Be A Finisher!

Do you love the rush of starting a new project?  Do you love picking your pattern, materials, and all the new gadgets you might need to complete your project?  Do you have a bazillion unfinished objects (UFOs) or works in progress (WIPs)?  I'm joining Nicole over at Sister's Choice Quilts for her Finish It project.

Here are a few of the projects I've started in the past ten few years:

This is the first quilt I started.  I have no idea why I chose something so large and intricate.  I *thought* I really loved piecing!



I found this quilt pattern in a Women's Day magazine a long time ago.  I had to make it.  I still love it.  Occassionally I'll work on it, but lately not so much.


This one is from the ORB Quilt Along round 1.  I got busy with school and never cared for the colors, so this one was easy to put down.  I'm thinking about making two smaller quilts out of it, rather than one large quilt.  The blocks are completed, I just need to sew the top.



Part of the reason I put down ORB Quilt 1 is because ORB round 2 was starting.  I didn't want to get left behind and zig zagging sounded like so much fun.  I'm proud of how much I have completed of this quilt since I was going to school through the summer (and working full time).  All that's left is the quilting and binding. 


I'm going to work backwards and start with finishing the zig zag.  I actually started quilting it already - barely... I completed one line of quilting after fighting with my thread tension, new thread and new bobbins.  My machine does not like the new bobbins and is apparently a thread snob.  I've been sewing with Gutterman lately but decided to switch up with some Coats & Clark.  My machine literally threw up the thread.  So not worth the stress.  By the time I figured everything out and resolved the problems an hour had gone by.  Quilting is never easy, but it's always fun! :)

I hope you'll join me and finish a project you've started!

.....And the winner is

Thank you to everyone for visiting my blog and for the suggestions for the Wonderland jelly roll.  I can't wait to start cutting it up but still need to narrow down my choices.

And the winner is lucky number 13!!!! Congrats to ladmquilter  who said, "I like the idea of a string quilt. I think that would look great."  Please email your mailing address and I will send the fabric your way!

Here's a sneak peek at what I finished tonight: 
 

Now off to find some backing and purchase batting. Border or no border...that is the question!

Free At Last!

The semester is finally over!  One class was a breeze...the other completely made up for it.  Only 6 more classes to go for my degree.

Now that I have time again (for only 2 weeks until classes start again) I have so much to do.  The house is a mess, the pets have been ignored, and sewing has been non existent.  Luckily I am still motivated to work on the zig zag quilt top...which is almost done!  Pictures coming soon.

It's coming along great and I'm loving the colors.  Now to pick out some backing so I don't stall out.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway - open until September 11th!  Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions.  I have an idea or two of what to do with the jelly roll...now to find some Wonderland backing fabric at my LQS.

Zig Zagging Stripes

I almost gave up...almost.

I'm working on a Zig Zag Quilt for the ORB/ParkCityGirl Quilt Along this time hosted by Amy. Check out the cool group & instructions on flickr. I picked 15 fabrics, 5 of which have stripes. Lots of frustration (ie cursing) ensued in my hot hot sewing room last night as I tried to assemble my blocks. The stripes were going every which way and I HATED it. So much so, I almost scraped this Christmas gift to be. But alas, I have beat you quilt. I figured out your game and to save anyone else suffering from this predicament and surely myself in the future; here is how to do it so that stripes align:

Here are two of my squares, pinned in the center.

Draw a line on the diagonal of one block. Rotate the second block 90 degrees and draw a line on the diagonal of the second block.

Sew 1/4" on each side of the line. Cut squares on the diagonal with a rotary cutter. Press, snip, etc. (I haven't gotten that far yet, nor are my blocks exactly square at this point!)

Ok, now take your newly cut half square triangles from one block, separate and open them up like so.

Take your second block, separate the half square triangles, and pair each one up with the ones you've already laid out. So one half square triangle from the first block will match up with one half square triangle from the second block.

Now the best part is you can rearrange the squares very easily so that the print can be vertical or horizontal. Vertical wavy lines in the photo below.

Same blocks just rotated so that the light blue fabric has horizontal wavy lines. I prefer this one over the one above.

My next obstacle....we'll see how it goes.

Just make sure that you rotate 1/2 of the blocks 90 degrees. I have 6 blocks, so I need to remember to rotate 3 of them. I'll have to make sure to do this when I'm not tired.

Hope this helps someone out there.