Busy Week...

Well, I have one week left and still a lot to do on my list, but I am on the move.

I promised that I would do the following:

1. The Zen Chic Black and White King Size quilt that needs to be quilted, it's all together already.
2. Put together 16 row by rows to make two panels for my barn door (see previous blog on what I am trying to do).
3. A plan pattern for another barn door I am planning.
4. Finish the Candian Quilt BOM by Shania Sunga Designs.  This one is quite far along.....
5. Three more Row by Rows form this season that's really 4 row quilt from Pacific Fabrics (getting the 4th one in about a month and then I just want to put it together.  It's a wall hanging.
6. Four more Row by Rows from two seasons previously.
7. A cover for my freezer that is out on the top patio.  To protect the freezer from the rain.
8. Midnight quilt - one block left to complete.
9. A red embroidery piece of two kids together that I want to frame and hang up in my office.

OK that's nine things.  How am I doing so far after a busy week?

One row by row completed from this year's season.  I promised not to buy any this year except for the Pacific Fabrics wall hanging but this one is gorgeous.  I got the pattern, found some batique and here it is.  Sorry about the picture not being to clean but as you see the colors are great.

And this wasn't on the list, but I've been working on a Christmas gift for my nephew, and this is the results.  It's done, and about 1/2 quilted around all of the leaves.  Totally worth it.

Love the Canadian Geese...

Makes it all worth it doesn't it.  What do you think?  Worth it!!!I think so. That's two done in the long list of quilts to complete.  It's the quilting that takes so long.  So two to show to my guild.

Update on last year's quilts

Awhile ago (a year ago) I published a list of 10 quilts that I wanted to finish in 2016.  Below is the results as of June 2017.  This was all part of the  "All the People's Quilt 2016 UFO Challenge".   What's in red is my update of 2017.  I took out the ones I completed in 2016.

Project	Status Before	Status Afterward
1)  Pixilated Sunflower I created	All cut out and sewn, needs to be quilted.	April 2016- Started.  Done at least 10 hours these past two weeks.  Still working on the center piece of the sunflower but I am approaching the brown, and out of the black.  I'm pleased with the work.  Finished!!!!  And it's wonderful.  See 2016 Page of finished quilts.  It was in the Quilting Guild's Show in June.  It was the quilting that took so long and I finished the quilting in May, 2017
3)  Midnight Garden	All material there but haven’t cut anything	I have ONE more to complete and what's funny is that I packed it up so I can't work on it, yet it's the perfect thing to work on right now.
4)  Garden that’s applique and wool – block of the month	All material is there but nothings been sewn or quilted.	July - Not even started... and still scared of this one....  This will be last for goodness sake. Still not started, this one is quite big, but I'm thinking about it to be the quilt for the winter.  A lot of applique in it.  This one will take a year or two
5)  Blue stars	Two stars made, need to come up with idea to bind	February 2016 - Had the design and two of the stars completed.  Can't even find it, so this one is still on the list.
6)  Houses – block of the month	All material is there,	August 2016 - Given up on this one....Packed away, but it's on my list of things to do now.  :)
7)  Block Lotto quilt - scraps	Missing 10 blocks – last two months, needs to be put together and quilted	Done!!!!  It was  also in my Guild's show.  Here's the link - http://www.fvqg.org
9)  Lily quilt - all flowers	All completed.  Even sold.  Need to quilt it.	It's done.  It wasn't sold, and I use it on my bed in the winter time.  See the tab of finished quilts for 2016
11) Modern quilt - quilt as you go...	New technique learned.	FINISH -  I added a tree to it, and it was also shown at the Quilting Guild's show in Langley.  It's my biggest quilt (King size) and the one I quilted the most!!!  I'm so amazed at it.  You'll be too.  I'm going to hang it on the 17 foot high wall in my condo.  Will take pictures when it's up.
12)  Chic Pattern	Using a precut of 10 inch squares.  Easy - looks great.	OK, this quilt top is completed, and 1/2 way quilted at this time.   It looks fantastic!!!  This quilt is being given away, it's the size of a king size quilt.  You'll see more when I'm finished the quilting completely.

Altogether, I really did so much more from the last one, and quite frankly, even though I've been in the process of moving, I'm still sewing  :0  Can't stop a quilter.

See the quilts below:

This one is the one I'm quilting - Chic.  Can't wait to complete all the quilting.  It's the king size.

Zen Chic's quilt.  Love their style.  Still quilting...

Sunflower done, and quilted.  Also up on my loft wall in my new Condo so I can admire it.

A quilty box quilt.  Love this one.  Can't give it away....

Table runner, on my antique cupboard.

And the most important thing.  I MOVED!!!  There was packing in June, and unpacking in July, and fixing up my condo (that includes scrubbing all grout in the kitchen, and two bathrooms - got Tennis Elbow now), and so on and so on.

See how it looks....

Kitchen, all tile on the floor.

15 foot ceilings, with my quilt hanging from the loft.

My quilt standing in as a barn door for now, covering up a 51 inch doorway.  Love the look of this small dining room.  A patio on the right.

And a disaster, my sewing room, but I'm working on it.  And quite frankly, with about 71 projects (yes, that's right 71) to complete, and over 100 row by row's, it's really a large amount of fabric.  For those of you wondering, yes my husband found out and I'm no longer allowed to buy any more row by rows this year.  Yes I agree 100 is way too much...  But I'm getting through them.  If you look at the picture closely you'll see some of my quilts hanging already.  one behind the door, and one right in front of my sewing machine hiding under the small cover that says "SEW" on it.  the bag on the floor in at the bottom right side is a bag full of row by rows....  So much to do...  It's a little overwhelming right now.  But I'll get there.

Here's a couple more things that I did in the last week.....  YES, I'm back to sewing...  I found some extra scraps (yes I want to use up my scraps) of left over christmas material, so I made a table cover, and a couple of place matts. 

And I did complete one more from Pat's Sloan 100 blocks.  Trying to finish off some of my quilts.

Alberta, the last block of the Canadian Mystery Quilt by Sanga. 

All have been quilted down, and need to be sewn together.  See one of my goals above.

Now here is my list to finish by the end of August (for my personal challenge):

1. the Zen Chic Black and White King size quilt that needs to be quilted (see picture above)
2. Put together 16 row by rows to make two panels for my doorway - a hand made Barn Door to close off my sewing room.  
3. The front part of a 2nd barn door I'm making, a plant pattern by two sisters....  Won't say anymore until it's done.
4. The Canadian Quilt BOM by Shania Sunga Designs - all parts are quilted already (doing Quilt as you go), and now I'm putting them together.  This is the back side of #2's barn door, with the row by rows on the front.  It will be spectacular...  All the pieces put together....
5. Three more Row by Rows from this season (it's Pacific Fabric's quilt that makes a wall hanging.  I have three out of the four to make the full quilt.  My husband and I are picking up the forth in two weeks.
6. Four more Row by Rows from two seasons previous
7. A cover for my freezer that we're keeping on the top patio.  It's to protect it from the rain.
8. Midnight quilt - one block left to complete.
9. A Red embroidery piece of two kids together.  Going to frame it when completed and hang it in my office.

That's 4 different quilts completed and 9 blocks to complete in two weeks.  Hoping to get half of it done.

Another thing that I'm working on this summer is how to improve my painting (I've been taking painting lessons for a year and a half now.  This summer I want to learn how to do clouds and the sea.  Last night after reading the book "Sea & Sky in Acrylics" by Dave White, here's the results of the clouds, that I'm very pleased with the results.    The canvas is very small, it's just a practise session, so I can make a larger one with an idea in mind.  But as I stated, I'm very pleased with the effects of the clouds.  Now to move onto the moving waves, or rather crashing waves.  I'm very happy that like most things with me, I can read a book and be able to learn from it.  Dave White is exceptional in explaining how to paint something, what colors to use, what paint brush, etc.  I do put my own flair on it (my own unique way of doing it), but the idea and premise is the same.  So I'm happy.

I promise to complete this picture by the end of the month, and I'm signing up for another session of learning to paint in acrylics.

That's it, a large list of things to do, and to complete.  I promise to write more often again to keep you the reader informed.  Take care.

What I did get done for January

I put in my goal for February but I never stated what I did get finished for the month of January.  There was a challenge mini modern quilt that I signed up for, and it's all done.  Now I have to send it off.  It's 25" by 25".  The quilting is crazy.

 

Quilting like crazy.  I even used ink to color in some shadowing but it didn't show up in the picture.

My Canada BOM is going great.  Above is Manitoba and the crocus provincial flower.  I am behind two and have two more to go.  Hoping to complete this for the quilting guild's show.

My pin cushion for a member of the guild.  I loved making it. 

and although I showed this quilt at my meeting with the guild, it's all quilted now, even with a label  :)

Continuing on with the Splendid Sampler from Pat Sloan and a number of star quilters.  There are 100 blocks for the sampler at 6" each, so that's a lot of blocks.  I have about 30 of them completed.  I don't think I'll do them all, but I'm hoping to get most of them.  Stay tuned to see it all   :)

That's a lot for one month, I'm excited to add right away a number of quilts already completed.  Adding them to my 2017 completed quilt page above.  Hoping to beat last year's quilt listing (amount).

Back from Manitoba....

Been doing a lot of travelling, some for fun and some to get some stuff done.  But what that meant is that I have been away from my house for about 4 1/2 weeks, so I didn't do much sewing.....

I did get plenty of new Row by Rows in Portland, California, Washington, Manitoba and of course British Columbia.  But no time to actually stitch them.  Being back one week and a little exhausted but I needed creative time I did do a couple of them.  See below.  This one is a laser cut row by Undercover Quilts in Seattle.  Beautiful depiction of Seattle.  You put the white on first, then the black over top of it.  Notice the stadium with the Seahawks emblem?  There is also the fins of the whales in the water.  I love it.

Plus I've been away from the Splendid Sampler from Pat Sloan (you can still start and catch up).

 

Paper piecing on the left and applique on the left.

Plus to keep the creative side going I created these two dish towels.  The pattern is by Meags and me "Birdie" .  Material is L's Modern 2015 Spring

And I'm doing another block from the Canadian Mystery BOM by Shania Sunga Designs. This one is for up north.  Can you tell where it is?  It's the Yukin, and it's 12 1/2 by 1- 1/2.

And there is my Midnight Garden quilt.  It was my OMG challenge this month.  I said I would do three of them.  Two were done this weekend.  Check them out.  Have one more to do and I should be able to get it done this weekend.  That makes 5 out of 12 that I have completed.  Still excited about this one.

 

I also did about two hours of quilting on my Art Deco quilt (my Quarter Challenge).  The quilting is taking forever because I'm doing art deco quilting on it (lot of clear space to fill up).  You'll have to wait until it's done to see it.  That's it, that's been my weekend.  Going to keep on relaxing and doing my sewing.  School starts in two weeks.....

SaveSave

Where I'm at for the 2nd Quarter

Well, it's the end of the quarter and below was all I said I would do.....  Lets sum it up what I've completed as I'm hooking up to Red Letter Quilts for OMG and She Can Quilt 2016 Finish Along (see at the end of this blog for the links).  All goals that are completed are in bold.

Here's what I started with....

 0 - My row by row.  Well, out of the 58 that I have (and I started collecting for this year's theme Home Sweet Home), I've done two from last year.  I did collect 10 more rows for this year....  I think I'm doing that wrong   :)  Here are the two but that was my goal.

1.   A quilt for a very good friend of mine - tea time.  It's done, now it needs quilting.  My goal for the next quarter?!!  For sure.

2 - Tulips paper piecing.  Small project and I love the look of it. I traced the pattern but never got to it.  Darn....

3 - My modern quilt - red of green.  Worked on it for 6 month.  The quilting is crazy.  Below is a sample of the quilting.  It's all done and it's quilted like crazy...

4.  A panel wall hanging.  got it while travelling around Manitoba for the Row by Row.  That's right, a year old.  It's cut, and I started sewing... but not completed.

5.  A large lap quilt I call the garden (From Aurifill) that is 2 years old. I never even took it out of it's container.  This needs to go back on the list.

6.  My sunflower pixulated quilt.  Again....  darn.

7.  I finished one of the "Home Tweet Home" blocks  that my friend gave to me.  And she gave me another one. So that will make 3 down and another one to do next month.

8.  A queen size quilt that is beautiful.  All quilted (very light quilting) for the summer time. It's on my bed right now.  Take a look.  It's on the right.  The colors are great and I enjoyed the flowers that I quilted along the edge.  I started with the rulers, but then started doing it free style.  See the diagram below

9 & 10   This was for my OMG challenge from Red Letter Quilt.  I have the table top from the School Book by Sew Sisters completed but I'm not crazy about it.  The size is wrong for my buffet.  So I'm going to add some side panels and make it into a lap quilt

My goal is by the end of the year to do all the grades in it with the exception of one.  But I won't tell you which one.  I promised to do two and I only got one done and even then I'm changing it a bit.  Sorry, not done.

11.  I got all the blocks caught up for the Canadian Mystery Quilt by Shania Sunga.  I've caught up with the last two.  See them below.

12.  I've started the pixelated quilt of Spock for my Trekkie mother.  I did not realize that it's the 50th Anniversary of the original Star Trek so this works out fine.  Got the pattern made up and I also have the material, and have started to cut out the pieces.  Will have this one started with a friend at the end of June.  My friend is coming over for a sew day in July so this works great.

13. Still waiting for this Craftsy quilt to be quilted....  Next quarter I'm looking at finishing all my UFO quilting quilts (there are at least 5 of them).  To the right is a picture of what the quilt looks like.  I have three of the blocks quilted, that means eight to go  :)   

14.  I really love Zen Chic and I love this quilt.  It's very easy to do, it's the quilting that takes time because of the negative space.  So this goes onto next quarter's list.

That makes 5 goals all quilted and completed out of 14.    Not bad for this quarter - 2 of them are queen size quilts and I've caught up with 2 BOMs for this year which always feels good.

Extra

And how about some extras that took my fancy?  Here's a few:

a.  My landscape from my mother's house - to get out my father's death in November.  I finally got it done after my brother passed away in May.

b)  Two months of the BOM of the Midnight Garden completed.  See below.   I plan to have two a month done every month.

c)  I started to catch up with the Splendid Quilting from Pat Sloan.  Completed five of them.  Don't ask how many there are.  Check it out for yourself.

My cousin asked for a quilt and I got one completed but not quilted.  The design is from Siobhan Rogers from the book "By the Block".  Unfortunately I think the quilt top is more for a girl than a boy, so I'll start a new one for him, but the quilting of this one goes into this month's OMG listing. 😉

The picture does not do it justice.  The background is a very light baby blue.  But no matter how many pictures I take, the colors will not come out.

And finally, a block using fabric markers for design.  I had fun with this one.  The markers change the color of the ribbons that went around each piece.  It also has some crystals around it.

Hooked up with two for this entry: