Christmas Sewing and Goals for the Rest of the Year

I've been doing early Christmas gift sewing!  

So far I have two quilts done!

I even have their blog posts done and scheduled for Christmas Day!

This past weekend I finished two sets of Lil Red dolls for our two- three year old nieces.  

I'll take proper photos before they are gifted.

I have three remaining Christmas gifts to make, one I got cut out yesterday after school.

Yay me!

For the rest of the year I have a reasonable list of goals.... since we have the last of boating season, a fence to build, the holiday season, and school stuffs it needs to be basic.

1.  North Woods quilt (by X-mas)

2.  Lil Red quilt (by X-mas)

3. Star Wars Carpenter Star (by X-mas)

4. Fancy Forest QA- my online friends are doing a quilt along beginning in Oct

These four will get me an average of one per month.  

If I have more time I would like to try to finish my Summer Sampler.

I've got this!

Vintage Triangles

How appropriate to have my final summer finish be so bright and summery?! 

I had a bit of a quilting marathon earlier this week!  

I finished two large quilts! 

Only one can be blogged, as the other is a Christmas gift.  

For probably 5 or 6 years I had two vintage pillowcases in my stash, and it feels so great to finally have this idea transformed into an actual quilt!  

My good friend Kristen gifted me this vintage sheet a couple years ago, and I knew immediately I would use it for this project!  

Now our school year begins on Monday, and if you remember in May I wrote......

......I thought I might just make a formal list for the summer.  Before school starts I'd like to make these six quilts.

1.  Pink Retro

2.  Summer Fresh QA

3.  Avalon Summerville 

4.  Patriotic Swell 

5.  Low Volume 

6.  Vintage Sheet Triangle

If I get these six accomplished this summer I will be VERY pleased.

Well, I am very happy that I did indeed finish those 6 quilts.... in addition I also made several mini quilts and the Hearts for Orlando group quilt.

Finishes

I finished my triangle top last week!

I would have basted it, but it was set aside so we could do the flooring in our dining/sewing/homeschool room.  

It was quite a task, but it was worth it.  I've been putting the room back together this week, and that got me into getting the classroom ready for the new school year.  

I think I'll be back to sewing soon!

I did finish the hand sewing on the binding of the Avalon Summerville quilt.  I'll share after Christmas once it's been gifted.  

A Marvelous Mini

Marvelous.

I did not make this mini.  

It was gifted to me by my friend April.  

She got my name in the latest secret mini swap our online group had.  

I could not have been more thrilled and in love with this quilt.  

So beautiful! 

The quilting is amazing, and I love this little fussy cut point on the butterfly! 

In my sewing room things are moving along. 

I haven't taken a picture of the finished top, but I have my Avalon ready to baste.

My solids arrived!

They are delicious!

I started cutting them last week on sewing night at Miranda's.

I'm excited about this project!

I have been thinking about my goals a lot lately. 

 A bit disappointed to be honest.  

We have three weeks left before we start third grade.

I have three quilts, half of my six, not done.

I will get the Avalon done.

I hope to get the vintage triangles done.

That leaves my low volume, I do not have hope that this will happen.

However, the hearts for Orlando quilt was unexpected, and I think that is a valid excuse for not meeting my goals for the summer.  

This week is the Sturgis Rally.

I will not be leaving my house unless my husband drives me.

Maybe I'll make crazy progress.

Stranger things have happened. 

Happy Sewing!

My Next Summerville

One of the projects on my summer goals for this quarter was an Avalon Summerville.  

I had all of these leftovers from the BOM I did years ago.... and it felt wrong just to put them in my scrap bins.  I felt like I could get another quilt out of these fabrics!

I wanted to make a Summerville with them and decided to just start cutting and see how far I got.

I had to get a little crafty a few times, but otherwise I had all of the prints I needed, I got nearly all of the background pieces cut, but then ended up short 30- 3.5" squares and 18- 2" squares. 

I knew it would be a pain to find a solid to match, the background was actually part of the avalon line, and it was a printed off white. I went to Fabric City, and told Wanita I was there for a miracle. (I go to church with Wanita)  When I explained what I was looking for she laughed and said, "Yeah, you're gonna need help from above."  

I decided to just check the Fig Tree Co. area, and wouldn't you know the EXACT same fabric was there as part of the Strawberry Fields Revisited line!

We couldn't believe my luck!

I got everything cut!

I found 5 yards online for a backing and ordered it.

And got sewing!

So far I have the corners on the border squares, and I made my 9-patches.

I'm going to do the houses next. 

Maybe I'll be able to get this quilt done before my solids arrive for the triangle quilt!

Either way, I will have plenty to keep be busy during the Sturgis Rally. (I don't leave my house)

Fresh Terrain

I finished the Fresh Terrain last night.

This was a fun project.

After the monotony of sewing, pressing, and trimming the HSTs this quilt went together easily.  

I went a little bananas on the quilting, doing loop things.

I feel like I could be better at them by now, but I'm not an artist, and freehand designs that are supposed to look like something isn't natural for me.     

Overall, I am pleased with this finish.

This summer a sweet girl, the same age as the monster, has been staying with our neighbor.(Her aunt.)  She is just completely sweet, and a great playmate for the monster.  She told me she didn't have any quilts (well, she used the word blanket, but I explained the difference).  So I am sending this quilt home with her.  She leaves the day after tomorrow, so I finished this one up just in time. 

 I hope she enjoys it, and it will always remind her of her summer in South Dakota.

Mini Michigan

My secret mini was delivered so I can share!

I made this quilt for my sister-in-law, who is a former Michigander.  It was so difficult thinking of a perfect mini, but I wanted it to be different.  I thought about it for so long it hurt my head.  Somehow I stumbled upon a Michigan quilt online, that sparked my interest.  The quilt was a wall hanging, and to get it to a mini size I figured out these little squares needed to be .75" finished.
I went back and forth thinking it was a terrible idea.  But now that it's done I think it's really great!

For the first time ever I used a white solid for a backing and I have to tell you it felt like standing naked when I finished the quilting!  Everything was visible!   

Hopefully it will be enjoyed!

I sure do love making minis!