OMG! March. Check.

Such a sense of satisfaction comes from the completion of March's One Monthly Goal. If you read this post back at the start of the month, you'll already know that my goal was to finish up some of the blocks from my Skill Builder 2015 (yup. 2015.) quilt, Technicolor Galaxy.

These two cubbies in my studio shelving have gone untouched for far too long. I am so happy that Alyssa @ Pile O Fabric is feeling well enough to get some of the lessons together for Technicolor Galaxy.

Lesson 8 (what would have been August 2015's block) was released just recently. It uses a technique called Piecelique. If you've never tried it, you really should. But there's glue. Consider yourself forewarned. This blog post gives you a good overview of the technique.

More pieced backgrounds. Even though the pattern doesn't call for it, I felt the block needed it.

Yay! Goal achieved! They don't look like much compared to some of the other blocks in this quilt, but they were interesting to make!

Once the Moon blocks were done, it was time to prep the blocks in the outer ring (Moons, Flower Hexies, and Orange Peels) for quilting.

I realized somewhere along the way that I hadn't actually finished my Flower Hexies! Oops.
Some more EPP for the background and a little appliqué later, they're done! 
I don't normally have to put so much thought into choosing the backing for a quilt, but Technicolor Galaxy is an exception! So many Konas to choose from!

And here we are! The outer ring of blocks are all layered and ready to quilt.

UPDATE: Though I don't have a picture, I've actually completed the quilting on the Moon blocks. Yay! 

I'm linking up today with OMG: It's Finished! @ Red Letter Quilts, as well as Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts.

J

OMG! March Goal

Can you hear that squeak? That's me edging in just under the wire for this month's goal setting linking up over at Red Letter Quilts.

My regular readers might remember the posts I did last year about the Pile O Fabric Skill Builder BOM 2015 - Technicolor Galaxy. But since September, radio silence. Medical issues for the course instructor meant that everything was on hold... for an indefinite amount of time. Thankfully, Alyssa managed to finalize Lesson 8 - Moons - recently.

So my goal for March? To get back on it. I have just one more set of blocks, Moons, left to complete the second ring of blocks. And then the Moons, Flower Hexies, and Orange Peels need quilting. The minimum will be to complete the Moons. If everything goes well, I'll complete the quilting too!

If you're interested in reading up on my Technicolor Adventures, feel free to click on through to these posts. Get ready for some rainbow goodness!

Lesson 7 - Flower Hexies and More Flower Hexies

Lesson 6 - Orange Peels

Quilting the Piano Keys, Scattered Geese, & Arrow Heads

Lesson 5 - Arrow Heads

Lesson 4 - Scattered Geese

Lesson 3 - Piano Keys

Quilting the Color Wheel & Star Points

Lesson 2 - Star Points

Lesson 1- Color Wheel and More Color Wheel 

I'm linking up with the OMG Goal Setting Party @ Red Letter Quilts. I do love a monthly link-up for motivation. But I'm seriously thinking about jumping on another bloggy bandwagon, Finish Along 2016.  The next quarter's link-up is the first week of April... hmmm.

J

OMG! February Finish

Two for two! I've achieved my OMG for February, to repair J-Boy's Good Old Hockey Game quilt.

I even texted this pic to J-Boy in the middle of it all to let him know his quilt was almost ready to come home. He's been so patient!

Once I got got the bias tape made, it didn't take much time at all to stitch it down. Even the little endy bits didn't cause me too much trouble. The much sought after Wonder Tape did its job beautifully and held the bias tape in place, even with all those curves.

I also made a preemptive strike and re-stitched the red centres on the face off circles. One can't be too careful. I even managed a speedy delivery via my mom. I have been known to finish things and then have them hang out here for weeks, waiting to get to their forever home!

 

Unfortunately, the day she was taking it was a day of torrential rain and general darkness. No natural light to be had. Ugh. I was worried about the additional red thread on the quilt back, as the original pieces were appliquéd to the top before layering. But it doesn't seem to show too badly!

I opted to give the quilt a quick wash before sending it back. I used two Color Catchers and washed it on cold. And the pre-washed reds still had some bleeding. Oh well. Have you ever looked closely at hockey ice? The line aren't perfectly sharp anyway. And J-Boy loves it no matter what. 
That makes an auntie happy indeed.

If you're wanting to make some bias tape of your own, pop over and check out my tutorial. It's very detailed. ☺ I'm linking up today with the OMG: It's Finished Party for February over at Red Letter Quilts. Now to think up a goal for March!

J

OMG! February Goal

Remember way back when I finished J-Boy's Good Old Hockey Game?

Well, my hockey obsessed nephew's been loving it for over a year now and my sorry attempts at machine appliqué are showing some wear. 

And then there's this wee bit of dye bleeding. I'm pretending it's not there. I figure it could have been a whole lot worse, given amount of white and red in this quilt!

What's my goal for February? Well, poor J-Boy has done without his quilt for long enough. He's going to lose faith in his Auntie's superpowers. I must fix those pesky appliqué bits. My plan is to apply the skills offered by January's installment of The Mighty Lucky Quilt Club and cover the sections with custom bias tape. Wish me luck!

I'm linking up with Red Letter Quilts for...

J

Friday Finish - Another one in the bag!

Don't you love a well-written tutorial? Well, I do. Jeni Baker from In Color Order knocked it out of the park on this one.

DT are going traveling soon and needed somewhere to store their blocks. They LOVE blocks. This bag fits the bill perfectly.

 

Jeni Baker's tutorial for a very practical little drawstring bag was so good that I went back and bought the pattern. Eight more sizes of fun! I especially like the double drawstring closure system and the way she explains how to leave the openings. Easy to do and tidy when complete!

 Turns out that DTs blocks actually came with a bag...

But it's not as nice as this one! It's so nice that Anja @ Anja Quilts couldn't resist sewing up a pile of them herself!

This bag was my OMG goal for January. But once I had it finished, the goal seemed a little... well, small. Who knew it was going to come together so quickly? So off I went to my Christmas print stash stack. And I whipped up three more!

I love having some pre-fab presents set aside when Christmas rolls around. Ain't nobody got time for last minute sewing. So much stress.

I'm linking up today with TGIFF @ Busy Hands Quilts, as well as Finish Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts. And let's not forget the monthly OMG It's Finished Party @ Red Letter Quilts. Now to get thinking about February's goal! 

J

 

OMG! January Goal

With the demise of A Lovely Year of Finishes (insert sad face here), I started poking around the blogosphere for a link-up to replace it. It was so motivating! I checked in at Quilt Along.net, but alas, there doesn't seem to be much on there for 2016. But then I stumbled onto One Monthly Goal @ Red Letter Quilts. The premise is the same as ALYOF. Write a post stating a your monthly goal and link it up in the first seven days of the month. During the last seven days of the month, write another post about your (hopefully) achieved goal. And perhaps win a giveaway! I AM IN.

So what's my goal for January? In keeping with The Year of The Stash, I'm going to make something from what I have on hand! Like these unicorns. I've been dying to get at the selvage on this one!

 Or some ViewFinders. Love me some Cotton + Steel!

 Ou peut-être un petit quelque chose français?

But what am I going to make, you say? Well, if you've got as many drawstring bag tutorials pinned on Pinterest as I do, it might be a sign that you need to make one! I'm going with Jenni Baker of In Color Order's tutorial.

And, of course, I'm linking up with the inaugural link-up for OMG. Pop on over!

Fingers crossed. 
J