First finished project of 2013.

Can't believe it - I actually completely finished a quilting project in one weekend! This pretty much never happens, mostly because I still sort of dread machine quilting. It also helped that I did not use a traditional binding finish. So here it is a completely finished tumbler block tablerunner, all quilted and completely done. Maybe the light therapy light and all the sunshine yesterday is working!

Use it up!

I decided to join the 'No Buy' challenge in the Stashbusters' Yahoo quilting group this year. What this means is no buying fabric 'just cause'. You are allowed to by fabric in order to finish projects - after first shopping your stash to make sure you don't have something that will work. I have participated before, but I am a bit rusty having gone to the AQS show in Paducah last year.

To help use the stash Damon bought me a fabric cutting machine for Christmas - the Go Baby Cutter and I have two cutting dies - the Tumbler block, and one that cuts 2 x 3.5 inch rectangles. You can see in the picture some of the Tumbler blocks I cut last night. You can get about 6 layers of fabric on the cutting dies so it goes pretty quickly. I made a dent in my red and green scraps. These scraps will likely become a table runner. One thing I have not heard from other owners of the Go Cutters is that it seem to build up static electricity (our house is a contributing factor because it is so dry). 

Happy New Year!

This first picture is of Mom's Christmas gift quilt. Obviously I couldn't post the picture when I finished it as it would spoil the surprise. So here it is now. It is made of half-square triangles using Thangles. The original plan was to intersperse the neutral colors throughout the quilt, but I felt they stood out too much so I used them as a sort of inner border feature. Considering I had to change my design plans mid quilt project I am really happy how this came together.

The second photo is of the ongoing Feathered Star quilt I am working on. I completed the middle star a while ago (I think at least a year or more). I decided to frame it with the paper-pieced blocks you see here. I just finished making those blocks in December. I attempted to put them together and attach them to the star two days ago, but messed up the layout in the piecing process and ended up ripping all but the first row of blocks apart again to get it fixed and as originally planned.
 It still needs something more. I haven't decided if I should put this on-point or not. I am also thinking of adding another border - possibly diamond shapes. Given how cold and snowy and icy it is at the moment is seems appropriate to be working on this icy looking quilt at the moment.

Merry Christmas

Another great Christmas!

First day of my winter vacation.

First day of my winter vacation and things are looking up. We are finally getting some snow so it is actually starting to look like Christmas. All the presents are bought, wrapped and if needed shipped. I made the dough for the sugar cut-out cookies and will bake them tonight and decorate them tomorrow. I have 11 days, 3 magazines, 5 books and plenty of quilting to keep me at least a little busy.

A lovely Dec. day

 As we are coming up on Christmas I figured this would be a good time to sort through all the dog toys and get rid of a few of them. Ivan sensed something was up when I pulled them out and managed to find his way to the middle of the pile and camped out. I did manage to remove a few that had holes and stuffing coming out of them but don't feel to bad for Ivan, we still have a whole boxful for him to play with.

It is a lovely Dec. day - especially since I do not have to go out or do anything. It is lightly snowing. Not having snow on the ground, it just doesn't seem like X-mas around here. I just finished making the dumplings for Chicken Paprikas - I will make the chicken and sauce a bit later, closer to dinner time.

I did pull out one of my UFO quilting projects. I have a 15 inch feathered star block done and wanted to add to it and came up with the idea of using these paper-pieced blocks to frame it. These pictured here will be one corner - I still need to make 3 more sets. I figure with weekends, holidays and a few vacation days I will have 11 days off. Finishing the piecing on this quilt will be one of my goals. I still feel like I should have a whole list of things to get done over the break.  

Table runners done!

 November was a crazy, busy month. Travel for work, the Thanksgiving holiday and I even squeezed in a weekend quilt retreat. I did manage this weekend to finish the two table runners for my sister. I have her an IOU for these table runners back in June. I am thrilled that these are done and I won't be carrying them over on my list of things to get done for the next year.

The blocks in both these table runners are from the Judy Hopkins Around the Block series of books.

I did go through my projects and update my UFO and WIPs list of quilt projects and I am happy to say that the number is down from last year. I have 2 WIPs I am currently working on and 5 UFOs. One of the UFOs is a fully completed quilt top, but I have not decided what sort of quilting I want for it. The other 4 still need some assembly and design and decision making.