Finish Along Fourth Quarter Goals

1. My Christmas Leftovers quilt.  This one is basted and I actually have the binding prepped as well so should be a pretty sure thing.

2. My Blackberry Winter Blossom Quilt.  I will certainly finish this one - I am just hand stitching the binding down so it is very nearly done.

3. My Garden for Birds quilt.  I would like to hand this one over at the baby shower on the 27th of October, so it definitely will be finished before this quarter is out.

4. My Cherry Christmas scrappy trip along quilt. I'd like this one finished by Christmas, obviously.  I only have 4 finished blocks but the other 32 are well on their way so I think it's realistic to expect a finish.

5. My Top of the Lake quilt. Despite finishing the top months ago, it is still sitting around basted but not quilted.  Possibly because my quilting idea is rather ambitious and I'm a bit scared of actually doing the quilting...

6. A quilt using my bleached fabrics.  To be honest I don't really think I'll finish this one but I'm including it in case I get a surge of inspiration!

7. Cowl made using this knit fabric.  This one is actually nearly done too - after a bit of battle sewing the knit fabric I just need to hand stitch the turning gap.

8. A second version of the bright modern baby quilt I made earlier this year - as you can see, this is quilted and just needs binding.

9. A rather lovely (and very bright) quilt I've been working on quietly for the last little while - more to reveal on this one.

Is it wrong that I kind of wish I had a bigger list?  I do have several other projects planned which will be finished before the year is out, but they're not started yet so I can't include them.  Anyway, if you are participating in the finish along, make sure you link up your list very soon.

Thank you so much to Leanne for running a great finish along this year - it's been a great motivator for me (and lots of other people, by the sounds of things)!

Caturday Wisdom #40

CONSTANT VIGILANCE! Ivy

I hope someone gets the reference...

This looks horribly cruel but I assure you that both cats truly appreciate a new bag, particularly the rectangular ones (all the better to shoot out of at speed) and Ivy just managed to get there first. You will remember that Ivy's face just looks like that. Some of us can't help it.

As always, pet advice submissions are welcomed at adrianneonthewindyside at gmail dot com. Have a great weekend!

Christmas Leftovers quilt top finished

Aaaages ago, I started another scrappy trip along quilt with Aneela Hoey's adorable Cherry Christmas line.  Several months later, and I still have only 4 completed blocks (although I have made progress on the next 32!).  However, because I used fat quarters to make my blocks, I had two strips left over from each block, and I thought I'd use these leftovers to make a wee baby quilt.

 

This quilt is just pretty randomly pieced together, although I did try to get a somewhat even colour distribution.  I'm very happy with how this quilt top turned out.  So happy, in fact, that even though I made it with the intention of donating it to the neo-natal unit at Wellington Hospital, I am tempted to keep it for myself.  I won't, of course, but I want to!  I do think that this is a particularly good quilt to donate - it's totally gender neutral, and it's Christmassy but not so much that you couldn't leave it out all year round.

 

This little guy is all basted up ready for quilting.  I think I'll use the same design I'm planning to use on my scrappy trip along quilt - that will give me a good chance to see how it looks with these fabrics.  Now, to work on my scrappy trip along version.  Here's hoping I can get it done by Christmas.

Linking up with finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts.

WIP Wednesday

The lovely Jess from The Elven Garden is co-hosting a Midnight at the Oasis Quilt Along, to make this stunning quilt designed by Jen Kingwell.  I don't usually participate in Quilt Alongs, but this quilt was really tempting me and when my local friends said they were thinking about making it too I knew I had to play along!

Photo from Amitie Textiles website

I think this quilt will be great for working on the accuracy of my piecing.  The whole quilt is only 61" square so you can probably work out that there are a lot of tiny pieces in there!

 

While I love the fabrics used in the original quilt, I decided to take things in a different direction (I can never resist putting my own spin on a quilt even when I'm using someone else's pattern).  I pulled a large number of autumn coloured prints from my stash for this quilt, and where Jen has used black and grey fabrics I intend to use a variety of cream and beige fabrics.

This colour scheme could end up looking kind of traditional, but I'm hoping that the fact that my fabrics are sort of bright autumn colours, and the pops of aqua/teal I'm including, will keep my quilt fresh.

This is where I'm up to right now.  Instead of needle turned appliqué as the pattern calls for, I'm intending to secure most of my appliquéd pieces with handworked blanket stitch.  I've never done this much handwork on a quilt before but I think it should be something nice to do on the couch and to take along to stitch group and guild meetings.  In this picture the circles and orange peels are just stuck down with fusible webbing - I'm still to sew a single stitch!

So, have you been tempted by any of the quilt alongs happening out there at the moment?

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced:

Introducing Stitchbird Fabrics

I'm very pleased to introduce my newest sponsor - Stitchbird Fabrics!

Stitchbird Fabrics is a local shop specialising in gorgeous contemporary, retro and vintage fabrics. Owner Lyndy is a kindred spirit - a fellow fabric-a-holic and quilter, she established the shop after struggling to find the modern and quirky fabrics she wanted to use in New Zealand.  Lyndy shares a mixture of shop news, inspiration and her own projects on her blog.

If you get to visit Stitchbird Fabrics in person, the shop itself is really lovely, and Lyndy has also just re-vamped the Stitchbird Fabrics website to improve the online shopping experience.  Regular readers will be familiar with Stitchbird Fabrics because I have posted about the shop before (check out my post and photos of the shop here).

Absolutely all of the fabrics in this bright modern baby quilt came from Stitchbird Fabrics, and actually, if you visit, you will find it hanging out there.

Stitchbird Fabrics have just received some of the new Briar Rose fabrics from Heather Ross, and to celebrate, they have 25% off all Heather Ross fabrics for a limited time.  I am a bit loathe to point out all the gorgeous hard-to-find and out-of-print fabrics that Stitchbird stocks (like this Snow White print from Far Far Away 3), because I have my eye on them for myself, but seriously, there are some goodies there.

Thanks Lyndy for becoming my newest sponsor, and bringing the fabrics I love to New Zealand!