Finally!

I can now count exactly one finished quilt that belongs to us.  Well, to my son, anyway.  It was actually finished on January 7th, but I let Antonio enjoy it for a bit before I posted about it.  Also, I was tad bit lazy.

So after a year-and-a-half in the making, this quilt (my January project for A Lovely Year of Finishes) is complete.  The pattern is Urban Chic, made with various prints of aqua, yellow and grey.  The binding print is from one of Denyse Schmidt's collections found at Joann's.

Just as Martina and I picked all the prints together for 'Old Girl', Antonio and I selected all of the fabric for this quilt together.  Antonio had the grace to say he was kinda glad I waited so long to finish it, or we wouldn't have found that particular print for the binding.  Thanks, kid!

The one where I make a resolution, then break it

I've mentioned in the past that I tend to join too many flickr bees, swaps and sew-alongs, then find myself stretched a little thin trying to fulfill my commitments.  One of my resolutions for the new year was to stop joining such groups.  Resolution #1 broken.  But I couldn't turn down an invitation to join a group that would help me with another resolution.

A Lovely Year of Finishes, hosted by Shanna of Fiber of All Sorts and Melissa of Bittersweet Designs kicks off this month.  To play along, all you need to do is finish one project a month- whether it's a WIP or new project is up to you.  Check out the details here and join in if you need a little push to finish up some projects!

The project I've chosen for January is one that I've blogged about several times- the Urban Chic quilt for my 11 year-old son.   

It's now partly quilted (I started quilting it New Year's Eve whilst waiting for the ball to drop to ring in the new year), so I'll need to finish the quilting, then bind it.  Christmas present 2011 will finally be completed!

I've also resolved to make a quilt for each family member.  The phrase "the cobbler's children have no shoes" comes to mind.  My husband and children have pointed out countless times that I've made quilts for others, but they are quilt-less.  A glaring omission that will be addressed this year.  Martina's Poetica quilt is next in the queue and will be my February project for ALYOF.

My last resolution relates to physical fitness.  Playing with the kids at the park yesterday made it quite obvious I'm not in the best shape of my life.  Healthier eating habits and more physical activity are my mantra this year so I can keep up with these kids:

So what are your resolutions for the new year?

Linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes and WIP Wednesday.

Making a house a home

After a month in the new place, all the furniture is finally where it should be and the unpacking is winding down.  There are a still couple of boxes of lagniappe items, which I either didn't have the heart to donate, or have been too lazy to put away.  But there's nothing like the impending visit of an old friend and a dinner party to spur some action, so those boxes will be dispatched before the weekend.

Now that the dust has settled, I'm ready to devote some time to the decor.  In its former life, the house was a farm when it was built in the 1920's, so I'm trying to throw a little farmhouse chic into the mix.  Doesn't this early Christmas/housewarming gift from Mom fit right in?

Suddenly I feel the need for a little Urban Cowgirl in my life to make a quilt for the sofa.  I'm also on the hunt for more yardage of Garden Party for curtains- I'm thinking the Waltz print in any color would look nice.  I have a few Drawing Room prints which were originally intended to make sofa pillows and a tablecloth.  But the thought of spilling food or drink on such beautiful fabric horrifies me, and it would be sinful to cut up the large-scale Trellis print for a pillow, so I'm considering using them as backing for a quilt and to reupholster a chair. But first things first.

Our expected guest will be staying in Antonio's room, so the Urban Chic quilt is top priority by default.  The back will be pieced from these two flannel prints:

They're washed and pressed, so I'm hoping to piece and baste this evening.  We actually have a formal dining room now, so I'll be able to use my dining room table for basting. I didn't have the luxury of using the leaves to extend the table at our old place, so basting was always done on the floor.  Now I can just pop the leaves in and away I go!  It's the little things that make life good, isn't it? 

I'm also going to try to squeeze in a couple of pillow covers (I may cave and cut up Trellis, after all) and a few more Vintage Holiday blocks before the weekend.  It would be nice to actually finish the Christmas quilt before Christmas!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

Something old, something new

The family and I had a lovely Labor Day holiday at Lassen Volcanic National Park.  There were some amazing sights, and the park wasn't too crowded.  Here are some highlights of the trip:

I should have planned better and brought along a new project Martina and I want to make together.  We purchased Tacha Breucher's Hexa Go-Go last week and love the Over the Rainbow quilt .  Our plan is to work on it in our spare time and finish it before she graduates in nine years.  Pretty reasonable time frame, don't ya think? 

Martina has decided she wants to raid my precious stash of Anna Maria Horner prints for this project.  Ummm... we'll see.  She can definitely use Innocent Crush and Field Study since they're replaceable (right now, at least).  The jury's still out on Garden Party and Good Folks.  She'll have to catch me in a generous mood. 

This week, I'll be getting back to Antonio's Urban Chic quilt.  He liked the geometric lines of this pattern and chose a grey/yellow/black color scheme.  I threw in a little aqua for some punch. 

I started this quilt last summer, and the poor kid has waited long enough for it.  I'm not sure how I'll quilt it.  Any suggestions?  In the meantime it's on to the dreaded pin-basting.  I think I'll pop some ibuprofen now for the backache that's sure to follow.

Linking up to Diane at from blank pages.

Quilt for a Smile Status: Complete

Early this morning I stitched down the last inch of binding on my first completed project of the New Year: the Mod Mosaic quilt for Quilt for a Smile.  Not too bad of a turnaround time for me- I started this quilt the first week of December, had a quilt top two weeks later, and now a month later it's done.  It was based on Elizabeth Hartman's floor pillow tutorial, pieced from Patricia Bravo's studio scraps, and is destined for Project Linus (you can see other Quilt for a Smile projects here).   

Large cuts of fabric were used for the "tiles" because I wanted to maximize the yardage of Pure Elements in cabernet that came with the scraps (cutting it less meant I had less of a chance of running out of it).  Plus I was a little lazy. 

I tried to finish before the BAMQG meeting on Saturday, but I had a little binding drama Friday night.  Thankfully I decided to start hand-stitching at one of the corners, which happened to be one of two that were not totally square after I quilted the sandwich.  In trying to keep the binding straight when I was sewing it down, about 1/16"inch of batting was left exposed in each of these corners.  These were on the opposite end of where I joined the ends, and I thought I was going to have to rip back most of the binding.  Luckily, I was able to keep the un-sewing and re-sewing localized to the problem corners, but I had an unfinished quilt to show at the guild meeting.

This quilt is also the first completed project for the Finish-a-Long hosted by Quilter in the Gap.  It's early days, but I think I may have aimed a little low for Q1.  With one of three projects already finished in the first week of the quarter, I may be able to start a few projects to set myself up for Q2.

In the meantime, I'll be moving on to my next unfinished project, the Urban Chic quilt for Antonio, and hand-stitching the binding of a quilt made by a friend of mine.

Finish-a-long: Q1

I thought I'd share a couple of notes my children posted on the refrigerator during the holidays.

Notice the difference in their tones.  Antonio was firm, but polite, in his note.  Smiley face and stars to generate a positive response.  Martina skipped the subtlety altogether.  The "thank you" is tacked on merely as an afterthought.  I guess they figured the time had come to stop asking me nicely when their projects would be finished and flat out demand that I finish them!

Rather than making a New Year's resolution to finish all of my WIP's, which just begs failure, I'm joining the Finish-a-long at Quilter in the Gap.

Rhonda had the brilliant idea of hosting a quarterly contest to encourage quilters everywhere to finish outstanding projects.  Projects we loved enough to start, but whatever the reason, we just didn't seem to get around completing.  The week before each quarter, we post a link to the projects we intend to finish during that particular quarter.  At quarter's end, we post a link to each completed project. 

At the top of my list for Q1 is the Mod Mosaic charity quilt top made for Project Linus in December 2011, fabric courtesy of Patricia Bravo (blogged here).  The backing fabric is in the bottom right corner.  This project needs to be sandwiched, quilted and bound. 

Next up is Antonio's Urban Chic quilt top, which I pieced in June 2011 (blogged here).  Backing fabric is in the bottom right corner.  To finish I need to sandwich, quilt and bind it.  My guy's been so patient.  I really should be a good mommy and finish this quilt. 

Finally, I have a baby quilt to make for my neighbor, whose baby boy was born on Christmas Day.  I have a stack of HST's and extra fabric leftover from this charity quilt I made earlier this year for 100 Quilts for Kids.  Since my neighbor admired the quilt so much, I'm going to make her the same quilt, minus the fabrics with pink tones in them.  To finish, I need to make more HST's, piece the top, then sandwich, quilt and bind it.

That's all I can handle this quarter.  There should have been another quilt on this list (the one Martina demanded I finish).  But since writing the note above, Martina has lost interest in her finished quilt top and has requested a new one.  It's to be a Mod Mosaic quilt using Patricia Bravo's Poetica in the Seafoam Symphony palette.  Thank goodness that collection isn't on the market yet!  Poetica is slated to be released in February, so that gives me a little time to finish up these other quilts.

Pajama pant fail

     I wanted to wear them.  I wanted to love them.  I wanted to lounge in them all day whilst my little one naps and plays.  I wanted to make a pair for every day of the week.  But McCall's 3019 does me no favors. :(
     What went wrong?  The waist was too high, the stride (a polite way of saying the crotch) a little  long, and too much fabric floating around the rear since I'm flat as a pancake.  The upshot of it all is the pants do not flatter.
     So it's back to quilting.  I've started Antonio's Urban Chic quilt.  He wanted a simple, modern design with a neutral palette- black, gray, yellow, white.  I threw in a little aqua to make it pop.

     I cut off the selvedges so I can't name all the fabrics.  There are a few Art Gallery fabrics, a Joel Dewberry, and a couple whose provenance I don't know.  The quilt will be a little bigger than called for (seven blocks across and seven down).  I'll need to buy a few more prints for the center pieces.
     I was hoping to find photos of Urban Chic quilts that others have made.  A Google search pretty much only turns up the quilts on the Artichoke Collection site.  Anyone out there have any links?