ALYoF October and Q4 Finish Along Goals • 12 Comments

sarah • October 5, 2014

It has felt really good the past few months to get into a groove of regular sewing and finishing projects. A Lovely Year of Finishes and Finish Along 2014 help me stay focused and motivated.

This month for ALYoF ~~I'd like to~~ I'm going to finish the Dinosaur Philanthropy Quilt that I started quilting... um... in 2012. (Not too bad since September's ALYoF was a UFO from 2003.) The quilt was pieced by another member of my guild and I'm quilting it with a sample of Leah Day's FMQ patterns since I was just starting to free motion quilt when I started working on it. It's been on the back burner for a long while, but I only need to quilt 12 more squares and bind it. :-) Pathetic that I haven't finished that up yet, huh?

I finished 8 of my 18 Q3 Finish Along Goals, and seven of those have rolled forward to this month. Plus I've added a few more UFOs I've run across and some new projects I've started or planned in the last month. (I'll add links to the list below as I finish these projects.)

Dinosaur SCVQA Philanthropy quilt (FMQ partially done -- see above)
2006 (red/black/white) mystery quilt (one step left to finish the top)
Ocean quilt for The Girl (top pieced, but needs applique done)
Batik SCVQA philanthropy quilt (sandwiched)
Roman Stripez with butterfly backing (some blocks pieced)
Roman Stripez with turtle backing (some blocks pieced)
The Purple Ninja Quilt (fabric selected)
2004 Baseball Quilt (some blocks pieced)
Little Letters in Brights Quilt (A-F pieced)
Little Letters in Blues/Greens Quilt (A-F pieced)
Memory House Vol. 1 Quilt (2 houses complete)
Giant Wonky Star Quilt (front and back pieced)
Winnie the Pooh Skirt/Shorts for The Girl (fabric purchased)
Minnie/Mickey Dress for The Girl (fabric purchased)
Vehicle Baby Quilt (fabric pulled from my stash, started cutting -- see below)
Pirate Quilt (pre-cut fabric selected)
Lazy Susan dress for The Girl (fabric selected)
Christmas Mini Quilt (using 4 orphan blocks I somehow acquired)
IGminiswap quilt (some design ideas on paper)

Some more goals that aren't finishes:

Get caught up on Leah Day's Building Blocks Quilt Along.
Finish ironing my pre-washed fabric.
Pre-wash my new fabric.

My newest project is a vehicle baby quilt, using fabrics pulled from stash. I'll be making yellow and red 4-patch blocks to go with the feature fabric blocks.

What are you working on this month? What's your most neglected UFO?

I'm linking up on the October ALYoF Goal Setting Party and the Q4 Finish Along Goal Setting Party.

Candy Shoppe in Natural Light • 20 Comments

sarah • October 1, 2014

Since last night's pictures were taken inside due to finishing my monthly goal after dark on the last day of the month, I just had to get Candy Shoppe outside this morning to take some more pictures.

I started quilting in 2002 and in the summer of 2003 I went on my first quilt shop hop, Shop Hop By the Bay. I rode along on a bus that someone in my guild organized for a day trip to visit many of the shops, and traveled to the other shops on my own the next day. At each location we were given one step in the directions for a mystery quilt, using 20 fat quarters and one contrasting fabric. The idea was to not look at the step in the directions until you'd finished the previous step. So I just looked at the shopping list and started shopping. I remember other women choosing florals or patriotic prints. At the first shop I bought a couple fat quarters that called out to me. Then I got back on the bus, having no idea what my plan was. I think it was another quilter who suggested I continue with brightly colored prints and along the way someone suggested a black and white fabric for my contrasting fabric.

Once I'd accumulated my 20 crazy fat quarters I was excited to get started and I think I pieced it pretty quickly. But back then I didn't know how to free motion quilt and I really wanted to learn before I finished the quilt. It wasn't until 2010 that I finally learned to free motion quilt, and finally this summer I started thinking more seriously about making a pieced backing which I had saved scraps from my fat quarters to make. I'm so glad to have finished this in September. And I'm thankful for Melissa and Shanna who run A Lovely Year of Finishes and Katy who runs the quarterly 2014 Finish Along for providing motivation for me to get some (and in cases like this, some really old) projects done.

Candy Shoppe is entirely machine pieced and quilted. It measures 57" by 67".

I'm linking up on Needle and Thread Thursday and Fabric Tuesday.

Candy Shoppe: Finished After Eleven Years • 7 Comments

sarah • September 30, 2014

At the beginning of the month I set a goal to finish a quilt top I started eleven years ago. I'm proud to say that with three hours left in the month, it is done! (I look forward to getting it into some natural light for more pictures.)