Finish-A-Long Q1 2019 - My Goals

It's time to set some goals and finish projects up!  The end of last year was a bit of a whirlwind and I didn't get to sew nearly as much as I would like.  Perhaps the first few months of 2019 will make up for it? 

Let me see if I can complete some unfinished projects.  Here is my list.  Many items I've been recycling, so it would be fantastic for this to be their final appearance on my goals list.


1- On Ringo Lake
I've had this quilted and partially bound for ages. Other projects have taken precedence, but this needs to get done. Would you believe that I have this on my bed at retreat with a partial binding and clover clips in it? Would you also believe that this isn't the first time I've done that??!!?? =P

2- Midnight Star
This top has been done for a while, but I haven't had a chance to quilt it. There isn't a specific place this is going, so it has been aging.

3- Legendary

I did manage to quilt this top up a few months ago in a swooshy panto.  It needs to have a binding attached and to do the hand stitching.  I can do this!! Yes, I can!!  (positive thinking)

4- Black Diamond String

This quilt is quilted, but needs a binding. It is going to the August Lutherdale auction and I would LOVE to have it all done sooner rather than later.

5- Scrap Happy Sampler

This is my TOP priority. Blue Bar Quilts has offered to hang the quilts from our class in their gallery in March. I have 2 borders attached. Need to finish them and quilt and bind.

I have other things that need finishing (ahem-- incomplete bindings on charity quilts....), but I'm going to stop here and get my entry in to Finish-A-Long just under the wire.

Here are the hostesses of this year's event:

• Sandra - Studio Sew of Course
• Marci - Marci Girl Designs
• Leanne - She Can Quilt
• Izzy - Dizzy Quilts
• Ella - Throw a Wench in the Works
• Karen - Capitola Quilter
• Lynne - Tinking Along
• Sarah G - Sarah Goer Quilts
• Sarah Z - Cedar Fork Stitches
• Julie - That’s Sew Julie
• Nicole - Handwrought Quilts

I'm looking forward to another great year!


xoxo.
Kristin

Finish-A-Long Q3 2018 - My Goals

Q2 of 2018 was about being lofty with my goals.  I didn't complete much, but really-- I did push many things forward.  Q3 is the time to shine!  I will complete things, mark my words!! ;)  This list is mostly the same as last quarter, but I'm updating the projects with new statuses.

1- Finding Nemo
I quilted this on the Fourth of July (with 3 other quilts!!) and need to bind it.  It will be part of Lutherdale's auction in August.

2- St Nick
Another one of the Four on the Fourth that I quilted. Needs binding...Will be part of Lutherdale's auction, too!

3- Stars and Stripes
I threw this top together at the Lutherdale Gala Weekend and will donate it to their auction.  It is quilt 3 of the Four on the Fourth.  Needs binding!

4- Bonus Charity Baby Quilt
The fourth of the Four on the Fourth! This is a bonus baby quilt made from cutoffs from a jelly roll quilt that Anna made a few years ago.  I'll donate to to Project Linus.  Needs binding too!

5- Grey Plus Baby Quilt
Baby Flannery is born and needs a quilt!  I quilted this up in a quick loop-dee-loo a few weeks ago.  Need to bind and gift.  

6- Rainbow Plus Baby Quilt
Also quilted on the same day as the grey plus quilt. Also with loop-dee-loos. Also needs binding and gifting.  I can't wait for a baby party! Both mamas are friends and we are hoping to do a little joint shower/baby party.  Baby Patton is still 'cooking' and I hope to gift this before they are born. =)

7- On Ringo Lake

This monster is quilted and the binding is started.  I did submit it to the Mad City Quilt Guild's challenge in June even though the binding wasn't done.  I would love to have this complete this summer and use it on my guest bed. As you can see from #1-6, I've had few things going on and this got put on hold for a little while.  Sooooo much binding to do!!!

8- Midnight Star
This is languishing as a top.  It is like a fine wine or cheese.  It needs to age.  Maybe I can quilt it and bind it in the next few months?

9- Legendary

Still no progress on this top...I would love to snuggle under it on the couch this winter!! Can't do that unless it is quilted!

10- Charity Rail Fence
More quilting to do!  I joke that I need a sabbatical from work to catch up with my quilting.  It's true!!

11- Bonus Baby Quilt

See a trend? Quilting needs to happen!

12- Featherweight Tote Bag - Purple 
This is basically done.  I need to do some stitching on the corners to offer more structure. And do a little photo shoot/blog post.  Not technically done yet.

13- Featherweight Tote Bag - Orange
Like the purple one, this is nearly done, but I don't have any recent pics. 

Lots and lots to do!  I'm excited!  Wish me luck!

If you would like to join the Finish-A-Long fun, head on over to any one of the eight bloggers who host:

Marci - Marci Girl Designs
Sandra - Studio Sew of Course
Leanne - She Can Quilt
Izzy - Dizzy Quilts
Ella - Throw a Wench in the Works
Felicity - Felicity Quilts
Karen - Capitola Quilter
Lynne - Tinking Along

Summer-- Finally!

This has been one of the craziest springs I've ever experienced.  We had a huge set of snow storms in mid-April and now it is Memorial Day Weekend and we have record breaking temperatures-- 3 days over 90 degrees!  Wha??!?? Normally we don't hit 90 until July.

Here is the last snowstorm in April:

And now I'm scurrying to get my garden planted.  The beds had a bumper crop of weeds going on. It was rewarding to clean them up and add a new mix of compost/peat moss/vermiculite to top them off.

Saturday I rototilled the area beyond the beds.  This is where I plant corn and sunflowers. Fannie is inspecting the pile of dirt I added.

And new this year-- I'm trying straw bales! We shall see how those turn out!

With all of this gardening, I barely have any time or energy left for quilting. --sad face--

I have just a tiny bit of quilty news to share.

I'm working on my Scrap Happy Sampler and at this month's Late Night Sew Night at Blue Bar Quilts, I got a good start on the applique stitching. Aren't these fun??!??

And lastly-- My On Ringo Lake mystery quilt won a prize at our last Mad City Quilt Guild meeting of the season.  Woot!! We had 'challenge' fabric that we bought in the fall and we showed off completed projects in May. Members voted for our favorites and I got a gift card to a local quilt shop. So cool!!! The fabric was a yellow/orange batik and fit right in with my fruit cocktail of colors! 

xoxo,

Kristin

Linking up with Judy's Design Wall Mondays, Lorna's Let's bee Sewcial and Cynthia's  Oh Scrap!!

On Ringo Lake - Quilted

I made big progress on my On Ringo Lake - Quiltville Mystery Quilt this weekend.  Hooray!  I took it to my parent's house to quilt it and quilt it, I did.  The process was a little bumpy at times.  The longarm can have a mind of it's own and the more you want to finish something, the more it acts up! =(

Here is a picture of part of the top draped over the frame pre-quilting.

I selected a pantograph that is somewhat simple and had a breezy feel that matched the quilt.  Here is a close up of the back and you can see the panto in the background.

And here is a picture of some of my trouble!  Ack!  Apparently the presser foot and its lever have become 'finnicky'.  If the foot isn't completely settled in, the tension goes off.  This happened about 4x while quilting--DOH!!  It was definitely pushing my patience.

We frog stitched way more than I like to-- rip it.  rip it.  =(

BUT IT IS DONE! The weather has been rather frightful lately.  I'm pretty sure I missed summer.  I think it was on a Sunday 2 weeks ago and I was working that day.  Due to wind, rain and cold, I didn't get any nice pictures.  They will have to wait until after the binding is done.

xoxo,
Kristin

Linking up with Lorna's Let's bee Sewcial and Cynthia's  Oh Scrap!!

Finish! Hekla

I'm happy to report that I finally finished my binding on Hekla.  I tend to bind in spurts and I didn't have enough time to finish this up prior to the end of Q1.  So it became my slam dunk finish of Q2.  Here is the listing of my Q2 Finish-A-Long goals

I started this quilt almost exactly one year ago.  Gudrun Erla came to the Madison area and had a trunk show and workshop (sponsored by the Lodi Valley Quilt Guild).  It was a lot of fun and I was very inspired by her designs.  I bought the book Strip Your Stash, a few patterns and her Stripology Ruler.  The ruler is amazing! It exceeds my expectations and I absolutely love how easy and quick it is to cut strips with it.

Hekla is the name of a volcano in Iceland.  I love the design of the Scandinavian Stars.  This will eventually hang in my house (not sure where) and if accepted, I will show this at Quilt Expo this fall.  My friend, Heather, did the quilting and it really makes this quilt shine.

In other sewing news, I'm piecing a back together for my On Ringo Lake.  It needs to be done by next Friday, when I plan to quilt it at my parent's house.  I have my work cut out for me this week!!

xoxo,

Kristin

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts, Finish-A-Long, Let's bee Sewcial and Oh Scrap!!

Spring Cleaning!

I'm really excited to share my sewing space after my 'Spring Cleaning'!  On Friday, Mary from Sort n' Release came over and helped me get things in order. It was a bunch of work, but so rewarding! 

Here are the after pictures (if you want to see 'before', go here):

The project bins are in the closet (not on the floor), the tops of my fat quarter shelves are tidy!  My cart is so much more logical and I swapped out the quilt on the wall from CatVent to Elephant Parade.  The fabric on my ironing surface is part of my 'homework'.  Since this picture was taken, I've purged a bit from drawers and found a home for (most of) it.

The closet--- Aaaaahhhhh!!!  It is completely transformed! I could hardly step in it before and was just throwing things in and closing the door.  Now each space is assigned a job-- storing completed projects, holding project totes, etc.  I can't believe that it looks this good! But it is more than just looks, it is functional, too.

Here is the view of the design wall side.  I didn't manage to take any pictures of the cutting table and cubbies.  Trust me-- they are looking good!

Here's my pile of sell/donate:

It has a bunch of felt I haven't used for years, some things from cardmaking days, some fabric and notions and storage containers that I didn't 'love'.  Part of the process was-- If I don't like something, why keep it?

Before the big clean, I wanted to finish up my On Ringo Lake.  It needed just a few more inches on either side, so I did a simple border of bricks of the coral/orange/pink/yellow leftovers. The size is much better.

I hope to quilt this in 2 weeks, so I need to think about backing.  I've done a bit of looking and wasn't finding anything, so I placed an order for an assortment of yardage in the colors of the top.

On Friday night, I had my Late Night Sew Night at Blue Bar Quilts.  I would have been perfectly happy to collapse on the couch after such a busy day, but I couldn't.  Sew-cializing needed to happen! I grabbed my log cabin diamonds as a simple, small project to work on.  Now that I have a handful done, I can see how cool this is and I want to devote more time to them.  I'm not sure if I should switch to orange for the next ring?  It might give the quilt a bit more interest...

And lastly, part of my homework was to go through some of my tubs and thin the scrap herd.  They have multiplied into 3 small bins and I know that is not necessary. While sorting, I did a bit of Wild and Goosey with some of the scraps.  After the first few of these blocks, I wasn't too keen on them.  I've now switched to using only really light fabrics for the background and it is making the difference-- I like these better now.

And to finish this long post, I've got a cute picture of Finn to share. He kind of looks like a doll in a box! 

xoxo,

Kristin

Linking up with Judy's Design Wall Mondays, Lorna's Let's bee Sewcial and Cynthia's  Oh Scrap!!

Finish-A-Long Q2 2018 - My Goals

I had a little wrinkle in time at the end of Q1-2018.  I had a lot going on and wasn't able to link up my finishes for the Finish-A-Long.  Oops! Overall, it wasn't the best quarter in terms of finishing projects.  Apart from Elephant Parade, I didn't meet any of my goals!! =O

That doesn't mean I wasn't sewing, because I've actually been sewing up a storm.  And now I will have a very ambitious Q2 goal list!

Let me start with projects that were Q1 Goals:

1- Hekla
This was sooooo close to being finished for Q1, but see above statement--> lots going on!  And if you look closely, there is just a weeee bit of binding left to do! =O

2- Midnight Star
I did manage to get the top fully pieced this last quarter.  Now it needs some quilting!

3- On Ringo Lake

I worked soooooooooooooo hard on this quilt all winter and I'm thrilled to have the pattern complete.  I've decided that I'm going to add a border of oranges/corals/pinks to extend it a bit more.  I would LOVE to have this finished up by May, because I've used a challenge fabric in it for the Mad City Quilt Guild.  I'm really hoping to make this happen!

4- Finding Nemo
Not difficult, just need time with a longarm

5- St Nick
I managed to put borders on this at January Retreat

6- Legendary

No progress on this and it's ambitous to think I can finish it this quarter

7- Charity Rail Fence
The quiting doesn't need to be fancy, but everything takes time!

8- Bonus Baby Quilt

Isn't this fun?! I made this up out of leftovers from a baby quilt several years ago.  This will go to Project Linus

9- Grey Plus Baby Quilt
I think this baby is due in May, so it would be fantastic if I had it done by then!

10- Rainbow Plus Baby Quilt
I have a bit more time with this one, but it would be great to finish it along with the grey version.

11- Featherweight Tote Bag - Purple 
Getting there!  Not many steps left...

12- Featherweight Tote Bag - Orange
Still a fair amount of work to do on this one...

Twelve projects!! I know I won't be able to complete all of these things-- but it doesn't hurt to dream! Wish me luck!

If you would like to join the Finish-A-Long fun, head on over to any one of the eight bloggers who host:

Marci - Marci Girl Designs
Sandra - Studio Sew of Course
Leanne - She Can Quilt
Izzy - Dizzy Quilts
Ella - Throw a Wench in the Works
Felicity - Felicity Quilts
Karen - Capitola Quilter
Lynne - Tinking Along

xoxo, 
Kristin