year in review - 2017

where oh where has this year gone by?
this year has been a year of learning a lot of new things including long arm quilting and free motioning on my own janome.  i've begun adventures in vlogging, joined a quilt guild and also found a group that meets monthly to hang out and sew with.  i've been a certified renter on the long arm machines at meissner and also took a class from a national quilting instructor.
now, it's time to recap the projects that have been completed this year!  i've also decided to notate which ones were quilted on the long arm as well, just for kicks.  so any project link that is followed with an asterisks means it was quilted on the long arm!
finished projects
bronco diamonds baby quilt
star wars strip quilt
olaf panel quilt*
feelin' blue fancy fox quilt*
tiger lily swoon 16 baby quilt
garden snails quilt*
musical charm (and 10!) squares quilt 2.0*
musical himalayan pink quilt
blue and gray baby elephant quilt
pink, gray and white stripes quilt
old fashioned cars pow wow quilt
twin dogs in sweater quilt*
teal, burgundy & orange boardwalk quilt*
black, white and red comfy quilt
himalayan pink quilt for mom
alaskan batik quilt*
patchwork pumpkin quilt*
civil war hazel hedgehog quilt*
18 quilts done for this year, can you believe it?
9 of those quilted on the long arm!
(actually i quilted 10, since i did one at my grandma's request with a meander.  i only have the photo on my instagram though... oops!)
granted, i have two tops done waiting to be quilted that i will *hopefully* get done soon and a few more quilt plans are already bouncing around in my head ready to come to life.
all about me november was successful, finishing two quilt tops all for me!
i also had some great adventures this year:
colorado for spring break
alaska in the summer
new apartment adventure in october
fall out boy concert in november

what will 2018 have in store?
you'll have to wait to find out!
one year long project will be announced soon, and perhaps i'll figure a few more things out real soon :)
happy last day of 2017!

civil war hazel hedgehog quilt

this particular project kind of started off as a joke idea.  my grandma had recently given me scraps from a quilt she made for herself, and i just sort of stared at them.  they weren't anything i would have EVER picked out for myself, or for anyone else really.  they were all from the civil war reprints style of fabrics which as a whole (such as in the quilt she made for herself) look great.  i remember talking to my mom and lisa at different times about it, knowing that usually when i've gotten scraps from my grandma i've made different elizabeth hartman patterns.  i had tossed the idea out about the hedgehogs out off the top of my head, since i had already purchased the pattern and once it was out there, the idea stuck.  hedgehogs felt like the right kind of animal to blend with the civil war prints and it was now about to happen.  i initially thought that i would donate the quilt, but then i thought about the unknown of would this quilt really be appreciated?  i'm sure it would have without a doubt, but at the same time i wanted to know who the recipient would be.  the more i thought about it, the more sure i became about this being a quilt to go to my aunt for her birthday.
i chose a purple grunge to go with these guys, since there were a few purple prints in the mix.  my favorite hedgehog combo happened to be one of the purple ones (shown above) and the deeper purple just helped them pop a bit more.  the pantograph used was my first experience with points, which was definitely a test in itself.  overall, they still look like hedgehog spike points!
originally i had a tan backing for these guys, since the faces all had the lighter shades in there.  it just wasn't feeling right, so i went out to fair oaks and found this great purple flowery fabric to use instead and i love it so much more!  i used the same grunge for the binding as i did the background fabric, which gave it a nice solid front.  ugh... they're just so cute!
my aunt opened this on christmas eve and got a good laugh out of the hedgehogs.  my grandma noticed it was her fabric scraps as well, which helped tie it all together and make it that much more meaningful.  after all the baby quilts my aunt has asked me to make for her, it is about time she got something to keep for herself! 
will i make more hedgehogs for other projects?  probably.  they've got a lot of bits and pieces, but they're so cute!  i've also got more civil war scraps, so we'll see what comes together next :)
quilt number: 106
pattern: hazel hedgehog by elizabeth hartman
there is a version 2 of this pattern as well with a larger hedgehog option (hazel hedgehog II)
maybe i'll try that one sometime as well!

patchwork pumpkin quilt

when i first saw this quilt pattern pop up on instagram, i knew it was one that i would want to do someday.  it got put in to the back of my brain just as that, a "someday" quilt.  some point in the fall, while wandering the aisles of joann's, i found this perfectly perfect grumpy cat halloween fabric and i instantly knew something had to happen with that. i bought a LOT of it, knowing it would make a perfect quilt back, but the perfect pattern had left my brain.  then, after scrolling around the internet, the pumpkin quilt crossed my feed again, and in an instant i knew this was the quilt to make!
i hopped around the local quilt shops to find the perfect oranges for this project.  i didn't want any "wimpy" oranges so to speak, so it took a good amount of hunting around.  it required 10, but my first hunt left me with 9 good oranges and one odd one out.  so back to the hunt i went!  i was shopping for this quilt while beverley's was in it's "summer liquidation" sale (aka we're going out of business but not telling anyone.  insert heartbreak here) which was when i found this fantastic gray background.  it is hard to tell here, but in person it has some metallic lines in it, which makes it feel oh so fancy!
this binding definitely made my heart happy as well.  little gray stars seemed oh so cute.  initially, i wanted to quilt to be more "fall-ish" but i gave that up real quick when i put a halloween print fabric on the back.  don't get me wrong, it is very likely going to come out the first day it feels like fall weather outside and stay out until i feel ready to switch to a christmas quilt.
i took the plunge on this quilt as well, making it my first free motion quilted project!  i didn't go in to it planning to quilt it as densely as i did, but i am so happy with how it turned out.  i picked a motif i felt very comfortable with and that i knew it would be easy to fill in any bigger gaps with if i needed to go back in.  i used a gray thread on the front, and a coordinating purple for the back.
this quilt started as an october project, rolled in to a november finish, and then became completely finished in december.  even though it was done past it's seasonal time frame, i'm so glad to say it is done and that it is mine all mine!  i can't wait to pull it out next fall to display in our apartment.  and i still have a lot of this backing to make matching things!  halloween grumpy cat pillowcases might just happen!
quilt number: 105
pattern: pumpkins by cluck cluck sew

alaskan batik lap quilt

this quilt started in 2016 in an "i want fabric as my souvenir" sort of way.
i went to alaska (specifically anchorage area) for the first time to visit friends (amy and luke) of mine and after days of being touristy, i left with a bundle of fat quarters (plus a few extras) but no specific plans.  after being loaned a batik quilt book from my grandma and seeing a pattern she had used before (since that tends to happen) i knew what my vision would be.  i went back to alaska in june of this year (but failed to post any pictures on here... oops!) and picked up fabric for the borders, sashing, binding & backing.  then, it sat... and sat... and sat some more until last month where i got the ball rolling and made this quilt all for me!
many of the fabrics feature animals seen in alaska, such as whales, fish, moose, and husky dogs.  my favorite would have to be the adorable sea otter fabric!  on my last trip there, we actually saw an otter out in the bay while luke took us out on his boat.  the whale fabric made for a perfect border with the bold blues and greens and stumbling upon this bubble batik for the sashing could not be any more perfect!  i aligned the borders around the quilt so that it would look like they were swimming around in the same counterclockwise direction.
i used the same pantograph as i did on jacob & sarah's wedding quilt (titled macrame from urban elementz) since i felt like it would blend well with the whales and also have a sort of "wave" like visual to it.  stopping at the points of this pattern is getting easier, that's for sure!  originally, i hoped to find more blue otters for the backing, but this purple colorway of it was just as pretty.  my math was off, so this chunk that was initially purchased as the sashing filled the extra length needed just perfectly.  no regrets!
while these photos are great place markers, i cannot wait to take this back to alaska and get some photos up there with it.  i do have some unused fat quarters as well (like a random red raven one!) that i might use to make a smaller version of this quilt... or maybe even a same sized one.  who knows?  i had so much fun exploring alaska with amy, who knows my appreciation of all things fabric and was willing to take me places to plan to create this quilt!  hopefully next time the weather will be a bit nicer for us, and we'll get to do some fun hikes as well!  luke is convinced i want to go fishing... which maybe... just maybe! i'll agree to.
quilt shops visited in alaska
the quilt tree and yarn branch - anchorage
sylvia's quilt depot - wasilla
just sew - palmer
quilt number: 104
pattern book: quilt batik! by cheryl brown

himalayan pink quilt - mom's christmas gift

now it is time to reveal the truth behind the pattern for one of this year's music camp quilts!
when i surprised lisa in colorado last year for her birthday, we of course went to holly's quilt cabin while i was there.  i was in the midst of making the giraffe abstraction quilt for sarah but needing to plan ahead.  i had bought a very specific flannel for this project, but had no pattern in mind which also meant no fabric for the front yet either.  while there, i found this great triangle quilt pattern, and because i LOVE triangle quilts, i bought it AND all the fat quarters for the front while there.  originally, i had planned making this for my mom for her birthday, but then time just zoomed by and there wasn't any time to sew it in secret.  well, i took the fat quarters with me to colorado again over spring break, and once i finished my twin sweater dogs quilt top, i cut and pieced all my rows together.
it wasn't until she was at the donner mine camp for the year that i cut the triangles and pieced the top together.  i think i even quilted it at that point as well.  i ran out to thistle dew and bought a bit more of fabric for the binding, and once that was all done, it sat.  since july/august it sat, since i couldn't do much with it besides hide it!  just a week ago, i sewed the tag on to the back, photographed it and wrapped it up to be put under the tree for christmas.  success!
the fabrics used were a mix of any of the colors i found on the back in fat quarter form.  seriously, holly's quilt cabin has the best organization of fat quarters next to bolts of fabric... and SO MUCH OF IT.  since i also love scrappy quilts, it was super fun wandering the store back and forth to select which colors blended best with the backing as well as each other without being TOO intense.  and of course, i'm looking at these fabrics again now wishing i had more of a lot of them!
the binding is a shade of grunge, because obviously ever quilt i make right now could use a bit of grunge-ness to it!  i felt like the blue tied in just perfectly.
now here's your first look at the backing fabric.
isn't it super cute?  i thought it was the perfect flannel and just had to be made in to a quilt instead of pajama pants!  those boogley eyed black and white cats remind me of my elroy cat.
this quilt turned out just like i had hoped and more!
the colors were bold and fun, with an addition of kitty cats just like every quilt should secretly have.
quilt number: 103
pattern: himalayan pink by madison cottage design

month of me - recap

so here we are, halfway through december and i failed 2 things.
1.  keeping up on here weekly with my progress of november
and 2. getting videos shared as they happened.
well, here's the official "month of me" wrap up post.
better late than never, right?
i suppose i'll start with video one that was an update midway.  it got loaded to youtube, but not much further than that...  oops!

that "preview" face right there is definitely making me plan to make a title screen.  i look really confused about the fabric i'm holding.  i promise, i'm not!
so that was mid month as i was nearing the end of my projects, and unsure if i'd make it.  whelp, the moment you've been waiting for is...
that i did!
granted, i didn't get my 2nd planned project started, but i'm a little glad about that.  thinking back on it now, i feel like it would have gotten rushed through and not focused on like deserved.  but it will still happen for sure.  lisa and i might even come up with some spring break plans... so stay tuned!
now, here's the video to tell you about where i ended up, and where i'll be going from here
yep. still need a better thumbnail!
anywho, i'm glad to be able to say that not only did the quilt tops get finished in november, but they were also quilted and the binding attached about a week later.  my alaska quilt was done with a pantograph, and my pumpkins were done free motion.  that's right, i free motioned my first quilt!
i still plan to give each of these quilts their rightful glory of a post, but to tide you over, here's a little detail shot of the backs with the quilting :)
see ya soon for the unveiling of these two quilts!
(hopefully before december ends :)