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?

Potpourri

I decided that today I would tell you about some of the non-quilty things I've been working on this month.  Despite my little rant about Flickr, there are still a few swaps going on.  This one - called the Secret Tote Bag Swap, is just ending, and this is the little tote I made for my partner.  I created the pattern myself, and I really like the fun shape the pleat gives to this roomy bag.  The theme was nature, and I found this pretty home dec fabric on the remnant rack at JoAnn's, which is not my usual thing, but it was so pretty, who could resist.  And I think it does make a pretty bag.  Whitney said she was a mom with young children and she requested lots of pockets, so it has my usual zipper pocket and double patch pocket on the inside.  I didn't take a photo of the inside, but the lining is a brown Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow print that was on sale at my LQS.

Another fun little project I did recently was this cute little pinnie.  My partner requested a wrist pin cushion, so I had to figure out how to do that.  (Isn't the internet wonderful?  I combined a bunch of ideas I found to make this little pinnie just what I wanted it to be.)  This one has a little plastic base (cut from a Cool Whip container lid) at the bottom so you won't stab yourself.

The patchwork is from the leftovers of the Fairy Tale Friends honey bun I used to make my Fairy Tale Friends Quilt, which was my first finish for 2013.  I put a little button and some felt leaves in the corner for a little flower.

I honestly have no idea where this little piece of Minkee (or Minkee knock off?) came from, but I found it in my scrap basket and decided it would make a really comfortable wrist band.  I used both elastic and velcro so it was v-e-r-y adjustable to just about any sized wrist.

And I don't remember if I told you about the little Friendship Bag I made for my partner in the Sewing With Friends swap.  Yup, same fabric.  I didn't have the pattern handy, so I just guessed.  I think it might be a little deeper than she specifies in the pattern, but hey - my philosophy is "If you're going to make it, make it your own."  In keeping with that idea, I used ribbon for the handles.

I'm working on the Autumn Sampler from the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.

I haven't done counted cross-stitch in years.  Are the holes in Aida cloth a lot smaller than they used to be???

I'm not making a ton of progress on this project so far...  I think maybe this one might be finished by NEXT autumn.

My friend Wanita's birthday was in August, but we just managed to get together this week to celebrate.  I made her this Union Jack bag for her birthday.  I've had the blocks done for-e-ver, but of course I didn't manage to finish the bag until the morning of our lunch (why rush into these things, right?)  Anyway, the blocks are from the Victory Garden quilt pattern.  I was kind of surprised at how huge these blocks turned out to be (originally, I was thinking Union Jack mug rug - but not from these monster blocks...  placemats came to mind.)  I used some Kona coal for the bottom of the bag so that the whole Union Jack would show.

I used this DS Quilts gray dot (yes, GRAY!) for the lining, with my favorite patch pocket.

So, that's what's been going on craft-wise around here...  What are you working on?

August Already!!? A 13 in 2013 Update

My friend Krista asked me yesterday how I was coming on my 2013 WIPs and I had to admit that I've kind of lost track.  (Love that girl for reminding me!)

Since it's August 1st, it seems like a good idea to figure out where I am if I want to achieve my goal of finishing 13 WIPs in 2013.  I had a look back at my New Year goal-setting post, and I am proud to say that I have made some progress.  I have finished 6 quilts goals so far in 2013, although it only counts for 5 goals, since one bunch of blocks made two quilts.

So, here are the finishes:

1.  Fairy Tale Friends - February, 2013

2.  Jelly Roll Race Quilt - March, 2013

3.  Granny Squares Quilt - April, 2013

4.  Anthropologie Knock-Off Duvet Cover - April, 2013

5(a).  3x6 Bee Blocks Quilt (#1) - June, 2013

5(b).  3x6 Bee Blocks Quilt #2 - June, 2013

And even though I'm not sure I will finish my GMFG quilt in 2013, I've made amazing progress on it so far.  It could happen.  Maybe...


So that's the scoop of quilts on the original list.  I've finished a few others this year too!

The Lark Swoon quilt for Amanda.

The Madrona Road Challenge Quilt.

Krista's Reverse Rainbow Chemo Quilt...

And too many other quilt tops, bags, pouches, fabric baskets, and swap items to count.

So it's time to set a goal for August, isn't it?  And I really need to finish at least 2 quilts this month to actually reach my goal this year, don't I?  What shall it be??

First, I think I'm going to work on the Citrus Quilt.  I've had so much help with this recently, it will be fun to get this one done.  I have a whole basket of blocks in there just waiting to become a quilt.  (And hopefully my photos of the finished quilt will be better than this one!)  This will be my August goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

And then, if I have the chance, I think I will try to finish the Fresh Cottons Basket Quilt. 

So there you have it.  August goal(s).  I hope August is full of lots of quality quilty time. 

Don't you?

13 in 2013 - April Goal

If you are looking for my blogiversary giveaway, go here.

I know I say this every month, but where - exactly - does the time go?  It seems like just last week I was setting a goal to finish 13 WIPs in 2013.  At the time, I didn't really think I could - or would - do it.  But now I'm beginning to think it might actually be possible, you know?

So far this year, I've finished

Fairy Tale Friends and

Jelly Roll Race

So I'm a month behind.  I'm going to have to double up on some projects in a couple of months if I'm really going to meet that goal.  And I'm really debating, but since I'm going to be out of town for about two weeks in April, I'm going to set an easy goal.

My goal for April is to bind - and therefore finish - my granny square quilt.  If I get something else completed, it will just be gravy.

So there you have it.  A SMART goal for April.  Can I?  Will I?  For accountability's sake, I'm linking up with A Lovely Year of Finishes.

What do you hope to accomplish in April?

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?