Design Wall Monday - Feb 29

I have one more little quilty finished today, slipping right under the wire for my February UFO challenge.  That extra leap day was just what I needed. This little twister is made from leftovers from an earlier, larger quilt I made with these fabrics.  Cleaning my sewing room by using up fat quarters :)

My design wall doesn't have much on it today, mostly because I've been trying to finish up tops that need quiting, rather than working on piecing projects. However, I think this month I must finish up my Giraffe Abstractions quilt top. That will be my One Monthly Goal for March -  to get that top completely pieced. Poor little legs need a body and head :)

Drop by Judy's blog for more design wall inspiration today.

One Monthly Goal Finished

Back at the beginning of February I made the grand promise that I would finish my giant scrappy swoon top for this month's "One Monthly Goal".  Not much has happened all month, so I took advantage of a sew-in day today, to power through the borders on this quilt.  It took a lot longer than I expected, but I got it done!

This quilt started as a quilt-along back in March of 2015. So it only took a year to make it to this stage :) Maybe the next step will be a bit quicker.

The gold is really bright in that photo - it's not quilt so vivid in real life.  I added a few borders to the basic swoon block - the quilt finishes at about 91x104", which should fit my queen size bed nicely.

And as a bonus, I get to count some significant fabric usage for my stash report today. 9 1/4 yards for this quilt, and 3/4 yard binding for Paris quilt.  10 yards out this week, nothing in.

2016 totals:
65.25 yards in
78.25 yards out
Total: 13 yards out
Head over to Patchworks Times today for more stash reports.

Off to Paris!

Well, in spirit, anyway :)  Paris fabric is the theme of today's quilty finish.

I think I'm doing a pretty good job crunching through my UFOs. This quilt was started in November at a retreat - in fact, the top was finished there, so it's been in my "to be quilted" pile ever since.  The block pattern seems to be floating around the internet, but I didn't like the way it was put together. So I redesigned the instructions to make the block simpler to assemble, with fewer small pieces to mange. And then I realized that there was a big patch of open space in the corner, just crying for something to fill it. One of the original treatments I saw put applique there but I wasn't interested in doing that.

However, I had a lovely Paris-themed fabric that I picked up earlier lastsummer, and some coordinating solids to go with it. So I decided that this was the perfect project to highlight those fabrics.  I had only bought a little - 1 yard of the print, and 1/4 yard of each of 6 coordinating colours. So I had to get a bit creative with the colour placement, in order to stretch the fabric as far as possible. Twenty-four 12" blocks turned out to be the answer. And with careful placement, all of the Paris scenes are upright.

When I pulled this quitl out a couple of weeks ago to finish it, I needed a backing for it.  I didn't have quite enough of any of my white fabrics, and I was completely out of the solids I used on the top.  But I decided that I could make a giant block for the back of the quilt, if I could find some suitable pieced in my stash. Luck was with me - I found a very similar shade of each of the 6 colours, in tone-on-tone in my stash.

Happy to have one more UFO off my list, but that doesn't mean I'm not starting anything new. I was asked to make a sample for a local shop, so I put aside some other projects and  put this together this week.  It just needs binding and it's off to the shop on Saturday.

WIPs be Gone

I have a finish this week, of a fairly old UFO.  I made this quilt a couple of years ago.  I originally designed this pattern back in June of 2011 and made my first top from it.  Eventually, I decided that I wanted to publish the pattern, and that of course required making it a couple of more times, to test the instructions. Two tops were finished in May of 2012. I finished the second quilt in Feb of 2013, but the third has been hanging out in the "to be quilted" pile since it was completed.

Finally last weekend I got it on the longarm. I wanted to play with some new feather techniques, and it seemed like a really good choice for that.  Finished binding it this week, and now it's done!

I particularly love the way the back turned out - almost like a wholecloth quilt in two colours.

And the center of the star came out better than I expected.  It's one of the few places I did not feather - the segments were too small for that to work. So I did a simple curved design following the piecing, and this is what the back ended up like.  A (happy) surprise).

Here's a closeup of some of the feathers around the borders.  And the backside of that. Again, no feathers in the blue sections, but I love what came out. All of this quilt was freehand quilted, with no marking at all.

 My stash report for this week is pretty simple. 
4 yards - backing for Paris
1/2 yard binding for star quilt

4 1/2 yards out this week.  A little bit came in, because I won the draw at guild when I showed this very quilt.  The prize was a little bucket of 6 fat quarters.  So that's 1 1/2 yards in.

2016 totals:
65.25 yards in
68.25 yards out
Total: 3 yards out

And would you look at that - I'm officially in the black!
Head over to Patchworks Times today for more stash reports.

I'm also linking up at WIPs be Gone today.

A small finish

I finished this quilt a couple of weeks ago, but never posted a photo of it. This is just a little quilty (24" square) that I made, using up the final scraps from my Chain Reaction quilt.  It will go to a guild meeting to be donated to the local children's hospital.

Here's the original Chain Reaction quilt - this finished at about 35x40".

Then, I made this double irish chain from some of the leftover blocks, plus some white I had in my stash. It's a 24x24" quilty.

And the final leftover 9-patches were used in this quiltie shown above.

Pretty good result from 6 fat quarters and a yard of the blue (border) fabric.

I'll be linking up with the 2016 Finish Along when the time comes. My Q1 plans can be found here

Quilting fun

I had a really productive weekend with the longarm. Nothing new is on my design wall, but two quilts have moved from "to be quitled" to the "to be bound" pile over the weekend.  First, I played with a new feather technique, and went a bit crazy on my Starburst quilt. This is quilt #3 from this pattern, and I think I've pretty much done it to death now :)

I love the way the back came out - especially the center of the star.

The feathers are from "Hooked on Feathers" by Sally Terry, and were a ton of fun to do.

My second quilted top is more recent than this one.  "Paris" is now quilted, and will hopefully be bound before my guild meeting on the 22nd. I made this top at a retreat in November, and it's been waiting to get onto the longarm since then. This block is going to be the Block of the Month at the Ottawa Modern Guild next week, so I wanted to have a finished quilt to show everyone.  The biggest challenge here was making sure all the Paris prints ended up the right way up, while keeping a good distribution of the various colours.

Just for fun, I made a giant block for the backing.  I was out of the fabric (solids) I used on the front, but found some tone on tone in the right colours for the backing.

I'm linking up with Judy's Design Wall Monday today, even though this is more of a 'Completed Floor' show, rather than a design wall :)

Stash Report - Feb 14

I finished another of my New Year's mystery quilts this week. Forgot to take a picture after I bound it, so here it is all crinkly and soft from the wash. It is headed off to Victoria's Quilts to keep someone warm.

I had a pretty productive couple of weeks since my last stash report. A few quilts bound, and an old UFO on my longarm, so I can play around with some feathers this weekend.

Bindings - coin stack, yahoo mystery, about.com mystery, scrappy = 2 yards
backing for starburst - 3 yards


2016 totals:
63.75 yards in
63.75 yards out
Total: 0 yards in

And would you look at that - I'm not in the negative any more!  That exact in/out match is kind of amazing, in fact :)
Head over to Patchworks Times today for more stash reports.


I'll be linking up with the 2016 Finish Along when the time comes. My Q1 plans can be found here.

A Finish and Choices

I finished another of my tops from the New Year's mystery blitz. This one was not actually a mystery. I cut the strips to make a second quilt for the yahoo.com mystery I was doing, but decided it didn't work, after I saw the instructions. The mystery really needed a scrappy background, and this one was a single fabric. So I can up with this design, using most of the blocks from the pieces I'd cut in advance for the mystery. A few leftovers (mostly 2.5" squares) will be part of a later quilt.

This is one of the quilts I planned to finish for my Q1 plans in the UFO Finish Along, so progress is being made there.  It has already been sent out as a donation to Victoria's Quilts so now my sights turn onward to my next plan.

Unfortunately, I'm not feeling the love for any of the quilts I put on my Q1 list :( So I may pull something new out of the UFO closet to drop on the longarm this weekend.  Maybe this one, so I can try out a new feather technique I read about.

Although I'd really like to quilt this one, for show and tell at the next Modern guild meeting.  I don't know yet how I'm going to quilt this one, although I'm pretty sure it's going to involve lots of straight lines.

Decisions, decisions.

I'm linking up at WIPs Be Gone today.

I'll be linking up with the 2016 Finish Along when the time comes, as the first quilt above is on that list. My Q1 plans can be found here. 

Design Wall Monday

I was hoping to have more giraffe to show this week, but it appears we're building him from the bottom up. So here we have some legs.  It appears I have some challenges in reading patterns and matching the correct colour - a few of the greens are not as planned. However, I think it all still works so I'm not going to sweat about it.  It just makes him unique :)

And a finish for this week. I put this binding on this quilt today, so it just needs a quick trip through the wash and it's ready to donate to Victoria's Quilts on Wednesday.  This was one of the New Year's Day mystery quilts that I did this year. Not too bad - in and out in a month and a half.  It has some friends who will also be heading out this week, once I finish a few more bindings.

I'm linking up at Patchwork Times today.
I'll be linking up with the 2016 Finish Along when the time comes. My Q1 plans can be found here. 

UFO Challenge, February

It's time to own up to our progress (or lack thereof) on Vicki's UFO challenge this year. I'll start with the summary, for those who don't want to read the nitty gritty details at the end of this post.


At the beginning of January, I had these projects in the works:
16 in progress
7 planned but not started
20 to be quilted
4 to be bound

As of today, I have
10 in progress
7 planned but not started
30 to be quilted
3 to be bound
4 completed this past month

I'm not sure whether to consider that progress or not :)  Fewer in progress quilts, but a pile more to be quilted. Fortunately, 5 of them are tiny so I should be able to get them all quilted in one go before my next guild meeting, I hope.

This is one of my completed quilts for this month. It started as a side project with a block party group about a year and a half ago.  I provided fabric to anyone interested and promised that the finished project would go to a charity. Well, it's finally finished, and will be donated to Victoria's Quilts next week, assuming I get the presentation bag made before then.

I'll be linking up with the 2016 Finish Along when the time comes, as this quilt is from that list as well as Vicki's UFO challenge. My Q1 plans for the Finish Along can be found here. 

The details from the above list:
4 to be bound were completed
4 in progress moved to "to be quilted" and
3 in progress moved to "to be bound"
5 new quilties to be quilted (3 disappearing hour glass, 1 disappearing 9-patch, 1 Kaffe stripes)
1 new quilt to be quilted - Glorious and Free
One new "in progress" project, for a class I'll be teaching in the spring.

The current list:

In progress:

1. Reflections of the North
2. Scrappy pineapple
3. giant scrappy swoon
4. Row by row 2015
5. Edge of 17 shop hop quilt
6. Kaffe stripes
7. Patchwork Year 
8. Gardener's Alphabet
9. Merry Mayhem
10. Giraffe Abstractions by Violet Craft

Planned (fabric bought and/or collected)

1. recipe wall hanging
2. drunkards path variation
3. Christmas wreath
4. Christmas reindeer
5. two cityscapes/panels
6. ombre flying geese (leftovers from Spectrum) 
7. Jeans quilt

to be quilted

1. Building Blocks - 2012
2. Easy Street - Bonnie Hunter 2012 mystery
3. Turquoise Trails - 2013
4. Labyrinth - 2013
5. Starburst - 2013
6. Rainbow Explosion - 2014
7. Brights baby quilt - April 2014
8. Tell it to the Stars - Judy Laquidara 2014 mystery
9. Flowers in my Windows - 2014 New Year's Eve mystery
10. Block of the Week
11. turquoise &; brown rectangles
12. turquoise & brown diamonds 
13. turquoise & brown baby quilt
14. One Block Wonder #2
15. Border Creek Station mystery (started Oct 2014)
16. one-fabric quilt
17. Houses - Done
18. Paris
19. baby twister
20. baby reflections 
21. Mexican star
22. Allietare - Bonnie Hunter 2015
23. About.com  mystery
24. quiltbug.com mystery
25. Glorious and Free
26. 3 disappearing hour glass quilties
27. disappearing 9-patch quilty
28. Kaffe stripes quilty

to be bound

1. Stonehenge
2. Yahoo group mystery
3. Yahoo group #2 

Done this month

1. Chain Reaction - Done
2. snowball/9-patch - Done
3. scrappy quilt - 2013 - Done
4. Disappearing hour glass- Done

Giraffe Madness

You probably can't tell, but this is going to be a giraffe when it's done. This is the new project I started yesterday. It will be a class at MadAboutPatchwork.com in the spring, so I need to get the sample done.  So far, I've completed about 15 of the 100 sections - this could take a while :)  It's a really cute paper pieced giraffe by Violet Craft and I'm loving watching it come together.

On another front, this is the finished quilt for the Ottawa modern quilt guild contribution to the QuiltCon charity quilt challenge (camera skill not withstanding, this is actually a rectangular quilt).  12 members worked together to make blocks representing early Canadian industry and put them together into a quilt.  The colours were oh-so-close to Hudson Bay colours (think green, rather than turquoise) that we decided to use that as part of the theme for the quilt. You can see many variations of Hudson Bay stripes incorporated there.

Linking up at Freshly Pieced and the Needle and Thread Network today.

Design Wall Monday - Feb 1

My design wall today still has my scrapy swoon on it, waiting for borders. This is going to be my One Monthly Goal for February - to finish that top. Hopefully that will keep me focused this month while I'm in my sewing room, between long arm sessions.

This past weekend I was away at a retreat, and took a new project with me.  And as a result, I have a finished top, from the Glorious and Free pattern by Brandy Lynn Designs. I love this maple leaf design, and although it looks complex it is made entirely with squares and half-square triangles.  It went together really quickly (one day at the retreat).  Once I get it quilted, this will go to Quilts of Valour (Canada).

Check out more design walls at PatchworkTimes.com