I've made great progress on Bonnie's mystery quilt (see the big reveal post for Grand Illusions quilt.)
I decided to go with the pattern setting after much, much debate. I've the border pieces all assembled ready to attach.
Since I went with a 3 by 4 block setup, I did need to great creative on the border. The border was designed for a 5 x 5 quilt and a 2" inner border. Each of the side pieces that attach to the corner will be a little bit longer.
Completing the creation of all the blocks was my goal for January's Another Lovely Year of Finishes . This was my goal setting post.
Linking up to Bonnie's post here. (edited to add link)
Happy Stitching!
Kaledioscope is my mini 12" quilt. I used the paper pieced blocks and the scraps of my American brand solids. Trying to match colors across blocks hurt my head a bit (sigh) but I am happy with the final effect. I love do spiral quilting and this mini was quick and easy. I've a tutorial if you are interested.
The pattern was here.
Parade time later this week on Sheri's blog A Quilting Life and Sinta's Pink Pincushion blog.
Happy Stitching!
Another 3 FW blocks this week. Continuing to enjoy the process but also looking forward to finishing!
#76 - Sawtooth - Almost out of my blue polka dot fabric
#77 - Seasons / Snowflake - A good block to showcase the red
#78 - Shooting Star - used up some tiny scraps on this one.
Happy Stitching!
Darlene from QuiltShopGal (formally known as SewCalGal) is sponsoring a 2015 Free Motion Challenge. There were several options for a January challenge all ending in a pillow. I chose the feathered star.
I like to FMQ but am still learning. Feathers are my favorite but I suffer from the blank slate problem - I look at the empty fabric canvas and can't figure out what to do. So for this one, I just followed the instructions!
Here is is all quilted
My actual pillow form did not arrive yet so I've just basted things together and covered another pillow. I found a gorgeous fabric in my stash for the backing. The day is rainy and gray so this indoor picture on my couch was the best I could do!
I'll be linking up my finish and looking forward to the next challenge!
Happy Stitching!
This sweet guy lives on my porch during the holidays. This year I decided to leave him there through January.
I've got snowmen in the house as well - a whole crew of them living on my hall table.
The table runner was made from a UFO - part of Quilt Doodle Doodle's quilt along that I never finished.
So sweet. So fun to turn a UFO into a project.
Let it snow. Or not. Spring would be better.
I'll be linking up here.
Happy Stitching!
Another week of Farmer's Wife blocks. When I hit 80 - so close! - I need to finalize placement to determine what colors to focus on for the final 30 blocks.
#73 - Rainbow Flowers - unclear why this block has this name...
#74 - Ribbons - maybe I should call my ribbons and threads given the threads left behind
#75 - Rosebud - this block needs a bit of a repair (and some thread removal too!)
Happy Stitching!
A few more bags to share that were made over the holidays.
These first three were gifted -
I actually made a second Downton Abbey one and gifted it to me!!
Then, one more boxy bag - this time to help store camera accessories. I just love making these bags - as long as I do the boring straight line quilting ahead of time! I also get the zippers ready to go so the final assembly speeds together.
I made of mosaic of most of the bags / boxes I made in 2014 - there sure were a lot of them! This inventoried to 9 boxy bags, 5 small zip bags, 9 Pretty Trash Bags and a couple of ipad covers!
Happy Stitching!
Fun blocks this week - I brought in my 3 base colors, 1 for each block.
#70 - Prairie Queen
#71 - Puss in the Corner
# 72 - Railroad
Happy Stitching!
Progress has been made on my Grand Illusions from Bonnie mystery quilt. After the big reveal I assembled a four blocks and laid them down for a photo op - each block surrounded by full sashing.
I got lots of nice comments (thanks!) and also several people thought the extra sashing actually made the quilt look better - somewhat calmer maybe.
I've now have enough blocks to assemble a 3 x 3 grid and sewed this together without that extra row of sashing.
I don't have enough of the green if I go with the extra sashing but I do agree that it calms things down. Can always order more fabric - I am a bit torn here.
Which do you think is better - the top photo with the extra row of sashing? or the bottom photo made true to Bonnie's pattern?
Either way, I've some math to do because I am not going to make the large size quilt she did at 5x5 block layout. However, the border is a pieced one and the math only works at the size she did. So improvisation will be required!
Happy Stitching!
The Farmer's Wife wagon!
During the holidays, I didn't stick to my usual 3 blocks a week but I've started back up.
#67 - Pine Tree - Since my fabric choices are red, aqua or grey - none of which fit the true colors of a pine tree - I went with Grey!
#68 - Postage Stamp - either my pressing or piecing is a bit off with this one.
#69 - Practical Orchard
I used mosaic maker to collect together the first 50. How fun!
and
Happy Stitching!
The big reveal!!!
True to form, Bonnie released the big reveal of the Grand Illusions quilt New Year's Day. (Linking here.)
Bonnie, fantastic, fantastic mystery! So much movement in just these 4 blocks. I'll be linking up here and looking forward to all the other quilt reveals. Some people manage to assemble the entire quilt top - but I'm quite happy with my 4 blocks. It give me a great view of the finished product. (Note, there is an extra row of sashing between each of the blocks - probably should have overlapped them in the photo!)
I had trouble capturing the true block color outdoors - the single block below is a truer representation.
These are a big and beautiful 12" blocks with a 3" sashing. Still trying to decide on how big of a final size quilt I will go for but it is clear that I'll need to make more of each the clue blocks.
After assembling my 4 blocks, this is what I have left: 12 of clue 1 (enough for 3 blocks), 8 of clue 2 (enough for 2 blocks), zero of clue 3, 9 pairs for the outer border, zero of the center 4 patch blocks and 2 of the quilt corner blocks.
Creating these blocks will be my goal for January's Another Lovely Year of Finishes .
Happy Stitching!
Happy New Year!!
My two weeks off of work for the holiday break is coming to an end. No more waking without the alarm, afternoon naps (the best!), and family dinners without having to take or pickup one of the girls from dance class. There was time for reading, for playing games, visiting with friends and time for quilting, plenty of quilting. Basically good family time - I just love having my son home from school.
Before I move on to 2015, I want to do a quick review of 2014 when it comes to my big projects. Many of these quilts were actually started in 2013.
In the first row, there is Dream Big - gifted to my niece - and Hello Sweetie, which is hanging on the wall in our bonus room right where I can see it while I sew.
In the second row, there is Middle Sister that I made for my (you guessed it) middle sister and Formation, I never actually posted a finish for Formation although it features prominently in my circular quilting tutorial on my second blog Elm Street Quilts.
In the 3rd row is my Celtic Soltice, Bonnie Hunter's 2014 mystery quilt and New Hampshire, New Hampshire was gifted to my aunt.
Finally, we've got Spring which was gifted to my other aunt and then a baby quilt called ABC which is about to be sent off to her new baby grandson.
My quilting goals for 2015 are to have fun. I want to shop from my stash as much as I can. There is one BOM that I am excited to do -Fat Quarter Shop's Snapshot's BOM. Very cute designs for each of the block - all would make a mini quilt by themselves! Purchase of the patterns benefits St Jude's Hospital. (Image from FQS blog.) This starts on the 15th!
Another monthly challenge will be from SewCalGal's new site called QuiltShopGal . This will be another year of FMQ challenges! I did her challenge in 2012 and really enjoyed it and truly grew my skills. I still have trouble with the blank canvas issue but I'll keep working on it! (January challenge is posted here.)
Another Lovely Year of Finishes returns for 2015. I always enjoyed the opportunity to share a goal each month and see what others were doing. As a wrap-up, I participated almost every month in 2014. At times my goal was to finish a quilt - at times the goal was to make some blocks.
I'll be linking up here for the 2014 Finale Party and built the mosaic looking back through time - (you can see some repeats to my mosaic above.)
- Top row, with links to blog post, December, November, October, September
- Middle row: August. July, June, May
- Bottom row: April, March, February, January.
Thanks to all of my blogging friends for all of your support, encouragement and creative juices. You were one of the best parts of 2014!
Happy Stitching!
I made some mini quilts for each of my kids for Christmas.
My middle one just loves Olaf - and who doesn't?
I googled coloring book photos of Olaf for inspiration.
My 16 year old is the Doctor Who fan who is after me to make all the blocks I didn't make when I made my Doctor Who quilt - for her the Chameleon Arch.
For my son, I went with Smaug - the dragon from the Hobbit movies.
See the likeness? He probably needed just a few more teeth!
All three of these quilts finished at 12" x 12" or less.
2014 was the year of the mini quilt - I just love the collection of all that I made! Most of these are wall hangings with a view table runners mixed in.
Happy Stitching!
