ALYOF December Goal Met

This month's goal for ALYOF was to finish the Mustang BQ quilt for Ms. Carol, the kids preschool teacher. She seemed to really enjoy it. I took off after work on Friday afternoon and went to my dad's to quilt it. I was able to get it all done and it turned out great. I was even able to pull the minkee backing around to the front to create the binding.

I just love how cuddly it is and even Ms. Carol mentioned that they all loved the cuddle.

I was able to successfully make the Whirlwind quilt from start to finish, after a few little boo boos. It turned out more beautiful than I imagined. I quilted it the same day and even had an audience of my dad and Ann's neighbors who wanted to see what my frame and quilting looked like. I'll be teaching this class at the Sewing Center in March.

I also finished up my Carry All Caddy. It's a bit challenging, but after I got over a few hiccups, it went pretty smoothly. For some reason it intimidated me. I will be teaching this one in February. It's definately a bag you'd want to take a class to learn. It's on the advanced beginner side.

A few little fun Sweet Pea Pods used up my leftover Bendy bag fabric. I'm just waiting for zipper pulls to finish up the rest. They are quick and easy and oh so cute.



Over Christmas weekend, Paul hung up the quilt rack over the quilt frame at my dad's. We hung up mom's first quilt, made with all the fabrics she used to make dad shirts. Lots of memories in these fabrics.

Dad and Ann wanted the grandkids names embroidered on stockings, so I got to it and got them all done.

While I had the embroidery machine out I made Jen a couple t-shirts. I had them designed, but just had to get them prepped and have the right USB stick at the right time.

January is going to be a fun month, with hopefully a lot of sewing. I'm already planning for next year.

ALYOF December Goal

My December goal for ALYOF is to quilt and bind this quilt for the kids preschool teacher. The tricky part is going to be getting out to dads to get it quilted. I'll just have to take the time to make it out there and get it done. I think I'll do it in a red/white/blue thread. It will have red minkee on the back. I bought two yards of minkee, only to read the pattern and realize it is 72", but luckily I have a couple inches to spare when I laid it out, so it will work. I'm looking forward to getting this one done.



In other quilty news, I started on a Carry All Case made out of black sewing fabric. I only got the handles done so far, so I have a ways to go, but think it will go together well. I am also busy cutting out the Whirlwind quilt by Triangle Frenzy. So excited to see it come together. Both of these will be classes next year at The Sewing Center. Tonight I am teaching the Stowaways bag class at The Sewing Center. So excited to be teaching this fast and easy bag.

ALYOF November Goal Accomplished

November has been a very successful month for me! I did a lot of preparation for quilt retreat, thus not much to show throughout the month, until after retreat this weekend. I had the best weekend sewing with 7 of my close quilting friends. I pieced the mustang quilt top, which is a gift for our preschool teacher. It turned out really cute. This was my goal for ALYOF for November, so I feel great that I got it finished.

At retreat I also made Mathew a Toy Story bag. His sister has a lot this size, but he's been in need of some for his trucks and cars.

I finished this leader/ender project I have been working on for a few years. It's about 80" square, so a good size quilt. I hope to make this into a quilt to give away, when the need arises.

My big accomplishment was finishing the Trip around the world top. I've also been working on this one for several years. I love how it turned out. I was one block short, but decided to piece the top and make the other block at home, since I hadn't brought the fabrics, just the done blocks. I found the "extra" fabrics this morning and realized I had enough for 5 more blocks. Not sure why I hadn't made more. So glad I have enough of the center yellow to make the last block. This is a Bonnie Hunter Scrappy Trip Around the World pattern, with a control strip of light yellow. It is all scrap batiks.

The Strip Lash quilt by GE Designs was my major project this weekend. It took me over 12 hours to piece and is 80"x 81". It's a quilt for my MIL, but I am not sure when I'll get it quilted. It is much more gorgeous in person, with the shimmer and sparkly glitter and silver glistening.

This was a random project I kind of put in at the last minute, but it is the friendship blocks from my mom's Wall quilt guild back in 2004. I just put a simple sashing on them. It will be quilted up as a comfort quilt. I also have my grandma's friendship blocks from the same guild exchange, but I ran out of time. I am going to put them in the same type of setting, although they are larger at 12", these were 10".

I also made this BQ4 quilt from my mom's stash of Loralie Design fabrics. It turned out pretty cool. Again, it has no destination, but will be quilted up for when I need a quilt to give away.

Before retreat I made this mustang Bendy bag for a guy I work with to give to his daughter. It's a bit super sized as I used most of the fat quarter.

Before our trip to MN another roommate decided to join us, so I had to make her son a bendy bag as well, so I whipped this up before we left. His parents are big snowmobilers.

So it's been a very successful month of sewing. Paul got his deer on Saturday, so I am unsure what we'll be doing this weekend. I had hoped to go to dad's and quilt, but we'll see if that happens.

November ALYOF Goal

This year I am going to quilt retreat in November with my quilty girlfriends, thanks to my Aunt and Uncle who are watching the kids while Paul hunts. I've been making lots of preparations to get quilt tops done. My November goal for ALYOF is to make this BQ quilt top for my kids preschool teacher. She love mustangs and is in the mustang club, so I am sure she will love it. If I can get the top done, I'll be really happy, but if it gets quilted I'll be even more excited.


I've been Bendy Bag crazy in my studio, making these bags like the are going out of style. This is the 11th one, Thomas, made for a college roommates son.

A star wars one for another college roommates son.

Frozen ones for the girls. These are so fast and easy! I made three... chain pieced in an hour.

My office mates and I dressed up for Halloween. It was simple yet fun. Since no one else dressed up, at least a few of us did.

I'm linking up with Sew Bittersweet for the November ALYOF goal setting party.

October Goal A Lovely Year of Finishes

This has been an awesome month for me! I've completed so many quilts it isn't even funny. First up is my big finish for A Lovely Year of Finishes. Mikaela's Frozen quilt top was quilted and bound and she loves it! She sleeps with it every night. The soft Frozen Minkee on the back makes it warm and cozy. This was my October goal for ALYoF.

In addition to finishing my goal for ALYOF, I was able to finish several other quilts. I had a quilting marathon at my dad's house over the long weekend. I finished Mathew's Toy Story quilt, including the binding on it.

I started making Bendy Bags and couldn't stop. I made one for me and one for a co-worker/friend who is leaving.

One for Mikaela to put her My Little Pony's in.

Mathew got one made from scraps of his Train fabric.

I made Ann a new horse purse.

A Toy Story Bendy Bag for Mathew.

Since Club Sew has been all about miniatures, I made this miniature rail fence with scraps from the larger rail fence I made last month. This was so quick and easy and I just love miniature quilts.

I also made a miniature granny square block. The binding was not fun on this, but it is done!

I finished the second baseball star quilt. This is the scraps from the first one I made a few months ago.

Another Bendy bag for a co-worker who is leaving.

Mathew's Tonka truck quilt is almost done. Just the binding left to sew and I have to administer another test on Friday, so it should get done then.

My biggest accomplishment was finishing my mom's first quilt, made with scraps from shirts she made my dad. I think she took this class in 1985, so the fabric was sheer and I did a wobbly back and forth line across, similar to what she might have done. The binding is on and I was able to sew it down a few weeks ago.

While we were at the ranch the kids got to ride in the tractor with grandpa. They loved it! They did it the next weekend too and were in heaven. So fun to see them playing out in the country.

I'm linking up with the ALYoF Finishing party for October. There are still a few days left and I have 7 more Bendy bags cut out!

October goal ALYOF

This weekend for the first time in 10 years, I have this 3 day weekend off. I haven’t had Native American Day off, so I'm looking forward to it. We plan to work on my dad's deck, but that also means I'll be at my dad's house,  where my quilt frame is, so I plan to have a quilting marathon. I have 4 quilts prepped and ready. My October goal is to quilt and bind Mikaela's Frozen quilt.

ALYOF August Goal Met!

Just as the month is coming to a close, I finished the Winter Wonderland quilt top, which was my ALYOF goal for August. It's a sample for the store and turned out pretty cool, just very time consuming and a lot of little pieces. So glad it is done and I can move on to other projects. I did get quite a bit done this month, considering how much I traveled.

I also made this fun little baby quilt using 8 fat quarters. It's super simple, yet is good practice for doing Y seams. I quilted it with baseballs. I'll be teaching the class in a few weeks.


While I was on my first work trip this month, I pieced this rail fence. It's scraps from quilts I made about 5 years ago. Friday while I was at my dad's I quilted it up. It'll make a nice baby quilt.

The leftover pieces went into this quick little doll blanket, which also got quilted at dad's last week.