14 in 2014 - First Finish

I know my poor little blog is feeling very neglected, but I've been quilting up a storm.

Remember this?

It took way longer than I thought it would, but it is now done.  D.  O.  N.  E.!

Lots of quilting late into the night.  LOTS of bobbin changes!

Some quilting stitches I've never tried before - chrysanthemums and whatever you might want to call those swirly things...

And some that I'm pretty comfortable with, like leaves and herringbones...

And while I haven't been able to get a good picture yet - can you believe they've closed schools for the next 2 days because they expect snow!  In Florida!! - I'm pretty pleased with this one.

The pattern was designed by my very own daughter.  You can find it here.   The fabric is Beechwood Park, by Jeanean Morrison, and it is backed by one of the prints in the line.  It finished at about 59" x 70". 

Ta-Da!!

My first finish for 2014.  One down, 13 to go.

Back in the Saddle - um... Sewing Room

I've been back in the sewing room this week, and it feels pretty good.  I feel like I'm ready to tackle a few of the projects in there waiting for my attention, so maybe I just needed a bit of a break.

My friend Leona asked me to quilt this little mini pinwheel quilt for her, and it was a fun little project.  I outline quilted all the little twisters to emphasize the pinwheels, then carried that through to the first border.

I really love the texture the outline quilting gave this little quilt.  It feels great as I run my hand over it.

I herringbone quilted the outer border.  I really like the rhythm of quilting herringbones, even if they are far from perfect.  And I really haven't figured out corners yet.  They're getting better, though.

I'm still doing a couple of swaps - the ongoing kind, that I've been doing for a long time.  I made this little turtle for my partner in the Sewing With Friends swap.  The theme this time was pin cushions.  I meant to make this little guy last summer, but I had misplaced the pattern.  Finally found it and created this fun little critter.  The pattern is Henrietta by Heather Bailey.  So cute.  And fun to make.

Another swap I started just this year is the Handmade Birthday Swap.  I'm in the sewitsyourbirthday group.  Since my birthday is in January, I've been receiving fun little gifts for awhile, and when I have them all, I will do a big reveal.  In the meantime, this little quilted tool caddy is what I gave to the other birthday girl this month.

I filled it with a few fun little goodies too.

Always before I have pin basted my quilts, but when my sister asked me to quilt the quilt she made for my grandson, Britton, and sent it already spray basted, I began to think I was missing something.

So, at the ECMQG meeting last Saturday, I asked for expert help.  Cindy and Kim each showed me their method for spray basting and helped me spray baste a couple of quilts - the bookshelf quilt and the starflower quilt. 

So I decided to quilt the starflower quilt this week.  I have to say, I really like the spray baste.  No wrinkles or bumps, despite all the bias edges in this quilt.

I did swirls in the stars and what I called chrysanthemums in the hexagons.  It seemed to me to take for-ev-er, but I finally got the main body of the quilt done.

Now, all I have to do is figure out what to do with the borders. 

One of the fun things about having such a talented daughter is that occasionally I get asked to do something fun, like test a pattern.  This adorable little nosegay pattern was designed by my own sweet girl, known on IG and Flickr as @acraftyfox_amanda.  She and her husband own Westwood Acres Fabric, and she not only raises kids, runs a shop, and makes quilts, but she designs them as well.  Each month, in the Westwood Acres Fabrics monthly newsletter, she includes a unique pattern that she has designed especially for her customers (in fact, the starflower quilt above was one of her designs!)

This month, it's this cute little nosegay pin cushion.  She designed it to be made with Liberty Lawn, but I don't have any, so I grabbed some @annamariahorner Dowry and set to work.  In about an hour and a half, I had this adorable little pinnie.  If you haven't signed up for her monthly newsletter, you really should.  There's a link on the Westwood Acres website. And I think she just may have some Dowry left in the shop.

So, that's what I've been up to.  How about you?

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!