Five Easy Pieces - Part I

My little blog has been neglected this week as I have set out to rearrange the sewing room to be more functional and to give me a better idea of what's actually in my stash.  I'll do a post on that later,  when I can actually document the finished {and hopefully clean} space.  With any luck, that will be the topic of tomorrow's post.

In the meantime, I have some finished quilt tops to show.  Most of these are things I took to Stash Bash, and made some progress on.  As I mentioned in this post, I didn't actually finish anything at Stash Bash, mostly because I was missing one little thing in order to complete it.

This guy is my crowning achievement for the last month.  The quilt that has been haunting me for four years  I got the fabric in the fall of 2010, and Amanda actually gave me the templates during quilt market in 2011 (it's just as easy to make two sets as one, right?), so it's been hanging over me at least that long.  I was totally intimidated by these rings.

I shouldn't have been.  They weren't as hard as I thought.  Funny how we let perceived difficulties intimidate us, isn't it?  This quilt is all about organization.  Keeping the pieces in order.  Putting it together in order, etc.  Even sewing the curves is easy - just pin the middle and go for it.

Nothing to be intimidated by there.  But I let the fear get to me for almost 4 years.  I feel pretty silly now.  But I'm glad to have a finished quilt top.  Can't wait to get this one quilted.

The pattern is Single Girl by Denyse Schmidt.  The rings are Spirit by Lila Tueller with some Simply Color by V and Co.  thrown in (it matched perfectly and gave it more variety.)  The background is Moda Bella White, which is my favorite white.  This used up the bolt, so it's time to buy a new one. It lasted almost a year, so that's a plus.  And just for the record, this is a 14 in 2014 finish progress report.

This post is long enough, so I'll share more of my Five Easy Pieces in a day or two.

Thanks for dropping by.

14 in 2014 - March Finish and April Goal

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Even though March was as crazy as it initially promised to be, I am proud to report that I have finished a quilt.  And not just any quilt, either, but the very first quilt I started when I came back to quilting after a many-year hiatus!  This one has been lying around in the WIP basket so long I honestly can't believe it's done.

In the spring of 2010, I bought two charm packs, visited Moda Bake Shop for the first time, and started sewing.

Some of the blocks actually got to this point...  (Sorry for the blurry photo - it's the only one there is!)  Others weren't much more than two rectangles sewn together.

And then I stuffed it in a zip lock bag, where it sat for - oh - more than 3 years.

So I'm more than a little bit happy to say, "IT"S FINISHED!!!"

Amanda had given me a bit of yardage to help it along.  And I added some Kona Red and the leftover squares.  There was no real plan to this back except to use what I had get 'er done.  (Yes, it DID require digging through boxes and bins, thank you for asking!)

I quilted it in a meandering square pattern, something I hadn't really tried before.  It was ok, but I kept finding myself in a corner with no way to get out.  Live and learn, I guess.

I'm not sure that you can see the quilting any better from the back.  Oh well.

So that's another one off the 14 in 2014 list, which, as you must know, makes me very happy.  I'm pretty sure that makes 4 this year so far; 10 more to go.

So, that means it's time to set my April goal.  This one hasn't been sitting around nearly as long, but I've had it sitting there already basted and waiting since last October, so April is going to be the month I finish this baby!  (Keep your fingers crossed for me, ok?)

Also in April, I hope to quilt my faux string quilt.  It's been sitting there ready to quilt since, um...  I honestly don't know.  But It needs to be finished.  Soon.

And, ever the optimist, I'm going to Stash Bash at the end of the month, so my fervent hope is that I will make SIGNIFICANT progress on this little baby, that's been sitting all wrapped up in a plastic bag since about May of 2011.  Oh, yes!  If I could make progress on this one, I would totally swoon!

So, there are my goals for April.  We'll see how far I get.

Wish me luck.