Christmas Projects

I did work on a couple Christmas projects this year.  I made these coasters for a friend who I thought would enjoy the kind of French Country house feel to the fabric, but it didn't seem to go over well.  Lesson learned.  If anyone is interested in this using this fabric or receiving a project form this fabric, let me know.

But the big project was this wall quilt for Dr BB's office.  I worked hard to design the college's logo in quilt form.  The center portion of the M was the hardest part to get right.  Here's a sketch and some squares I used to visualize the appropriate sizing.

The school's colors.

Surprisingly, cutting and putting these squares together wasn't as hard as my brain wanted me to think it was.  

I've got it all pinned together to do the quilting here.  Dr BB liked the white of the batting so much he (not so subtly) suggested another border of white would be particularly nice.  So, after I quilted the flimsy, batting and backing together, I put a narrow, white border around to make the man happy.

I hate to say it, but he was right.  The white border with the burgundy binding does make the quilt pop!  Here's the finished product:

Now he just needs to hang the quilt rack (which is currently laying in our entry with the starter kit and seed catalogs) so he can put the quilt in his office!

And that's a couple completed projects! Yeah me!

Quilts of Valor

I'm not able to help at this time, but thought I’d pass along the information in case any of my readers are able to help.

I know you support Quilts of Valor and I wanted to point out to you that they have a special group request for a squadron coming home to Ft. Riley (Kansas) after a tour with many injuries and losses in Afghanistan. They are trying to get close to 400 quilts. Further information including contact information can be found here: http://www.qovf.org/content/quilts-needed.html I wondered whether your group has any quilts they could contribute? I just mailed 8 myself but they are still 200 short. Thank you! Regards, Almut

2011 Unfinished Projects (UFPs) Update and 2012 Plan

At the beginning of 2011, I recapped my progress on projects here.  I think this is a good thing to do each year and helps keep me honest.  I always think I'm going to get more done and I get a lot done normally, but not always.

In 2011, I planned to complete:

Full quilt (blue, green and pinks that I began in the 12th grade which no longer fits my style, but we could use another quilt around the house.)

Three anniversary wall quilts

Finish binding on pinwheel baby quilt

Three Christmas stockings (barring any other family additions this year)

Nine patch, Mother Goose baby quilt - need to finish piecing, quilt and bind

Two Christmas wall quilts

Witch and Candy wall quilt - all cut out, but needs to be pieced, quilted and bound.

Haunted House large wall quilt

Winter Penguins wall quilt - almost done, I just have to finish the binding

Three potholders for a friend

Nina's Tea Cozy

Verity's Tea Cozy

Dr. BB's Office Wall Quilt

As you can see, I did not get much accomplished last year.  The flood that lasted the entire summer, move to a new house, and beginning a PhD program really threw things out of whack for me.  This year, I plan to take on a couple new projects as well - like applique. 

In 2012, I plan to complete:

Full quilt (blue, green and pinks that I began in the 12th grade which no longer fits my style, but we could use another quilt around the house.)

Four anniversary wall quilts

Nine patch, Mother Goose baby quilt - need to finish piecing, quilt and bind

Two Christmas wall quilts

Witch and Candy wall quilt - all cut out, but needs to be pieced, quilted and bound.

Haunted House large wall quilt

Winter Penguins wall quilt - almost done, I just have to finish the binding

Three potholders for a friend

SIL3 new baby gift

SIL4 new baby gift

Mary's Tea Cozy

Two Christmas stockings to fill an order

Of course I hope to add to this, but since I did not get much accomplished last year let's start with this. 

Another Tea Cozy

I've been away for far too long!  Last semester ended in a rush, then Christmas left as suddenly as it appeared and I was back in the classroom again. Holy moly... boy, did that go by quickly!  

Anyway, I promised pictures of the tea cozy I gave my middle sister for her birthday.  It took her forever to get to my parents, but she finally did and now I can show the gift! 

Nina had chosen this fabric collection so long ago, she'd forgotten about it.

I was cutting the insulated interior out with a little help.

I quilted around the center square and continued to spiral around beginning at 1/4" and moving outward.

I bound the edge with the same fabric I used to enlarge the panels.

And that was that.