This month, our do. Good Stitches group is stitching up some gigantic square-in-square blocks. This came out to 21" unfinished. I really love the colors this month; I can't wait to see how this one turns out.
feathers
This yummy stack of fabrics is going to turn into a Feathers quilt, hopefully over the next few months, with a background of Kona Slate. There's a quilt-along if anyone is interested in joining!
2014 Sewing Goals
It's that time again! 2013 has come to a close, and I always like to sit down and think about what I'd like to quilt and sew in the next year. It's been a year of changes for me - a new job and a move to a new city. It's been hard to find the time to sew, so my goals this year are going to be fewer, but that doesn't mean I will be any less excited about them!
Looking back, apparently I never made goals for the 2013 year (whoops!). Going back to my 2012 goals, some of them I accomplished, and many of them I did not. Working from that list as a base, here are my sewing goals for the 2014 year.
Quilts
- Quilt my finished quilt tops, including my
- Finish my Craftsy Block of the Month Quilt
- Finish my Half-Square Triangle Block of the Month Quilt
- Finish my Granny Squares Quilt
- Alison Glass Feathers QAL
- Modern Maples Quilt
- Donuts Quilt
- Cannery Row Quilt along with the HMQG
- Round & Round Quilt
- Gypsy Wife Quilt
Sewing
- Second Have It All Wallet
- Hoop travel bags (2), with the following for the front of each bag
- Paper-pieced hexagons
- Cross-stitch (Whistle While You Work, see below)
- Weekender bag
- Sewing Circle Tote
- Perfect Quilted Tote
- Washi Dress
- Curtains for our breakfast nook and above the kitchen sink
Cross-stitch
- Finish my 2013 Woodland Sampler
- Breaking Bad
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Whistle While You Work
- Lizzie Kate Seasons Alphabets (Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter)
Embroidery
Community
- Continue to participate in a quilting bee - Imagine group at do. Good Stitches
- Attend the International Quilt Festival
- Attend the Stash Bash
Okay, this clearly is not a small list. I guess I'll just see how it goes! What are your plans for the upcoming year!
twenty thirteen
It's been a colorful year, hasn't it? I definitely didn't get as much sewing and quilting in as I would have liked, but I most certainly enjoyed what I was able to make. Happy New Year everyone!
weathervane
Boy is it hard getting any sewing done this time of year! With all of the different events, shopping, and card-writing, I haven't had any time to sew in a while. I got these pretty bee blocks done last week for December for my do. Good Stitches circle, though. These Weathervane blocks were very easy to put together, and I love the colors our quilter Rachel picked out. I'm glad she loves scrappy blocks - I get to use more out of by scrap bins when that happens!
stars
I recently pulled out a quilt top that I had cut out years ago (maybe 2010?), and decided it was time to get started again. It's a good thing I still love the pattern (Starry Eyed Quilt)! I used leftovers from a friend's quilt and other layer cakes that I had on hand. I originally planned this to be a Christmas quilt, and though I'm having to fix some old stitching on the squares, I'm really taking my time with this one and making sure everything lines up right. I'm really excited to see how this one turns out!
marcelle medallion quilt top
I finally finished my Marcelle Medallion quilt top!
I can't tell you how much I love this quilt top. It certainly was a beast to make, and it seemed like I wouldn't finish for years, but I was able to spend a couple of days at a quilting retreat working on it and finally knocked it out.
The geese were the trickiest part for me, because they were the least forgiving out of all the borders. Next time I'll cut them large so that I can trim them down to the right size (most of mine were too small). The crosses were actually my favorite, even though they were time-consuming. One of my favorite parts of quilting retreats is the opportunity to bounce ideas off others. Many ladies were more than happy to help me think through the prints for the solid borders, which was a great help. We were able to tone down the crazy color explosion of earlier borders and really tie the whole top together with the solid borders. Thanks for your help ladies! I'm so excited about how this turned out. Next comes the hard part - how to quilt it! Any suggestions?
starstrip block
For November's do. Good Stitches block for the Imagine Circle, we got to stitch up this cute Starstrip Block in one color, and I picked teal. I was surprised at how quickly this block came together, and of course I love the color!
a tote for a swap
Now that it's been received, I can finally show you what I made for our Imagine Circle (do. Good Stitches) swap partner!
I had a really, really hard time sending this away, but I'm glad I did, because she liked it! I noticed from stalking her Flickr photos that she likes plus blocks, texty prints, scrappy things, and rainbow colors. One of the items on her wish list was a tote, plus favorite colors of pink and teal, so I managed to get them all into one tote for her. I even used some of my absolute favorite seed garden print on the back (don't worry, I have more!), and that was the first time I dared to cut into it.
The pattern is the Perfect Quilted Tote by Elizabeth Hartman, and I really loved the pattern. Elizabeth is extremely thorough in her directions (I believe this pattern topped 30 pages!), so it's very easy to follow. I'll definitely be making another one of these for myself!
quilt festival
Now that I'm in Houston, it's very easy for me to go to the International Quilt Festival, which just finished up last weekend. There were so many beautiful quilts in the show.
This quilt of Jack Nicholson cracked me up - it looks JUST like him!
And I'm in love with this quilt. It felt like you could reach out and pet this dog.
I think this was my personal favorite. I"m always a fan of optical illusions, and this hexi sphere looks like it's coming out at you!
Some more of my favorites. The rest of my pictures from Quilt Festival can be found here!