First finish of the new year: Satoru

This quilt is ancient.. well, it wasn't my oldest UFO, but it had been sitting, pin basted, in my closet for over a year, and the top was completed sometime in 2007, (the center came from a guild workshop).  The fabrics came from my hubby's trip to Japan in January 2002.  Yeah, for a newly finished quilt, it's got some history already.

You can see the quilting better on the back.

Around new years I tried to finish up a bunch of smallish quilts so I'd have hand sewing (binding) ready for after the baby came.. some mindless stitching to keep me connected to being a quilter.. but, the kid's still not here and I've had loads of time to sew.  So, whoops, finished it.  At least I can link up this week (TGIFF & Crazy Mom Quilts)
(old posts about this quilt can be found here, and here)

Let's start the year end party early!

It's the last Friday of the year!!  and it's my turn to host TGIFF! (for real this time!)
I'm posting Australian time, but I hope to update by Friday night (NY time) with an actual finish of my own.. My stitch n bitch is underway as we speak, so wish me luck~
***ETA**
Applique Laurel Leaf block is DONE!!  and it's still Thursday in New York!  That means i can go on to finish another project before tomorrow night, right?

I'm sorry I didn't have a completed, bound, washed quilt to share this week.. but this one block does feel like quite the accomplishment.  It was Shelly's October block for our Two's Company Bee (totally inspired by the Infinite Variety show in NYC last March), and I'm late, but at least it's finished.  Hopefully I can get it to the post office tomorrow and that'll be one big item off my year-end to-do list (you know, the "let's finish all this stuff before 2012" list..).
Did you finish anything this week?  Please link up and share!  It's the end of the year, let's start celebrating~

busy fingers

Which UFO will get my attention today?

The mini-quilt that's so old we used to call it a "wall hanging":

Or the overdue bee block that took way longer than a month to complete?  (but that I love because it reminded me how much I used to enjoy applique.)

Being that it's still only Thursday morning here in New York, and I've got a couple of quilters coming over for a stitch n bitch today, I think the odds are pretty good that I'll have a finish this week for TGIFF!  I'm hosting the party this week (It'll go live in a few hours actually), so be sure to stop back and link up  your finishes!

Friday?! Already?

Just as I caught myself thinking that December was moving along nice and slow.. here we are in the middle, and another TGIFF! party is upon us.  I finished the binding on this baby last night as I momentarily set aside a pile of grading to catch up on some netflix TV (re-watching season 2 of Glee, loving every minute!), and figured I might as well finish this one off and get it in the mail before Christmas.

I started this quilt sometime in the spring? summer?  as a simple piecing-- mindless sewing project to zip through the machine when I only had a short bit of time to sew.  The blocks grew, and grew.  It was fun to play with chunky scraps and I really let the size of the scrap determine the shape of the log cabin.. I didn't trim the logs down to any certain size before assembling the blocks. 

Actually, in the beginning I chain pieced a bunch of centers onto random sized strips and then cut them apart, pressing, trimming, and repeating for the next log.  I had no plan for the blocks and no idea how large I wanted to make them.  I though I'd just keep going til they looked big enough, then measure to find  the size most of them ended up being, and go from there.  In the end I trimmed them down to 11" square.  Some blocks have 3 rings of logs on all sides, some have only 2 rings on the white sides.  Whatever.  I was really not worried about anything with this quilt, and let it grow into its own.

I threw them up on the design wall last month and this layout just sort of happened.  No thought, just play.  I finished the last 6 blocks and pieced it right after Thanksgiving.  I was hoping to present it as a housewarming present when we travel to Chicago in January, but oops, I finished it early so it can be a Christmas present instead. 

I hope it keeps its new family warm..

Procrastination Complete

I'm not really procrastinating from anything now, and it's almost hard to remember how stressful and crazy life was last semester when I was trying to finish my Masters, but I'll always have this quilt to remind me..

Dubbed "Procrastination in Blue and Orange", it was pieced in a 36 hour period in February '11 when I took a much needed break from searching for a research topic.  I piece it, loved it, and promptly forgot about it as the chaos of grad school engulfed me again.  (click here for earlier posts about my process)
I took my time piecing the back, trying several creative layouts to make the most of stash fabrics before settling on one that incorporated our entire last name pieced in 4" high letters.  (sorry, no full pics.  The internet doesn't allow us that much privacy, but I can try). 

I quilted it according to my original plan, with only slight adjustments for the spirals in the center of each circlish-thing.

  I haven't washed it yet, but I love how it turned out.  I plan to bring this with us on our next trip to Greece and leave it in our house there (George's room, family room? we'll see).  Until then it looks pretty good in George's room here.. and he will need a second quilt on the bed soon.  God, it's nice to be able to make something so practical~

Other details:

Size-- roughly 60" x 80"
fabrics-- all from the stash, with some gifted from Shannon and Carolyn.  Stash fabrics here date back to '02 and there are triangles representing at least 9 other projects I've made over the years, including the blue & brown HST quilt we're doing for my month in the Two's Company Bee.
quilting-- quilted in yellow-orange verigated YLI thread, 40 weight.  It's my first time using it, and I'm not so sure I like the thickness of the thread, but the colors are awesome.
timeline-- started February 2011, completed November 18, 2011.

thank god it's FRIDAY!

Not having been a 9-5er in a few years, I've kind of forgotten the sense of relief that comes from hopping in your car after work on a Friday afternoon.  But now we've got a new reason to celebrate Fridays-- Laura and M-R had the great idea to have a moving show and tell of sorts, TGIFF, where we all link up at somebody's blog each friday and show off our recent finishes.  Different than other linky finish parties, this one travels, and you have the opportunity to host one week, should you want to.


This week I'm happy to show off the Simple Squares quilt I made for my friend's son.  Started in July, all this needed was binding for months, and I finally got it sewed down just in time for the cooler weather. 

I quilted in my default wavy line pattern.  So simple, so easy.  I wonder if I'll ever try to freemotion any other patterns...

On the back I put a large scale Alexander Henry print of Chinese toys.  It'll give Logan something to look at from underneath as well.

And here's the whole thing.  It has been packaged up and sent on its way.  Hopefully the recipient can snap a photo of the baby and quilt for me when it gets there. 

***Argh!! I was supposed to be hosting TGIFF today, but didn't plan ahead and auto-post in time for the early-rising Aussies!  Sorry guys!  The linky party for today started on the main TGIFF page because I was late!  Pop over there to link up, ok!