Saturday, January 24, 2015

Quilt Mission Accomplished






















Well here it is, my Diamonds are Forever quilt top. As I promised myself - it is done before the start of the semester. I even have a backing all set to go too. I am waiting for a call from the local machine quilter as to when I can pick up a couple of quilts I dropped in early December, so when I go to pick them up I will drop this one off. 
Of course this now means I now need to decide what the next project to work on will be.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

It is always easy the first week...

I started the Diamonds are Forever pattern from the String Quilt Revival book last year. I would make blocks intermittently between working on other projects. But laying out the blocks I had done so far (first picture) was a big motivator to keep making progress on this project. I am loving how this is turning out. It makes use of scrap strings of fabric. Like I said in my last post I like having goals - so the goal for this is to get all the blocks made before the start of the semester on Jan. 26th. I had  46 blocks done, and the pattern calls for 120. So 74 more blocks to go. I broke that down to 24.6 blocks per week or 3.36 blocks per day. Happy to report that the first week went very well and as of today I only have 50 blocks to go (down to 2.9 blocks per day). I have been pacing this out doing 4 or 8 blocks a day, I am getting more done on weekends than on weekdays. 

I also wrapped the nieces birthday gifts this weekend and decided instead of buying birthday cards or putting gift tags on the presents I made fabric postcards. Each has their initials and an embellishment.

I also tried a new recipe yesterday. The Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup came out really well. Although I though it could use a bit more flavor so I added a few dashes of garlic powder.  

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Happy New Year

The playing with scraps in Dec. resulted in this nifty wall hanging. The center applique design is from the book: Elegant Quilts, Country Charm by Leonie Bateman and Deidre Bond-Abel. I modified the design by adding a second flower and an extra leaf. The border is a bunch of crumb (small scrap) blocks.
After all the machine quilting this fall my machine quilting gloves had actually got rubbed smooth, so Damon got me a new pair of Machingers for Christmas and I used them to quilt this.
I also used the new camera I got for Christmas to take the picture and this was the opportunity to make sure the memory card would work with my computer - and it did so I am all set.
At the end of Dec. I took at two-day quilt shop road trip and hit five different quilt shops in eastern VT and in NH. I visited Barnyard Quilting, Country Treasures, Waterwheel House Quilt Shop, Keepsake Quilting, and Quilted Threads. I also made a brief stop at the Vermont Country store. It was a great trip - bought a bit too much (but that was expected). I have new books, patterns, and fabrics to keep me busy for a while. Which is good as I will be putting myself on a fabric no-buy for this year (2015). Also the guild quilt show is this coming fall so I really should focus on finishing things to put in the show. 
I haven't committed to any resolutions so far, but I like the idea of having some goals to aim for so I am still thinking about what I would like to accomplish this year.