I won! Now to February...

Hello, loves!

I'm very glad to have gotten involved in the Lovely Year of Finishes -- and what a reinforcing surprise I got this week, when I got an email that I was one of January's winners! I'm going to pick out a pattern from SewBitterSweet designs. \o/!

And that just makes me want to set some goals for February! But first, I have to share this, my very first go at foundation paper piecing: A mug rug, all for me at my office!



And yes, that IS the same mug that Greg House used to drink from -- well, the same brand and color, anyway.

Finishes galore!

WOW -- when I decided to put energy into finishing quilts this year, I wasn't sure I'd get this many projects out of my closet, but I managed! In the past couple weeks I've finished one, and I've got photos of another that I finished back in March.

Here's the Kaleidoscope quilt, made as a top right along with Don't Call Me Betsy's Kaleidoscope QAL :



I'd had the top complete and hanging in my closet (for an embarrassing amount of time) before I decided I should just quilt it by checkbook and get it DONE. I'm so glad I did!



I love the stripy border, and the summer's other big project has been our deck. My husband has been hard at work on that, and I repainted our chairs. Sweet, eh?

The other big finish is the Quilt of Valor I've been working on -- although it's not quite ready to send, as I have a label issue that I'll need to address:



I really love how the quilting turned out on this one:



I've got a few more things in the works, but the queen-sized line art quilt is off to the quilters, and so my big projects are now mostly DONE! Which means I can start some NEW stuff.

...Yeah, this is going to be dangerous.



Linking up with:

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...

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):