Second Quarter Finish Along - #2016FAL

For this year's finish along, I did finish 4 quilts and 1 small project completely in the first quarter and then adopted two giant schnauzers, ages 7 and 8.   AKA 160 pounds of we're really sad and not sure we remember that we're well behaved dogs.   So that's taken quite a bit of sewing time.  



I did get pretty far along on most Q1 projects though so I'm relisting those and adding quite a few.

1. Birthday in Seville


2. Minkee Blue and Green Kid


3. Technicolor


4. Terrain HSTs


5. Cushion from the batting scraps


6. Testing of the Clams


7. Argyle from Turkey


8. Flying Geese Bits


9. Wayward Block Donation


10. Slab Quilt


11. Locket - Baby Size


12. Orange Baby - backing off cuts from Technicolor


13. Wedding Signatures - maybe, the wedding was this decade, I don't want to rush


14. Pouch for HW

I'm not always realistic but I like a good set of goals.   And added bonus, one of the dogs already has bonded and has separation anxiety to the tune of pulling the minkee quilt partially off the frame and chewing a side.   So that's a smaller quilt to finish now.  

I don't have all the pictures on my phone but here's 9 of them.   Will add more as soon as I'm home.



Linking up with Elven Garden Quilts

Starbursts quit - Finished

I'm a bit surprised myself.

That it's actually finished.

This was originally started as part of the San Diego Modern Quilt Guild (founding member right here, y'all) SD Bee.   And I hoped to finish in 2013.   C'est la vie.   I'm very happy with how it turned out.   Even though my BFF made me pick a hard to manage quilting pattern.   With starbursts.

Lots of photos to follow - wear sunglasses.  I like 'em bright.

First, Matilda had to pose.   This was her own choice and she did a great job looking surprised.   Or bored.   Or something.  Unless she's bouncing, it's hard to tell.

And the whole thing up on the pulley quilt hanging system that I built for this, or for hanging a shade over the carriage house doors, or for putting up a movie screen.   Or whatever, because pulleys are awesome.  Although I do need a different pole.   Things are heavy.

In the center of each diamond is a 9 pointed starburst.   Why?   I had someone over when I was starting and she didn't like regular stars.   I'm somewhat certain my friends are all in a competition to see who can get me to do the craziest thing.   Who wins?  Everyone.

I extended the lines out from the points and then alternated three designs in the sections.   Big figure eights, wavy lines and swirls.  I didn't think about the fact that in some areas, to complete a section I had to advance the quilt top to get the whole design in.   And then reverse because the quilt is HUGE and there were a million diamonds.  Or maybe it's 92 x 105 inches.   

I bought 3 different yards of fabric for the binding and then used something I already had.   This is one of the reasons why I'm about to run out of fabric.

And this is another of the 2016 FAL planned projects.  Or rather I should say hoped for finishes.  I am only about 1/2 way through at the moment.

Second Round

It's the second quarter of the 2012 Finish Along at Quilter in the Gap. It's a long list but I'm coming off a vacation and feeling on top of the world.
Here's the quick list and I may come back and add fancy pictures of each project, I may not though so don't hold your breath.
1. Giggling project - it's a gift so I won't show much detail.





2. Arabella Modern Day Diamonds - it was on the list last quarter too but isn't quilted totally yet. Here's the progress
3. Mandarian Chinese Takeout - also from the list last quarter.





4. Chirpfest 2012 - here's a link to the top
5. Blue Greek Crosses - the initial blocks are here
6. Robot Strip Quilt - small quilt to donate





7. And the last is linked here. It's the first stack pictured. All cut and sewing was started but I'd like to get it finished for donating soon.

These aren't all the ongoing projects and of course I'll start at least a few more but that's what makes it fun. Oh and I'm hoping to build a new studio too. :)

Some Progress

It seems like every year when I figure out a goal (or two) for my sewing that I happen across others with the same general plan. Last year it was not buying fabric for a few months and there were plenty of people trying the same resolution.*
I've spent the last week or so focusing on not starting new projects since I ended the year with at least 15 projects in the works. The number may seem high but the urge to finish is pretty common on blogs this year. So I've updated my Excel spreadsheet and made some neat piles. I'm linking up to the Finish Along at Quilter in the Gap for the first quarter. Here are my projects to be completed -






It is kinda a mug shot setup with the front and side views but there are six projects there.

1. Summer Takeout
2. Arabella Diamonds
3. Sunkissed Jelly Roll Magic
4. Triangle Quilt, Triangle Quilt, Doing the Things a Triangle Can
5. Grand Bazaar
6. Origins HST (with the border fabric hanging in the back

The last two need backing fabric still.**

Oh and the turtle quilt top that I gave away for Christmas and brought back home to finish. Because that's classy.





However, my main goal this year is not to sew with any deadlines, I did enough of that in 2011. So we will see what gets done without pressure.

Oh and I will be starting a new project that makes me giggle tomorrow. Or next week.


*Please ignore the full shelves in the following pictures. I mostly succeeded.
**Again, can I say that there are not enough flannel choices out there?

iPad cases

iPad cases, a photo by shanleytulip on Flickr.

And no, I don't need to have costume changes for my iPad and I don't have 3 of them. One was made after reading a Moda Bake Shop tutorial, the middle one was made by FOLLOWING the tutorial. I'll put on the button tonight, as it's a gift for someone celebrating a birthday tomorrow. The top one was made just this week using this Fresh Lemons tutorial as a going away gift for a coworker. Ok, if I admit it all, it's the 2nd one I made with that tutorial. I just botched the first one so much that I started over again. The night before I needed to give it away. The zippers are supposed to be invisible but I'm settling for toothless. The little pocket is really handy for cords or what not.

This is shaping up to be a finishing sort of weekend and I managed this post just in time to link up with crazy mom quilts!

Lemon Squares Bound

Lemon Squares Bound, a photo by shanleytulip on Flickr.

I had a looooong day of jury duty today and decided to fully dork out and take a quilt with me to bind. I finished up the Lemon Squares quilt. I've just got to dig up the label from somewhere around here. If I can trick someone into holding up for me this weekend, I'll post a full picture soon.

Hmm, that seems to be a common thread on posts lately. It might be time to dig out my pulleys too and set up a photo spot. Maybe on my new front porch, that should fancy up the neighborhood.

You can kinda see in this picture that I decided to try pebbling in the white spaces. On the yellow squares I stitched in some lemons. Cause I take quilt names literally.

iPad cover

iPad cover, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

It's a mostly sewing weekend for me it seems. This is a quick little project that would have been quicker had I thought it through and read some instructions. I made an iPad cover with some fabric from the Central Park line by Kate Spain. The interior is a really soft flannel. The binding and button are Kona solids. It would have gone a little quicker if I hadn't quilted the lining to the rest of it. I ended up with seams on the inside so decided to bind those too. That got a little fiddly in the corners. It works though. I used a silver stretchy cord so to loop over the button to keep everything in place.

iPad cover, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I used the Dritz make your own buttons without tools fanciness but didn't try to center a print on it. Maybe an envelope cover next time though to make sure that it doesn't collect schmutz if it goes into another bag.

Slowly with the Fandango

Batting Wrinkle, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

A big wrinkle in my batting slowed down the quilting on my Fandango project. I had to think about it for a few days before I got up the courage to slice the batting. The 4 layers was just too much so I cut the top off the wrinkle and then overlapped just two layers. I didn't want to risk having them pull apart. So far so good, we'll just wait to see how it washes up.

Batting Wrinkle, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Since I got it off the frame, I decided to make up the binding (pictured here next to my favorite niece picture, although she's way bigger than that now). And here's the newest addition to my pile of bindings to be done.

Batting Wrinkle, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

That pile should go down soon as I'm sending the first kite quilt north for binding. Although, that just means that it is time to do the second kite quilt and I'm growing the stack again. Sounds like I won't need to take my machine to the next guild meeting!

Fandango Quilting

Fandango Quilting;, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I've been quilting off and on this weekend on my Fandango quilt. It is a pretty easy design and I think I've got about a row and a half left. Not too bad considering the size. This is one of the patterns that makes me think that quilting for others wouldn't be so bad. Maybe someday when I run out of fabric, ideas and peeps needing quilts.

P.S. Mom, this is still not for you.

Fandango Loading

Fandango Loading, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I'm in a quilting kind of mood lately. The last piece for my Pfaff showed up this week and I have a bunch of tops to get done. At least as far as to the hand binding stage. I'm going with a swirly whirly pantograph for this one. Thank goodness I started that before I went out to get extra bobbins today. I found out that my little sewing machine store, Consew, is going to be getting in and demoing the Quilt Cad software soon. Just what I need, a way to draw my own pantographs!

Proof

IMG_1807.JPG, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

That I don't feel well tonight. And no, not because I've not sewn the last 4 strips of blocks to the Fandango top. The wrinkles and bunched fabric are proof that my normally good dog has been sleeping on the couch. She only does this when I'm sick so house rules no longer apply.

I thought it was just a cough but now I'm starting to worry.

My living room

IMG_1787.JPG, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Yes, Fandango is taking over my house this week. Here is my living room floor this morning. I'm trying to decide whether this should be 81 x 81 or 72 x 90.

And what should I do with the 4 (or 3) extra blocks. I'll have flannel on the back, of course.

My New Desk

My New Desk, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Relatively little of my planned sewing got done today because I decided to trek up the coast to pick up a new desk. Just finished putting it all together. The glass top seemed like the perfect place to add some of the extra strips of Fandango. Of course, I had to include the cutest baby picture ever. If that picture can't cheer you up then nothing can.

No more organizing for today though. I am le tired.  Maybe I will manage to show my chemistry experiments later this week.  I will have printable labels, I will!

Fandango Clutch

Fandango Clutch, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

It's my first finish of the New Year! It's a little gathered clutch from this tutorial. While I did struggle with it (and not just whether to cut up my Kate Spain Fandango yardage), it turned out really well. Also for once I took notes of the dumb things I did in error so I can skip them next time.

It's not really clear in the picture but the front is gathered. One of the things I'll try next time is to cut the front piece a little bigger (6 x 15) and then once it's gathered down I'll trim to the 5.5 x 9 side. Or forget entirely until I'm trying to link back to this post. One of the three.

The lining and the front dots are from a scrap bundle that I bought up in Northern California because one of the fabrics had colors that my sister was considering for her wedding. For the inside I pieced a couple of the strips together since I figured it would be mostly covered by the card holder and divider. It really isn't noticeable and I'm patting myself on the back for using the fabric I have instead of going out for more.

Also, I only had a navy blue zipper so I'm pretending that I used that color on purpose for some, um, pop? Contrast? Dorky homemade look? It's way more noticeable in the picture than in real life.

Fandango Clutch, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Fandango Layer Cakes

Ahhhhhhhhh, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I've started the Fandango (my new favorite Kate Spain fabric) and made up a couple of blocks. This is happy fabric and every time I pick up a new piece, I have a new favorite pattern/color. Until I pick up the next one. . . . .



I don't have the whole stack sewn together because of this little chore that needed to be done. All that fuzz was in the bottom of my poor machine.

Pile of Fuzz, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.


And for those keeping track, no I haven't figured out a project for my old new favorite, Verna, yet.

Birthday Placemats

IMG_1954, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I'm almost 3 months late in posting these but they are my new birthday placemats. I started them the day before my birthday and even had one done for my party. They did go pretty quickly since it was basically loading two yards of fabrics and some leftover batting on the long arm frame. Then I just did my loop de loops with a few secret messages. The binding is the first bit of my new favorite line, Verna by Kate Spain.