Q1 2017 Finish-A-Long Goals

Alright, new year, new goals! I have yet to look back at my goals for 2016 and see how I did, but time is running out for linking up with the Q1 2017 Finish-A-Long so let's do that first. For this quarter, I hope to finish the following:

1) My Improv Modern Christmas tree quilt with blocks from my xx bee. The top is done and the layout for the back is planned. It just needs to be sewn together, basted and quilted. I definitely want this done for this Christmas and am motivated to work on this one now.

Layout for the back:

2) My It Takes a Quilt Village quilt with blocks from my Bee Sewcial bee mates. I think I have the vision for the layout sorted out (not what you see here though). Now, I need to sew it.

3) Wee Spy baby quilt for little Jane. It's ready to be quilted.

4) Ice Blue Mountain (not the name yet). Still trying to sort out some design issues, but this one won't leave me alone so I'm adding it to the list.

5) Fibonacci quarter log cabin. Here's a rough sketch. Playing with the colours for this one now.

Possibly in these colours.

Way more than I'll probably finish, but let's give it a go! Linking up with the Q1 2017 Finish-A-Long gang.

What are you aiming to finish soon?

Q2 2016 Finish-A-long Goals

It's Q2 pledge time for the 2016 Finish-Along. Like last quarter, my list is going to be more ambitious than realistic, but it gives me the flexibility to finish whatever I feel like finishing. Let's see where the winds take us this quarter.

1) Separation of Church and State - I'm all over this one so there's a good chance I will get this one done this quarter at least. And it's small. :)

2) Rainbow House - the top is done and I still haven't got a good picture of the top -- it's huge! 

3) Heart Strings - some hand stitching and quilting to go. I would really like to finish this one too. 

4) If A Tree Falls - top is assembled! 

5) Glibly Blithe - Let's get this together! And a better picture -- so hard to get good photos in the winter.

6) Going Fractal - needs to be sandwiched and quilted. 

Linking up with the fabulous peeps for the 2016 Finish-Along. What are you hoping to finish this quarter?

TGIFF! - Colour Pop!

Woo hoo! Colour Pop is done! Happy dance! This quilt started in an Elizabeth Olwen quilt design class with the Ottawa Modern Quilt Guild last April.

It was time to break into my black and white fabric collection and try something new for me. Okay, the rainbow isn't new, but it's all prints!

Here are the elements I wanted to play with in this quilt:

• Asymmetrical design
• Progression of the values of black and white prints outward from the rainbow
• Progression of the size of the coloured triangles
• Ruler quilting
• Getting more comfortable with prints

I am very, very happy with the design. :)

It fits perfectly!

I talked a little more about my experience with ruler quilting in this post. I will say this -- while I love the look of ruler quilting, it was very hard on my hands and arms and I probably won't try this again on a quilt this large.

When it came to the quilting, I did a concentric triangle in all of the black and white prints using a ruler and my favourite white Aurifil 2021 on both the front and the back. For the large coloured triangles, I did a different straight-line motif in each one in a matching thread colour.

I love this spirograph.

Here is the back - stuck with the black and white theme. It was the first time that I was successful at getting the pieced back to line up straight with the front. It's the little things, I tell you.

Final size: 53" by 71"

Some lessons learned:

• All black and whites are not the same. While all of the prints looked to have the same white in my studio, when I took the top outside, I found that they were not. Since this quilt's natural habitat will not be outdoors, I didn't bother fixing it. 
• I wanted to make sure that the strong backing did not show through to the front so I doubled the batting. Added bonus -- the quilting shows up more.
• Because the triangles have bias edges, they can stretch more easily and I found there was some stretch along the edges of the quilt as I was quilting each triangle. To prevent or minimize this next time, I would quilt along the perimeter to stabilize the edges after I've done the grid quilting foundation and before I quilt in each triangle. Blocking the quilt also helped remove some of the waves along the edge. 

And the most important lesson with this quilt? EaseOut is awesome at getting rid of crayon or marker marks on black and white quilts. To be fair to my kids, it does look like a colour book. ;)

As this was finished during Q1 Finish-A-Long, you can bet I'm linking up there.

I'm a little early, but I'm also linking up with my TGIFF peeps over with Cynthia this week.

Q1 2016 Finish-Along Goals

Yay, it's Finish-Along time again! In case you missed it, I'm a pretty goal-oriented person. I find it motivating and would probably not getting anything done if I didn't make a game of things. I like my gold stars, thank you very much. ;)

Like last quarter, my list this quarter is going to be more ambitious than realistic, but it will give me the flexibility to finish whatever I feel like finishing. Remember, we like flexibility this year.

1) Rainbow House quilt - the top is done. Will blog about that soon when I can get a good picture of it because it's huge!

2) Colour Pop - it's being quilted right now. This one has the best chance of getting finished, I think. 

3) Heart Strings - some hand stitching and quilting to go. I would really like to finish this one too. 

4) If A Tree Falls - top is assembled! 

5) Leggings Light - Haven't shared this yet, but I want to turn these fabulous bee blocks from my Canadians Quilt Bee into a quilt. 

6) Going Fractal - needs to be sandwiched and quilted. 

Linking up with the fabulous peeps for the 2016 Finish-Along. What are you hoping to finish this quarter?

Simple, Fun and Flexible

Happy New Year, everyone! Woo hoo, it's 2016! I, for one, am not sorry to see 2015 go. Not at all. Good in several areas, but very rough and stressful in a few others. I think 2016 will be better.

I already know it's going to rock on the quilting front because I'm going to QuiltCon in February! And I'm taking classes with Gwen Marston and Melissa Averinos! So excited. I'm looking forward to meeting people from this fabulous online quilt world so if you are going, let me know.

Before we get to plans for 2016, I'll just finish up my Q4 goals for the Finish-Along with Adrienne on the Windy Side. Not really thinking I'd get them all done, I put seven projects on my list to give me flexibility to count whichever ones got done. Only one got done in the end, but after the crazy Fall we had, I'm so happy that even one got done. Moreover, Carsick had been languishing in the works in progress (WIP) pile for a couple of years so I'm pretty satisfied.

Carsick

I made some progress on some of the others though. I finished the tops for If A Tree Falls and Rainbow House, as well as the hand stitching for Heart Strings. Will share more about those soon.

As for planning for the year ahead, I'm going to be keep things simple for 2016. Simple, flexible and fun are going to be my key words, I think. As the things that were very stressful in 2015 are unlikely to get better for the foreseeable future and will probably get worse, it's going to mean that I will need to change how I deal with it.

I started to reduce my volunteer commitments this past year and turned down some quilting opportunities. I'll continue that for 2016. Also, no deadline stress allowed this year. It's important that my de-stressor doesn't become another stressor. I'll still host some of TGIFF!, but even there we've brought in Leanne and Fiona to help.

I don't know what this means for the blog other than I'll post when I have projects and fun quilty stuff to talk about. I still have lots of ideas and fun things I'd like to do with it so maybe they'll happen this year or maybe next. We'll see.

What are you hoping to do for 2016?

Finish-Along Q4 2015

Um, how is it Q4 already? I think I linked up to the Finish-Along with Adrienne at On the Windy Side at the beginning of the year and then well, life happened. Since I'm just about caught up on my 'must-dos' like bee blocks and gift quilts, I'd like to add some fun-to-dos to the list for Q4. 

My list is going to be more ambitious than realistic, but I think dreaming big just makes things interesting!

1) Rainbow House quilt - top is just about done. 

2) Colour Pop - still need the backing.

3) Heart Strings - some hand stitching and quilting to go.

4) If A Tree Falls - top needs to be assembled.

5) Leggings Light - Haven't shared this yet, but I want to turn these fabulous bee blocks from my Canadians Quilt Bee into a quilt. 

6) Carsick - it's 1/2 quilted. 

7) Going Fractal - needs to be sandwiched and quilted. 

So many fun projects...can't decide which one to tackle first. The sad thing here though? This is just a 1/4 of my W.I.P.s...

Linking up with Adrienne at On the Windy Side for the Q4 2015 link up. What are you hoping to finish this quarter?

Finishing-Along for Q1

Happy Friday! I'm hoping to participate in the 2015 Finish-Along a bit more than I did in 2014. This year, Adrianne at On the Windy Side is leading the charge. 

For this quarter, I'm hoping to finish:

Carsick:

And Night Flight:

Project Prism:There's another project that I'll be doing this quarter, but I don't have the fabrics just yet. 

Linking up with the Q1 Finish-Along! How about you?

Thing 1 and Thing 2...and Thing 3 and Thing 4 and Thing 5...

"Think and wonder, wonder and think." ~ Dr. Seuss

Ah, the beginning of a new month/quarter -- a clean slate! What goals to set this quarter for the 2014 Finish Along? Let's go big!

Banner Day: Speaking of new beginnings, I will be finishing Banner Day for my new niece or nephew. The top is now further along than this -- the edges of the bunting flags are all pressed under, the bunting cord is made, it's all laid out, glued and ready to be stitched down.

Baby Quilt: A friend is also expecting this month! Yay for more babies...as long as I get to hold them lots and then hand them back! :) Colour scheme is grey, tomato red, and celery. This colour scheme is definitely going to be a challenge for me!

Modern Totems II: This one is sandwiched and ready to be quilted.

And my holdovers from Q2:

Fibonacci Is Not Random - Part One

The triptych was here at the beginning of Q2:

Parts Two and Three are last quarter. This quarter is Part One's turn!

Carsick:

Blue Improv: 

Patterns: Modern Totems is being tested and proofread right now so this quarter I will finish it. And then Falling for Stripes. Pinky swear!

I'm linking up to the wonderful Katy @ The Littlest Thistle who is hosting the 2014 Finish Along.