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.

2nd Quarter Finish-Along: My List

Yes! Can I just tell you how excited I am that I met the deadline for this FAL?! This Finish-Along event has been one of my favorite blog events for, well, since I started blogging about quilty stuff! But I don't think I've linked up for over a year and a half. I just keep forgetting and missing the deadline. Well, not this time! I put it on my calendar, so every day I've gotten a reminder on my phone to link up. And even with that, look at me... I'm still squeezing my entry in under the wire! (The proposed finished list link up ends today.) You can read all about this over at On the Windy Side.

On the 12th Day of Christmas...

I finished and hung my Advent Calendar!

pattern by Elizabeth Hartman.

I cut this fabric out maybe three years ago? But only started sewing it a few weeks ago. I'm so happy to finally have it finished! I think if I made another one now, I would use different fabrics, but this one is bright and colorful, and that's fun! :) (most fabrics are Robert Kaufman, white is Kona White.) Just so you are aware, sewing on the numbers took SO long! I tried to get it finished by the first, and totally could have, except for all those numbers. You could probably sew them on/attach them differently, and it would be a very fast project.

In the sashing I quilted a spiral design, which I think has the perfect feel for Christmas! 

My quilting leaves much to be desired, but for not practicing very much, I'm quite pleased with it. :)

Now to tell you what not to do:

When I sewed the pocket panels, I only sewed a 3/8" seam, when I was supposed to sew a 3/4" seam = you can't see very much of the back of the pocket. :( I knew as I was sewing them that it had to be wrong, but I didn't want to get up and go in the other room to check, so I just kept sewing. lol. A lazy mistake. So if you're lazy like me, don't do it. :)

I also don't know how all my pinks and reds got in the center. I think when I laid it out to arrange the colors I had the numbers fabric on top. It looked really good to me! So either I messed up by arranging based on the wrong fabrics, OR they just got mixed up in the shuffle of ironing and sewing the numbers on. I don't know. I am still happy with it though, so not a big deal. Just something to mention: Arrange block placement by the front pocket fabric!

Now to find some goodies to fill it with! Mostly I want to make laminated cards to keep in the pockets, each one with a service project, scripture, song, story, etc to do. I enjoy bringing in the Christmas Spirit with giving and serving rather than just candy and gifts. Though those are fun too. ;)

Oh, and talking about giving... If you are still looking online to do your holiday shopping, don't forget to use Ebates.com! Ignore my "sales pitch" voice, because I really honestly do love shopping with Ebates. (I always get so paraoid that I sound like a salesman). I've been using Ebates for years! They have a list of available coupon codes for each merchant, as well as cash back percentages. I've saved a ton when shopping at Fabric.com, Old Navy (today Old Navy is having a 35% off sale + 2% cash back - sometimes it's more!), Puma - my husbands favorite, they have Overstock, Hancock Fabric, tons of clothing stores, Walmart, Target, Amazon, Groupon, etc. I wouldn't tell you about it if I didn't love it myself! Plus, you get $5 when you sign up and make a qualifying purchase. If you're going to shop online anyway... ;)

Ok, I hope you are all having a wonderful week!!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway! ends tomorrow night.

#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. ;)

W.i.P. Wednesday {2/6/12}

Hello! :) Today is the last day to enter the giveaway for a free copy of My First Alphabet, a paper piecing pattern. You can enter HERE. I am loving everyone's ideas for what they would do with it! Thanks for making my to-do list longer. ;)

I feel like I've been having Crafters ADD times a million lately. I am working on so many things, or at least feel like it. I keep going around in circles from one project to the next, but honestly, I think the variety helps keep me motivated and I feel like I'm accomplishing a lot. 

In the sewing area I have been working on my DQS13 mini. Here's where I'm at right now... 

I started with just a corner of it, and actually have one more row to test. I was SO nervous about how these colors were going to come together, but I am really loving it! I hope my partner does too! The single squares are 2.5" finished, and I have 39 more to go AFTER I finish this next row. They are small and the pattern is simple enough, so it goes fairly fast. :) It's my Starburst pattern (you can find it on Craftsy or Etsy).

I am also almost finished with a new cover for our mini trampoline. The original one got shredded!

New! and my little drummers.
I am hoping this one will hold up a lot better. ;)
I used some Home Dec fabric by Jessica Jones. Nice to finally use this from my stash.

All I have left to do is make wholes for the legs to go through. We will be jumping in style now! :)

I've also been slowly adding onto this project:

1" finished HST's. It makes me just a little bit mad (as in crazy) but I am loving it. I will be turning it into a knitting roll, similar to the one I made for the Sew Sew Modern swap. So excited to have something nice for myself for once. ;)

(ps. I'm still waiting for my items to arrive and I am DYING!!! It is so hard to watch everything awesome get snatched up and wonder what is going to be left for me... even though it's all awesome so I am in no way disappointed. The suspense is just killing me!)

While I was waiting for my Woodland Sampler to arrive, yep, I'm jumping on board with that one. I decided to do a little cross stitch of my own and came up with a little surprise. I want to have this up in the next few days... I want to make a million of these! (this is actually my second one!)

I don't think I've done any crossstitch since I was in elementary school, maybe jr. high. I LOVE it! It's so relaxing and fun. I'm really excited for my new, easy to travel with, project!

Though I want to turn it into a calendar instead of just a single panel. I'm using this cute button calendar from I heart Patchwork as my inspiration.

I am also slowly working on my honey cowl. Mostly just in the car while my hubby drives. I think I am officially the slowest knitter in the world! But I'm determined to finish it.

As for a finish, I made up this cute little zippy pouch for a good friend. It was her birthday on Sunday, and since we still had sickies, we all stayed home and it's still sitting on my desk. She'll get it this weekend at least. :)

I used some remix dots (I think) for Robert Kaufman. I picked them up at Sew Mama Sew while they were having a good sale. Love it! And the dots are awesome for spacing out my stitching. Wahoo!

The inside with a little pocket.

and I added a zipper pull. :)

It looks more like a St. Patrick's Day present with all the green. lol. :)


OH! and on the computer front (I told you I've been multitasking!) ;) I finished up the UPPERCASE letters of the new My ABC's pattern. Except we ran out of printer ink so I can't test it. It may be another few weeks before this one gets released. I'm excited about it though. and then the lowercase will be next.

Linking up at Freshly Pieced!

On the schedule for tomorrow... potty training. 

Wish me luck!

W.i.P. Wednesday {1/23/13} Swaps - IG Style

It's been a while since I've done a WIP Wednesday. I'll be linking up over at Freshly Pieced today! :)

My biggest WIPs right now that I need to get done pronto are for my swaps! Last fall when I was sick and on the couch bored out of my mind I signed up for a few swaps that didn't end until the end of this month and the middle of next month. I love them. :)

The first one is Sew Sew Modern! I've said this before, but I love swaps! They always seem to push my creativity and it always blows me away to see all the amazing talent out there! I really would be happy with anything that is being made, and this group is definitely no exception to that! I know what I'm making, but I'm having a hard time with the style and fabrics. I keep changing my mind! I think partially because my partners style, which I love, is not what I normally do. So trying to do something me with a style that isn't me, has been a stretch... I'm crossing my fingers it all turns out perfectly for her! (I think it would be hard to have a guy as your partner, because usually there aren't many in swaps, and man, you say one thing and it's a dead giveaway who it is! ha! I think about that sometimes.) :)

Anyway, here's my little work in progress from start to current, in some mostly bad Instagram photos. (the pictures usually look better on my phone, and then I see them on computer and am like, ug. Maybe one day I'll get a better phone.) :)

Design layout, picking fabric, practice runs, cutting, 160 - 1" hst's, putting it together, changing my mind on fabric, adding more fabrics, changing my mind on design, going back to my original design... I don't think I've ever been so indecisive. But now I'm done with that and am ready to just finish it all up! :) Hooray! I am really excited about these. :) I think I'll have one of the goodies made with the HST's, and the other part made using the Weave (which hopefully I can take some pictures along the way to share a tutorial with you!)

The other swap is DQS 13. I LOVE this group! I made the 70's Geese for Whitney last year. I still miss it. ;) and here's a little peak of what I want to do this year:

First I came up with the Starburst pattern:
(found on Craftsy or Etsy)

But decided to change it up a bit for my partner:

Here is my final idea. I ordered fabrics to match, but I can't remember what colors I picked for where. lol. Maybe I'll change to prints... :)

I'm pretty excited to get started on this one! I scaled down the blocks so each 1/4 block is only 3" I think. :) I think it will look awesome! (ok, crossing my fingers.)


I think the HARDEST thing about swaps is when your partner is really quiet. I don't ever know if that means they hate my ideas, or if they just aren't at all active. I'm guessing it's the later since I haven't noticed posts on anyone's photos... I'm not saying which swap I'm talking about. (I don't want to give anything away). But in the end I just figure that if it's not important for them to comment, than I can just do whatever in the world I want to! :D lol. :)

Anyway, now I'm off to be finish up projects, be mom, probably play with some Legos, clean, pay bills, do laundry, oh.... I wish life could be full of only the good stuff! ;)

What are you working on lately?? :)

Hope you have a great Wednesday!