Tag Archives: ALYoF

20 Comments

Hello! It seems I inadvertently took the month of August off of blogging. There were many reasons, but not because I wasn't sewing. I have lots to show you and September should bring back a more regular blogging schedule. One of the things I've been working on is my Halloween Mini Swap package. It was my August ALYoF Goal to get it finished and mailed. I hosted the Halloween Mini Swap on Instagram as a means to finally dig in to my Halloween stash of fabrics that I've never cut into. In the end, I made my partner a mini and a mug rug. I also bought some new Halloween fabric. Part of what I've noticed about my Halloween choices is that I like loud, busy prints... so they don't all play so nicely together. Once I pulled in a non-Halloween fabric (Tula Pink True Colors Makin' Waves in Ink) I had a much easier time designing my mini.

I had a Swoon quilt in the queue for myself. Fabrics selected. First blocks cut out. But I hadn't actually made a Swoon block yet. I'm so glad I chose to make a one for this project (this one is a 16" block). I love how I was able to fussy cut the feature fabric ("unhappy hour" from The Alexander Henry Fabrics Collection 2004). Here's the back. I went with a quick fused label (since it's a mini that won't be washed frequently) and I accidentally forgot to put on hanging corners. :-/

And the mug rug is Odd Socks by The Tartankiwi. I printed the pattern at 133%, making it about 6" by 8.5".

Here's the package all wrapped up and ready to ship. I included a variety of other goodies, and wrapped them in a fat quarter.

My partner should receive it tomorrow. I can't wait to see what she thinks!

 

Here's the awesome swap package and mini that Adrienne made for me!

 

I'm linked up to the ALYoF August Finishes Party, Bernie's Handmade Halloween at Needle and Foot, and to the Finish Along Q3 Finishes Party. See my whole Q3 goal list here.

12 Comments

While there are still quite a few WIPs needing my attention, with looming swap deadlines my August goal will have to be a swap mini. I'm hosting my first mini quilt swap on Instagram, the Halloween Mini Swap. Our shipping window is the second half of this month and there's some great stuff in the works. Confession time: I haven't started sewing my mini. I have narrowed down my fabric. Here's what I'll be using. The main fabric is "unhappy hour" from The Alexander Henry Fabrics Collection 2004. The reason I chose to host this swap is so I would actually use some of my (never before touched) Halloween stash fabrics like this one. Not sure the specifics on the orange spider webs and the top fabric is Tula Pink True Colors Makin' Waves in Ink.

I'm linking up to the A Lovely Year of Finishes August Goal Party. Look for a finish from me in a couple weeks and progress pic along the way on IG.

Thanks for visiting!

20 Comments

My July ALYoF goal was to make some progress on my oldest WIP. Specifically, it was to finish the snowball blocks so I could reassess what my next step would be on this project.

I "gave" this quilt to my brother in 2004 for Christmas. I had 8 blocks done at the time. As of the beginning of this month I had... 8 block done. ;-) Now I have 40 completed blocks, and I've decided that I'll set them in a 5 block by 8 block rectangle and add a 10-12" border (in some boring solid, probably) to make it approximately twin sized. I figure about 65" by 90" is a reasonable lap quilt size for someone who is 6'5" tall. And it would have the added benefit of being able to be used as a bed quilt in the future if he'd like. Here are all the blocks together. (Oh yeah, that's a little busy! My 2015 self is kind of asking my 2004 self what she was thinking.)

I'm excited about making progress on getting the oldest WIP off my to do list. I've decided in a manner of letting some things go that I'll send out a few of my WIPs to a long-arm quilter once the tops are complete. (I recently sent out my first quilt to a long-arm quilter. It was like quilting magic! More on that later.) Since I'm not particularly excited about this project (sorry, Chris) I think skipping the quilting step will make me happier since it will allow me to move on to some other sewing. It will also ensure that it gets into the finished column sooner since it would just get pushed aside for more exciting sewing in the short term if I held onto it to quilt it myself.

With less than an hour to spare, I'm linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes July Finishes Party. ;-)