New list of finishing goals ....

Here is my current top ten (plus 2) list of projects that I aim to finish by the end of September....  All have indeed been started and yet are lingering too long in this unfinished limbo state.

1) bind my first Red-n-White quilt (& label)

2) bind my Oopsie Daisy quilt (& label)

3) finish my cross stitch ABC Words of Wisdom

4) buttons and buttonholes on peach plaid shirt

5) stitch up rayon peach top

6) quilt "Dream" quilttop (or will it be a pillow? or pillow case?)

7) quilt "Geometric USA" then finish into mini quilt or pillow

8) finish assembling 2015 Row-by-Row (water theme)

9) finish piecing, quilting, binding & label the latest Thangles pattern

10) dress and garnish my first spirit doll (maybe more than one)

 11) bonus:  quilt and finish my original Instagram logo mini-quilt (and finish an identical twin for a future swap ...) pattern by Lori Holt (IG: beelori1; her website: www.beeinmybonnetco.blogspot.com/)

12) might as well go for an even dozen:  finish any old UFO that I re-discover in the next two months .... (hee hee hee - there are many that I've forgotten about!)


This is my official list for the Finish-Along group effort -- teams of fellow finishers are wonderful spirit-boosters!  Check out this link or this one for more information and join (if you act fast .....).

Thank you to all the Finish-Along hostesses and prize donors and participants for inspiring me to get things DONE!

I am happy to report that I am linky number 87 for the 3rd quarter of 2017 Finish-along fun.

Doll quilts finished

I reached my August goal - hurray!

I have finished Dots for Dolly, my circle dots doll quilt.  It was fun to quilt - probably because I did both hand-quilting and machine quilting on this small quilt.

Here is a view of the front side-by-side with the back.  These photos were taken during the hand quilting stage.  I so enjoyed making this little quilt.


I also made two monster-lizard pencil pouches.  This is a free pattern available from my friend Liz.  Click here to see the directions and pattern on her blog Fat Chick Quilts, http://www.fatchickquilts.com/.

I made the striped one first in a workshop Liz gave to our Houston Modern Quilt Guild and immediately knew that I had to make one for my friend Chela and her little man grandson Isaac.

 These are the three doll quilts that I made especially for Chela... well, specifically for her son's daughters and their American Girl dolls.  I hope they love these doll quilts as much as I do.

These two monster pencil pouches reminds me of chatty lizards and you can see the quilting of the circle dot quilt underneath them.


This completes my August goal in A Lovely Year of Finishes too.  Click here to find out more about this monthly "can you finish it?" challenge being run by Melissa at Sew BitterSweet Designs (http://blog.sewbittersweetdesigns.com/) or Shanna at Fiber of All Sorts  (http://fiberofallsorts.blogspot.com/).

I am Linky #66  in the Goal posting for August (click here to see all that posted goals) and I am Linky #57 in the Finishes posting for August (click here for all who posted finishes) 

August goal for finishing.....

 

Time to declare my goal for the month of August in the A Lovely Year of Finishes ongoing motivational challenge.  This month my goal is to finish doll quilts that I've promised to a friend for

her granddaughters.  They are started but I've stalled out and need to get going again to get them completed and delivered.

The one that is the farthest from completion is nicknamed "Dots for Dolly".

I had fun appliqueing the dots onto the background but how in the world shall I quilt this?

Maybe I will try some big-stitch hand quilting .... in straight lines or in spiraling circles or both?

I also hope to finish this bargello quilt-let which I blogged about here.  Originally meant to be the third doll quilt, it ended up being too small for the requested size, which is probably why I've been stalled on finishing these three quilt tops.  Since this one is too small for the doll quilt, I think it will become a quilted pocket-sleeve for my cellphone (which is a larger size than I've had before).

Join me in the Lovely Year of Finishes fun and set a goal to finish some project you have.  Click here to see who else has set a goal in this month's challenge.  You can find me at linky #66.


<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5323349/?claim=2pwmgrxy32v">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Doll quilt in progress

I'm learning that making a small version is a fast way to try a technique.

This month for A Lovely Year of Finishes, I promised to make at least one doll quilt from my friend's sweet granddaughters using these selection of purple and green fabrics.

I pieced two tops, but along the way decided that I wanted to make one bargello quilt.  I had read the directions for making a bargello quilt several times, but have never made one, until my false start before this one (to see that click here).  Then I thought I would give a simple description of how to make a bargello quilt.  Here goes:  I selected a nice range of purples and greens to coordinate with the multi-color prints originally selected by Gracie.  More fabrics (both greens and purples) were added and arranged to create a nice wave of color.  Using my rotary mat, cutter and ruler, I sliced my fabrics into strips 1 3/4" wide, with the two multicolor strips each being sliced wider, 3.5" and 2.25".

I arranged a pleasing order, from light to dark, starting with green and shading to purple with a few multi-color prints sprinkled in.  Next, I stitched the strips together in the order of my layout.  After pressing all seams to one side, last of all I stitched the outer two strips together to make a tube.  I like to call this piece a "tube-strata".

The next step is to slice the tube into several varying widths.  Carefully align the tube on your cutting mat and slice.  My slices ranged in size from 3/4" to 2" wide.  Cut as many as possible from the original tube-strata.

The next step is trickier.  Carefully separate each loop (fabric ring) into an open strip again.  The tricky part is that you open these at different seams.  I was planning the wave pattern as I separated each loop of the sliced strata.  Narrow strips show a steep incline/decline in the wave, wider strips make the wave more of a curve.  I arranged the strips below as I opened each one.

 

Last step is to carefully stitch each row together.  I started with the two to the far left, stitching them first.  Be sure to nestle the seam allowances, pushing the seam allowances on every other strip to the opposite direction so that they nest and snuggle together nicely with the seam allowances on the previous loop/strip.

The above view of the back side of the top shows the seam allowances nestled in the alternating directions.  Below is a partial view of the finished quilt top.

Voila, the full finished top!  It is a tad narrower than the doll bed, so I will either piece one more row to add to the right side, or I will add a simple border.

This is one of three three doll quilt tops that I am making.  It was fun to make in the bargello fashion, creating my own wave pattern.  I hope you can follow these steps easily and make your own bargello quilt.  You can make mini quilts, mug rugs, placemats if you do not need a new doll quilt.  Or slice wider and longer widths of fabric to end up with a larger quilt.  I may make a larger sized bargello quilt one of these days.  But for now, I must decide first how to quilt this one ..... any suggestions?

This is my completion of February Lovely Year of Finishes challenge!  I've pieced three doll quilt tops -- hoping to finish them eventually -- but my challenge was to get at least one top complete, which I have done.  Click here to see the others who have completed their February goals and posted links.  I am linky #116.  On the Goals for February page, I am linky #115.

getting started

My friend Gracie has asked me to make three doll quilts for her granddaughters and I am especially pleased that they will go with the handcrafted doll beds made by Dennis, the proud grandpapa, for three American Girl dolls?  (hint: I'd love my own American Girl doll one day ....).  

Gracie and I selected fabrics for the quilts (she had told me to use any color scheme! yikes! far too many choices, so I made her narrow the field).  We combined our shopping trip in early December with an afternoon watching her granddaughters dancing in the Nutcracker Ballet - a marvelous performance!

 

Even with the fabrics to play with, I remained stumped for several weeks deciding on a design for the long narrow quilts.  I pieced one in diagonal rows, similar to the first step of the scrappy trip around the world method taught by Bonnie Hunter on Quiltville (be sure to look at her website: http://quiltville.blogspot.com/). Here is the first quilt top.

Even before I finished piecing this top, I realized I wanted to try a bargello pattern! Bargello directions are similar: piece strips together, stitch into a tube, then slice and restitch.  This was a spur of the moment decision made after the tube was stitched (which I like to call a tube-strata).  Here is my quasi-bargello quilt top:

Both quilts are long and skinny to match the dimensions given by Gracie, and neither really look or feel very bargello-y.  Stay tuned, I plan to try making a 'real' bargello quilt soon -- and I will take time to plan the fabric layout more carefully!

February goal

The new year is rolling along, gradually picking up the pace, which means we are into our second month, February and it is time to set my next goal for the "2015 A Lovely Year of Finishes" challenge hosted by

Shanna of Fiber of All Sorts 

and

 Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Designs

My February 2015 goal is to piece the top of at least one of three doll quilts.  My good friend Chela has asked me to make these doll quilts for her granddaughters, to go with their American Girl Dolls and the beds that her husband (their grandpa) has hand crafted for them.

In December, before watching her granddaughters perform in the Nutcracker (they were fabulous!), Chela and I went shopping at Quilter's Emporium looking for fabrics to inspire the doll quilts and this is what we found...

I added more purples and greens, and will possibly add a few more, once I've settled on a pattern or design.  But here we are, aready in February and I am still stuck and waiting for inspiration to hit ... so this will be my month's challenge.  I plan to piece at least one doll quilt (and would love it if I finished it completely!).

I hereby declare that this is my February goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes, 2015.  Now won't you join me with this motivational group?  The challenge is to finish the very goals that you select each month (something I do need help with).  I am linky #115 on February's Goal Setting page.


P.S.  I love that the fabrics coordinate so nicely with this year's logo for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  Don't you?

Day 4: FB Art Challenge

This is my 4th Day of the Art Challenge currently circulating on FaceBook. 

I was nominated by Pam Biswas.   Thank you Pam!  For this fourth day of the 5-day challenge, I am sharing more of my favorite quilts and mixed media/fiber art pieces.  I hope you enjoy them.

This first piece tells the Legend of the Bluebonnet.  A quick summary is:  In days long long ago, during a severe drought, a young girl sacrificed her most prized possession, her doll, to the tribe's fire, following their leader's request.  The gods were happy and sent rain that night.  The next morning, when the little girl and her people woke up, they discovered the fields were covered with blue flowers, the same blue of the doll's dress.  These were the first bluebonnets and they return every spring, remembering the little girl's love that was so pure.

This story quilt was fun to make.  I explored a variety of mixed media/fiber art techniques including: painted hot glue squiggles (the bluebonnets), overlayed sheers (the sun and the rain), torched and painted tyvek (flames of fire), new fabric made from stitched threads and fibers (the doll's dress - both the tiny doll in the girl's hands and the center doll burning in the fire), and couched fibers (fields of bluebonnets). 

This piece was my entry in the 2008 Journal Quilt Project at Houston's annual International Quilt Festival.  That year, quilt artists were asked to make a quilt portraying the four elements (earth, wind, rain and fire).  Most chose to focus on one element however I decided to touch on all four elements in this little story quilt.  Sadly, my quilt was rejected from the actual exhibit, though it was in an virtual online show (with several other rejected quilts).  Click here to see "Braving the Elements".  Thank you Linda Teddie Minton for coordinating this special show.  Click here to see my entry in "Braving the Elements" which includes the poem of the legend of the bluebonnet.


This next quilt is called "American All-Stars" and is my first quilt to travel in a national exhibit and is my first entry in the annual Hoffman Challenge, specifically the 1996 challenge which featured "Old Glory".  My quilt did not travel to Houston during its year on the road.  However it was on display during the big Paducah quilt show in the spring of 1997.  I cancelled my plans to see my quilt in Paducah, as I was expecting twins.  In the photo below, my children are one year old wearing special outfits made with the "Old Glory" Hoffman challenge fabric to celebrate both the return home of my traveling quilt and the July 3rd wedding of their Uncle and Aunt.  Aren't they precious?

 My next quilt is my current all-time favorite quilt and is hanging on my living room wall.

"Red Summer Baskets" is a quilt that was a gift to me -- well, the pattern and many of the fabrics were given to me by Mary Beth Hayes, my friend and founder of Thangles.  She gave this cute pattern to me in the summer of 2012 during my visit to Wisconsin and her studio.  Click here and here to learn more about this quilt.

 

My artist nominee today happens to be Mary's sister, Wanda Eichler!  I met both sisters years ago when Mary and I were in an internet round robin group, and both traveled to Market in Houston.  We met for lunch and kept talking for three hours that afternoon.  I look forward to Mary and her husband Pat coming to Market and Festival every year.  Wanda came a few times as well.   

When I was helping Wanda with her booth, Graywood Designs, in 2010, we were delighted to see how close we were to the Make It University area.  We had fun taking turns participating in the one-hour classes they offered.  I made the four ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) that you see below.

I nominate Wanda Eichler to join this 5-day Art Challenge by posting three photos a day of her artwork, and nominating another artist to carry the challenge ever forward.  Wanda, I look forward to seeing your lovely art!

Challenge to finish and dolls

Here it is -- this is the packet of beautiful pastel solids I received from Michael Miller for their Spring Cotton Couture Challenge for 2015. 

In this latest challenge (issued to the Modern Quilt Guild members), rules state that we can use only Michael Miller's Cotton Couture fabrics in the quilt.  Thus my first challenge was not only what design shall I use, but where in the world can I find more of their Cotton Couture fabric line?  Using the trusty internet, I discovered that High Fashion Fabrics carries their fabrics.  After a Sunday afternoon trek to their downtown shop, I discovered these darker solids to add to my challenge piece.

Now for my list of steps:

• Decide on a pattern (done - plan to revise (slightly) a pattern by my friend MBHayes of Thangles fame - I will share more on this in the next post about this project), 
• Cut it out and stitch it up (the top is stitched!), 
• Select on a back fabric (any Michael Miller - print or solid - is acceptable.  I've chosen one from my friend Patty Sloniger's latest line called Emma's Garden), 
• Choose a quilting design and thread to use (this seems to be where I am stuck ... ).
• Quilt it, 
• Bind and label it.
• Last of all, photograph and submit it before the fast approaching deadline!

My quilt is not finished, so I have made it my November "Lovely Year of Finishes" challenge.  Now it is in two challenges!  I have stated my goal and am linky #38 on the November Goal Linky Party page.  Check it out here and feel free to join us!

I have selected my pattern and have stitched up the top, but am still playing with many ideas of how to best quilt it (and shall I pull in Pam_Quiltaholic's expertise to do the actual quilting?  Here is a photo of my friend MB and myself standing in her Thangles booth during the International Quilt Festival this year.  We are standing in front of my "Summer Baskets from My Friends" quilt!

It is really fun to see something you have made hanging up in a public place for many to see it, admire it, and possibly even buy the pattern for it!  Read more about my basket quilt here.

The International Quilt Festival has closed for the year so now I have time to share a few photos taken during the busy days of the show.  First - "In Celebration of the Doll" is always a fun exhibit.

It is even more fun when you are searching for a doll made by my friend, Marlene Slobin.  I'm glad I knew to look for three dolls, not just one!  Below is a closeup of "The Novak Sisters" that she made. 

 Marlene, your creative dolls always make me smile!  I look forward to your next one...or group ...