No late fees incurred - The Library Project winds up!

Well, it's December. Time for all those posts summing up a year's work. This year, Adrienne over at Chezzetcook Modern Quilts challenged all of us to use some of those fabulous quilting books we have in our personal libraries. She even created a monthly link up (with prizes!) to keep us motivated. There's something about a link up that gets me movin'... alas, this month, some other projects took priority and I didn't make the deadline. Oh well...

But, I am undeterred. I will do my round-up post anyway! Feel free to pop over to the final link-up and read about some other bloggers' experiences with TLP! If you're interested in the books mentioned below, I've linked to the authors websites whenever possible.

My first quilt of TLP year was Oh Deer, made for Young B, one of Himself's good friends. Young B loves his quilt and claims to spend far too much time under it! It's from Boo Davis' Dare to be Square Quilting. So many clever designs in this book. Definitely worth a read!

Next up were the Christmas Candy Dish pillows that I made for the Rents for Christmas. I counted them as a half project since they were smallish! They're from a Jaybird Quilts pattern that had been hanging out (unused) in my library for some time. It uses that oh so fun Hex n'More ruler!

Then there's Go Your Own Way. I made this one for the MQG's Michael Miller Challenge using stitch n'flip triangles, a technique described in Jacquie Gering & Katie Pedersen's Quilting Modern.

Next up, J-Boy's Good Old Hockey Game quilt designed by Kristie over at Obsessive Crafting Disorder. I bought it as a digital download on Etsy when I fell in love with it on Pinterest. It's yet to get a Friday Finish Post of it's own but here's a fun pic taken of it by my dad! Post coming soon!

Once I'd finished J-Boy's quilt, I decided that it was time to make something for myself! And what I really needed was a wall hanging for my newly re-designed studio. I went for Honey from Elizabeth Hartman's Modern Patchwork. This quilt has also been finished for some time but hasn't gotten it's official Friday Finish post. Here it is in progress...

All that remains is to get a hanging sleeve on this one and it'll officially be done. If I can do that in the next five days, I'm calling it a 2014 finish!

My goal was to complete four projects and, though they changed over the course of the year and some haven't been fully blogged about, I did it! Yay me! I also kept my new quilt book acquisitions to a minimum, another goal of TLP.

If you're looking for more details (you, keener, you), you can read about my monthly progress here:
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October

Many thanks to Adrienne for throwing down the gauntlet on this one. Like a hit BBC show, this project had a limited run and won't be doing a second season!

J

Friday Finish - Oh Deer!

What, two finishes in as many weeks? I know, I know, the world's gone mad! But honestly, people, this one's been done for a long time. I've just been having some troubles getting it photographed! Thanks to a  recent Sew Day my troubles were over! (Thanks for being my photo assistant, Ade!) This coming week-end, this kitschy deer is headed for it's new home with Young B. Unless he's taken to reading quilt blogs (doubtful. very doubtful), I don't think I'll ruin any surprises by posting a little early! **UPDATE** No spoiler alert was required for this post. Young B just picked up his quilt and loves it!

 

And here it is upright! And without Ade's charming puppy, Charlie, or rambunctious cats, Orangey and Penny, who all wanted in on the pics at some point!

For the backing, I was inspired to use up the brown strips that I had (overzealously) cut when preparing the pieces for the top. I opted to turn my recent obsession with endless strip quilts on its ear (okay, its side really...). I could get used to this whole strip quilt thing.

More original quilting on my part! Some suggested an all over free motion pattern, but I really liked how the diagonal quilting looked on the original quilt, so I went with it. I did narrow (my presser foot) and wide (about an inch and a half) spacing.
You can read all about this quilt's creation here, here, here, and here. It was my first choice in Chezzetcook Modern Quilts' Library Project QAL. One down, three to go!

The binding on this one is a wild geometric that I wasn't 100% sure of in the quilt top... but as the binding (i.e. in a very small dose), it works nicely!

 I couldn't resist a shot of this deer lurking in the woods!

Nor could I resist a totally gratuitous, non-quilty shot of Ade's mini meadow in her backyard. Wish the non-grassy things in my lawn were this lovely!

I am so pleased to finally send this quilt on it's new home. That's when it's really finished for me!

J

P.S. I'm linking up with TGIFF over at Ms. Midge!

The Library Project - True Confessions Edition

Okay, quilty people. Here it is. This month, I have made zero progress on my Library Project quilts. And I do mean zero. I think at one point I knocked the quilt off the rack (where it has been lying abandonned) and subsequently picked it up off the floor.

Shame.

But really, there are times when life just gets too busy/complicated and sewing and/or blogging falls by the wayside. A couple months ago, I decided to re-vamp my Library Project list to include some projects that I felt had more of a purpose. That said, the Library Project WiP that I have on the go isn't "due" until Christmas, so I'm not feeling that pressure/dread of having no present that gets me motivated. The small amount of sewing I have been managing is more deadline oriented! See example ☺

So here is my pledge... this sunny long week-end, I will get my butt in gear. I have already made plans for a quilty photoshoot for my first Library Project, Oh Deer!. It's been finished forever but can't go on to its proper home until I've photographed it!

I have also decided that I will not start my new project (about which I am très excited) until I have at least sewn the borders on my second Library Project, Good Old Hockey Game. I may even start on the machine appliqué since my recent adventures with that technique have been pretty successful.

But that's not all! I have also booked a Sew Day with Adrienne, the creator of this blasted/motivating Library Project, to finish our Sewing Circle Totes. It's not a Library Project since the pattern is from Ade's treasure trove, but it needs finishing!

There. I feel better already. Sometimes you just need a plan. I'm linking this shamefully unproductive post (heck, it doesn't even have any new photos!) up with The Library Project @ Chezzetcook Modern Quilts.

With any luck, this month, we'll see posts from some quilters/bloggers who have fallen of the wagon like me! It's not too late... it's only May! ☺ Maybe I'll even manage a second, productive post before the Link Up closes... who knows?!

J

The Library Project - Is Spring here yet? Edition

I can hardly believe that it's time for another Library Project Link-up! It seems like I was just writing one a day or two ago! That said, March has been a bit of a bust in the sewing and meeting goals department around these parts. Just too many other things on my plate... but better to be honest with you, dear reader, than lead you to think it's all sunshine and roses all the time in the studio! ☺

On a positive note, the first of my chosen Library Project quilts (Oh Deer!) is done... only I've not been able to get out and give it a proper photo shoot... you'll just have to wait a little longer for that finish. I have a plan in mind and just can't bring myself to abandon it for another sad set of pics taken in my backyard.... which at the moment is taking on a lovely winter wonderland look. Ack! Is it not March 22nd?!

Whilst still in progress....

And that's where the wheels fall off the wagon a bit. I've decided to make a change to my Library Project selections. I still love all the books and quilts I chose. But there's a problem. I don't feel like any of them serve a purpose. They'd just add to the growing piles of "special quilts" hanging about the house. It's not what I feel the need to be working on. I'm not saying I've cast them aside, just that I need to put them on hold for the moment. That's within the rules, right?

So, my second Library Project quilt is a little different. It's a pattern I found a while back on a lovely blog called Obsessive Crafting Disorder. I was sure that J-boy would absolutely LOVE this one! I purchased the pattern a with a plan to make it for him for Christmas next year. Special, but with a purpose.... that's what I need right now!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/126258669/pattern-the-good-old-hockey-game-quilt?

This week, after realizing that there just wasn't enough of certain fabrics to make this from my stash, I headed over to my LQS. It was dangerous.... they've gotten a LOT of new fabric in since I last visited. But I kept my focus and only bought these lovelies (and thread ☺). The pattern calls for mainly solids, but I don't want to have to quilt this excessively, so I went more for tone on tone prints. Mmm... texture.

The red is Sketch from Timeless Treasures and the black is Dazzle from Robert Kaufman (available in a jillion and one colours... oh no.) The blues are a little trickier. All three are Robert Kaufman. The only trouble is that I bought such small pieces I didn't get any selvage with names! 

Last month, I also snagged these from Mad About Patchwork.

That's Pearl Bracelet in Anchor, Remix Ovals in Red, and Oval Elements in Sapphire. 

These, in addition to some other reds from my stash and a pile of Kona White, will give me a good start on J-boy's next quilt. He's only got one and really "needs" one for snuggling up on the couch. I'm still trying to decide whether to use the aqua border called for in the pattern or switch it up to reflect J-boy's favourite team's colours. I've already made one departure in that the pattern calls for a large amount of navy and I've gone with the black Dazzle instead.

I'm doing a double link-up here and hooking up with Adrienne over at Chezzetcook Modern Quilts for this month's Library Project Link-up as well as with Work in Progress Girl for Molli Sparkles' usual Sunday Stash (since I really did buy some fabric this week!)

Tomorrow, the cutting begins!

J

P.S. And I went to our Maritime Modern Quilt Guild Sew In this week-end! Leigh Anne made it all the way from PEI and treated us to some awesome door prizes from her Etsy shop Ella's Cottage. I snagged this 8 piece FQ pack of Modas.

When you open it up, it gets even better! There's two pieces of Simply Color Sprigs (Tangerine & Eggplant), two pieces of Simply Color Chevron (Tangerine & Lime), three pieces of Simply Color Ombre (Tangerine, Lime, & Blue), AND a piece of Happy Go Lucky Dandelions! Whheeeee!!!!

And then she said "And you can buy these ones for 2$" Sold.

More Moda fun! Happy Go Lucky Red Aqua Check Plaid, another Happy Go Lucky Dandelions (but it's a different colour pathway, of course, two pieces of Happy Go Lucky Scallops (Red &

And just to round it up to an even 10$, a FQ of Cameras in Parchment. I'll be 100% honest and say I haven't ordered from Leigh Anne before, but I see that changing in the future!

WiP - Would Deer-ly love to finish this one...

True confessions time (again). I am in a deep post Olympic slump. The high of Canada's Double Double (that's gold in Men's and Women's Curling and Hockey) has faded. Everything seems a little less... sigh... well, Olympic. I've been consoling myself with quilting, but it's tough sledding.

My indecision caused a hold-up on the quilting of  Young B's Oh Deer.  I went for straight(ish) quilting on the diagonal. I like that one has to look a little for the deer and I opted to maintain that feeling.

And yes, that is Season 3 of Sherlock playing away in the background. At that juncture, Sherlock was "clue-ing for looks." Ever since Adrienne and I's movie viewing quilting days together, I can't break the habit. It's like pre-washing or chain-piecing. Just something I've always done! On to the binding!

 

In this pic, you can see that I varied the distance between my diagonal lines. I used my presser foot width for the narrow sections and that handy spacing gizmo for the larger ones (they're 1½ inches if you're taking notes). Now on to I'm hand-stitching the binding using my trusty Wonderclips.

Remember my recent Kona strip quilt obsession? It's baaaaackkk!

That's Camelia, Punch, and Pomegranate on the left. And Pearl Pink, Baby Pink, Peony, and Melon on the right - mark your colour cards! I had some leftovers from a Sew Sisters Kona of the Month collection as well as Miss C's baby quilt. And I might have purchased a little to round things out.It's almost enough to make me like pink, but never as much as Miss N from the Do-Bees! ☺

The contrasting "pops" I usually do are Kona White this time. They blend a little, but I think it's still good. In a break with tradition, I've decided to back this one with a print that's been hanging around in my stash for a dog's age. Time to use it or lose it!

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced for WiP Wednesday  and the Canadian Needle and Thread Network. What else will I get up to today? For one, a haircut and new colour. After that, who knows what might happen!

J

Psst.... you still have time to pop over to this post and get your name in for my 2nd giveaway of all time! Only a few hours left!

The Library Project - Month of the Dark Lord Edition

It's hard to believe it's been a month since the first TLP link-up! I've been making lots of progress on the first of my selections - Quilt in the Headlights from Boo Davis' Dare to be Square. I've blogged about it here and here. It's all layered and ready to go, but I'm a little stumped... how to quilt it?Option #1 - Free motion quilt the background to make the deer pop (I worry about the durability of FMQ)

Option #2 - Straight line quilting on the diagonal as shown in the book (I love diagonal quilting!)

Thoughts, dear reader?

 

And as if the quilting conundrum wasn't enough, I had a hell of a time moving on to my next selection. This happens to me with "special" fabrics or projects. I get all hung up on my choice because I know it's going to be something I'll want to keep and treasure. When it's a quick quilt from my stash or a present for someone else, the decisions seem to come much more easily. And I don't think I can justify a fourth couch quilt in the TV room! 

The three books from which I need to make a choice have been living on my coffee table throughout the Olympics... which means I've been looking at them a lot! More later on those EPP Sochi Diamonds that photobombed this shot!

So I shuffled them. Literally, closed my eyes and shuffled them with the idea in mind that whichever book came up on top would provide my next project! And the winner is...

One would think I was trying to wear this book out with the number of times I've flipped its pages! But I've finally settled on a decision. It's...

Ladders!  All the quilts in this book are designed by different modern quilters and this one's an Elizabeth Hartman special. I am so drawn to her work - as evidenced by the fact that one of my other TLP books is Modern Patchwork! Compared to other quilts in this book, Ladders might not be too tough to expand to a larger size along the way.
While I'm tempted by the earth tones in the original quilt (the living room might need a quilt one day..), I'm leaning toward Kona blues with the ladders themselves in Kona white. Blue and white are just so crisp... makes me think of fresh snow and blue bird skies.

And I might have a few blues in my Kona stash already!

As I'm sure you've guessed, I'm linking up with Adrienne over at Chezzetcook Modern Quilts for this month's check in! If you're not already on the Library Project bandwagon, it's not too late. I heard a rumour there will be prizes! ☺

Hope you're making progress on your projects! Can't wait to read all about it!

J

WiP - A herd of projects on the go... and a little surprise!

I'm pleased to say it's been a busy quilting week - even with the ridiculous amount of Olympic coverage I've been watching. Thank goodness for live streaming on CBC! If you're dedicated enough to read this entire post, there might be something in it for you!
Much progress has been made on Young B's Oh Deer quilt. Last week, I finished the blocks. I was just having so much fun seeing it coming together that I couldn't stop. I so need a permanent design wall... it's so much more effective than the design floor!

 And all sewn together... chillin' on the clothesline!

When I was cutting the brown strips, I got a little overzealous. All that stuff on the left wasn't needed for the quilt top... yikes!

I don't use much of brown anymore, so I was concerned about having all those strips hanging out in the stash. An idea was born - why not a pieced back? I opted to use the never-ending strip technique that I've fallen in love with lately. It's not the best pic, but it's -24C with windchill today! So cold that my camera battery decided it was done!

 

Pieced backs are so great, if I do say so myself! I have a tendency to hoard fabric left from special projects (aren't they all special?), but pieced backs have me using them for a good purpose. It also means I don't have to spend as much on yardage for the back. Win-win!

Also this week, I finished basting most of my Olympic Diamonds and got to piecing. Quatchi, Sumi, & Miga tried to take credit, but they don't even have thumbs... how could they possibly stitch all those together?! It is nice to have their company while I overdose on luge, ski jumping, and half-pipe competitions.
I also spent some time this week quilting my Skill Builder BOM Ruler block. I have another lesson coming soon, so I wanted to be up to date. Still have the Spool block to quilt, but I'm making progress! First up, I bought a pile of thread...

Then used it to follow the quilting instructions to the letter - I can take no credit for creativity! I do love to pebble!

Then the numbers... I printed them onto full page labels, cut 'em out, stuck 'em on, and quilted around them.

 Next up, wavy lines to fill the yellow. I managed to stop and start very little.

And here it is all finished... out in the snow. Don't worry. It was only there for a moment! But, here's the burning question - can you spot the error? It's okay if you can't... the designer and her two testers didn't catch it before the block went live!

Phew! That's a lot of quilting... and there's some I saved for another day! I did promise you a surprise, didn't I? Well, today is.... gulp... my birthday. Generally, I keep that a secret (something about not liking it when children sing AT me!). But this year, I'm switching it up. In honour of my birthday ☺, you might get a present. Remember these?

If you're observant, you might notice that I made ten of those when I needed only nine for my Bee mates. Leave me a comment telling me what you'd put in it and you might win my first ever giveaway! If you're a no-reply blogger, don't forget to leave me an e-mail address so I can track you down! Giveaway closes on Saturday, February 15th at 8pm Atlantic Standard Time!  Giveaway is now closed. :(

Happy birthday to me!

J

P.S. AND I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced's WiP Wednesday!

WiP - En-deer-ing!

At some point, I'm going to run out of puns for this quilt, but it hasn't happened yet! It's so kitschy, I can't resist!

So even though I didn't have all the blue strips cut, I took advantage of the first ever MMQG Sew In to get started this past week-end. We definitely had a room with a view... not that you can tell so much from my blurry photo! Our sewing space looked out on Halifax Harbour and, on a sunny winter Saturday, it was lovely!

I started off with his deer ☺ little face. Can you see it? It's okay if you can't... the black square on the left is half of his nose and the other black square is his eye!

And the blocks just kept on coming... this one doesn't look like much, but it's part of his considerable set of antlers.

 

The blocks aren't too tough to put together, but having a whole table to myself helped since I had piles 18 piles of blue, brown, and black strips spread out everywhere!

It was driving some of my MMQG pals a little crazy that I wasn't making the blocks in order. I wouldn't normally work in such a haphazard way, but where I didn't have all the blue fabric, I wanted to make sure my various prints end up well distributed. I was glad to have my design wall (read as fuzzy backed picnic tablecloth!).  I used my trusty green painters tape to number the blocks.

Nine down, just eleven to go! Yesterday saw me headed to my LQS to pick up (even more) blue prints... is it bad when the staff notice that you've come in all by yourself instead of with your rowdy quilting pals? On the up side, they also know me well enough to let me know that there's a new shipment of quilting cotton coming next week.

I'm doing my usual and linking up with WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

Hope you found some time for a little WiP action this week!
J