Organized!!! - Another Finish for the 4th Quarter!

This was my closet before last week.  I had an organizer (Erin Bonner of Erin Does) come and help me finish getting things into place.   I was feeling like I would never get it done, and contacted Jenn at Find Your Floor but wanted someone sooner.  She referred me to Erin and we are on a roll.  The whole thing was  overwhelming me and I thought this would be worthwhile. I am so pleased with the progress!!  If your looking for someone in the Boston area (Cambridge/Somerville/Medford/etc) these women are great. This was a part of my 2017Q4FAL, which you can see here.

First up is my nicely organized bookshelf.  Mostly quilting books on the bottom 2 shelves, some memorabilia on the next two, and the top has miscellaneous folders, and a few Christmas things that never made it into the Christmas box last year.  On the bottom left corner you can see the door into the closet, and my knitting basket with current projects.

Next up you will see a few pictures of the closet.  All of the interior closet pictures are a little distorted, as they were shot in pano mode. First up in the closet is the top shelf.  Hoops for hand quilting, my Bernina travel bag with bed risers ready for a retreat, some miscellaneous fabric, some completed quilts/pillows, waiting for a home, and my mac box.

This next shelf has strips in the black boxes, ribbons and wrapping paper in the next box, some more memorabilia, which is next up for sorting, and some knitting and other projects on the far right.

 This grouping below has knitting needles, sewing tools in the black drawers, projects in the the next two plastic bins and a nearly finished project in the pink bag, and then some quilting stencils and bags in the corner (oh and a yarn swift, too).

This last part of the closet is FUN!  it is a narrow section, but holds a lot of things:  on the the bottom is a set of draweres with  more tools, some teaching projects and then some scraps!

Just so you don't think there isn't any fabric, here are a few shots of the cabinets and their contents in my study.  One cabinet has fabric and a file drawer with patterns, rulers, etc.  The file drawer is still a work in progress.

These next two are cabinets nearer my desk and have a variety of things in them:  notecards, ironing essentials, project boxes, then some bags of projects, precuts and finally some batting and fabric collections waiting for a project.

   

While a couple of these things keep getting moved around I feel like I am really nearly there!!  Hallelujah.  I will show you the desk and sewing area, once the walls are a little more dressed, but I am thrilled that I can now work and find things so easily and there really is a place for everything.  Another bonus - many projects are identified and the list keeps getting smaller...nothing new until I get through a few of the longstanding ufos!

Block 11 in the I Wish You A Merry QAL

I am so excited!

It's time for Block 11 in the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-a-Long! I named it simply North Star and I am so pleased to have designed this block.  I was thinking of many more complicated versions, at first, but settled on one that I hope is accessible to quilters of all skill levels. 

I love stars and looking at them at night.  I spend part of my time in Maine and it is amazing the number of stars in the sky on a clear night.  Now, I am not so sure I could have them direct me anywhere, I am much happier using an app with GPS to get me there.

Please enjoy making this star!  I am so looking forward to seeing your interpretations of my design.  I am truly humbled by the amount of people who are working so hard on all these blocks and have followed along for so many weeks on this journey.  You are almost there!!!!

Block 11:  North Star

Instructions for North Star


Without further dithering, here are the instructions.  There are two versions, one for paper piecing and one for using a Tri-Recs™ Ruler.

Please download before printing.  

Also be sure you DO NOT HAVE print to fit checked.  

Paper Piecing Instructions             Tric-Recs™ Instructions

If you need to purchase a ruler, you can find them at Craftsy (and other places).



Remember, that each of the following bloggers are my hosts and specific hints that will help you and also many fun and different versions of the same block.  It is so gratifying to see the hard work each of these quilters has put into the I Wish You A Merry QAL!  Please visit and see their tips.

Abbie at Sparkle On

April at JANDA Bend Quilts

Becca at Pretty Piney

Bobbi at Snowy Days Quilting

Diane at Cwilt

Jennifer at The Inquiring Quilter

Karen at Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

Laura at Slice of Pi Quilts

Sandy at SandyStar Designs

Sherry at Powered by Quilting

Vanda at Quilt in Piece

Giveaways

There are giveaways for this block too!  Hard to believe that the prizes just keep on coming.



First:  A binding baby, donated by Shari at Doohikey Designs.  Aren't they just the cutest things!

Second:  Jennifer at The Inquiring Quilter, one of my friends from the 2017 NewQuiltBloggers group, where we met and conceived this Block Party,  has donated a pdf pattern of your choice.  Jennifer is so supportive of other bloggers; it has been really fun to get to know her in the blogsphere.

How do I enter the Giveway?  

There are three ways to enter, BUT, whichever one you choose must be done by December 4, 2017 at midnight EST.   You do not have to finish every block to enter this giveaway - that's the good news - but you do have to finish the one to be eligible for these prizes and you must upload a picture.

Please upload a photo of your finished block to either:

1. my Linky Party at An InLinkz Link-up  OR
2. the Facebook Group I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long   OR
3. Instagram using #iwishyouamerryqal

Don't forget the grand prize:

There is a fabulous grand prize package (thread, fabric, batting, patterns and more), and if you have been working along, or decide to play catch-up you can win!  We encourage you to finish the top.

You are eligible to win the grand prize if you:
1)  finish your quilt top including all 12 blocks (it does not have to be quilted)
2)  post a picture of your finished quilt.
3)  do both of these thing by 11:59 PM EST January 15, 2018.  


Thank you for joining us in this journey,

Finish #2 for the quarter, Free Fall QAL

It was a terrific feeling to finish this quilt.  I wanted it ready for our quilt show, in the middle of October and it was.  It was part of my goals for this quarter for the 2017FALQ4; you can see them all here.  We had a family death and so I was unable to be at the show, but was out of the country.  In my hurry to get things done and delivered to friends, I forgot to take pictures of this quilt.  As I have a quilt made of these fabrics on my bed, I felt as though this deserved to be in someone's home that loved it.  It found a buyer a the show - I was thrilled.

The quilting was pretty intense for me.  It was all straight line, and I used a darker thread in the green leaf and a light thread in the the background.  I loved the effect and was pleased that I stuck with it. 

Here's the way we label our quilts at the show  We get to write a little description to tell people about the quilt.  Of course we could go on forever, but we are limited to 50 words or so.

This pictures shows my label.  I had this fantastic aboriginal print, that was just lovely for the background.  I often do my labels the same way, framing them, and you can see more about that here.

Thanks to my quilting friend, Sandra at MMM! Quilts for designing a great quilt and hosting a fun QAL.  

Here's how the end of the year list is looking:

2017FAL4Q List:  3 to go!!!!
1. Free Fall Quilt Along 
2.  Alphabet Quilt
3.  Sew Together bags
4.  Petal Play Loon 
5.  Organized sewing room

All people quilt UFOs   (so 7 out of 12 are done!!)

1.  Grey batik flying geese

2.  Petal Play Loon
3.  Raw Edge Tree Runner
4.  Row by Row #3 (is this for real, one more??)
5.  Sew Together Bags

Here's hoping for a stellar finish - I think the Sew Together Bags will be done as well.  An organizer is coming Tuesday to help with #5 the Sewing room,  as the Raw Edge Tree Runner and the others just depend if I get any momentum.  I really didn't expect the move to last so long or the disruptions to be so pervasive but the are!

One finish (actually 2, but the second will be a later entry)

I set a goal for the 2017 Finish-Along 4th Quarter to finish 5 things, 2 are done.  Today, I'll share a little more about my quilt called "Alphabet Fun"; you can see my list of 4th quarter projects for the 2017FALQ4 here.

This is the second version of this quilt.  I simply loved the colors and the animals that were depicted in the panels.  This was a little simpler and someone bought it at Rising Star Quilters Show, earlier this month.

I decided to stipple quilt.  It wasn't really for anyone special and I knew that it would get done quickly, that way.  It was good practice and on the whole I was pleased with it.  Maybe it was a little more quilting than I normally do, but it made me happy.  

Here's the label.  I no longer live in Somerville, but the house wasn't yet sold, so it is one of the last quilts that will say Somerville on them. The other secret to getting this done quickly is to have binding on hand!  I keep some black binding available for quick quilts and I do bind a few in black every year.  

Have to post this picture.  Percy is always helpful when you are trying to get a shot.  

I am not so sure how the end of the year will go, but here are some of my goals.  

2017FAL4Q List:  3 to go!!!!
1. Free Fall Quilt Along 
2.  Alphabet Quilt
3.  Sew Together bags
4.  Petal Play Loon 
5.  Organized sewing room

All people quilt UFOs   (so 7 out of 12 are done!!)

1.  Grey batik flying geese

2.  Petal Play Loon

3.  Raw Edge Tree Runner
4.  Row by Row #3 (is this for real, one more??)
5.  Sew Together Bags

Next up - Free Fall QAL finish

Crushing on new fabric

This arrived in the mail.   I won some fabric in the Bloggers Quilt Festival blog hop!   It was sponsored by Amy @ Amy's Creative Side and while I don't need more fabric what's not to love about the bag and the fabric.

 OneCanoeTwo designed this lovely line called midnight garden.  I won a set of fat eighths and am thinking of this squiggles quilt at Christa Quilts.  I think it would be quite lovely.  What I like is that it is a simple plan to use an elegant set of fabrics.  I may check out a few other patterns I have put away, but this one strikes me as a pretty good fit for this set of fabrics.

I keep looking at all this gorgeousness and am thinking that I am one lucky girl!

2017 FAL (Finish Along) Q4 - Joining in the Fun

For those of you following me here is where we are:  the house is under agreeement and closing on October 27th.  We have ALL our furniture and my quilting room is in reasonable (not finshed) shape.  I can work now pretty freely.

So, I am turning my mind to what I will finish in the 4th Quarter.  I am not counting the already finished but needing a label quilt!

1.  Free Falling Leaves - quilting, binding, labels, hanging sleeves

2.  The alphabet quilt:  Hand binding, sleeve and label

3.  2 Sew together bags - some construction done, but they just need to be finished

4.  The Loon - some construction done:  Assembled, quilted, bound and labeled.

5.  And finally, finish organizing my space. 

Linking up with:  2017FAl 4th Quarter 

2017 Quilt Bloggers Festival

Amy is sponsoring once again the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  You can read all about it here.   Please visit some of the quilts that strike your fancy and leave comments for the quilters!

This little quilt I finished a few weeks ago.  I honestly just love it.  It was a Row by Row from 2016 from Alewives Fabrics in Nobleboro, ME.   The trees are all Dr. Seuss like and it is so much fun.  I often use this size on an island near my dining room, but this one I got a little carried away with the borders.  It finished at 15" x 40".

This little squiggle of quilting in the inner binding makes me happy.  For quilting threads, I used three different threads:

1.  YLI Machine quilting in Green to Tan 
2. Superior Mono Poly to go around the trees
3. Mettler 50 weight, #678  

This is the second time I have used this binding technique and I really love the pop of color you get.  Also, it's all done on machine, so it couldn't be easier.  

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the festival!