2009 Quilting Accomplishments

Looking back at 2009 I can't believe how much I accomplished compared to 2008.
A Look at the 2008 numbers:
Large Quilts: 10
Baby Quilts: 4
Purses/Bags: 25
Wall Hangings: 11
Tablerunners: 14
Clothes:8
Quilted for others: 5
Other: 10
Part of a special quilt: 3

Now a look at the same areas for 2009:
Large Quilts: 12
Baby Quilts: 12
Purses/Bags: 44
Wall Hangings: 10
Tablerunners: 3
Clothes: 7
Quilted for Others:5
Others (Pillowcases, bookcovers, burp clothes, books) : 20
Part of a special quilt: 3

The only area where I had a significant difference was in the tablerunner department. I guess that's why I asked for the new Runners book by Anka's Treasures for my birthday.
I made significantly more large and baby quilts, but the real jump was in the bag department. I absolutely love making bags and purses. I haven't made any in a while, so I'm looking forward to the one I'm going to make in Jan for a store sample.

I still haven't written my Christmas letter. I don't know if it's my friends picking on me for always being late or the lack of a picture to send, but I still haven't gotten my cards out. I'm one who believes better late than never. There were several highlights to this year for me, but the big ones include:

~Attending the St. Jude Retreat and meeting some of the most awesome blogging quilting friends, I truly feel blessed that I was able to meet everyone. It's nice to put a face with a name. I know that those friends who are ever so dear to me, will be by my side in the next year and for that I am eternally greatful. It's awesome to have so much encouragement and long distance hugs from you guys.
~ My husband got a job! The company is incredible. He enjoys it and he's got some great co-workers. I love all the stories he tells and meeting the guys. He caught a huge bass we are having mounted and shot a big buck that is also being mounted.
~Working & teaching at Quilt Corral Too with my mom and the girls. The friendship we share is awesome and I really enjoyed being around the fabric. Our Bag Ladies club was oh so much fun. We were all sorry to see it close, but a new, even better shop will open in Jan! It will be so nice to have a place to buy fabric again. I haven't bought any in a month! Working at TSC and being able to teach classes the past few months has been lots of fun for me. I love to teach!
~ Travelling to the Twin Cities in June with my family and staying with the cousins. They treated us like royalty and we had such an incredible time. Jen joining us was the icing on the cake. It was so much fun shop hopping to the quilt shops there. I'm excited for July when we travel there again for the Lego wedding.
~ My work trip to Disney World. I couldn't have asked for a more incredible time. It was simply magical and makes me truly appreciate the company I work for and the other employees who value my hard work and dedication. "It's fun to do the impossible" Walt Disney
~ Spending time with my niece and family. She's growing up and every time I see her she's doing more. She has so much spunk. Going to quilt retreats and shows with my mom. We share our love of quilting and several times we did weekend quilting getaways. It's so much fun to work on projects together.

As I look to the New Year, I'm not going to set any long term goals. I'm going to work on my UFO list, quilt what I want, when I want to, and not put any pressure on myself. There are quilts I'd like to do, but I'm going to go with the flow. I'm going to relax and take more time to enjoy life and my quilting.
Happy New Year & Welcome 2010!

December Quilting Accomplishments

December was a very productive month for me! I was able to finish up most of my projects for which I am very greatful.
My goals for December included:
~ 2 Baby Quilts - DONE!
~3 Cloth Books - DONE!
~Crazy Eights Wall Hanging - DONE! & Tablerunner - Top DONE!
~Crown Royal Quilt - Almost DONE! - Should be quilted this afternoon.
~Figgy Pudding Quilt - DONE!
~Jenn's Wall Hanging
~One Block Wonder - DONE!
~Quilt Pink - DONE!

The only thing I didn't work on was Jenn's wall hanging, but she's not in a hurry for it, so I want to take my time and do a good job on it. The rest of the list makes me feel phenomenal to have gotten so much done. My guess is I'll hit 100 hours of quilting this afternoon. It's such a rush to hit 100 hours this month.

I completed the 100 Blocks in 100 Days, with a total of 300 blocks made. I think I was the sole survivor in counting. Jennifer guessed I would have 307, so she was the closest. I'll get something made and send it out to her in the new year as time permits.

My goals for January include a lap size boots quilt and a runaround bag from the Fast & Furious Book, both samples for the new store. Looking at my UFO list, I'm hoping to get a few more things taken off the list. I'll probably only finish a few things in Jan. but I'll just enjoy the next year and what gets done, gets done.

January Goals
Western Boots Quilt
Run-around Bag
Jenn's Wall Hanging

Crazy Eight's Table runner

The Crazy Eight's wall hanging got done before Christmas, but the scraps and leftovers have been hanging out waiting to be transformed into something new. While I was at my parents, snowed in by the blizzard, I took the scraps and made this tablerunner. It's from the book Let's Do Lunch by Terry Atkinson. It's a very easy to follow pattern and went together quickly. I finished it up on Tues. night. Once I have the CR quilt off the frame I'll quilt it. It's small enough that I could quilt it on my regualar machine, but it's a lot easier and quicker on the frame. I still have plenty of leftovers and I'm thinking I might try to make yet another tablerunner from the scraps, but we'll just have to see how things go. I also have some Figgy Pudding scraps that I might make into a tablerunner.

Crown Royal Quilt

Last night I brought home a couple samples to make for the store and although I wanted to start them immediately, I knew I needed to finish up the Crown Royal quilt first. I need it off the frame so I have a little more room to work and I don't feel guilty with it on there. There's just something so freeing about taking off the quilt from the frame. I worked on it for a hour or so, getting to about the halfway point. I talked to a good friend on the phone for a while and then I went back to work on the quilt. I quilted probably another quarter of it before calling it a night. I have probably about 10 passes left to quilt, but since it's at the end and my area gets smaller it seems like a lot, but it really isn't all that much. I'm actually hoping when I get off this afternoon I'll be able to get it quilted before we head to my parents for the weekend. It would be so nice to be able to take it along and put the binding on down there. I took a few closeups of the quilting. The top picture most accurately shows the color of the gold and purples.



I'd love to have this be my last finish for the year. I'm so close to being done with it, I can't wait! This has been a quilt at least 4 years in the making.

Quilting Funk

I'm in a quilting funk this week. I finished the top of the Crown Royal quilt and got it loaded on the frame last week Sunday. I thought I'd be able to get it quilted as my bro's Christmas gift, but some changes to the plan led me to put the quilting aside and not try to rush it. It's still loaded on the frame, but I'm not feeling like quilting it. I suppose because it's so big is why I'm struggling. I do fine on small wall hangings and baby quilts, but quilting one this size is just a little overwhelming to me. Here's what it looked like before I had all the rows together.

We were able to head to my parents on Christmas Eve morning. The roads were fine and we made it safely. We spent Christmas Eve with my brother and his family at their house. It was a beautiful, but cold night. It was so fun to see my niece running around and playing. We got back to my parents and settled in for the night. We woke up to blizzard conditions Christmas morning and there was no way my bro & his family were going to make it. So Paul, my little bro Ed, and I helped mom make dinner. It was such a good meal. While mom and dad napped, Ed helped me do the dishes. Late in the afternoon we opened presents and watched movies. It's just too bad we had to watch them on the little 13" tv. My parents X-mas present was a new big TV, but it was at my brothers house. We all played cards Christmas night. Mom and I smoked Dad and Ed at Cribbage and then I smoked the boys at poker. No matter which kind we played... I beat them.
We were snowed in Sat. too, so more games, sewing, and movies. Mom and I finished the fabric books for my niece and I started a Christmas Tablerunner. Dad tried to get out, but got stuck and then wind picked up more, so there was no going for us.
Sunday morning a local rancher came with a tractor and got the yard cleaned enough that Ed and Dad could get to town. My dad's blade is there and he was able to get the road and yard cleared out a bit before going and doing the main road and to the other guys house so he could plow too. They were gone all day. Paul and I packed up and headed home about noon. We had our own 6 foot tall by 10 foot wide drift behind our vehicles at home. We didn't get that cleared out till yesterday, but the cars are still full of snow, so Paul has taken me to work both yesterday and today. Last night I finished the top of the Christmas Crazy Eights tablerunner. I'll get it quilted as soon as the CR quilt is off the frame and I finish Jenn's wall hanging.
We're headed to my parents for the New Years weekend so Paul can go hunting. He didn't get a chance last weekend because of all the snow.
Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

Figgy Pudding Happy Hour Quilt

Last night I prepped the backing and batting for the Figgy Pudding quilt. I was just going to load it and make a pass or two, but I got going and it was going well, so I finished quilting the whole quilt. When I got done I was going to wait till today to put the binding on, but it was still early, so I cut and sewed the binding to the quilt too. Today I've been working on the binding during breaks and I should be able to get it finished by the end of the week. I'm loving this Christmas quilt!



100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 251 Blocks/ Day 94

Our Newest Addition to the Family

Meet the newest addition to our family, Merry! My MIL had to put her 21 year old cat down on Labor Day weekend, so she's been missing having a cat to cuddle. This weekend while she was out with Paul they found this cat and after discussing it, we decided to adopt Merry as a Christmas present for Leslie. So far Merry has been really quiet and very content, so we're enjoying having her around. I'm not much of a cat person, but even I've cuddled up with this cutie. Missy's not quite a sure about her and continually has to test her.




100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 251 Blocks/ Day 94

Tractor Quilt

I finally finished up the tractor quilt this morning before work. I had the binding done, but needed to add the label. I wasn't sure just how I was going to do this quilt, but in the end I'm really pleased with how it turned out. The border fabric is so cute! Now I have both baby quilts done and I can finish up my Christmas gifts. I have one quilt left to finish the blocks, quilt, and bind and three fabric books to make. I'm feeling pretty good about what I have left. There are other projects I could make too, but it'll just depend on the time I have left.

The label on the back of the quilt.




100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 251 Blocks/ Day 94

One Block Wonder Finished!!

The One Block Wonder that I have been working on since May is finally finished! I quilted it over the Thanksgiving weekend and put the binding on, but it's taken me a while to get the binding handstitched down. I worked on it last weekend when we went to Sioux Falls, for about 3 hours down and 2+ hours back and still had to stitch the label on. Friday during lunch I finished stitching down the label, so now it's completely done! I took these pictures of it in my office, so they are a bit dark and the desk gets in the way a bit, but it'll give you a better idea of how it looks. The borders are wide since my MIL wanted it to be queen sized and I tried to oblige just as much as I could for the fabric I had available.


Friday night I went to a friends house where she hosted the most awesome gift wrapping party. It was lots of fun to see what others bought for their families and use a variety of wrapping paper. We had lots of snacks and hot apple cider. She has a beautiful home and it was so relaxing. This is one of the presents that got wrapped. We're hoping to get our tree up tonight and get it decorated.
I was able to get the last baby quilt, quilted this weekend and the binding on it. I just have the handsewing and label left, so it should be done mid week. I finished the top of the Figgy Pudding quilt and got the borders on it too, so I hope to quilt it this week. We got a new addition to our home this weekend, so I hope to have pictures later this week to share.



100 Blocks 100 Days ~ Blocks/ Day

Christmas Wall Hanging 2009

My 2009 Christmas wall hanging is finished and on the wall of my office. I love how it turned out, but if I was to do it again I would use more reds and greens and less of the cream fabrics. I used the Crazy Eights line from Sandy Gervais for Moda. Such a fun print and very contemporary. It's about 36"x45"

Sew Cal Gal is having a Virtual Christmas Quilt Show. Lots of interesting Christmas quilts on display and a chance to win fun prizes. This is my favorite Christmas quilt so far, so it's the one I'm entering.


100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 251Blocks/ Day 92

Figgy Pudding Happy Hour Blocks Done

Today is day 89 of 100 Blocks in 100 Days. I had a rather large gap in my block making, including not making any blocks in November, but what can I say?? I was quilting last month! Last night I finished up the 30 blocks I needed for my Happy Hour Figgy Pudding quilt. I fell in love with the "Snapshots" pattern in the Happy Hour book and most of my friends and I call this the Happy Hour quilt. I've made 3 quilts with this same pattern so far and I still love it. It's quick, it's easy, and it's contemporary. In about 1 hour total, over the course of 2 days, I had all the blocks made for the quilt. I hope to get them layed out this weekend and at least the top done.
I haven't decided what I'm doing for the border. I have several different options, so I suppose I'll decide once I get the top done. I'm kind of leaning toward the brown with teal snowflakes. The backing is the white with red and green splash on it. I also have some of the border fabric from the line and the brown/tea/red rustic one, but I'm hoping to make a purse out of those. I have some of the white snowflakes too, but somehow I just don't want to use that for the borders.

I was supposed to teach a Memory Basics class last night, but because of the cold all the ladies cancelled. Instead Paul and I used my free night to do a little Christmas shopping. I have a feeling we'll be buying right up until the last minute. We just have a lot of things we need aren't sure on. We ended up buying one gift and waiting on all the others. I had bought a few gifts, but we still need more. I am invited to a gift wrapping party tonight which I'm really looking forward to! Each person brings three rolls of wrapping paper, tape, and scissors. The paper is to be elegant, traditional, and kid/fun, one roll of each. While we were out last night I got what I needed, so I'm ready for tonight. I have about 6 or 7 gifts to wrap, but I think it will be fun to hang out with the ladies and get my gifts wrapped. I only have one of the quilts completely done and ready to wrap, so I need to get busy.
My goals for this weekend are lofty, but we're staying home, so I think I can get a lot accomplished.
~ Quilt & Bind Tractor Quilt
~ Piece Top, Quilt, and Bind Figgy Pudding Quilt
~ Finish Blocks and Piece Top for Crown Royal Quilt
~ Quilt Jenn's Quilt


100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 251 Blocks/ Day 89

Tractors Baby Quilt

Last night I got busy and cut out this baby quilt and put the borders on it. I think it turned out super cute and I'm looking forward to quilting it this weekend.
After I finished the top, it was too late to quilt it. I decided to work on my Christmas quilt. I'm using the Happy Hour quilt pattern and the Figgy Pudding line for it. So far I'm totally loving how the blocks are turning out. With any luck I'll have all the blocks made by this weekend and I can change my number of blocks completed for the 100 Days challenge. There are 12 days left and I think I can get to 300, but we'll see how productive I am this weekend. I think we are staying home for the first weekend in about 6 weeks, so I should get lots done.
This is the backing for the quilt.



100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 221 Blocks/ Day 88

Rocking Horse Baby Quilt

I've been working on baby quilts for the past couple weeks and finally finished one this week. This one is a Rocking Horse baby quilt with mitered borders. I think it turned out super cute and it's big enough for a child to grow with. It's about 46"x58"

Here's a closeup of the quilting. I used a King Tut verigated blue on top and a Bottomline blue on the back.

The label made with mom's embroidery machine. I'm really digging putting embroidered labels on my quilts.

The back of the quilt includes a strip of the border fabric, since the quilt was too wide for the backing. The backing has hats, horseshoes, and sheriffs badges on it.




100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 221 Blocks/ Day 88

Colleen's 100th Post Prize

Colleen, an awesome blogging buddy from Nebraska, had her 100th post a while back and drew my name for her giveaway. She made me this amazing wall hanging with stitching, applique, and the coolest buttons on it. The snowflake stitches are super cute. I absolutely love it! I found a hanger in my sewing room and decided to hang it in my office until we decorate at home for Christmas. Thank you so much Colleen, for such an incredible gift.





100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 221 Blocks/ Day 88

Tonic Sol Fa

Paul and I jam packed this weekend with lots of fun and friends. Friday night we went to his company Christmas party. It was a great meal, fun games, and lots of laughs. There were several prizes given away and the wives each got a nice ornament. I got to meet several of the guys he works with and talks about all the time, so now I have a face to go with a name.

Saturday morning we were up early and headed to Sioux Falls. We did a bit of shopping and had lunch before heading out to our friends Nich and Jon's house. Our other friends Cory and Angie met us there and we all went out to eat in Sioux Falls at Grille 26. It was phenomenal! We had some time to spare, so we went to see the lights at Falls Park. Then we all went to the Tonic Sol Fa concert at the Pavillion. It was a great concert and we all enjoyed it. We had seen them in concert before, so it was fun to get together and go again. Angie, Nich, and I used to go each year when they were anywhere close to Brookings.

Sunday morning we visited for a couple hours before leaving. It was wonderful to visit with friends and spend time just relaxing. We got to play with Mason, Jon & Nich's son, a bit too. It was a nice, enjoyable, relaxing weekend. We arrived home about 6:30, so not real late compared to the last few weeks.

This week I'm working on custom quilts for Christmas gifts. I got the first baby quilt done last night and have been working on the hand work today. They are coming together nicely. The customer I'm making them for will be back home the 18th, so I'm trying to have them done by then. I cut out a Christmas quilt too last night, but don't know that I'll get it done before Christmas. We'll have to see how much time I have. I'm teaching Lickity Split baby quilt tonight, unless the weather gets worse. So far it's just snowing and if you slow down it's not bad. Too many people were driving too fast today and there were several in the ditch.

100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 221 Blocks/ Day 86

Crazy Eight's Wall Hanging

Last night I quickly quilted up this wall hanging and put the binding on it so I would have a Christmas wall hanging for my office. I'd been meaning to get it done for past couple months, but it just never happened. I put it together on Friday night... it kept me up till 1:30AM! I love how it turned out and the red/green/tan King Tut thread was awesome to work with. I used red Bottomline in the bobbin. It went so quickly and I got about half the binding hand sewn down at breaks and lunch today. I have enough leftovers to make a tablerunner, but I don't know if I'll get it done or not.


After I finished quilting and binding the wall hanging, I was able to square up the OBW. Apparently I cut the side borders wider than the top and bottom, but I was able to just cut off the sides since the top and bottom were correct. I had been missing the black binding fabric that matched the borders. I had 3 different blacks and I had used one for the OBW, one was an extra good quality black, and the other was the black for the Crown Royal quilt. I knew the black for the CR quilts was in the bag with them, I could find the extra black, but I couldn't for the life of me find the OBW one. I finally decided to check the CR bag and it was in there! It must have gotten set in there when I had both at my parents last weekend. It may have been my nimble fingered niece, who loves to play with fabric!
Only 2 days left until we leave for Sioux Falls to see Tonic Sol Fa! I'm so looking forward to seeing my college friends and having a fun weekend. I love TSF and have seen them 8 or 9 times in concert and have most of their CD's.

100 Blocks 100 Days ~ Blocks/ Day

November Quilting Accomplishments

During November I kept my goals light so I could work on some other projects. I accomplished a lot on my goals, even if I didn't get them all completely finished. I was sick for about the first two weeks, so most of what I got done, was in the last 2 weeks of the month.

November Goals:
Crown Royal Quilt - Finish Top
One Block Wonder - Finish Top
Gobble Gobble Wall Hanging and Tablerunner - Quilt
Quilt Pink - Quilt
Label Baby Quilts

I got the Crown Royal blocks cut out with the help of my mom. I finished the top of the OBW and got it quilted, just have to put binding and a label on it now.
I finished quilting the Gobble Gobble Wall Hanging, Tablerunner, and made and quilted an additional Gobble Gobble wall hanging from the scraps, which all were bound and used in decorating in Nov.
I was able to quilt the Quilt Pink and get the binding on it. I have the handwork left on the binding and the label is made, but needs to be attached. I got all the baby quilts labeled and the first one was given away this weekend with other two to be given away this coming weekend.

In addition I was able to:
~ Quilt a Christmas Wall Hanging for a customer
~ Put Borders on a Baby Quilt for a customer
~ Embroidered names on the baby quilts and labels for each
~ Embroidered labels for the quilts I'm giving as gifts
~ Embroidered my dad's jacket
~ Embroidered three baby books for Christmas gifts
~ Cut and pieced my Christmas wall hanging
~ Taught my beginning machine quilting class
~ Spend 2 partial weekends at my parents while Paul was hunting

My goals for December are lofty as I took on a lot of Christmas gifts I want to make. We'll see how many I get made! At the top of the list are the two customer quilts I'm making, each baby quilts which both need to be quilted, binding on, and labeled.

In order of priority my December goals:
Baby Quilts - 2 - Finish
Cloth Books - 3 - Finish
One Block Wonder - Bind & Label
Quilt Pink - Bind & Label
Crown Royal Quilt - Finish Top, Quilt, Bind, Label
Crazy Eights Wall Hanging - Quilt, Bind
Crazy Eights Tablerunner - Piece, Quilt, Bind
Figgy Pudding Quilt - Piece, Quilt, Bind
Jenn's Wall Hanging - Quilt

Happy Quilting in December! 100 Blocks in 100 Days ends December 22nd, any guesses on how many blocks I'll have made? I have a target goal I think I can reach and a far out goal that Jen and I set, but I don't think I'll be able to reach. The follower who correctly guesses the closest number to my actual blocks made number will receive a nice gift in the new year!


100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 221 Blocks/ Day 79

OBW Quilted!

Last night I finished quilting the One Block Wonder. It turned out better after Tracy buffed my bobbin case and I used larger needles. The border fabric is the original fabric I used for the OBW. I still have to trim it up and add the binding, but so far I'm really pleased with how it's turning out. I finished the label for it this weekend, so I should be able to get it finished in the next month or so.

On Sat. I found some time to visit a quilt shop that was having a sale. I got the ends of both of these bolts. I'm not sure what I'll use them for, but I couldn't resist having some quilty fabric.

This is one of the fabrics I'm using a for a new baby quilt I'm working on. I think it's super cute and I can't wait to finish it.




100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 221 Blocks/ Day 79