2016 Finish-A-Long :: Q4 Finishes Link-Up

Hard to believe, but it's time for the 4th quarter of the 2016 FAL to come to a close. Your global hosts have so enjoyed hosting the FAL this year. Thank you for sewing along with us!

• Debbie - A Quilter's Table - USA (me!)

• Jess - Elven Garden Quilts - Australia

• Stacey - SLOstudio - Canada

• Jennie - Clover & Violet - USA

• Helen - Archie the Wonder Dog - UK

• Nicky - Mrs. Sew & Sow - UK

• Cindy - Fluffy Sheep Quilting - Ireland

• Rhonda - Rhonda's [Quilt] Ramblings - USA

• Leanne - She Can Quilt - Canada

Before we link up our Q4 finishes, a huge thank you to our fantastic and generous sponsors:

Fluffy Sheep Quilting - €25 (25 Euro) gift certificate	Green Fairy Quilts - $25 gift certificate	Clover & Violet LLC - choice of 3 patterns
Christa Quilts 4 pack of patterns	Oakshott Fabrics - £75 (75 Pounds) gift certificate	On the Windy Side, pattern pack
Studio 39 Fabrics - $25 Gift Certificate	The Tartankiwi - choice of 3 patterns	Make Modern Magazine - 6 month subscription
Mad About Patchwork - $40 gift certificate	Knotted Thread, $30 gift certificate	Happy Quilting - choice of 3 patterns
Porch Swing Quilts, 2 winners, 3 patterns each	Sunny Day Supply - $30 gift certificate	Laurel Bee Designs, 2 pin bowls for 1 winner
Sew me a Song, $20 gift certificate	Sew Sisters Quilt Shop, $25 gift certificate	Blossom Heart Quilts
Fat Quarter Shop, $50 gift certificate	The Quilt Ranch, $25 gift certificate	Sew Sweetness, copy of Windy City Bags
Imagine Gnats, $40 gift certificate	Simply Solids, £40 (40 Pound) gift certificate	Mariners Compass Quilt Shop, $50 gift certificate

InLinkz.com

We'll also finish off the quarter with our traditional tutorial week. Here is the schedule so you can visit them all: 

• January 1 - Debbie - A Quilter's Table ~ Organic Straight-Line Quilting 
• January 2 - Rhonda - Rhonda's [Quilt] Ramblings ~ Scrappy Flanged Binding 
• January 3 - Leanne - she can quilt ~ Improv Circles
• January 4 - Helen - Archie the Wonder Dog ~ Adding Accurate 1/4" Strips to Your Work
• January 5 - Jennie - Clover & Violet ~ Wavy Line Quilting Video 

The 2016 Q4 link for your finishes is now open below on my blog and on each of the hosting blogs. You only need to link on one blog for your finish to appear on each blog. Here are the link-up "rules":

• Add one link for each finish. If you want to link a round up post of all your finishes, use that link to enter one of your finishes and then link the rest of your finishes separately. Please, only one link per finish, as your link is an entry into the randomly drawn prize draws.

• Please include the 2016 FAL button or the hashtag #2016FAL in your posts.

• Please ensure that the photo or blog post you link up contains a link or reference back to your original list so that we can verify your entry.

• Consider becoming part of the FAL community by perusing the links of others and commenting. We all need encouragement so let's applaud each other. The 2016 FAL Facebook page is here and do follow us on Instagram @finishlong as well. Tag your photos #2016fal and #falq2yourname (substitute your name). This makes it easy for us to match your finishes with your lists. 

• Note that our hosts will also link their finishes to share in the community, but they are not eligible for prizes.

The Q4 finishes link will stay open from now thru January 7, 2017. Link up your finishes early and if you have a last minute one, add that one later so you don't miss out. The prizes will be awarded as soon as we can verify all the entries and do the drawings, and the winners will be posted on each host's blog.

Stay tuned for the details for the 2017 FAL. We have another great global community of hosts, some continuing and many joining us for the first time. And start making your Q1 lists for the 2017 FAL, as the Q1 list link opens on January 8, 2017! Another year means more fun and even more finishes!

An InLinkz Link-up

Baconrific

Where the idea of bacon emerged as a prompt for Bee Sewcial, I have no idea. But once I thought of it, I couldn't let it go. A food-related item seemed to 'fit' for A Quilter's Table, and well.... bacon.

In The Bacon Consideration, I gathered photos of both actual and superficial bacon, offering it up to my bee-mates as inspiration. As far as palette, I suggested solids such as Kona Brick, Brown, Mocha, Chestnut, Spice, Cinnamon, Cocoa, and Caramel. If a 'background' or more neutral element was needed, I asked for off-white or natural, not white-white. Linen, shot-cotton, leather, or any other texturally-interesting substrates were most welcome. Note that when I told the group to feel free to use a mix of 'fabrics', I didn’t expect them to embrace that so strongly. They included velvet, shot cotton, linen, raw silk, hand dyed cotton, suede, quilter’s cotton, and even fuzzy selvages! 

Here are all the blocks up on the design wall, ready for the gaps to be filled in, always the trickiest part of a quilt like this.

I really liked the mix of blocks - some quite literal with their curves and all. Some much more impressionistic, like the middle block of "bacon bits." But one thing that this circle-loving group wasn't inspired to make was circles! And it came to me that the quilt needed some pancetta blocks.

I added three to the quilt, and have heard from both fans and detractors, but for better or worse, they're in there to stay. [Watch for a tutorial for this kind of layered circle block later this week.]



For quilting, I chose four bacon-imbued thread colors, Aurifil 50wt 1103 (burgandy), 2000 (beige), 2155 (cinnamon), and 2350 (copper), stitching in wavy lines across the quilt to echo that bacon essence.

The quilt, measuring 56" x 64", was finished with a faced binding, which is my favorite method for more 'artsy' quilts like this.



And then the big question loomed - where to go for a photo shoot?

Yes, the local meat market was the obvious choice! So how many of you have stood at the meat counter to pay for your bacon and steak, and posed the question, "I made a quilt inspired by bacon, so would it be ok if I took photos of it in front of your store?" Yeah. 

Much credit goes to the hubby who snagged that empty parking spot while a car was waiting to pull in, so I could get my photos!

Even more difficult than coming up with a photoshoot location was deciding on a name for this truly bacon-inspired quilt. I kept coming back to what grandgirl told me when she saw it in progress weeks ago - "It's baconrific, grammy!" And so it shall be. [Though honestly, hubby has miscalled it "baconstein" more than once, and I'm fond of that too!] 

Lastly, many thanks to Leanne, Marci, Felicity, Karen, Kari, Stephanie, Hillary, Anne, and M-R
for embracing my quirky yet distinctive prompt and working their improv magic. I for one enjoyed it immensely!

This quilt was on my Q4 FAL2016 list! Linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

2016 Finish-A-Long :: Q2 Winners!

It's time to announce the winners for the Second Quarter of the Finish-A-Long. Your global hosts have been so inspired by all the finishes of the second quarter - an amazing 677!!

Rhonda is going to email all the winners and will need to hear back from the winners by Sunday, July 24 so she can arrange to get your prize to you. If she doesn't hear from you by that date, she'll pick an alternate. So please email her at gap.rhonda@gmail.com if you see your name below so you don't miss out on your wonderful prize from our kindhearted sponsors, who we appreciate so much!

Without further ado, the winners - each picked by the random number generator - of the Q2 FAL prizes are:

The winner of the €25 (25 Euro) Gift Certificate from Fluffy Sheep Quilting goes to QuiltGranny who blogs at GRANNYcanQUILT and made this gorgeous beautiful baby quilt:

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The winner of 3 patterns from Clover & Violet is @limeleaf74 on IG who made this french press cozy:

 

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The winner of the Oakshott Fabric £75 Gift Certificate goes to Sophie who blogs at Luna Lovequilts and made this adorable tote bag:

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The winner of 3 patterns from Tartankiwi goes to Jennifer (@crimsonconfection on IG) and also has an etsy shop by the same name and made this amazing cross stitch:

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The winner of the $50 Gift Certificate to The Intrepid Thread is Kirsty (@kqdesign on IG) who also has this great weebly site and made this great quilt:

 

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The winner of the choice of 3 patterns from Happy Quilting is Kat who blogs at Kat's Craft and made this bright and beautiful C&S coin quilt:

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A $25 gift certificate from Green Fairy Quilts goes to Heather who blogs at Quilting and Beyond who stitched this fold-it bag:

 

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A copy of the full Aurora BOM Pattern from Blossom Heart Quilts goes to bee who blogs at Buzzing Around and finished this great Warhol-inspired mini:

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The $40 gift certificate from Mad about Patchwork goes to Genevieve (@theorlaproject on IG) who made and gifted this beautiful dresden quilt:

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The winner of the signed copy of The Ultmimate Guide to Machine Quilting from Christa Quilts goes to Samantha (@zipperoonihere on IG) finished this beautiful quilt:

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A $50 Gift Certificate from 7 Acres Cleared Fabric Shop goes to Angela (@angela.bacon on IG) who made a gorgeous Disney mini swap but IG won't let me copy the pic - you can find it here. If Angela sends me a copy I will add later.

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A 6-month subscription to Make Modern goes to @asquaredquilter on IG who made this great paper-pieced pillow as a birthday gift for a friend:

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The first winner of 3 patterns from Porch Swing Quilts is Izzy who blogs at Dizzy Quilts and finished this super cute mini with some great quilting:

The second winner of 3 patterns from Porch Swing Quilts is Abigail who blogs at Cut & Alter and made this beautiful mini (love the quote from Romeo & Juliet):

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The $30 gift certificate from Sunny Day Supply goes to Gretchen who blogs at 120 Blocks and made this cute table runner:

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The winner of a copy of Windy City Bags from Sew Sweetness is Judy who blogs at Sew Some Sunshine and made this super cute quilt:

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The $25 gift certificate to Sew Sisters Quilt Shop goes to Christina who blogs at Christina's Handicrafts and made this eye-catching table runner:

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The $50 Gift Certificate from Mariner's Compass Quilt Shop goes to Jantine (@urbanstylejantine on IG) who knit this great shawl by testing a pattern:

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The winner of the Pattern Pack from On the Windy Side goes to Karen (@karenlovesepp on IG) who made this great orange peel quilt:

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The $50 gift certificate from Fat Quarter Shop goes to Jo who blogs at Create the Point and finished this sweater after almost 2 full years (THIS is what the finish-a-long is ALL ABOUT):

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The winner of 2 pin bowls from Laurel Bee Designs is Pippa (@pippaspatch on IG) who made this gorgeous Siblings Together Quilt:

 

 

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The winner of the $40 gift certificate to Imagine Gnats is Nicole who blogs at Quilting like a Maniac- Relaxing through Quilting and made this Stunner:

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The winner of the $20 gift certificate from Sew Me a Song is Cheryl (@moyersminions on IG) who finished my favorite kinda quilt, a Swoon:

 

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The winner of the $30 gift certificate to Knotted Thread is Ella who blogs at ThrowAWrenchintheWorks and finished this pouch and MANY other things (seriously, Ella is a finishing rock-star):

 

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The winner of the £40 (40 Pound) Gift Certificate from Simply Solids is Francine who blogs at MochaWildChild and practiced on EQ7 by making these great pouches:

 

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The $25 gift certificate from The Quilt Ranch goes to Vera who blogs at Negligent Style and made this spectacular pillow (you really should go read the story behind the blog title):

 

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to our sponsors!! Now let's get on with Q3!