13 Finishes...no, 14 Finishes... in 2014

While 2013 was a pretty productive year in the prsd4tim2 sewing room, there is still a huge pile of UFOs or WIPs, or whatever you want to call them.  You can get a glimpse of my quilty adventures on the 2013 Finished Quilts and Projects Page. Yesterday's post recaps my goals for 2013.  And while I made a lot of progress, I didn't finish everything - and I created a lot more WIPs to finish.

With that in mind, even though 14 finishes in 2014 sounds better, since I didn't exactly meet my 2013 goal, I'm hesitant to attempt more than 13 finishes.  Also, I can't seem to come up with 14 WIPs - only 13. 

EDIT:  This just isn't working for me...  It's gotta be 14 in 2014 or it just doesn't work.  I've been racking my brain and I remembered a zig zag quilt I started a couple of years ago that's just sitting there in the basket.  It's really not much more than an idea so far, but there it is.  NUMBER 14!!!

Sooooo, my goal is...  drum roll please

14 finishes in 2014

 Whew!

Here is the list:

1.  Breath of Avignon - this is one of the first modern quilts I started, but I have yet to finish it.  It was made from Breath of  Avignon charm squares by American Jane and white yardage.  The pattern is Avignon Picnic from Moda Bake Shop.  I hope to get this one finished soon.

Edit:  Finished, March, 2014.

2.  Basket Blocks - this is another of the very first projects I started once I discovered modern quilting.  The fabric is Fresh Cottons by Fig Tree Quilts.  The pattern is from the book Just Desserts by Edie McGinnis.

3.  Citrus Quilts - I want to finish the last of the citrus quilts.  I finished 3 citrus quilts in August of last year, but I decided I wanted to make the last one a little bigger.  So, in the most recent round of the 3x6 bee, I asked for more citrus blocks.  I have collected most of those, so I hope to finish this quilt early in the year.

EDIT:  Finished, June, 2014

4.  Single Girl - I'm going to conquer my fear of this one and get it done.  The fabric (a Spirit Layer Cake by Lila Tueller) and pattern (even the templates!) - are sitting in a zip lock bag in the WIP pile.   started it when the Single Girl Support Flickr Group started back in early 2011.  And there it sits.  It's not even cut out.  But this year...  this year I'm not going to let it intimidate me.  This year, I'm going to tackle it!

EDIT:  Top Finished, May, 2014

5.  Starflower.  The pattern is by my own lovely daughter and the fabric is Beechwood Park by Janeen Morrison for Free Spirit.  This one just needs to be sandwiched and quilted - I even have the backing.  So hopefully this one will be a fairly quick finish.

EDIT:  Finished, January, 2014.

6.  Modern Maples - This one was made for the ECMQG Modern Maples Challenge.  The fabric is Juggling Summer by Zen Chic.  While it's called "Juggling Summer", it seemed more autumny to me, so I thought it was perfect for an autumny quilt.  This one is all sandwiched and ready to go...  Just needs to be quilted and bound.  It should be a fairly easy finish.

Edit:  Finished, April, 2014.

7. Spot On.  The pattern is by Camille Roskelly from her book Simplify, and is one of the quilts that meets my goal to make every quilt in the book.  The fabric is also Juggling Summer by Zen Chic.  This one is also sandwiched and ready to quilt, so hopefully will be an easy finish.

EDIT:  Finished, January, 2014.

8.  Bookshelf Quilt - This jelly roll quilt is also sandwiched and ready to go.  Again, should be an easy finish.

EDIT:  Finished, February, 2014.

9.  Faux String Quilt - the pattern is Heximetry by Ali Winston.  The fabric was from the Stripes that Bind bundle from my favorite little quilt shop.  This one needs to be sandwiched, but shouldn't take long to finish.

Edit:  Finished,  April, 2014.

10.  Fat Quarter Shop Block of the Month Club quilt - I have all the blocks done and all the pieces of the finishing kit cut out.  There's still a lot of work to do, but in the end, it will be a lovely quilt.

11.  Grandmother's Flower Garden - I don't know if I will finish this one this year, but I will certainly keep working on it.  Maybe - just maybe - I'll finish it... one day.

 11.  Shiny Brite - While I was in Utah over Thanksgiving, I got to play pattern tester for my daughter, and somehow we picked the wrong background solid.  The good news is that I got to keep the reject blocks for myself.  I hope to finish this quilt very soon - certainly by Christmas. 2014!

EDIT:  Finished, June, 2014

12.  Christmas Quilt - One of the first Bees I ever participated in was the Christmas Fabric Bee.  During my month, I asked everyone to make blocks reflecting the Christmas season.  I received some amazing blocks.  These are also languishing in a zip lock bag in the WIP basket.  I want to get this one completed by Christmas, 2014.

13.  2011 Craftsy BOM - I started the 2011 Craftsy BOM, and then my daughter's wedding craziness started, and I never got back to it.  I hope to finish this quilt in 2014.  I have 4 of 12 blocks done, so I have 8 blocks left to make.

14.  Zig Zag Quilt - I've got a million HSTs left over, and I've been dying to make a zig zag quilt, so this is my chance.  And besides, I really needed #14.

So, here's to 2014!  I hope it is a wonderfully quilty, crafty, happy year for all of us!

13 Finishes in 2013 - The Recap

Last January, I set a rather ambitious goal to finish 13 projects in 2013.  Call them UFOs or WIPs, or whatever, the truth is these quilts-in-progress were just languishing in a basket in the sewing room, taking up space and making me feel guilty.  Here was my original list:

 1. Jelly Roll Quilt - Finished March 9, 2013

2.  Fairy Tale Friends Finished - February 21, 2013.  Donated to Project Linus.

 

3.  3 x 6 Bee Blocks - I thought I had enough of these aqua & red blocks to make one quilt.  Turns out I had enough blocks to make two quilts.  I didn't quite get them finished to complete my May goal, but they were both finished by June 8, 2013 and both were donated to Project Linus.

4.   Citrus Quilts - I thought I had 10 blocks.  Turned out I had 48 blocks! so I ended up making 3 quilts and asking for a few more from the most recent round of the  3x6 bee so I could make one quilt a little larger.  These 3 were completed in August.  I have the final one on the list for 2014.  Two of these were donated to Project Linus, but somehow, I couldn't part with the third one. 

5.  Granny Squares Quilt.  These blocks were from a couple of online bees in 2011, so I had plenty of squares to finish this quilt. It's one of my favorites, in fact.  It's also the only quilt I've had the pleasure of quilting on a long arm (thank you, Marcy!)  This one was finished in April.

6.  The String Blocks Quilt  was finished in October. 

7.  The Bow Tie Quilt was finished in September.  I really had fun quilting this one.  I called the quilting motif a Double Daisy, but the ladies in the guild thought it looked like Sand Dollars.  Whatever it was, it is finished.   Yay!

8.  Bento Block Quilt - I finished this one in December.

9.  Breath of Avignon Quilt - I haven't made any progress on this one, so it will be tops on the list for 2014. 

 

 

 10.  Ari's anthropologie knock-off duvet cover was finished in April, 2013 as a graduation gift for Ari and her husband, Mitch.

11.  My Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt is really coming along.  I am actually amazed at the progress I've made on this one, so while it's not really finished, I'm not going to count this as a fail, either.  It's a great project for wintertime, since it's all hand-stitched, so I'm going to put it on the list for 2014 again and see how far I get.  I'm really pleased with my progress on this one.

12.  I have made 2 Weekender Bags from the leftover HSTs from the Swoon quilt, so I'm going to count this one as finished, July, 2013.

13.   I've made virtually no progress on my Basket Blocks quilt.  It's still sitting there in it's little zip lock waiting for some attention.  So this one is going to the top of the list for 2014.

There were a bunch of other finishes in 2013, and one day I will get around to figuring that out, but that's it for this list.  While I didn't get to everything, I'm not going to beat myself up about that.  Overall, I'm pretty pleased with what I did accomplish, and that's good enough. =)

I'm debating whether or not to try to do 14 in 2014.  Is that too much?  Especially considering that my WIP pile is considerably smaller than it was last year.  There are these two unfinishes of course - the Breath of Avignon and the Basket Blocks.  

And then there are a bunch of others.  Some have been sandwiched.  Some are just finished quilt tops. 

And a few are just unfinished blocks - or blocks yet to be made.

It will be interesting to see what quilty pleasures 2014 brings, won't it?

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 in 2013 - May Goal

I'm doing pretty well on my quest to complete 13 WIPs in 2013.  So far, with four months of the year gone, I have finished four projects from "The List".

In addition, I am making good progress on the quilt that at the beginning of the year I really considered to be a BHAG.  To actually sew more than 80 blocks together, all by hand, seemed a really impossible task.  But with the help of a very good friend, who has made countless little yellow hexies and more flowers than I have, I think, I am getting very close.  But this one is still too far off to make my goal for the month of May.

 A couple of years ago (yes that long!), I received some blocks in the 3x6 bee in some of my favorite colors.

 I played along several more times and received even more blocks...  A total of 24 26 in fact.

So my goal for May is to actually make this baby into a quilt....  Or maybe two.  There's nothing sadder than blocks just sitting in the WIP pile.  And nothing more satisfying than to see those blocks in a finished quilt that can speak warmth and love and beauty...

Yup!  It will feel great to get this done!

13 in 2013 - March Goal {and a Recap}

I am feeling pretty good that I managed one completed quilt so far this year (not counting Swoon) - the first from my list of 13 finishes in 2013.  But apparently I'm too late to enter it in the contest for A Lovely Year of Finishes on Flickr.  Oops.  Oh, well.  The finished quilt should be reward enough, shouldn't it.

My Jelly Roll Race is my goal for March.  It is about half quilted, so it should be a do-able goal for the month.  Now that I am a victim of the economy and not working I have a lot more time to finish projects.

I'm also working on my Madrona Road Challenge quilt.  I recently joined the Emerald Coast Modern Quilt Guild (see this post) and apparently they didn't get their fabric in time to do the national challenge, so our deadline is this Saturday.  I didn't get the fabric Michael Miller distributed, but I had already purchased a FQ bundle from my favorite little fabric shoppe (yup!  Westwood Acres) and so I decided to join in.  The pattern is "Heximetry" from Ali Winston (a2w) and Ali originally made it as a baby gift for my sweet little grandson Britton.  It's a really fun pattern to make and even the Y-seams aren't that tricky.  I added a scrappy border to make it just a little larger, and it's coming along nicely.  My Madrona Road yardage got here just in time, so quilting on this little guy is
underway.

 And I've got one more row to add to my GMFG, and then the half-flowers for the sides, and I think it will be done.  I'm debating sending it out and having it quilted.  What do you think?

And finally, here's a peek at what I was doing on Saturday.  My Little Apples quilt went on a road trip to the Emerald Coast Quilt Show.  He wasn't made as a show quilt, so I didn't have any expectations, but it was fun to see him hanging there with such beautiful masterpieces.  Sadly, I got there after most of the festivities were over, and they canceled my demos because most everyone had gone home, but it was a nice quilt show.  I enjoyed looking at all the lovely quilts and checking out the various vendors (and I was very proud that I didn't buy anything - it probably helped that I had just gone to A&E before I left for Destin.)

So that's what's been going on in this neck of the woods.

What's on your list?

13 in 2013 - First Finish!

Note:  If you are looking for the Heather Ross Giveaway, go here!
 I just finished the first quilt on my list of 13 finishes in 2013, and I'm feeling pretty "chuffed" as my British friend says. 

This finished quilt top has been sitting in the WIP pile since last spring, so I'm glad to get it on its way.

I haven't had the opportunity to take much in the way of photos yet, because the weather hasn't exactly been conducive to outside photos - or it's been dark when I got home, but I hope to do that this weekend.

I also got my Jelly Roll Race quilt about 1/3 quilted, so it's feeling like I'm really making progress.  Hope to get the quilting done, at least, this weekend (along with a list a mile long!)

And I'm making progress on the Grandmother's Flower Garden.  I'm beginning to think I may actually finish this one!  So excited.  It's going faster than I ever dreamed it would.

All three of these quilts were on the 13 in 2013 list, so just maybe I'll get at least some of the list crossed off.

Doesn't that feel good?

Happy stitching!