Lest we forget . . .

Remember this? (Scroll down.) I nearly finished it in February. It just needed binding. In fact, I got the binding on it about a week into March. And then I kept forgetting to blog about it. So here it finally is. Elizabeth Hartman's Paintbox QAL.

My helpers were being silly.

Loopy meander again. Not enough gray to finish the binding. I chose gray because there are SO MANY colors in this already, and I couldn't choose one over another. Black was going to be too heavy. I like how the gray turned out.

The lovely back.

Silly helpers again.

My oldest has adopted this as her favorite quilt. For now. I've got a crazy circle quilt top that she has her eye on. Unfortunately, it's not on my list of UFOs to finish this year. :/

I already took this one off of my number, so it will not be going down at all. The previous two quilts didn't even make the list, so my number didn't go down with those either. And I have other baby quilts that I need to start (and, of course, FINISH) that will not reduce my number either. But I am happy to see it in the 60s. Hoping it will at least stay there or creep into the 50s. I want to be able to start new projects guilt-free. Ha ha. :)

Jack's Quilt

Does this look familiar? It's the leftovers of this quilt. Of course, there are still more leftovers. I do love all these colors together. This one was for my son's first-grade teacher who was also my second daughter's first grade teacher. Her husband was my oldest daughter's 7th grade history teacher and my oldest son's football coach. So, you see, we have connections. It's their first baby, and they needed something special. I don't always give quilts to my kids' teachers.

A lot of Riley Blake's Wheels in there, plus some It's a Hoot by Momo, some Riley Blake Rainy Days and Mondays, Love Birds, plus some orange that I dyed myself. The back is a Michael Miller robot print.

Loopy meander -- my go-to pattern.

Bound in brown Quilter's Only.

Already in its new home.

MY Easy as Pie

I have been out for quite a while. Two weeks of my MIA status can be accounted for by the flu, during which no sewing and very little standing or sitting took place. After that it has been catch-up as well as making samples for some classes I will be teaching here. They aren't scheduled yet, and we just have beginner classes added for now. But keep checking back, because I'm ramping up.

Anyway, so I finished my Easy as Pie quilt from Amanda Jean's tutorial. I never put it on my list, and I was hoping to finish MUCH sooner than I did. Again, I'm going to blame it on the flu. But it is done now and getting ready to be wrapped and given to its intended owner.

All from my stash -- including backing and binding. The backing wasn't quite enough, so I added a single row of coins to widen it -- just leftovers from what I cut for the front.

The girl's favorite colors are blue and purple, so I'm hoping she loves it. I quilted a loopy meander in grey.

Using my stash

You may know that Amanda Jean is trying to help us use our stash this year by offering a free pattern each month of quick ways to use up what we've got. Well, I need to do that AND I need to whittle down my scraps, but this is the year of the FINISH. I'm focusing on my UFOs, so I haven't been making Amanda Jean's lovely patterns. Until this month. Well, it was March's pattern, but she posted on the 31st of March, and I read it on the 1st of April.

This is her Easy As Pie pattern, and let me tell you -- it IS. I read the post last Friday and made the top the same day. I am posting it now only because I already had two posts on Friday for my UFO Challenge (which is coming along quite nicely, thank you for asking). My oldest daughter has a friend who has been driving her home from theater practices, performances, and competitions for the past couple of years. It has helped me so greatly that I am making her a quilt as a thank you. Since I am notorious for not finishing things (!), I decided it had better be something quick and easy.

Her favorite colors are blue and purple. And I have a lot of purple right now thanks to Jill. Well, it has diminished just a little thanks to Amanda Jean. Here's hoping I'm so speedy that I don't even have to add it to my sidebar. ;)

Birdie Stitches #2

I finished this in February, but I don't think I ever posted it. I made the block for March, but I haven't even drawn it on the muslin yet. And now April's is ready. I'll have to catch up. :/

March's 2011 UFO Challenge #2

Stacked coins from a jelly roll I won a couple years ago. It's Spring Magic by April Cornell.

Each coin is 2"x5" finished. There are 35 coins in each stack. The sashing and borders are also 5" finished. There are 6 coin stacks. The finished quilt is approximately 65"x80" before washing. This is a Quilter's Only solid. I think it's called Honeydew, but I'm not sure. :/ Can you see my organic line quilting? Also a first for me. I did three lines in each coin and did not quilt on the seams. I did not continue the lines from edge to edge, but left the borders free. I then just quilted around the border with three lines to sort of frame it. I LOVE how it turned out.

I may not be the only one who feels that way. :)

March's 2011 UFO Challenge #1

I was going to show you all this last week -- when it was in progress -- but I never made it happen.

And now it looks like this. All finished in time for Judy's 2011 Challenge! It's made from Nicey Jane and uses Amy Butler's Lotus Brick Path pattern -- except I made mine into a quilt instead of a throw with tassels and no batting.

Large pebble quilting -- my first time. I'm surprised at how quickly it went -- very easy -- and I LOVE the way it pops on the quilt.

All those polka dots on the back, mmmm.