4QFAL Finish: Flirt Briar Rose Quilt!

This girl is on FIRE!

The lovely, amazing sis-in-law gave me the green light to use her Gammill for the next several days. I went over today and quilted two. She's doing one over the weekend, and then I'm back on Monday and Tuesday. Hopefully, I can get three done on Monday and four on Tuesday.

Hopefully.

But back to today.

My sweetheart gave me this Flirt jelly roll for Christmas last year and I'm going to enjoy this quilt. I quilted big flowers on the big patchwork parts, and small hearts in each corner of the diamonds. I did some loops and hearts on the borders and called it a day.

The pattern is Briar Rose from England Street Quilts. Love this pattern!

Crossing this one off the 4QFAL list - I'm using this bonus week to get a few more done.

Friday Finish: Mom's Weekender, and a bonus

So glad I got my Juki back. The story ended well - they figured out what was wrong (after I brought in an example of what it was doing), and fixed it with no extra charges, and did it right away. Hooray!

So I got right back to work and I finished this gorgeous Weekender for my awesome mom.

She liked my pink dandelion one, but it was kind loud for her, so we went with a nice gray one. I added the yellow just to liven things up a smidge.

And the zippy pockets inside are aqua, for a little splash of color inside.

And then I was so productive I got my niece's Sophia bag done too!

I really love this pattern. Amy Butler might have a love for interfacing, and it's challenging, but I just LOVE how her patterns turn out. The directions are always so clear and easy to follow. It's great!

This is the Sophia pattern, but I wanted a bigger one, so I enlarged it 129% at FedEx and it's just right.

My niece loves elephants, but I thought they might be too cutesy on the outside, so they are hiding in the lining. They are "stealth-ephants" as my husband calls them.

A zippy pocket, and another one on the inside makes it just right for a carry-on, or overnight bag. It's almost as big as a Weekender!

Linking up with Amanda Jean and Sarah - have a great weekend!

Friday Finish: Crossroads Charity quilt and a new friend!

Another quilt to check off the 4QFAL list!

This one is already in a box, on it's way to New York. I thought it would be a nice extra, since it took me so long to do my official do.Good Stitches bee quilt, to send an extra one. Helps alleviate some guilt I suppose.

Played around on the long-arm some more. Doing these loopy swirly things is like doing donuts with a Ferrari, but I'll work up to more advanced stuff. Right now I'm just getting comfortable with it. That, and better at loading/unloading by myself. Still, I wanted to try quilting words, so this was good practice.

I quilted in the lyrics to the song "Smile." Josh Groban performed it at the concert I just attended, and it's been in my head ever since. It's a great song. You can watch/listen if you want!

And now, let me introduce you to my new friend, Jasmine. She just started her blog yesterday, and I got the sweetest e-mail from her. I guess I found out how different I am from other "you'd better give me credit if you so much as use the same fabric as me" bloggers. I'm terribly flattered that she found inspiration from my blog and made a Richard Scarry quilt like I did for her son. But I'm happier that she found an outlet for her creative energies, that she found a positive way to deal with post-partum depression. I've been there. I've blogged about it. It's real and frightening and lonely. So I'm so glad she's joined the party and has started her blog. Check her out at Quilt Kisses. There's always room for one more, right?

Wanna see some Swoon progress?

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Have a great weekend! And Smile!

Friday Finish: do.Good Stitches quilt

Hope there's enough Fridays for all my finishes! Which also means I've got to get to finishing more stuff!

The Gammill is quickly becoming my new best friend. Well, it's more like the really cool girl who lets me hang out with her. But still. She LETS ME HANG OUT WITH HER! Sorry for shouting. It's just so awesome!

I won't even tell you how long I've had these blocks. I hemmed and hawed over sashing and whatnot. Then I needed some more backing material. And then binding.

But now it is done and ready to ship! It's even bound in yellow polka dot. I want to keep it for the binding alone.

Hooray for finally finishing it! Checking it off the 4QFAL list. At this rate, I won't get it all done, but I'm gonna get a lot done!

And now, back to working on Christmas stuff. My string quilt is on hold until I get more white. By the way, I love the new changes at Fat Quarter Shop (wishlist, anyone!), but I don't see the discount if you order 15 yards or more of fabric. I always ordered a bolt of white (or two!), and it was nice to get the price knocked down. Sigh. Time to find a new source for Moda Bella White. Bummer.

Linking up with Sarah (LOVE that orphan pinwheel quilt!) and Amanda Jean.

Friday Finish: Hello Sunshine Jacob's Ladder Quilt, and Blogger's Quilt Festival!

A finish for this Friday, for my 4Q FAL list, and for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.
That's a lot of pressure, for one little quilt. Still, here she is:

A quilt for my baby girl!

I think she likes it!

The block is called Jacob's Ladder, and I kinda figured out how to maximize my fat quarter bundle with the pattern. A whole lot of half square triangles and four patches later and I have one big happy quilt.

I quilted it on my sister's Gammill long arm (way too much fun, lemme tell ya!). I did flowers on the diamonds, then a loopy meander everywhere else.

Backed in cozy red birdy (my girly loves bird-birds) flannel and bound in a sherbet-y bias stripe. Because I LOVE a stripey binding. Or gingham. Or polka dots. But this time, stripes for sure.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and the Blogger's Quilt Festival. Best category for me? Bed quilt, or photography, I suppose.

Friday Finish: Gypsy Girl Quilt!

Hold on to your seats. Jennie actually has a FINISHED quilt today. Not a flimsy (well, a flimsy too), but an actual, honest-to-goodness, bone fide, quilted, bound and washed quilt.

I give you the Gypsy Girl Patchwork!

I loved this fabric the moment I saw it, and I knew it was just right for my oldest girl. She loves blue, so I backed it in a gorgeous azure minky. It's a birthday present for her, but I figured I'd better let her have it now.

I used my sister-in-law's long arm and it was just so much fun. And it goes well with the newly painted dresser. Yep. Planned that! Check it off the 4QFAL list!

And now for my flimsy finish.

My mom wanted a Halloween spider web quilt like mine, so she bought the jelly roll and purple fabric and I whipped it together this week. It's now been entrusted to the postal service and should be in her hands soon.

And now, to work on my red string quilt. Only eleventy hundred blocks to go!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Have a great weekend.

A little finish for Friday

I decided my little tablet needed a new cover. And my old Nook cover was in pretty sad shape too. So I picked out some faves and made these two:

I love them. Love the dandelions especially. My kids are convinced they are my favorite flower, and in a way, they are.

So those are my finishes. I'm working on my Glamping hexie quilt. Slowly plodding along with that, but it's over halfway done now, and that's awesome.

Also, thanks ever so to all those who are helping me with my basting issues. I'm going to give a few of your ideas a try. My law student is working on a lawsuit today, so I have to wait until next week for my day of basting, but it's coming! I will finish at least one quilt before July is over!

Linking up with Amanda Jean (who is so lucky to get to go on a retreat) and Sarah (who has made an adorable quilt for her granddaughter). Have a great weekend! I'm going to a quilt show with the amazing sister-in-law this afternoon. Should be fun!

What was I thinking?

Sometimes a little quilting idea pops into my head and won't go away until I just get started.

When I got a Glamping FQ bundle for my birthday (guilt-get-out-of-trouble-gift), I thought how fun it would be to make a big hexie quilt for myself.

Cue the crazy music! (By the by, what should be on my crazy playlist? Patsy Cline? Aerosmith? Madonna?

I cut the hexies with my Go! cutter last week - no biggie there.

Now the fun has begun. It's going to be 26/27 hexies per column. 25ish columns. INSANE, I tell you!

I have the first two columns done and am sewing them together as I finish them. I'm using the wonderful tutorial for machine stitching hexies at from the blue chair (part 1 and part 2).

It's slow going, but it's going. I might have it done by Christmas.

Seriously.

Okay, I hope to have it done by the end of the month, but it's going to be tough.

Thank goodness for Otter Pops, sprinklers and library books!

As for my finish for today, I finished my May (I know, I know, but I was moving!) bee blocks and sent them off today. Fortunately, June is my month, so I won't be late this month!

I liked this pattern - they came together quickly. I might use them again. The block (Rolling Diamonds) was designed by Queen Sara of the Haven do.Good stitches bee. Contact her if you'd like the pattern.

Linking up, since it's been oh so long, with Amanda Jean and Sarah. Celebrating small victories over here.

Flimsy Excuse for a Finish

Flimsies count for finishes, right?

They do over here.

Got this girl done today. Had to take pictures while I was fixing dinner. When my husband asked why we had to do it right away, I had to tell him it was so I could link up!

This one will be for my oldest girl. It's on the long side, but I suppose that's okay, right?

 

All I had to do was piece the sawtooth border and put on all three. I hate it when it takes me so long to do something so simple. Well, not entirely simple, but not much work to finish it off.

Still, it's done and on the pile to finish after the move. That pile is getting taller . . . .

Eleven, at last count. From the top: Sunkissed Granny Squares, Lucy's Crab Shack triangles, Flirt 9-Patch, Sew Cherry Granny Squares, Pam Kitty Morning Scrappy Trips, Gypsy Girl Patchwork, London Scrappy Trips, Posy Kiss Me, PKM Pinwheels, Delft Blue Dutch Pinwheels and Mama Said Sew Disappearing 4-Patch. Oh my. It's going to be a quilty summer methinks. But my husband might be gone again all summer, so I've got to have something to keep me busy, right? Besides five kids.

Linking up with Sarah and Amanda Jean. Have a fabulous weekend!

Flimsy Friday Finish

How's that for alliteration?

Sorry. Just the English major coming out. Hang on a sec while I shut her up with a book.

'Mmkay. She'll be quiet for hours now. (Oh how I wish that 1. sitting a reading uninterrupted were even possible and 2. that I looked this lovely whilst reading. Yep. I just said whilst.)

I've been busy. I decided to rid myself of all guilt, or pressure, or whatever emotion you want to attach to this need to get everything finished. Right. Now.

So this girl is just going to crank out flimsies until the cows come home. Or until we move. We might move before the cows get an inkling that this is home. I certainly hope so.

Here are this week's finishes. Yep. FinishES. Plural. Note that to make a word plural you do not, DO NOT, use an apostrophe. Sorta a pet peeve.

Uh-oh. She's back. Must be out of Swiss Rolls.

Anyway. The finished flimsies:

First, my Flirt 9-patch. My husband got me a jelly roll for Christmas (he's learning!) and I knew this was the quilt I wanted to make. (Used this Moda Bakeshop tutorial)

Love the pieced border. Love this fabric line.

The second is almost finished. I need to get some Posy yardage, but this is the main bit. It's for my oldest girl. She has a daybed, so I didn't want it too wide. I used this Fig Tree pattern, but modified it to make 32 blocks.

You like?

Here is the progress on my Gypsy Girl patchwork. This one should be officially titled "world's hardest quilt to lay out!" Doesn't help I have a little helper who likes to rearrange my blocks. Because I didn't do it right!

 

*He's holding it sideways, just so's you know. This is really how wide it's going to be. Kinda confusing, but it made more sense this way. I didn't think you wanted to see a picture of a pair of blue jeans topped with a quilt. I like to look at my husband's legs, but I'm not going to share!

Still, I'm halfway done, which is oh so nice. This is going to be a guest room quilt (when I finally get a guest room!). With some lovely eyelet bordered bed sheets and some great pillows. I can't wait!

And I actually have a finish finish this week.

Just a wallet, but still, a finish!

I was using one of these little wallets and it worked, but it didn't work. I was having to shove dollar bills and coins in my pocket, which meant I was laundering money later (don't care for the sound of change in the dryer), or losing money because my kids "found" a dollar in the laundry. This doesn't mean my kids actually do laundry, but they do dig through it from time to time because I can't always be bothered with sorting, folding and putting away. Those little wallets are really more suited for kids who only have to keep track of library cards and such.

Wow, way more than you needed to know! But here she is:

With card slots (although I need more!), a spot for dollars (when I'm lucky enough to have cash), a zipper pocket for change, an accordian pocket for coupons that will expire before I remember they are there. And some other pockets just cuz. I used this pattern, but I just measured the pieces and cut them out with my rotary cutter rather than deal with pattern pieces.

I love it. I used up a scrap piece of my fancy schmancy Paris linen fabric that I bought on impulse in Seattle like 3 years ago (or more). 

Linking up with Amanda Jean and Sarah for a fabulous Friday! Hope you have a great weekend!

Friday Finish: Hey, it counts!

Since I'm not the one finishing this quilt, this is as far as I go with it. But I love it. I just might be buying another Posy layer cake to make another one.

Honestly, isn't she pretty?

This one will be tied by the teenage girls at church for one of their friends who has been diagnosed with bone cancer. She's begun her treatments, and we thought she could use a quilt to see her through.

Linking up! Crazy Mom Quilts (who is dragging me into the Scrappy Trip Along madness with her awesome finish) and Sarah at Confessions (whose orange quilt I would happily adopt!).

And back to work on my UFOs!