2011 in review

23 quilts for the year, a billion pillows and a few smaller projects.  The quilts range from 3 feet across to 7 feet across.  I made 3 queen sized quilts.  I've come so far since the beginning of the year.  I can't wait to see what the next year olds in store for me.  Have a Happy New Year!

Missed projects

I am working on a year end wrap up for tomorrow and realized that there were 2 projects I never blogged about.  I made this lap quilt for my son in February.

 It is mostly improv log cabin blocks made from scraps from his bed quilt.  I sashed them in the yellow stripe that I used for the backing for the big quilt.  I tied the quilt and put a gorgeous aqua with black pokka dot minky on the back.  It is so soft and snuggly and he has never used it.  Damn!


I made this pillow for my daughter back in July or August, when I was on my pillow kick.  It is mostly scraps from her bed quilt with a stripe of that fun scooter fabric across the middle.

I think I've blogged about every 2011 project, so this blog is fulfilling my original purpose.  come back tomorrow for a recap of all the year's projects.

Monday Bucket List

Since my Christmas to do list did such a good job of keeping me organized, I thought I'd continue with my quilting bucket list.  I don't know about you, but I always have a mental list going of things I want to make or ideas I want to try.  Sometimes I forget what is on my mental list, so now I'm writing it down.  I'll keep this updated with projects I have in mind and what I'm working on.  My goal for 2012 is to do fewer quilts, but more complicated ones.  I need to cut down on fabric usage and up the amount of time I spend on each project.

Winter tree quilt-  I want to do something like Little Forest by Purl Bee, but with a few different variations on the trees.

Postage Stamp Quilt-  I found out about P.S. I Quilt's Postage Stamp QAL, shortly after I discovered quilt blogs last year.  I got the materials, but never made the quilt.  Now, I'm going to do the quilt along, just one year late.

HST-  I haven't decided what I want to do, but I want to play with some of the fun patterns you can create with just HSTs

Drunkards Path-  I think I'm ready for some small curved seams.

Improv stripes bed spread-  I'm about 3/4 done with this project.  I need to finish it off.

Interlocking wonky stars wall hanging-  I just love the wonky star blocks I did in November and the Christmas pillow didn't get the wonky star love out of my system.

Dutch windmills-  I want to use my collection of DS Fairground fabric in a Dutch windmill quilt

Rainbow charm squares- I participated in a couple of rainbow charm square swaps.  I have in mind something with frames of charcoal and a rainbow gradation.  It works in my head, we'll have to see what it looks like in person.

Flying Geese-  Something with Flying geese. I'm not sure what at the moment, but I want to do geese.

Perfect the zippered pouch-  I'm expanding my horizons of sewy projects.  The zippered pouch is on the list.

New Patterns- I have a few ideas for some new patterns.  I need to work on my patterns generally.

Made in a Flurry Christmas Quilt

I had a charm pack and a jelly roll from Flurry, by Kate Spain.  I wanted to use my fabric efficiently, have a lap quilt size final product and be able to whip it up quickly, so it would be done by Christmas.  I framed out each charm square with one strip from the jelly roll.  This is where things should have matched up perfectly.  The packaging said each had 42 squares, only when I got to the end, I had 2 extra charm squares for a total of 43.  So not only did I have an extra charm square, but I was short one jelly roll strip.  It all worked out in the end.

Doing the math, I realized I could make a lap quilt that was 7 x 7 blocks, if I could come up with 6 more blocks.  I chose to do plain white blocks for the extras, so I could use up another idea for Christmas crafting that I wasn't going to be able to do otherwise.  I have ton of cute Christmas embroidery patterns, so I stitched those up on my extra white squares.  It turned out beautifully, except that my embroidery machine became possessed immediately upon starting the project.  I basted the assembled quilt top to the batting, to use the batting as stabilizer.  Every single square I thought would ruin the quilt, and I'd have to take the whole thing apart and start from scratch.  It worked out ok, in the end, but it was stressful.

I just loved this fabric.  It was more like a heavy voile, than a quilt cotton.  It was unbelievably soft.  This quilt ended up being a generous 61 inches on a side, which is great for snuggling under.

On the back I used a big piece of Alexander Henry novelty fabric with Santa and the reindeer hanging out at the beach.  I forget where I got it, but it reminds me of Christmas in San Diego and I had to have it, even though I didn't have any idea what I would do with it.  As soon as I saw the blues in Flurry, I knew it would be a perfect match for the backing.

I added some chunks of coordinating, but non Christmas fabric to bring the back up to size.  The blue and the red are Grunge by Basic Grey.  I love the whole Grunge line of blenders.  The green on the right is a dark green on green pokka dot from Connecting threads.  It is also really silky.  If you haven't checked out Connecting Threads, do it.  Their fabric ranges from decent to great and the a lot of it can be found on sale for $2-3 a yard.

I'm happy to report that this quilt is yummy and warm.  It is keeping me warm right now.  Have a Merry Christmas filled with love and laughter and quilts.

To Do List Review

This to do list really helped keep me organized and on target.  I can't believe I pretty much got everything done.  I might start a quilt bucket list and keep that going.  Since I don't like to let unfinished projects linger, the bucket list might be more helpful for me than the WIP list.  I started this To Do list with 47 crafting days until Christmas.  Let's review what I got done in the last 7 or so weeks.

Must make

embroider shirts for my mom- embroidery machine is malfunctioning, so these will have to wait until machine comes back from the shop

I'd like to get the following done
1 Christmas tree quilts for listing on etsy, the top is already done, I  just need to quilt it

1 Christmas Tree Skirt 

FINISHED

1 Grinch lap quilt for the kids

1 pillow for guild holiday exchange (swapped)
1 gift for my mother in law (4 items)
6 blocks for 4x5 bee

3 pillow cases for nephews
4 bow holders

1 quilt for my dad

1 Advent Calendar

1 Christmas Tree Skirt 

1 Wonky Star Pillow

3 pillows for teachers

1 rail fence pillow using leftovers from advent calendar

24 ornaments (I didn't make very many, but I pulled together 24 ornaments and I'm declaring it good)

7 blocks for 3x6 bee

10 embroidered dish towels (I know I said 16, but I have more than enough)

2 batches of jam, I made ginger apricot and lemon blueberry

1 something with Flurry Charm pack- made a lap quilt

1 Christmas tree quilt for listing on etsy, except by the time I finished, it was too late to sell it for Chirstmas

Rail Fence pillow

In my searches through my scrap bins, I found a stack of tiny rail fence blocks I had made with leftovers from my first christmas tree quilt.  I whipped them into a quick square and only had to make a few more to get 7x7 blocks, for a generous 20 inch pillow cover.

 It's quite low contrast, being mostly olive greens, so the block pattern doesn't stand out, which is fine with me.

 I quilted it with aqua thread in a sort of zig zag following the piecing.  You have to put your nose to it to see the quilting.  I guess the 15 minutes I spent debating the thread color to use was wasted.

In stead of binding, I just did a flange edge.  This was so fast and neat, I'll definitely do it again.  And all the raw edges are encapsulated, so it should wash just fine.  I put the right side together and stitched all around then turned it right side out and top stitched a half inch from the edge.

3x6 Bee blocks

It took me forever to decide what block to make for the 3x6 bee.  I guess felt like I had used my best idea on the 4x5 bee and everything else felt 2nd best.  Eventually I came across this idea, which is pretty much a  mini version of Happy Hour that was my first quilt.

 I whipped up all the rest of the blocks this past weekend and am shipping them off this week.  There are a few internationally hive members and I want to make sure they get their blocks on time.

The other issue in picking a block was that 3 of the hive members had limited color schemes.  There were two monochromatic schemes and one member who requested yellow and green, which isn't the highest contrast.  I had to pick a block that would work with all the parameters.  One member just said bright colors.  that one was fun to pick for and I ended up picking all fabrics with circles, the lower left one.  I know it doesn't look every bright, but it is in person.  I need to stop taking pictures at night.

Manic Monday

I'm just blitzing through this list.

Must make

embroider shirts for my mom
2 batches of jam to fill jars to give as small holiday gifts (one batch done)


I'd like to get the following done
2 Christmas tree quilts for listing on etsy, the tops are already done, I  just need to quilt them.
1 something with Flurry Charm pack (I've got the top pieced and need to buy more batting)

1 Christmas Tree Skirt 

FINISHED

1 Grinch lap quilt for the kids

1 pillow for guild holiday exchange (swapped)
1 gift for my mother in law (4 items)
6 blocks for 4x5 bee

3 pillow cases for nephews
4 bow holders

1 quilt for my dad

1 Advent Calendar

1 Christmas Tree Skirt 

1 Wonky Star Pillow

3 pillows for teachers

1 rail fence pillow using leftovers from advent calendar

24 ornaments (I didn't make very many, but I pulled together 24 ornaments and I'm declaring it good)

7 blocks for 3x6 bee

10 embroidered dish towels (I know I said 16, but I have more than enough)

teacher gifts

I always feel conflicted about teacher gifts.  On the one hand I don't want to spend too much money, on the other hand, these people TEACH my children.  Then there are all the peripheral people, bus driver, reading specialist, school secretaries etc.  I've finally decided that making gifts strikes a good balance.  Spending my time feels more significant than spending my money.  Plus, then I get to enjoy making something and place it in a good home.  Last year I did two embroidered dish towels and two jars of jam for the preschool teacher and her aide.  This year I did Christmas pillows for the kindergarten teacher, preschool teacher and preschool aide.  I'm also going to give them a jar of jam.  All of the other folks will be getting a dish towel and jar of jam.

Here are the pillow covers.  I appliqued the center words and did quilt as you go to make the pillow tops.  They all have envelope backs.  Ordinarily I wouldn't resume to give someone home decor items without specific preferences, but it's a Christmas pillow cover.  Everybody does some version of red and green at Christmas and they only use it for a month a year.  I figure I'm safe.  I just hope they like them.

Christmas Tree Skirt

I've been having such fun my the little quilt group I helped start.  We've gotten 3 women interested in quilting.  Two of them are very good friends of mine, so it's even more awesome.  In November and December we made Christmas tree skirts and learned how to do applique.  

You might notice that I skipped two panels.  My Christmas tree is in a corner of living room.  I decided no one would ever notice if I skipped the back two panels.

I added ball trim around the edge.  So cute and such a PITA.  Oh well, I learned things and it's all good in the end.

Here is something else I learned.  Don't applique white over a darker patterned fabric.  Fortunately it will never show from the stage as my mother would say.

the best thing is that I got to say good bye to the large piece of white felt that was my previous tree skirt.  Thank goodness I never got around to making that needlepointed one.

Manic Monday

Must make

16 machine embroidered dish towels to give along with jar of jam to school helpers and assorted others who should get small holiday gift (9 done and one ruined)
2 batches of jam to fill jars to give as small holiday gifts (one batch done)
7 blocks for 3x6 bee (1 block done)


I'd like to get the following done
2 or more pillows for my living room
2 Christmas tree quilts for listing on etsy, the tops are already done, I just need to quilt them.
24 ornaments for the advent calendar (I've made a few and bought a few)
1 something with Flurry Charm pack that I found

1 Christmas Tree Skirt 

FINISHED

1 Grinch lap quilt for the kids

1 pillow for guild holiday exchange (swapped)
1 gift for my mother in law (4 items)
6 blocks for 4x5 bee

3 pillow cases for nephews
4 bow holders

1 quilt for my dad

1 Advent Calendar

1 Christmas Tree Skirt 

1 Wonky Star Pillow

3 pillows for teachers

Wonky Star Christmas Pillow

Since I've been kicking tush on my to do list, I took some time to work on a project for myself.  I made an eight by eight wonky star pillow.  Each square is 2 inches finished.

I used scraps from my other Christmas projects and put a border on it to bring it up to size.  For a fast finish I french seamed the the edge.  I might do that on pillows more often.  I quilted it in the white areas, just inside the seam line.  I think it gives a bit of definition to the negative spaces, which look sort of like flowers.  It might be interesting to do solid stars on a scrappy ground to make flowers instead of stars.

I don't think I have this pattern out of my system yet.  I need to do a scrappy wall hanging, but that's a project for next year.

Advent Calendar

Two years ago, I had this idea for an advent calendar.  It would be a Christmas tree with buttons to hang ornaments from.  Every day the kids would put a new ornament on the tree until it was completely decorated.  There was a problem.  I didn't know how to make it, or where to start to learn.  I decided that I would quilt it and then proceeded to teach myself to quilt so that I would eventually be able to make the vision in my mind.

I finally finished the advent calendar.  I'm so proud of how far I've come in 2 years.  I give you the advent calendar.

 The Tree is my Christmas tree pattern that won a 3rd prize at the quilt show in September.

 Originally, I was going to run the pockets down the sides, but then I realized I would have to make them too small to hold the ornaments.  I think putting them at the bottom worked just fine.

I made the pockets way too complicated and I wish they had some negative space horizontally, as well as vertically.  When I make another one, I know just what I would do differently.  I used some fussy cut number fabric to applique on for the numbers.  I think the fabric was part of the Authentic by Sweetwater line.  Don't quote me on that.