2018 Mid-year review

It is intriguing to look back at one's goals in the New Year to see what has been accomplished at this mid-point.  I did achieve one of my goals which was to create an art quilt for the twice yearly Art with Fabric Blog Hop.  Even outdid myself by entering it in the California State Fair and earning an honorable mention. I also queued up a hopeful finish to the Pantone Color of the Year quilt challenge but I never got off the ground with that one. I did a fabric pull and didn't have that color, couldn't find the right shade at the fabric store and failed a finding fabric that spoke to me while competing in the FabHopShop. 

Luckily, I only set the two quilting goals for myself this year. Oh, I have lots of WIPs and PIGs that I have organized in ziplocs. I have even posted my quilting hopes and dreams. No time like the present to revisit. 

I am now swimming in batiks, I love them, but have yet to make a quilt with them. 

I also have plaids, more plaids than I will ever need. Once I make the quilt I have in mind either Storm at Sea or a Plaid-half-hexagon.

The Art with Fabric Blog hop will take place some time in the fall and I have another art quilt in mind, this time I will piece it like a proper quilter! *grins* I will enter that one in the 2019 fair, trying for a top placing ribbon.  

Linking up with quiltingjetgirl for the:

Also linking up with lizzielenard-vintagesewing.blogspot.com.

As I have posted previously, I am participating in the 2018 Monthly Color Challenge, making quilt blocks associated with the color of the month. Also with that challenge, there are giveaways and I won for the month of June (birthday gal, uh huh, uh huh, woot woot).  And how appropriate, my love of art and fabric combines into a fat quarter bundle of Art Gallery Fabrics. 

I think this bundle is just begging to be made into a Modern Art quilt with lots of negative space and perhaps some matchstick quilting?  

What would you make with this fabric compilation? 

And my mid-year winnings continue with a $20 gift card win from Snowline Hospice Thrift. Time to buy a lottery ticket? 

The whole nine yards of fabric

Challenge prompt: "To go the whole nine yards means 'to continue doing something dangerous or difficult until it is finished.' When have you gone the whole nine yards? Write about it."

Story behind this yardage here

Interrupting this challenge with a quilting update!

I have completed the tiki-themed Daughter Quilt. This creation is sixth in the Hawaiian shirt hoarder series comprised of thrifted fabric and thread (link to the log-cabin-style post). Listing it is a Q2 finish, originally posted here.

I did purchase the cotton batting but, as I had read, it required much more quilting than I normally am willing to do. To secure the quilt sandwich I used a stiple stitch around certain borders, a straight stitch with a walking foot and free motion quilting within the center and around the butterflies.


Linked up with:
crazymomquilts for Finish It Up Friday
lizzielenard-vintagesewing across the pond in the UK because I utilized free motion quilting in part of the design of the daughter quilt
shecanquilt for Scraptastic Tuesday

I am using the last of the log cabin squares I made last summer in this Baby Quilt. It is not a traditional baby quilt, more of a little girl quilt. I also will use the Hello Kitty and purple fabric as sashing. The cornerstones and top and bottom borders came in a thrifted packet of fabric already assembled.

I had wanted to  quilt for many years and am amazed at how many quilts I have made in just one year and how much I have learned. On this most recent quilt, I remembered to iron it to set the stitches prior to washing it. The quilting gloves made a big difference for free motion quilting. I will need to upgrade my sewing stand for the next bed-sized quilt. In a perfect world, I would also like to upgrade to a mid-arm sewing machine.

My nine yard difficult dash was taking eight years to earn an Associate's Degree in Business. Had I calculated how long it was going to take, I would have never finished it. It was a matter of taking one class each semester, spring, summer and fall. There were prerequisites and reqs to the pre's, some courses counted toward the degree, others didn't. At least I reached the finish line.

Any dangerous or difficult tasks completed recently?