Two More Finished in 2014

I made it just under the wire for two more 2014 finishes. 

These photos are awful, but that's what happens when you have a lousy camera and lousy lighting conditions. I wanted to count these as 2014 finishes, so the lousy photos will have to do for now.

Two of my resolutions for 2015 are to buy a new camera and to set up some sort of clothesline to take photos of my quilts outdoors. I used to do it at my parents' old house where they had the perfect setup, but since they've moved here, I've been stuck with less-than-perfect photography conditions.

The free pattern is available here. I just adjusted it a bit to make the quilts bigger.

I did a simple meandering quilting design on both, but only took a picture of one. The colors are much, much richer in person.

Finally, a Finish for 2014!

I've been working feverishly to finish up a few quilts in 2014. This is a top that I made in November of this year using a jelly roll that I bought on a whim when I was having fun on a quilters' day out with friends. The pattern is Jelly Roll Jam II, a free pattern from Fat Quarter Shop. Very quick and easy.

Here's a closeup of the meandering quilting...

And a shot of the pieced back...

I used up every inch of the jelly roll by putting the extras on the back. No scraps to add to my out-of-control scrap bins!

Of course, I had to add bias striped binding, but you can't see it well in the photos above. Here's a better shot taken while I was sewing it on.

Now on to the next quilt top. Can I do it for 2014? I'm certainly going to try!

For Family and Friends, Near and Far

An early Christmas greeting to my readers who celebrate -- and a Happy Festivus to everyone!

How did I make the lights on my tree twinkle in the photo, you ask? It's done using an app called "Photos" on my Android tablet. If you have an Android device, you probably have this app on there -- the icon looks like a primary-colored pinwheel. The effect is called "Auto Awesome". When I uploaded my tree photo to my Google account, the program recognized that there were lights on the tree and it automatically created a photo with the lights twinkling.  There are a few other interesting effects available (like capturing the best smiles on faces, creating panoramic photos, etc.). My son is on the engineering team working on the app at Google, and he tells me that the app is not available for Apple products; however, if you have a Google+ account, you should be able to do this to photos that you upload there by just using the web, not an app. No smartphone or tablet necessary.

If you want to learn more about Google+, here's a link with info, and if you want to learn more about the photo features, click here.

Merry Christmas!

Can I Do It?

Earlier this year I vowed to quilt two quilt tops for every new one that I pieced (I had quite a backlog of tops waiting). So far, I haven't broken that vow and it looks like I may even do better. This is the third top now loaded on my machine since I last pieced a top. I won't agonize over how to quilt it; I'll just meander and get it done! And then I can start the new year with lots of new piecing projects!

Finally!

After staring at my quilt on the frame for the last month, I finally decided to just quilt a simple meander over all of it and get it done. The binding will be done in no time.

Now that I've quilted two tops since piecing one, I give myself permission to start another top. And my pile of quilt tops is getting smaller all the time -- yeah!

Look What I Got

I recently won a giveaway on Jacquie Gering's blog, Tallgrass Prairie Studio, and the prize is a Robert Kaufman Kona Color Card, with 1-inch swatches of 303 luscious shades of solid fabrics! Who knew there were so many shades of blue! or pink! or gray!

What a Mess

How the heck am I supposed to get any sewing/quilting done when every inch of the horizontal space is taken up by stuff, LOTS of stuff?! I have a large 24" x 36" cutting mat under there, but you can barely see it below all the mess!

This will not do. My work space is cluttered, which means my mind is also cluttered and I can't seem to get anything done. Time to get to work!

Once a New Yorker, Always a New Yorker

In September, I took an overnight trip to NYC for the Quilters Take Manhattan event. One of the places that I was lucky to shop in was The City Quilter, a wonderful fabric shop right in the garment district of the city.

I didn't buy much, but I couldn't resist a couple of charm packs filled with fun NYC-themed fabrics. Now this NYC native needs to make herself a quilt!