Tag Archive | finish a long 2014

Coastal Cruiser

I am busy working on some Christmas presents for this year, because as we all know handmade presents are the best! First on my finishes for this year’s Christmas is a pillow for my brother in law.

My bother in law loves VW vans (well so does my Husband for that matter) and has been restoring one for the last few years. I knew when I saw the Coastal cruiser by Tula Pink pattern last year that it would be perfect for him, but at the time he was living with a bunch of guys and I had a feeling that a throw pillow would not be highly appreciated. He has since moved and I was told that his living room needed some color, so I am hoping this pillow will do trick.

The van is done in raw edge applique and I hand embroidered the logo before putting it on the pillow. I love the way the colours turned out – like a van driving down the beach. The only thing I think it is missing – a surfboard on the roof!

Well, that is one more thing to cross of my Finish a long list for this year! Now onto the second pillow!

Link ups: Lets Bee Social, Sew Cute Tuesday, Needle and Thread Thursday

Friendly Foxes

Oct27

Apparently I am in love with all things foxy at the moment and have finished my second fox quilt this year! This quilt has been delivered to its new owner – an absolutely adorable girl that belongs to friends. We had visited them late in the summer as they were getting ready for their little one to arrive and I noticed that there was as stuffed fox in with the baby items. At the time they didn’t know if they were having a boy or a girl so I wanted something gender neutral. I had just been getting ready to make the Fox and Friends quilt for someone else and upon ordering the fabric I also came across the kit for Kona Fox Kits by Sew Fresh Quilts at Mad About Patchwork. I thought it was cute so decided to give it a try.

I must admit I did not like this quilt as I was putting it together. I kept adding the leaves and piecing parts and still didn’t like the overall look. However I am happy the say that once it was quilted and washed that I loved it and was happy that I didn’t through the whole thing in a pile and move onto something else!

I decided to embroider her name onto the tree like someone had carved it. Then came the quilting, I really wanted to accent the overall design of the quilt and keep the quilting to a minimum (I was working with a minky back and wanted it to stay soft, not to mention I started the quilting with just over a week before to go before we would be delivering the quilt).

I quilted bark on the tree, veins on the leaves and outlined the foxes. Then filled in the rest with simple straight lines, which gave both the front and back of the quilt a great effect.

The foxes are so cute and friendly even the deer are not afraid!

This is my first finish off my Finish a Long quarter 4 list (found here). Now I had better get working on those Christmas projects.

Link ups this week: Fabric Tuesday, Sew Cute Tuesday, Lets Be Social

Finish-a-long 2014 Q4

Oct8

Well I didn’t finish all my projects last quarter (I actually did better than I thought I would, which is great). This quarter is all about getting ready for the holidays – for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to make a lot of gifts this year (smart right). Most of these projects are presents for people, so I am not posting too much detail (I doubt most the recipients read this blog, but just to be careful).

1. A Coastal Cruiser pillow. (Finished – Nov. 20th)

2. A Pillow (this one will go with the Coastal Cruiser house, so it has the same background, but will have a different subject) (Finished – Nov 24th)

3. Stockings – With the new addition to our household this year we need another stocking. As my husband and I don’t have any at our house (Christmas was usually spent with one set of parents or the others) I need to make us some as well – at least they will all match! (Finished – Dec 19th)

4. Baby quilt – This quilt is for a special little baby that decided to arrive early – guess she couldn’t wait to meet her parents! That being said now her quilt really needs to done and it is still in pieces (all the pieces have not yet been cut either!). (Finished – Oct 27th)

5. This quilt from my Guild’s Mystery Quilt series needs to be quilted and bound so it can go to its new home this Christmas.

6. A custom quilt for a friend! I have made several baby quilts for her (she loves to give them as shower presents) and I finally get to make on for her to keep!

7. Why not through this on (would be nice to have it for Halloween) as it just needs to be quilted and bound! I would love to be able to snuggle with my Ghastlies soon!

8. I also have a Ghastlies mug rug that needs to be finished for a present (no pic sorry as I am sure this person looks at the blog!).

Oh dear, 8 projects in less than three months – I better get to work! Hopefully I don’t get distracted with too many side projects over the coming months, although I am sure there will be a few of those as well.

Pillow Talk

Sep16

Another finish! I love how finishing off a project that has sat around the sewing room (mostly finished) give you a sense of accomplishment and the energy to keep going on other projects. This pillow was that project for me. It is an orphan block from a quilt (that is sitting waiting to be quilted) that I decided would make a good pillow – then it sat. I have been working on several new projects for various people recently and feeling like I am not getting anything done (especially with a new baby in the house), so I needed something that I would be able to finish in a couple of naps.

I decided to practice my paisley quilting on this pillow, as I love the look but am still not confident enough to do it on a quilt. I think it turned out fairly well, and while it was time consuming it didn’t take as long as I had initially thought.

Now that I feel like I have accomplished something I feel ready to tackle the rest of the quilts that are waiting with deadlines that are coming up soon!

This is my third finish for this quarter’s Finish a-long 2014 (original list here)! Woo hoo!

Linking up to Needle and thread Thursday, Lets Be Social, Sew Cute Tuesday, Fabric Tuesday, I quilt Thursday,

Monkey Christmas

Sep3

I know it is a bit early to be thinking about Christmas, but I am thrilled to finally have this quilt finished. It started 3 years ago when my Husband picked me up some sock monkey fabric with elf monkeys on it! I started looking and found some fabric to go with it and figured out a design. Then it sat, and sat and waited for me to get to it. I came across it almost a year later and fell in love again. This time I got it pieced together in just a couple weeks, and it sat again.

Months later I got it out and did some quilting – strings of Christmas lights! Again other projects came up and this one sat in the to do pile, waiting to be trimmed and bound. I am excited to have this quilt for Christmas this year, finally after years of waiting!