Showing posts with label Finished Tops. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Finished Tops. Show all posts

Sunday, July 24, 2016

The Week of Flimsies

I had a busy week in the sewing room this week - so busy I forgot to blog about it!  It all started when we spent last weekend up north visiting the kids and grandkids.  We drove all the way up to Puyallup,  WA to see one of our daughters compete in a weight lifting competition.  She was awesome, completing all 6 of her lifts in good form!  It was her first competition and I think she is hooked.  She said the adrenaline rush was fierce, when she went out on the platform the first time she definitely felt like she was in fight or flight mode and wanted to cry, but she was awesome!  We definitely saw her confidence level rise with each lift and really enjoyed seeing her do so well.  We spent the rest of the weekend in Portland, then drove home on Monday.

I knew I had a short, but busy week in front of me, so just got to it on Tuesday.  My friend who owns the local alteration shop that I help out for is going to be on vacation for the month of August, so she had passed a few gowns on to me that needed to be done before she left.  I spent a good part of my week doing that, but also went to work on some of those tops (flimsies) that I have been wanting to get done.

This one is made with leftovers from another top.  These half square triangles were too big to discard, and I ended up with a nicely sized top in the end:

I had already made all the blocks, so it was just a matter of adding the sashing and borders.

The next one was a cheater panel.  I had more panel than border print, so it's just been aging in the drawer.  When I pulled it out this time, I realized that I could cut a row of blocks off in each direction and use them for cornerstones.  I have three blocks leftover that could be pillows, or small quilts.
This one will also be a nice lap size quilt.  I love the colors in this one!

Another quilt made using a panel, but for this one I had planned 5 inch pieced blocks for cornerstones.  It was a lot of fun to make the small blocks and I have another lap size quilt top ready to be quilted:
Aren't the chickens fun?  I know someone is going to love this quilt!

It's time to set up the Christmas display at the quilt shop, so I have a couple of samples to put together.  This one is from my Jolie pattern.  I absolutely adore the truck fabric in this - we have a lot of red and gray prints this year in the shop.
This one will get quilted first, I have backing for it and want to take it in on Wednesday so we can start selling the fabric.  Last, but not least, I added the borders for my quilt for the Island Batik blog hop next month!  My quilt shows the Seashore line - here is a peak at the borders I used:

You can read more about the line here on Auribuzz (Aurifil Thread's Blog) as well as enter to win some of these gorgeous fabrics!  It's a lovely line and you will enjoy reading about Tammy's role in designing it and putting together an Aurifil Thread collection to go with it.  While you are there, make sure you read the whole week's worth of posts, as they all feature great giveaways and feature Island Batik and Aurifil thread collections.  Two of my favorite things in the whole world - and not just because I am an Island Batik Ambassador and receive free fabric.  It truly is awesome fabric that is a pleasure to work with!

That makes a total of 5 quilt tops ready to be quilted!  I need to pull together backs for 4 of them, so it might not happen this week, but I definitely know I'll be finishing lots of quilts in August.

Just a fun note - I entered 8 items in the County fair this year.  Five of them were Island Batik projects!  Those monthly challenges have not only been a lot of fun to do, but I am getting a nice pile of quilts out of it as well.  I am trying to finish up some of my older projects, but I sure do love creating something fresh and new, and these monthly challenges have inspired and stretched me.  I think that's why we quilters love the quilt-a-longs, challenges, and mystery quilts.  They give us opportunities to be creative and make quilts while being part of a community.

I hope you find a way to use your creativity today!

Thursday, April 02, 2015

April Goals

I think it's a great idea to actually put goals down in writing because it helps me actually accomplish them, but when I start going through the list...it's a little intimidating!  It seems like I usually tend to think that I can potentially do a lot more than I actually can, and there is nothing sadder than a list that you can't cross everything off as completed.  That said, I do have a lot of things I want to get done and that has been my (unstated) theme this year.  Last year I worked on completeing all 12 of the UFO's I had stashed in my drawer.  I am still working on one, but got the rest finished - yay!  This year I am concentrating on at least getting the tops done for several projects that have been hanging around in the half completed stage for a while.

In January, I finished piecing Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt!  Technicially I just started this in November, but I thought it would be a win if I did not start off the year by creating yet another partially finished top, so decided to get this one done right off !   I also purchased a back for it, so technically I am ready to get this one finished when I have time to do the quilting, but I am pleased that I finished the top for now.

In February I finished my sampler quilt with the fun cat fabric:

I just got the backing for this one, too!  I was bad and had to pick this fun fabric for the backing...I think it is so funny :)  Those mischievous cats, look what they did!

In March I finished this beauty of a quilt top - and purchased the back for it as well.  It will go up next on the queue for quilting because I want to get it done!  I have the backing for it as well, but I have to finish quilting the ones I have pinned already so I can use them to get this basted.

Since I have been working with large quilts the last few months, I'm going a little smaller this month.  The top that I would like to get done for April is the Craftsy Block of the Month from 2012.  I think I made it up to the June lesson...English Paper piecing.  It's the handwork that gets me every time!  I just need to do it - it's not that I don't know how or am terrible at it, I just prefer to speed along with my sewing machine.  

I also am working on a custom quilt, so that should keep me busy as far as piecing goes, and I have lots of quilting to do as well, witness the three queen size tops that just got finished and are ready to go!  I will undoubtedly fill in with some smaller projects, and quick finishes as I go along, but I intend to stick to my goal of finishing those WIP's this year (Works In Progress).  Dear Jane, Joy, and Farmers wife will be getting done, and I want those all finished before September so I must be getting to those after taking the month of April a little easier!

Now it's time to get that walk in for the day and work on the next order for curtains - at least this set is a short length and shouldn't be too taxing to work on.  I am excited to get my day's worth of work done on them so I can get back to machine quiting my current shop sample - wait till you see what I am working on, so pretty!