Finish Along 2020 Q1

Hello Friends!

Hope you are all doing well.  I am good.  I have 2 quilt tops at the quilters right now.  I think that gives me permission to start something new. I have a long list of quilts I would like to make but I am going to use what I have fabric for and make something with that.  I have a few things that need finishing but I am going to try to sneak something new in too.  Here are my goals for Q1:

• On Ringo Lake quilt-needs more border and backing.  Would like to at least get the borders on.  Hoping to get it to the quilter
• Finish the Vintage Christmas quilt-this is at the quilter so I will only need to do the binding
• Finish the American Country quilt-this is also at the quilter.  Will just need binding.  Will blog about that when it's done.  If you are interested in the pattern, it's a BOM from my friend Charisma.  Check out her blog.
• Swoon Sixteen runner-I made 3 blocks from that pattern and was going to make a runner.  The blocks are pretty big so I am going to tear them apart and turn them into 3 pillows instead.
• Word of the year-I have my word and it's almost finished.

I think that is enough to try to get done this quarter.  I am still working on house projects and I am doing a little more traveling then I ever thought I would.  More on that later.

Since I hate to blog without a picture, I will leave you with this.  I am making a grandmother's flower garden quilt.  This is not mine, but I am using the same color palate.

 

If you are wondering how to join in the Finish Along, please check out Instagram.  They are using hashtags this time instead of having us link up.  #2020FALQ1List

It's been a great resource and motivator to get things finished.  Won't you join in the fun?

 

Blessings

Amy

FAL Q4

Hello Friends!

I have done really well with my list this quarter.  Here is my list:

• Put borders on my Floral Birch Bark quilt and send to quilter
• Do the embroidery and put together Vintage Christmas Quilt and send to quilter
• Finish 2 of the 3 Advent calendars I am working on
• Finish stuffed cow for baby gift
• Bind quilt #10 and hopefully #11 and #12

These are the 12 quilts I finished this year.

So what did I get finished?  I put the borders on Birch Bark and actually finished it!  That was quilt #12.  I did the embroidery and put together Vintage Christmas and that is now at the quilter.  I finished 2 Advent Calendars.  And I did the binding and finished quilts 10,11 and 12.  The only thing I did not finish is the stuffed cow.  That got lost in the mounds of fabric and I am not sure where it is.

I think I did pretty good this quarter.  Things are changing with the FAL.  No more link ups.  It will all be done through Instagram now.  Well, I best be starting my list for next quarter. :)  I am linking up here.

Blessings

Amy

Quilt #12-Goal Reached!

Hello friends!

I will now share quilt finish number 12.  This top was made last year during late night sewing on Black Friday.  I bought this lovely floral jelly roll and got to work.  The pattern is Birch Bark by Sam Hunter Designs.  This is the 3rd Birch Bark I have made.  I made one for my cousin's new home, my friend's wedding gift and now this one.  I don't have plans for this one yet.  It will sit proudly in my cabinet.  So here it is:

 

I used a pretty purple Grunge for the border and cornerstones.  Here are the other 2 Birch Bark quilts:

This is the one I made for my cousin's new home.  It made it into the WI Quilt Expo.

This one was a wedding gift.

 

That makes 12 finishes for the year!! Goal reached!!!  Here are the 12 I finished this year:

3 flannel quilts made from my father's shirts, Milky Way quilt for the owner of the company I work for and her 40th Anniversary, Norway quilt, Rainbow baby quilt, string quilt, Missing U quilt.

Hex on You quilt, Halloween quilt, baby clothes quilt and Birch Bark.

I can't tell you how happy I am to have all of these finished.

I have been working on my goals for next year.  My main goal is to not start something new until an unfinished quilt is at the long-armer.  But I am not putting pressure on myself.  I sew what I want when I want.

 

What are your goals for 2020?  Did you reach your goals for 2019?

Blessings

Amy

 

 

Quilt finish #11

Hello friends

This will be a quick post and you will probably see another one today.  I finished quilt number 11 in November.  I had wood laminate flooring put in my master bedroom.  The guy that did that is a coworker and friend.  He asked me to make a quilt with his son's baby clothes for his wife for Christmas.  He gave me a bag of clothes including one shirt of his, his wife's and the grandparents.  It is hard for me to accept any commission work.  I always have trouble with them liking what I decide to make.  According to pictures and a message, she loved it.  I am so glad.  Here it is:

The red shirt at the top is the mother's favorite Wisconsin shirt.  You can barely read the lettering on it.  I had a hard time cutting that one up since it was her favorite. 

I used a blue Grunge fabric to set the clothing and a Grunge red dot for the backing and binding.  A big THANK YOU to Heather from Blue Turtle Quilting.  She has rocked every quilt she has done for me.
Next post, #12
Blessings
Amy

House projects

Hello Friends

Hope you all had a very relaxing and fun holiday.  Mine was great with a big surprise.  I will get to that in another blog post.  Right now I want to tell you about my house and what I was able to finish this past month.  Well, almost finish.  As you know I bought my parent's house a year ago.  I have been busy painting and cleaning out the 46 years worth of stuff they had.  I have painted the living room, dining room, downstairs bathroom and now the master bedroom. 
During fall clean up days in our town, I decided to remove the carpet in the master bedroom.  A coworker had asked me to make a quilt for his wife out of his son's baby clothes.  I usually say no to that, as I don't care to do commission work.  But he also does construction and I asked if he could lay some wood laminate flooring in my master bedroom.  He said he would so I picked out the color and ordered the flooring.  While also working on the quilt.  I will show you a picture of the quilt in my next post.  We had to keep it a secret until she opened it. But here is my new flooring:

It's called Mocha Fusion and I bought it from Home Depot.  It's a darker color with hints of gray and cream.  I painted the walls a light gray and I think the white trim makes it pop!  I love my new room.  Now I just need bedroom furniture and I can move in.  I am going to try to hit Ikea next week and see what I can find.  I am so excited to have my own space just to relax.

I also decided the week of Thanksgiving to paint a dresser.  I have been looking for a buffet for my dining room.  I will be painted the table and chairs in that room and recovering the chairs.  I found this dresser in the garage.  I believe it was my childhood dresser.  I worked every night after work and was able to finish this the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving.  My son was home and able to help me move it into the dining room.  I quickly filled it with my Fiesta dishes.

I think it will be perfect for what I need it for.  It's already been fun to decorate the top of it.

Spoiler Alert: I finished my 12th quilt!!!  More on that before the end of the year!

Blessings
Amy

 

Happy Holidays!

Hello Friends

I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
My 12th quilt is ready to pick up from my long arm quilter.  I will have it done before the end of the year!!  Stay tuned for that and an end of year wrap up.

Thank you for sticking with me this year.  Excited to see what the new year brings!

Blessings
Amy

More finishes

Hello Friends

Hope you are all getting ready for the holiday season.  I have been working on house projects.  We have 'junk days' here in my little town twice a year.  You can put out almost anything and they will pick it up for free.  I had 3 twin mattress sets, 4 outside damaged chairs, and some other little things.  On the day before the pick up I decided to remove the carpet from my master bedroom and master bathroom.  It was a big job and I was doing it all myself.  The bedroom is  225 sq. ft and the bathroom is small about 8x12.  The carpet in the bedroom was over 30 years old and bright red.  Yuck!  The walls have never been painted and where white.  I am going to change that.  Remember a while back I mentioned I was doing secret sewing.  Well, it's still a secret and will be shared after the holidays.  But the person I am sewing for does construction and we are swapping services.  I am finally going to put in wood flooring.  The materials have been ordered and the room should be almost complete by Thanksgiving.  I am so excited to have my own bedroom.  I am currently sleeping in the spare room and there are lots of boxes to go through in there. I am also going to be painting the room a light gray color.  Hopefully by next weekend.  Here is a before picture of the floor after I removed the carpet:

The carpet was glued down so I am still scraping and hoping to have the room ready for the flooring when it comes in.  It was a big job but it only took me 3 hours to get that and the bathroom floor out and to the side of the road.  Success!

I work for a large medical software company.  I work in Reception and when I started there were only 6 of us.  Our team has grown to 14 which means they have run out of space.  We were in a large open room but it's so hard to hear our customers.  They decided to make us individual offices.  It was all so exciting!  I helped coordinate the move out and move in.  We were sent to different offices in the building for 5 weeks while they created our space.  I am so blessed to work for this company and have such a wonderful work environment.  I thought it would be nice to give my coworkers a little gift to welcome them to their new spaces.  I ordered these plastic baskets from Dollar Tree and filled them with tissues, lip balm, lotion, hand sanitizer, paper and pen and mints.  I also included a pack of cookies and of course a handmade coaster.  I made 24 coasters just to have enough.

Another success!

The day after the move, I traveled to Las Vegas for my friend's 60th birthday.  We had a lot of fun and ate too much food.  It was a nice long weekend.  Here is a picture from when we landed in Vegas.

It was actually pretty cold there.  I froze the first day as it was 40 degrees.  It did get a little better by the time we left.

This week has been successful in the sewing room also.  I made these Advent Calendars.

My long arm quilter has quilt number 11 which is the secret sewing I can't post yet.  I am working on the border for quilt 12.  Looks like I should make my goal of 12 finished quilts this year!

Time to make my goals for next year.  Do you plan out your year or do you just make what you like?  I usually just make what I like, but since the move I have seen how many quilts I have started and never finished.  This feels so good!

Blessings

Amy