Any Which Way Finish

I finished my Riley Blake Challenge Quilt and I even named it!  I don't name things often but I am calling this one Any Which Way.

I am really happy with how it turned it out too.  I can tell you that I would not have put these fabrics together myself and was really not sure what to do.  I had decided that I wanted to do large flying geese and that I would use all of the fabrics and just add white.  I did not want to buy any fabric for the challenge either and I didn't.

What I originally thought was my idea, I just didn't like.  So I kept moving them around until I liked what I was seeing. This is when the design wall or in my case a piece of batting pinned to the wall comes in really handy.  I had the general idea down and my younger so thought "that is pretty cool Mom, but you should put the fabrics in order"  I couldn't have agreed more on that note.  I did that and I loved it.  I can say this is the first time that I did anything like this and it was fun to do.There was some trial and error but the end result worked for what I had in my head.

Then came the quilting.  I started with the flying geese.  Then added the center.  That happens to be my favorite part too!

I loved doing that back and forth lines too.  I think I need a pillow made in this same design and quilting.

Then the large white triangles.  Those were a little big to get those lines as straight and even as I would like.  My FM foot I can not use a ruler either.  That will take some more practice yet.

Then I decided on small stippling.  in the rest of the areas.  While I was finishing it, I kept thinking of yellow as the binding and had a piece just big enough that worked.  I love the yellow binding.  I am normally either same color as the background or a dark color.  My other one I used navy.

This little quilt finished up at 31" x 33".  Kind of a weird dimension.  Not sure where this one will live yet but it makes me smile when I look at it.

Linking up at NTT and Crazy Mom Quilts and Quilt Matters and Can I Get a Whoo Whoo It's Friday for the finishing parties and when the time comes also linking for Lovely Month of Finishes and this is also on my Q1 Goals for 2014 Finish Along.  Feels good to have it done and I love it!

WIP #4

Looks like I have missed a few weeks of posting for WIP.  I have had some good sewing progress and am itching to start something new too!  So here is the run down.

Been Working On:

1.  Riley Blake Challenge Quilt.  Finished quilting it and just hand sewing down the binding.  I will post this finish later this week. I really like the yellow binding!

2.  Badger Graduation Quilt- 50 blocks are done out of the 80.  I have the last 30 partially done.  I like working on this one when I just don't feel like thinking too much!

3.  Moda Friendship Quilt- Lots of progress on this one.  It is on the floor just waiting for the set in triangles and then to sew it up into a top.  Pretty sure this one is going to the longarmer!  It is big I think it is going to be about 90 x 90.  Not sure that I want to wrestle that one through my sewing machine and it would be nice to have it done sooner too.

Going to start Very Soon - 2 kids charity quilts

That first stack of fabric I have had for at least 10-15 years.  The stack was a kit and they are a 120 6.5 squares.  I was going to make a HST quilt back then for my youngest who is now 17!  Now I am just going to make a charm square quilt to get it done quickly.

The other stack was a quilt kit I won at a retreat a very long time again.  The pattern it came with is too many pieces and not wanting to do that.  I am not sure what I will do with this yet but I have a couple of easy ideas that I have been thinking about.  There are a lot of 1/4 yard cuts in that stack too.  

These will be great kids charity quilts and I am pretty there is even enough for the backs.

I am linking up to Let's Bee Social and WIP Wednesday.  Enjoy the rest of your week and thanks for stopping.

First Finish

My first finish of the year is for a Lovely Year of Finishes.  So I am off to a good start for the year.  This little quilt was the left overs from my Flying Geese Riley Blake challenge fabric.  I had enough to finish up a small wall hanging too.  Scraps really do go a long way!

The lay out is from Jaybird's book Skip the Borders.  I used the general layout but not the sizing for the HST's.  I was using what I had and this is it.  I had a dark navy in the very large stacks of solids that I had that worked.  I really wanted to get the navy checked but didn't!

I took a second picture of this one from the side and since it is either 40 below or snowing here there may not be any outdoor photos till March!  This is some crappy weather around here. So I taped this one on my wall in my office, and snapped a couple of photos.  I thought the side view looked kinda cool.

It looks bigger in this one than it really is.

This quilt measures 30' x 30".  Next on the list is the flying geese Riley Blake Mini Quilt.  It is basted and ready to go.  Hoping it will happen this weekend.

I am linking up to A Lovely Month of Finishes and NTT.

Also Linking up to Crazy Mom for Finish it up Friday.

This one also meets one of my goals for for Q-1 Goals and linking up at the finishing party at The Littlest Thistle.

WIP #1 Wednesday

This is my first WIP Wednesday in awhile!  Last week I was still focusing on 2013 but now time for new projects and to keeping better track of what I am working on and making progress.

So this past week I have been working on my Riley Blake challenge.  I made flying geese and then figured out how I wanted to lay them out and needed to sew it together.  Math and quilting go together however that has never been my strong suit.  So I am much more let's see how it goes and figure it out.

My first attempt left the final square too small so with that information I unsewed the pieces and tried again and it was a success.  I actually wrote down what I cut so I can repeat the process on the other half.  When I did get it to work I was really happy and loving how it is turning out.

With the fly geese came HST large enough for me to want to do something with them.  I shared this the other day and now I just need to figure out the back and quilt it.

I wanted to share this little ornament I found while on a quilting weekend with friends and gave to my husband to put in my stocking.  I had forgotten about it and actually thought - "wow how did he find this?"

That is my motto this year!  I have so many things I want to sew with plenty of fabric to sew through.  So hopefully this will be my reminder as I am not buying anything new for awhile.

In my hope to stay on task and a little more organized this year I had bought a small white board and each week I am writing down small goals that I would like to get done.  I think it is working.  I do have a few of the items checked off already for the week.  My plan is to update weekly but we will see. This hangs right above my cutting table.

#2 and #5 are done.  I think #1 and #3 can be done tonight.  It is gearing up to pull fabric for the City Sampler that I am not getting around to.  

This weekend should be fun since I am going with a few friends to the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts.  There is a truck show lecture on Saturday all day that I am going to and it should be fun! Lee will be there! Plus there is a Modern Quilt Exhibit and one of my quilts will be hanging in there with several others from the MMQG.  

Happy Sewing!  I am linking up to Lee at WIP Wednesday.