13 in 2013 November Update

I really thought I was doing great on this 13 in 2013 challenge until I looked at the calendar the other day.

Here's the list I started with in January:

1.  Jelly Roll Quilt, finished March, 2013
2.  Fairy Tale Friends, finished March, 2013
3.  Teal/Red 3x6 Bee Blocks, finished 2 quilts, July, 2013
4.  Citrus quilt(s), finished 3 quilts, August, 2013
5.  Granny Squares Quilt, finished March, 2013
6.  String Blocks Quilt finished October, 2013
7.  Bow Tie Quilt finished September, 2013
8.  Bento Blocks Quilt (sandwiched and ready to quilt)
9.  Breath of Avignon Quilt
10.  Anthropologie Duvet Cover, finished April, 2013
11.  GMFG - this one is about 2/3 completed
12.  Lark Pinwheel Quilt - I used most of the blocks for Weekender bags, so I'm counting this one as finished
13.  Basket Quilt

On the one hand, I feel like I've accomplished quite a lot so far this year.   On the other hand, I still have a ways to go, and we're now officially into "gifting season", and I have high hopes of making a lot of my gifts this year.  In addition to that, I have several swaps and some donation quilts that need to be finished by various deadlines.  Yikes!

But I did finish my October goal, which was to complete the string blocks quilt.  That makes 9 out of 13 completed.  I still have the Breath of Avignon blocks and the Basket blocks sitting in their little plastic bags waiting for their turn.

Even though I had the bento block quilt sandwiched at one point, I decided it wasn't quite big enough to be useful, so I took it apart and added borders at each end.  About the time I finished doing that, I found enough blocks for one more row, so I decided that I needed to add them to the quilt or the extra blocks would forever languish in the orphan pile.  I took off one border and managed to add the extra row with only a minimum of fuss.

It is sandwiched again now, thanks to an incredibly hot and sweaty marathon sandwiching session on the primary room floor the other day.  I sandwiched it and 5 other quilts that day.  I bought king size batting and there is simply not a place in this house where there's room to lay out something that big. A king size bat will make about 3 large-ish quilts, so for an extra $5.00 (with a JoAnn's 50% off coupon), it makes sense to buy the bigger size.  My friend came in and talked to me while I was working, so the time just flew by.  It was a pretty productive day, despite the fact that I was totally worthless by the time I got home, and spent the rest of the day watching Season 7 of Hell's Kitchen.

So my ALYOF goal for November is to quilt and bind the Bento quilt.  It shouldn't be too hard, right? 

And if I'm really on top of things, I'll get the other two quilt tops put together.  Honestly, I would be totally jazzed by that.

I might just pull this off.

WIP Wednesday... 4 finishes and a WIP

I'm not exactly sure how it got to be the 10th of October already, but here we are.  It is officially fall, the weather is cooler, the leaves are changing, and here in Florida, the humidity has dropped to reasonable - even pleasant - levels in the wake of quasi-Tropical Storm Karen.

I finished the string block quilt which was my October goal in my 13 in 2013 challenge.  It went a lot faster than I thought it would.

Barely an afternoon's quilting and it was finished!  I was amazed.

I tried a wood-grain quilting pattern, and I have to say, it was kind of fun.  Certainly nowhere near perfect, but I'm satisfied with it.

I did a herringbone design in the first border.  Looking at it now, it might be further apart that it should have been, but I don't dislike it at all.

And the outer border is kind of a wonky diamond design.  And frankly, I really like the stripey binding.

So, this one is a wrap, and I'm ok with the results.

And I finally sat down and finished the last of the scrappy trip along blocks.  I really love the combination of dots and solids that Leona chose.  So happy!

Since Leona only wanted a quilt top, this one is a finish also.  I love how the square blocks look like they are on the diagonal.  I love how the colors play together.  It took me a bit to decide how to lay this one out, but I'm glad I chose the traditional layout.  The quilt is 7 blocks square, or 84" x 84"  Glad I'm not quilting this one myself!

I finished my latest Weekender Bag.  This is the one I started as the demo for my class at Derrel's of Pensacola in September.  I did this one in blue, and used Lizzy House's Castle Peeps as the focal fabric.  I must be into stripes lately.  I really like the stripey piping on this one too.

I had a lot of fun with the Castle Peeps in making this bag.

And I finally took photos of the last of the citrus quilts.  This is the one I kept - mostly because Abby liked it.  It may yet be a Project Linus quilt, but somehow I just couldn't part with it.  I love how the blues in this quilt make the citrus colors pop.

I tried a leaf design on this one, and it was a lot of fun to do.

Yup!  I kinda like this one.

I got the rows put together in my Starflower quilt.  Would you just look at those points???  Amanda's method for perfect points is, well....  perfect.  Honestly, they all look like that.  How did my daughter get to be so smart?  Now all I need to do is to cut and attach the borders....

So, that's what's been going on around here in the last week or so.  I'd love to know what you've been up to. 

13 Finishes in 2013 - September Goal

I'm doing OK with my 13 in 2013 goal, but I'm still behind. 


Here's the list I started with in January:

1.  Jelly Roll Quilt, finished March, 2013
2.  Fairy Tale Friends, finished March, 2013
3.  Teal/Red 3x6 Bee Blocks, finished 2 quilts, July, 2013
4.  Citrus quilt(s), finished 3 quilts, August, 2013
5.  Granny Squares Quilt, finished March, 2013
6.  String Blocks Quilt
7.  Bow Tie Quilt finished September, 2013
8.  Bento Blocks Quilt
9.  Breath of Avignon Quilt
10.  Anthropologie Duvet Cover, finished April, 2013
11.  GMFG - this one is about 2/3 completed
12.  Lark Pinwheel Quilt - I used most of the blocks for Weekender bags, so I'm counting this one as finished
13.  Basket Quilt

And I did go on a sandwiching spree this week and got three quilts sandwiched; the string block quilt and the bento block quilt are sandwiched...

And the bow tie quilt is DONE!

It shouldn't be too hard to finish both the string block and the bento quilts since the worst part of the job is done.

I've made wonderful progress on the Grandmother's Flower Garden - more than I ever expected - but I still have a couple of long rows to do to finish the top...  and I think I'll count that as a finish.  If I decide to hand quilt it, it may be another couple of  years before this one is done.

So, with three months left in 2013, I have 5 quilts left to finish.  Two of those are already sandwiched and ready to quilt, so they are well on their way.  I think I will be able to finish the GMFG top by the end of the year. That will just leave the Breath of Avignon and the Basket quilt to finish before the December. 

Who knows, I might actually make it! 

13 Finishes in 2013 - September Goal Completed!

As I mentioned in this post, although I managed to create several quilt tops this month, my September goal for ALYOF was this bow tie quilt. 

I did manage to get the top laid out last week, but I was missing one block.  So frustrating.  Luckily, this week I was working on another project, and it called for 3-1/2 inch squares.  In for a penny, in for a pound, as they say, so I made one more bow tie block while I was at it.

Once the block was made, it was only a matter of a couple of hours to stitch the blocks and rows together and voila!  One quilt top!

Then, on Wednesday, I did a marathon sandwiching session.  I hate sandwiching.  Can I just say that?  Is hate too strong a word?  Abby says, "We don't say 'hate', Grandma."  Well, of course she's right, but nothing is being hurt by my "strong dislike" for this process.  Anyway, I do it and it gets done, so it's all good, right?

Once it was sandwiched, it was fun to actually sit down and quilt it.  I decided to try something totally new to me.  I did giant 8-petal daisies in the middle of each bow tie motif with herringbones across each of the bow ties themselves.  Once I got a rhythm going, it was pretty easy.  There is no standardization to this at all - the motifs only loosely resemble each other - but I kind of like it.

So, there's one more out of the WIP Basket and off the to-do list. 

Feels pretty good.

Finally!! Some Citrus Quilty Pictures...

photo by Cindy Marvel

I had to beg my friend Cindy, who is the Secretary/Historian for our guild, for these photos since I was air-headed and didn't get pictures before I donated these quilts to Project Linus, but here are photos of two of the three citrus quilts which was my August goal for ALYOF.  Isn't she artistic?  Much more artistic than my hang the quilt on the fence photos, for sure.

I have to admit that I couldn't give all three of them up at once, and I STILL haven't taken pictures of the one I kept.  (I'm quilting the bow ties quilt today, though, so I'll add it to the growing list of photos I need to take.)

I really love the way the citrus colors work together in this quilt, and how the white background accents all the others.

I think overall that this one is my favorite.  I love the touches of blue - even though blue isn't technically a "citrus" color.  I love the way the blue makes the other colors pop.

I hope some child is snuggly and warm under these someday soon.

Progress?

At the Emerald Coast MQG meeting on Saturday - our 2nd birthday, BTW - I was lucky enough to win the block lottery... 41 luscious wonky cross blocks in shades remiscent of days (and nights) at the beach, befitting our Emerald Coast heritage.  So, Sunday night, while WH was watching football, I decided to head into the sewing room and putter around.  I messed around with arrangements of these blocks on my design - um... - floor, pinned them in rows, stacked them all up and put them in a pile.

Since I wasn't really into the football game, I dug around in the WIP basket and decided to put together what I thought was my September goal for ALYOF - my bag of string blocks. 

Having those pinned in rows and piled up ready to sew, and knowing I was behind on my 13 in 2013 goals, I decided to get out the bentos and lay them out.  Done and done.

Football still taking over the den, I laid out my starflower quilt.  It took up the entire floor, and I even had to weave blocks around the legs of the ironing board, but I ended up with a layout I liked.  (It's gonna be awesome!!)

Then yesterday, starting about 8 am, I decided I was going to make it happen.  I sewed for about an hour and a half and the string blocks became a quilt top.  Easy peasy.

Another couple of hours, and the bentos became a quilt top.  I was cookin'. 

After a fun lunch date with my friend (and former co-worker) Shandra, and a nice long nap, I came back and put together the wonky cross quilt. This one was a bit more of a challenge since I had to make an extra block and fix a couple of size issues, but eventually it was done also...  And it was still light outside.  (I should have gone out immediately to take photos but it was getting dark and threatening rain, so these blurry, poorly lit I-phone shots are all I have at this moment - sorry.)

Ha!  Three quilt tops in one day!  I was pretty pumped so I decided to try putting the starflower quilt together - especially since I was afraid to pick it up, so it was still on the floor, being walked on, rolled on, and stepped over.  Amanda's directions are easy to follow and my first hexagon/star combo went together like a dream. 

So I decided to put the first two stars together.  Definitely NOT as hard as it looks.  Amanda's instructions are really quite good, and stars and hexies went together perfectly.  I ended up with the first row entirely together (which was good, because now I won't have to roll over blocks with my chair any more.)  And it was only 8 pm. A truly productive day. 

It wasn't until this morning that I realized that there was just one problem...  My goal for September was Bow Ties.

Oops!

Two Finishes for Project Linus - an FMQ Journey

Awhile back, I promised to share real pictures of my May Finish.  But more exciting to me is that I got 26 blocks out of my WIP pile. 

Most of the blocks were from several rounds of the 3x6 bee. I love the way they all look together.

They say the only way you will improve at anything is to practice, so I did a different motif from Angela Walters' Free Motion Quilting in each block.  I love that book.  Her instructions are super easy to follow, if maybe not so easy for me to execute.  Something about hand-eye coordination, and the disconnect between my brain and my muscles.

I decided on this block that I don't like pebble quilting any more than I did the first time.  But I do like the texture when it is finished.

I kind of wish that Angela would come out with a practice book like we used to practice penmanship when I was in school (I understand they don't teach cursive in school any more, let alone penmanship!  What's up with that?)  Then you could really do as she suggests and practice the designs with a pencil over and over and over...

I did the yellow quilt before I did Krista's quilt as a practice quilt so I would get at least a little better at FMQ.  It really doesn't come naturally to me at all.

This block is far from perfect, but it ended up being one of my favorites.  I tried 3 different motifs in this block.  I really love how it turned out.

I think I just got tired and did stipple quilting in this block.  Never a bad choice, right?

These were bee blocks, which have a tendency to vary in size, so I sashed all the way around each block to even them up.  I ended up trimming to 15", so each block finished at 14-1/2" square.

I tried paisleys on this block.  I really love paisley anything, and this motif was very fun to do.  I obviously need to work on the size consistency of my paisleys though.

 I used another stripe fabric from my Stripes That Bind bundle for the binding from my favorite fabric shop.  I think it looks like it was made for this quilt.

 In her book, Angela talks about not getting stuck in a corner, and that wasn't really my problem.  It was more that I would finish the block and find that I had left a whole big area unquilted, so I need to work on how to get around the quilt more logically.

I really love that these blocks are all so different, but coordinate with each other so well.  This one is more seafoam than aqua, but it still works perfectly.  And the yellow in this block blends so well with the sashing.

I pieced the back together from the two extra blocks and some leftover yardage.  I really like that blue swirl.  Despite its faults, I am fairly pleased with how it turned out.

The second aqua/red quilt is my ALOYF finish for June.  I sashed this one in aqua.  I like how it gives it such a different feel.

For this quilt, I decided I wanted to improve my swirls, as they are such a basic part of FMQ, so I did swirls in all 12 blocks.

 I hope my swirls improved over the course of quilting 12 blocks.

 Still pretty rough, I think.

 I used a different motif in all of the sashings in this quilt.  I like the wood grain.  Not polished, but really fun.

 Wavy lines in between some of the blocks.

 I tried pulleys up this one side (and then covered half of them up with the binding).  I think here they look a little like safety pins.

 These swirls are far from perfection, but I will keep practicing.

 The figure 8's were really fun too.

 These swirls might be {a little} better?

 The triangles were fun, but it took me awhile to get the hang of it.  The first dozen or more were backwards. 

 The wavy lines were harder than they look.  I never did get the hang of keeping them even, so I decided to just let 'er rip and have fun with them.  I really like the texture.

And stripey binding again.  This one was from my stash.

 This fabric was some that Krista gave me that her mom's friend's family had given her.  She brought it home to Arizona from Seattle in a Coleman Cooler, so we call it Cooler fabric.  LOL  This was a pretty large piece, although not quite wide enough so I added a couple of coordinating pieces to make it work.

The print reminds me a bit of Tarzan, or John Steinbeck's The Pearl.  In any case, I think it will make it boy-appropriate.  The ECMQG is participating in a large quilt request from Project Linus.  They specifically asked for gender neutral or even numbers of boy and girl quilts.  They are specifically to go to Camp Corral, a local camp for military children who have a parent who is deployed, wounded or fallen. 

I really had fun quilting these quilts, and perhaps I made a little progress in the FMQ department.  In any event, though, I hope they will keep a child warm, and perhaps let them know that someone cares.  These men and women have given great service to our country, and as always, it is often the children who suffer most.

With a husband who served 23 years in the military, a good bit of it in combat, I often think, "There but for the grace of God go I."