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.

Voice still gone but up for more quilting...

I got the timing right, I sew a bit, then sleep, sew a bit, then sleep, well, you know the drill by now.  But I am getting things done, just in smaller quantities.  So here's what I did today...

fixed the Vise Versa April Quilt. Had to undo one of the sections.  But looks great now.

Perfect points!!

Block 7 of Layer Cake Material Girl

Block 5 of Material Girl

Block 8 of Material Girl.

All the blocks so far.

Galaxy of Stars from my Guild - Corner one.

Had to make 4 - 1st block before I joined.

The good news is that I am feeling better.  The bad news is that my voice still has not come back but I'm back to school tomorrow.  Missing the students.  I just won't be able to talk that much.  ;)

Busy catching up with the BOM's and my homework.

OK, my plan today was to catch up on the Layer Cake block of the month. So here they are, the 1st two.

Square 3

Square 1

Square 2

Square 4

Star 3

Also I had to finish my homework on the "Galaxy of the Stars" quilt from the FVQG.  I had to do paper piecing, not one of my favorite.  And to top it off, the pattern was off, so we had to add .5 to the pattern on the outside section.  They need to be 12 1/2 inches, and some areas were off, but it turned out OK in the end.  Check it out.  Love the colours.  I love how this quilt is turning out with the batik.  How can you go wrong with batik.

2nd Star 3.

Also I was interested in continuing on with the Thangles quilt.  So I finished with block 2 and 3.  Here they are, it's my Apple Quilt.

This one is bigger then the others

Nice to mix and match.

So that's what I did today.  I did cut up another layer cake, but you need two for each square, so I'll have to continue on.

BEST MOMENT:  finishing the galaxy squares for the guild.

WORST MOMENT:  having to undo the galaxy squares a couple of times to get the material to flip over correctly and cover the area needed.  But it will be worth it in the end.

Well I joined the FVQG like I said I would and it was the best decision I made!!!  The library is incredible, the people so friendly! and the guest speaker was the reason I went.  

Kathy McNeil was not only elequant in her presentation, but the members in the morning serssion came again to see her in the afternoon.  That has to say something about her.  What says even more are her quilts.  You can see her quilts at http://www.kathymcneilquilts.com/ but the pictures below are the quilts she brought to show to talk about.  Most have taken 1200 - 1500 hours of work.  Talk about patience.  I bought the fabric paint crayons to start painting backgrounds....  So cool!!!  I can't wait to start appliqué again!!

The picture itself is outstanding but.....

This one shows the quilting so much more!!!

This one makes you feel cold!!!

I'm so sorry that this one blurred, no flash photography...

The quilting on this quilt is outstanding, 1500 hours of work.

Little Yoyos the size of your fingernail....  My god!!!

I AM MOTIVATED!!!!

Went to the Surrey Arts Centre yesterday to look at the Fraser Valley Quilting Guild's small show and met 5 wonderful women watching over the quilts.  They were fantastic.  I didn't include any pictures because they weren't mine to show but if you want to see them go to http://www.fvqg.org/showtell.php for a look see.  They were amazing and inspiring.  They have a speaker this week  - Kathy McNeil, and you must go heard of her for her quilts with such life like quilts of birds,  that is a block of the month, and one well worth doing.  Check it out at http://www.kathymcneilquilts.com  .  She taught at the FVQG a block that was closely related to her quilt (see below for the original).  

Outstanding, and you wouldn't believe the piece work!!  One of the girls at the Art Center took the course and was working on it.  Can't believe the work!  You can' see it here and goodness knows the piece work is extension.  The workshop started with the largest piece and on the cardinal alone, there are over 8 pieces...  So imagine.  




In other great news one of the girls there also teaches free style quilting, and I spent about 30 minutes talking to her alone.  One of the great advices she gave me was that it takes at least 250 hours before you become an expert at free style quilting, so it was encouraging considering I feel inadequate on it. After that I tried it on my valentine quilt.  Here are the results...

Can you see the hearts....

Around the leaves and stems

The more I did it the better I got with the hearts....

Found the location of the meetings online and it's only 15 - 20 minutes away so that decided it.  Will go as a member right away and not a guest.  I already did the block of the month for exchange.  It's the  Would be great to win but it was fun doing it and the block turned out very well, maybe I'll make a quilt with it.  What do you think?  It was rather simple, and quick.  I can just imagine a full quilt like that.  Did I mention my husband likes blue?  ;)

On a final note, I finished my Secret Santa quilt, and it looks fabulous.  Like its London-based counterpart, Notting Hill by Joel Dewberry is a community of fashionable, European-inspired designs that blend a variety of patterns and stunning floral motifs. Try on this unexpectedly harmonious, fashion-forward and color rich fabric collection for a dashing result. It's very forgiving, easy to gather up the material, can be done numerous times and it will never look the same.  I've made mistakes in this quilt, put the same fabric by each other a couple of times and still it looked great.  The pattern is here, try it out.  My quilt is done in flannel.  The cat won't stop sleeping on it.

See the error?  Still looks great!

All this done this long weekend thanks to "Family Day" in BC.