Finish Along 2016 Quarter 1 Results and Q2 list

Time sure flies and it's already time to report on the end of Quarter 1 in the Finish Along!

I have exactly 2 things complete (only 1 from my list,) but it's been a pretty busy year already. In the past few months, my family has visited Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic and Poland so I haven't gotten much sewing done, but things are settling down now I hope!

1. Commission - comfort quilt for girlfriend - Finished!

2. Baby quilt for nephew due in March - Started the Dog Gone Cute quilt with a pattern from Sew Fresh Fabrics. She hosted a sew-along at the end of last summer. 

 3. 2 gift place mats for niece and nephew - not yet started

4. Succulents wall hanging (Love & Patchwork Mag Issue 19) - fabric chosen

5. Playhouses Doll Quilt (Fat Quarterly Issue Issue 9) - partner project for me & little Bean - not yet started
6. Purple Zippered pouch birthday gift - not yet started

Q2

1. Pillowcase - My friend brought back some beautiful silk fabric from her recent trip to Dubai and asked me to make her a pillowcase. Apparently sleeping on silk is rumored to help prevent wrinkles - I'm on it! I want to make a double sided case I think, but I haven't worked it out yet. 

2. Doggie Quilt for nephew - I have 3 more doggies that are already cut out and just need to be put together. I'm hoping to get this one done pretty quickly.

3.  1 hour basket - this will be baby themed and go along with quilted gifts.

4. (2) gift place mats - still for my niece and nephew

5. Pouches - need to make 2

6. Playhouses Doll Quilt - hope to make time for this one too as my little one is pretty excited.
7. Baby girl quilt gift - I am looking at an underwater theme for a certain beach baby.
8. Succulents wall hanging
9. Picnic quilt - I would love to use this cute bundle that has been in my stash for years!

10. Easter baskets - probably will use the 1 hour basket pattern as well and this cute bunny from Sugaridoo!

I imagine that many of these will be rolling over to Q3, but a girl can dream!


Linking up just under the wire with

FMT

Positivity - a comfort quilt finished

A special quilt..

Back in December, a girlfriend from high school asked me to make her a comfort quilt. I had been thinking about it for some time as I've watched her valiant fight against adenoid cystic carcinoma. She is about the most joyful person I know and has defied every odd and diagnosis. She is truly an inspiration to me personally and I'm grateful she has chosen to document her journey via web and facebook videos.

Naturally, such an important request caused a lot of indecision. I knew the colors she wanted, but she left the design up to me. The awareness ribbon color for this particular cancer is burgundy with cream, so I started there. I had two distinct ideas for the quilt that I decided to merge together. Ok, I had like 10 ideas that had to be narrowed down. Given her always positive attitude, I thought a whole quilt of plus signs would be super cool - and they're also reminiscent of crosses. She wanted a fairly neutral palette which I found challenging so I decided to jazz up the back a bit with some color and inspirational words. Here's what I came up with:

The background is Kona natural and I used a few other Kona solids including burgundy, steel, coal and purple as well as a variety of prints including some Flea Market Fancy and Glimma.

From there I went on to the back. I used the 24" paper pieced Take Wing pattern from Lillyella. Finding just the right colors and fabrics was a real challenge! In the end, I love how it came out against the Kona ash background.

I also picked a few positive phrases to include and the back came together.

 For the quilting, I started by outlining the center butterfly and then just quilted simple straightish/wavy lines.

I like the effect from the front too.

 And now for a shot of Positivity wrapped around her beautiful owner. I'm so happy to say she likes it and the smile on her face made it all worthwhile!

FMT