Q2 Quilty Goals

It's time to write up some goals for Q2 and I am going ambitious again!   1. & 2.  Mini-quilts- I want to make a wall full of mini quilts for our living room/my sewing area, but I'll start with finishing two this quarter. 3. Super Secret Hunting Quilt- This is a commissioned quilt and should probably be a secret until it's gifted. 4. & 5. I have two small cross stitch projects that I'd like to turn into the centers for two quilted throw pillows for the window seat in the living room. 6., 7., & 8. Three different scrap projects to use up my scrap bin! 9. Star Quilt- This was on my Q1 list, but I didn't get it finished up.  10. Scrap Quilt- This one was on my Q1 list too, but I didn't get it finished up either. 11. Vintage quilt- My dear friend Rachael has entrusted me to restore a beautiful quilt that her grandmother made. I've had it for way too long already and would love to get it done for her!   Wish me luck! Linking up with Kathy at The Littlest Thistle.

First Quarter Goals-Update

With the first quarter of the year all wrapped up, I thought I'd do a little re-cap post.

1-     Swoon Quilt- All the blocks are done, but now it needs to be pieced, quilted and get binding added. (Please excuse little William, he is a big fan of photobombing!) UPDATE: Almost all the sashing is done, still need to piece the top, quilt it and bind it.

2-     Scrappy Star Quilt- This tops needs to be pieced, quilting and binding added. UPDATE: All done! you can see the post about it here.

3-     Book Quilt- This is a work in progress from 2011 and just needs to be basted, quilted and get some binding! UPDATE: All done! You can see the post about it here.

4-     Scrappy Trip along- This top is all done and just needs a back and to be basted, quilted and get some binding! UPDATE: Pulled this one out of storage and ordered batting for this one too!

5-     Bedroom Quilt- This top is all done and needs to be basted, quilting and binding added. UPDATE: This one is done! You can see the post about it here.

6-     Placemats- I really want to make a set of scrappy placemats! UPDATE: These are done! You can see the post about it here.

7-     Star Quilt- I finished the top of this during the summer of 2012, but the back needs to be pieced and then basted, quilted and add binding. UPDATE: Pulled this one out of storage and ordered batting!

8-     Scrappy Quilt- Everything is cut, but just needs to be pieced, basted, quilted and get binding added! UPDATE: I made some serious progress on piecing the top, but still didn't get it done.

Well, not too bad. All of the unfinished project will be following me along to Q2, plus some other extra projects! Look for that list in the next couple of days!

Another Quilt Finish!

I managed to get one more of my first quarter goals done and it's definitely standing out as one of my favorites- my scrappy string quilt is done!  

Maybe it's just the fact that I am so over winter, but the bright colors of this quilt just make me so very happy! It measures 72 x 72, which makes for a great throw sized blanket! I quilted diagonal lines criss-crossing about every 6 inches and it turned out great!   Even kitty cats can't resist it!

For the back I used some yardage of my some of my favorite fabrics, Michael Miller Grand Bazaar by Patty Young and the binding is a scrappy mix of the fabrics used in the quilt!

  I seriously cannot get enough of this quilt! And I am so excited to cross off yet another project on my goals list!

Now off for one last crazy sewing weekend before the quarter is over!

Linking up to Link-A-Finish Friday at Richard and Tanya Quilts, Thank Goodness it’s Finished Friday at Devoted Quilter and Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.


You can see my goal list in this post here.

 

Quilt Finish!

A finish long in the making, my book quilt is finally done! An unfinished project from 2012, I finally broke it out of it's storage box this month, ordered batting for it and got it quilted up!

  It's a nice throw sized quilt measuring 60 x 72 and I can definitely picture it being a staple on our living room couch!  I did some very simple straight line quilting in the sashing.

   And it is backed and has binding that is made out of scraps from the main fabrics in bright and cheery greens, oranges and florals. 

  I am beyond excited to cross another project off of my Q1 list. I definitely feel like I'm making good progress!

Linking up to Link-A-Finish Friday at Richard and Tanya Quilts, Thank Goodness it’s Finished Friday at Devoted Quilter and Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

  You can see my goal list in this post here.

Quilt Ladder

For Christmas, Jake gifted me my very own quilt ladder, but with the craziness of the holidays, he just got around to making it a couple weekends ago. He followed this tutorial from our vintage home love.

Our supplies. The kitties couldn't resist checking them out, and then tackling each other.

He drilled the holes and assembled it in our living room, since it's so darn cold outside!

And voila! My very own ladder!

  Now I just need to pick out a stain color, hang some quilts on it and find a more permanent home for it!

Driftwood Garland

Two summers ago, my family took a trip up to Northern Minnesota for a week of fishing, relaxing and catching up. It was a wonderful week, and while we we're bumming around town one of the shops had a great driftwood "garland". Being the DIYers and crafty ladies that we are, my mom and I immediately agreed that we could "sooo make one of those". There began my obsession with collecting driftwood. I've made Jake stuff his pockets with little pieces of driftwood more often than I would like to admit. But now, more than two years later, I had enough to make my garland. First I gathered my supplies: my box of driftwood, fishing line, and a drill. 

I drilled little holes in the middle of each piece of driftwood, and then simply threaded them on the fishing line. I kept doing that until I ran out of driftwood- I was convinced I would have enough to make it pretty long.

 

In the end my garland was about 3 feet long, and doesn't quite go end-to-end on top of our entertainment center. To make it easier to add more on later, I left one end of the fishing line open with a lot of extra.

Even if it's not long enough yet, I love the awesome texture and dimension that it has! I guess we'll have one more summer of collecting driftwood...

Dining Room Update!

As soon as we moved in last July, I knew what paint colors I wanted for pretty much every room. For our combined kitchen and dining room I wanted a light aqua and coral color scheme and it only took one color sample to find the right aqua for the walls. But since we painted, the walls have stayed bare and undecorated....  

UNTIL NOW!
I've always wanted a very mixed item gallery wall and with the size of this wall, I thought it would be the perfect space! So, we spent the afternoon hanging up the items that are going to make up the center of our gallery wall!  

The thing on the far left is an awesome weather center that was a thrift store find. The second thing on the left is an original painting that we found at our local record store. With Jake being such a big Leonard Cohen fan (plus it was the right color!) we couldn't pass it up. The "awesome" sign is something that I painted on a scrap piece of wood. And finally, the black mirror is from Ikea. This wall is definitely not done, and I can see some sort of white faux taxidermy item fitting in so very nicely!
Once all this was hung, I was on a roll and put together some matching items for the bookcase that is on the far left wall.

These are all thrift store finds except the white owl, which is from World Market. Excuse the extremely messy shelf and the fact that there's no gumballs in the gumball machine!

I can't wait to finish up this room! It's getting closer and I love how it's looking so far!

I'm back!

Well I had no intention of taking four weeks off from blogging, but there's been a lot going on lately! A birthday, an anniversary, plus Valentine's Day makes for a lot of celebrating! A two year anniversary trip to Duluth that was filled with good food, a great travel buddy and even colder temperatures!

A work trip to Nashville for Capella's Commencement ceremony. This trip reminded me of how much I love my job and the ladies I do it with and was just an all-around feel good trip!

With two trips squeezed into 4 weeks, I did actually manage to get some crafting, quilting and apartment decorating done! Here's a sneak peak of just a couple of the projects that will get their own post soon!

Another iPad Case

My lovely coworker and friend Sarah, asked me to make her an iPad case before she left for Mexico. She requested a black background and a black and white chevron- very classic and modern at the same time. I set aside my jealousy that she was going somewhere sunny and warm and got right to work!   

 

The front. I used a velcro flap again like on my iPad case. I really like how snug and safe this type of closure is. 

Since her iPad is a different version than mine I had to do some math and figure out dimensions, but it all worked out in the end! Plus she even has a nice liner inside and lots of batting to keep her iPad nice and safe!  

    Linking up with Fabric Frenzy Friday, TGIFF, and Link a Finish Friday

Work in Progress Wednesday

All week long I’ve felt like I haven’t really been sewing or quilting as much as normal. I’ve been so exhausted after work for whatever reason and I’ve totally been sucked into the Olympics. But when I think about all the things I have been getting done around here, it actually does seem like a lot!

This past weekend I got my scrappy star quilt all basted and ready for quilting!

In the same weekend I got my book quilt basted too! That’s a lot of basting for one weekend and I am officially all out of safety pins, so no more basting for a while (darn).These are both projects on my Q1 goals and so it feels extra awesome to make some progress on them!  Plus my book quilt is an unfinished project from 2012 (maybe 2011…?).

I also have been doing way too much quilty math the past week, figuring out fabric requirements for a quilt my parents have commissioned me to make for a family friend. It’s totally out of my normal style, but I’m really looking forward to a nice change of pace and trying a new pattern! The 10 pounds of fabric that I’ve ordered for this quilt is due to arrive today and I’m anxious to see the fabrics in person.

I’ve also been working on an iPad case for a friend and coworker, but I can’t show pictures yet, since she might be reading this (sorry, Sarah- no sneak peeks)! I’ll have that done for her tomorrow.
Linking up with Freshly Pieced, Sew Fresh Quilts and Esther's Blog!

Scrappy Star Top

I am beyond excited that this quilt top is done! I absolutely love how it turned out and that I got to use a ton of scraps in the process! The bright colors and the crisp white are exactly what I needed on this chilly winter day- makes me feel like spring might actually happen at some point! 

The yardage that I ordered for the back came in the other day and I can wait to baste and quilt this bad boy!!

 

Work in Progress Wednesday

This week I have a couple different projects on my work table!   1. My pixelated heart valentine's mini quilt. This is in 4 pieces right now, but I really want to get it all done in time to hang for Valentine's Day!

2. This week I've also pieced and trimmed all of my triangle scraps from my Swoon into half-square triangles. There's 150 in total! I'm thinking these will become a mini wall quilt.

3. And finally my Swoon quilt! All of the blocks are pieced and I have one row with sashing so far. Can't wait to finish this one! (And yes, my sofa is currently serving as my design wall!)

I'm hoping to get a couple of these projects completed this week! Wish me luck!   Linking up to  W.i.P. Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and Fabric Frenzy Friday!  

Scrappy Placemats

I finished up a set of four scrappy place mats this week! I love the bright scraps against the dark gray and I cannot wait to use them! I quilted them with straight lines about a quarter inch apart on the colored squares and then did randomly spaced straight lines on the gray background. They are each backed with a different black and white print.

  Linking up my scrappy finish for January with FairyFace Designs

  I think for my February scrappy project, I'll be turning all my little swoon triangles into something pretty!

You can see my goal list in this post here.