ALYOF - A Year in Review

2015 was indeed A Lovely Year of Finishes. I proud to say that I set and met 12 monthly goals. Only one needed a little tweaking (due to circumstances a little out of my control).

You can check out each of my monthly finishes here. Some were large, some were small. But they all got done!

January -  Charm Pack Cherry sans Cherries
February - Final blocks of Skill Builder BOM 2014
March - For the Love of Sewing (Skill Builder BOM 2014)
April - Getting started on Technicolor Galaxy (Skill Builder BOM 2015)
May - Kona Strip Quilt Binding
June - Underwater
July - Improv Herringbone Quilt Top
August - Bali Strip Pop
September - Trio of Swaps
October - Remaining Blocks from QPP Project #1
November - Jumbo Jaw Breaker
December - Christmas Cotton + Steel Squares & Strips Quilt Top

Thank you again to the wonderful organizers of ALYOF over at Fibre of All Sorts and Bittersweet Designs. I've had a very productive year and have polished off a pile of WIPs thanks to your motivating link-up! I am, of course, linking up with the Grand Finale!

J

ALYOF December Finish!

It was a cold and blustery day. -19 degrees Celsius with windchill to be exact. But the sun was shining and there was fresh snow on the ground. Time for a quilty photo shoot! And time to show off some progress on my December goal for ALYOF!

That goal was to get as much done on this quilt as possible.  I was #55 on the Goal Setting Party at the beginning of the month.

This Christmas-y flimsy finish makes me smile. I hoped to have the same kind of miracle as with my November ALYOF goal, alas, in this month of holiday chaos, it just didn't happen. I am pleased to say that I already have backing fabric and the MMQG January Sew In beckons! It'll definitely be done for Christmas 2016.

You can read a little more about the construction of this lovely here. The pattern is a Cluck Cluck Sew tutorial called  Squares and Strips.

So much Cotton + Steel goodness here. I love those 16 patch blocks. They're more work than the others, but they're just so danged scrap happy. I'm sure my junior high pal Joel didn't quite have this kind of Scrappy Happiness in mind when he made his album. But he should have.

I was sad to learn that 2015 will be the final year of ALYOF. It just goes to show that if you see a linky/challenge/QAL that speaks to you, you should jump on it with both feet. You just never know when it will end. Thank you so much to Fiber of All Sorts and Bittersweet Designs for organizing it for three years. I am, of course, linking up with the final Finishes Party over at Fiber of All Sorts. And since it's Wednesday, I'm also linking up with the Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts.

J

P.S. Blooper! Windy days are NOT optimal for photo shoots!

ALYOF - December Goal!

Well, this is it. The last goal for 2015. I can hardly believe I've managed to achieve all of them to date. factoring in that Himself is still away for work and that there's no MMQG Sew In this month, I had a tough time deciding on a goal. But I did choose one! I can't opt out on the last month!

After hemming and hawing for literally years, I've pulled the trigger on a Christmas quilt! I'm turning this...

into a twin sized version of Cluck Cluck Sew's Squares and Strips. It's scrappy and fun. It's easy, but doesn't just look like I sewed FQs together. I thought about doing a throw sized quilt, but there's a chance that down the road DT would like to sleep under a Christmas quilt. Yes, another one will be required. Yes, they will fight over who gets which one. And yes, I'm prepared for that.

So what's the goal, you say? My goal is to get as far as I can into this quilt by the end of the month. Heck, it worked last month. I ended up with a finished quilt !And so did Ms. K.V!

The cutting has already begun!

 Okay.... let's be honest. It's more than begun. I got a little carried away and stayed up WAY too late.

I'm linking up with the December Goal Setting Party over at Fibre of All Sorts. I have loved, loved, loved the motivation this link-up has given me all year long. If there's a 2016 edition, I'll likely be on board! You should be too!

J

Friday Finish - Jumbo Jaw Breaker (and ALYOF - November Finish!)

Sometimes you surprise even yourself. When I set this goal at the beginning of November, I thought it was a long shot... at best. (I happened to be #63 on the Goal Setting Party).

But lo and behold, I actually did finish Jumbo Jaw Breaker... and in time to gift it to my dear friend and quilt holder, Ms. K.V, for her birthday tomorrow.   

I was heading to one of my fav surf beaches, Lawerencetown, but the kite surfers were in the air at pre-beach! I always think it would be so cool to cover that hill in the distance with quilts. We'd just need a few. ☺

In the absence of a quilt holder, one must improvise. Cobble beaches offer so many possibilities for quilt weights. There are so many special fabrics in this quilt... many of them were also used for DT's Plus Two Quilts. For the quilting, I did an assymetrical hexagon pattern, echoing out from one of the hexies on the quilt top.  Those echoes covered the entire quilt, reaching right out to the edges.
Then I chose two more hexies and did some echoes off of them. The echoes overlap like ripples in a pond when you throw more than one pebble. This pic also shows off my pieced back.
I even remembered to put on one of quilt labels before I quilted and bound it. My stock of these is dwindling... time for a new order!

I love the way the backing fabrics work with the top. And I love that they were in my stash! Some were hard to part with, but it one is going to buy fabric, they should be prepared to use it!

So many glamour shots of this quilt. Once it was done with the cobbles, it really wanted to play on the dune grass. Who was I to say no?

The Deets  
Title: Jumbo Jaw Breaker (Jaw Breaker from Jaybird Quilts)
Size: 51 by 51 inches (it's not big, but it's small!)
Fabric Used: A big ole pile of teals from my stash with pops of acid green
Konas Used: None... it's shocking!
Quilting: Assymetrical echo ghost hexies in white and two shades of teal
Binding: Dottie's Cousin in Lime (Cotton & Steel), hand stitched with Gutterman 20 (White) 

Backing: Pieced from my stash

Favourite Part(s): Being able to met what I thought was an impossible deadline and buying only batting to complete this quilt

So happiest of birthdays to you, Ms K.V., with  much love from me, Himself, BT, and especially your favourite twin, GT. Your support in the past year means so much to all of us. From Friday BPM nights to early Sunday morning circus school, you've earned the title of Auntie!

And of course, I'm going all link-up crazy. I'm linking up with TGIFF @ Quilting Among the Groves, Finish up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, and ALYOF November Finishes Party @ Fibre of All Sorts. If you've got an hour (or two), head on over to all those link ups and check out the productivity and creativity on display!

J

ALYOF - November Goal!

Okay... scrambling again. How can I possibly achieve a goal for the month if I can barely find the time/energy to write the post? Wah wah wah.

This month's goal is a pretty natural one - it's the quilt that's dominating my design wall, Jumbo Jawbreaker, and is meant as a birthday gift for a friend. And her birthday's at the end of the month. So here's my goal: get as much done as possible before those candles get lit and the singing starts!

And of course, I'm linking up with Fibre of All Sorts for the November Goal Setting Party. Just two months left in 2015... isn't that scary!

J

AYLOF - October Finish!

Another month, another goal achieved! I'm 10 for 10. I was #52 on the Goal Setting Party and here's my post. My goal was to finish the blocks for Quilting Protection Program Project #1. 

 

I finished off the last 5 blocks today.  And given the top secret nature of this project, I can only show you snippets. Patience, patience, patience!

Squee! There is so much Kona loveliness in this pile. I am going to have a tonne of colours to cross off my Kona Love list when the time comes!

I'm linking up with the October Finishes Party over at Fibre of All Sorts. Now to think up a goal for November!

J

ALYOF - October Goal

October! Really? How did that happen? Just three more months left in the 2015 edition of A Lovely Year of Finishes. To date, I've met every goal I've set for myself. And I'm pretty pleased about that. Sometimes it meant taking a good hard look at what was achievable in a month. Other times it meant making time to sew when I might otherwise have "wasted" the time Netflix bingeing.

With nine successful finishes this year, I want to keep the streak going. I've opted to set myself a moderately challenging goal for this month...

This is not an exciting picture. That much I will admit. But it's as much as I can show you of QPP Project #1. Really.

To date, I have 22 of 30 blocks finished for the top. My goal this month is to get all 30 crossed off that little purple post-it. If things go really well, I might even get to work on the sashing and put the top together. But those are secondary goals!

I'm linking up today with the October Goal Setting Party over at Fibre of All Sorts. And I'm not even doing it at the last minute. I still have almost two days before the linky closes. That means you do too if you'd like to jump on board!

J

Friday Finish - Bali Strip Pop!

Not just a Friday Finish, but also my goal for this month's edition of A Lovely Year of Finishes! I was #74 in the Goal Setting Party.... though my goal got a revision mid-month. This quilt was pieced last year and has been hanging about forever, so it's great to have it finished and ready to move on to a new home!

 

There are lots of bits and pieces in this quilt. I see a pillow case I made for camping, a baby quilt for a co-worker's little one, J-Boy's Christmas quilt from 2009, parts of Miss K's Kaleidoscope... and so many more. It's what I always love about working with scraps... seeing all those previous projects in a little slideshow in my head.

Sometimes it amazes me that I can make a quilt of fabric that I'm really not that excited about anymore (balis) and still really like the finished product! I now have a very small pile of balis left in my stash and have sent all my scraps to new homes. I'm moving on...

The quilting is horizontal wavy lines... perfect for softening up the very linear strips. It'll get even better once it's washed a few times. The thread is variegated teal which blends with many of the fabrics, but really pops on the purple or dark blue sections.

The binding is scrappy... just like the rest of it! I love using up bits and pieces this way. It's also a great way to make the binding blend with the top.

 Yay for finishing things and yay for the sun coming out just in time for a few pictures!

The Deets

Title:  Bali Strip Pop

Size: 53 by 77 inches

Fabrics Used: 2½ inch strips of bali/batik scraps
Quilting: Wavy lines in variegated teal and solid teal (Gutterman) 
Binding: Scrappy balis. Hand stitched with Gutterman 625
Backing: Bali/batik print in black, puple, & blue

Favourite Part(s): Cleaning out the bali scrap bin, reminiscing about past projects, and having something lovely to donate to the adolescent mental health unit of our local women's and children's hospital

I'm linking up today with the Finishes Party for ALYOF, as well as TGIFF @ My Quilt Infatuation AND Finish Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts. Phew! That's a lot of link-ups!

J

ALYOF - July Finish!

Well... sort of! Given that my goal for July was to do SOMETHING with my Improv Herringbone blocks and I've managed to sew them into a (almost) finished top! (I was #37 on the Goal Setting Party). I'm calling this a win. These blocks were a challenge... you can read about this goal in progress on last week's WIP Wednesday post!

It's not quite big enough to be useful just yet, but you know me and borders. I'm thinking asymmetrical... perhaps left and bottom borders. Your opinions are more than welcome!

 Sometimes those flimsies just want to dance around on the clothesline instead of standing still for a pic!

I snapped these pics while Himself was grilling up some burgers on the BBQ. Blue skies with puffy white clouds and sunshine streaming down after days of rain. What a day!

I'm linking up with the ALYOF Finishes Party for July. Seven months straight of meeting my goals. Yay, me!

P.S Just 6 more sleeps until the very first Throwback Thursday here at A Quarter Inch from the Edge. Want to know more? Pop on over to this post to learn some more. Hope to see you on August 6th!

ALYOF - July Goal!

Way back in October 2013, I was Queen Bee for (the now long since finished) ModQImprov Canada group. I requested Improv Herringbone blocks made with Amy @ 13 Spools' tutorial. It was definitely one of those "seemed like a good idea at the time" choices. The block turned out to be challenging for less experienced quilters and more than a little fiddly. But in time, I did receive these treasures...

And then they languished in one of my cubbies. Shameful.

So my goal for ALYOF this month is to do something with them. It's pretty open-ended since I truly don't know what they're going to turn into. If all goes well and the creek don't rise, I might end the month with a finished quilt. Who knows!

I'm linking up with the Goal Setting Party for A Lovely Year of Finishes. It's not too late to jump on this bandwagon. I've found the monthly goals really motivating. There's something about making a goal public (and the lure of prizes!) to really get one going!

J

ALYOF - June Finish!

Ah... isn't it lovely to finish things? Especially when it means keeping my 6 month finishing streak going AND crossing off the third oldest WIP on The List.

The particular step that was tripping me up on this one was the binding. I wanted it to blend with the quilt top and a matched pieced binding seemed like the best option. And the one that was the fiddly-est and most challenging.

But it turned out to be much easier than I thought... though time consuming. Is it perfect? Likely not. Is it done? You bet! #imperfectionism Many thanks to Scrapmaster Linda who gave me a helpful hint and some moral support!

 Some money shots of the quilting... because it makes me just so danged happy!

The back really shows the different colours of thread and the (many) binding bits. I opted to add hanging triangles to all the corners so I change the orientation when/if I like.

The Deets

Title:  Underwater

Size: 17½ by 24 inches

Konas Used: Baby Blue, Robin Egg, Peacock, Turquoise, Teal Blue (from lightest to darkest)
Quilting: Wavy lines in various shades of teal (Gutterman 202, 600, 616, 621, 640) 
Binding: Pieced binding matched to colour sections on quilt top. Hand stitched with Gutterman 618)
Backing: Kona Cloud

Favourite Part(s): Playing with wavy quilting and creating just the feel I wanted, Taking on the challenge of a matched binding

Read more about this project here, here, and here.

I was #51 on the Goal Setting Party and I'm linking up with this month's Finishes Party (yup... down to the wire again!)

 

Now what on earth will I choose for my July goal? Decisions, decisions!

J