Finished!: I-spy/maze/matching quilt

Here is finish number two for the week!  I made an I-spy/maze/matching quilt for a good friend's son.

I had a great time picking out the novelty fabrics.  I normally stay away from them, but some of them are so fun!

So besides the I-spy, people can use it for matching practice.  I fussy cut all the pieces so they're the same.  I tried to make them all exactly the same (note the apples) but there are a few that are slightly different.

And it's a maze!  It does have a start and finish, but I thought it could also be fun to go from one tile to a matching tile.

It's been really rainy, so the photoshoot had to be inside.  My son (and his monkey) helped out.

For quilting, I did squares and rectangles in the blue section, straight lines in the green, and back and forths in the brown.  I love all those designs.

I was a little disappointed that the thread color didn't show up on the back, but I used minky and I love how soft it is.  Since I didn't do any quilting in the maze, you can see it on the back too.

As always, there were a few times I was pretty nervous about how it was going to turn out, but I really like the end result!

Linking up with Whoop-Whoop Friday, LAAF, and Finish It Up Friday.

I-spy

I finished the top of the I-spy quilt.

 

Well, I call it an I-spy quilt, but it is also a maze and matching quilt.

January accomplishments, February goals

It's that time again!  I'll admit, I look forward to the month changing so I can take stock of what I've done.  I feel like I got a lot done this month, although I didn't get my top three completely done.

1. Finish duvet. Not finished, but close.  I mis-remembered the dimensions, so it is a little small.  Luckily, I sent it over for a test run before doing the final seam so it shouldn't be too hard to fix.  I do need some more fabric though.  Again.
2. Finish Adding Up Nicely.  Done!  I sent it the day before the baby came.

3. Quilt Sarah's quilt. Done!  With about two hours to spare.  I still need to bind it though, so this will be on February's list too.

4. Interlocking hearts quilt (finish by end of April).  I got several blocks finished, and I'm finally happy with the piecing templates that I have.  I still need to do two more magenta hearts and three more green hearts.

5. work on the I-spy quilt  (finish by mid April).  Progress was made on this too!  About 1/3 of the novelty fabrics are in the background fabric now.

6. make the wall hanging for office.  No progress.
7. pretend to work on scrap quilt.  Done!  I love hitting my goal on this one every month.
8. finish green coasters. No progress
9. Aunt's throw. No progress
10. Pillow for family room. No progress
11. Quilt map quilt. No progress
12. Another wall hanging for upstairs. No progress
13. Quilt red quilt for mother-in-law.  I now have all the pieces and could start.
14. Random triangles (finish by end of April).  Triangles cut!  I might end up cutting more yellow ones, we'll see.

15. Fractured quilt.  No progress
16. Jeweled floors. No progress
17. Picture quilt (finish by Christmas). No progress
Addition #1: Simply Solids Bee Block - February. Done!  I feel proud of myself for finishing over a month ahead of schedule.

                                


For February, my top three goals are
1. Finish Sarah's quilt.
2. Finish duvet.
3. Finish the top of the I-spy.

Hopefully I will be able to finish (or at least work on) a lot more, as I don't think the top three will take up too much time and I don't have any goals for the quilter.
4. Interlocking hearts quilt (finish by end of April).
5. make the wall hanging for office.
6. pretend to work on scrap quilt.
7. finish green coasters.
8. Aunt's throw. 
9. Pillow for family room.
10. Quilt map quilt.
11. Another wall hanging for upstairs.
12. Quilt red quilt for mother-in-law. 
13. Random triangles (finish by end of April). 
14. Fractured quilt.
15. Jeweled floors.
16. Picture quilt (finish by Christmas).
17: Simply Solids Bee Block -March
Linking up to Fresh Sewing Day and Just Three

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.

I-spy

I finally managed to cut out all the pieces for the I-spy/matching/maze quilt that I'm putting together.


Here is the layout...there are two of each fabric, and I tried to fussy cut them exactly the same for the matching part.

 
The layout took a bit to get just right.  I had cut out way too many pieces, and I actually had a hard time telling those pieces that they couldn't be in the front.  I had spent the time cutting them out ever so carefully.  Oh well, many of them will probably end up in the back.

July accomplishments, August goals

Happy August!

Here was the list for July:
1. Finish the mending.  Done!  Hurray! 

2. Make leaders for the quilter.  Done!
3. Practice with the quilter.  Done!


And...I finished all of these within the first half of July.  Which meant I had plenty of time to work on some of the other things that I wanted to do.

4. work on the heart quilt. I am currently working on the red hearts, so 7/21 hearts are finished.
5. participate in the Tetris quilt-a-long.  I am staying up-to-date.  This has been a really fun QAL.  Here is my lastest block:

6. finish the coasters I found some batting that is the right size.  Does that count as progress?
7. start an I-spy quilt I started cutting out pieces for this.  I laid them out this morning to see how many more I needed.  (I wasn't looking for actual order, so I don't like the placement of most of them.)  And I already have too many...with lots of fabrics left to cut!  So I need to either 1) have fewer fabrics in the quilt, 2) add a border of novelty fabrics instead of a solid border or 3) make another maze on the back.

8. quilt the baby quilt  Done!  It doubled as quilting practice, so I was able to cross off two things with one item.

9. come up with a design for the fabric I won - still thinking
10. Make a pattern for the heart block - I think the templates are ready, but I want to put together one or two more first. Then add some instructions.

So my top three for next month:
1. Stay up-to-date with the Tetris blocks
2. Finish the coasters
3. Practice with the quilter.

And the other things on my list:
4. work on the heart quilt
5. work on the I-spy quilt
6. Come up with a design for the fabric I won
7. Make a pattern for the heart block
8. Quilt my MILs quilt.
9.  Shower curtian

My list is getting shorter!

Linking up with the Fresh Sewing Day and Small Blog Meet, Just Three with Traceyjay Quilts.

Tetris, I-spy, helping

The next tetris block is together!  I'll admit...I had a hard time with this layout.  Since I'm using the same color for all similar pieces, I don't want them to be touching and becoming a blob of color.  There were so many of the same piece in this set though that I had to become a little creative.  I moved the block location within the quilt, skipped one or two pieces, added the last piece from week 1 that I didn't use last time, and allowed myself empty space.  This last part was probably the hardest since everyone knows that in Tetris, empty squares are bad!

I took a vacation and since I didn't have a sewing machine I started fussy cutting some of the fabrics for the I-spy/matching/maze quilt.  There are two of each, although it is hard to tell from the photo.

Finally, my mother-in-law started making her first quilt!  I'm super excited about it.  We picked out fabric together at her LQS.  (I could seriously spend a fortune in there.  I love pretty much everything that they have!  But I made it out of that trip without buying anything.)  She got some really cute fabrics.  She is cutting and piecing it in a different city, so we've been exchanging a few emails and phone calls.  This is her first block...look at how well the center lines up!

Joining WIP Wednesday.