2018 Finish-A-Long

This is one of my favorite blog parties!  I simply have to jump in and play along!  I have plenty of UFO's and I've already listed 12 of them for other challenges, so here are the ones I will concentrate on for the 1st Quarter...

1.   Quilt Diamonds Are Forever:

I started this quilt in February 2014 and finished the top in late 2017.  I will be so happy to have this bright and beautiful quilt finished and ready for some serious cuddling!  It is my Guild UFO Challenge quilt for January, so it has to be done by February 6.  And my friend Joanne has offered to let me use her long-arm to quilt it - Yay!!!

2.   Hudson's Dreaming of Planes:

Hudson is our 6-year-old grandson - he's a real cutie pie!  And last winter he informed me that he had outgrown his baby quilt and needed a big-boy quilt.  I pulled fabrics and settled on a design, hoping to get it to him quickly, but somehow it never even got started.  So I set a deadline to have it done to give him when we visited at Thanksgiving - and that didn't happen either!  So, this week I decided to get 'er done so I would have it to give to him the next time we visit in North Carolina (where almost all our grandchildren live).  The flimsy is almost done and the quilting is scheduled!!!

3.   Back Door Quilts - January - March:

This is a monthly series of Back Door designs by Cottage Creek Quilts that I've been wanting to do for several years now, and this is the year!  I DO enjoy changing out small quilts with each month or season!!!  I adore the fresh, modern color scheme used by Shabby Fabrics  but didn't want to purchase the laser cut kits so I'm using my own fabrics.

4.   First 3 months of small quilts in Art to Heart's "Imagine":

Again, small monthly quilts!  I will display these on my 12-inch standing frame on our hearth to brighten our living area :)

5.   First 3 Blocks of Dear Daughter:

This was a free BOM offered by Sherri Noel of Rebecca Mae Designs in 2016.  I absolutely fell in love with it but just couldn't find time to start it back then.  I saved all the patterns and hope to keep up with it this year - I love it so!!!

6.  Rag Quilt for Me!!!

I've been hoarding some flannels for a cuddly morning-time quilt - me, my Bible, my coffee, and Rocky purring in my lap - life is good!  The box with those fabrics is buried under other UFO boxes right now, so I can't show a picture just yet.  But I'll be digging it out soon - we are making rag quilts at one of our Guild workshops next month, so this one should be easy to accomplish :)

7.   Mint Chocolate Wedding Ring - to flimsy stage:

Long time UFO - one of my oldest!  I'm steadily chipping away at this one and would love to have it done early in the year!

8.   Bonnie's Mystery Quilt this year - On Ringo Lake - to flimsy stage:

All the sections are sewn except for finishing up assembling #6.  Then I'll need to assemble the 50 blocks, cut pieces for the setting blocks (it's on-point), and assemble the flimsy.  Might be a stretch to hope for this one in the first quarter, but I can dream, can't I?

I think that will do it for this first quarter!  

I'm linking up with Leanne at She Can Quilt...

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

Begin as you mean to go on....

That's an expression that I've often used in my life to spur me on when I find myself at the beginning of something new.  Since this is my first Goals post for 2018, it should serve me well today!

Courtesy @texassweettea.com

Like many of you, a new year inspires me to do new things!  To clear out the old, begin the new, set goals, choose how I want to spend that precious year.  Of course, it rarely turns out the way I've planned it, but without a plan I'm doomed from the start :)  I'm definitely a planner, an organizer, a dreamer.  One thing that seems to work for me is to break things down into time and effort segments, then get those pieces on my calendar for the month...

These are the two projects getting all the love right now -

Mint Chocolate Wedding Ring ...
This is one of my oldest UFO's from 2008.  It was a little intimidating to me when I first started it as a relatively new quilter, but I'm really having fun with it this year and will almost be sad when it's done.  There's incredible satisfaction when each block is completed and placed on the design wall...

And yes, Rocky, is still the Snoopervisor Extraordinare of all things that happen around here!!!  

And he continues to take his job as CEO of Foot Warming very seriously....

And yes, he's put on a few pounds LOL!!!

Of course you know I had to join in Bonnie Hunter's newest Mystery Quilt - On Ringo Lake!

Just had to put pieces together to see how these blocks will look!

I loved her color choices and happily went with them, with a few exceptions - blacks instead of browns, and limited my neutrals to soft buttery yellows.  This year's project has literally thousands of pieces, and I'm almost done with them...

400 Flying Geese!!!!

I love all the new challenges, sewalongs, quiltalongs, BOM's - the list of shiny new things to do is always so tempting!  And I always want to do them all.  Joining in is a great way for me to stay on track and gives me that much-needed measure of accountability.  However, my biggest challenge is to limit myself to what I might reasonably be able to accomplish in one year - any of you relate?  Yeh, I thought so LOL!!!

These days, there are many UFO challenges out there and I like to choose one or two that I can combine with the UFO challenge at my Guild.  One of my favorites is Elm Street Quilts' One Monthly Goal

My project this month will be to quilt my Diamonds R Forever top...

This is an old UFO from a Guild class taught by the String Sisters ...

Another Challenge I hope to keep up with is the 2018 FinishAlong, hosted by She Can Quilt....

I'm also planning to join Lyn at What a Hoot! with her 18 in 2018 link up, and I'll hopefully get that list together later this week.  There will also be a few new projects that aren't really new but taken from my Wish List - I can't wait to share them with you!  I'll probably join Pomegranate & Chintz's 6 & 6 in 2018 for these.  Yep, I'm hopeless - join all the joins!!!!

Enjoy your week my friends!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

Whack-a-Quilter!

So here I am again, popping in for a quick update.  I feel like that carnival game, Whack-a-Mole, where the mole pops up out of a hole and you have to try to whack it before it drops back down and then up again in a different hole 😜  (Better hit me quick, 'cause I'm popping back out again in a poof of smoke LOL!!!)

I just had to take a quick break this morning to check in with you all and say Hi!  I always miss you when I'm gone too long!  First, I have to thank you all for your sweet get well wishes!  I had a couple of rough days for sure, and was happy to bid that sinus infection farewell!  It did knock me back a bit on my schedule though, so I'm still playing a bit of catch-up.

I never found time to even touch my February OMG project.... Dreaming of Planes.  You can read about my thoughts and plans HERE if you're interested.

So that will now be my March OMG project 😎. I have a wonderfully relaxing week at Mountain Quiltfest coming up this month, so I'll just have everything prepped and ready to rock and roll during our evening sewing at the cabin.

Currently, I'm up to my armpits in quilting my February UFO Challenge project for Music City guild - Fantasia.  Here's an early shot just after I finished sandwiching it - better photos will follow in the Finish post :*)

A Rainbow Scrap Challenge project from several years ago

My original thought when I put quilting this top on the UFO list was to simply pull it out of the flimsy closet, choose a backing fabric, pop it on Joanne's longarm and knock it out in one afternoon.  Weeeeeellllllll, you all know me, right?  If I can make something complicated and much more work than it should be, I will!!!

First I couldn't decide on a backing fabric - which is always a problem for me when I'm backing blocks that are all a different color.  Finally I decided on black-and-white, but because I couldn't settle on just one fabric, the quilt demanded a pieced back!  No really ... It did ... It demanded!!!  So I had to get creative with that - I designed an enlarged block - 48" for the back ...

Then it demanded that I custom quilt it on my domestic machine ....

With RULERS!!!!

Yes, I'm nuts - certifiable.... especially considering this is my first time quilting with rulers.  But I do love how this is coming along ❤️  And needless to say, I am never without eyes watching me to be sure I do everything exactly as it should be done .....

So all that to say, this "quick" UFO finish has taken waaaaayyyyy longer than I anticipated, and it has to be done by this coming Tuesday morning!  I think I'm in a good rhythm and should be able to finish without killing myself so long as I keep at it.

On the yarn front, I wanted to share a new adventure!  Mason-Dixon Knitting is starting A Year of Techniques and although time is something I don't have just now, this is something fun that I just couldn't resist joining in!

The first Technique was just announced and it is how to work Helical stripes - below is a photo of Jen Arnall-Culliford's photo of her project using the technique.

Photo courtesy of Mason-Dixon Knitting

Don't know what Helical stripes are?  Me neither!  LOL 😜. But I was intrigued of course, and although I've done quite a bit of knitting the past few years, I'm mostly self-taught and jumped on the chance to learn new techniques and refine my skills.

Basically, this is a technique that allows you to knit stripes in the round in a way that does not cause the little "jog" in the fabric where the round joins.  It's a fun technique and I'm looking forward to playing with it once I get Fantasia quilted and my life is not all-quilting-all-the-time once again.

Each month you have the option of buying the yarn they recommend for the Technique.  I probably won't do that every month since it will mostly be practice for me and I can use some of my "crappy" or leftover stash for that.  But this month they offered Zauberballs - and I LOVE Zauberballs!  This is the one I ordered - it is called Tropical Fish - wowzers!!!

Of course, I won't start out using that yummy ball of yarn just yet.  I'll have to practice a bit.  And since the project is arm warmers which I don't often wear, I may even save that spectacular Zauberball for a pair of socks - YUM!!!

There was no way I could just not start though, right?  I mean, it's a new start for crying out loud ... I had to pick up the needles and at least cast on some yarn to practice, right?  I dug out some leftover sock yarn - remember these?

Won't that pink and yellow make nice Helical stripes?  Like Juicy Fruit gum!!!!  I can't wait to get to the point where I can see those stripes coming to life.

The Year of Techniques just started on March 1, so if you're interested go on over HERE for the information about how to get signed up!  (There's no charge to join but you do have to buy the book.)  And if you do, let me know so we can play together!

Okay - the Quilt Police just found me hiding in the closet trying to get this posted before they caught me, and they say I gotta go quilt!  This was such a nice visit with you all ❤️ Hope you have a lovely weekend my friends!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

Linking up

On the Needles

One Monthly Goal

Back to the Rainbows!

Before I share my rainbow scrappy adventures in PURPLE today, I have another "purple" project to share ....

I have my En Provence center together!!!!

Oh my gosh - I'm so excited!!!  I'm working now on the borders and hope to have a finished top to share next week :*)  But - since it was Saturday, I put that aside this morning and joined lots of my friends in the effort to tame our purple scraps :*)

One of my favorite blog parties has always been Angela's Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) which can be found over at her blog, SoScrappy.  Every ScrapHappy Saturday, she hosts a linky party where tons of scrappy quilters show off their stuff - rainbow-style!

I haven't been able to play along the past few years, but this year, I'm determined to carve out the time.  Actually, it's really more of a must because my scraps and crumbs runneth over!

You can see that my purple crumb jar is so full I'm having to just plop pieces on top of it!

At first I thought perhaps I would just do something with the crumbs this year, but then I remembered this pattern that has been in my "Really, Really Want to Make" file since, like, forever.....

This sweet quilt is such an ingenius design!  It's fairly simple, but looks really complicated.  The eye just roves all over it in delight!  It is called Geese Migration, and the talented Cynthia Brunz of Quilting is more fun than Housework is the designer.  My friend Libby from  Life on the Hill has been teasing me with her GM blocks for a while now, and every time I see one of her blocks I drool with envy.  Just yesterday, someone posted their completed GM quilt on Instagram and it was so gorgeous ... it was the last straw!  This is the year for me to start mine!

I decided to use my Marti Michell templates to cut the flying geese since I'll be making them one at a time.  Then I pulled out my purple scrap drawer and found lots to inspire me!

This is from a deconstructed shirt I cut up and used in a previous project...

And look at this one!  It is a sweet print from 2006 - which happens to be the year I really fell head over heels into the quilting rabbit hole :*)

The success of this pattern depends on the strategic use of blending color values together in the geese and squares.  This print gave me both a light and dark!

It was exciting to see the pieces all laid out for stitching up my first block!

 Rocky got on board with the project immediately =^..^=

This is not a great picture, but I'm in love with my first block!!!

Playing in my purple scraps was so much fun I just couldn't stop, so I pulled some purples and fuchsias and began to cut circles for the Quilty 365 Circles project that I started and left hanging last year ...

Aren't these yum???  Audrey over at Quilty Folk started this party last year.  She has since finished her quilt - and yes it's beautiful! - so for 2017, the link-up party can be found at Daisy and Jack Handmade.

This is another project that needs to get at least one day's attention each month this year.  I have maybe 50 done from last year, so lots more circles yet to be cut!  Then of course they have to be prepared for applique to the backgrounds....

You can read more about how I plan to do this project HERE if you are interested.

My time ran out today, but next Saturday I'll concentrate on my crumbs and try to tame them before they devour my studio LOL!!!

Hope you've had a lovely Saturday doing something stitchy :*)

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

Linking up with the following FUN linky parties - check 'em out!

- Main Crush Monday

- Design Wall Monday

- Monday Making

I Love a Plan!

I love participating in the quarterly Finish-A-Long challenges each year!  I don't always (um, make that never) finish all my projects, but it really helps keep me focused on the ones that need my attention.  Like many of my fellow quilters, I'm a card-carrying squirrel-chaser and distraction is my middle name.  Whenever I begin to feel like I've wandered off and fallen down the rabbit hole, I can always turn to my planning wall to see what is next on my Finish-A-Long list :*)

This list obviously wasn't quite finished LOL!!!

Don't get me wrong - I love chasing squirrels with happy abandon!  Some of my favorite quilts have come from that instinctive latching onto the shiny new thing.  And sometimes it's a really fun surprise to find a project long forgotten at the bottom of a pile - often it just needs enough love to finish the borders or a binding.  It's good to sometimes step back from a current project and just work on something mindless and fun.  I find that I usually come back to it re-energized and stoked with new ideas.

But I am by nature a methodical girl.  I love a Plan!  And the only thing I love more than a Plan is working the Plan :*)  The more organized something is, the better chance it has of actually getting done in my universe.

Procrastination is my nemesis, and lack of focus my deadly enemy!  Preparation is the key for me to be successful in getting my quilts to the finish line, and the quarterly Finish-A-Long challenges fit into my planning goals perfectly.

What I love most about the Finish-A-Long is that it works in quarters, so I can plan my projects more long term than right now, or this week, or this month.  Even though I may be hot and heavy into En Provence or I Believe right now, with the Q1 list in front of me, I am also planning for the next couple of months.  I know to be looking for more blue and orange fabrics to go with the ones I have pulled for Hudson's Dreaming of Planes quilt the next time I'm in a fabric shop.  One quick glance reminds me to get the back stitched together for Soul Searching so that will be ready when my friend Joanne has a day open to let me come quilt it on her longarm.  And when I finish a project, I never have to ask myself "what's next?" - I just go to the next one on the list!

So without further ado - here's a list of my projects for the Q1 Finish-A-Long challenge this year, in no particular order.  Can you spot them in the collage at the top of the post?

Dreaming of Planes - this is a cuddle quilt for grandson Hudson.  I've made him a couple of small baby quilts, but he has informed me that now he is FIVE, his "baby" quilt is no longer long enough to cover his toes.  Can you tell that his favorite color is ORANGE?  Yes, the brighter and bolder the better, just like him.  The white polka dot orange in the background is a Minkee for a cuddly, snugly backing :*)

I Believe Sampler - this is my Christmas UFO for January and I've posted several times about it recently.  You can click on the name to see these posts.

En Provence - this is self-explanatory of course!  Bonnie's quilt is a beauty this year and we are seeing pictures of it all over the Blogaverse.  I'm making the small version with the hope of finishing it quickly.  All of my pieces are made and I'm assembling blocks now :*)

Bind Amish Beauties, Strip Stax, and Happy - these are long finished quilts that have languished on the Binding shelf!  It's time for me to get 'em done!!!

Cool Diehl - this quilt is my homage quilt to Kim Diehl.  I love her quilts and, even though I am not a fan of reproduction fabrics, her fabrics are definitely the exception.  I love the light and joy in her fabrics and this quilt has been a joy to do!  It's a small one - only 28 inches square :*)

Soul Searching - one of my favorite Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts from a few years ago.  It's number has come up on my guild's UFO Challenge, so it will be quilted and bound this month.

Talkin' Turkey - one of Bonnie Hunter's patterns that I've been making with friends.  Working on the pieced borders!

Christmas Tree Mugrugs - I have three to finish - two are ready to quilt!  Pattern is from Kevin the Quilter if you want to make a few yourself :*)

Sassy Circles - my improv circle project from a class taken with Jane Sassaman last summer

Rami Kim Bag - a bag project from a class taken with Rami Kim last year at Quiltfest.  She will be there again this year, so I'd love to have this done to show her :*)

I would absolutely love to finish all of these in the next 3 months!!!  It would be a miracle of course LOL :*)  But I am shooting for at least half of them, and I think I can get more than that done.  Wish me luck!

There are several sites you can choose to go to enjoy the Q1 Finish-A-Long projects being shared this year - it is now global!!!  I'm sharing at Leanne's at She Can Quilt - hope you will join me there!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=