Finish Along Q3 Goals

Hi Friends!

As expected, I didn't finish too many of my goals for quarter 2 of the Finish Along.  Ah well.  I still get to roll them over, and of course, I have added a few!

Here are the old goals that are rolling over to Q3:

1.  Finish "Deck the Halls"

2. and 3.   Make my twin toddler bed quilts.    I'm using "Cruizer Blvd" and I'm planning to make one Jungle Path quilt and one Broken Herringbone quilt.

4.  Building Fun Quilt.  This one is basted now and ready for quilting.  Wahoo!

5. and 6.  Secret project for family member/Hello Sun Wall hangings.  These are definitely on the back burner right now, but that doesn't mean I don't still plan to get to them some time!

7. 8. and 9. Puff Quilts for the shop (or maybe for new nieces/nephews) using either of these charm packs:

So, I haven't gotten around to taking a photo of it, but I totally bought a layer cake of this fabric!  Love it!  Thanks, Southern Fabric!

10.  More bib sets (or maybe another puff quilt) for the shop.  Probably using some of this:

11.  My Letters Quiet Book:

12.  A Jelly Roll Quilt:

13.  A new quilt for our King bed:

And finally, a new one for this quarter!
14.  Finish my Broken Herringbone quilt for the Humility circle of Do.Good Stitches.  This one is also basted and ready for quilting!

I better get crackin!

Linking up:

A Few Blocks

I have a few loose blocks that still haven't been blogged about and I don't want to forget them!

The first set are BOM blocks for my local quilt guild.  The two bottom blocks are both 3D and they are super fun.

The circle blocks are for Vickey in our Do.Good Stitches group.  They were fast and easy to make, which I think we were all super grateful for.  She is going to cut them all into quarters and sew them back together again.  Her quilt is going to look fantastic.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Few Little Things for a Few of my Favorite People

A few weeks ago, I received an Etsy order from my favorite customer.  She just happens to be Mom to my sister-in-law and is one of the sweetest people ever.  I love making stuff for her.  :). My sister-in-law has a few of my bibs, and apparently she loves them and needs a few more.  So I whipped up a pair for her, plus another pair for her nephew.  Grandma chose BYU themed bibs for her younger grandson and trains/helicopters for the older one.  I must admit, I tried the train/heli ones on my boys and was tempted to keep them for myself.  They are nice and thick, soft, and plenty big.  Yep, I need some more for my boys...

This photo seems to show the truest colors.  

I felt like the BYU bibs needs just a little more, so I added the little monogram.

I love to add little quilted details to my bibs.  The extra quilting holds them together a little better and gives them some character.  I even outlined a couple of the little "Y"s.  can you see them?

I made the second set a little bigger since they were for an almost two year old and I love the bigger size.

I recently bought some snap pliers (from Kamsnaps.com - I HIGHLY recommend them) and now I want to put snaps on everything!  I even made these bibs adjustable.  :)

A few detail shots to show off the bubble quilting:

One of these days I need to sit down and make a bunch more...

P.S.  It just so happens that making more bibs (specifically using the trains/helis) was one of my Q2 Finish Along goals (original list can be found HERE.)  Katy - do these count?  Linking up!

WIP: Building Fun and Broken Herringbone

I finished a new quilt top!  This one is from the Building Fun pattern by Geta Grama.  I used some Textured Basics by Patty Young that I won in a giveaway awhile back.  I love the colors, and I'm glad the stripes aren't quite as distracting as I anticipated them to be.  It was fun to make a quilt from a pattern, with all the math and stuff done for me.  (Although I DID have to do some figuring when it came time to cut everything.)  Now I just need to quilt it.  Although I'm tempted to do something fancy and customized for each block, I'm thinking I'll do some stippling.  It's been awhile since I've done some simple, relaxing meandering.  I'm looking forward to it.

This was my goal for June's ALYOF.  (My goal setting post can be found HERE.  Mine was entry #51.)

I've also been working on another quilt, which is also almost ready for quilting.  May was my month for Do.Good Stitches (FIRST TIME!  WAHOO!) and I chose the Broken Herringbone block.  It was so fun to receive all my little packages in the mail and I was so excited when the last one finally arrived!  Here they are all lined up in color order:

I've got a really fun plan for these.  Hopefully it works out the way I've imagined it in my head...

I debated for awhile which of these two quilts I should commit to for my July ALYOF goal.  In the end, I decided to push myself.  I think I can finish these two quilts soon because I'm motivated.  However, I've got a new quiet book in the works for my shop that desperately needs attention.  It's going to be awesome (and big), and I've just got to finish it.  So my goal for July is to finish my ABC quiet book.  Everything is cut out, now I just need to do lots of ironing and stitching. 

Linking up:

Life is Good (When You're Retired)

This is just a quick post to let you all know I completed my May goal for ALYOF.  :)

My goal was to make something (using scraps) for a friend of mine who is retiring after 24 years of teaching.  She was the teacher who taught next door to me during my whopping 5 years of teaching third grade.  She was a fabulous teacher, mentor, and friend.  She was always so good to let me come in and rant or bounce ideas off her.  She is the kind of person who is absolutely bursting with energy and is constantly on the move.  :)  When things were going well, or when they started to get stressful, she would just brush it aside and remind us all that "life is good."  She was ALWAYS saying that.

Of course, since I HAD to make her something, I decided to go for some embellished kitchen towels.  I traced the alligator (the school's mascot) off of one of our school t-shirts and appliqued everything onto the towels, then added the ruffles.  I was thrilled to finally have a use for this big huge strip of relatively cheap red fabric that I just can't bring myself to use in a quilt.  :)  Hopefully it works okay as a towel...

I'm not sure if my friend is going to be spending more or less time in the kitchen now that she has all that free time, and her kitchen probably isn't red, but she LOVED the towels.  :D

 I'm linking up with Shanna and Melissa over at the Lovely Year of Finishes party:

My goal setting post is HERE.  My entry was #104.


And now for my June goal.  I've been working on these super fun blocks using Geta's "Building Fun" pattern (which is totally on sale until tomorrow!).  The plan for June is to finish up the blocks and sew them into a top.  I'm crossing my fingers that the stripes aren't too busy...

P.S. Don't forget to go vote for your favorite quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival!  Voting closes on May 30th!

 You can find my quilt here:  Viewer's Choice
and here:  ROYGBIV

Squeee!!!

Hey guys!

I just saw that my quilt was nominated for Viewers Choice over at the Blogger's Quilt Festival!  I can't believe it!  Out of hundreds of entries, mine has been grouped with the best of the best.  I'm so honored.  :) :) :)
Anyway.  It's time to vote!  Obviously, vote for the ones you love most!

My regular entry in the ROYGBIV category is HERE.
The viewers choice nominations are HERE.
The rest of the quilts in the festival (they are SO AWESOME) are HERE.

Pattern Winners!

Hi Friends, I just wanted to let you know that the two winners of my "After the Storm" pattern are:

AND

Congrats to Cynthia and Bonnie!  I've sent both of you an email.  

Remember, if you didn't win, you can still buy my pattern from my Etsy shop HERE.

I am also looking into the idea of getting pattern testers as well (another way to get a free pattern - hint, hint), so let me know if that's something you are interested in.  

Thanks to everyone who entered, and especially to all the new followers!  I couldn't believe it when I checked just now - 99 followers!  You guys rock!