Progress and goals

1. Robot quilt.  I just put the rows together, only to realize that I need about six more rows.  I have a few more 10x10 pieces that I didn't use, so I think I'll make some mostly green rows with the last of the layer cake.  Hopefully it won't be too obvious.  I think my goal for December will be to finish piecing the top.  December is looking very busy between Christmas and final exams, so the goal is possible but not easy.

2. Temperature quilt. Well, last time I worked on this was mid-September.  It's what I'm currently piecing so that I can get caught up to December.  I'm in mid- October right now.

3. Ombre hourglass quilt. I forgot about this one, and so don't have the blog post up for it yet.  I love how it turned out, so I can't believe that I forgot about it.

4. Quilt diagonal robot quilt. Again, I have the pictures but need to post.  I might want to take a few more pictures.

Other items that didn't get worked on this month, but are still loved...  Oh, I was hoping to get down to 11 WIPs by the end of the year.  I had three show up this past month though.  Hmmm...if I don't count the things that I haven't actually started maybe I can get close?

5.  Scrap bee blocks. 
6. Meshing solid HSTs
7. Rainbow Log Cabin
8. Scrap quilt #2
9. Jeweled floors
10. Lost piece
11. Winter quilt
12. Fabric from Christmas
13. Pillow with green/purple fabric
14. Trying to fit in - left over triangles
15. Black scrap quilt.
16. Quilt Halloween quilt
17. Baby girl quilt
18. Baby unknown quilt

Whales

I quilted these whales for my mother-in-law.

I know she used a pattern, but I'm not sure which.  I added in a few more quilting bubbles and copied Lee from FreshlyPieced on the main quilting design that she used for a different whale quilt - scallops.  I wanted something rather fast and it fit the bill perfectly.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

Pluses

Plus tornado is finished.  Let's be honest...it was finished a while ago.

The pattern is from here and the coloring is sort of from here.  I did less of a rainbow pattern, and the inside pluses are a different color.  I'm not completely sure why I did that.

It is bright and colorful for the little baby though.  When I stopped over to give it to her parents, they both noticed that there was a music score in the inside pluses.  They both, separately, said, "I wonder if I can tell what the music is."  However, it is well quilted and in small squares, so they were not able to figure it out.

I quilted something different in each color family.  I just did whatever I felt like, using thread that was about the same color as the fabric.  Oranges got a double orange peel and greens got back and forth.

Pinks got a double loop.

Blues have a wood grain.

Yellow has sea foam.

Purple has squares and rectangles.

And last, but not least, the background has pluses.

It was a fun quilt.  It isn't my new favorite, as newly finished quilts often are, but I did enjoy picking out all the different fabrics and different quilting patterns.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

Orphan block

A while ago I made a paper pieced pattern of a space shuttle for my son.  Somewhere in the process I ended up making two shuttles, and one just sat in my random scrap box for a while.  Then it at least got moved onto a list of things to finish.  Then this past January I acquired a zipper for it.  And finally, after a long, long wait, I finished it.

It's just a simple zipper pouch.  The boy I sent it to loves all things space.  (I'll admit, I kind of expect him to say something like, "the planets don't look like that" or "during lift off, which the fuel is burning, the shuttle goes straight up".  But hopefully it'll be close enough.)

I lined it with some cartoony space/robot fabric.  It still fits the theme.

I always forget how quickly zips go together until I make one.  I probably find a new pattern for each one, but for this one I used this lovely tutorial.

Sept progress

1. Quilt Grandma's robot quilt. I think this is going to be my October goal.  It's been pretty slow going so far, but maybe it'll work better if I have a goal.  It's for my son, and has robots on the back.  He's most excited about the robots.

2. Robot quilt.  This is for the same son as the one above.  He just got a twin bed and so "needs" a quilt for it before winter.

3. Temperature quilt. Last month I was so surprised to realize that I hadn't worked on it for over a month.  I got myself caught up to mid-September.

4. Pluses.  It just needs a post and to be delivered.  Still.
5. Orphan rocket block. I made this into a pouch and sent it off.  It just needs a post.
6. Ombre hourglass quilt. This is also finished!  I really need to get on top of my blog posts.  Then I can cross a bunch of things off my list!

Other items that didn't get worked on this month, but are still loved...
7.  Scrap bee blocks. I've received most of these, but am waiting on a few yet. 
8. Meshing solid HSTs
9. Rainbow Log Cabin
10. Scrap quilt #2
12. Jeweled floors
13. Lost piece
14. Winter quilt
15. Fabric from Christmas
16. Pillow with green/purple fabric
17. Trying to fit in - left over triangles
18. Black scrap quilt. 

Doll quilt

Over the summer we had a bunch of friends come up for the week.  The first day in the afternoon the parents of one girl wanted to relax and I was thinking about how I'd miss quilting for the week.  The solution?  Make a doll quilt.

She choose the fabrics.  She didn't get many options because her sister was napping in the room with all the fabric, but luckily I  had two pinks nearby.  We added in some white for contrast.

We cut out the pieces.

 

She choose the layout. 

 

We sewed them together.

And then we quilted them.  She's the first kid that has used the quilter, and she did a great job.  She had to stand on a small ladder, but it totally worked.  The thread broke several times, and so she made several comments like, "I hope the thread doesn't break!"

After all of that, I don't even have a finished quilt to show you.  But she helped with the binding and tucking the threads into the quilt.  It was a perfect vacation activity.

Owl Quilt

My mother-in-law made this quilt for her newest grand-niece.  I had the honor of quilting and binding it.

The rows with flowers in the fabric received matching quilted flowers.  This time I tried putting leaves on some, as seen below.  I also put circles in between some petal rows, like the fabric.  It only turned out ok, so I didn't take any pictures of it.  (Also peaking through this pictures is the meandering stars that I used by the owls.)

The rows with owls on branches received wood grain.

The outer border had leaves.  I feel like I've been doing a lot of leaves lately, but they just match all the fabrics really well.  The sashing had back and forths.

This was my September goal...I finished up!  Also linking up with Finish it up Friday.

Finished: In the Woods

I finished this quilt, which has gone through many different names.  I finally settled on "In the Woods"

The fabric was a Christmas present - a Woodlands FQ bundle.  I love how HSTs work together in a quilt, so decided to go that route.  (I always question myself about half way through trimming them up though.) The placement of most of the colors is not random, but figured out in advance.  That being said, I ran out of a few colors in the middle of making the HSTs and needed to substitute some other colors.  (See how there is more of the bright orange in the bottom center?)

I took my kids to a natural playground in the area and it was a lovely spot for getting pictures.  I did one other quilt that you'll see soon, but I expect I'll be back for more pictures.

If you couldn't tell, the green section represents a tree that is just starting to change color.  The brown section is the ground, which has had many leaves come down over the course of the years.  The bright yellow and orange triangles are the leaves that have turned color and are starting to fall down.

Although there are no pictures, it is backed in an orange minky and bound in an orange sateen.

There are three distinct quilting sections. The tree, which is clam shells - art deco (by Esther at I Patch and Quilt)

The air, which has loops.  Kind of like falling leaves, but there are a lot more loops than leaves.

And the ground, which has leaves.  The fallen leaves from years past.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.

August progress; September goals

1. Owl quilt.  This quilt was made by my mother-in-law, and I need to quilt and bind it.  It shouldn't take too long, but there are several other things that I'm doing this month too.  It's my September goal, but I'm not convinced that I'll finish.

2. Pluses.  This is finished!  It just needs pictures and to be delivered.

3. Black scrap quilt.  I finished burying all the threads in, thanks to Grey's Anatomy.  I feel like I need to block it though, and I'm feeling rather intimidated by it.  It might be a bit before I actually do it.

4. Falling leaves. This needs pictures.

5. Ombre hourglass quilt. I just finished making all the blocks.  Hooray!!!!  They took a long time and I'm glad to be done with them.

6. Robot quilt.  My son just got a twin bed and needs a large quilt now.  I had an plan, and then I saw these robots/astronauts and knew he would love it more than my plan.  So I changed my plan.

7.  Scrap bee blocks.  I made some example blocks for the bee that I'm in and will hopefully get a bunch more this coming month.

Other items that didn't get worked on this month, but are still loved...

8. Meshing solid HSTs
9. Rainbow Log Cabin
10. Scrap quilt #2
11. Orphan rocket block
12. Jeweled floors
13. Lost piece
14. Winter quilt
15. Fabric from Christmas
16. Pillow with green/purple fabric
17. Trying to fit in - left over triangles
18. Temperature quilt

Sunset quilt

I finished my oldest in-progress quilt!  It didn't surprise me that it took so long to finish, as I decided to do some hand quilting on it and I really only did that sporadically when traveling.  It's just a small wall hanging, but I love it.

The fabric was from Play-Crafts and it was the first fabric that I ever won in a giveaway.  I was so excited.  The fabric pull was based on a sunset picture, and so I thought I'd loosely imitate a sunset.  The colors go from warm to cool and the triangles point down, to drive home the setting part.

It wasn't quite right until Claire suggested a horizon.  It was exactly what the quilt needed.

This was also my first try at hand quilting.  My stitches are pretty large, but I did that on purpose.  The quilting shape in important.  I used gold thread for the very middle of the arcs, suggesting the sun.  After a few golden arcs I changed to a varigated thread with sunset-ish colors for the rest of the arcs.

I also bound the quilt by hand for the first time.  It wasn't as intimidating as I was expecting.

The fabric on the back is a perfect match for the wall it's hanging on.  I ended up just using some 3M wall clips to hang it; if I ever feel the desire I can turn it around for a while.  I realized after I wrote that sentence that there is an ugly wall sleeve on it, but I could always cover it up for a short time. :)  It is by my computer and the only quilt I have right there; it's been nice to look up and see it.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday (when it opens up).

Scraps

I've been working on the QST quilt.  Like I mentioned, it's rather repetitive.  However, my bee block is next month, so I started working on that last night.  I actually started working on it a while ago, but once again changed my mind on what I want.

I finally decided on scrappy.  Completely scrappy.  So I've been putting pieces together and it was quite a bit more fun than the QSTs.