New Year, New Challenges

Note: Giveaway post is here.

Good Morning! I am always on the lookout for ways to push myself to creativity. Yes, I love to sew and quilt, but I have discovered that if I look at lots of other quilters works, it inspires me to keep going on my own projects, as well as to come up with new projects. This year, I have decided to try and join up with Adrianne at On the Windy Side for her 2015 Finish Along. You will see the button on my right sidebar. This is my first quarter list of proposed finishes.

 This first is a bunch of pennant flags, made from the book Modern Bee. I made it two years ago, but never finished it because I didn't really like the way it turned out. Need to quilt it and bind it.

 This is one I put together with a couple of charm packs and the scraps left over from my Petals quilt. It too needs quilting and binding...for the last couple of years.

 This is my Cat Weave quilt. I am trying to decide how I want to quilt this. Needs quilting and binding.

 This is my X plus quilt from Sunday Morning Quilts Bee. Finally have the blocks together (my month was August last year) and need to figure out a backing, quilting and binding.

 I pulled these for either a quilt of pillow. I have made a couple of blocks and I like it so far. I just need to decide what it will become so I can move on with it.

This beauty needs quilting and binding. I made it along with Lee at Freshly Pieced and I want to finish it now, so it will be ready for next year's holiday season.

This quilt top is maybe 5 or so years old? I made it from the first jelly roll I ever bought. It is a Fig Tree line called Gypsy Rose. I just wanted to see what I could create with a jelly roll. Never did it before. Now, I want to finally quilt it. I have a quilting plan, and a backing (finally) so I want it done. It will be going to live at my middle daughter's house whe I get it done.

And I think that is enough for one quarter, don't you?  I will be excited to see how I do in the personal challenge. If you are interested, join up with us!

Science Fair Time

Finally, finally J's Science Fair quilt is done! I am so happy with how it turned out, and I cannot wait until next week to give it to him. They will be coming here for Thanksgiving and I am going to give it to him then. Yay!!

         So glad we got pictures yesterday. Today is dark and rainy out there.

The back, I love. In this picture, you can't tell what the largest area is, but it looks grey. But it's not.

                     It's this fabric.

 I put his initials in three of the spaces.

 I quilted 4 lines close together every 6 inches or so, both horizontally and vertically, and then did more curvy, round quilting inside those squares.

 There wasn't enough of the molecule fabric to bind with, so I mixed it up with some orange Kona, which I had in my stash.

I can't wait to see what my little science guy thinks of this!
Pattern measurements are based on the pattern in the book Modern Bee, by Lindsay Conner.
Linking up with Crazy Mom for Finish it Friday.

Seeing Stars

Here is my Friday finish for this week. I Found this great block, as a quilt in the Modern Bee book by Lindsay of Lindsay Sews and Craft Buds. I though it would make a great single block quilt for over the fireplace. Since it was too small for my needs, and finished at only 16 inches, I added a row and a 3 inch white border. I love the result.

 I chose bright colors, red raspberry and a yellow green, for my star points. This is a great block. The directions are very clear and easy to follow and yes, it would be lovely to have a quilt of this. The one in the book is beautiful.

 I never seem to get a day where the time I have and the light I have match up for great pictures. Sorry about that.

 For the quilting, I found the center point and quilted lines radiating out from there to give the illusion of shining stars. This was my hubby's suggestion and I love how it turned out.

 It is subtle, but it does show up. I think I will be making more of these and perhaps a quilt is in my future with this pattern. There are still more in the book I want to make.

 I used the Pearl Bracelets fabric to bind the edges and create a matching defined frame for the quilt.

I had this yard of fabric which I used for the back. I thought it was cool when I bought it, still do, but could never figure out how to use it in a quilt. I am learning through this using of my stash that my fabric buying habits were really all over the place. I am hoping to cure that and buy things I can really use and blend with what I have.  Linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Friday.  Have a great weekend.

Seeing Stars...WIP Wednesday

So I have all of a sudden decided that I really like stars in quilt blocks. I mean, I always did like them, just never wanted to make them. But then, I saw a quilt in the Modern Bee book by Lindsay Conner. I wanted to do a small quilt, about 38-40 inches square, for above my fireplace. The December quilt, Triple Star was perfect for this. Except it wasn't quite large enough. So I added another row.

 Three stars finishes at about 16 inches, so I did a whole bunch of measuring and math and finally figured out how to make one more round. And this is the result.

 I love these colors and they are ALL from my stash. I used Pearl Bracelets, Confetti Dots, Squared Elements and Metro Circles. I did run out of Kona White and had to go buy a couple of yards. I use it in so many things.

 Once I chose my colors, I poked through all my scraps until I found this sweet chair from Laurie Wisbrun's line. Perfect. I have consulted with my hubby, who has been very adept at helping me to figure out quilting pattern ideas lately and have a plan in mind. Hopefully I will have something finished to show you soon.

My next star project started out by making some Ohio Stars for a couple of baby quilts. I had these large-ish scraps in my stash from a baby quilt about 8 or maybe more, years ago. I love bright fabrics for baby quilts. So I am going to see how many of these stars I can make before I run out of fabric. Then I will figure out a design layout. Hope you are having a great week. Talk to you soon. Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

Mosaic Tiles Quilt Along

So I got this great book for Christmas Modern Bee: 13 Quilts to Make with Friends. I had been perusing all the pages, drooling over the quilts, wondering which ones I could actually make by myself without too much fuss. Then, Lindsay at Craft Buds, whose book it is, posted a Quilt Along with the January quilt which is Mosaic Tiles. The quilt was actually made by Suki Newbold, with the help of her bee mates. This, I thought, is a great place to start. So I did and here, today is my take on the quilt.

 I have to tell you up front, that I am sewing from my stash. I am trying so hard not to buy fabric, although my husband has said I could if it was a very special fabric, or a very important line in quilting world. So far, no purchases for 2014. I had most of a charm pack of Simple Marks Summer, by Malka Dubrawsky. I love the saturated colors of this line and have been trying to come up with a way to use it. I had a couple of yards of City Scenes by Jane Dixon for Andover that I bought to use as a possible backing for a quilt.

I loved how the colors popped against the grey and I loved how the grey was not plain and flat with all the black and white lines. The only thing I didn't have was the red that I wanted for the cross piece. Since I elected to start this project so early, I was able to buy the red, Simple Color, from an earlier line of Malka's. I always get to buy some fabric at the 35% of new year's day anniversary sale at my LQS. So really, I haven't broken my fast since I hadn't started yet at that point.

 I did audition some other reds for this space, but none would do. I decided to make a smaller version of this quilt, since I had less that one full charm pack of the fabric to work with. I ended up making 13 blocks and putting the 13th on the back.

 I used some already cut, extra strips of th City Scenes for the binding. I didn't want to detract from the rest of the quilt.

 I quilted the red cross pieces in straight line 1/2 inch apart, going in the direction of the cross, and turning corners so it started and ended at the edge of the quilt.

 The back is all greys from my stash of leftovers from other projects. There is the 13th block and the rest of the City Scenes.

 Here you can see the quilting. I quilted loops on the rest of the quilt using a lovely reddish orange shade of Auriful.

And here is my label in the bottom corner. I had one warmish day to take pictures outside and I grabbed it, even though the quilt has not been washed yet, so it lacks the crinkly goodness.

One more fun pic before I go. Thanks to Lindsay for putting together a great book. I will definitely be trying some of the other projects in there this year, as I sew my way through my stash.