ALYOF - July goal complete!

I got my Michael Miller Challenge quilt all done!  And even in good time too, cuz the deadline isn't until the 25th!  Without further ado, here's Petals in the Snow:

front

back

As I mentioned in my goal-setting post, the name came about for three reasons:
1) the background is a combo of solid Kona Snow and Michael Miller Pindots in Snow
2) the name of the fabric line is Petal Pinwheels
3) I went with snowball blocks

This is my favorite photo of this quilt!

I machine quilted it in straight lines with my walking foot, outlining the diamond "petals."  Since the petals are not quilted, they kind of poof out a bit, which is a nice touch I think.  This is my fanciest (haha) quilting to date and I'm pretty proud of it!

The backing is Tile Pile (from the Petal Pinwheels line) in multi and the binding is Cotton Couture in Seafoam.  I machine sewed the binding on - really because I'm lazy and don't like hand stitching, but also for sturdiness.

This quilt has a home with a good friend who is expecting her first baby - another gender surprise!

I'll be linking up with the other ALYOF July finishers when the time comes.

A birthday present and Quarter 3 finish!

One of my goals for the 3rd Quarter of the Finish Along was to do up a tool belt for my little nephew.  He's turning 2 on July 16th and is apparently very into tools - my brother has posted a photo and a video of him "fixing" his Cozy Coupe car and the spring mechanism on the front screen door.  In both shots, his tools are all scattered about, so clearly he needed a tool belt to keep everything close at hand.  I followed this tutorial and here's the finished product:

Sewing tools for illustration only :)

The only change I made was to only cut one, double wide pocket piece and fold it in half rather than sewing two pieces together.  I also wanted to find little tool patches as embellishment but they didn't have any at JoAnn's, so I had to settle for his initials.

I hope he likes it!

Linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict!

WiP Wednesday - Ed Emberley doggies

I purchased this Ed Emberely doggy fabric a while back, and the time has come to turn it into a quilt.  In order to make sure the cute pups are as easily seen as possible I decided to do a simple 5" charm square quilt.  I pulled some solid white and white on white prints, this green that I've had forever (maybe from Hobby Lobby?), and some red for binding.  Not sure about a back yet.

I mocked up a diamond pattern on Excel (cuz I'm fancy that way),

And then translated it into fabric:

The only problem is, I'm not sure that all green and blue is the way to go.  So I picked up some orange (it's a tone on tone print, not a solid as it looks here) and tried this layout:

And I'm still not sure so I'm putting it out there on the Internet to gather opinions.  What do you think?  Orange or no orange?  I appreciate your input!

Linking up with the other WiP Wednesday peeps!

2014 Finish Along - Quarter 3 goals

Here's my list of goals for Quarter 3:

1) Tool belt for the nephew
My little nephew is turning 2 this month, and word on the street is that he's really into tools.  I found two different tutorials for tool belts (one apron style and one pouch style) and I'm going to make him up one or the other (or both!) for his birthday with this fabric I found in my stash.

2) Ed Emberley doggy quilt
I pulled this fabric from my stash to make a little boy quilt featuring this too cute doggy fabric.  I'm not exactly set on a recipient, but these things have a way of working themselves out :)

3) Big Bang Theory pillow
My husband picked out this fabric and requested I make him a neck pillow.

4) DIY Swiffer dusters
I stumbled across this tutorial on Pinterest for how to make your own Swiffer duster.  I have a bunch of leftover flannel, so I figure I might as well give this a shot.  If they work even a little bit, it'd be worth it compared to the cost of purchasing new ones!

5) 20/20 zipper pouch
I've made two zip pouches out of this material so far and I gave both away, but I love this print so I'm going to make one for me to keep!

So that's it - 5 goals!  Linking up with the other Quarter 3 goal setters!

Sunday Stash #18 - Bazinga!

I hadn't intended on doing a Sunday Stash post today, but I thought this was too funny to pass up sharing.  The hubs and I were running errands today, including a stop by JoAnn's for some orange fabric (more to come on WiP Wednesday).  As I was contemplating oranges (there's not really a whole lot of "nice fabric" options to choose from at JoAnn's), hubs approached with the following fabric and a request for a pillow:

We both love the Big Bang Theory, so how could I say no?  I had him pick out a fat quarter for the back, as well as some piping and a 12" x 12" pillow form (not pictured) and I now have another project on the list.

At least this will be a fun one!  If only they'd had a similar fabric of Penny, Amy Farrah Fowler and Bernadette...

Linking up with Sunday Stash!

A last Quarter 2 finish!

My final finish for Quarter 2 of the 2014 Finish Along was to get these napkins done, and here they are!  (You can see all my goals here.)

I added in my big sewing scissors/shears (see below) so you can have an idea of the finished size.  These are folded in half and then half again, and they make a nice size for a place setting.

There are 6 napkins, made from 6 fat quarters.  I top stitched around each with black thread and a basic straight stitch.  They're photographed next to each one's opposite side, so are actually two of each - a nice little set, although they're homeless until the right ocassion comes along!


Linking up with the other Quarter 2 finishers!

ALYOF - July goal

I'm guessing a bunch of people are going to have this same goal, but a goal's a goal, unique or not, right?

My July ALYOF goal is to finish my Modern Quilt Guild Michael Miller Challenge quilt!

I've decided to call the quilt "Petals in the Snow" because:
1) the background is a combo of solid Kona Snow and MM Pindots in Snow
2) the name of the fabric line is Petal Pinwheels
3) I went with snowball blocks.

Here's some shots of the quilt in process (I hardly ever manage to get things together for a WiP Wednesday post):

Petals all cut!

Figuring out layout and the beginnings of snowballs.

One petal on a snowy background :)

Since participants got the feature fabric free of charge, I won the pindots, and I had the Kona Snow already, I decided to "splurge" and purchase some additional fabric for the backing and binding.  I decided on the multicolored Tile Pile (from the Petal Pinwheels line) for the backing and Cotton Couture in Seafoam for the binding.  Both came from Hawthorne Threads.

Now on to the quilting!  I'm thinking a bunch of straight lines - cuz that's about all I can do :)

Linking up with the other July goal setters!