Welcome 2013 - And a Look Back...

I woke up this morning thinking about this quilt.  If you recall, I made it for a blog hop (you can revisit it here and here), and barely finished it in time (so what else is new?)  But I never really finished the quilting.  I wanted to quilt little Christmas-ish motifs in all of the white blocks.  That didn't happen - yet.  And since we were away for Christmas, the quilt hasn't been used yet.  There's always time, right?

And I spent some time the last few days catching up on my 2012 Finished Quilts and Projects page which had been sorely neglected - it hadn't been updated since May.  And then, on Sunday night, just when I had it almost done, Firefox crashed, and wouldn't you know, I hadn't saved the file in awhile, and I lost about 4 months worth and had to start over.

It's kinda fun though to look back and see what I actually did do in 2012.  It was a really busy year, in the quilting department.

I had actually forgotten about some of these projects, so looking back was a lot of fun.

I finished a bunch of stuff - at least half a dozen quilts...

lots of pillows...

and mini quilts...

and mug rugs...

and bee blocks...

and kitchen-y items...

lots of totes...

And even a few bona-fide gifts.

I've participated in too many bees and swaps to count.

But I also have a ton of unfinished projects

and bee blocks...

sitting in the WIP pile.

And I made virtually no progress on The List which was posted on August 1st.


So this year, while I love swaps, and plan to do a few of them, I'm resolved not to go overboard.  Pinky promise!  I really have to make some room.

Here's The List, revisited:

 1.  Jelly roll quilt - top is finished; needs to be sandwiched, quilted and bound

EDIT:  March, 2013 goal
EDIT:  Finished March 9, 2013

2.  Fairy Tale Friends - ditto *** and this one is my January goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes on Flickr.  Wish me luck!

EDIT:  Also my February Goal
EDIT:  Finished - February 21, 2013.  Donated to Project Linus.

3.  3x6 Bee Blocks - I have accumulated enough blocks to make this quilt!

EDIT:  This one is going to be my May goal.
EDIT:  This one actually made TWO quilts.  FINISHED June 8, 201.  Both donated to Project Linus.

4.  Citrus Quilt - I have 10 of the 12 blocks I need 48 blocks!, so the plan is to make 2 more blocks, then sandwich, quilt and bind


EDIT:  I requested more blocks in the 3x6 Bee 2Q2013 and also from the Bees Helping Bees forum on Flickr. I have enough blocks now to make this quilt - maybe even two.

EDIT:  Finished August, 2013! - I ended up with 48 citrus blocks and made 3 finished quilts.  I have requested more blocks from the 4th quarter 3x6 bee, which will give me 18 to finish these.  The last quilt will be a 2014 goal.

5.  Granny Squares Quilt - I have 12 of 18 blocks I need, so I'll make 6 more blocks I got my 6 blocks from the Sew and Be Happy Bee, then sandwich, quilt and bind


EDIT:  April 2013 goal

EDIT:  Finished April 23, 2013!

6.  String Blocks Quilt -  I have 40 string blocks, so that should be plenty, so make the top, then SQB

7.  Bow Tie Quilt - I have 80 bow ties, again, plenty, so make the top, then SQB

8.  Bento Block Quilt - I have 40 bento quarters, again plenty, so make the top and SQB

9.  Breath of Avignon Quilt - I'll have to see where I am with this one, but I think I can get it done as well. (Nope - I can't find a photo of this one...)

And since I wrote that...

 10.  Ari's anthropologie duvet cover is about half done.
EDIT:  Finished April, 2013

11.  I have all the blocks I need for my GMFG quilt now, so it's time to start putting it together.

12.  I have enough leftover HSTs from the Swoon quilt for a Lark pinwheel quilt.
EDIT:  I have made 2 Weekender Bags from the leftover HSTs from the Swoon quilt, so I will need to see whether I can really make a quilt from the Bonus HSTs.  However, I do have the Craftsy BOM quilt from 2012 started in Lark, so maybe I will combine them and finish this after all.
EDIT:  I'm going to count this one as Finished, July, 2013.

13.  I have the basket blocks for my basket quilt now since the ladies in the Bee Awesome Bee helped.

And I know there are more blocks and projects in there, but this will do for now.  And it totally escaped me the first time but I'm looking for 13 finishes in 2013!  How's that for poetic?  And I'm linking up with Shanna and Melissa for




So Welcome 2013!  I hope you are a productive year, and that in December I find that the WIP pile is significantly less overwhelming.

Meanwhile, to those of you who may read this, I wish you a happy and creative year.  May the Lord bless you with all of the His richest blessings in the coming year.

Swooning... The Big Reveal

 Well, Christmas is over and after more hours in airports and cars than I wish to count, we are home again.  I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, surrounded by family and friends.  Our whole family was together this year, which seems to be more rare as time passes, and we had a wonderful time.  What a blessing to be able to enjoy the holidays with those we love.

Now that the presents have been opened, I can show you the project that pretty much consumed all of December. 

Twelve more swoon blocks to make a king size quilt/bedspread/comforter.

Have you made these blocks?  Do you find they are really time-consuming?  They seem to take me forever and I just can't seem to make them go any faster.  They take me about an hour and a half to two hours each.

BD #1 and I have been waffling for 6 months because Lark is beautiful, but it's just so BUSY!  I finally took all of my Lark blocks into my FQS one Friday night, pulled about 40 bolts of fabric, and made the workers help me choose combinations.

But I really like the quilt top, now that it's together. Even the blocks I didn't really like look great once they're all together.

Once the blocks were made, putting the top together was a piece of cake.

So now she's off to the fabulous Sarah to be quilted, back to my house to be bound, and then on to BD#1's bed, to take the place of the quilt I made her 5 or 6 years ago. 

AND, I made HSTs from all the flying geese in these blocks, so I'm pretty sure there's another Lark quilt in my future.  (And that may explain why these blocks took me so long,,,)

And now it's nearly midnight on New Year's Eve - I wish everyone a healthy, happy and quilty 2013!

Hello New Year!

I had hoped this weekend would be super-productive - that is according to my standards of productivity, meaning sewing and quilting - but alas, it was not to be.  I did get the Christmas tree down, the ornaments boxed up and put away, the stuff back in storage, and several bags of stuff to the thrift store.  And I did get the "Christmas Room" more-or-less picked up.

But as for quality sewing?  Well, not so much.

BD#2 had asked for a scripture cover similar to one she saw on Pinterest, and I made it in time to send with her daddy for 2nd Christmas, when the kids and their dad managed to all get together for an evening.  I got to join along via Skype which, while not the same as being there, was certainly better than not getting to join in at all.

This version does have a zipper all around, and is large enough to hold not only the scriptures, but this year's lesson manual as well.


The lovely Bible cover on Pinterest was clearly the inspiration for said gift (OK, I copied shamelessly), and BD#2 and I were both pleased with the result.  So pleased, in fact, that I made myself one.

The reason I bring this up is because that is the only thing I got done this weekend despite my rather LONG list of things I hoped to accomplish with these 3 days.  I certainly hope that is not an indicator of how 2012 is going to shake out.

Happy New Year!