Finish Along 2014 Quarter 1 - To Finish List

I want to complete 5 projects for the first quarter of the 2014 Finish Along. Three of those projects are baby quilts, so I think this goal may be attainable! The 2014 Finish Along is being hosted by the fabulous Katy at The Littlest Thistle.  As of this posting, there are still a few more hours to link up (it is closed now).

1.  Charley Harper/Botanics Baby Quilt- This quilt top has been taking up valuable floor space for a month and a half. :) This should be a quick finish. The back will have some simple piecing and I'll be quilting straight lines around the seams. Status: Quilt top is done

Two birds, one stone:
2. Baby Equilateral Triangle Quilt- This quilt for a friend has been on my list for a long time. So long, that the baby is already a year old! Status: The pieces are cut.
3. Baby Plus Quilt - This quilt for my husband's coworker has only been on my list since early last year and the baby is due any day now. I am using the same fabric, so I have been cutting the pieces at the same time. Status: The pieces are cut.

4. Zig Zag Love - There is really no urgency with this one, but I stopped halfway through piecing and I have a mess of 1.5" berry squares all over the place! I want to finish this before I lose all the pieces! Status: Half of the piecing is done.

5. Patchwork Prism - An oldie, but a goodie! I finished this top in October 2012 and it has been tucked away in a drawer ever since! I love this quilt and I really want to use it! My idea for the back has been holding me up. Status: Quilt top is finished.

Hopefully I won't get distracted by any shiny new projects or QALs in the next 3 months. ;) Good luck to all who linked up with the FAL this quarter!

WIP Wednesday

It's been quite a while since I posted on WIP Wednesday, so I have quite a few projects to share! Some of you have seen a few of these already on Instagram. The last few weeks in my sewing room:

Best Friends Quilt // Quilt top is complete. Crazy Old Ladies Best Friends Pattern with Happy-Go-Lucky Layer Cake + the Happy-Go Lucky Penny White.

Boy Crazy Baby Quilt // Quilt Top Complete. Using the SewCraftyJess Jungle Path Baby Quilt Pattern with Riley Blake Boy Crazy.

Cheshire Cat Quilt //  4 of 16 Blocks Done. Using Aneela Hoey's Meow Pattern with various Black/White/Yellow/Purple prints. The white and black print is an anime Alice & Wonderland, hence the quilt name!

Fat Quarter Shop Designer Block of the Month 2012 // 10 of 12 blocks done. There isn't really a deadline on this quilt, but I got really behind on the "of the month" part! Two more blocks to go, before I start the borders.

Mystery Quilt // Quilt top is done, but haven't really been in the mood to piece a backing.

Seven Months // Sometimes I feel like I am not making much progress on everything I have started, but there has definitely been some progress in the last seven months! 

I hope everyone is  having a great summer. I cannot believe it is more than half over!

First Quarter 2013 Finish-A-Long List

Edit: These project sheets are now available for download at this link. Thank you!

I've spent a lot of time this past week getting all my projects organized and figuring out what projects I have going on and what stage they are in. I have way too many projects that are stuck in the cutting phase! Most of my projects for this quarter have been cut for a long time. I just need to sew them together. My five hopeful finishes are listed below:

1) Scrappy Trip Along: The quilt I started this month is closer to being finished than quilts I started months ago! I wasn't going to make this quilt at first, but Instagram pictures have a hypnotic effect on me. My rationalization for starting this quilt is that I want to improve my quilting skills this year and this would be a great quilt to try orange peel quilting on. 

Current Status: Strips are cut and 12 out of 30 blocks complete. Target finish date: End of January 2013

2) Looking Back: Husband request #1. There is a lot of hand sewing on this quilt, so this will be my nighttime project. I was supposed to have this one done by Christmas 2012!
Current Status: All the applique pieces have been cut since the beginning of December. I just need to get to sewing! Target finish date: End of February 2013

3) Swoon: Husband request #2, for Aunt. This is another one I was supposed to have to done by Christmas 2012.
Current Status: Blocks are cut & ready to be pieced.  Target finish date: End of February 2013

4) Starburst QAL: This QAL just started over at Happy Quilting. I ordered 4.5 yards of Quilter's Linen in Midnight for another project, but it wasn't dark enough. I figured this would be a great opportunity to use it!  

Project Stage: This is the newest project on the list. Fabrics are chosen and being cut. Target finish date: March 4, 2013

5) Flower Girl Quilt: Husband Request #3, for one of his friends that is expecting. I'm going to divide this kit up into a few smaller quilts. I haven't decide whether to use four or nine flowers for the quilts. Four would be a more standard, but nine would allow longer usage. I'll decide after I finish sewing the flowers!
Current Status: The fabric is washed, ironed, starched & cut. Well, most of it! This project ended up in limbo because I messed up on the cutting of 2 fat quarters. I need to order some more. Target finish date: End of March 2013

So: one quilt for January, two for February and two for March. Here is to getting my projects out of plastic containers and onto beds :). My plan for tomorrow is to mark the the appropriate Flower Girl pieces and to sew 8 more Scrappy TAL blocks. 

Also Linking Up With:
 

The Hundred Day Hustle with Kelsey Sews!

New notebooks mean I am SERIOUS about getting it together! BTW This notebook is great; 1/3 ruled, 1/3 gridded, 1/3 blank, 100% AWESOME!

Wow! September 22, one hundred days until the end of the year! Kelsey from Kelsey Sews is heading up the 100 Day Hustle to encourage us to hustle through our to-do lists and start 2013 with a blank slate. Looking over my goals that I posted at the beginning of this year, I cannot believe how out of control my to-do lists have become! Luckily, I have been a little more productive at sewing than I have been at blogging, but there is still a LOT of work to do. My list (including the "not counting on it " list) comes out to a project a week, which doesn't sound too overwhelming.

My To-Do List (in order of priority)

1. Christmas Stockings x3 (Joy, Cherry Christmas & Winterkist)
2. Quilt Baby Quilt (Children at Play) for Husband's Co-worker 
3. Start & Finish Baby Quilt (Wee Folks) for Friend 
4. "Two Left Feet" Quilt (Echo) for Brother  *Need help, see below!
5.  Polaroid Quilt for Other Brother (Random, this will involve Llamas)
6. Quilt for Sister (No clue)
7. Love Letters Quilt (Etchings)

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 TWO LEFT FEET QUILT DECISIONS!

This is the quilt. I can't decide what background fabric to use! I originally bought the black, but I am leaning towards flax now...what would you choose?

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Would be Nice, but Not Counting on It!
• Christmas Table Runner • Quilt Patchwork Prism • Quilt Xs and Os • Quilt Sew.Happy.Quilt • Finish Super Mario Quilt Top • Finish Medallion Quilt Top

Head on over to Kelsey Sews, link up your goals for the last 100 days of 2012, then get to work! The linky party will be open from September 22nd to September 25th!

2012 Goals

My goals for 2012 (sewing and non-sewing):

1. Complete a quilt top for the Sew. Happy. Quilt. QAL at Sew Happy Geek. I am trying to work up the courage to cut my first block right now!
2. Complete my Crimson Cross quilt (from Little Bits Quilting Bee by Kathreen Ricketson). Blocks are in progress.
3. Complete the Mod Sampler Quilt-Along at Oh, Fransson!
4. Finish the Freckled Nest's Home Ec Course.
5. Read 50 books.
6. Keep my email under control! I spent all day December 31 cleaning out 7000 emails, mostly commercial emails. Hopefully I have been reformed!

My main goal for this blog is to document my progress at these goals and to keep track of the projects I have completed. I have been bad at keeping a personal portfolio in the past and have lost many design projects because of it. I want to get better at keeping track at what I have done.