Purge Projects Completed - Boy Version

I am happy to show off these three little quilts.  They started out as a response to The Purge hosted by Stitched in Color.  We were suppose to pull out our unloved fabrics, plan a project with them, create it, and finish it up.  I still love all my fabrics, what's not to love, but I do notice that I don't sew as much with novelty prints anymore.  So these prints have been sitting for quite some time unused and feeling unwanted.  So I decided to show them some love.

I decided to make three little boy charity quilts which have been given the stamp of approval from the 3 year old I watch in the daytime.  He had a good time looking at all the different prints and spent a few minutes commenting on each one.  I may have to make him one of his very own to take home with him.

These two went together pretty fast.

They measure 35 in x 42 inches.
The meandering quilting only took 30 min.
(28 to be exact, I timed it.)

This quilt is a little longer, but not as wide.
The quilting took a little longer because I stitched in the ditch and added some straight lines in the sashing.  Straight line sewing is slower then all over meandering, but it looks good too.

Can't wait to turn these over to a little one who can enjoy them.

Next I will be finishing up three more pink brick quilts.
Hopefully in time to add them to the final Purge link party.

Go check it out to see what everyone completed with their unloved fabrics.

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See You in September Blog Hop

My summer was mostly spent making memories with the family and playing in the lakes and waterfalls of South Carolina. We took several weekend trips and had one full week of camping fun.

As far as making things at the sewing machine, I spent a lot of time finishing up some UFO's, which I have been blogging about throughout the summer. I am always trying to whittle down my UFO pile but I always like to start new projects - probably why the UFO pile never gets smaller. Luckily this hop gave me incentive to start and FINISH three new projects this summer.

First on the list, I made another Ruffle tote with pockets.  The first one was made in March for the Ruffles blog hop and I made it to carry my drawing pad. When my Mom saw it, she told me if it was just a couple inches bigger it would be the perfect bag to carry her iPad around.
So I made another one this summer and made it a couple inches bigger just for her.

I also took some pictures as I made it and turned it into a pattern. It is my first attempt at making a pattern so I am offering it for free at Craftsy just for this blog hop. You can click the link at the top right on the blog or click here to go to Craftsy to get the pattern.

The bottom.

Here are both totes together.
You can see the new one is slightly taller, it is also an inch wider,
Perfect for iPads or any other tech pad.

For my next project I started out with this pile of lovelies.

This was my first time working with Riley Blake Gingham and I must say it is wonderful fabric to work with.  In the past I would avoid gingham in my projects because every other gingham I came across was flimsy, very light weight, and would cut all wonky.  Riley Blake is just the opposite.  It is soft and thick and wonderful to work with.  I will definitely be using Riley Blake's gingham the next time I need more for a project.

I turned some of that yummy goodness above into the quilt below.

I first saw this quilt block on Geta's blog. She calls it a modern dresden, but I like to call it Wagon Wheels or Steering Wheels because that is what I think of when I look at it. I've seen others call it windmills, dresden fans, and sunburst.  No matter the name, I love the block and when I first saw it, I put it on my quilt "to do" list.  It stayed there a long time though because I could never decide which fabrics to use.  During the summer I found out that gingham makes a wonderful Wagon Wheel quilt.  

When I was working on the layout of the blocks I split the quilt in two and put one of each color on the top and one on the bottom, but my son said if I move the red and yellow around every color would be opposite each other in the same way a knight moves on the chess board.  So I swapped the yellow and the red blocks and now each color can find its mate if it goes over two and down one or vise-verse.  I suppose I could also name the quilt "Knight's Movement".  So many names to choose from.

The quilt is 47 inches wide, just a few inches wider than most fabric, so I went for an easy pieced backing.

While cutting the strips for my Wagon Wheel quilt, each strip left me with two scrap dresden plates.  Just enough for one more mismatched block.  I decided to turn that into a pillow.  I finished it up with a band of dark blue gingham and stuffed it, leaving just enough room for it to squish up nice and soft when you hug it.

 My final project was a hedgehog coin purse.  When I first saw this on Craft Passion I knew I had to have one of my very own.  I think she turned out fantastic with her pink gingham quills.  

Thanks for stopping by to see my summer projects.
Be sure to check out the other hoppers today and see what they have been working on

Wednesday, September 10
Secretly Stitching
Buzzing and Bumbling
Quilt n Queen
Quilted Delights (Me)
Grandmama's Stories 

To see the whole Schedule, wonderfully hosted by Shari and Mdm Samm, click here.

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Another UFO Complete - Baby Cakes

This pattern is called Baby Cakes by Black Mountain Needleworks.
 The pattern and the fabric came together in a kit from Connecting Threads.
I started it in 2012.  I finished it last week.

The fabric is flannel and it makes this quilt super soft!  I love it!

And I am proud to say that with this finish I have completed my August goal for "A Lovely Year of Finishes" and I did it before the last hour of the last day of the month like I normally do. Yay!

It is also my fifth finish for my third quarter "Finish A-Long", and with a little more than a month to go for this quarter, I may beat my old record of 6 finishes.  I'll keep you posted.

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Newest Finish - Jewel Box

I finished the quilting and binding on my Jewel Box quilt last week.

Just in time to gift it during my last vacation week of summer.

The kids and I packed our bags and headed to the beach to end the summer in style.  I wanted to take the quilt down to the beach with me and deliver it to its new owner, but unfortunately I went and left it on the sewing table.

I'll be back down to the beach next weekend though, and will be able to deliver it then.

I think I will go put it in my car now to make sure it gets where it needs to go.

This makes my fourth finish for the Q3 of the 2014 Finish A-Long

and my 18th finished quilt for  the year.

On to the next UFO.

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FQSQA Finished!

Last night I put the last stitches in my Fat Quarter Stars Quilt Along Quilt.
This quilt was my July goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

I started this quilt in September of 2011 when I joined Moose on The Porch Quilts' quilt along.

Every couple weeks a new star pattern was released.
I got all my stars done each week and even got my top done on time.
But then it sat in the quilting pile until now.

I used an orange fabric for the background.  I bought a fat quarter of it for the blocks and when the bolt went on sale, I bought more for the backing and the binding.

I had to have some pictures ready to post on the link party before it closed last night, so I took it out on the porch in the dark last night hoping to get a good photo. The porch light gave it an interesting look.

Then I got the idea to turn the quilt hoping more light would shine on it, but It didn't work out like I thought.

I got a good shadow of my quilt holder though. 

This is also a finish I can knock off my third quarter list for the 2014 Finish A-long.
Yay! This is my third finish for this quarter.

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Another Christmas Quilt Finished

This is my second finish for the third quarter of the 2014 FAL.
When I picked up this quilt yesterday to work on it, all the straight line quilting had already been completed, So all I had to do was the free motion quilting and add the binding.

I started this quilt in December of 2012.

Last night I finished the quilting and this morning I added the binding.

I have made three Christmas quilts this year so far.

It feels good to use up my Christmas fabric and know

that I have three quilts ready to go for December.

I am linking up to Handmade Christmas.

This link party encourages us to make our Christmas gifts through out the year.

This quilt started out as 2.5 inch strips. I cut a couple from all of my Christmas fabrics then

I sewed one red and one green strip together to make a 4.5 inch wide long strip.

After that I cut a 4.5 inch white strip and placed it on top and sewed down both side making a tube.

I used A Bright Corner's tutorial on how to cute strip tubes and then had lots of fancy HST blocks.

I played around with the layout and took pictures of a few,

but finally ended up with what you see at the top.

Stripe tube piecing is a quick and easy way to make a Christmas quilt.

I just may make another and use the pinwheel layout.  I am really liking that one too.

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Mondo Bags - Done!

After I made my Q3 FAL list yesterday I hit the sewing machine
and spent the afternoon finishing up these three Mondo bags. 

I decided to use darker fabrics for the lining this time around and it makes the bags look totally different from the other mondo bags I made, which had yellow/orange on the inisde. 

These will be going out to these three wonderful women.

I didn't tell them I was making them for them, so hopefully it will be a nice surprise for them.

I still need to make one more. Next time I head to the beach I'll pick up that last interfacing.

The bag can made without it, but it makes it so much easier having it.

These bags are my first finish for the third quarter of the 2014 Finish along.  

I am glad to have them finished and I am hoping their new owners will love them just as much as I do.

Linked up at Freemotion by the River and Quilt Story's Tuesday link parties.

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ALYOF June Completion and July Goal

Phew, finished this at 11pm last night, just in time to post my finish for the ALYOF for June. I took a quick picture last night, so I had something to post on the link party,  but I had to use the flash and the quilting didn't show up so great.  This morning I was able to get some better pictures.

I basted this quilt yesterday Morning around 9am.  

I was lucky to get it all quilted and bound in one day.  

The blocks came from a swap from the old IFQ (International Friendship Quilters) group.

The first six blocks came from:

Me -   Pamela M.  - Beatrice M.

Pauline G. - Tarnyia S. - Carole B.

The last six come fromL

Me - Val D. - Karin F.

Maureen M. - Ann M. - Nancy N.

I had to sign up for two groups to get 12 blocks.  That is why there are two done by me.

This quilt is also on my second quarter finish a-long list.  

That gives me three finishes so far for Q2.

I still have until the 6th of this month to finish more projects on my list.

Let's see how much sewing I can cram in this week.  :)

AS for my July Goal for ALYOF, I plan to finish my quilt from the Fat Quarter Star Quilt Along.

It was on my Q2 FAL list, but I know it will be moving to my Q3 list for the 2014 FAL so putting it as my July Goal should help get this one off the UFO list.

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