hope for february

I am trying to finish at least one quilt a month this year. Can't wait to start quilting this one.

The colors are so much better than they show here.  I'm so digging it. 

  

 I've been babysitting my new grandbabe and would not give up a minute of it but I am not getting much sewing done.  Criminey!  It is only the 5th and I am feeling like I don't have enough time. I'm off to get started now!

a year of lovely finishes

Okay, Okay, Okay, already!  I am not a blogger wiz and this is how I grabbed a button.  I cannot make it look right.

Anyhoo, I am joining this challenge more to remind myself to post and photograph my finishes more often.



I started this quilt a couple nights ago and, of course, put it on the design wall and it was not making me happy so I added some negative space and voila! I'm liking it.  Can't wait to get it quilted.  I think this will be my finish for January.  I have been hoarding this Marcia Derse fabric for far too long.




Using the stash....even the good stuff.

I have been hoarding this Marcia Derse fabric for several months.  In 2013 I am determined to use my stash.
I am so  bad about cutting into fabric I love (just in case I may want to use it in a different project).  But no more!  No more!

I am going to use the fabric I love now cause I know there will be plenty of new good stuff in the months to come (i've always known that but.........)

I was planning on sewing these blocks together into blocks but looking at this pic I am thinking about surrounding them with strips of onsaburg and wonking it up.  I think I like the way the photo looks.  What do you think?

Have you ever made chocolate cake in a mug for a quick chocolate fix, ever tried it?

Out of the closet and finished!  I don't know how long this lingered in the UFO pile but it is out and finished.  YAY!  My son's dog is visiting today and could not figure why I would spread the quilt in the driveway.

While this was in the washer I pulled the next UFO out of the closet.  I have been reading Angela Walter's books and am using these projects as quilting samplers.

I am linking this up to Amanda Jean's 'finish it up Friday'

climbing out

I've been in a bit of a funk for awhile now.  Haven't been keeping up with the blogs I love to read and certainly have not been blogging.  I'm figuring the only way to get out of the funk is to climb out, so I am starting to get back into a routine.

This is  a quilt I made for my nephew.  I saw a pic of a similar one somewhere and figured I would do some applique.  Generally I don't like applique but this was just circles and it was fun to do something different (not that I am lazy and didn't want to piece them!)  The orange circle doesn't show well in the photo.  It really does have dimension and has some fun quilting in it.  A plus was he loves it and now my other nephews want their own quilts.  One of them even wants to be hands on for his.  That will be really fun.

I have been sewing and started and finished several projects that of course I didn't take pictures of. I got seven quilts in the mail to the Sandy disaster relief, that felt good.  A couple of them were new finishes and several were UFO's that I hauled out and finished.

Now I am working on cleaning some of the UFO's out of my closet.  Then I can start on my stash.

Using up some scraps

I was using up some batiks that have been in a drawer for years and cut off so many of these triangles I thought I needed to sew them together.

 This went together fast then I quilted them with pebbles.  I like the look of pebbles but phew!  they take alot of time and lots of thread.  I am really glad I tried them on a small piece before I went straight into a queen or king.

Hopefully soon I will get the original top quilted, but I sure know it won't be with pebbles (maybe boulders)

Ugh, tomorrow starts 5 days in a row of work.  I haven't had to do 5 straight for a long time.

Lazy??? What the heck!

A few weeks ago I finally got my copy of 'quilting modern' by Jackie and Katie.  I gotta say I love this book.  I really want my boss to get it for the store, so I made a quick sample from the book. 

I straight line quilted it. ( In retrospect I would have done something a bit more creative but I really did want to get it into the store.)  So I was showing it to my boss and she was NOT impressed and called it lazy.  LAZY????  I think she was talking about the straight line quilting.

Is there really anything lazy in quilting?  Just an hour before she and I were looking at some panel fabric that had just come in and she was saying you don't even have to cut them apart and sash just put a border on and pft, pft, pft it is done.  And what about using the computer on a long arm to do your quilting for you? Or a stitch regulator!

I think all these things make getting the job done a bit easier.  There is a time and place for each one of these shortcuts(?).  What is lazy to some people may be the only way another person can finish a project.  It all depends on skill and comfort level and personal preference.  In defense of my boss tho, she is an amazing quilter and I do learn alot from her,  maybe even 'if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all'.