FINISH! YAY!

I had vowed, this year, in my head, that now I am getting back into sewing I need to finish some of the projects that have been weighing on my consciousness, and I'm pleased to announce that I've got one done!

Here it is, the Layer Cake QAL quilt: Dream Cheerful!



I wasn't 100% thrilled with the border, when I added it, but after I got it back from the quilter's I decided I liked it! The quilting really made the difference with this one.



I replaced a couple of the blocks in this one with blocks from other sources, and I love how they turned out. Here's a close-up of the quilting, which was done at Loose Threads in Milton.



The back is a cheater print, and I like how it turned out, along with the stripy binding.



It's going to its new home tomorrow. I'm so glad I finally got it done!

WIP Wednesday and the Finish-a-Long

Good morning!

I've been on impromptu hiatus for so long I surprised even myself, but I'm glad to have a WIP Wednesday to help get back into the swing of things! And even better, this can also serve as my linky post for the first quarter of Rhonda's Finish-a-Long Party, which is a great idea! I encourage y'all to link up, if you've got a WIP or two in your closet that's making you anxious...

So, what do I want to finish in the next couple months? How about this:


This is going to be a Quilt of Valor--I've got all 12 blocks sewn, and now it's on to the sashing and borders!

And I'd also like to get this one to its person:


I just finished the last block for this, too--this is my Layer Cake QAL quilt (with two substitutions), and the sashing is a bit more fancy for this one, so that's the next step.

The next major finish-it goal, and this one's going to cheer up our living room:


The Kaleidoscope quilt! I know the picture is from August, but that is honestly the last time it got looked at--it's ready to baste and quilt, and I'm nervous about free-motioning it myself but I'm also rather looking forward to it as I know I can only get better from where I am!

And the last thing to finish:


The all-by-hand spring wallhanging! So far the quilting is going swimmingly, especially now that I have my glider chair in a location with excellent light and I can quilt very comfortably. It would be fabulous to have the spring wallhanging up during springtime!

And don't forget to link up with Lee's WIP Wednesday and check out the other fabulous in-progress projects...

The WsIP stats:
New projects: 0
Completed projects: 0
In progress: 9

Happy New Year and a belated giveaway announcement

Hello, lovelies!

It's been many moons since I even logged on--suffice to say my semester got away from me and my sewing room got a bit dusty--but now that the semester's over I can breathe again and I'm back! I have a very belated congratulations to my giveaway winners, A.J. Dub for the hexagons and Lesly for the Luna FQs! Hooray, and thanks for stopping by my giveaway post!

I *do* have some progress to report: This past week, I've been clipping along on my hand-quilting and have gotten closer to finishing the two sampler quilts I've got going. To wit:


Block 11 for the Quilt of Valor. I'll be so excited to get this done!




And blocks 10 and 11 for the Layer Cake Quilt-Along quilt! Block 10 is the second block I decided to substitute, and the pattern is Love in a Mist from Modify Tradition. I love, love, love how this block turned out, but I wouldn't want to make a whole quilt of them, because hot diggety, that was a lot of HSTs for one block. ARGH.

The sashing fabric for the Dream On quilt is a solid orange--which to me feels rather bold!--so I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks put together.

As for the new year: I would like to finish the major quilts I've got in my queue: The two sampler quilts, my kaleidoscope quilt (which I need to baste and then I'm going to free-motion it myself: intimidating), and the queen-sized quilt for our bed. I have a couple of kits that I'm keen to get to, finally, and I'd like to get the seasonal wallhangings actually on the wall this year!

So we'll see how that goes...

WIP Wednesday! Now actually on Wednesday!

Ah, Wednesday! Today is the day we all recover from our long holiday weekends!

My holiday weekend consisted of fourteen hours in the car, three repetitions of Beauty and the Beast, at least six repetitions of the Beauty and the Beast original Broadway cast recording on CD, one family reunion, one long-overdue and far-too-short visit with Tracie, ten years' worth of family memories while hunting for Grandma pictures, lots of glow-necklaces and glow-sticks shared among the family, a half-hour of delightful fireworks with commentary provided by Zoe, and more brats and hamburgers than I've eaten all year.

Today, we recover!

Fortunately, long visits also mean hand-sewing time, so I've made significant progress on my hand-pieced spring wallhanging (as always, click for bigger):


I've got the center all together, and the first two borders on! Isn't it exciting?

FNSI results! And beautiful flowers!

Hello, lovelies!

It's a muggy Saturday here, and my sewing room is becoming a guest room for a couple days, so Friday Night Sew-In was my last chance at the machine for a few days!

But before I share my results, I want to point you in the direction of an artist friend of mine: Tracie Thompson in Minneapolis. I love pretty much everything she does! Case in point, her watercolor flower sketches:


Aren't they cheerful? I'm thinking I may need at least one of these lovely watercolors for my sewing room! Unless one of y'all get to them first--Tracie has good prices, and she'll ship all over. (She does pet portraits, too--OMG SO ADORABLE--I encourage you to check her blog out! Each picture takes you to Tracie's blog, where you can also see the flowers in much better detail.)

And now for FNSI results! I got two blocks done last night (one for the layer cake QAL and one for the jelly-roll Quilt of Valor, and as always, click for bigger):




And behind the cut, more pictures--I've gotten a lot done this week!

The Growlery

Growlery growl'er-ee, n (English; cf. Dutch grollen, to grumble)

A retreat for times of ill humour. This term has largely become obsolete, which is strange, given that so many people seem to have a place to go when they are in a bad mood - a place to be alone and think. It's similar in meaning to the Latin-derived sanctum sanctorum, with the added connotation that the individual in question is going to the place to be alone while upset. (From Forthright's Favourite Words)

An excellent word of the day, don't you think? It also happens to be perfect to describe my sewing room this past week: I had a few days where I really needed the escape!

Good thing I had a bunch of stuff already cut, eh?

I have *LOTS* of pictures to share, so I'll start with a yummy stack of fabric. That's right, my fabric for the Kaleidoscope Quilt Along arrived this week! It's mostly Fresh Flowers by Deb Strain (SO PRETTY OMG), and the 'solid' I found is a white tone-on-tone that has adorable flowers and vines that go perfectly with the other fabric.


There's still time to join! C'mon, you know you want to...

And follow the cut for many many pictures!

Quilting Along!

Hello!

It's a fine Sunday morning--I'm out on my deck, feeling the breeze between my toes, and it's wonderful! This week has seen me in my sewing room more often (yay!), so I actually have some sewing progress to share (double yay!). I'm catching up on a couple quilt-alongs and getting ready to start another--but I won't get behind on that one, honest!

First up, my first three blocks for an informal quilt-along I'm doing with my mother-in-law (as always, click for bigger pics):

Layer Cake Quilt Along: Progress!

So I was so excited for the Layer Cake Quilt Along over at Moose on the Porch Quilts, right? I got a Dream On layer cake as a birthday present, I drooled over the fabrics and colors, the quilt-along started at the beginning of November and...

I made one block.

Then promptly fell behind, as one does when you have eleventy-billion papers and projects to grade at the end of the semester and no time to sew.

But now! Oh, the excitement!

Layer Cake Quilt-Along: Block 1

Last weekend I took advantage of the extra hour in my Saturday and got the chance to do just a little sewing (which proved to be very good for my mental health!): so I did the first block in the Layer Cake Quilt Along.

And here's my version of the Alabama Spinner block, designed by Gene Black:



I'm using Dream On by Urban Chiks, and I was a little dismayed by the fact that there's not a lot of contrast in this particular layer cake (compared to some of the other gorgeous blocks in the flickr pool). BUT! I still adore the fabric, and it will be a lovely, springtimey quilt when I'm done. And I am really quite pleased with how this block turned out. *g*