Winter Goals

The start of 2015 brings a new year of the Finish Along, this year sponsored by Adrianne at On the Windy Side. I enjoyed participating last year, as I felt like I got things done faster with self-imposed deadlines. Also, I like the possibility of prizes because who doesn’t? In any case, here are my goals for Q1:

1. Rainbow Meadow: After changing plans, I’ve cut all the fabric but haven’t completed any sewing yet.

2. Green HST Chuppah

3. Metro Medallion: the top is done but I need to sort out a back, quilt, and bind.

4. Scoop Neck Pullover: I’ve knit the front, back, one sleeve, and a bit of the second sleeve.

5. Jeweled cowl: It’s probably 75% knit and I’m puttering away on it.

Yup, those last two are knitting projects. I’d like to finish both while it’s still winter and there’s a need for woolens. Today is 16 degrees F and dropping. So: woolens and quilts are necessary!

Reasonable Autumn Goals

Remember my summer Finish Along goals? Remember how I completed… one project? Yeah. They were pretty lofty goals. For Q4, I’m going to try and be reasonable and only goalify things that I really need to get done. Or something like that.

My Q4 Finish Along Goals are:
1. Aeroplane bag [FINISHED!]
2. Four more Geranium dresses. I’m considering this one goal since I’ll probably make them factory-style. [FINISHED!]
3. Giant secret Christmas present (revealed to be Metro Rings II). It is giant and secret. Sssh. [FINISHED!]

4. Metro Medallion needs batting patched together, backing to be worked out and then quilted.
5. Almonds baby quilt needs to be quilted and bound.
6. Fangirl Meadow

The last three are not as pressing goals and I may work on other stuff this quarter – I have a cowl and a sweater on the needles and a HST wedding chuppah to make for my best friend before next May and a baby quilt with pattern but no fabric… But them’s the plans! Linking up with the Finish Along link party at The Littlest Thistle.

Summer Goals

It is that goal-setting time of year again for the Finish Along at Littlest Thistle! This quarter’s goals feel lofty. Last quarter, I had tops and backs and batting all set to be quilted, so finishing the quilts was No Big Deal.

This quarter, I have stacks of fabric and ideas.

First up, Metro Rings out of Botanics and Pure Elements with some custom quilting. This is the only project with a hard deadline, as it is for a friend getting married in October (or her shower, whenever that is). I’ve wanted to work with Botanics for a while, and B & G will be decorating their home in greens, blues, oranges, and yellows. The facing triangles will be orange and yellow, and I’m going to add a wide grey border similar to this quilt.  Finishing the top is my July Lovely Year of Finishes goal.

Next, I want to finally do something with these leftover blocks from LLamas in Log Cabins. My idea is to make some flying geese to sit between the blocks and then add a couple of borders, medallion-style to make the finished piece larger.

I’ve had this gorgeous Salt Water and coordinating solids stack on the top of the fabric pile for months, and I think it is time to sew them into a Honey quilt from Elizabeth Hartman’s second book, Modern Patchwork.

My last amorphous goal is to do something with this lovely Acacia and solids stack. I’m open to suggestions – maybe hexagons or a kaleidoscope?

This all seems a bit daunting, yes? Better start cutting fabric!

Foxy Finish

Fields of Foxes is done, squeaked in juuuust under the Lovely Year of Finishes deadline (original goal post here). As in today was the last day to post the project, and I stitched up the binding last night. Fields of Foxes was a Craftsy workshop (project page here) and I really enjoyed the format and discussion.

A kind colleague at work helped me take these photos. She’s also a quilter, so she understands the need to document these things.

Fields of Foxes was also one of my goals for the Q2 Finish Along. Which means that I completed all of my goals this quarter! Frankly, I’m surprised I finished everything, because I feel like it was really busy! Next quarter will not be nearly as productive, but I am really excited about the projects I have planned!

Fortunate Granny Quilting

Finishing Spring Stripes II gave me a lot of new ideas for how to quilt future quilts. One of my favorite designs to quilt were the echo flowers, which I thought would be perfect for Fortunate Granny. This weekend, I finally got the quilt basted and dove right in with quilting.

I am really loving how these flowers are turning out. They’re a great complement to the soft floral motifs in the fabric.

So far, I have about a third of the quilt quilted. The hardest thing is figuring out where to go next and make sure gaps are filled in, but it is coming along nicely!

Fortunate Granny is my Lovely Year of Finishes May goal!

Finished: Spring Stripes II

Spring Stripes II is quilted and finished!

My goal was to finish it by the end of April and I succeeded.  I also wanted to use a different quilting pattern for each block of color.  This wasn’t as easy, and I did duplicate some patterns a couple times (but never in the same row!).

Mod overlapping squares and railroad squiggles

Bubbles, thin echo squiggles, and flames

More bubbles and flowers and leaves (sorta hard to see)

By the end, I could really see improvement in my quilting. The first pattern I used was orange peels (tutorial by Oh, Fransson!), and I also quilted orange peels as one of the last blocks. The first stripe is tentative and hesitant, as I really hadn’t quilted anything but a stipple. The second stripe (below) looks a lot more even.

Triangles, wood grain sorta, second go at orange peels, and more mod overlapping squares

The back is Ikea SMÅBORRE fabric, which somehow, I managed to buy in exactly the right size. I love when things work that way and I appreciated how wide this stuff is. The binding is Emerald Kona, same as for Neptune, because that is what I had on hand. I like the pop of darker teal!

I enjoyed the exercise of quilting many patterns, and I think I added a couple of new designs to my arsenal.  I especially like the mod overlapping squares and the flowers and leaves patterns.  In fact, I’m planning on quilting Fortunate Granny with allover echo flowers!

This is my April finish post and I’m linking this post up with A Lovely Year of Finishes with Fiber of All Sorts and Sew BitterSweet Designs!

This is also my first finish for the Q2 Finish Along at The Littlest Thistle!

 

 

 

 

Just for fun and comparison, here’s Spring Stripes I, finished just about a year ago!

Finished Size: 53 x 64
Fabrics: Echo by Lotta Jansdotter for Wyndham, Kona Ash and Emerald, Ikea SMÅBORRE

Spring Quilting Goals

I have big plans for this spring: I want to become a more confident quilter. I’ve quilted both on a home sewing machine and on a longarm at a studio, but I haven’t strayed far beyond basic stipple, straight line, or loopy line. I’m taking Leah Day’s Craftsy class, which is really encouraging me to move beyond those three techniques and also mix different patterns in one top.

With that in mind, goal number one: finally finish Spring Stripes II. Here is the most recent picture of it.

Friends, that picture is nearly two years old. And I’ve never taken a picture of the completed top, because I’m a bad blogger, but it looks just like Spring Stripes I but with the warmer colors from Lotta Jansdotter’s ECHO collection. I’m planning to use a different FMQ technique for every stripe. This is my Lovely Year of Finishes goal for April.

Goal number two: quilt and bind Fortunate Granny. Again, I have the back finished. I haven’t yet decided how this one will be quilted, but I’m thinking maybe an orange peel pattern in the blocks and a filler in the background.

Goal three: Requilt Foxes out my Window, because it has to be done and I’ve been putting it off for a while.

Stretch goal four: Finish the Craftsy mystery quilt with Tula Pink’s Fox Field. I’m way not sure if I’ll make this by the end of June; that’s why it is a stretch goal!

Those are my four main quilty WIPs for this quarter, and my ducks are in enough of a row for me to participate in the 2014 Finish Along at The Littlest Thistle!