Quilt 20: finished!

I recently finished another baby quilt!  I just got it sent off yesterday, and found out that they baby was born yesterday evening.  So...it'll get there just in time.

I used minky for the first time and I loved it!  I really like pieced backs, but this made it so much softer and cuddly.  I bound it with the premade sateen binding folded over several times.  This quilt has several nice textures.

Although you can still see some of the minky dots, I was surprised at how they disappeared when compared to the unquilted fabric.  I used a swirly pantograph because it matches the swirls in one of the fabrics.

The pattern is called "Adding Up Nicely", so I thought I should give it some calculators to enjoy.  (You can get the pattern, for free, by contacting Cheryl of MeadowMistDesigns.)

My son also received some antique math blocks for Christmas, so I grabbed them for a bit.

And I taught the quilt about the commutative property.

Finally my son came over to see all the commotion and to push buttons on the calculator.  (He does love pushing buttons!)

Linking up with Whoop-Whoop Friday, and Link a Finish Friday, Finish It Up Friday, Fabric Tuesday, Freemotion by the River, and Sew Cute Tuesday.

December (lack of) accomplishments, January goals

Oh, the goals for December didn't go so well.  (Ok, ok, I didn't manage to finish anything!)  Christmas time is busy!
1. Quilt a quilt for Christmas.  This didn't happen because I didn't get the back.  It'll probably be for a birthday now.

2. Make at least one heart block.  This also didn't happen.  I was thinking about at least cutting out some pieces, but didn't.
3. Make some potholders for Christmas.  This was code for finish the duvet cover (#4) and I was hoping to finish it for Christmas.  I got really close, but didn't finish.
And some other things that I hope to work on:

4.Work on duvet cover.  The main reason I didn't finish this is because I kept making mistakes while sewing the long rows together and had to unpick them.  It took a while.  I had really been hoping to finish it but didn't quite make it before Christmas time got busy. :(

This is what it looks like right now...the top is upside down and the bottom was gently tossed on top.  I'm not always very neat, but I figure when it is being used it'll be tossed around too.  Might as well start early.

5. make a pattern for the heart block.  I think I'm going to take this off the list.  I'm not sure that I have enough exposure to make selling patterns worth the time I put into them.  I'll still keep the templates around should I ever change my mind.

6. work on the I-spy quilt.  No progress 
7. make the wall hanging for office. No progress

8. pretend to work on scrap quilt. Pretending accomplished.
9. finish green coasters.  No progress 
10. Aunt's throw. No progress
11. Pillow for family room. No progress
12. Finish Adding Up Nicely baby quilt.  Progress!  The binding is about half way finished!

I got the clips for Christmas!

13. Quilt blog hop giveaway winner quilt.  Well, I emailed the second person asking that she finish it by the end of January.  I had intended for the quilting to happen rather soon after the giveaway (which is why I said that they would be finished by Dec 10) and feel like five months should be enough time.  I haven't heard back.  I'm going to take this one off too.  I can always put it back on.
14. Quilt map quilt.  Progress!  I'm actually pretty far along.  I worked on this one instead of the Christmas quilt.  But then I took it off the quilter.

There are swirls, back and forths, triangles, pebbles, and buildings.  It's been a lot of fun putting in different textures.

15. Another wall hanging for upstairs. No progress

16. Quilt Sarah's quilt. Started!  I'm excited to see this one come together.

There are pebbles in the quarter circles and wavy lines in the apple cores.

So for January I'm taking a few of the items off but I'm also adding a few designs that I want to make.  I've been excited about them for a while, so decided to put them on the list.  I ended up with 17 items.  That doesn't sound so bad.  (How many do you think I'll bring into 2014?)
The January top 3...
1. Finish duvet
2. Finish Adding Up Nicely
3. Quilt Sarah's quilt (I need to do about two blocks a day to finish on time.  So far that hasn't been a problem.)
 
And some other things that I hope to work on:

4. Interlocking hearts quilt (finish by end of April)
5. work on the I-spy quilt  (finish by mid April)
6. make the wall hanging for office
7. pretend to work on scrap quilt
8. finish green coasters
9. Aunt's throw
10. Pillow for family room
11. Quilt map quilt.
12. Another wall hanging for upstairs.
13. Quilt red quilt for mother-in-law (finish by end of October)
14. Random triangles (finish by end of April)
15. Fractured quilt
16. Jeweled floors
17. Picture quilt (finish by Christmas)
Linking up with Fresh Sewing Day and Just three

Happenings

I worked on many things this past week...

1) Quilting design for a spiderweb quilt.  This is for one of the people that won the back to school giveaway that I had.  I'm excited about how it turned out...now just to put it on the quilt!

2) Grandma's Quilt.  I wasn't going to start this quite yet, but she recently fell and is now in a rehab facility for about two months.  I'm hoping to finish before she leaves so that it can beautify her room.  This is what my normal "about to begin" sketches look like.

3) Duvet.  I have pieces in all sorts of stages, from only two pieces sewn together to blocks cut.

4) Baby quilt.  Piecing is finished and it's waiting to be quilted.  I'm going to try backing it with minky...I really like piecing backs, but I wanted to try something soft for once.  (And yes, I know that it is inside out for the picture.  Backs can be interesting too, right?)

Linking up with WIP Wednesday.

WIP Wednesday: starts

I love the end of the month.  I've usually finished my top three goals for the month and can work on whatever I want...and I seem to flit from thing to thing.  (I like the beginning of the month too as I'm fired up to work on my new goals.)  This past week I've managed to start several projects.

1) A duvet cover for my parents.

2) A baby blanket/pattern review.  I was going to mainly work on this until I ran out of one color of fabric.  I got more of it, but now it needs to be washed.

3) Sewing the I-spy quilt.  (The one bee piece doesn't get sewn to any other novelty fabrics yet, so I thought I'd include it in the picture so it didn't feel left out.)

Linking up with WIP Wednesday and From Blank Pages.