Finish-A-Long Q3 2017 Wrap Up

When you look at a year in 1/4 chunks, it goes by FAST!! Summer is over and October is here??  Considering Summer is such a busy outdoor time, I'm pleased with what I have accomplished and I have moved a few things closer to completion.

Here is my original list: Q3 Goals

Ack!  I finished a quilt that wasn't listed in my Q3 goals!!  Silly me for forgetting to list that one! =O  Oh well-- I still have the joy of completion!

Finish 1- Pink Purple XO Quilt

Finish 2- Whirly Star Bonus Quilt

Finish 3- Rainbow Strings - Peacock Quilt

I am linking up with Marci at Marci Girl Designs

xoxo,

Kristin

Sew much going on!

Fall is here in calendar only.  We are having record hot temperatures in Wisconsin (90°!!).  Regardless of the weather, my internal quilt cycle is telling me to sew, sew, sew.  And sew, I am!

Friday night I hosted the first of (hopefully) many Late Night Sew Parties at Blue Bar Quilts.  I thought it would be fun to have a get together in Blue Bar's fabulous classroom and Gael (owner) agreed.  There were close to 20 of us having a great time until MIDNIGHT! (way past my bedtime!).  Incredibly, I didn't take any photos! Time moved quickly and I will for sure get pics at the next one.  We had pizza and snacks and door prizes and like I said earlier, FUN!  I worked on the outer border of my Hekla Quilt and they are ready to be attached to the center.

I've still been sewing 15 minutes a day in September for National Sewing Month.  I've only missed 2 days due to work + tennis and one day while at Quilt Expo.  I set a timer for 15 minutes and almost always end up staying after it goes off.  Just like going to the gym, crossing the doorway is the biggest step.  My Galaxy of Stars is thanking me!  The top is almost done!

Tomorrow night I'll be at the Mad City Quilt Guild's evening meeting, where Maday Delgado is speaking about her quilting journey.  Should be fun!

I'll finish up this post with another entry for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  If you haven't been over to see all of the amazing quilts people have shared, go now!!

My second entry to the festival is the pink and purple XO quilt that I gifted to a co-worker's daughter this summer.  This quilt aged for quite a while as a UFO and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  The pinks and purples were fun to combine and the best part about it?  After I gifted, I got the most adorable picture of it's new owner (5 yr old girl) wrapped in it with the world's biggest grin!!  For me, that is what quilting is about!  I love it! 💖

xoxo,

Kristin

ps

Linking up with Judy's Design Wall Monday , Lorna's Let's be Sewcial and Blogger's Quilt Festival 

Finish! Rainbow String - Peacock Quilt

Happy finish news to report!  I am done with a long time UFO--Hooray!!!

While working on this quilt, I called it the Rainbow String Blocks.  Even though it isn't really a rainbow, because there are only cool colors in it.  While working on the binding, my friend said, "that looks like a peacock!"  I love it!!!  There is a peacock feel to it.  So, now that it is complete, I'll change the name to the Peacock Quilt.

This was an attempt to use up scraps and really, I didn't make a dent.  If anything, I took on other people's scraps in order to have more variety!! =O

In the beginning:

This quilt was part of my goals for Finish-A-Long Q3 and I made it in before the deadline.  Woo-hoo!

Also, it is the time of the year for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I haven't ever participated before, but this year I am!  Visit Amy's Creative Side to find out all the details and view many, many gorgeous quilts.  They are randomly drawing names for prizes (as opposed to having people vote in the past).  I think it is a great idea, because everyone who takes part is on a level field, even if you are a 'small blogger', like me!  😊

I'll leave you with one more pic of my quilt and my little helper, Fannie.  She was being extra cute while I was taking pictures!  ❤

xoxo,

Kristin

ps

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts, Blogger's Quilt Festival and Finish-A-Long

Galaxy of Stars - Progress!

Thanks to September Sewing Month and my goal of sewing 15 minutes a day, I am making great progress on my wonky red/white/blue star top.  I've decided to rename it "Galaxy of Stars" and it makes me think of this Coldplay song. It's stuck in my head and you can join me! =)

I introduced this block to my friends at the Lutherdale January Retreat and asked people to bring scraps of red and blue.  We made about 30 blocks and I have made nearly 30 more!  I like the smaller sizes and the nestling stars really add visual interest to to quilt.  I've been calling nestled stars either kissing or hugging!  When I make 2 stars together and can use one of the 9 patch corners to be part of the other block's 9 patch it's kissing and when I take an existing star and build another one around it, it is hugging.  😃

Here is my galaxy.  I would LOVE to finish the top by the end of September and have it quilted and bound by the end of the year.  I will be donating this to the Lutherdale auction on behalf of the January Quilters.  It would be fantastic to have it 100% complete by retreat.

xoxo,

Kristin

ps

Linking up with Judy's Design Wall Monday and Lorna's Let's be Sewcial

Quilt Expo 2017

What an amazing, crazy, fun whirlwind the last few days have been!  I'm drunk on fabric and quilting and art and friends.  Quilt Expo 2017 did not disappoint!

Let's start with the absolute most exciting part-- My lion quilt was in the juried exhibition!!!  Wooot!!

And the next super amazing, fun part-- Tula Pink was there!  She gave a lecture on Friday night and I was in stitches the whole time.  She is a hoot!  Totally, absolutely love her!

The display of quilts was gorgeous as ever.  Here is a small selection of things I loved:

And then there was the shopping.  I did some damages!

To wrap up the show, I volunteered to take down the exhibit quilts. I love to meet the people who made the quilts. And now only 362 days until Quilt Expo 2018!

xoxo

Kristin

ps

Linking up with Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash and Lorna's Lets be Social

Finish! Bonus Baby Quilt

I'm happy to report another quilt has reached the 'done' pile!  Woo-hoo!  This is a 'bonus' quilt, because I used trimmings from a whirling star block and pieced them together into rectangles, then into columns.  It turned out pretty good --if I do say so myself!  😅

Here is a close up of the the quilting + fabric.  I used an all over panto and stash fabric for the sashing, backing and binding.  Win, win, win!

When I laid out the quilt to measure for binding, Finn immediately jumped up on the table and decided to do some QA inspecting.  This quilt is Finn-approved and is already donated to Project Linus.

xoxo

Kristin

Linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts

Editing to add info about the Q3 Finish-A-Long goals list. 

Sew 15 Minutes - in September

A local friend invited others to join her in finding a minimum of 15 minutes to sew per day in September.  Why not?  I'm giving it a whirl.  It might be just the motivation I need to move my projects along.  Those blocks aren't gonna sew themselves!

I'm going to attempt to add a picture to instagram each day, but there may be days where the 15 minutes aren't too interesting or different from another day.  We shall see.  You can find me as @kristingumdrop on Instagram.

Day 1- I kicked off with adding binding to my rainbow strings quilt.  I want to finish this for Q3 of Finish-A-Long, so I need to get crack-a-lackin'.

Day 2: I set a timer for 15 minutes and when that finished, promptly sewed for an additional 2 hours!  It was lovely!  I had several chores to do, but I let them all fall by the wayside.

I need to get this Wonky Star quilt together.  It has been patiently waiting for progress while pinned to the design wall.  It is amazing what you can accomplish in 15 minutes!

Exciting news-- I was able to apply the partial seam lesson from Mary Fons to this project! Check out the before and after pictures.  This improv setting is going to be possible thanks to partial seams!  So cool!!

Day 3: Hand sewing binding on the string block quilt. (no pictures)

Hopefully I can keep this momentum going all month!

xoxo

Kristin

Mary Fons visits Madison!!!

What a Fun-day Monday!  Mad City Quilt Guild hosted Mary Fons for a day and there was a morning workshop, an afternoon trunk show and an evening lecture.  So much quilty goodness!

The workshop's purpose was to learn about partial seams and to make the Sweetpea Star block.  I loved that Mary talked about all kinds of stuff beyond just this block, including contrast, value, settings and warp and weft.  (Warp runs north and south, Weft is east and weft!)

Here is the sample quilt:

 And my block:

I love it and hope to make a baby version.  Possibly set on point?

The group (I'm in the back row middle)!

A selfie with Mary!!  ❤

In the afternoon, she did a talk on snowball blocks with a trunkshow.  Here are lots of pictures:

I'm in love with that cross quilt and bought the pattern.  It is only in king size (gulp!!!).  I would re-name it 'King's Cross'.  ☺

The evening lecture was a discussion of quilting styles (Traditional, Art, Contemporary, Modern).  She has a gift for speaking and the entire talk was fascinating.  Sorry-- no photos of this part of the day.

What a whirlwind and a great kickoff to the Mad City Quilt Guild 2017/18 year!!

xoxo

Kristin