WIP: Q2/Q3 Finish-A-Long

Well I completely missed linking up my finishes this quarter which is a shame as I had a few this time around!  Probably my best quarter yet!  Very easy to lose track of things when you are making swap deadlines, bee blocks & the flaky internet connection, that's been with us all this past week, has meant I couldn't get online too much.  Behind on my blog reading and link up,  seems that watching Doctor Who on Netflix, while sewing all day Saturday uses up a bit of bandwidth!

Still, in lieu of the finish link up, I thought I’d be accountable here and set my FAL goals for the next quarter! 

• Nerds craft it better swap  - Finished!  Made a Hazel ala Orphan Black cushion, a storage box + a notebook cover for my partner!
  

  
• SPD Fairy Tale swap:  - Finished!  I wrote about the project book here last week (fox and bunny!) but will write more about the mini Princess and the Pea  here this Friday
  

  
• MQI exhibition in June - Modern Irish Bee 2014 quilt and Triangle-A-Long both Finished!
  

  
• Local Landscapes IPS exhibition in June (Irish Patchwork Society) – Finished!  Collage quilt using hand dyed fabrics called Upriver
• Selfish Sewing -finish sewing machine cover & Tape it quilt from Brigitte Heitland workshop – not done
  

  

I don’t feel bad I didn’t get the last 2 done as they were for me with no end date needed and I had enough to do with the must makes that I got done!  So for this quarter I’m carrying those two over and adding:

• Swoon quilt for my cousin who is getting married in September – better get a move on with this one!

  

  1. Tote back, 2. encomenda, 3. Handmade foam tote bag., 4. a Tote Bag, 5. bag-3, 6. Library Bag, 7. Urban Grocery Tote, 8. Anna Maria Horner Tote Bag, 9. Julinha's bag, 10. LEANNE'S BAG, 11. Denyse Schmidt tote, 12. Solids Only Tote Challenge, 13. tote bag, 14. large tote bag, 15. 241 Tote - present for a friend..., 16. Natasha's First Birthday Tote Dec12

• Secret Summer swap which is a tote bag with the Modern Quilters Ireland group.  These are my picks as inspiration.
• IPS summer challenge, postcard from your summer holidays which will be Greetings from Limerick as we are not going anywhere this summer!
  
• 2.5” squares swap – no idea what I’m going to do with these yet but they are 400 squares swapped with some of our IPS branch members so a mix of my fabrics and 14 others!  Should be a fun project to work on – any ideas?

So that's my lot for Q3.  Linking up to

FAL Quarter 2 Goals

It's Finish-A-Long time again!  I managed 3 out of 7 projects completed for Jan to March Finish-A-Long goals. I'm reasonably happy with that!

My Schnitzel & Boo mini, complete with matchstick quilting and a little touch from the Wilbur the Basset Hound,was sent on its way to its new owner. Lost in London quilt for Make Modern was finished just on time - here's the back for proof!  And I finally finished the Night Sky Christmas Quilt in January!  Not on time but ready for next year!

This quarter I have 2 swaps, 2 quilts for exhibitions +1 more I haven't started yet and I hope to do some selfish sewing too.

First the must makes:

• Nerds craft it better swap 

4 Hazel's floor cushion + Notebook cover (Tutorial fluffy Sheep Quilting) + extras

• SPD Fairy Tale swap:  ? for main item and Aneela Hooey  pull out boxes maybe as small item. 
• MQI exhibition in June - Modern Irish Bee 2014 quilt and Triangle-A-Long

• Local Landscapes IPS exhibition in June (Irish Patchwork Society) - ?  Haven't started yet!
• Selfish Sewing -finish sewing machine cover & Tape it quilt from Brigitte Heitland workshop
  
  
  Looks do-able don't you think?

Linking up to

Night Sky Finish

While most of this month I have been working away on projects I can't share just yet, I am happy to say the Night Sky Quilt is finally finished. I didn't get it completed in time for December 25th but did manage to finish it yesterday for January 25th! The pattern is Camille Roskelly's and can be found on her Thimble blossoms shop here.

When Jana asked me if I wanted to take part in a Quilt-A-Long to make this I instantly said yes.  I love Camille Roskelly (have 2 of her books!) and wanted to make a Christmas quilt.  This seemed perfect for it.

The pattern is made up of 8" and 16" sawtooth stars and as I was making mine from scraps, (Joy by Kate Spain, a little bit of Riley Blake, some new Folk Art Holiday and leftover solids Kona Navy, Snow and Ash), I was happy enough to make a smaller size.

Much and all as I love the look of this quilt, the repetitive nature of so many 8" blocks makes me happy I made a child quilt or throw sized quilt.  Leaving out the last column and the two bottom rows gives a 48" x 56" quilt and was perfect for the scraps I had on hand.

This is destined as a late baby present - sorry Charly you can't keep this one (even though I quite like it in the study too!)

There will be a final link up on Jana Machado's blog for the Quilt-A-Long finish over the next few weeks and linking up to the Friday Finshes this week at Crazy Mom Quilts, TGIFF and Can I get a Whoop Whoop!

And finally, this is one of my goals for A Lovely Year of Finishes and Finish-A-Long 2015 so quite a bit of motivation to get his one done!  So happy to have this first finish for 2015 done and dusted, a happy way to start the year.

2015 FAL and ALYOF goals

This year Katy @ The Littlest Thistle has passed the baton for Finish-A-Long 2015 to Adrienne @ On The Windy Side.  This will be my third year taking part and setting goals to finish projects quarter by quarter.

I can't say I am the most successful at completing my to do list - I do get things finished though it takes a while as I am usually starting more projects than completing them!  This year though I hope to be a little less distracted and dig in deeper exploring quilt design and the techniques used to make a quilt.  I really hope 2015 is when I get comfy with free motion quilting!

So the projects I hope to focus over the next 3 months are

Finish Night Sky QAL - yes I have a quilt top.  This was one of the things I kept going on, a little bit at a time, over Christmas.  Hoping to have this quilted and finished to link up with Jana Machado for the 25th of this month.  This will be my January goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes too hosted by Sew Bitter Sweet designs.

Schnitzel & Boo Mini Quilt swap round 3 - this is my attempt at 3D letters using a technique from Kerry @ Pennydog Patchwork.  I may have over stuffed it a bit!  I hope to matchstick quilt this with varieagated thread to keep all the little bits in place under the netting.  Need to have this in the post by the 16th!

I have a pattern for Make Modern Issue 4 that's due at the end of the month too so January is pretty much accounted for - Really need to get cracking!  Can't wait to show you guys in March!




Hopefully for the rest of February and March I might be able to get some me sewing done!  I think I have enough Camera fabric now thanks to Serena and Claire's generosity and Yvonne's help tracking down retro cameras on Etsy to make a photo quilt all for myself.  Truly selfish sewing this one!  Big thanks to you guys for gifting me fabric and helping me out.  I know we often say quilters are givers but only because it's true!

I also need to thank Wanda @ Old South Fabrics.  I'm making this giant star quilt for our bed and decided I had to use Wrens and Friends fabric for it. 

I had bought some in a bundle from Fluffy Sheep Quilting and it was the perfect colour for what I wanted but of course I didn't have enough.  Before Christmas I scoured the internet and found some on Old South Fabrics and have to say buying from them was a pleasure.  Wanda was very friendly and helpful with shipping and even included a Christmas extra for me in the parcel.  Thank you so much Wanda, I will be back for more!

And lastly but not leastly, I want to get somewhere with my Japanese inspired quilts.  I hope to free motion quilt the applique one and hand stitch the second with lots of Sashiko designs.

That's plenty to be getting on with I think!  What about you, have you made your list yet?