Got One, But Not The Other

It's been a busy month and I just realized that sadly 

I forgot to post a September goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes. 

Ugh!  

I was on a great roll up until then.  

I got in a minor car accident on the first of the month and 

I guess my mind was preoccupied. I thought I posted something. 

Oh well, I'll focus on October's goal and 

be ready to post.

Have you been over to Happy Quilting? 

Melissa has done a great job with our Quilt Along and

tomorrow is the parade of finished quilts.

There are so many participants and lovely quilts being finished, 

you won't want to miss it. 

I got my Quilt Along Star Surround top done, 

but not completely finished, so I won't be parading.  

Since I rarely purchase anything larger than a quarter of a yard 

 this top will have to go in my to be 

layered and quilted pile until I can get a backing. 

This is Hope Valley on dark grey Kona.

 64 X 64 

I love this 16 inch quilt block. 

Now on to other projects. 

Happy Stitching.  : ) 

Lovely Finishes Goal Met

It's time for my end of the month post for 

A Lovely Year Of Finishes. 

I completed my goal for the month. 

All 384 inches of binding. 

Fingers are a wee bit sore, 

but I'm happy to be done!  

I took a couple quick photos for this post, 

but I will take some proper photos and post them soon. 

Hopefully the recipient of this quilt will get a good sneak peek

and love this quilt as much as I do.  

Hoping to get some 

stitching in this weekend. 

Goal Setting and A Quilt Along

Ok, so its August and I must post about my August goal. 

Actually, I can't believe its August and I've linked up with 

A Lovely Year of Finishes for the past seven months, 

meeting my goal each month. 

It's been a wonderful accountability experience for me.  

So here's my August goal

Get the binding on this big, heavy quilt.  

It,s on the larger side of queen size and I anticipate some sore fingers. 

I'm thinking I'm going to have to take it slow.   

Also for August, the Star Surround QAL I joined is starting to roll. 

We've just begun making our half square triangles. 

I originally posted nine fabrics and planned on nine stars, 

but once I got started I decided I'm probably going to really love this quilt 

so I added more fabrics and went with 16 stars. 

 

Come and join the Quilt Along. 

Its not too late!

You can make one large block or several smaller ones. 

It's your choice. 

Melissa has them all planned out beautifully!

Happy Quilting : )

Just Two Hours To Go!

 Today was my first day off work for the summer, 

and the day just got away from me. 

I'm cutting it really close, with just two hours to go, 

I'm going to post my June goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes. 

It's my month to quilt for the Cheer group of do. Good Stitches, 

and these are the blocks sent to me. 

Aren't they beautiful? I just love them.  

I didn't do the math ahead of time and as is, 

this will be a small quilt. 

I need to add borders or more blocks. 

My June goal is to make ten more blocks and make the quilt top.

Whew, I think I made the linky deadline!

Happy Stitching : )

May Goal & A Couple Birthdays

Its the end of May and time for My Lovely Year Of Finishes post. 

My goal was a little toddler sized baseball themed backpack for a little one due in July.  

I'm happy to say I finished it AND a little newborn snuggly.  

I've used both these patterns before so I knew they were 

tried and true and would turn out wonderful. 

The backpack is fully lined and ready to use.
Next time, I think I'll add a few inside pockets

The little snuggly looks so small, but I know it will be just right.  

I made one for my granddaughter two years ago 

and her mommy and daddy loved it so much, 

I know it will be a perfect gift for these first time parents. 

We celebrated the birthdays of the youngest and oldest members 

on my side of our family. 

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Kinlee!

I have to end with these three fun little cuties! 

Another Goal

Its time again to state my monthly goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes. 

I'm down to the wire on posting about my goal because

 I forgot all about it and I really didn't know what it would be until about an hour ago. 

I have several projects I need to tend to this month. 

This month's goal is a little baseball backpack for a new little guy due to be born shortly.

 His parents love baseball and I'm making it for someone else to give to them as a gift. 

I've made several backpacks using this wonderful pattern, making a 

 few changes along the way and will repeat the changes with this one.  

The pink fabric is for another backpack, most likely using another backpack pattern. 

Linking up with 

Happy Stitching

April Little Mini

I'm back with a new little mini. Just in time too!

It's my April goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes. 

I just realize I need to stop sewing and blog something other than 

the beginning and end of my goal. 

I have plenty of other things going on, I just need to slow down a bit. 

I'll give it a good try in May. 

Now on to my little mini quilt adventure. 

The little mini is for Fab Little Quilt Swap

I stalked my partner as best I could and just sat on the information for a long time.....too long.  

 Nothing I could make would be wonderful enough. 

She does fabulous work and has exquisite taste. 

I headed to the swap photo pool with two design ideas. 

I decided on making the paper pieced design. 

I had to just jump in and hope it would be something she likes. 

I used Anna Maria Horner's free spinning star block pattern. 

I reduced it in size to end up with six inch finished spinning stars. 

I went with a low volume background and the circles in colors I thought my partner might like.

 This made the spinning stars become circles or rings, instead of the stars. 

I started out with one green circle, then realized I had enough greens to expand the idea.

I had a lot of fun digging through my stash looking for as many

shades of green and blue I could find.

I was surprised I had so many.

Then, what to do with the ninth circle?

I ended up repeating a "pie" from each circle to complete number nine. 

Here's a peek at the backside. 

My favorite litte circle/ring. 

This shade of green is so calming.

Finished quilt in the light.  

The whole little quilt, 

and yes, those are my tootsies. 

A little closer look. 

Fab Little Quilt Swap 3

measures 18 X 18

Inspiration from this little quilt.

I'm linking up with 

DQS13 & March Goal

I'm back with my March Goal for A Lovely Year Of Finishes and just under the wire too. 

Since tomorrow is Easter, I thought I would post tonight.   

My March goal was to get a little dolly quilt done for a swap. 

It needed to be done pretty quickly, so I stalked my partners favorites over on flickr. 

I found my inspiration in this Sew Cherry QAL quilt 

by Flying Blind On A Rocket Cycle. 

Go check it out.

Isn't it beautiful?

I don't know how big it is, but I needed to keep mine tiny.

I started out playing a little with some 1.5 inch square that I already had cut.

Before long it began to take shape.

My partner likes rainbow and the original quilt was in her favorites. 

It was beginning to be really fun to put together.

I ironed all the seams open, which made the back look cool. 

I had difficulty choosing a background. I will spare you all the photos, 

but you can check my flickr if you're interested. : ) 

In the end I went with this soft gray text print 

called Word Play, which I love.

 I so happy to say this little doll quilt arrived safely to my partner. 

Rainbow Star Doll Quilt

DQS 13

Finished Size - 20 X 20

Rainbow Squares - finished size 1 inch square

Inspired by Hadley's (Flying Blind On A Rocket Cycle) 

Sew Cheery QAL Star Light Star Bright Quilt

My Major March Goal

I'm busy getting started on my 

March goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes. 

I know the whole idea is to finish up what I have going, 

but I need to get a little dolly quilt done for a swap. 

All fabrics need to come from my stash, 

because I don't have time to order anything.

I'm going to pull some reds and oranges

I'm not a rainbow kinda gal, but my partner is, 

so I think I'm gonna pull the whole rainbow, 

not just red and orange. 

  I almost forgot to stop pulling fabric and link up

Butterfly Quilt

It's the end of the month, 

did I make my month two goal for

A lovely Year of Finishes?

Why YES!      Yes I did!      
Hurray for me! 

It was a lot to accomplish, so I wasn't sure if I could do it, 

but I pushed through, 

squeezed a few minutes here and there 

and finished!  

Month one was completing enough blocks for 

and constructing this butterfly quilt for my do. Good Stitches Cheer Group.

My month two was making a back, layering, basting, quilting
and binding the butterflies for a complete quilt.



I love these little butterflies!



Three blocks left over for the back, were a perfect fit. I've had this plaid in my stash for a long, long time. It was the right yardage and went really well with the little butterflies.  I really like how the backside turned out.



I stitched in the ditch between each butterfly
and  in both directions through the center of each one.
Next time I will add more quilting.
I'm pretty happy with my first finish for the Cheer Bee.



Quilt Info

SIZE : 48 by 60 before washing, 47 by 59 after wash

BLOCKS: butterflies from the members of the Cheer Group of do. Good Stitches

BACKING: unknown from stash

BATTING: Warm and White

A Year of Lovely Finishes month three goal will be coming soon. 

February Goal

It's time for my February Goal setting, 

as I continue on with A Lovely Year of Finishes. 

I'm going to keep going with the butterfly quilt from do. Good Stitches. 

Last month I completed my goal of making blocks and getting it into a top. 

For February I'm going to really stretch myself and get it

 layered, quilted and bound.  

YIKES!!! 

That's a lot for me. 

 I should pick something more doable,

 but I need to get it finished and move on.

My month is filled with other quilty projects. 

I will be finishing up on my DQS13 mini and get it sent to off my partner.

I'm hoping to get it finished this weekend

Currently I am getting ready to quilt it and 

make some final border width decisions.

I joined the Scrappy Trip craze. 

I was already getting ready to start a Scrap Vomit/Drano Quilt, 

so I just jumped on the Scrappy Trip wagon.

 I currently have 10 blocks done and a whole lot to go, 

but I've put them aside for now. 

I'm hoping to squeak out a few more blocks real soon. 

 

I'm thinking large, maybe a picnic quilt or queen size for a bed. 

I'm not sure yet, but I love making these trippy blocks.

I'm linking up for February goals at A Lovely Year of Finishes

Completed Goal

I'm back with the finished quilt top.

I'm playing along with A Lovely Year of Finishes

I met my first months goal and it feels great!

 I started with this

from my do. Good Stitches group. Added 13 more butterfly blocks.

Almost there, just one more to go. 

 I'm really loving how this top turned out. 

It's seems so large, but when removing blocks it seemed too small, 

so I stayed with the 4 X 5 layout. 

I finished it up just in time for the link up deadline. 

Woohoo!

Month one, goal met!

Linking up with

What a great way to start off the year!