful and neutral scraps that my mother-in-law gave me, so some of the softer pinks blend in a bit with the neutrals. Overall, though, I think it's a scrappy success!

I've always loved the idea of using nine-patches to create diagonal lines, so I made up this quilt to do just that. The blocks are 6.5" so the nine-patches are made from 2.5" squares.

A big thanks out to Grizz for entertaining Peanut while I took the pictures... afterwards we went on a short family run and then got 50¢ ice cream cones :)

Linking up...

August Goals

I cut and pieced these blocks in June (I think... or was it May?!). Anyways, they now need to be sewn into rows and finally into a twin-sized quilt top for Peanut!

The blocks are 6 1/2" square.

The mini squares were cut at 2 1/2" to make the nine-patch blocks.

All of the fabric came from Grizz's mother who is trying to decrease her fabric stash (I'll never turn down fabric!)

I'm linking up with "A Lovely Year of Finishes" with Melissa and Shanna. 

...and with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday...

 However, I can't just sew during nap time and Daddy time... I also *get* to pack. Grizz's parents took a lot of our stuff home when they visited a few weekends ago, so now I am packing up the things that didn't fit. The pictures above show the 2nd bedroom which has now been converted back into a sewing room - it's also the packing and storing room!

We're moving in September!!!

Peanut's things are now in the "dining room," our couches were sent home, so we're sitting on the lone lazy boy and a mattress :) The big TV has been replaced with it's miniature little brother and Grizz gets to study for his Professional Engineering exam on a desk made of boxes, milk crates and the filing cabinet. 

Grizz's parents kept saying that we're "camping" in our apartment until we move back... all I can say is that we now have a lot more room :)

July Goals Finished

I did it! I finished them the weekend before the wedding. I still can't believe I did it, especially since it was my first time hand-quilting! It feels good to follow through with a plan, even with a little one in the house... it can be done! 

(Thank goodness for naps and Daddy-time!).

 Easter. 

My favorite part is the tone-on-tone white crosses. 

 Christmas.

My favorite part is the singing Santa (Dear Mr. Claus from Moda).

Fourth of July.

My favorite part is the wonky star of course - first time ever sewing one of those!

St. Patrick's Day.

My favorite part is the reverse applique (I found some helpful hints here and here).

Goal Setting Post

Almost Finished Post

Thank you Melissa and Shanna for hosting "A Lovely Year of Finishes;" it definitely helps to have a little extra motivation!

I also have loved the Summer Series at Clover & Violet - so many fun project ideas for when you are on the go and you can't bring the sewing machine with you! I've linked up two of these table runners with them (the Christmas one and the St. Patrick's Day one)... go check out what everyone else has hand-crafted!

Also linking up with...

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I'm Almost Done! (July Goals)

Yup, that's right! I have a week until my friend's big day and all I have to do is finish the binding on all four table runners/toppers. I can do it!!

I finished the quilting quicker than I expected - it went much faster once I found the right combination of needle to fabric :) I still need to work on getting my stitches to look as nice on the back as on the front, but that did improve once I got rid of the hoop - but once I did that, the table runner got a little poofier. More practice needed I guess! I did like that I could quickly pick it up during Peanut's cat naps without taking the risk of waking her up by turning on the sewing machine.

Now to hand stitch the binding to the back - maybe I can finish a side before Peanut wakes up again!

*Edit from phone: Sure enough, after just finishing one side, I heard some one wake up! She's lucky she's cute :)

To see the entire story on my July goals, see this post...

July Goal!

Finally, I feel like I can join "A Lovely Year of Finishes" with Melissa and Shanna! I have four table runners/toppers that I started in June, but I really need to finish them by July 20 (or maybe a few days afterwards!). 

My usual wedding present for friends/family is a patchwork Christmas Tree Skirt - the pictures above show a few that I've made, including the one I made for myself (it's so fun to see the skirts in use!). This tradition started because it has always been Mom's go-to-gift. Plus, most of my friends don't have a lot of holiday decorations to start their new life with, so a tree skirt helps them get started in that department!

Well, the friend who is getting married on this month knows how to sew (I helped re-introduce her to this amazing hobby last year), and I think she would have more fun making her own tree skirt. Thus, she gets table toppers/runners instead (still holiday inspired, of course!).

I pulled fabric and I started planning. You can see my scratchings above. Grizz's engineering paper is perfect for quilt planning - it's just glorified graph paper, but it makes me feel official :) The plans originally included embroidered borders, but having never embroidered words before, I decided that trying one new thing (hand-quilting) was enough for this project's deadline!

I kept my fabric choices limited to my stash. Other than the Christmas Fabric (Dear Mr. Claus by Moda), all fabrics are either JoAnns or thrift store purchases. Thankfully I kept some holiday fabrics when I sent most of my stash home with my parents when they visited after Peanut was born. Why did I send fabric home? We have tentative plans of moving back to SD this fall!! Whoop whoop! 

Anyways, enough chatter... the details:

St. Patrick's Day.
Reverse Applique (first time skill!).
Hand Quilted with Embroidery Floss.
Left to do? Binding.

Easter/Spring.
Easy Patchwork.
Hand-quilting started with DMC Floss.
Overcame some early cutting/measuring difficulties.
Left to do? Finish quilting and attach binding.

Fourth Of July
Wonky Star (first time try!).
Left to do? Take out the safety pins and re-baste it... I experimented and tried to pin-baste it without taping down the back fabric - yikes! Since then, Grizz has bought me more masking tape and I can try again! I'm still deciding if I want to hand-quilt this one or machine quilt it... I also need to cut the scrappy binding and attach it!

Christmas.
Neighbor (Bride-to-Be) loved this fabric, so I cut into my fat-quarter bundle just for her :)
Machine-Appliqued the Santa and gift tags.
Left to Do? Baste, Quilt (Embroidery Floss) and Bind.



So, I have a lot left to do, but I have three weeks of nap time and daddy-time-with-Peanut to do it! Wish me luck :)

Also linking up with Fabric Tuesday and WIP Wednesday...