Sharing a Few Finishes!

I'm definitely doing the Happy Dance around here!  

I've got FOUR finishes to share with you - whoohoo!!!!  Yes, I have been a busy little girl these past few weeks!  Thanks to my friend Joanne letting me use her longarm, I finished up two UFO's that have been burning a hole in my UFO closet ...

Christmas Geese

This is my FIRST Christmas quilt!  Yes, I have been quilting now for 7 years and this is my first full-size Christmas quilt ... *hangs head in shame*.....  It is a Miss Rosie pattern called Toulouse - apparently there is a type of goose in France called a toulouse..... who knew?????  You can read my post about this quilt's beginnings HERE if you are curious.

This was the first quilt I blogged about when I started the blog two years ago :*)  I fell in love with the pattern, bought it at a LQS, and then held on to it until I could decide on the fabrics I wanted to use.  When I found this lovely background oriental print on sale, I knew it would become a Christmas quilt.

On the longarm.....

Below is the design I chose to quilt it with, called Joyful Holly by Willow Leaf Studio.  

I love it!!!!

The quilt is trimmed and the binding - a joyful red and white candy-cane stripe - is all prepped and ready to apply....

I'll be sure to share a final photo when that's done, but for now I just have to get a few little projects out of the way first :)

Next finish ..... another long-time UFO - Fall Pumpkins Sampler!

This quilt started out as BOM blocks at a local LQS in 2008!  In January, they provided the pattern and fabrics to make either Fall or Christmas sampler blocks for just $3 a block.  Then if you brought the completed block(s) back on the first Sunday of each month, you got the next block free - what a deal, right? Of course, you could do both Fall and Christmas if you wanted - and I did :*)  At the end of the year, they also offered setting kits for each quilt.  I loved the addition of the pumpkins as an alternate block in this setting!  I chose to use my own stash fabrics, however, rather than buy a setting kit.

This quilting design is called Wave on Wave and I really enjoy the play of design on fabric....it was quick and fun to do too :)

I totally LOVE this binding fabric!!!

It was such a sunny day when I took these pictures, and the colors are a little washed out here....it's really a very vibrant quilt - lots of eye candy :)

A HUGE THANKS again to Joanne for helping me finish up some of these treasured UFO's!!!!

Of course, both of the Baby Quilts are now finished, as well, and ready to be gifted .... (read more about them in my previous post HERE)

Cooper's rag quilt Tranquility is all washed & dried....
SO cuddly & soft - perfect for our new Little One!!!

And I just finished quilting Genevieve's Banners on my Janome 6600P..... (you can click on the quilt name if you want to learn more about how I made this quilt)

I used the background fabric as my guide for the quilting design on this one - soft, happy daisies everywhere.... connected with lazy little loops..... gosh this was FUN to quilt!!!

I wanted to add a rose design in the heart - for our little Genevieve Rose of course!  I traced the design onto tissue paper, then pinned it to the quilt and quilted over it - worked perfectly I think!!!

Here it is ... all trimmed and bound and ready for Miss Genevieve :*)

Thanks for sharing these finishes with me!!!

It's always so much more fun to enjoy our quilts with friends, isn't it?

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

And the Oscar for Most Fun Design Wall goes to....

Well, we'll need to go over to Patchwork Times to find that out won't we?  But I thought you might like to see some of the fun projects on my design wall now that Easy Street and the Rainbow Pineapples have finally abdicated their place on the wall.

Since I'm linking up with Barbara at Cat Patches for her 2013 NewFO Challenge this year, that means 12 new projects started this year - yikes!!!  I have no illusions that all 12 will get finished either LOL!!!  So, I thought it might be a smart idea to make some effort to finish up a few UFO's - right?  I learned from last year that it's just not possible for me to complete one UFO a month, especially since most of them are less than halfway done - some barely started.  I decided to set a more reasonable goal of finishing up no less than 6 UFO's this year.  Of course, my happy Rainbow Pineapples will count as the first completion.



For my next UFO, I decided to pick something that would serve as a great sit-n-sew project.  For me, a sit-n-sew project needs to be portable - not too many different fabrics, complicated techniques, or exotic tools! - and it needs to be machine pieced.  I chose Starry Night, a quilt I began as a BOM from a LQS back in 2007.  This is what the quilt should look like when I complete it.....

Photo from Starr Design Fabrics, Inc

This wonderful quilt by Starr Designs is made with all hand-dyed fabrics - luscious, deep, rich colorful fabrics!!!  The large paper-pieced star blocks are set in a floating background filled with tiny friendship stars.....

This is my Block #1 completed

I have six blocks completed - here are few more of them, just for eye candy :*)

I'll keep this box ready to grab whenever I go to a sit-n-sew or retreat and work on it until it is completely assembled.  I managed to get half of another block done at our Guild Sit-n-Sew last Thursday!



I'm also working on the Curve it Up QAL with Jenny Pedigo of Sew Kind of Wonderful and her sister, Helen from HGMR Deco Quilting blog.  One of my Get It Done objectives was to catch up on these QAL blocks.  Here are the two most current completed blocks, #5 & #6....

The Curved 9-Patch

Curvy Geese

They've released 3 more new blocks in the QAL since then - Yikes!!!  And Jenny's had a baby too - which really makes me a slacker LOL!!!  But I was so far behind on these when I set that goal last month - 4 blocks behind.  Since I've done those 4 blocks this month, I'm going to count that goal as DONE!!!  Then I'll put getting the next 3 done on my March Get It Done list.

These blocks are a lot of fun to make.  They challenge me to pay attention and to think differently about how I piece.  They are so original!  I never feel as if I'm making a block I've ever made before, and I really like that.  I'm just hoping my fabrics will end up playing well together and making a beautiful quilt overall.  I'm going to have concerns about that until they are all together I'm afraid.

Of course, these projects join my newest NewFO, Cool Cats, and my current applique project, The Blue Collection, as well as a couple of embroidery projects for times when hand stitching is the perfect activity!  You can click on their names to see what they are all about if you like :*D

So what's cooking on your Design Wall?

Is it Ocsar worthy LOL???  

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

Linking up with.....