Monthly Archives: October 2014

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This fun, colorful quilt was pieced by another guild member and I picked it up... a while back... to do the quilting. I started on it over 2 1/2 years ago when I was first starting to free motion quilt. I had found Leah Day and was determined to learn how to free motion. I use a Viking 6690 with a 7" throat, and I was a bit intimidated by free motion quilting. With a little bit of help from Gordon at Viking Sewing Center and Leah's great videos, I was off and running. I decided that this philanthropy quilt was a great way to practice. I decided to quilt every other square in a checkerboard pattern, and to use a different quilting design in each of them. I did about 1/2 of the project, then I was hot to do some free motion quilting on some of my own projects. Then I started more other projects. And this quilt sat on the back burner. I decided it was high time to get this one into the finish category, so I made it my October ALYoF Goal. Once again I have ALYoF to thank for getting a project DONE!

The month started with my first 10K, followed by a foot injury that plagued me until right before our trip to Disneyland. I did manage to sew The Girl a new dress for our trip. The kids and I were all sick on vacation and I spent most of this week in the recliner and watching movies as I battled this virus. So I finally got started on finishing up the quilt yesterday or the day before. I had a dozen 6" squares to quilt, plus making and attaching the binding. Oh, and I still had to finish The Boy's Halloween costume. Well, this afternoon about 10 minutes before going out to trick or treat with the kiddos I finished putting the binding on the quilt. Phew! Here are some of my favorite patterns.

Railroad Tracks: Leah Day's design #354. I loved this one that I did way back when I was a beginner because it was easy to do, but I thought it looked flashy.
Pine Needles: Leah Day's design #24. Oops, I did my pine needles all going the same way. Travel stitching was a little tough.
Pipe Maze: Leah Day's design #249. Mine has more rounded corners than her version, but I was so happy with this block yesterday. No puckers or anything (I think)!
Basic Spiral: Leah Day's design #5. I could certainly stand to get better at spirals, but I like this one and can see using it for a filler... I like that it was easy to fill in around the dinosaur.
Gentle Flames: Leah Day's design #3. I like that this was so easy and it's pretty forgiving if you aren't perfect, but it still looks flashy.
Zen Breaks: Leah Day's design #369. It was great to use around a feature, but could also be used to create sections to use different fillers in.
Etch n' Sketch: Leah Day's design #2 (I used a bunch of her first patterns on this project!). My right edge is kinda wackadoo since I didn't go all the way to the edge, which I guess I should have. Perhaps this crazy plaid distracts you from that fact. :-)
Layered Flower: Leah Day's design #226. This block gives me the confidence to do more designs where I'm stitching over my quilting lines multiple times. My flower is a little different from Leah's since I didn't go all the way to the edge of the block with my largest layer.

I need to free motion quilt more regularly. It would really help me to get back to the Building Blocks Quilt Along for regular practice. It's nice to see how far I've come and I continue to be amazed at how I can see progress on my skills across a project or even a single block!

A couple free motion quilting questions for you quilters out there: What kind of thread do you prefer for free motion quilting? If you piece and quilt with Aurifil, do you use the same weight thread for both?

Linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes October Finishes Party, Fabric Frenzy Friday, Finish it Up Friday and TGIFF. Yay finished quilt!

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

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At the beginning of the month I placed an order at Pink Chalk Fabrics during their (still ongoing) fabric liquidation sale and filled in some of the color gaps in my stash of blenders. I've decided I really like blenders. A lot. They arrived this week and did not disappoint. I think I'll be working some of these into my IG mini swap mini quilt that I've yet to design or start. ;-) (Note: I think part of the reason that I'm trying to finish up some old WIPs is that I really want to dive into some new fabric without old project guilt.)

Eloise Renouf Shape Of Spring Full Circle in Sunshine and Midnight and Modern Quilt Studio The Color Collection Rain Chain Yellow

 

Alison Glass Sun Print Bike Path Prussian, Cori Dantini Merry Stitches Tiny Seed Red and Zen Chic Figures Points Oceans

 

dear Stella Confetti Dot in Sun, Parrot, Navy and Fire

 

Lizzy House Pearl Bracelet in Pond, Anchor and Swiss Chard

Linking up with Sunday Stash by Molli Sparkles.

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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.)

  1. Dinosaur SCVQA Philanthropy quilt (FMQ partially done -- see above)
  2. 2006 (red/black/white) mystery quilt (one step left to finish the top)
  3. Ocean quilt for The Girl (top pieced, but needs applique done)
  4. Batik SCVQA philanthropy quilt (sandwiched)
  5. Roman Stripez with butterfly backing (some blocks pieced)
  6. Roman Stripez with turtle backing (some blocks pieced)
  7. The Purple Ninja Quilt (fabric selected)
  8. 2004 Baseball Quilt (some blocks pieced)
  9. Little Letters in Brights Quilt (A-F pieced)
  10. Little Letters in Blues/Greens Quilt (A-F pieced)
  11. Memory House Vol. 1 Quilt (2 houses complete)
  12. Giant Wonky Star Quilt (front and back pieced)
  13. Winnie the Pooh Skirt/Shorts for The Girl (fabric purchased)
  14. Minnie/Mickey Dress for The Girl (fabric purchased)
  15. Vehicle Baby Quilt (fabric pulled from my stash, started cutting -- see below)
  16. Pirate Quilt (pre-cut fabric selected)
  17. Lazy Susan dress for The Girl (fabric selected)
  18. Christmas Mini Quilt (using 4 orphan blocks I somehow acquired)
  19. IGminiswap quilt (some design ideas on paper)

Some more goals that aren't finishes:

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.