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A Lovely Year of Finishes: February

February 7, 2013 jennifer Quilting and Sewing

It’s 9 p.m. on the 7th of the month, and I just happened upon “A Lovely Year of Finishes” in 2013, hosted by Shanna of Fiber of all Sorts and Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Designs . What a fun idea! I mean, I already knew I need to finish tons of projects, but I like the idea of picking one and being accountable for finishing it in addition to the other projects I have going on. So, without a second thought (and because the deadline is in a few hours) I’m jumping in with a goal for February.

I pieced this simple quilt top last fall, then set it aside until recently. I basted it a couple of weeks ago, thinking I’d finish it quickly, but ended up choosing to pick the quilting out.

So, my goal for February will be to re-quilt it and get it bound and finished.

You see, I have eight children, and last year I had the idea to make them each their own quilt *in addition* to all the other quilting I was doing. Realistic? Not at all when you consider 8 quilts would increase my total quilts in a year by 2/3! However, I started anyway and got six of the eight quilt tops pieced, but only one of them has been quilted and two more are just sketches. They need to be finished, and not just because they’re WIP’s. They need to be finished because each is made from fabrics chosen specifically for that child, and I want them to have the quilt before they’ve grown/changed too much to enjoy it. What a waste it would be to let them sit!

So I’ll finish the first one in February. Yep. I like that idea.

And, since I didn’t know about this fun year of finishes until now, I’ll tell you what I would have picked for my January finish.

This quilt just needs a binding. It’s also one of those 8 quilts. I’d like to knock it out, as well, even though it’s not the official goal.

I guess I’m in!

Jennifer linking here

In the sewing room, no 5.

February 6, 2013 jennifer Quilting and Sewing

This was definitely a “slow craft” week in the sewing room. Lots going on at our busy house!

My most exciting progress was this little mini heart quilt that went from sketch to completed in a couple of days. Every once in a while I need a quick finish to keep me motivated on my slower projects, and this was it.

After wishing I had more yellow fabric last week, I went through my stash and found a few yellows that hadn’t been sorted by color last year. I’m excited to add them to my Scrappy Trip along quilt, which I didn’t even touch this week!

I spent a lot of time with my seam ripper this week, ripping out some quilting I wasn’t happy with. I’m ready to get back to work on this now.

I’m making slow progress on the half square triangles for my sawtooth quilt, and each time I’m working on them I ask myself how I managed to jump into three projects at the beginning of the year that all have tons of half square triangles in them! Not good planning. I do love my choreography quilt top and backing (which awaits quilting right now) and I’m sure I’ll love this when it’s finished also. At least I’m using a different HST construction method with each quilt. It’s kind of fun to try new ways of making the same square.

My Scrappy Swoon quilt is taking shape. Next week we’ll do the last sections of this, then put it all together. I’m having a lot of fun with this project!

In the coming week I hope to make bindings for two quilts ( and maybe even get them on the quilts?), cut more white fabric to use with a bunch of Field Study squares I cut in January, and spend a bit of time embroidering. I’d like to baste a quilt or two as well, if time allows. Although I have several new projects I’m excited to start I’m going to focus on finishing these first. Patience.

Happy Sewing, Jennifer Linking to Freshly Pieced

2 comments in the sewing room

Heart Mini Quilt

February 5, 2013 jennifer Quilting and Sewing, Valentines Day

What a fun project this little quilt was! When I realized I’d gone a little crazy cutting pink squares for my Scrappy Swoon Quilt, I decided to use them right away instead of tossing them in the scrap bin. With Valentine’s Day approaching, a heart came to mind and I had just enough squares to put it together. I decided to use grays for the background squares.

Once it was pieced and basted, I quilted it in straight lines on both diagonals. Simple and cheery, it’s adding a bit of festivity to our wall.

I backed the quilt in an old Anna Griffin ticking stripe print I had on hand, and the binding is a Flower Sugar print from Lecien.

A few quick stats on making one if you’re interested:

fabric needed: 48 – 3.5 inch squares various pink or red fabrics for the heart, 9 – 3 7/8 inch squares of both pink AND gray fabrics, and 34 – 3.5 inch squares of various gray prints for the background.

Pair each 3 7/8 inch pink square with a 3 7/8 inch gray square and make 18 half square triangles using a scant 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Lay your squares out as follows, from left to right :

Top row: 10 gray squares 2nd row: 1 gray, 1 half square triangle block, 1 pink, 1 HST block, 2 gray squares, 1 HST square, 1 pink, 1 HST, 1 gray 3rd row: 1 HST, 3 pink, 2 HST sqaures, 3 pink, 1 HST 4th row: 10 pink squares 5th row: 10 pink squares 6th row: 1 HST, 8 pink squares, 1 HST 7th row: 1 gray, 1 HST, 6 pink, 1 HST, 1 gray 8th row: 2 gray, 1 HST, 4 pink, 1 HST, 2 gray 9th row: 3 gray, 1 HST, 2 pink, 1 HST, 3 gray 10th row: 4 gray, 2 HST, 4 gray Sew each row together (1/4 inch seam allowance, of course).

Sew strips together to complete quilt top:

The quilt top should measure 30 inches square. Choose a backing, then quilt and bind according to your taste. Done!

With all the projects I’m in the middle of right now, it was a pleasure to put together a quick little project just for fun. It’s also my first finished quilt of 2013. It will keep a smile on my face this month when I walk past it, and that’s no small thing on gloomy February days!

Thanks for visiting, Jennifer

3 comments quilting, valentine

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