1/2 year finish line

Hello again dear readers!  Last night while relaxing after the end of Quilt Camp 2013 I sat and finished the binding on my Roman Stripe quilt.  This is my June project for the Lovely Year of Finishes.  I wasn't sure it would get done due to the business of Quilt Camp and the lure of summer but it did.  Hooray!  

stepping stones quilt

Here's my start of the month post for June: ALYOF.  I pieced the top last Fall and have steadily been working to get this one all wrapped up so it's thrilling to have another finish under my belt.  
This quilt is also on my Quarter 2 list for the Finish A Long so I'm glad to get a win on two columns. Here's the link to my post setting my Q2 list.  :)  It's nice to keep stacking up the finished quilts with all of this motivation.

back view

I'm still thinking on the name for this quilt, but am leaning towards Stepping Stones.  Here's the stats:

detail view

Finished Size: 72" x 64"
Machine Pieced and quilted by me using aurifil thread
Quilting: mostly FMQ in a variety of designs.  some inspired by Angela Walters' Free Motion book and Leah Day's 365 quilt designs blog
Backing: Leftover squares and fabrics from the top with a piece of
Binding: scrappy raspberry prints from the quilt & stash

me & my quilt!

I had a fun time taking photos of this one and hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  Linking this finish up at Fiber of All Sorts for the June link and over at Crazy Mom Quilts Friday finish.  Also will be linked up for the Quarter 2 finishes linky at She Can Quilt for the Finish a Long.

what's the word hummingbird?

A great way to unwind after work is to sit out on my balcony with a book and watch the hummingbirds zip around.  So pleasant.  :)

After a last week's Quilt Camp groups, I had some serious quilting mojo running all weekend.  I finally got all the quilting finished on my Roman stripe quilt, assembled binding and attached it to the quilt.  I'm working on stitching it down this week and just absolutely love it!  Can't wait to share the finished quilt with you all.

I also stopped into Hancock's and decided on backing fabric for my kaleidoscope quilt.  It took some serious auditioning and thinking, but I brought home this cute Navy Jump print from Happy Go Lucky!

I even had enough batting bits in my stash to piece the batting for this quilt too.  Now I just need to decide on how to quilt it!  


Those batting bits were also big enough to piece batt for my Athena Puzzle quilt top too!  Hooray.  This is the quilt made from batik strips that I won at Quilt Retreat several years ago. It's closer to becoming a 'real' quilt - finished and bound.  I basted it today so it's ready to go.  

Lastly I pulled out the fabric for Momm's strip quilt and finally did my piece of it.  By finally, I mean this has been about 5 years in the making.....sorry Momm!  I can't show you my piece yet because it's a surprise for Momm too.  hehehe  I'm so excited to check this off the list and really like how my idea worked out.

Whew, that sounds like all the progress happening in my corner.  Hope you get to make progress of your own this week dear readers!  Enjoy the sunshine.  I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday this week - go check it out!

what's up buttercup?

Where to begin!  It's been all sorts of busy summer-time fun over here as I buzz around in the sunshine.

Let's see, I went to Lexington for the Kentucky Museum & Heritage Alliance conference. That was really fun: time travelled to Eastern Time Zone & back, met some great people, gained a lot of good ideas from the breakout sessions, dinner in the hangar of the Aviation museum, danced some vintage dances.

inside a jet engine

ready to sew pieces

I spent a good couple of weeks prepping for Quilt Camp which meant cutting 1800 pieces for the Beginner classes!  I had some awesome volunteers help with that and with the actual camp itself.  I had 29 kids last week and they all created some really wonderful quilts.  It's always a fun time having the kids in - we go through the galleries and are surrounded by quilts galore!  

Beginner camper quilts!

This week I have my Intermediate and Advanced camps which are going well.  These kids learn to measure & use rotary cutters and keep bettering their quilt skills.  I want to keep all of their blocks because they are so great. 

I'm also thrilled to see that my School Block Challenge fabric picks arrived today!  Can't wait to pull those pretties out of the boxes and dream about what the kids will create.

Dad came down for Father's Day weekend!  We packed a lot into our waking hours: river walk, Star Wars!, games, sitting on the balcony, 10 mile bike ride, hockey, made Star Wars pancakes and more.  There's always more that pops up onto our lists of things to do so we'll just have to have more weekends planned.

me & dad!

It's been tough getting things accomplished in the evenings during the Stanley Cup playoffs - you just can't look away from the game.  The entire playoff season has been fantastic, and the final match-up of Boston & Chicago was spectacular.  Amazing finish yesterday with a stunning comeback win by the Blackhawks who are now Champions.  It's fun to think that hockey has finished just in time for the start of the 100th Tour de France on Saturday.  :)

All of that in the last month and I didn't even cover all the quilty progress that's been popping up in my projects!  Stay tuned for that in a back-to-back update. 

June Project link-up

So now that it's June (how did that happen?!) I'm here with my project to finish for the Lovely Year of Finishes June link-up.  I'm determined to finish the quilting and bind my Roman Stripe quilt this month!  

I'm quilting the grey triangles with different designs across the quilt.  Matching the multiple shades of grey with Aurifil grey threads for the majority of the spaces and a few are quilted with a bright pink to give it some extra pop.  

  Here's a shot of some quilted parts already and the more I work on it, the more it seems as those the triangles are multiplying!  I've used inspiration from Angela Walters' book Free-Motion Quilting and Leah Day's the 365 FMQ project site and love how they look!

I plan on using scrappy binding in the pink/cerise colors with a little of the teal/aqua thrown in for fun.  Can't wait to have this one wrapped up and ready to go so I best get to it. 

Be sure to check out and cheer on all of us for our June projects at Fiber of All Sorts!  There's still time to choose your own finish and link up as well.   :)

hello again

Summer is here!  These last couple of weeks I've been feeling all the summery vibes brought on by warm weather & sunshine, the pool opening, last days of school tours and holiday weekends.  Great vibes really and they are inspiring me to make some summer-type plans and adventures.  What they are not doing is making it easy to be inside all day at work and getting things done around the house!

In any case, there has been lots of thinking about chores, hockey playoffs, shopping and a little bit of sewing sprinkled in here & there.  At work I've been making up some samples for our June Quilt Camp and am super excited!  It's always a fun time and I even scored some bating donations too which will make life a whole lot easier. The next few weeks will be prepping materials: cutting fabric, changing rotary blades, cutting batting & backing fabrics and winding bobbins.  Hooray!

A couple weeks ago I also pieced together my backing fabric for my Roman Stripe quilt and got it basted!  This was my May project for the Lovely Year of Finishes over at Fiber of All Sorts.  Another month finished & here's my original link up for May. 

quilting in action

 I have started to quilt it and that is taking me longer than originally planned due to all those summer vibes mentioned above.   :)  Perhaps this will be the June project...

I also managed to work in a graduation gift for one of my Junior Quilters who is awesome!  It was fun to pull some purple fabrics together and whip up this oval box bag (using Aneela's great tutorial).  It's one of my favorites so far that I've made.  

It's so much fun to create things for friends and family and a wonderful way to use my skills.  Creating something for others in need, like the blocks for Boston, is just as rewarding and definitely brings the online community together.  This week I sent off a quilt and some pillowcases to the Oklahoma guild collecting for those impacted by the tornado in Moore.  Check it out if you have a quilt that needs a good home!

Giveaway Winner

and the winner of the oval box bag is...... #5:  Georgia who said:

 Georgia said...

My current read is How We Love. One of my favorites is The Oath. :)

peachstateme (at) hotmail (dot) com

May 6, 2013 at 10:14 PM 

Congrats!  I've emailed you and will send out your prize as soon as I hear from you.

Thanks for all for stopping by the blog and participating.  Have a great weekend. :)

WIP :: 5/8/13

Yesterday at work, my Junior Quilters made blocks to send out for the Quilts for Boston collection.  They had a good time and did a nice job putting their blocks together.  There's still time to make and send a block or two to the Boston MQG for their project - check it out here.

After the meeting, I pulled out my Roman Stripe quilt to baste it.  It's so nice to be able to bring my quilts to work and borrow the table space!  I don't think there'd be an easy way to baste anything larger than 20" on my floor!  I'm excited to be able to sit down and start quilting on this - I'll be making designs in each of the grey triangles. 

Well, that's what I'm working on this week and linking up over at Freshly Pieced.  Don't forget to check out Sew, Mama, Sew's blog for all the amazing giveaways as part of Giveaway Day (week)!  You can find my giveaway post here - it's open until the 10th! 

this was the sky today at lunch!