Finished! Scrap Dance

A mystery quilt has been on my quilting bucket list long before I knew such a thing existed, and definitely longer than mine has actually been written down.  I stumbled on to a quilt-along that was a mystery hosted by Carole at From My Carolina Home.  She started in March and I found it in April, so I wasn't that behind, and best of all, it used scraps!  Even better, the needed scraps matched sizes I had already cut in my last big scrap management push.  And I had enough of a light background fabric that I didn't need to shop for anything!

I am so pleased with the finished quilt!  I would not likely have chosen this pattern on my own, but I like it more every time I look at it.

Final size was 50 x 60.  I did the lap size (she offered multiple sizes) and I added a 5" border of the background fabric, plus scrappy binding.  Hooray for using binding leftovers!  I did straight-line quilting on the diagonal as a way to emphasize the design and keep it simple.

This was my October goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes (goal setter #33) and was on my Q4 goal list for the Finish Along hosted by Adrianne. (Please note that my blog changed names, so my post in the goal setting linky will no longer be active.)

Q4 Goals

I have been LOVING the finish along hosted by Adrianne.  It has been really motivating, and I've gotten more aware of the online quilting community.

I've decided to structure my goals for Q4 a little differently.  I've broken things into 3 categories: general quilts and gifts, kids quilts for Project Linus, and mini quilts for my A Mini A Month personal challenge.  I don't have pictures of everything, but I've got pictures of most.

General Quilts & Gifts

1. Verona's Quilt
This will be a twin-size quilt for my niece. I asked my brother and sister-in-law if I could make the quilt for when V is ready for a big-girl bed.

2. Car trash bag for Mom
When my mom was here, she saw the trash bags in my car and in A's car, and she said she wanted one for Christmas.  I asked for fabric suggestions, she said she wanted covered wagons, of course!  She gave me absolutely yards of this a while ago and I've been slowly using it up. (You can even see some in Verona's quilt, above!)

3. Sewing Machine Cover
I'm going to use batik scraps and a tutorial by the Crafty Gemini

4. Business Card Holder
Another tutorial by the Crafty Gemini.  I hope to do this one before going to a work conference next week.

5. Tim & Nichole's baby quilt
My cousin and his wife are expecting, and I finaly picked out a pattern!  This will be I Spy, of course.

6. Scrap Dance
I've been doing the mystery quilt hosted by Carole at From My Carolina Home.  The big reveal was mid-September, so I'm finally assembled and I just need to finish it!

7. Car carrier for Munchkin
My kid is crazy about trucks, and he just got a small fleet of matchbox-style cars from his Abuela for his birthday.  I'm planning on making him some sort of carrier and/or play mat for Christmas.  I've seen a variety of patterns, included those recapped here.

A Mini A Month

8. Batik Hexies
I have a plan for a batik hexie mini, and I plan to take this to my work conference next week.  I figure if people can knit during conference sessions, I should be able to do a little EPP.

9. Vintage Holiday
I want to have some hand projects to work on, and this felt embroidery project that I found in a magazine looks like a scene out of my childhood.

10. Singing in the Rain
I just made a mini of this fantastic Tartan Kiwi pattern for someone else, and I want one of my own!

11. Trip Around the World (kit)
I was given this kit ages ago!

12. Alaska Cutout Quilt
I bought this pattern on my honeymoon to Alaska and have been working on it for about a year.  It is very slow going, as I started by hand quilting.  I'm considering switching to machine stitching.  We'll see.

13. Puffin (kit)
Another Alaska honeymoon purchase.

14. Dandelion (embroidery)
I already said I wanted to have some hand projects prepped to work on, and one will be an embroidery project, though it will likely end up in a quilt once it's done.  I plan to adapt this pattern from a magazine.

Kids Quilts for Project Linus

15. Dinosaur
I found this great fabric in the craft bin at my (now former) library.  I plan to do some machine blanket stitch now that I have a machine that can do that!

16. Circus
This was a fabric donated to my local Project Linus chapter, and the other ladies decided that I needed it.  I plan to pair it with some circus-themed I Spy squares.

17. Jelly Roll Race: Moon & Stars
My friend Snow recently gave me a big bag of 2 1/2 inch strip scraps, and I sorted them into 2 Jelly Roll Race quilts.  This is the first one.

18. Jelly Roll Race: Purple Sparkly
And this is the second.

19. Pink & Gray Strips
I am really into strips right now, and I just hosted an I Spy swap for 2 1/2 inch strips. I plan to take all the pink & gray strips and use a pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop's online tutorials.

20. Blue & White Strips
I'm pulling the blue and white strips from the aforementioned strip swap for this Blueberry Hill pattern--the name is a fantastic coincidence!

21. Lexington
I came across a great sale and bought this mini jelly roll that will be perfect for a pattern I got from a local quilt shop hop over the summer.

22. Green, white, & brown mini jelly roll
Did I mention that I'm into strips right now?  Another great mini jelly roll deal, and I plan to use an online tutorial I recently found.

23. Girly with Pink Butterflies
This pink butterfly & flowers fabric was another donation to the local Project Linus chapter.  I've pulled some of my more girly I Spy squares to pair with it

24. Snow's blocks
My friend Snow started a BOM and is now bored with it, so her finished blocks (but unfinished project) has been passed on to me.

25. Wizards & Stars
My mom gave me this wizard fabric, and I bought some batik fabrics with stars to go with it.

I have no illusions that I will finish all of this, but I never know what I am going to be in the mood to work on, so I like to cast a wide net of project possibilities.  Thanks, Finish Along, for being such great motivation!

Personal Challenge: A Mini A Month

I think I've fallen hard for mini quilts.  For someone who doesn't have as much time to sew as I'd like, they seem great.  And I've been trying really hard lately learn new things and try new techniques, and minis are a good way to do that without the frustration of a full sized quilt, and with less investment of time and resources.  I've done a few minis this year, and I have a whole mental list of patterns I want to do and new things I want to try.

I also have a very, very blank office wall.  So I have decided to attempt "a mini a month" for the next 12 months.  No pressure, really, but an attempt to focus on some smaller, achievable projects and expand my quilting horizons.

Third Quarter Finish Along: Report

I finished 7 projects in Quarter 3!  I'm thrilled!  And one was a UFO dating back to 2002 or 2003, so that is especially pleasing. 

Here's a recap of what I finished.

Sarah	Wall hanging	July 17
Winnie the Pooh quilt (project Linus)	Child size—ended up being FOUR quilts!	August 1
Paper Piecing project (Trees)	Bucket list/mini quilt	August 9
Pepper Tote	Bag	August 14
White/pastel dogwood quilt	Lap size	August 21
2 ½ inch strip I Spy quit	Child size	August 26
Elsa the Purple Elephant	Bucket list/wall hanging	August 29

October Goal

I've long wanted to do a mystery quilt.  When I finally wrote down my quilting bucket list, it was one of the first things on that list.  Quite by accident, I discovered one online I think in April, and it had just started.  Best of all, it used scraps, so there was no investment in new fabric for something unknown. Plus, most of the scraps were sizes that I already had cut.

It was the Scrap Dance quilt-along hosted by Carole at From My Carolina Home. The big reveal came in mid-September.  My top is now assembled, so my goal for October is to finish it.  I actually hope to finish it by October 15 because I'd like to enter it in the Scrap Quilt Challenge.

Linking up with Fiber of All Sorts for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

Finished! Purple Elephant

At some point in 2013, I was watching Fons & Porter and Mary Fons mentioned a Quilting Bucket List.  I had never thought about it in quite that way before, but shortly after that I made a list.  I'm not quite sure where it came from, but I added a ticker tape quilt to that list.  I had been seeing them around and thought the technique looked cool.

I used the elephant pattern from the book Scrap Happy Quilting.  I shrank the pattern down quite a bit.  I used a hodgepodge of ticker tape methods, mostly from online tutorials.  I did the embroidery outline of the elephant first, then I layered the quilt sandwich, so that when I sewed down the individual bits, it acted as quilting.  I felt like the ticker taping needed stronger white, so I did a satin stitch rather than a regular straight stitch around each piece.  You can actually see it better from the back:

The background is Kona Snow.  Everything else came from my purple bin.  The finished product is 14 inches by 16 inches.

This was on my Q3 list for the Finish Along hosted by Adrianne.  My original goal post is here.