Finished things, and not finished things

Contrary to what the silence on the blog implies, I've actually finished a few things.  The projects have been posted on Instagram, but I haven't posted about them here.  The great thing about Instagram is you can share a picture with just a short caption about the subject you're sharing.  The downside is I've become lazy about documenting anything in great depth in this space.  One of my goals this year is to get back to blogging consistently.

Uncle Frank's Shirts was delivered to my parents during our holiday trip to New Orleans.  Despite the unending rain and the unseasonably warm temperatures and humidity, it was good to be back in the New Orleans area for the holidays.  Our last Christmas there was thirteen years ago.  We moved to California and never made it back for Christmas until this year (thanks to our move to Texas, which put us in driving distance).  I don't have a picture of the finished quilt, but I love how it turned out.  I'll be back in New Orleans in March and hope to snap a photo of it then.

Another project I've completed is a pillow cover  made for a paint chip challenge, hosted by the Mckinney Modern Quilt Guild.  Paint sample cards were cut up and thrown into brown paper bags.  The bags were passed around and we were instructed to draw 3 chips without looking into the bag.  We then had to make a project using mainly the three colors we drew.  I was lucky enough to draw three colors that I love and which go well together (see bottom center of the picture).  This Wonky Star pillow has been claimed by Kieran, and he insists on having it in his bed every night:

Delectable Mountains was started long ago, with blocks made by members of Love at do. Good Stitches.  It came out of the WIP bin because it is embarrassingly overdue.  I have a machine that is too small for quilting comfortably, plus it skips stitches and breaks the top thread like nobody's business, despite any trouble-shooting performed.  This makes the quilting of a quilt my least favorite part of the process.  Outbursts of frustration are usually involved.  However, I will soldier on and make efforts to complete this quilt (because there is another charity quilt that is also long overdue and will be the next sewing project I pick up):

The backing was pieced yesterday afternoon and got an unsolicited stamp of approval from Kieran upon his return home from school.  It's just a couple of fat quarters and some odd-sized cuts of orange and blue prints from my stash sewn together.  However, the 6-year old was impressed, and I'll take the compliment any day.