Looking back at 2016

Happy New Year Everyone!!

As today is December 31, I wanted to reflect on what I accomplished in 2016.

I got back full swing into quilting.

Here's the quilts I completed this year.

1 -  Let it snow quilt

2 - Old Tobacco Road quilt

3 - Purple mini 16 patch quilt

4 -  Sundays Best quilt

5 - Hexagon star quilt

6 - hst overload quilt

7 - Blackbird quilt

8 - Family Cottage quilt

9 - Zeus dog quilt

1 - table runner
2 - wool applique table runner
3 - blue scrappy placemat
4 -  two hexagon table topper
5 - two mug rugs
6 - tulip mini quilt
7 - reindeer mini pillow

Plus, I sewed myself and my daughter a few pieces of clothing.
It was my first time really working at making myself clothing.
I was pretty successful too. I've worn all this clothing all year long.
I plan to continue making clothing for myself in 2017.

All in all, I've had a pretty productive year.
 I'm really happy with all that I accomplished in 2016.
 I want to continue sewing and quilting in 2017.

Goals for 2017

Hi everyone,

I've been organizing myself to get some projects completed next year.

I did quite well in 2016 finishing some old UFO's.

I'm hoping that in 2017 I can do the same and maybe even get rid of my UFO list.

I thought I would list the projects I really want to finish in the next 12 months.

1- My Summer Blues Quilt

The last time I worked on this quilt was in August 2011.

It's a quilt top and just needs batting, backing and to be quilted.

This should be an easy one to finish.

2- The Gifts of Grace BOM by Val Laird

The last time I worked on this quilt was in September 2010.

This project was started in July 2010.

I have 5 blocks completed of 9.

I have all the patterns except for block 9.

I'm going to have to get that one.

This is hand embroidery.

3 - Sister's Quilt

The last time I worked on this quilt was in March 2013.

This project was started in April 2009.

I am sewing these block into panels and doing quilt-as-you-go.

I have one panel all quilted and another panel partially quilted.

4 - Millefiore Quilt-along by Katja

I'm working on this quilt as we speak. 

I started this quilt in March 2015.

It's my hand stitching project.

I'm really just at the beginning as I'm still on rosette #1.

I figure this project could take me most of the year, so I'm working on it now.

5 - Rectangle Square Civil War Quilt

I started this quilt in the summer of 2012.

I have some blocks completed.

This quilt doesn't have much progress on it though.

But I have all my fabrics together, and ready to sew.

6- Halloween Blocks

I made these blocks in October of 2012.

I have 2 blocks, and have patterns for more.

But, I'm not sure if I'm going to make a quilt with them or just cushion covers.

7 - Allietare quilt by Bonnie K. Hunter

I never blogged about this quilt as I started to follow her quilt-along and quickly fell off the wagon.

I only have part of step 1 done. I do want to finish this quilt though as I love the pattern.

8 -365 Challenge quilt, Block a day, 2016

I have the blocks done up to the end of March.

Then I stopped, and lost my motivation.

I do want to finish this quilt and intend to work on it in 2017.

9- 1930's farmers wife quilt

I have about a dozen blocks done of this quilt.

I would like to get it done this year.

10 - My Scrappy Medallion Quilt

I'm getting close to having a finished top.

This should be an easy finish, as I love this quilt.

11- Idaho Square Dance Quilt by Bonnie K. Hunter

I have the 25 Idaho Square dance blocks done.

I need to start making the log cabin blocks.

12 - En Provence Quilt Along by Bonnie K. Hunter

I just started this quilt.

I do plan to work on it in between other projects.

Many of these quilts cannot be done over one month. They need several months of continuous work to get completed. So, I will try to organize my time to work on several quilts at once.

When I have a sewing day, pick one project to advance on that day and do as much as I can. The hand sewing quilts will be worked on in the evening when my husband wants me to sit with him and watch TV. The two hand sewing projects on my list are the Millefiore quilt and the Gifts of Grace quilt.

I also want to make a few rainbow quilts with my scraps.

I have some 16 patch blocks that I started two years ago.

I want to use up my scraps as much as possible,

 so I will try to participate in the RSC 2017 hosted by So Scrappy.

I like to have some mindless sewing sometimes. So this will be able to fill that need. 

I want to make some donation quilts with these. 

This is a lot of projects. I can't promise that I won't start any new ones either, as I love to start new projects. It's often what keeps me motivated to sew. But, I am going to continue to try to use up my stash as much as possible, and keep my purchases to a minimum. I usually only need to purchase backings and batting as I don't have a stash of large pieces of fabrics. This is going to be hard for me. I didn't buy a lot of fabric in 2016. And I really missed buying new stuff. I tried to only by fabric on sale. My daughter is going to University in September of 2017. I need to save big time as it is very expensive. So, It's important that I stick to this goal. 

I have a finished flimsy and some mug rugs

Hi everyone, 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Our Christmas was quiet, which was nice. We didn't go overboard with gifts this year and our kids were all very happy with their gifts. It was nice to reduce our stress of buying all the latest gadgets and just keep it simple. 

I did do a bit of sewing when I could sneak it in. I made two mug rugs out of scraps of fabric. 

These were easy and fun to make. This project satisfied my sewing itch while I was waiting for my Christmas turkey to cook.  

This morning I also put the borders on the quilt "A Blackbird gathering" by Cheri Payne. I love this little quilt. 

Now I just need to go buy some batting to finish it. I'm all out of batting. 

I'm going to work on my scrappy medallion quilt today too. Hopefully I can finish the round 6 today. We will see how it goes. 

 

 

My finished Buttermilk Basin Mystery 2016 BOM quilt

Hi everyone, 

I did it! I have a finish. 

I didn't know if I would get any of my projects done this month with a new puppy. But I managed to squeeze some time here and there to get it done! Yeah!!!

 Here's a photo outside on the snow. 

Here's a photo taken indoors. 

I hope you like it! 

Thanks so much Stacey @ Buttermilk Basin for sharing such a beautiful pattern with us. 
 

 

Buttermilk Basin Mystery 2016 flimsy done

Hi everyone,

I haven't had much opportunity to sew lately. My puppy Zeus is a handful. Lol! You can't take your eyes off him or he will chew everything. We have to keep him occupied all the time. He is adorable, and we love him already. But wow it's a lot of work. 

Tonight I managed to sneak in a bit of sewing and put the borders on my quilt. I had been working on the hand embroidery and finished it yesterday. Thank goodness for hand stitching because that's all I've been able to do.

So now I have to find a backing and quilt it. It's not very big, so hopefully I can sneak in some time to finish it.

 

Scrappy Medallion Quilt round 6 in progress

Hi everyone, 

My sewing time has been really reduced the last five days as we got a new addition to our family. 

His name is Zeus, and he is a Golden Doodle. He is only 8 weeks old. He is so cute, but requires a lot of attention. 

I did start working on round 6 of my scrappy medallion quilt. 

These are a type of 4 patch block. The blocks are made up of 2, 2 1/2 inch hst's and 2, 2 1/2 inch squares. 

The four corner blocks are different than the others. You can see the difference in picture #4.

I am making 2 blocks at a time. One for each side of the quilt. These blocks are good to use those 2 1/2 inch scrap squares that I have cut up. I use my 2 1/2 inch strips and my easy angle ruler to make the hst's. 

Hope you are liking my progress. 
 

 

Scrappy Medallion Quilt round 5 + a finish

Hi everyone, 

I worked on my scrappy medallion quilt again this week. I got round 5 on. 

This round was very simple. It's made up of low volume 2.5 inch squares. One round of these squares all around the quilt.

I sewed these squares in pairs first. I needed 12 pairs for the first two sides and 13 pairs for the last two sides.  

If you didn't want the quilt any bigger than this, you could stop here. I have another border in my design. So I will keep going. 

I also finished another little table topper for my MIL. 

Here are the two toppers together. 

These are cute and were quick to make. I didn't have to buy anything to make them as the material all came from my stash. 

Hope you like my projects.

Linking to:

Finish it Friday
Can I get a Whoop Whoop!

Scrappy Medallion round 4......

Hi everyone,

I finally got round 4 of my scrappy medallion quilt done. This round took me longer to do as there were more blocks as the quilt got bigger.  

This round was made up of 6.5 inch maple leaf blocks. Here's how they were made up. 

1- cut 3, 2.5 inch squares of the main colour of the block. 

2- cut 1, 2.5 inch square of your background fabric

3- cut 1, 3 inch square out of background fabric. Cut diagonally.
4- cut 1, thin strip of coloured fabric 0.75 inches x 5 inches.

5- cut 2, 3 inch squares of coloured fabric for hst's 

6- cut 2, 3 inch squares of background fabric for hst's 

Make 4 hst's with the 3 inch squares. Use your preferred method to make them. I use a easy angle ruler to make hst's. So I'm able to make my hst's with 2.5 inch strips. You want your hst's to be trimmed to 2.5 inch square.

Now you will make the stem. 

Take your 3 inch square that you cut on the diagonal and your 0.75x5 inch strip of fabric.
 Using a 1/4 inch seam sew your strip to the triangles as shown in the picture above. Then trim your block to 2.5 inches square ensuring that the stem is centred on the diagonal. 

Set your squares to prepare your block. 

Sew your block together. 

It should measure 6.5 inches square.

 For this round you will need 2 black blocks, 2 brown blocks, 2 dark green blocks, 2 light green blocks, 2 dark blue blocks, 2 light blue blocks, 2 yellow blocks, 2 orange blocks, 2 pink blocks, 2 bright red blocks, 2 dark red blocks, 2 raspberry blocks, 2 purple blocks and 2 gray blocks. 

As I was making blocks, I made them in pairs. It made the process a little faster. 

Hope you like how this quilt is coming together.


Linking to:
Main Crush Monday
Oh Scrap!
Moving it forward

Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hi everyone,

I worked all this weekend. 

But after work I managed to do some slow stitching. Tonight I finished stitching the top block of my quilt "A Blackbird Gathering ". 

Now I only have to sew the border on. So excited about it. 

Last week I made a little bowl filler pillow with an embroidered block that I stitched in 2009. It was nice to get this block made up into something nice. 

This is a free embroidery pattern on this website. 

http://zuill.us/andreablog/2007/11/30/december-embroidery-pattern-reindeer/

I hope you like it! 
 

 

Making progress...

Hi everyone, 

I've been trying to move some of my projects forward. You all know I have many on the go.  

The first one is my Buttermilk Basin Mystery 2016 quilt. I finally prepped the "W" block and the large snowman block. I sewed all these blocks together. I still need to hand stitch these two blocks. But at least they are ready. 

 

The second quilt is A Blackbird Gathering by Cheri Payne. I prepped the top block, bordered it and sewed it to the main body of the quilt. I still need to hand stitch the appliqué. I also need to sew on the borders. I did start stitching this one though. 

The third quilt I made progress on is my Scrappy Medallion Quilt. I started making blocks for the next border. This border is made up of maple leaf blocks on a light background. These blocks are 6 inch finished and are made the same way as the centre maple leaf blocks. I'll update you more as I get further along. 

That's what I've been working on. I've been super busy lately so I just get a bit done here and there when I can.  

Hope you like my progress!
 
 

 

A table topper finish

Hi everyone, 

It's been such a busy time around here. I did get a chance for a little bit of sewing today. I made a diamond star table topper. 

It's a cute little table topper made using the sidekick ruler by Jaybird Quilts. 

I bought this ruler on Friday of last week at my LQS. 

I really like this ruler and I think I will use it a lot. This table topper was made as a gift for my Mother-in-law's friend. My MIL had been sick since the beginning of the summer. And had been off work all this time. She didn't have much money for gifts to give, and asked me if I could make a few table toppers for her to give a few special friends who helped her while she was ill. 

This is the first of the table topper I've made for her. I may make a few matching mug rugs to go with it. 

Another thing I used on this table topper is a Westalee ruler foot and ruler. I purchased this several months ago but never tried it until now. I thought it would be hard to get used to, but it was really easy. 

I only used the foot when I used the ruler and switched to my regular free motion foot to fill in with quilting. I did the quilting on my old Kenmore machine. 

This machine actually belongs to my MIL. She lets me use it for quilting. None of my other machines handle free motion quilting well. But this one is a workhorse.  

Hope she likes it. 

 

My sun down quilt is back from the quilter

Hi everyone, 

First I would like to mention again that my blog URL has changed. I cancelled my domain and have gone back to blogspot.

If you follow me make sure you change the link your following to

http://arianequilts.blogspot.ca

Back to quilting. 

I got my Sun Down quilt back from Tammy Spencer my long arm quilter. 

This is the first time I use a professional long arm quilting service. 

I was so nervous. But I'm so thrilled with the results. 

I asked for an all over design of swirls. 

It's perfect for this quilt. 

This quilt is 84 inches square. I want to release this pattern for sale and wanted my quilt to look great, and it truly does. 

I just have to trim it and bind it. 

I will definitely use her service again. 

Thanks Tammy! I love it!!


 Let's be social link up
Needle and Thread Thursday link up

Puppy quilt for Zeus

Hi everyone, 

We are getting a new puppy on Dec. 9th. 

He's a golden doodle. 

My husband really wanted a new dog. A male dog that could be his dog. 

We had to put down his last dog Ozzy because he had cancer. My husband really missed having another dog. 

We do still have a female labradoodle named Zoey. She is 10 years old. She's my dog. 

So, we found a little male puppy for him. He asked me to make a quilt for him. I told him we should wait until he's grown out of the chewing stage and we have him trained. But he was insisting. 

So, I made a simple quilt out of fabrics that I've had in my stash for many many years. These are not great quality. But there perfect for a little dog. 

I even put his name on it. 

I free motion quilted it. I had fun with this and used up thread from a bunch of spools that were really low on thread. I love emptying a spool of thread. 

Here's a picture of me with our little puppy. Zeus is only three weeks old in this photo. We go see him again tomorrow for a visit. I'll bring him his quilt. He will get a chance to try it out. 

 

 

Back to a blogspot account

Hi everyone,

I had my own domain arianequilts.com through GO Daddy.

But, I got my renewal email and they wanted me to pay $5.00/month for my account.

Honestly, I don't make any money on my blog and I wasn't ready to pay that.

So, I changed it back to a regular blogspot account

It's now arianequilts.blogspot.com

So, I just thought I would let you know. 

If you are following me, make sure you adjust the web site or you will miss out on new post!

The family cottage quilt

Hi everyone, 

I finished a quilt today. 

Many years ago my Mom embroidered some cottage blocks for a quilt. 

Each block has the name of one of my brothers or sisters and their spouse. Plus she named each cottage with something to represent the couple. 

You may notice that there are twelve blocks. Well I have 10 brothers and sisters. Eleven children are in my family. The twelfth block is my parents. 

 

It's not a very big quilt. 

But I think it's great!

I sashed the blocks, quilted it and bound it. This will be one of the gifts I give my parents for Christmas. 

Don't worry, they don't read my blog. So it will still be a surprise. 

I'm happy with this finish. 

Hope you like it! 

 

My long list of wips.....

Hi everyone, 

I have so, so many projects on the go right now. I thought I would list them here as a gauge to how I'm doing. 

1- Buttermilk Basin Mystery BOM 2016

I still need to make the last two blocks. 

2- A Blackbird Gathering BOM by Cheri Payne

I am on track with this one. I'm just waiting for the finishing instructions. 

3- Scrappy Medallion Quilt

I've completed round #3. I'm getting my fabric ready for round #4. I do have a sewing day with my guild for this project. But it's moving along well. Love this project. 

4. Idaho Square Dance quilt by Bonnie K. Hunter 

I've been working on blocks for this quilt as leaders and enders. I've made 14 of the Idaho square dance blocks. I don't have a deadline for this.

5. Family Cottage Quilt

This is a project that need to be done for Christmas. The blocks are embroidered blocks that my Mom made years ago. She never did anything with the blocks. She gave them to me a few years back and I decided to finish it for her and give it to her for Christmas this year. I started to assemble it today. No pictures yet. 

6. The last few months, I've picked one UFO to work on. This month I will try to work on my Sisters Quilt. This quilt was being finished quilt-as-you-go. I think there's 2 panels done. I probably won't finish it this month, but I'm hoping to have it done by the end of December. 
 

So, that's my list for now. 

I may make a few little projects along the way. But I'm trying to stick to just these and get them done. 

Sometimes I wonder why I do this to myself and have so many things on the go. But, when I think about it, I work better when I have more than one thing on the go. I get bored with one project, and in order to keep my mojo, I need to have something else to do. So it's worth having more than one project on the go.  

Are you like that?

Do you need more than one project to stay motivated?

 
 

 
 

Round 3 of my scrappy medallion quilt

Hi everyone, 

I'm still working on my scrappy medallion quilt.  I decided to make a simple block for this round. The whirleygig block was made using scraps from my 1.5 inch strips. 

I'm loving how it's coming together.  

So how did I make these blocks? 

First, I pulled scraps from my 1.5 inch strips in the following colours. 

Black, brown, green, blue, yellow, orange, red, purple, and grey. 

I knew I would need more than one of each colour. So I looked for different shades of some of the colours in order to have enough to go around.  

See how I pulled from my 1.5 inch strips a rainbow of colours. 

I made sure these strips were at least 11 inches long. 

I then paired them up with a 1.5 inch strip of background fabric. Then I sewed these pairs together. 

Next I straightened the edge.

I then cut my strips into 2.5 squares.  I cut 4 of these 2.5 inch squares from each paired up fabrics. 

I placed these squares in position to sew. .

I sewed these together. 

Until your block is all done. It should measure 4.5 inches at this point.

You need 32 blocks for this round. 

I made 4 black, 2 brown, 2 dark green, 2 light green, 2 dark blue, 2 medium blue, 2 yellow, 2 orange, 2 pink, 4 red, 2 raspberry, 4 purple, 2 grey 

I hope you like my progress.


Linking with 

http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.ca/2016/11/oh-scrap-charming-plus-quilt-top.html?m=1

http://www.cookingupquilts.com/mcm-46-non-sanctioned-fabric-acquisition/

Round 2 - Scrappy Medallion Quilt along

Hi everyone, 

I worked on round 2 of my scrappy medallion quilt. 

I added a row of 4.5 inch HST's.

What do you think?

Here's how I did it.

1- cut 2, five inch squares.

One neutral and one coloured

2 - draw a diagonal line 1/4 inch from the centre diagonal line of the light square. 

3 - sew on these two diagonal lines

4 - cut in between these sewn lines as shown above. 

5 - iron seam open

6 - trim hst to 4.5 inches

 You should have 2, 4.5 inch hst's. 

You will need 2, 4.5 inch hst's in the following colours.

Black, brown, green, dark blue, medium blue, yellow, orange, pink, red, raspberry, purple

You will also need 2 plain 4.5 inch squares of background colour,

Linking to:
http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca/2016/11/wip-wednesday-259-tn.html?m=1

I finished a bit of hand stitching

Hi everyone, 

I finished hand stitching the last two blocks for A Blackbird Gathering by Cheri Payne. 

Here's block 4

And here's block 5

Now I just need to wait for the finishing details to be released by Cheri.
 
 

My Blackbirds quilt is finished!

Hi everyone!!

I have another finish!

Yep! I finished by Blackbird quilt designed by Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts. 

I took a workshop with her at the beginning of the month. It was a lot of fun. 

I'm so glad I got it done before the month  is over. It feels really great. 

I quilted it on my Gracie frame using my old kenmore machine. It was a challenge since it was my first time. But I kept the quilting simple with straight and curvy lines across the top. 

I used a soft polka dot flannel on the back, that I purchased at one of my local quilt shops. I pieced the batting from leftovers I had. The binding was made from two of the blacks that I used for the birds. 

All in all, I'm really happy with it. The quilting is not my best. But it's still super cute, I hope you like it!!

 Linking to:
Let's make a baby quilt 
Can I get a Whoop Whoop!
Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts
Finish or Not Friday