A Lovely Year of Finishes 2015 - Final Link Up

A Lovely Year of Finishes 2015 is now concluded.

Thanks to Melissa @ BitterSweet Designs and Shanna @ Fiber of All Sorts for hosting.  It was a great way to stay focused on finishing projects.

I achieved nine goals during 2015.  I started in February and missed both May and June because I did not set my goal in the first seven days of those months.

You can follow my journey:

February

Goal Setting

Goal Achieved

March

Goal Setting

Goal Achieved

April

Goal Setting

Goal Achieved

July

Goal Setting

Goal Achieved

August

Goal Setting

Goal Achieved

September

Goal Setting

Goal Achieved

October

Goal Setting

Goal Achieved

November

Goal Setting

Goal Achieved

December

Goal Setting

Goal Achieved

My favourite project during ALYOF was Night Sky (November's goal):

You should stop by and see all the great projects that were finished this year.

Christmas Friday Finish

Merry Christmas!

Today's Friday Finish is also my December goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  This is the final ALYOF for 2015, and it has been great participating this year.  The monthly goal setting has kept me on track with projects.

My December goal was to quilt my Glimmer quilt and matching pillow.

I decided to do star FMQ, with some loops thrown in.

I used the following Kona colours for the top and the striped binding:

• Wisteria and Tulip
• Pomegranate and Carnation
• Chartreuse and Citrus
• Meringue for the background

And the matching pillow:

I love a hidden zipper back.  Thanks to Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts for sharing the following tutorial by S.O.T.A.K. Handmade

Linking up for the final TGIFF for 2015 hosted by Alisa @ Knit-Spin-Quilt:

ALYOF December Goal

Where has the year gone?  It's hard to believe that it's already December.

Participating in the A Lovely Year of Finishes has been great.  The challenge of stating a goal at the beginning of the month and then working to achieve the goal before the end of the month, has kept me focused and on top of WIPs.

December's goal is to quilt my Glimmer quilt from last month, including the matching pillow I made this week.  Quilting will be an overall star FMQ motif.

I was thinking this quilt might be a gift, but now that I've made the pillow, I want to keep them both for myself. LOL

Well...I guess it's about time to start working on my two Christmas projects............

ALYOF Goal Achieved!

My November ALYOF goal was to piece my Night Sky quilt top.  Goal achieved!!!  I finished up late last night but had to wait until today to get a photo.

Night Sky was easy to piece, but it took some time.  Half triangles were sewn together and then sewn to the diamonds.  This created a triangle, and three triangles were pieced to make a half hexagon.

Although the pieces become full hexagons in the quilt top, they are pieced together as half hexagons for easy piecing.

It was a tad windy trying to take a photo.

Now the difficult decision...how to quilt this (and thread colour).  Your suggestions are appreciated.

Linking up with the ALYOF November finishes link up.  Stop by to see all the goals that were achieved this month.

WIP Wednesday - Sewing with the Squares

Sew day with the Squares!!  My quilt bee Q-Squared managed to find a day that we were all available.  It's been a busy two weeks at work that I haven't done any sewing, and it will continue to be busy for the next few weeks.  It was so good to get together with friends today.  Even though I had a million things to do at home and at work, it was necessary for my sanity.

I started the day working on the November instructions for the Mystery Quilt hosted by Meadow Mist Designs.

The flying geese were sewn to the square-in-square blocks.

I managed to finish all of November's instructions.  Looking forward to December's instructions.  There are no loose pieces left, so I guess we begin piecing the top in December.

These are the Court House step blocks from October.

I also started piecing my Night Sky quilt which is my November ALYOF goal.

I pieced the six orange blocks.  Only 30 more blocks to go......

And then I discovered that I wasn't suppose to piece the blocks together -- they were meant to be left in halves for easy piecing of the top.  Sigh......  I couldn't bear to unstitch them tonight -- I'll save that for another day.


Linking up with:

         

WIP Wednesday - ALYOF November Goal

Today's WIP is another A Lovely Year of Finishes goal.  November's goal is to piece the top for my Night Sky.  Originally, I thought I'd be ambitious and have the entire quilt finished by the end of the month, but upon reflection, I realize that is not likely possible.

I started cutting the pieces some time ago, but stopped when I realized that I needed space to lay everything out.  There are 24 Kona colours in this quilt.

So I set up a folding table in my sewing room this week.  It's a tight squeeze with very little room to move around, but hopefully that will give me the motivation to get this done quickly.

I'll be able to cross off the following Kona colours:

• Lipstick, Flame, Orange, Kumquat
• Sprout, Peapod, Kiwi, Leprechaun
• Peacock, Water, Surf, Riviera
• Tulip, Crocus, Wisteria, Lilac
• Pomegranate, Bright Pink, Candy Pink, Carnation
• Canary, Lemon, Sunny, Papaya

Linking up my WIP with:

         

Friday Finish - ALYOF Goal Achieved!

Yeah for achieving another ALYOF goal!!  My October goal was to finish my Gees Bend quilt.  I showcased my progress here.  The "accountability" of participating in ALYOF has given me the motivation to finish projects.

Here is my version of Debby Kratovil's pattern.

First time attempting wavy/organic lines on my longarm.  Some are better than others, but I am happy.

I used the following Kona colours:

Poppy - Black - Corn Yellow - Jamaica - Turquoise

Purple - Yarrow - Grass Green - Pomegranate

I quilted with red thread and used a purple tone-on-tone for the backing.

This will be a quilt that I will keep for myself.

Linking up my finish over at:

TGIFF hosted by Jen @ Faith and Fabric

Finish it up Friday hosted by Crazy Mom Quilts

WIP Wednesday - Gee's Bend

I'm making great progress on my October goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

The quilt top pieced together quite quickly.  I finally got my clothesline replaced on Monday and was hoping for a great photo shoot on Tuesday.  But alas Mother Nature did not cooperate -- it rained all day long.  So I had to take indoor photos.

Closeup of two of the sections.

Now to decide on quilting.  I'm thinking something simple so not to distract from the pattern -- perhaps straight lines up and down (or somewhat straight as I think I'll quilt it on the longarm).  I would love to hear your quilting suggestions.  Thanks.

Linking up my WIP with:

         

October Goal for a ALYOF

Earlier this year, I won a Gee's Bend pattern from Debby Kratovil Quilts.  I chose the Medallion Variation pattern:

You can read more about the Gee's Bend Quiltmakers.

Kona:  Poppy - Black - Corn Yellow - Jamaica - Turquoise- Purple - Yarrow - Grass Green - Pomegranate

I've had the pieces all cut and ready to sew for some time.  So October's goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes is to piece and finish this quilt.  I'm so glad I decided to participate in ALYOF -- it's been great accountability to get a bunch of WIP's completed.  And the chance to win prizes is a great motivator as well.

There were a lot of cutting instructions, so I was a bit nervous about the piecing.  But the piecing of the quilt is broken down into six sections -- that makes it manageable and not seem overwhelming.

Thanks to Melissa @ Sew BitterSweet Designs and to Shanna @ Fiber of All Sorts for hosting.

Do you have any goals for October?