Finish-A-Long 2013: Quarter 2 Recap

And that's the end of quarter two and half the year.  What do I have to show for it?  Not much!  Work and a few other non-crafting related things kept me very busy over the last few months. Thankfully I thought ahead and set myself some reasonable goals, so Q2 went much better for me than Q1 did!






1) Baby Quilt

At the beginning of the quarter I only had the binding left on this quilt and a rapidly aging baby, so it was a pretty quick finish.

2) Index Blocks

Ugh! Still untouched!  I did think about them this quarter though, so that's progress, right? Onto Q3 with them...

3) Coasters

I got this one in just under the wire! They've been sitting around all quilted with the binding cut for over a month, so finally with only one week left to go (and after some good-natured harassing from my friend who requested them), I sat down to House of Cards and finished them up.

4) Wiksten tanks

I made one of the two that I intended to make, but I'm still calling that a finish! I've worn it to work, I've worn it out, and I really need to sit down and make more.  I even bought some knit fabric from Finch Sewing Studio, so we'll see how that goes...

Items that don't count towards the FAL, but I'm including for motivational purposes:

5) Snowballs in Helsinki - another UGH! I was hoping to start cutting this at the DCMQG Retreat in June, but didn't get to it.  I did, however, make a list of everything that needs to be cut, so that's something.
6) Boyfriend Sweater - Haha! Still sitting at the bottom of my knitting bag. I bought the yarn wash, but that's it. I also made another sweater in the meantime.  Oops.
7) Spectrum socks - No progress.  I have three projects on my needles, and now two to block, before I can work on these. 

See the original post with my FAL Q2 list here.

Eli's 2D Zoo

As a child, I was part of a big brother/big sister program.  Every Sunday after Hebrew school, my PAL, Marcia, and I would go toiling around the suburbs of Atlanta.  We kept in touch even when I "graduated" from the program, moved away for college, and never returned.  She has always been an important part of my life (and I can't imagine that I was an easy kid to get along with - very moody and non-communicative), so when I learned she and her husband were expecting their first child, I couldn't have been more excited.  Naturally, I immediately started planning something special.  I was unable to go to their wedding a few years ago, so I felt that this had to make up for that absence as well.

After harassing Marcia about the color scheme for the baby's room and scouring the internet for ideas, I settled upon a minimalist approach using this quilt as inspiration. I wanted something subdued and classy that didn't scream BABY, but also had a bit of fun and whimsy.  The Alexander Henry fabric was perfect. The colors were just right and, based on the registry, the nursery has some nods to jungle animals. I paired the focus print with a few shades of brown, as well as some blue and green for accents. I didn't want bright white for the background, so I used Kona bone, which compliments the different shades in the quilt really well.

When it was time to piece the back, I had just watched Elizabeth Hartman's Creative Quilt Backs class on Craftsy, so I was feeling inspired to try something festive.

For the quilting, I kept with the square theme and practiced my FMQ, inspired by Angela Walter's book.  It's not perfect, but it improved over the course of the quilt.  Though I definitely had a sore back and arms by the time I was finished, especially trying to wrangle this quilt through my machine's 5 inch (if I'm being generous) throat space .

To really make this quilt special and personalized, I tried my hand at embroidery for the first time. I used #5 DMC perle cotton, which I really liked, though in retrospect I probably should have used stranded floss instead just so I could have made the lettering a bit thinner.  Next time...  Anyway, I think this simple label with the baby's name and birthday, plus my initials, is the perfect touch.

Finish with some Madrona Road to pull in all the colors for the binding, and that's it. My fifth completed quilt! Marcia and Eric, I hope you love it and Eli gets some good use out of it!


Quilt Stats:

Quilt Name:  Eli's 2D Zoo (I'm bad with quilt names...)

Quilt Size:  43" x 43"
Pattern:  Improvised by me, inspired by this quilt

Fabrics used:  Riley Blake Small Chevron; Robert Kaufman Spot On Tiny Dot and Small Dot; Oliver + S Roundabout Dots; Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow Herringbone; Violet Craft Madrona Road Haystack;  Kona Bone and Navy; Bella Platinum

Binding:  Violet Craft Madrona Road Broken Herringbone in blue
Backing:  Design by me, same fabrics as above

Quilting:  All over meandering square FMQ done by me on my home machine

Mr. T got a little impatient during the photo shoot.

Check out the awesome backdrop (you might need a magnifying glass)!

This is my first finish for FAL 2013 Q2! Much better start than last quarter!

Finish-A-Long 2013: Quarter 1

With my work schedule, I don't actually have too much sewing time, so I'm pretty good a not having unfinished projects (UFOs) [my list is more things that I want to make and have the materials for, but don't have time to start], but I do have a few so I thought I'd participate in the 2013 Finish-A-Long hosted by Leanne at she can quilt anyway.

After reading through the rules, I'm not sure that all of the below count towards the FAL, but since this list is for my own accountability as well, I'm adding them anyway.

1) Stanford iPad case

Originally posted here. The friend I'm making this for is coming to visit next week, so I need to get moving.  Once I find the time and get motivated, it shouldn't take too long to complete.

2) Index Blocks

I made these blocks in October as a pattern tester and they've been sitting around since then.  I'm still having trouble deciding what to do with them.  I'm leaning towards a pillow as a birthday gift, but that requires some rearranging and possibly a couple more blocks, so no progress.

3) Baby Quilt

 

This one is a gift so I can't show too much, but I really need to get it done.  The recipient is due in two weeks...

4) Schoolhouse Tunic

AH! This tunic! I made this in November as part of a sew along.  The fit is beyond off and as one new to garment sewing I'm not sure how to fix it.  I spoke to Mom's neighbor, who is an expert seamstress, so now I just need to get the appropriate foot for my machine and attempt to make the alterations she suggested.  Also cursing myself for trying to be fancy and doing french seams.  Not wise, especially for my first piece of clothing.

I don't think these last three count towards the FAL, but I wanted to document them anyway.

5) Snowballs in Helsinki quilt

 

I really need to start cutting this.  That's my Q1 goal - just to start cutting.  Maybe even sew a few blocks, but at the very least cut the fabric. It's just so many pieces that I'm a bit daunted.  And I'm not 100% sure if I have enough fabric to actually make it this large, so I need to be careful with how I'm cutting to make my fabric go as far as I can, and to make sure it's all spaced evenly between the three rings of each block.

6) Boyfriend Sweater

This one is almost done!  It's been a year in the making, but I'm so close.  All I need to do is block it and sew on the buttons. Odd thing about me for which my friends mock me relentlessly - I hate buttons (but I love cardigans) so this last step is the one I'm dreading most.  But the sweater is amazing so I need to do it so that I can actually wear it!

7) Spectrum Socks

I completed the legs a few months ago, but was a bit overwhelmed by turning the heels so I put these aside to focus on my sweater.  Now that the sweater is done - at least the knitting part - I'm determined to finish these before casting on any new projects.  Also, this post from Hey Porkchop was really motivating. (If anyone has any suggestions as to how to keep my yarn from getting so messy and tangled, I'd appreciate it.  I wound the skeins as center pull balls, but clearly I didn't do a very good job...).

So that's it.  Aside from my Lucky Stars BOM, which is obviously a year long project, those are the only UFOs/WIPs I currently have.  Granted, my list of things I want to make is about 5 times as long and ever growing, so I need to clean these out so I can move right along.  I think this is a pretty reasonable list and I'm excited to have this motivation to actually complete some of these projects that I've been neglecting and originally planned to continue to neglect (ahem. index blocks and schoolhouse tunic).