Finish-A-Long Fourth Quarter Finishes 2012

The fourth quarter of Quilter in the Gap's 2012 Finish-A-Long is drawing to a close, and I'm cutting it just a bit close reporting in!

Christmas lap quilt - Now known as "Maisy", I had only the center nine blocks done when my list was posted. Basicly I strip pieced WOF strips cut between 1" and 3" wide, then cut them into rectangular blocks. There was no real plan in organizing the fabric other than separating all my strips into three stacks by value. I humbly confess I was so much more pleased with the end result than I expected to be. And it coordinates lovely with our Christmas tree skirt, just as I'd hoped.

Mod Pop - I joined Leanne/shecanquilt's QAL on a whim and was midway through piecing the curves when this quarter began. Confession here is I struggled with accuracy on the curves, even with all the helpful hints. So I kind of drug my feet getting this done, but was rewarded by the enjoyment in quilting it. I used two different threads, and quilted both echo-stitching with my walking foot (the light gray parts) and free-motion (the purple parts).

Binary -  The blocks for this quilt were made by the Modern Blocks Bee. I stalled on this one until last weekend when I came up with an uncomplicated layout. Lap size, it was pretty quick to quilt up. Adding the matched binding was a little something extra that seemed to finish it off just right.

Modern Crosses quilt - There's no good reason this one isn't done, except that I let it happen. I wish I hadn't, but that's that, and I'm trying to make it up as quickly as I can. It has an appointment with a longarm next week, so it's my goal to make that appointment.

I have 25 blocks done. The remaining 35 are on the ironing board in some form or another. This one will go right to the top of my First Quarter 2013 list.

So that's a wrap on the 2012 Finish-A-Long. A big thank you to Rhonda for hosting this fun and motivating event!

A review of my previous quarters' finishes can be found here, here, and here. 

W.i.P. Wednesday

Two weeks from this W.i.P. Wednesday, Christmas will be over! SO much still to do!

Completed Projects
Ruby Star Wrapping - The Simple Drawstring Bag had a slow start but ended up being just delightful and I hope to make a few more.

December do.Good Stitches blocks - Shown in last week's Random post, they were mailed off today!

More Brrr! Potholders - Love this simple design, and I love making them in pairs!

A Maisy Quilt - This was my proudest finish of the week! Not only is it on my fourth quarter Finish-A-Long list (two done!), but it coordinates with the tree skirt I made last year. In the reveal post where there's plenty of pics, I failed to mention that the initial fabrics came from Nancy Halvorsen's Jingle All the Way, so there are really "Christmas" fabrics in there, though several stash favorites were also included. Unconventional as it is, I'm super pleased with it and love it in our living room.

Ongoing projects
Modern Crosses quilt - It may not look like much, but I have all the remaining blocks started - over 10 yards of continuous piecing! Now time to cut apart and press.{oh joy}

Snack Sack minis - Haven't touched these yet. In addition, I have several other littles in a variety of stages . . .

Falling Flakes stocking - I loved this pattern by imagine gnats, and have the front and back of this one quilted.

A Zakka frame purse without the pleat.

And some Zakka potholders.

Plus other Christmas surprises are in the works!

Upcoming projects
* Christmas!
* more frame purses
* Ruby Star Wrapping
* Binary quilt using blocks from Modern Blocks Bee
* scrappy Metrolink - January?
* Polaroid block projects - January?
* placemats

Linking up with W.i.P. Wednesday.

A Maisy Quilt for Christmas

This time last year, in fact on the very day, I shared the "updated" tree skirt I had made. {The pattern is Wonderland by Empty Bobbin.}

I loved the fabrics and somewhat unusual palette of the tree skirt and planned early on in this year that I'd make a lap quilt to coordinate with it. I considered pattern options for quite a while, but when I saw The Maisy Quilt by Karyn of make something (and the workroom) I stopped looking.

Source: makesomething.ca; used by permission.

This was the inspiration for my new quilt. I loved the way the same block was used throughout, yet the center used lighter fabrics, the sides were more medium, and the top and bottom darker. And I thought the pattern would harmonize well with that of the tree skirt.

I started with the dimensions Karyn used, making wonky strip blocks 9 1/2" x 10 1/2", basically working from the center out.

For backing, I chose Aneela Hoey's Cherry Christmas Circle Wreaths Advent Grey, and I am really pleased with the calm it gives the quilt, while still adding a festive touch. Quilting was organic straight-line with my standby Aurifil light gray 50wt. For binding, I used the same Starburst by Alice Kennedy as I used on the tree skirt - still a very favorite fabric. 

 

As I was finishing the quilt, I was debating on a name for it. In my mind, it was a Maisy quilt, and I wrote to Karyn about naming mine after hers. She was totally open to that, but let me know that her original inspiration came from Denyse Schmidt's book Denyse Schmidt Quilts, and her 'Hop, Skip & a Jump' quilt. And boy was I surprised at all the HSJ quilts out there! I made a flickr gallery with several I found - see here. And I even found an online tutorial by Denyse for a similar quilt here.

In the end, none of the HSJ quilts I saw had the same sense of value that drew me to the Maisy in the first place.

So Maisy it is.

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday. This quilt was also on my fourth quarter Finish-A-Long list!