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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

NewFO fun for January

NewFO2012So, Barbara's got this really fun thing going this year at Cat Patches: NewFO.


Last year I really cracked down on my insane UFO list (the accumulation of 20 years of forgotten projects, three daughters' starts, and UFO's I rescued when my cousin passed away). I mean, I really cracked down. Got a lot finished. Still working faithfully on that list, but after a year of severely limiting what I was "allowed" to start new while drooling over fantastic QALs and tutorials, I am ready to be more permissive and let myself start a new project every month as long as I also shoot down at least one UFO.




Here is the UFO I finished:


Marissa's Moment pillow sham


And here is the Christmastime allowance quilt that I finished:


Snowy Day in the Woods


So, January's fling was Amaretto Cottage in the honey colorway. Now, the rules of NewFO state that the started projects do not have to be finished right away. Cool Beans!!! But this will be needed for use in June, so the only marinating on the schedule is the wait for its turn at the longarmer's. 




This is actually a 2012 BOM, but I stumbled upon a source selling it as a complete kit. I was SOLD! The colors and fabrics and design all screamed at me that *this* is what we need when we upsize to a king bed with the PCS to Colorado.


Month 1 - 4 at 6"

Month 1 - 4 at 10"

Month 2 - 8 at 6"


My goal was to do two months' worth of the sewing each week. This has severely cut into my BOM sewing time, pushing everything else out of the picture except some Baby Janes, but that's OK. There are only 3 weeks left in the push after today's work!


Month 3 - 4 at 6"

Month 4 - 16" centerpiece, with stop-border added


And you'll have to wait until the next BOMs Away to see months 5 and 6.  ;D


Thanks, Barbara! This is fun, and just what I needed this year.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

BOMs Away Monday - 30 January 2012

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Welcome to my Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays! 
(We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.)

No Baby Janes this week! But Amaretto Cottage is still on schedule despite the onslaught of early moving preparations, thanks to it being a lighter 2-month job load than last week's.

Four of these at 6"
Amaretto Cottage month 3

I had more trouble with these pretty little buggers than I've had in a while. Couldn't figure out if it was me or the pattern. Jury never decided on that one. But they're so pretty - wish you could see the colors correctly. ;D





Actually, they'll end up on-point. Isn't it wild how much orientation changes the look of a block?








Amaretto Cottage month 4:


One big center piece


Next up was the center block. It definitely had pattern error issues. Nothing traumatic - those long rectangles could have been too short instead of too long. As it was, I just had to unpick one end on each one and figure out where to replace them. But it drove home to me the importance of being meticulous and making detailed notes when I pattern-test for Marlene. 


Couldn't resist going ahead and attaching the stop border. Pretty!  :D




~*~*~*~*~

What have you guys done on BOMs or interval projects lately? Weeklies are welcome along with regular projects that you’ve broken into monthly units, and –of course- true BOMs.   Share your eye candy and show off your progress since the last time you linked up! There are some wonderful monthly and weekly projects going on out there. :D


Thursday, January 26, 2012

TGIFF Host Spot 1.27.12 - UFO Finish Report! Marissa's Sham and Snowy Day



Hi there, and welcome to this week's landing spot for TGIFF!

It was a clever idea that Laura and M-R had to develop a weekly link-up where the hosting responsibilities are divvied up to lighten the load. And this week it's my turn! If you want to explore Thank Goodness It's Finished Fridays further, here is its mother page: TGIFF.  


And please join in on the linky fun at the bottom 
if you have a recent finish to show off!!  :D


I actually have TWO finishes to report!!  ::happy dance::   First, let's have that UFO report, because that sucker's been flying around out there for a whole year.


Marissa's Moment


Yeah - I let her bring Clara along for our latest road trip
since nobody else could accompany us.
My black-loving, rocker-aspiring (heaven help me!) young teen stopped cold one time while following me through the local quilt store, and wonderingly exclaimed: "I love this!" and held up a very girly pastel charm pack. I don't know which of us was more astonished since it's so completely different from her normal tastes. What was a mother to say, other than, "We better buy it, then, huh!?" So we got 2 charm packs and some companion yardage that called to her - with no idea at all what we wanted to do with it, other than that she wanted it to cover her bed. 


I thought and considered, and never saw a pattern that seemed just right, and one night I woke up knowing what I wanted to try to do. The result was a fun pastel coverlet design that actually came out incredibly close to my mental image, with a pillow sham to accompany. Nicknamed "Marissa's Moment of Freakishness," that top was finally finished. But I really wanted to quilt it myself, and it sat another 6 months while I worked on other projects to develop some FMQ skills.


I finally felt brave enough to do the quilting on the sham. Wow! It came out so cool! This is the first time I tried the wool on top of the Hobbs Heirloom, and I love the effect of the double batting with intricate quilting. 


Marissa's Moment Pillow Sham - standard bed size


I "drew" in grass as I quilted the row of reverse yo-yo flowers. (The yo-yo's each have a little puff of stuffing in them, and since it's her quilt set and she felt strongly about not seeing their belly-button sides, I stitched them on backward.)  The hearts are surrounded with little loopy "petals".




At the top, after stitching in the ditch to separate each pinwheel (I just did the big squares, not every blade), I drew in elongated heart-shaped petals on the background pieces so that the prints would puff nicely. Then I did a pretty successful attempt at quilting "lace" above and below the row.



(You can see better on the back how I SID'd the pinwheels. Perfect effect altogether.)




Between the pinwheels and the flowers, I did a medium-sized meander with butterflies and a dragonfly appearing here and there.






I also quilted in a secret message. I thought it would take her forever to find it, but when I showed her the quilted sham top so she could choose the perfect buttons, her keen eyes saw that message right away. And she smiled oh-so-poignantly.  :D




In case you need help picking out that message. ;D


When all was quilted, I stitched sweet buttons on each pinwheel center. Wish they looked as good in the photos as in real life. Their luster is gorgeously pearlescent. I had left the quilting tails nice and long to use them before tucking tails away. 




I used Dawn's Quilt Corner Pillow Sham Tutorial to assemble the sham for a standard bed pillow. It screamed out that it wanted ruffles in the sweet pink print that matches the tiny flowers on that diagonal stripe print, or maybe eyelet ruffles, but I was commanded "NO RUFFLES!"  I did sneak in some pretty satin ivory cording when I sewed the envelope together. I mean - it had to have *something*!  And it turned out great. None of the ruffles that I'd want on it, but perfect for her own taste, and that's what matters most.






Now that I'm confident I can do the quilting I want, her quilt is up next on the fmq table! I'm only going to use one layer of batting, though, to keep better drape. While I *love* the effect of Tuscany on top of Heirloom, it's best reserved for pillows, table-toppers, and wallhangings because it's just not pliant. Going to try out the Tuscany wool alone since it's "washable." It was a little over the top paired with minky (see the second finish, below), but I expect an entirely different effect with a cotton back and denser quilting. (Still considering colored threads for some parts (like the butterflies) so they'll show up more on the prints, but at least I'm not scared of working with it.


Just a peek of the center of the quilt
(it's all assembled since this shot was snapped)


~*~ My second finish this week ~*~


A Snowy Day in the Woods


43" x 48"


I love this snuggly quilt! And it's MINE! I've been sewing over a year for other people and working on UFO after UFO. Well, this was a fresh break - NOT a UFO (yes! I bought a brand new kit that called out to me). And not long and laborious to make. And staying with me.  :D  


Horrid winter lighting - this one is better at showing the colors and fabrics.

I had fun with its quilting. Made some snowflake templates with Golden Threads papers and placed those as I pin-basted the layers together. I connected those with meandering that has what are supposed to be snowballs here and there. 





I stitched-in-the-ditch for the narrow stop border (using my walking foot - no way am I ready to do SID with free motion!!).  Had a hard time deciding what to do in the outer border until doodles during a CSI episode turned into some motifs suggestive of a snowball fight. Fun.  :)  So I used those. 



I wanted a luscious minky back, so I did that. I wanted to try the Tuscany Wool batt, so I did that. Wow, it's puffy! Wouldn't want that for everything, but for this sofa snuggler intended for January days, it's nice. And it's a fair chore to push that combination around with FMQ! I haven't washed it yet. With the wool, the washing is a bit more finicky, so I want to wait until it's used a while. I'll let y'all know how that goes, but it'll be a few weeks. 




And I ***love*** the binding. Such fun stripes on the bias like a fancy blue-and-red candy cane. I was really fussy about matching up the stripes as I joined strips together, and I'm thrilled with the end result. No glaring glitches here and there. With a minky back, there's no way I'm attaching binding my normal way. I almost always greatly prefer to sew it onto the front with my walking foot, then turn it to the back and stitch it down by hand. YOU do that with minky if you want. ;D   Instead, I sew it on to the back, then topstitched it carefully on the front by machine, all with my walking foot. Nice result. If this were a fancier quilt, I'd consider hand-stitching to the front side, but for this quilt that's not necessary at all. 


This shot actually shows the powder blue really true.


And Koko approves of the minky - I couldn't get him to move for the photo shoot of Marissa's sham!





Hope you have a great weekend, and please check out the finishes other folks are sharing below. We'd love to have you link a post of your own up if you have a recent finish to share!!




Wednesday, January 25, 2012

WIPs Jan 25, 2012 - UFO sighting! Catch it for TGIFF!

Quick! Look! It's a UFO! Catch it!





This one will be finished in time to report at this week's TGIFF (Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday), which will be hosted at my place this Friday. Come on by if you have a recent finish to show off! Got something really close? Put that binding on! Stitch that pillow up! Share your accomplishment. What I love most about Blogland is the inspiration to get things finished. :D








This newbie's still on schedule!
















And this one's getting finished before it ever gets lauched into UFO-ness.  Woohoo!!












Thank you very much to Lee for hosting the most inspirational WIP Wednesdays and to Esther for WOW. These linkies have helped me stay focused on progressing forward always, and have led me to discover many fine fellow quilters!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

BOMs Away Monday - 23 Jan 2012

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib6FEw-InTZOIaLrsh7raXFspj2e1T12kCO8l-1fE90gdy6n4l1MW2uvunLaRnasRzTevZmJGQUxFSneppP1tAy6D3038PFUnZoe3kZkA6pv4O9beBUFKk-l_8VIx2zK7QOjm3Pv7Ki7I/s1600/BOM+Button.jpg

Welcome to my Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays! 
(We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.)



Good BOM week here. Got my social sewing caught up for my swap - you get the peeks they get.  ;D


Going to Arizona

Going to Colorado


Amaretto Cottage is right on schedule so far. . . 

Month 1:

4 of these at 6"
4 of these at 10"
















Month 2:

8 of these at 6"


And a handfull of Baby Janes:

B-13

C-12

D-1


I was sad to have to put There and Back Again on long-term ice. With my stash going into storage for several months, I simply can't do it. I'll have to catch up after we move in June. I also had to step out of  Block Swap Adventure and my local guild's BOM activities. 

~*~*~*~*~

So, what have you guys done on BOMs or interval projects lately? Weeklies are welcome along with regular projects that you’ve broken into monthly units, and –of course- true BOMs.   Share your eye candy and show off your progress since the last time you linked up! There are some wonderful monthly and weekly projects going on out there. :D