Finish! Elephant Parade

Every finish is a happy finish and this quilt had been waiting for too long to be turned into a completed piece.  I participated in a quilt along with Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts starting in Spring of 2015. 

I finished the top in December of 2015, but like a fine wine, it needed to age until it was ready for quilting.  I had a friend quilt this on his longarm with a whimsical allover pattern.

I really hoped to have this finished in Q4 of 2017, but there wasn't quite enough time.  Oh well-- It's my first finish of Q1 2018!!! And it is part of my Q1 Finish-A-Long goals.

xoxo,

Kristin

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and of course-- Lorna's Let's be Sewcial!

Finish-A-Long Q3 2017 - My Goals

Summer is my favorite season of the year and announcing that the 3rd quarter of 2017 sounds crazy to me!  How did half of the year go by already?  As long as summer holds on for many, many, many more months, I'm ok.

Setting quilting goals for this time of year is tricky.  I don't spend as much time indoors, because there is so much to do outside.  I do have things that need quilting and by adding them to this list, perhaps it will help motivate me a bit more to find some time to quilt and bind?

To start, I might as well list out what didn't get done on the Q2 list:

1- Pink Purple XO Quilt
I was sooooooo close to finishing this in the last quarter.  Just a few more hours of hand stitching the binding and I would have made it.  Oh well.  This will be a slam dunk for Q3.

2- Charity Chop Quilt -- This quilt didn't make any progress last quarter.  It would be fantastic to quilt this up and add it to the finished column.

Front

Back

3- Wonky Stars for Lutherdale: This top is not going to make it to this year's auction (bummer), but it did make it further along.  Just like the charity quilt above, it would be great to finish this up and move it to the 'done' column.

4- Elephant Parade-- This poor top is languishing in my closet, just waiting to be quilted.

4- Whirly Star Bonus Quilt-- Speaking of languishing in my closet.  While tidying up, I found this top.  I put it together in January 2016 from leftover bits from one of Heather's quilts.   It won't take much to finish this up and then it can go to our guild's charity project.

'
5- Legendary -- And now it is time to be ambitous.  This top isn't done, but it isn't too far from it.  I might use some flannel for the backing and then it will be my new 'couch quilt'.

6- Hekla-- More ambition!  This wallhanging needs another border and then it will be ready for quilting.

Can I finish all 6?? Probably not.  But I can accomplish some of this!  And it doesn't hurt to try!  Just like last quarter, I'll ask for you to wish me luck!

Linking up with Ella at Throw a Wench in the Works. 

xoxo

Kristin

Finish-A-Long 2017

I've read about the Finish-A-Long for a while now and have followed many people that are participating.  Because I have several quilts that are either finished tops or not too far from finishing, I thought this might help motivate me to bring them to completion.  So-- I'm joining in on 2017 Quarter 2 Finish-A-Long!  Woo-hoo!

The rules are: I post a list of what I want to complete in Q2 to my blog this week and at the end of the quarter, if I've completed any of them, I post a summary and link it up to the Finsh-A-Long hosts.  Every finish qualifies for a prize!  It's worth saying again--Woo-hoo!

Here are my goals:

1- Lion Quilt: it's at the quilter's waiting for its turn.  I would love to get this back and have it bound by the end of the quarter.

2- Charity Chop Quilt:  The top and back are complete (Finally!!).  Can I find the time to quilt and bind this?

3- Pink Grey Triangle Baby Quilt x 2:  There are some babies in my world and I would like to complete 2 Thousand Pyramid quilts in pink/grey/black/white and gift these to friends.

4- Wonky Stars for Lutherdale: I would like to submit this quilt to the August Lutherdale Auction.  Can't do that without completing it!! =O

5- Elephant Parade-- this is where i get ambitious!! This top has been complete for a while.  Do I quilt it myself?  Or have it done by a professional?  It would be lovely to finish this up.

Oops!  I forgot an important top that I want to finish this quarter.  Editing to add the Pink/Purple XO top.

I'll be linking up with Jess at Elven Garden Quilts.  Wish me luck!!!

xoxo
Kristin

2016 - The year of the UFO?

Happy New Year! 



I'm very excited to start the year and have a great attitude about the next 365 days.  With the big change of moving last July, I am just now starting to feel settled in to my new home (and sewing room!!).

Project-wise, I'm not in the middle of anything right now.  It's a funny place for me to be!  I normally have something going and something queued up (or started before the prior project is complete!).

I finished Maize Maze in early December and hoped to quilt it over Christmas.  Due to technical difficulties with my mom's longarm, I didn't get to quilt it.  =(

I finished the top for Elephant Parade on the same day as I put the final borders on Maize Maze, so add this to the list of tops waiting to quilt...

Speaking of...  While at my parent's over Christmas, I pulled out two tops that are waiting to be quilted: My bed quilt and a civil war throw.  I didn't have a good picture of my bed quilt (it's been hibernating for years)!! And I don't know that I have any of this throw.  It was a kit that my Aunt Nancy gifted me several years ago.  I put it together super quickly and I have grand plans of quilting it in beautiful all over victorian feathers.  One little problem-- I'm not quite skilled enough to quilt it the way I want to.  =(  It looks like it will make a warm snuggly couch throw, perfect for this time of year.  I'm tempted to quilt it with a panto and 'git 'er done'.

I spent a good part of yesterday in my sewing room enjoying a commitment free Saturday.  I pulled out one of my UFO's, 'Cartwheels'.  I've been working on this for a few years now and I'm hoping to get the top complete.  I added the outer filmstrip border and just need to do one more border of lime green.

 

This list of quilts is just a portion of my UFO's and I'm hoping to finish more than I start this year.  All People Quilt is challenging us to make progress getting things complete and I'll use their chart, but I'm not sure I'll take part in the contest.

Thanks for visiting!  I'll wrap up by sharing a cute picture of Finn from yesterday.  The sun was pouring in the sewing room and he was very happy to sunbathe!

Fall Retreat

It is a beautiful fall weekend in Wisconsin.  The trees are changing color, the temperatures are falling, but still comfortable and no snow has fallen from the sky!!

I spent this weekend at a crafting retreat in Whitewater with friends.  This is my 3rd year participating with this group and it was loads of fun!  Each year we pick a theme to coordinate our meals and this year was Books and Movies'. We had a horror dinner, murder mystery
dinner (I coordinated that one), a romantic comedy lunch and a western lunch.  Costumes are encouraged!  The mystery dinner was LOL funny and I totally want to do another one.

The help-- Gardner, Butler, Cook

Me as the Butler

The cast: bookish aunt, hot shot grandson, wild child granddaughter, Lady Sutbury, gardener

Kristin the Kid!

I did get some sewing done, too!  Not quite as much as I wanted, but productive none the less!

I started a new generous sized couch quilt that intend to give for Christmas (if I can complete it by then!).  The pattern is Marcie's Maze and I'll call my version Maize Maze.  I started with a fat quarter bundle that I bought at Quilt Expo and supplemented it with some additional fabrics from the same colorway and added a mustard fabric for the sashing.  The pattern is written for a jelly roll, so I had to be creative with my cutting and assembly methods, because I am using fat quarters.  Keeps me on my toes!  So far, I have all of the blocks complete and sewn into rows. Just need to add sashing and sew the rows together.  Not bad!  I'm very happy with the way it is turning out.  =)

And I took a bit of time to get all of my Elephant Parade rows sewn together-- HOORAY!!  Just a few more strips on the sides and the top will be done.  I can't wait to quilt it up and call it finished.  If you look close, you will see new eyeballs on the frog and turtle.  Those little buggers were part of the reason this was not moving forward.  Without a zig zag stitch machine at home, it needed to wait for a time I could use somebody else's machine.

All in all, this was a great weekend!!

Slow and steady wins the race?

Things are busier than ever and my free time is so minimal.  I have been able to sneak a few bits of sewing in here and there.  

I really want to finish up the Elephant Parade, but it's crawling along.  I re-made the blue flowers from the old style to the new one.  The scale seemed 'off' and I'm pleased with the results!  I have a few sashing strips sewn on (not pictured here).  The frog and turtle eyes are next up and then I can hopefully have a completed top.

A few years ago, I started making string blocks of green, blue and purple as a way to use up some scraps. The plan is to put them into a twin sized quilt and donate it to Project Linus.  Yesterday I had a mess of green scraps on my cutting table (in addition to orange and pink!!)

It seemed like a good opportunity to sew up some green string blocks!  I made four yesterday, which brings the running total to 12 blue, 12 green and 8 purple. (not the latest group photo and the new blocks are much more vibrant than in this photo!)

Why were my scraps laying out on the cutting table?  Because I emptied the scrap containers to bring for Show and Tell at my guild meeting.  

Why?  Because Amanda Jean was the speaker!!!  Woot!!! So.Much.Fun!!!  I'm a mega fan of her style and it was a fantastic talk and trunk show!  She signed my copy of her book and I treated myself to a few copies of her patterns. 

The last thing I have to share is a cute little basket I made following a tutorial from Hearts and Bees.  It went together very quickly and I'm hoping to make more!

xoxo

-Kristin

Big changes, little bits of sewing...

I'm in the middle of a big life change!  Selling my current condo and buying a bigger/nicer/newer one. Just like the Jeffersons, I'm movin' on up!!

My free time has been focused on the buying + selling + loads of paperwork needed to make this happen.  I'm listing my place tomorrow, so I've been packing up all non-essential items and moving them to my storage unit.  The goal is to make my place look spacious and appealing.  Spacious is a relative thing, considering there is only 853 square feet total!!

Here is a photo of my sewing room from a few months ago:

And here it is today:

Finn has been helping pack!

I'm nearing the end of my packing and treated myself to a bit of sewing time last night.  I thought, "if I can finish up or move some of my current projects along, it will make it easier to pack them!" =)

My Elephant Parade is slooooowly inching forward.  It should almost be called the Snail Parade!  I still want to re-make the blue flowers in the style of the red ones, but in the meantime, I sewed the sashings on and started assembling the rows.

One of my neverending ongoing projects is "Little Ladies".  It's a paper pieced pattern and I use all scraps.  The rest of the blocks are packed (who knows in which box!!).  I'm not sure how many Little Ladies I have so far (25?).  Quite some time ago, I cute one of the papers up into the components and set it on my ironing board.  Instead of packing the small bits of paper, I made up this girl.  This fuschia fabric is part of my Cartwheel quilt and that is one of my favorite parts of the project-- each dress is a reminder of something else I've made. 

I managed to enhance my stash this week with another package from Massdrop.  Lizzy House, Mini Pearl Bracelet fat quarter bundle. Squee!!

Because I'm packing and moving, I've declared a moratorium on buying fabric (until I move into my new place!).  Here is a sneak peek at my future sewing room (the palm tree + dragonflies are gonna go!)

Linking up with Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash and Judy's Design Wall Monday

xoxo