I haven't forgotton about y'all...

But I have been busy with school.  And reading.
27 books read so far this year.
And 2 courses completed ( weeks early), and another only has one assignment remaining.

My goal is to get this done by the end of March so I will have a good 5-6 weeks to sew, sew, sew before my next semester starts up in May.

I am here... making little bits of progress though! Fear not ;)

First finished quilt of the YEAR!

26 days in, and finally a finish!! Yay.

Been an interesting start to the year.  My 5 year old got quite sick, and in the 1st 24 hours of him being ill, he vomited 14 times.  I have done more laundry this month than ever.  I am a bit OCD, and try not to buy paper-towel (except for crayoning, with embroidery), so clean up involved endless towels.  Towels that got washed, and used again multiple times that day.  Never ending laundry. 

Between that, and the ability to start and work on a variety of projects at once, I am glad to finally have one done! 

This is a wedding dress quilt, that I was contracted to make.

:)

The whole quilt, in colour ;)

The dress was a halter top.  This is the strap and the two buttons from the strap.  The buttons are functional.  Also in the picture is some of the layers of the top of the quilt, as well as a bit of the bodice (the beaded bit in the bottom)

A bit of the bodice.  This is tacked down by hand.

Some of the buttons from the back of the bodice.  These I hand attached, and none functional, as they were none functional on the actual dress as well.

More of the bodice.

The top shows some of the strap from the halter.  The bottom is some of the layers of the dress.  There are a number of these blocks in the quilt, some of them are completely tacked down, and some are left flowing, to keep with the original dress.

So....

9 days into the New Year, and I am surrounded by fabric.  And books (my other hobby haha).

I am on the last kit of placemats (tops only)  I have over 1/2 dozen sets of placemats to baste and quilt now... trying not to run out and by batting for them, as I know when I get to quilting a quilt, I will have "scraps" and that they are usually a great size for placemats...  also at the sheer number of placemats that will be in my house, I will likely never have to make or buy another placemat again.  Ever.  So then I will have to find another use for my scraps... so might as well use them for this while I can ;)

In other news, I've been reading like crazy.  5 books since Jan 1st, so not to shabby.  Goal this year is 60 books total.
I should mention that I've been off classes since the beginning of December, which likely has something to do with the number of books and amount of sewing I have been doing...  however classes start again on Monday, so I am sure that the rate of sewing and reading will diminish as the studying and assignments go up.  ;)  3 courses this semester, not the 4 I did last semester... then 2 over the summer.  Which will put me 1/2 way through the time allotted, and 1/2 way through the program course requirements too :) so win win.

Hopefully I'll get some projects finished soon, and upload some pics.  I am working like mad on a wedding dress quilt.. lots of handwork.  But it should be done within the week... then I'll post a post on it... that will be released after the reciepient gets the quilt.

For now, I best get back to the child that just got home from school.... :)

Two by Two.

This is a commissioned quilt I did.  I don't have the exact measurements anymore.
And I was asked to take it up to, and include the machine part of the binding, but the gifter wanted to hand do the back part of the binding herself.
This was commissioned as a Christmas gift.

The quilting is done.  It was a different quilting pattern I did (and used well over two rolls of masking tape marking it), but it was fun, and I was happy with the overall effect... even if it was a pain in the rear end.  I will probably do it again!

Corner showing some quilting.

 

The very center of the quilt. showing quilting.

 

The back.

 

The finished product.   The binding is machined on, but not turned over, as I was to leave it at this point.

 

 

 

Disney Memory quilt

Done for a customer... to remember family trips together!!!

Finished in October, but couldn't post pictures till now...

And the pictures are out of order... but I'm not fighting them right now...

Quilt all done.

Back of the quilt, showing the quilting (there was no batting so I could quilt it more loosely)

background and stabilizer cut and ready for use

the rows being put together

The special one I appliqued, as the tshirt was too small otherwise without building it up.

 

The t-shirts.... moments before they were no longer whole

The top all done.

The shirts all cut up and waiting to be stitched!

This Years Quilt Goals

While I fully intend on doing much more than this, in the next 12 months, I want to make sure to complete the following:

1. Finish quilting (and binding) my Downton Abbey quilt!
2. Quilt (and bind) my double wedding ring wholecloth!!
3. Hand complete at least half of the top for the RED Dear Jane
4. Hand complete the top for the Crayon Box quilt from Jinney Beyer

:) and of course lots of machine work, some embroidery, etc etc!!!

New Years Eve Wrap up...

Well, another year is almost done.

My sewing machine has gotten a bit of a work out the last couple days.

First off, I've been teaching my five year old to sew.  These are the placemats he made.  The hexagons are done by hand.  the others with help on my machine.  These are tops only, quilting will come later, when I have some batting scraps for these... as I try NOT to buy batting for placemats, but use up scraps.

These are the placemats I made quickly, July's Kit from Stitchin Heaven.... again, not yet quilted. (I have 5 or 6 sets of placemats that need quilting now. LOL).

Hope you all have a great New Year! And a successful 2015!!!

Previous Uncompleted Goals:
1. Downton Abbey hand quilting
2. Trace and colour Month 5 Gingerbread
3. Stitch Gingerbread Month 5
4. Do Cutting directions for WOB Block # 53
5. Cut WOB Block 53
6. Sew WOB Block 53
7. Tutorials for WOB Block 53
8. Trace and Colour Month 7 Gingerbread
9. Stitch Month 7 Gingerbread
10. Baste Aug. Placemats
11. Quilt Aug Placemats
12. Bind aug. Placemats
13. Top done for Bella Verona
14. Stitch Month 7 of Hook Line and SInker
15. Trace and Colour month 8 of Hook Line and Sinker
16. Stitch Month 8 of Hook Line and Sinker
17. Trace and Colour Month 8 of Gingerbread
18. Stitch Month 8 of Gingerbread
19. Stich month 9 of Gingerbread
20. Baste and Quilt July Placemats
21. Bind July Placemats
22. Stitch Hook Line and Sinker 9
23. Finish the top for Gingerbread.
24. Finish the top for Hook Line and Sinker
25. Cutting directions for Women of the Bible 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52
26. Cut Women of the Bible 42, 43,  44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52
27. Sew Women of the Bible 42, 43,  44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52
28. Tutorial for Women of the Bible 42, 43,  44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52
29. September Placemats Basted
30. September Placemats Quilted
31. Bind September Placemats
32. Quilt Guild October Block - stitched (Be Loving)
33. Cut Women of the Bible Extra blocks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
34. Sew Women of the Bible Extra blocks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
35. Cut background, sashing, triangles, and binding for Women of the Bible quilt
36. Finish putting together the Women of the Bible Quilt. (TOP)
37. October Placemats Basted
38. October Placemats Quilted
39. October placemats bound
40. November Placemat tops
41. November placemat basted
42. November placemat quilted
43. November placemats bound
44. December placemat tops
45. December placemats basted
46. December placemats quilted
47. December placemats bound
48. Quilt Guild November Block - pieced
49. Quilt Guild November Block - traced
50. Quilt Guild November Block - coloured
51. Quilt Guild November Block - stitched
52. Quilt Guild December Block - pieced
53. Quilt Guild December Block - traced
54. Quilt Guild December Block - coloured
55. Quilt Guild December Block - stitched
56. Quilt Guild Jan Block - pieced
57. Quilt Guild Jan Block - traced
58. Quilt Guild Jan Block - coloured
59. Quilt Guild Jan Block - stitched
60. Wedding Stitchery Stitched
61. Wedding Stitchery Basted
62. Wedding Stitchery Quilted
63. Wedding Stitchery Bound

64. wedding dress quilt

65. Jennies (Hannah's) Baby clothes quilt

 Quilts working on:
Dear Jane (normal)
Dear Jane (red)
Downton
Hook Line Sinker
Gingerbread Squared
Omigosh
Cathedral Windows #2
Swoon
Night Sky
Refractured
Snowman Gatherings
2013 Stonehenge BOM
Gumdrops
Hexies
Bella Verona