February... is Gone ~ Just Gone!

February was just a w-i-l-d month here at the prsd4tim2 household.  It started out at the end of January with that crazy ice storm that invaded the South and produced icicles and even snow. 

Then I went to St. Maarten for a few days to visit daughter #2 in her new digs.  (Which was absolutely wonderful, and a glorious change after all the cold!)


And then I got sick... and nothing happened.

And then I spent  several days running up and down the Gulf Coast depositing and collecting family members from various airports to and from various trips...  and put more than 600 miles on my old van in 4 days - and didn't go anywhere.  But I did have daughter #2 and her brother here together for two days, which was super fun.  We had lunch at the buffet at the IP Resort on the way back from the airport in Gulfport, watched some movies together, and even went to the Pensacola Renaissance Faire and Pirate Festival as a family.  That's Arielle in the petting zoo with a Highland Cow.

But as for what went on in the sewing room, I'm a little befuddled.  I finished the bookshelf quilt.  That was on my list of 14 in 2014.

I made a baby quilt from leftovers.

I made a Newtown Auction pillow...

And matching mug rug.

And finished the Avignon Picnic quilt top...

It got basted, but not quilted yet.  That's some progress on a project that's been sitting almost 4 years, right?

I made Arielle a neutral table runner (at her request)...

And a turtle pinnie similar to the first one I made a month or so ago.

And I made some siggy blocks for a swap.

So, not a stellar month in the quilting arena, but still not entirely devoid of progress.  And it leaves plenty to do in March, right?

Pictures. Finally!

We finally had a non-stormy day when I felt halfway decent after spending a week in the house with a headcold, so I finally got around to taking "real" photos of my bookshelf quilt.  It is not too bad from the front.  It isn't really one of my finer efforts, although it turned out OK.  It should still keep someone warm, and that's important, right?

I'm not really sure if it is saggy, or if it is just the way it is hanging over the fence, but I do know that the durn thing shifted while I was quilting.  A lot.

You can see on the back that the white border on the bottom is anything but straight.  Oops.

The other end isn't so bad.  This was only the second of my basting spray attempts, so I don't know if I just didn't check it carefully enough before I started quilting, or if I didn't use enough spray.   Either way, I'm kind of bummed by the results.

This one is obviously a humility quilt.  But, it's done, and it is a 14 in 2014 finish, so I'll have to be content with that. 

While I was out there, I managed to nab a couple of photos of the Honey Honey baby quilt too.  Here's the tutorial for this one:

1.  Start with a 9-patch of leftover charm squares.
2.  Dig in your stash to find coordinating colors.  Add borders until it measures the correct dimensions for
3.  An outer border of charm squares.

4.  Back with a fun hearts-and-flowers (literally) print you find in your stash and didn't know you had.

5.  Bind with cool coordinating stripes you find in your stash and didn't know you had either.  Shopping the stash is kinda fun.

Voila!

A Little Progress Report (and some Confessions)

Thanks to Cindy Marvel for snapping these photos for me!

I've been working away in my little sewing room, despite the fact that there hasn't been much activity on the blog.  First is the finished Riley Blake Challenge quilt.  I presented it at the ECMQG meeting a couple of Saturdays ago and everyone wanted to know if it was a Drunkard's Path or a Dresden.  The general consensus was that it was a Drunk Dresden, so even though I don't drink anything much stronger than the occasional Diet Coke - ok, I admit that I have a slight Diet Coke addiction - the name seems fitting, so Drunk Dresden it is.

Here's a close up of the quilting.  I outlined the Dresdens in 7 rows of echo quilting, then used a double clamshell as the filler.  It gave it a lovely texture.

I used every little bit of the six Fat Eighth challenge fabrics.  I don't think I have so much as a scrap left.  In fact, I had to piece some of the blades to get the design to go the direction I wanted it to.  It was a fun little project, and I'm especially excited that I didn't buy anything to create this quilt.  I have a bolt of the yellow since it's the background/fence fabric for my Grandmother's Flower Garden WIP that I've been working on for - oh - a couple of years now....  The backing was a white sheet I bought on sale at Target for $4.00 way back in 2010 I think for just such a purpose....  I had the black Kona left over from something - I don't remember what, just now....  And of course, the MQG sent the Riley Blake Fabrics to the guild for distribution.

I managed to get the bookshelf quilt quilted last week, but sadly the backing shifted during the quilting (maybe I didn't use enough basting spray?  Or maybe it wasn't straight to begin with ?)  In any case, I had to make some strange adjustments to the back to make it work.  Oh well, maybe I'll just count this as a humility quilt.  It will still keep someone warm, right?

I'm now in the process of binding.  (BTW, I chose the green - thanks Krista!)

After 4 years (yes, 4!) I'm finally making progress on the Avignon quilt.  These were the very first charm packs I ever bought!  They are from the Moda line Breath of Avignon by American Jane.  I decided on a pattern from Moda Bake Shop called Avignon Picnic, and got all the blocks made...  And then it sat...  And sat...  And I moved it around some...  And it sat some more...  So I'm pretty excited to have a bona fide quilt top now.  Finally!  This baby has some quirks.  Not many of the seams match, probably due to the fact that it was constructed on at least 4 sewing machines - one of which was the serger.  The seam allowance is all over the place.  Nevertheless, it is going to be a quilt.  Soon.

Ironically, I ended up one block short.  Whether it got lost, or I was short of fabric and just never made it, or  I miscounted, I have no idea.  I knew I had some yardage set aside for the back...  somewhere.  Naturally, I had to dig through the stash.  And I never really finished the stash organizing project last summer, so I am proud to report that it is now done.  What you see is what I have, with the exception of bundles, which are in boxes, like the one on the top shelf.  Naturally, now that I've worked in my room awhile, I'm thinking it's time to reorganize because I need more {accessible} storage.  (I'm sure the hubs will be glad to hear that!)

I needed a baby quilt for a baby shower I was supposed to attend on Saturday, so while I was digging through the stash I came upon some leftover Honey Honey charm squares from the Charm Madness Blog Hop last year and decided they would be perfect.  Looks sweet and girly and fresh, doesn't it?  I started without much of an idea in mind, but I'm pleased with the way it turned out.  The center is just a 9-patch with a hot pink border, and then a gray (yes, gray!) border.  then I used some coral Kona, and then another strip of pink to bring it to the size it needed to be to do the charm border all the way around.  A fun, quick little project.  Best of all, everything was in my stash, so no shopping.  The backing was a sweet little heart print someone donated to me awhile back.  Although I finished it in time (which was in itself amazing) I ended up not attending the shower because of a head cold, since the baby was going to be there.  Maybe I'll actually get out and take real photos before I gift it.

And since I still had a few leftover charms, I decided to use them to make the siggy blocks I almost forgot to make.  I made siggy blocks for a swap last fall, but they disappeared into thin air (what would someone do with more than 1000 signed blocks, anyway?) so my friend Mary organized a new swap promising we would actually get our blocks this time.

Naturally, I had to mess up one...

In any event, that's what's been going on around here.

Thanks for dropping by.

Goals? Really? - 14 in 2014 Planning

I've been whittling down the massive basket of UFOs and working on my 14 in 2014 project.  Looking at this picture that I took around the first of November, I see a few quilts that are actually finished!  Woo Hoo!  But here it is the 10th of the month, so I suppose I should figure out what I plan to work on in February.  And it's a short month too, so I'd really better get on it.

T

The bookshelf quilt is all sandwiched and ready to quilt, so I think I can finish this one this month.

I even made a pieced back for it from a layer cake my friend gave me.  In fact, it was one of the quilts I practiced spray basting with at the January ECMQG meeting, so it's sitting there all ready and waiting.  It will be good to get it done.

I'm feeling the need to do some piecing, so rather than start a new project, I think I will try to finish this one.  This Breath of Avignon quilt has been sitting in this exact state for more than 2 years, so I think it's time to get it out and play with it.  Hopefully it will be an easy finish and the remaining piecing will satisfy that need I have to start something new.  I really don't need to start something new just now, although it would be a blast.

So, if I can finish 2 more quilts in February, that would leave 10 to finish in the final 10 months of the year, which should be pretty doable.  I hope.

So, I'm off to get creative.

TTFN (as Tigger says).

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!