Jammin' in January

 Greetings! It is hard to believe that January is nearly over. I have been trying not to start anything new, but instead focusing on my UFOs and WIPs. My favorite WIP right now is the Spelling Bee Sew Along. I have actually started to work ahead on my letters in order to restrain myself from starting something new. Yesterday, we were tasked with the M blocks. It is my goal not to repeat any of the fabrics I use in my letters!

 As part of my thinking ahead, I made a school bus block--the smaller size with the plan to use it in the label of my Spelling Bee Quilt. It is so cute!

I got my first blocks completed for Fat Quarter Shop's Clementine Quilt Along. Block instructions will post on the 25th of each month. I have a link on my right hand side bar for information about this Quilt Along fundraiser for St. Jude.

 I think my Drop Everything and Make It--DREAMi!

  http://www.mmmquilts.com/2018/01/dreami-12.html

for January was this sweet Valentine's pillow. I made it in an afternoon from Sherri's tutorial you can find here:

http://www.aquiltinglife.com/2018/01/valentines-pillow-tutorial.html

My January One Monthly Goal (OMG) was my Chains of Love Quilt. This was a UFO from last year  and I got it done earlier in the month. It looks fabulous on my couch in the living room with my new Valentine's pillows. Check out everyone's January OMGs here:

http://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2018/01/one-monthly-goal-january-finish-link-up.html

I love to hand bind quilts especially in the winter when I can burrow under them to watch TV on the couch with my dogs in the evening. I bind quilts for one of my local quilt shops and I earn a discount that way. One of my friends who works at the LQS knows I love to bind, and I always tell her I would be happy to bind for her. She finally took me up on my offer. She gave me two quilts--both massive! This one was more than 440+ inches of binding and I finished it up last night. She is in the market to purchase her own longarm and we are planning on trading longarm quilting for my hand binding--sounds like a perfect trade to me! I will get started on her other quilt today for Slow Sunday Stitching:

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.ca/2018/01/slow-sunday-stitching_28.html

I made an impulse buy the other evening! It is probably not a good idea to have a credit card on file with Etsy... I have admired this quilt for a few years. It is called Postcard from Sweden. There was a quilt along last year and I regretted not making it then, so when I saw that Sandra from mmm! quilts has a quilt along planned to start on Valentine's Day--I immediately started looking to find a kit to buy. Then, I found a kit to make the bigger version and it included free shipping, so I caved and bought it.  If you are interested in joining the quilt along, the information is here:

http://www.mmmquilts.com/2018/01/postcard-from-sweden-quilt-along.html

This is where I bought my kit--it makes the bigger version and had free shipping:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/546267180/postcard-from-sweden-quilt-kit-35-fat?ref=shop_home_feat_1

I am heading in to my sewing room to prep another UFO for quilting--I need to keep jammin'!

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Clementine Quilt Along Month 1

Welcome! I am thrilled to have been selected to participate in the Fat Quarter Shop's Clementine Quilt Along this year. This quilt along is sponsored to raise funds for St. Jude. I decided to use the fabrics from April Rosenthal's Mama's Cottage line. I love to play with my scraps, so I am thinking I will make a second quilt with some scraps from my over flowing bins--after all the scrappier the better in my book!

This month, we are each making two blocks of Watermelon Wheel--one finishes 20 inches and the other finishes 12 inches. You can find the instructions to make this block here:

https://blog.fatquartershop.com/2018/01/clementine-quilt-along-month-1-watermelon-wheel.html

Fat Quarter Shop is suggesting a $5 donation for each month's pattern. Here is the link to donate:

http://fundraising.stjude.org/site/TR?fr_id=86522&pg=entry

Here is a list of all the quilters participating:

*April of April Rosenthal (@amrosenthal)

Bonnie of Sunset Family Living (@sunsetfamilyliving)

Cara of That Crafty Cara (@thatcraftycara)
Carrie of Moda Cutting Table (@modafabrics)

Denise of Pieced Brain (@piecedbrain)

Elise of Elise and Emelie (@eliseandemelie)

Gina of Carpe Quiltin (@gina_tell_carpequiltin)

Heather of A Creative Pursuit (@acreativemama)

Hilary of By Hilary Jordan (@byhilaryjordan)

Jan of Cocoa Quilts (@cocoaquilts)

Jen of Heritage Threads (@heritage.threads)

Joanne of Quilts by Joanne (@turtlequilterjo)

Kairle of Kairle Oaks Handcrafted Goodness (@kairleoaks)

Kendra of Good Starter (@good_starter)

Kristen of 3 in the Nest (@threeinthenestraleigh)

Kristina of Center Street Quilts (@centerstreetquilts)

Leah of Ponderings from My Heart (@ponderingsfrommyheart)

Melanie of A Bit of Scrap Stuff (@mellierc)

Melissa of Happy Quilting (@happyquiltingmc)

Pat of Pat Sloan (@quilterpatsloan)

Pat B. of Life in the Scrapatch (@scrapatches)

Patty of Elm Street Quilts (@elmstreetquilts)

Rebecca of One Wee Bird (@oneweebird)

Sarah of 123 Quilt (@123quilt)

Seema of SSK Craft Shop (@sskcraftshop)

Sherri of A Quilting Life (@aquiltinglife)

Sondra of Out of the Blue Quilts (@sondradavison)

Stephanie of Quilt 'n Party (@quiltnparty)

Teresa of Aurea's Kitchen (@aureaskitchen)

Vickie of Crocheting Vixen (@crochetingvixen)

I hope you are inspired to join us and make a gorgeous quilt to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital!

Strawberry Social Quilt

 I finished my 2015 UFO--Strawberry Social! I quilted it and bound it this month. I am on a mission to slay my many, many UFOs. #ufoslayer

 I just straight line quilted it on my Pfaff vertically with the help of my walking foot and my extra wide foot as a guide. I used navy thread because of the the background, but it shows more in the strawberries and greens than I am used to.

 The straight line quilting is simple and modern and goes well with the design--plus I can actually do it myself!

The backing is a busy strawberry print that hides my quilting. This quilt did shrink quite a bit probably because of the dense quilting. It is now 48ish by 63ish inches.

 Even though, I am trying not to start any new big projects, I have allowed myself a small project here and there. I made this Welcome Mug Rug using the six inch block pattern found in Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage. I love the Bonnie & Camille fabrics and the colors match my sewing room where I am using it.

I took Thursday off to spend the morning with my daughter before she caught her plane back to college. We enjoyed her month long visit for winter break and it was hard to say goodbye! I consoled myself with a trip to one of our local quilt shops--they had recently moved and I had not been to the new location. Their new location is all one level which is an improvement. They had a lot of fabric on sale and I picked up each of these fabrics for $2.75 a yard--I bought them all! Customer service can be a little lacking at this shop, but I am happy to report it seems to have improved.

After getting home from the airport and quilt shop, I needed a distraction project. Sherri came to my rescue with the tutorial she had just posted on her blog for this Valentine's pillow. I made mine fit a square 14 inch pillow form because that was what I had on hand. Here is a link, if you want to make one too:

http://www.aquiltinglife.com/2018/01/valentines-pillow-tutorial.html

 Since it is Saturday, the new Spelling Bee Blocks were posted. #spellingbeesaturday I made the little car in red like my own VW Bug and I made my camper in grays like the vintage Airstreams I like.

 Happy mail came today! I received my kit and backing for the Fat Quarter Shop's Clementine Sew Along. I am honored to have been selected to sew along and post my blocks in this charity to benefit St. Jude. Here is a link for more information:

https://blog.fatquartershop.com/clementine-quilt-along.html

For Slow Sunday Stitching, I am embroidering my label for my Bee In My Bonnet Row Along Quilt.

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.ca

 This is another old UFO that I hope to slay very soon...

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Maintaining Momentum

Unfortunately, I have many UFOs--most are in need of quilting. Fortunately, I have several kits and fat quarter bundles that are waiting to become works in progress. I am trying to avoid starting anything new--it is difficult! The good news is I have gotten my mojo on tackling some of these UFOs. My first UFO finish is my Chains of Love Quilt. I started this last year and whipped the top right up, but ran into some problems with the machine quilting--of course, it languished. I got it all machine quilted by taking some time to redo the pin basting and marked it with a Frixon pen for the crosshatch quilting. It is all bound, washed, and ready to display for Valentine's Day decorating. It is 44.5 inches square. This was my January OMG goal, so it feels great to have that done half way into the month!

As I went into my sewing room yesterday, I was tempted to start a new project for the three day weekend. Instead, I dug out one of my oldest UFOs--my Quilty Fun Row Quilt. I had this top together in a couple of weeks back in July 2013--this was back when the blocks were still freebies on Lori Holt's Bee In My Bonnet Blog.  I hit a wall with the borders and the quilting. I was indecisive about doing the borders it called for. 4+ years of indecisiveness is enough. I added the narrow red borders yesterday and will be working on the pieced turquoise borders today. So much time has passed the white fabric seems to have yellowed, but the whites in the borders are not touching--I think it will be ok after washing and it really only shows in the bright sunshine. I am thinking I will quilt it myself horizontally either with a straight line stitch every inch or with my wavy stitch. This is NOT going to languish any more! After all, Done Is Better Than Perfect!

This UFO--my Strawberry Social Quilt was pieced at a retreat back in July 2015. I had a backing that a friend gave me, but again it got shoved aside because of quilting. I decided to quilt it myself vertically with a straight stitch. Thanks to the two football games yesterday, I am almost done with the hand binding. I will do some Slow Sunday Stitching and finish the binding and sew the hanger down too.

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.ca/2018/01/slow-sunday-stitching.html

I got to gift this beauty this week to one of my dear teacher friends Sue! Her daughter gave birth to her first granddaughter, Kimberly, on Monday. I made this on a whim in February of last year. It is a Curved Log Cabin design and I am tempted to start making some more blocks as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2018--I want to make a bigger one to keep!

These two L blocks whipped up so quickly for the Spelling Bee Sew Along yesterday. 

I am looking forward to having Monday off and I am taking Thursday off to spend the morning with my daughter and get her to the airport to go back to college--I will try to head into my sewing room that afternoon. Hopefully, I can slay another UFO!

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2018 Plans

 Welcome, I hope your 2018 is off to a fabulous start! I go back to work tomorrow, but I managed to make the most of this time off. I made this table topper from start to finish yesterday. It is made from Bonnie & Camille's Spools 2 pattern. It will go on top of my new glass front quilt cabinet in my sewing room. My sewing room's decor is black, turquoise, and red. It is my second finish for 2018.

Lots of new quilt alongs and BOMs are beginning, but I am trying to restrain myself and focus on my UFOs and other commitments. I will continue with the weekly Spelling Bee Sew Along using Lori Holt's Spelling Bee. Here is the link:

https://blog.fatquartershop.com/spelling-bee-quilt-along.html

We are up to the letter K and I made those blocks yesterday.

#spellingbeesaturday

My other sew along commitment is Clementine from the Fat Quarter Shop. My blog will be featured on their quilt along. I am so excited to participate in this fundraiser for St. Jude. Here is the link for information:

https://blog.fatquartershop.com/clementine-quilt-along.html

I have so many UFOs. They are mostly completed tops, but need to be quilted. First up is Chains of Love--I want this to be up on display for Valentine's Day, so I am making it my January OMG (One Monthly Goal). Here is the link

http://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2018/01/one-monthly-goal-january-goal-setting.html

I actually got it quilted this week along with two other UFOs. I hope to work on binding it today for Slow Sunday Stitching:

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-new-year-of-slow-sunday-stitching.html

My daughter is home from college until the 18th. We have been enjoying lots of cuddling and home cooked meals--our dogs are in heaven with all of her attention!

Have a great week!

Ciao 2017--Denver Bronco Quilt Done

 Happy New Year! I squeezed in one last finish for 2017--our Denver Broncos Quilt. I used a pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew called Touchdown along with the letters and jerseys from Spelling Bee by Lori Holt. Here is a link to the Touchdown pattern:

https://cluckclucksewshop.com/products/touchdown-143-pdf-pattern

I used the throw size and then made the six inch letters from the Lori Holt book.

For the backing, I made two jerseys from the book with some adjustments to look like John Elway's #7 and Peyton Manning's #18. My hubby requested Bronco fabric, so I combined a some orange and some blue into the pieced backing. He was really pleased with the backing and says it is reversible!

 I quilted it horizontally with my wavy stitch on my Pfaff. I followed the lines of the sashing.

 I think this is the biggest quilt I have ever done on my domestic Pfaff. It measures 57 x 86 inches. It was big enough for hubby and I to cuddle under for the final Bronco game. It was a rough season for the Broncos, but hopefully 2018 will be better.

 The hardest part was the Bronco helmets! I had to come up with my own appliqué design for the logo and reverse it. I had planned to make two more for the bottom where is spells out BRONCOS, but the helmets were a little too big. Two helmets were more than enough!

I hand embroidered the label information between the jerseys and it was completed in 2017! My last finish for 2017.

This morning, I completed my first project for 2018--an I ❤ U pillow using the Spelling Bee  book. It measures 12 x 16 inches and is already on my living room couch. I have another UFO to finish up before I start on some new goodies--glad I have this week off.

Happy 2018!