Planning for 2014 and Some QBSA Blocks

Another year is here so I thought I should get myself organised and list off my projects to keep myself accountable!  I'm taking part in the UFO challenge at Marti's 52 Quilts blog again. If you want to get yourself moving on UFOs (or other projects) I found it was a great way to do it last year.  Hopefully I'll be able to put a button up to link directly but at the moment its causing Marti some issues!

So (in no particular order!) here is my project list plus a few 'on the backburner' projects that I just want to list somewhere.

1. Broken Herringbone Quilt - finish blocks and put top together.
2. Quilt 'And Sew On' Wallhanging made last year.
3. Mariner's Compass Quilt for my brother Kym (I have ruler set I bought several years ago I want to test out!)
4. Complete and quilt QBSA swap star quilt.
5. Make more blocks using crumb scraps.
6. Use my rainbow swap charms to make a quilt.
7. Complete Cot Quilt for my niece - this is my January challenge project and is underway!
8. Make more Star Value scrappy blocks
9. Quilt Star Surround Lap Quilt
10. Make a Shadow Trapunto project from book by Geta Grama
11. Use pinwheel blocks made at sewing getaway into a project - maybe placemats?
12. Christmas swap charms - use in a project - perhaps a table runner and/or pot holders?
13. Castle Ceiling Quilt - continue handpiecing.
14. Make handbags from patterns won last year.
15. Project using mixed charms from swaps and scraps using pattern from book I have
16. Make quilt top using Peter Rabbit fabric pieces
17. Continue with QBSA block swap
18. I Spy project using swap blocks - very long term as I don't need this yet.
19. Finish watching all my Craftsy workshops I've signed up for, particularly the Leah Day ones.
20. Try quilting feathers this year!

Well that's quite a list! The first 12 are my challenge projects so they should definitely get done (in theory!).

Okay so we need something quilty to look at right? After sitting out three months due to family dramas last year, I had two swap partners this month, Karen and Coral.  Conveniently both were after blue and white blocks, Karen wanted Churn Dash for a charity quilt with a masculine feel. I made her two blocks:

 

Coral is a new member and asked for any star block in blue and white. She is also making a charity quilt so I also sent her two blocks to get her started:

Lastly on Christmas Eve we received an email to tell us that Kymberley, my hubby's daughter who lives in Canada, had made WWF sponsorship of a Mexican Grey Wolf on our behalf as we had recently lost our beloved dog and she felt we had been long enough without an animal! I thought it was a nice idea and after looking at a photo of a wolf thought no more of it.

To my surprise on Friday last week we received a squishy parcel that clearly wasn't the fabric I was expecting!  Instead we received this little guy in the mail:

Isn't he adorable? He's our new family pet and after much discussion of Mexican names he has been named Raoul (because as my son Simon pointed out that you can make it sound like a wolf howl! Raooooooooul!!!) although I have taken to calling him Wolfy. He's been a source of great amusement in the house, with my other son Kieran positioning him in amusing situations such as reading the TV guide, looking out the window, watching TV etc.  He even paid a visit to Murray Bridge to see George, my father-in-law, in the nursing home to the great amusement of Reg, who shares the room with him.  I'm happy to say he has brightened up our home so a big thank you to Kymberley and Scott!

What was your favourite Christmas gift this year?

Well, off to get working on my January project a bit more, that baby will be arriving soon and will need that quilt!

Thanks for reading my blog,