End of Year Progress Report

A few months back I reviewed my goals for 2012 and was making good progress.  Then I made up a list of projects I wanted to do:

1. Finish binding on wildflower wallhanging - to send to Canada for Christmas - Done - received and happy campers all round!
2. Red, Black & White swap block quilt - finish quilting and bind - another Christmas pressie - this seriously needs a new name - anyone got any suggestions?  Named 'Red All About It', finished, gifted, loved it!
3. Craftsy BOM quilt - sandwich, quilt & bind - yet another Christmas pressie! Finished, gifted, another happy camper!
4. Wallhanging for mother-in-law - piece border, sandwich, quilt & bind - and yes, another Christmas pressie - eeek!  Finished, gifted, loved it!
5. Native floral table runner - maybe to send overseas(?) 
6. Native wildflower quilt - finish quilting and bind - not necessarily for Christmas but it would be nice if it was done so I could shock surprise my other half by finishing it! 
7. Star Quilt - sandwich, quilt, bind and use! (This quilt is for me - the first one I've made especially for me so I want it done before next winter!)
8. Continue piecing hand stitched blue Cathedral Ceiling quilt - long term project for our room - no rush on this one!
9. Pillow for Kieran using leftover Chinese symbol to go with his dragon quilt.
10. Pillow for Simon using penguin fabric I bought online too long ago.
11. Doggy quilts for Molly before old blanket falls apart.
12. Bag each for Kerry and Sue - preferably for Christmas this year but unlikely so maybe for next year!
13. Crumb Quilt from tiny scraps -maybe on sewing retreat in March?
14. Rainbow string blocks -maybe on sewing retreat in March?
15. Rainbow quilt with rainbow charms from Quilt Club Australia charm swap - by end of March?
16. Baby quilt using Peter Rabbit squares - just because they're there and need using. Donate somewhere?
17. Quilt for Auntie Betty - tube quilt?
18. Mariner's Compass quilt using ruler set bought in 2011!
19. Shadow Trapunto Quilt from Geta Grama's book
20. Scrap quilt using charms from swaps and my scrap squares
21. I Spy quilt
22. Christmas Charms - project to use them on - placemats?

Okay, so clearly I've been sitting around doing nothing for months! I guess I have my to do list for 2013 then!

Maybe I should look back and see exactly what I have been doing all year, I mean I must have been doing something, right?

Well first there's Quilting Block Swap Australia - I've made 14 (I think!) blocks for the monthly swaps and 3 (again I think!) Swap Angel blocks. Here's one of my favourites of the ones I made this year:

Finally finished this dragon quilt for Kieran - I really love this quilt!

I made my first bag on my first sewing retreat:

Joined a mug rug swap (another first!) and made this for Kathy:

I learned to free motion quilt and quilted this for my mother-in-law:

Made this for my friend's mum who is battling cancer:

Made two of these for gifts:

 Made this star quilt for me - the first I've made for myself - naturally its not finished yet! I will definitely be quilting this soon!

I turned 50! Had a fabulous fiftieth getaway to celebrate - loved it!

Made this for my mother-in-law for Christmas:

Started and finished the Craftsy BOM - woohoo!

Made this for my step-daughter and her hubby in Canada - they apparently love it!

Finished my first QBSA quilt (well some of the blocks are swaps and some are mine!)

 So I guess I have been doing something after all!  Lots of firsts for me.  This would have been my most productive year since I started quilting. Another first, this is the first year I would say I have started and finished any quilt in the same year and I've done a few this year so I'm very happy with my progress!

Oh, nearly forgot! I also made bags for my sister-in-law Kerrie's ward at her hospital.  This is a few of them, I made some this size for drains for breast cancer patients and some smaller ones to hold some gadget the cardiac patients need to hang around their neck when they get out of bed.

Now just have to keep the momentum going and see how much I accomplish next year - bring on 2013!

Happy New Year!

Phew! Glad Christmas is Done!

Well I don't know about you but I feel like the last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind, trying to do the present shopping, finishing some projects for gifts, organise the food for Christmas lunch at our house, etc etc! Now its done and I have two weeks off, I'm really hoping to relax a bit and do some sewing that I want to do.  I do have one job to finish and that's some little curtains for an aunty but as she's away until the end of January I have a bit of time for those.

Now I don't think I've posted the final photos of my last project for Christmas, my black red and white quilt. I finally decided to call it 'Red All About It'. Black, white and red kept sending my mind to the old joke, "What's black, white and red all over? - a Newspaper!".  Newspaper didn't seem like much of a name so in a play on words I changed Read all about it to 'Red All About It'!  I have to say I find naming my quilts harder than making them, what about you?

Anyway, here is a photo - the quilt will be going to my step-daughter Angela and her husband Erik but we won't see them until Saturday.  I hope they like it!

This quilt is made up of both blocks which I made and also blocks made for me by my swap partners in the Quilting Block Swap Australia group. I joined in January and started with any block in black, red and white.

Thanks to all my lovely swap partners. I love how it turned out! You can read more about which ones are from who here.

 I quilted it in a variegated black and white thread after having no end of trouble with some all black thread which insisted on breaking all the time. I tried a different brand in the variegated and that was a lot better. I would have preferred black, white and red variegated but unfortunately couldn't get any so had to make do.

This is the back. It looks a little washed out in this photo but the striped fabric is much brighter than it appears in this photo.  

I think this is my favourite block of the ones that I made. I think a quilt of these in all different colours would be great. Perhaps rainbow colours on white or even black? Hmmm, something to think about there!

Hope you had a lovely Christmas and will also now get some time for sewing too!

Thanks for visiting my blog today,
Cheers,

A Couple of Christmas Finishes!

Well its been a crazy month and I have been busy trying to finish projects and other things and have sadly neglected my blogging and I apologise!  I had several items I wanted to give at Christmas and I'm happy to say that I have finished 3 out of 4 and the last one is nearly there - just pulling all those dratted threads through and then a wash and that one will be done too!

The first one 'A Bunch of Aussies' I posted about here but I realised I took the photos before I pulled through all the threads (so glad to be finished I think!) so this photo is a little better.  Its been mailed to Canada and I'm waiting to hear its arrived.

Then I finished a small project for my mother-in-law Betty.  I'm really happy with the way this turned out and I hope she likes it too!

What quilt would be complete without a label?

My other big finish is my Craftsy BOM - Yay! I managed to get stuck into the quilting and got it all done in record time (for me)! Ta da - Sampler for Serena!

Sorry the photo is a bit fuzzy. It was quite windy and nearly impossible to get a still shot!

I tried a new (again for me) all machine stitched binding and I have to say I will definitely be doing that again. So much faster than the traditional method.  Here are some close ups of some of the blocks to show (off) the quilting!

And, of course, the label.  You can see the fancy stitch I used to finish the binding.

I'm really happy with how this one turned out.  Now to finish pulling those threads through and then I can get some photos of my last finish for Christmas!

Thanks for reading my blog,