Happy New Year's Eve!

From my crazy family to yours!

2014 Planning

As the year is coming to a close, I've been thinking about the projects I'd like to work on next year. I'm starting graduate school and I know that my sewing time will be whittled down quite a bit as a result. I still have a few WIPs that I'd like to finish off, but I've decided that (at this moment in time) there are two projects that I'm really excited to work on. And they're new...which means I should probably stitch up some of those projects for which I've already cut the fabric. Hmmm.

Ever since finishing my nephew's Chicopee Scrappy Trip quilt, I've wanted one for myself. And I decided a couple months ago that I wanted to make it out of Nordika by Jeni Baker. She even put together an amazing color-matching guide that I used to order some coordinating oval elements and pure elements fabrics since the scrappy trip pattern takes a ton of yardage.

Photo courtesy Westwood Acres Fabric

Photo courtesy Jeni Baker via incolororder.com

Photo courtesy Jeni Baker via incolororder.com

A photo by Pitter Putter Stitch

The other project that I'm really excited about is a half-square triangle quilt using Anna Maria Horner's new True Colors line. I haven't been a die-hard AMH fan in the past (I know, blasphemous - there are lots of prints from her that I've loved though), but the colors in this True Colors line are so saturated and absolutely glorious!

Photo courtesy Westwood Acres Fabric 

My quilt won't look like this one from Anna's booth at Fall Quilt Market, but I definitely will be using HSTs in my value study layout. I. Seriously. Cannot. Wait!

Photo courtesy Lee Heinrich via freshlypieced.com

There is one more project swirling in my head today that I think I want to tackle next year as well. I just don't have the fabrics figured out yet. I really love Angela's Arkansas Crossroads quilt that she posted on IG today (and has shown snippets of in the past). I absolutely LOVE it!

Photo courtesy Fussycut via Instagram

So there you have it. A few projects I'm excited to work on in 2014. I've got one more quilt to finish up for Christmas and I'll be back to share my other finishes for the end of the year. Merry Christmas next week to those of you celebrating!

Finally! Some finished projects!

Can you believe that I actually finished some projects this week?! I can hardly believe it myself! Here's to [hopefully] many more finishes in the coming weeks.

An old friend asked if I'd make some stockings for her family for Christmas this year. Her decorations are lime, turquoise, pink, and purple. Since she needed one more color so there'd be enough stockings for each member of her family, we chose gray to go with the rest of the colors. I raided my stash and pulled together several prints for my friend to choose from and this is what she picked.



I used the same pattern here as I did with my own Christmas stockings last year, which you can find on Fabricworm's blog here.



For the hanging loops, I pulled out some grosgrain ribbon that I had on hand. I also used Kona white for the lining and the cuffs.

My friend was in town for Thanksgiving so I was able to give these to her last week. I'm excited for her to share pictures of the stockings hanging up with the rest of her decorations.

The second project I managed to finish this week is a quilt for the Festival of Trees, the proceeds from which benefit a local children's hospital here in Utah. Primary Children's has played an important role in my life as my son's club foot was treated there as well as his recent surgery. My sweet nephew, who passed away several years ago, was also treated there for his medulloblastoma. The festival is a really great cause and I was happy to help in some way.

The fabric for this queen-size quilt was donated. Since there wasn't much variety, I opted to enlarge the Surfside pattern from Thimble Blossoms, which I think works well with only two fabrics. I used a dark brown king flat sheet for the backing. This quilt was a beast to quilt on my domestic machine, so I was really glad when I finally finished it on Saturday.

While I was happy to finish these two projects this week, I still have more to finish before Christmas, including five quilts (why do I do this to myself?). I have a few other things I'd like to make for my kids for Christmas, like these cloth doll diapers, fabric crowns, and monster rice bags, so I hope I can be as productive as possible.

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