Weekly Progress - Finishing Machine

What do you do when you used to devote hours to running and now you're firmly in your taper?

A lot of sewing.

This coming week will be even more productive in the sewing room, with a whole three miles to run and no strength or cross training. Oh, and a measly little half marathon at the end of the week.

Finished

Heart Table Runner

Chevron Baby Quilt top

Piecing

Road to Oklahoma - Washington Style

Pieced the inside and started on the borders. Are those borders? When you're continuing part of a design into the first border, does it really count?

Churn Dash of the Week

These are my very oldest scraps - my mother made dresses out of this material when I was in middle school. Let's just go with over twenty years old. I wore the dress to a handbell concert in Washington DC, and fell off the stage at the Old Post Office. Ah, memories.

Fat Quarter Stars
It's hard to come back to a project like this when you can't remember where you're at. I don't remember if I'm done with the online quilt along, where my list of the 9" stars is, and...so I made this star. At some point before next month, I'll try to figure out where the heck I am with this project!

Quilt Doodle BOM
And then I started a new BOM. Technically, it's a row-of-the-month hosted by Quilt Doodle, but she said it's winter-themed, so I'm hoping to make one block a month for a January-ish wall hanging for my mother. The blocks are 10" and the wall hangings are supposed to be about 30x40", so it should work out.

Obviously Mr. Snowman will be getting button eyes.

And Celtic Solstice is still a leader/ender project. I went back and forth on turning the chevrons to make a star, and not piecing the second block until I was really sure. But after seeing other people post their various versions, I'm sure I want the star. So here it is!

Linked:

BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Linky Tuesday @ Freemotion by the River

Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy

Scrap Basket Sunday @ Kim's Big Quilting Adventure

Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways

Hearts Table Runner - Finished!

I got a little tired of not having a finish, so I...went ahead and finished something. Genius, I tell you.

I pieced this table runner mumblety-something years ago. Right before Christmas, I pulled out all the various table runners and pillows and other little things I've been avoiding quilting for no good reason, slapped them all on a big piece of muslin, and quilted away.

Quilted with loops and butts hearts.

FINALLY, this week, I cut them apart and set about binding.

I used this tutorial on single fold binding, although I cut my binding to 1.5", which is a more useful size for scraps.

I used this tutorial on binding the non-90º angles. It came out...well, it looks good from the front. Not quite on the back. But it's a table runner, so...

CC helped bind.

A lot.

Yes, she is a demon spawn who is after her pound of flesh. OW. She's lucky she's cute.

And now to get a picture of it on the kitchen table Halo battlefield? Sigh.

9x31"

scraps and white Kona

I'm not sure what pattern I used, since it was mumblety-something years ago, but this one is pretty close.

Linked:

Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

TGIFF @ That's So Julie!

Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

Link A Finish Friday @ Richard and Tanya Quilts
FMQ Friday @ the Free Motion Quilting Project
Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways
Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story
Finish-Along @ The Littlest Thistle {FAL List}

Weekly Progress - Tops and Stops

Well, I survived my hardest week of training in, um, probably forever. I've never done a running plan with a 12-mile long run. Longest I've ever run pre-race was just shy of 11, and that didn't include a week of heavy duty sprints and tempo runs beforehand. Ow.

But now I am tapering and foam rolling and icing and treating my legs like princesses. Princess who take Epsom salt baths instead of bubble baths, that is.

And sewing! I've done some of that, too!

Road to Oklahoma - Washington Style

Stalled out when I realized I didn't calculate my yardage right. And did I mention I bought this fabric last summer in Sun Valley? Oops. I called the store, emailed with the very nice owner and I think the right fabric is on it's way. Otherwise...

But hey - look! I got my design wall off the floor!

...and the countdown to CC pulling it down begins.

Churn Dash of the Week

This is one of my very first fabric purchases, some eleven years ago. It was supposed to become a pillow, I think. Instead, it became a doll dress last year, and then relegated to the scrap bin.

Flirt Marks the Spot

Ever walk into a quilt store, spot the perfect border print immediately, then wander around for thirty minutes because really, the first one can't possibly be the best one?

Yeah. The first one was the best one.

Another project in the bag for long-arming!

And once Flirt was done and I hit a dead end on Road, I went back to whipping up HSTs for in between my sprints. Because I'm fun like that. Almost all the chevrons are triangled-up now.

Hmmm, I may have more tops done by the end of the month than I have time to quilt them...

And finally, Celtic Solstice has been relegated to leader/ender status. Four 54-40 blocks are done, and there's various pieces of each step scattered about the sewing room.

Linked:

BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times
WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced
Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story
Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy

Scrap Basket Sunday @ Kim's Big Quilting Adventure

Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways

Finish Along - Quarter One

Ahh, it's that time of year again. Time to look at my list of projects and realize how woefully behind I am, and how I manage to add projects without finishing any first. At least since it's the new year, I can give the list a good scrubbing?

Orders

Chevron Baby Quilt - piecing

Matching PJ set - ordered

Vera Bradley Stars Quilt - ordered

Witch Table Runner - ordered

Wedding Quilt #1 - blocks have been signed! Waiting for them to be sent back.

Christmas Tree Skirt/Stockings - due Dec. 2014

Awaiting Binding

Anyone else tired of this picture? Yeah, I really need to cut these apart and slap some binding on them! At least the Valentine's Day ones.

Christmas Stars

Heart Table Runner

Frolicking Pinwheels 1

Ornament Table Runner

Postage Stamp Table Runner

Sunkissed Pillow

To Be Quilted

Layer Cake Quilt Along

Skorca!

Four Patch Frenzy 1
Leftover Bunting Quilt
Pink Hunter's Star

Christmas Sampler
Baby Owls

Partially Pieced

 Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2013
Boardwalk

Cat Tails

Four Patch Frenzy 2
Frolicking Pinwheels 2
Log Cabin Shoes
Polaroid Quilt
Saturday Sampler 2012
St. Paul's Cross
Strip XOs
Woven Snowmen
Cat Flying Geese
Cars

Toy Story 1

Toy Story 2

Little Dude's foster mother's Road to Oklahoma
Celtic Solstice

Just Needs Borders

Central Park Sudoku
Chunky Log Cabin
Summer Drinks
Flirt Marks the Spot

Notice that Flirt moved? Yay, I'm four seams away from finishing this one!

Block of the Month/Week
{as in, I will be piecing it throughout the year with no hurry to finish}
Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2014

MIL's 60th Birthday BOM - Ripples and Reflections
Fat Quarter Stars

Planned

{as in, I already own the fabric & pattern}

Cardinal Charm Tesselation
Coffee panels and yardage
Lone Star
Pez Schnibble
Voila Pumpkin Kit
Bonnie & Camile Spin City
Trip Around the World
California Girl Double Hourglass
Hello Luscious Avignon Picnic
Mason Jar quilt
Homespun + Jeans

Star Wars Pixelated

Monkey Jelly Roll

In addition to the NewFO challenge - which most of these fall under - Vrooman's Quilts is hosting a "Let's Book It" monthly linky. Several of these fall under both categories!

Scrap Project
{as in, scraps that are partially pieced in some way and enough to make a mini or pillow, or there's enough that I can get another entire quilt out of it and am therefore unwilling to separate them...}

Civil War Scraps
HST Joy Scraps
Winnie the Pooh Scraps
Sew Cherry HST Scraps
Fairy Scraps
Saturday Sampler '11 Scraps
Pink Hunter Star Scraps
Blue Hunter Star Scraps
Steelers Scraps

Small Project
{already in some stage of production}

OU/OSU Bunting
Crayon Rolls
Car Organizer
Red Suede Purse

A ridiculous number of pants that need hems or elastic repaired

Ironing board cover

Linked:
Finish-Along @ The Littlest Thistle

Weekly Progress - HSTs

Somehow I got stuck trimming down bunches of HSTs this week. And I bounced around on a couple different projects - product of not being in the sewing room for a couple weeks. You'd think I'd chose something that doesn't involve so much trimming!

The final layout for Celtic Solstice has been revealed! And I'm changing it. I prefer the stars from the chevrons this way over the boxes in the original design.

CC is delightful, as always.

More HSTs in the Road to Oklahoma {Washington style} quilt. All the four patches are made, all the HST are sewn but not trimmed. I'm working through it a block at a time, trying to get all the seams turned the right way so that everything nests up nicely.

And look, I got a design wall! Just need a place to hang it up. So that CC can tear it down.

AND {obviously I missed sewing over the holidays} I finished off the baby owls top early last week. Backing is purchased, binding is prepped...and the baby shower isn't for a couple weeks! I just have to schedule some longarm time once I have a couple more things to quilt.

AND {I know, right?} I decided on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge for this year. I'm going with sweet and simple churn dashes and showcasing some of my favorite scraps. This is the border from my Layer Cake Quilt Along which was made with one of my all-time favorite lines.

AND {seriously} since I had the blue bin out, I cut out the squares for the chevron baby quilt. Then I cut some Kona Bone. Then I sewed them. Then I ran sprints, and in between each mile repeat, I cut them apart and trimmed.

Now I have this! And the knowledge that I can run four miles at sprint pace. With a breather in between.

And because I'm not allowed to work on the new without a bit of the old, I'm slowly sewing together Flirt. There's a LOT of seams to be matched up, so I can only handle two or so in a row. But I should be done this week and then it's time to decide on a border!

Linked:

BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times
WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced
Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story
Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy

Scrap Basket Sunday @ Kim's Big Quilting Adventure

Celtic Solstice @ Quiltville

Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways

2013 - In Review

I'm doing this a little backwards - since 2014 is already up and running. Oh well, here's 2013 anyway!

Fireman T-Shirt Quilt / Raiders T-Shirt Quilt / Squadron T-Shirt Quilt / Family T-Shirt Quilt #1 / Family T-Shirt Quilt #2

Swoon / Rainbow Sherbet

Really Random Quilt #1 / Rainbow Boats / Really Random Quilt #2 / H is for Henry / Sunkissed Jewel Box

Fractured Four Patch / Fall-gyle / Nine-Patch Snowballs / Olivia Schnibble

Layer Cake Snowballs / Loopy Ewe / How Charming - Girl version / How Charming - Twin Boy versions

Not bad, huh? 21 quilt finishes, including five commissioned t-shirt quilts and six commissioned not-t-shirt quilts.

Of course, a lot of these were pieced or partially pieced in years past, and a couple are nothing more than borders on a panel, but a finish is a finish, right?

I also kinda sucked at naming quilts this year. Nine-Patch Snowballs? Really? Okay...

Zombie Pillow / Creeper Pillow / Starburst Pillow

Two of Hearts Wall Hanging / Gobble Gobble Wall Hanging

Creeper Halloween Costume / Yoda Halloween Costume

Triple-Zip Pouch / Squadron Baby Blankets / Fabric Covered Corkboard

Kindle Paperwhite Cover / Weighted Blanket and Cover / Ribbon Blankie

I also had some smaller finishes, and even added that to the blog header. They might be little, but they're something I did, and pillows ought to be celebrated. Especially Minecraft pillows.

Life had some ups and downs. 

My husband came home from a seven-month deployment, we went on a cruise, Lori and I qualified for Half Fanatics and set some personal records.

But my beloved lap cat died, we had a rough move from Oklahoma to Washington State, and our house sale...well, it sold.

In addition, our adoption stalled when Korea halted all international adoptions for about six months. Now that we've finally been submitted to court, it's hard not to be bitter that we would have had him for at least Christmas, if not his second birthday, if it weren't for that stoppage and a couple snags with the move.

Bright spots at the end of the year include my sister's wedding, learning how to long-arm quilt, and for the Dude, CC the kitten. Tycho and I are still not huge fans of the kitten.

So, we're hoping 2014 will be a little better as we finally settle into our home, bring the Little Man home, work through the FIZes, run some races, and convince the kitten to stop acting like a kitten.

Goals for 2014

Ahhh. the flurry of posts summarizing the year we're leaving and the year we're starting. I have yet to do the former, so this will also suffice as my January goal post for the various linky parties.

When we moved this summer, there were twenty-mumblety-something boxes of fabric. FIZ includes both in-progress projects and specific project fabric pulls. 

There's a LOT of both. 

I already listed eleven not-yet-started FIZ projects {or twelve if you count the new pattern I bought last week.}

My goal is to finish off one UFO-FIZ for every new-FIZ started.

{Flirt Marks the Spot - McCall's Quilting Magazine}

Starting in January, that's Flirt. All the rows are pieced; they just need to go together and be bordered. It would be nice to have the Valentine's quilt done for the holiday!

And then, in no particular order...

Central Park Sudoku / Summer Drinks / Chunky Log Cabin

St. Paul's Cross / Cat Tails / Boardwalk

Rainbow Scrap Challenge / Saturday Sampler / Skorca!

Hunter's Star / Layer Cake Quilt Along

This all should be easy, considering the very minor life goals for the year. 

Like, traveling to Korea to pick up our son. And then dealing with a 2.5 year old who doesn't speak English.

Or possibly running four half marathons in 34 days to level up in Half Fanatics. Which would be after I break 2:20 in January.

But, that's it. Nothing else major!

These won't be a finished project this year, but I also want to work on my BOMs - Ripples and Reflections, and Fat Quarter Stars. That's just one star block every month, and whatever R&R has for me. I think I'm going to set aside one day every month just for that.

I also know there's plenty of other projects that will find their way onto the list - for example, eventually I will get back the blocks for my sister's wedding quilt, my mother still has plenty of wall hangings on order, and who can resist those quilt magazine projects?

Linked:

Getting It Done @ Patchwork Times

A Year of Finishes

Nothing But UFOs @ A Passion for Applique
Goals for 2014 @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Something Old, Something New @ Never Too Hot to Stitch