Q1 Finish Along

I just linked up my finishes for the first quarter. 

 I got all but 2 of my proposed projects actually finished!  

Plus I completed one that was not on the list.  

Pretty good, I think. 

 I will review those finishes here just in case you are interested. 

 From January 1st to today.  

These are just the ones from the Finish Along, I have had a few others too.

Vintage sheet rag quilt

Chenille blanket

Baby Pinwheels

Dreamy Stars

Amy and Matt's wedding quilt

 Here are the finishes that were not included in the Finish Along 

(I can't show 1 as it is for a swap)

This is a pouch from the free tutorial on the blog of Lori Holt.  

I substituted a cat face for the flower.

My "Jack" pin cushion

If you have not joined in the Finish Along you should consider joining next quarter. 

 It was certainly motivational for me!  Link is on my side bar.  

Q2 begins on April 8th.  

~XOP~

Amy and Matt's Wedding Quilt

I finished it!!!!!!  The wedding is tomorrow and the quilt is finished! 

 I could not be more excited.  

I am hoping that Amy doesn't look at this post until after she sees the quilt in real life. 

 The photos do not do it justice!  

I may try to get some additional pictures in the snow later today.  

My friend was so kind to take these with her amazing camera.  

We can hang the quilts in a great place at work, but then we walk around to the other side of the walkway and it is a long distance to shoot from.

The pattern is called Round and Round and it is by Thimble Blossoms.  

I used my beloved Pearl Bracelets for the background AND for the back.  

This caused me a lot of anxiety because it used so much! 

 My friend at Crazy Quilt Girl Fabric Shop assures me she has more,

If you need it too.

Deep Breaths.  I must really love this girl!

The quilting was done by Kathy Koch of Thread Bear Quilting and I love it!

I embroidered the label and found the perfect fabric for framing it in.  

See that gray fabric? 

 It says

Made with (heart) love

In this photo you can see that we are quite far away from the actual quilt.  

This is before I cropped the photo.

I can not wait to celebrate the marriage of Amy and Matt tomorrow. 

 It will be bittersweet for Amy as she lost her mom in October to Ovarian cancer.  

Please pray for a beautiful day for these two great people as they begin their life together.

We love you both and wish you every happiness!!!

Linking up to the Finish along here
See my original list here

Have a wonderful weekend.

~XOP~

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it Friday

WIP Wednesday Time

I have a laundry list of things that I am working on. 

 I am frantically trying to get some things finished up before we go on vacation.  

We have the first of the three weddings this weekend.  

My middle daughter's best friend is getting married.  I am still stitching on the binding for her quilt.  

I am down to my last 18 inches or so.

Someone, was a little put out that I was trying to sew while she was trying to nap!  

To show how put out she was she turned her back on me.  

Silly kitty.

I had to get some bee blocks finished and ready to put into the mail.  I eeked those out last night.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social 

and 

WIP Wednesday 

I have a couple of blocks to sew for a secret project but still need to pick up the instructions and fabric for that.  

Hopefully this week as they are due while we are on vacation, 

so they need to be done before we leave.

I also want to make another Infinity scarf for my daughter that will be coming home this weekend.  She is a huge fan of Sloths.  

I found some really cute Sloth fabric and thought I would make her a scarf. 

 Those don't take too long though.  

Ash Wednesday is today, so church tonight and then I need to put the finishing touches on the house.

Getting ready for company is so stressful.  

DD is bringing her boyfriend with her so the house needs to look nice.  

This is the first time he will be at our home and I want to make a good impression!

(Just close the sewing room door and step away from that room, LOL)

What are you working on??

~XOP~

All People Quilt UFO Challenge February Edition

I joined the All People Quilt UFO Challenge 2016.  

The number that was drawn for February was number 5. 

 For me that is my Fox Face baby quilt.  I

 have the top finished and need to baste it and quilt it.  Then on to the binding. 

 I am not exactly sure when I will have time to do that this month but time will tell.  

I may end up combining it with next month's, HA!

I finished the January UFO, as you can see from my previous post.  YAY!

I got Amy and Matt's wedding quilt back and need to get the binding hand sewn down.  

I did get the binding attached (with some help of course).  I also got it glued in place.

Apparently it is quite comfy.  I'm sure the happy couple will be happy to know this!

Kathy at Thread Bear Quilting did a fantastic job with the quilting.  I could not love it any more!

I look at the world this way sometimes too.

This...this is what I have to endure while I work.

I have a lot of fantastic news pending but not quite ready to share. 

Stay tuned!

~XOP~

Happy New Year

Now that we are on to the new year it is time to wish you all a happy, healthy one!

I had a couple of days to work in my sewing room and decided that one of the things I wanted to get done over the break was to finish up the quilt top for Amy and Matt for their wedding.  

This was a much bigger job than I had anticipated!  

I got all the blocks finished.

Of course I had loads of help from Autumn!

So almost there.

Seems like I get a pic of Hallie near the tree every year!  She is so pretty.

Saturday morning found us making some Ebelskivers (hope that is spelled correctly) for breakfast.  YUM

Finally the inner part of the top was finished.  On to the borders (sorry for the poor lighting)

I had the embroidered label done for awhile so I could incorporate it into the back. 

 I finally decided to use my most cherished, Pearl Bracelets to make the back. 

 Notice that the first frame around the label says "Made with love" 

 I LOVE that fabric!

Pearl Bracelets for miles! 

(or maybe just yards 6 yards to be exact!)

It is all finished and ready to hand off to the quilter. 

 Whew!  

I can't wait to see what magic Kathy does with this one!

I have more shares but they will have to wait until another day.  

Is anyone out there interested in the Improv Plus along??  

I think that may be next up after I share the rest of what I have been working on.  

~XOP~

Amy and Matt's Wedding Quilt Update

I have been making steady progress on the blocks for the next wedding quilt.

This is the first block that I finished.  

I have to say I am loving the Pearl Bracelets as the background!

 Of course, Autumn was right there, laying on all the fabric to help me!  

See my super cool Sparty Tervis tumbler?  

I went to the SA last week with hubby and he found three of them there for .99 each!  

That is a scream of a deal!!! 

 They are wonderful.  

I can load it up with ice and there is absolutely zero condensation on the outside of the glass.  

Perfect for in my sewing room.

This is the second block I finished.

I loved the bunny fabric in the lower left and the text print.

I am always a little nervous when Autumn decides to do something like this but at least most of the rows were sewn together already!

So here is the back story on this block.  

Amy's mom, who was also a dear friend of mine, passed away this past October. 

 I thought it might be nice to include a piece of her clothing in this quilt 

so that every time Amy used it she would think of her mom too. 

 She dropped off a blue tee shirt of her mom's on Monday.  

I stabilized it with some interfacing and used it to make this block. 

I had chosen some fabrics that kind of represent my own family for this quilt too 

and included them in "Barb's" block.  

Mine has chemical symbols, as I am a scientist.  

My older daughter raises peafowl so her star had peacocks in it.  

My younger daughter, Amy's best friend, has a cat, Mitch, that she never stops talking about, 

so her block has Sebastian in it.  

Amy loves Mitch (not really, but Mitch LOVES Amy!!)

I'm pretty sure this will be my favorite block in the entire quilt!

I asked for some fabric from Amy's MIL to be also and will make a star for her in another block. 

 I have some of the new Moda Modern Background math fabric that made me think of 

Amy (a teacher) so will put that into the block with the fabric from her MIL.  

It has been a fun way to make this personal without it being "in your face".  

Amy will know and so will her husband but anyone looking will just see all the beautiful stars.  

This is so Amy.  

I really feel honored to be able to create this wedding gift and memory of my friend for her daughter.  I am hoping to get it all together before Christmas, but we will see.  I need to make a couple of Christmas stockings and some bridal shower gifts too (shhhh don't tell Amy ). 

 I had BIG plans to do more but this pesky job seems to keep getting in the way of my sewing!!!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced and Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts.

What are you sewing for Christmas??

~XOP~