Tag Archives: ALYoF

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I found A Lovely Year of Finishes in May of 2014 and joined in setting my first goal in June. I'm proud that most of these were very old WIPs. It feels good to have gotten some old projects done. 2014 ALYoF mosaic1In June, I finished a pile of lined drawstring bags for teacher gifts (and a few extras). This one wasn't a WIP, but it did use some older fabric from my stash.

In July, I used some decade old orphan blocks to make a 4th of July table runner named Frieda.

In August, I finished Goldfish, a mug rug that I made specifically to learn the new skill of machine turned-edge applique.

In September, I finished Candy Shoppe, a mystery quilt I started eleven years prior. I love it so much it got a second photo shoot. ;-)

2014 ALYoF mosaic2In October, I finished the guild philanthropy dinosaur quilt I'd had in my possession for longer than I care to admit.

In November, my goal was to finish the quilt top for my #IGminiswap quilt. I finished and mailed the mini quilt the following week.

In December, I finished an 8 1/2 year old WIP. Bold Blooms is a twin sized mystery quilt (with my favorite backing fabric ever!), a gift I look forward to giving to a friend.

Linking up my 2014 finishes with the ALYoF 2014 Finale Party.

 

For January, I've decided my ALYoF goal will be to Finish my Stellar Winds quilt. The top and back have been finished since August(!) and the binding is even made. Now to sandwich it together and get quilting. Oh! I can use my new Aurifil color card to choose just the right thread color! :-) I'd like to do something a little decorative with my quilting instead of an all over pattern.

Also linking up to the ALYoF January Goal Party.

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My final finish of 2014! I bought the fabrics: 7 light fat quarters (black on white), 12 dark fat quarters (reds), accent and binding fabric (black on black), border (white on black) and backing... eight and a half years ago during the 2006 Shop Hop by The Bay. I had no idea what I was making, but loved the mystery of it. (I had pieced the mystery quilt from the shop hop two years before using bright, bold colors and I'd loved watching the design emerge.) I started it immediately, but back then I wasn't sewing very regularly. I worked on and off over the years and this year I finally tried to really focus on finishing since I was able to carve out regular sewing time. There have been so many progress posts about my mystery quilt over the last year. It's so great to finally have a 100% finished quilt to show you.

I've come a long way in my skills since starting this. I think this is one of the frustrations of working on a really old WIP. My piecing has improved (yay for a nearly perfect 1/4" seam allowance), I can free motion quilt now, and my understanding of value has improved, to name a few. I've also started using Aurifil thread to piece and quilt and I press my seams open.

I quilted in Aurifil 50wt grey #2605 I like to match my top and bobbin thread and decided anything more bold would fight with the fun backing fabric and I wanted it to just blend. It finished at 65" by 83". I'm really looking forward to wrapping this up and giving it to my dear friend.

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and ALYoF December Finishes. By the way, I'm a little jealous of all of you aren't feverishly trying to finish your December goal today because yours has been done for a while already. ;-)

Also linking up to Finish Along 2014 Wrap Up Party. Here's my full list of (mostly still incomplete) Q4 goals.

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If only I could REALLY narrow my goals down to one a month. I have about a million. So, I've decided I'll have a Primary Goal and some Bonus Goals. I'm joining A Lovely Year of Finishes for the first time this month.

The Primary (and ALYoF) Goal

I'd been thinking about what to do for teacher gifts for the end of the year and didn't even think about sewing something (duh!) until I saw Sarah's post of Terrific Teacher Gifts. I love her little zipper pouches, but I don't have the energy to deal with zippers at the moment, so I have another idea. In the interest of keeping the gifts somewhat of a surprise I'll refrain from sharing the specifics of my project for now, but here are my fabric groupings. I pulled way more than I need, but I figure once they are done I'll decide which we're keeping and which we're giving as gifts. And making ten of the same project will go fast since I can work on them assembly line style, right? These are all fat quarters that I pulled from my stash. Follow my progress on instagram @sarahmgoer.

fat quarter groups1fat quarter groups2fat quarter groups3fat quarter groups4fat quarter groups5

The Bonus Goals

  • Decide on my plan for party outfits for the kids to wear at The Boy's birthday party next month.
  • Complete the step 12 of my mystery quilt.
  • Quilt blocks 3 and 4 from the Building Blocks Quilt Along.
  • Do something with my patriotic orphan block.
  • Dust off my WIP quilt for The Girl... and figure out what I'm doing next.

I'm linking up to ALYoF June Goal Setting Party.