December Goals

In an attempt to not be overly busy or overwhelmed this month, I have decided that I don't want to start on any new projects, add anything to my to-make list, or add to my WIP list in any way. Instead, my goal is to finish up the *almost finished* projects that have been sitting in a pile for months on end, which ultimately consists of quilt and minis that have been basted but not yet quilted, and I think one that is just waiting for the binding. I'd love to start the new year off with a fresh slate and not be overwhelmed with things I still need to finish.

So here's my list of quilts I'd love to finish this month...

My Taurus Gemini quilt!

I actually finished quilting this one last night! I thought it would take me quite a while longer so I am full on celebrating the accomplishment! LOL! I am going to attach the binding today, and then I'll slowly hand stitch it on when I'm just sitting around. (uh... when does that ever happen??? haha!)

I'm super excited for this one because it's going on my bed!! This is finish is just in time for the cold winter we're quickly diving into here in North Dakota!

I'll share more about this one, and closeups on the quilting (which I'm so happy with how it turned out!) when it's actually complete. Fabric is Tucker Prairie by One Canoe Two. The light greys are by Lizzy House. I used my Taurus and Gemini patterns together and love how well they play together!

80's Geese charity quilt

This only needs the binding and then I can send it on it's way to warm someone in need. Since it's a charity quilt, I'll finish the binding by machine so it'll be sure to last a long time. Should be an easy finish. I'm going to do the binding at the same time as I do the one for my Taurus Gemini quilt.

All of these blocks were made and donated by my wonderful pattern testers!! Love how the scrapiness came together so beautifully! Pattern: 80's Geese 12 inch blocks.

Rise Above quilt

Some of the blocks still had paper on the back of them when I took this photo. Can you tell?? It's interesting how the light reflected so differently on the ones with the paper. ;)

This has been waiting to get quilted since June or July. I have some fun quilt ideas for this one, and with having some practice quilting all my other quilts recently I think I'm ready to tackle it.

The fabrics for this quilt are Mirage by Alex Anderson. I think they fit so perfectly with this quilt!!!I love how the Rise Above pattern is so great for highlighting specific prints! I used the Simple Sashing pattern for the sashing between the blocks.

Zodiac Quilt

I'm not sure how to quilt this one yet, but I'm thinking of doing something fun! We'll see what I come up with. Just needs quilting and binding!

 Fabrics are all by Sandi Henderson, pulled from my stash that I've been building for a while. Patterns are all 12 of my Zodiac BOM patterns.

My First Alphabet - Alphabet mini

I debated quilting this by hand, but I think I might do matchstick quilting in the background instead. That's going to take a while, but I think it'll be worth it!

Fabrics are all Anna Maria Horner. Pattern: My First Alphabet - 6 inch

Star Fruit baby quilt

I really want to try some graffiti quilting on this one, which I'm super intimidated by... hence the delay in finishing it. Any tips???

Fabrics are Alison Glass. Solids are Kona Cottons. Pattern: Star Fruit - I didn't piece the complete blocks so that it would look more like a border. I love that about paper piecing - how easily you can modify a block to adjust the design by simply piecing multiple sections as one piece.

Dusk

I keep going back and forth on this one too... hand quilt or machine quilt? I have another dusk mini that I'm hand quilting but I'm not really happy with it. I might just undo the stitching and quilt it by machine, and then hand quilt this one instead. I like having a hand quilting project that I can take to scouts and work on while I wait for my boys, so I don't plan on finishing this one this month, but I'd love to get started.

Fabrics are a mix from my stash. It took FOREVER to find the perfect color wheel from what I had available. ;) This one measures 18 inch square.  Pattern: Dusk

My other Dusk block I'm working on:

This was the first version of the pattern, which I really LOVE with those white parts, but it was WAY too bulky in the middle so I decided to take them out. Maybe one day I'll add them back in. ;)

That's everything in my pile for now... I also have the Rise Above charity quilt, but I still need to remove the paper and baste it, so I'm not going to count it in this batch of *quick finishes*. Though it is on my list of finishes for the new year.

haha. The only picture I could find was from before I sewed it together. ;) All blocks are made by my amazing pattern testers!!!

I hope that if I can finish this stack of projects (uh... looking back at my list I realize that it's quite the list for half a month including holidays. lol. oh boy...), I'll be able to take a deep breath and it'll be like a weight off my shoulders, and hopefully give me a more pleasant start to the new year. Crossing my fingers!! ;)


Do you have any end-of-year goals you're hoping to accomplish?? I'd love to hear what they are!

3rd Quarter Finish-Along Projects

Since the 2nd Quarter on the Finish-Along with Adrienne of On The Windy Side just ended, that of course means that the 3rd quarter is just beginning. There are a few days left to link up your projects for the quarter, so be sure to stop by and check out all the details.

Here is my list for this quarter. As always I like to be ambitious and have a lot of things on my list, as well as give myself options to pick from.

Calling for Mini Quilt Swap Particpants!

Have you heard of the Little Quilt Swap - Sew, Vote, Swap! group on Flickr?? I participated for a few rounds a few years ago when it just started and it was so much fun!!


Here's how it works:

• You make ANY mini you want!! You don't start with a partner, you don't have an inspiration mosaic to go off of, you simply make whatever you want. You can make 1 OR 2 minis.
• The mini needs to be between 12 inch square and 20 inches square. It does not have to be square, just not smaller than 12" and not larger than 20". It can be rectangle, diamond, circle, square, hexagon, etc. (must be finished, so quilted and bound).
• more details on the requirements can be found HERE.

Once your mini is made, you send a picture to the group mama. They upload all the quilt photos to the flickr pool anonymously! Sounds awesome, huh?! No one has any idea who made what. So that means no sneak peek photos!

Once the deadline for entries closes, everyone gets a form (or however they do it now) and you vote on every quilt, your favorite is number 1, next favorite is 2, etc. maybe that's not right, maybe your most favorite is the largest number? Anyway, they work it out. Whoever's quilt gets the most votes, or is the most favorited, gets their number 1 pick. The next person to get the most votes get their favorite quilt, unless it's already taken and they get their next top pick. So on and so forth. It is a really fun way of organizing it!

The better mini quilt you submit (hint, take really good photos too!) then the more likely you are at getting your top pick!! (If you submit 2 mini quilts then you will receive 2 mini quilts!)


And just had a walk down memory lane! lol. Here is my first entry quilt (embarrassed - it's so crooked. But my now good friend received it and said she loved it! So happy to swap with friends!) :)

Kate Spain's fandango line. 

I am actually destashing the rest of this jelly roll if anyone is interested! The only pieces missing are what you see here, about 10" off each print. ($40+shipping). Send me an email with your paypal if you are interested. oops, didn't make this into a selling post...)

Here was my entry for the Christmas swap, I really liked it! and miss it just a little bit now. ;)

Here's the Christmas mini I received. I still love taking this out every Christmas season and hanging it up! :) (I really don't like the way flickr photos are embedded anymore, and that you can browse right from the webpage, but it's kind of cool for now because you can get an idea of some of the minis that were exchanged a few years ago anyway. Visit the group page to see them all!) :)

For the Christmas swap my mini wasn't the highest voted mini, but I still got my number one pick because it wasn't the top pick of the people above me. So if your quilt isn't the most popular, that does not at all mean that you still won't walk away with your favorite mini!! That's the beauty of it since everyone has different tastes. It's great! The other mini I won is perfect in Mabel's room and we use it as a little kitchen rug and keep it with her kitchen set. And the little doggy sleeps on it. :) Perfect. :)



Anyway...

Their current round's deadline for entries just got pushed back to October 30th. They don't have enough participants this round and if they don't get at least 4 more, I think, then it will close and the round will be canceled. I really don't have the time right now to enter, but it's such a fun group so I'd hate for it to close. If you are at all interested, head on over!!! 

You could even do double time, make a celestial star mini, finish by the deadline of Oct 5th for my Celestial Star QAL and then swap it in this group!! :) (that might be crazy though... lol.)

I hope you are all having a great weekend!!

#nonstopChristmassewing at the Beach!

I LOVE Christmas time! I love the spirit of love and giving that fills the air through out the world! Whether one believes in Christ, or in something else, there is a stronger sense of kindness, friendship, love and giving. It warms my soul. :)

It's a little different living in Florida though. Usually that "warmth" is in strong contrast to the cold winter air that blows around outside. Not so much this year. Yeah, it was 85 degrees outside yesterday. Being the non-local locals that we are, we took full advantage of that and went to the beach! again. (we also went the weekend before Thanksgiving. It was heaven! I think the ocean is warmer than Bear Lake is in August! (that's where we'd go every summer in Utah.)) I would be lieing if I said I didn't enjoy it.

 I even blogged about it!! If you are interested you can see loads of pictures over on my family blog here. Maybe the photos will help warm you up! heehee. ;)

Anyway, besides adjusting to this new type of Christmas, and going to the beach, the beginning of December always hits with a mad dash to get everything sewn up! I LOVE making handmade gifts, and always want to make more than I could ever possibly accomplish in a month. But I try nonetheless. Over on Instagram and started a hashtag for people to share all their Christmas sewing too. It's fun to be involved and see what everyone is working on! If you are doing Christmas sewing, tag your pictures with #nonstopChristmassewing and play along! :)

I've been trying to finish up my advent calendar that I cut out about 3 years ago! It's been on my to-do list forever, and I'm sure you've been sick of seeing pictures of it in the ziplock bag, if you have been following my blog for a while. lol. :D Anyway, I finally completed the top (the applique numbers took forever!) and since we were going to the beach... I brought it with me to take a picture. My hubby is the BEST EVER for helping me out!!What a stud!

The sashing is white, I had the camera setting on a weird setting and it didn't turn out how I'd hoped. But anyway, here it is all together! I kind of really messed up making it, but oh well. I'll share more when it's totally finished. :)

And because I never did share a finished photo of Mabel's quilt, I brought that along too. I so love this quilt! Mabel loves it too. I'll get some more pictures another time too... but I have been wanted to share it for a month or so now, so here it is! :)

Quilt is made of Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane collection. The white shashing is Kona white. It measures about 60" x 65"? (I don't remember. oops.) The back is a pink minky dot. I quilted flowers all over it, which means I do need to take more pictures of it. :)

To add a little Christmas cheer, Neil and I watched this short Christmas video last night. I thought it was really cute.

Tonight is also the yearly Christmas devotional, at 6 pm MST. You can watch it online here, or on Facebook. Or on The Mormon Channel. It's a few Christmas messages with loads of beautiful music by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir! They are amazing!

Wishing you all a beautiful Christmas season!!

and as always, happy sewing!! I hope to see you on IG. ;)

Grandma's Lawn Chair Blog Hop Wrap Up

I am not sure where the month of September went! This blog hop sped by so fast!!! Prepping for Sewing Summit, having an awesome weekend with amazing friends, seeing a lot of beautiful quilts using my new pattern, and especially hearing all of your excitement and enthusiasm for wanting to make your own version of this, this month has been truly AWESOME! and exhausting. Thank you SO much for all of your kind comments and encouragement! I never thought creating a pattern could be so rewarding! and humbling. Thank you!!


As the blog hop comes to an end, I put together a little mosaic of everyone's quilt. If you missed any blog posts, here they are, linked to the specific post. I hope you will stop by each one!

Mon 9th - Diane @ from blank pages...
Tues 10th - Julie @ Jolie Maxtin
 Wed 11th - Ginny @ Fishcreek Studio
Thurs 12th - Kelleigh - guest blogging at from blank pages...
Fri 13th - Sara @ Sew Sweetness

Mon 16th , Diane @ from blank pages...
Tues 17th - Hilary @ Young Texan Mama
Wed 18th - Mike @ The Amateur Quilter
Thurs 19th - Rachael @ imagine gnats
Fri 20th - Courtney @ Mon Petite Lyons 

Mon 23rd - Jamie @ Sunflower Seeds
Tues 24th - Alyce @ Blossom Heart Quilts
Wed 25th - Krista @ Spotted Stones (Krista wasn't able to participate at this time. Still stop by her blog, because she is super fab!!!)
Thurs 26th - Cristy @ Sew Much Like Mom
Fri 27th - Diane @ from blank pages...

 

The first person to comment and tell me correctly which quilt matches up with which blogger will win a copy of my Grandma's Lawn Chair PDF quilt pattern! :)

Talking about winning, the winner of the PDF pattern AND Denyse Schmidt fabric bundle is...

Congrats Cheryl! I sent you an email! :)

Thank you everyone who entered and helped spread the word!! :)

I guess that about sums it up. EXCEPT...

I just finished updating the pattern!!! I added two more pages onto the end of the pattern with quick instructions for using a jelly roll! The baby quilt uses one jelly roll, the toddler size is one piece shy of needed one jelly roll, while the lap size needs two jelly rolls. The finished quilt sizes are just a little bit different than the pattern, but they go well with the adaptation of using a jelly roll. If you have already purchased the pattern, simply download it again and you should have the revised version.

There are still some giveaways going on, if you want to check out the other blogs. And if you would like to purchase the pattern, you can find it on Craftsy or Etsy.

If you make this pattern, please share it in my flickr group here, upload it and link it on Craftsy, or just send me an email! I'd love to spotlight it on my blog as well. :)

Thanks again!

Hope you are having an awesome weekend!!

Grandma's Lawn Chair Blog Hop Continues...

First I want to say Thank You to everyone who has been stopping by all the stops on the blog hop so far, entering the giveaways, and especially for all of your kind comments! I truely appreciate every single one of them. You make my heart sing! :) And a HUGE thank you to everyone who has purchased a pattern already. You rock!

Before I get into all the good stuff for today's stop, I want to announce the lucky winner of the giveaway from my first post:

Congrats Liberty!

If you are just stopping by the blog hop for the first time, be sure to check out this post to read all about my Grandma's Lawn Chair quilt pattern.

I am loving all the quilts I've seen so far, as well as the behind the scenes sneak peeks. I can't wait for you to see all the quilts coming in the next two weeks! Today I want to show you even more ideas on how you can use color to change up the pattern, and make something unique with it. I hope this will help get the wheels turning!

Here are a few ideas I share in the pattern:
(These are really rough ideas. They will look way better in actual fabric.) ;)

 Ombre effect! I like this one. 

Use lighter colors at the top, and gradually go darker as you get to the bottom.

 Two tone option 1: all vertical strips one color, horizontal strips a different color

 Two tone option 2: alternate between colors for both vertical and horizontal strips.

Warm/cool: use warm colors for one direction, cool colors for the other. (I know, purple is more of a cool color, but still.)

and of course the Rainbow quilt. :)

Here are a few ideas not in the pattern:

 Make the horizontal strips the same color as the background. Or just the vertical, using prints for the horizontal strips.

 Put two of the same color strips next two each other. Where they cross, it forms a # design. I think this one works especially well for a larger size quilt.

My good friend Krista said she wants to make a Christmas or Halloween quilt with it. I think I do too, now. :)

 I really love aqua and green for Christmas colors!

Wouldn't these make for a perfect Christmas present?

Want to come up with your own color schemes? The pattern comes with a coloring page for each size. :)

Do you know that this pattern would be even faster to make with a jelly roll??? After I get back from Sewing Summit, I want to add a jelly roll conversion chart to the pattern. Have you already purchased the pattern? Don't worry! When I update the pattern on Craftsy and Etsy, you can simply go back to the pattern page and download it again. You'll have all the changes and updates easy as that.

Everyone's been using my quilt around here. :)

The first night, Hunter asked me at least a dozen times if he could sleep with it. Sorry little dude, it's mine! mwahaha. ;)

Here's the line up for the rest of the blog hop:

(I've updated the links of previous posts so you can go right to them, if you haven't seen them yet.)

Mon 9th - Diane @ from blank pages...
Tues 10th - Julie @ Jolie Maxtin
 Wed 11th - Ginny @ Fishcreek Studio
Thurs 12th - Kelleigh - guest blogging at from blank pages...
Fri 13th - Sara @ Sew Sweetness

Mon 16th , Diane @ from blank pages...
Tues 17th - Hilary @ Young Texan Mama
Wed 18th - Mike @ The Amateur Quilter
Thurs 19th - Rachael @ imagine gnats
Fri 20th - Courtney @ Mon Petite Lyons 

Mon 23rd - Jamie @ Sunflower Seeds
Tues 24th - Alyce @ Blossom Heart Quilts
Wed 25th - Krista @ Spotted Stones
Thurs 26th - Cristy @ Sew Much Like Mom
Fri 27th - Diane @ from blank pages...

Ginny's quilt was featured on Auriful's facebook page! How cool is that?! I took a screen shot of it for you Ginny. ;)

Do you want another giveaway?! I decided to cut that first giveaway short (it originally went until the end of the blog hop). I thought it would be more fun to also have a giveaway that came with some fabric!! How does some Shelburne Falls by Denyse Schmidt sound???

You could win a PDF copy of Grandma's Lawn Chair Quilt Pattern AND a fat eight bundle of 11 prints of Denyse Schmidt's Shelburne Falls (prints shown), and enough Kona White for the background fabric. That is enough fabric to complete a baby size quilt top. (Sorry, US only, for shipping cost reason. I hope you understand. If you are international, be sure to stop by all the other blogs for a chance to win a copy of the pattern!!! If you want to help pay for shipping, I'm more than happy to ship it international.)

Use the Rafflecopter to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I will announce the winner on the final post of the blog hop. Good luck!

You can purchase the pattern on Craftsy and Etsy.
10% off until the end of the blog hop. No coupon necessary!

Be sure to stop by all the other great blogs this week! 

I will be leaving on Thursday to go to the Sewing Summit! 

I am getting so excited!

and I'm planning on taking lots of pictures this year. :)

Grandma's Lawn Chair Blog Hop Guest Blogger: Kelleigh

I am so excited to have Kelleigh guest blogging today! She doesn't have a blog, but is @Kelleighz on Instagram. :) She was so kind to volunteer to test my pattern for me and I couldn't be more grateful! 

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Hi! I’m Kelleigh.  I’m just visiting today to tell you all about my adventures with Diane’s new quilt pattern Grandma’s Lawn Chair. 

A few months ago, a student of mine told me that he was going to be an uncle.  He was very excited about his new niece and asked me to make a quilt for her.  Yikes, a quilt?  I love to sew but I am definitely not a quilter. I told him that I would but that it would be a simple quilt because, while I can make baby clothes all day, quilts are hard for me.  Two days later, I was presented with a small stack of flannel that he had bought with his own money.  Needless to say, I was stuck at that point.

Searching for a pattern that didn’t scare the pants off of me was not something I was looking forward to doing.  I wracked my brain trying to think of something to make with this very small stack of fabric for the very excited uncle to be.  Enter Diane and her great new pattern.

This quilt looks very labor intensive and complex but, in reality, it was so very easy. The pattern opens with beautiful pictures of the quilt in several color layouts. Over the next 15 pages, Diane walks you through everything you need to know about making this quilt including: a discussion about fabric choices, colors, sizes of the quilt, tools that you will need, cutting instructions and alternate layouts.  When I tell you that anyone can make this quilt with confidence, I really do mean anyone.  If I can, you certainly can.

Here are some pictures of my quilt (the posting of which make me only slightly more nervous than tackling the quilt in the first place).

 

The small stack of flannels, washed and ready to go.

I made the baby size quilt which was perfect for the 5 fat quarters that I was given paired with a yard of solid pink.  While this quilt is not as vibrant as many of the ones that you will see on this blog hop, I am happy with the softness and warmth that it will provide.  As you may have noticed, I did not actually quilt it with many straight lines; I just used a few to keep the two layers from shifting too much. (*HINT* don’t make one of your first quilt with flannel and Minkie; two of the stretchiest fabrics ever!!).

Thank you, Diane, for letting me test this pattern and for letting me share my experience with it.  If you are interested in trying your hand at this yourself, Diane has it for sale on her Craftsy page and Etsy shop.

Please check in on all of the other beautiful quilts on this blog hop.  I know that their quilts will show you what a real quilter can do with this pattern.

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Thank yo so much Kelleigh!! Your quilt looks beautiful! And oh so soft! I want to rub it on my cheeks. :) I don't think I would have ever thought to make this all out of flannel, but wouldn't that be so soft, and perfect for a baby?!! Thanks again! :)

Even though this post is technically on my blog, Kelleigh still gets to offer up a free PDF copy of the pattern to one of you lucky readers! 

To enter: 

Leave a comment on this post answering the question: 

What is your favorite thing you like to make (or buy) for a baby gift? Giveaway is now closed. Congrats to Deborah!

I'll announce a winner on Saturday evening.

Make sure to check out all the other stops on the blog hop! To see their amazing quilts, as well as enter to win a copy of the pattern.

Here's the line up:

Mon 9th - Diane @ from blank pages...
Tues 10th - Julie @ Jolie Maxtin
 Wed 11th - Ginny @ Fishcreek Studio
Thurs 12th - Kelleigh - guest blogging at from blank pages...
Fri 13th - Sara @ Sew Sweetness

Mon 16th , Diane @ from blank pages...
Tues 17th - Hilary @ Young Texan Mama
Wed 18th - Mike @ The Amateur Quilter
Thurs 19th - Rachael @ imagine gnats
Fri 20th - Courtney @ Mon Petite Lyons 

Mon 23rd - Jamie @ Sunflower Seeds
Tues 24th - Alyce @ Blossom Heart Quilts
Wed 25th - Krista @ Spotted Stones
Thurs 26th - Cristy @ Sew Much Like Mom
Fri 27th - Diane @ from blank pages...

Thank you so much for stopping by and joining in!

If you make something with this pattern (or any of my patterns), I'd love for you to share it with me and everyone else! 

Add it to the from blank pages... Flickr group, 

or on Instagram tag it with #fromblankpagespatterns