2010 Year End Report.

I'm very pleased with what I've achieved on the quilting front this year.

Fabric used in finished projects: 118.25 metres (approx 129 yards)

Fabric bought: 58.75 metres (approx 64 yards)

Meaning a net useage of 59.5 metres (approx 65 yards)

I made 29 quilts, of which 22 were for donation.

I have made significant progress in my personal Stash Busting Challenge which I started at the beginning of July. Six months in I have made 14 quilts from the designated stash.

You can see pictures of the stash involved at the start here. These pictures show what is left, which is WAY LESS!! It used to occupy nearly 5 sections of storage, now down to 3 - woohoo!! The astonishing thing is how little fabric it takes to make 14 quilts and how many more this could potentially make! I'm giving my challenge a deadline of late June ... what isn't used by then is out of here :)

New Year's Eve ....

... and all outstanding quilts are finished - yeah!! I can start the New Year with a clean slate and lots of plans for new quilts :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 13 quilted ...

I so enjoyed doing the Dwirling on the last quilt, I did it again on this one, but with smaller swirls. It creates a wonderful texture! This quilt should be completely finished by Thursday, when I'll try and get proper photos of both this and the Paths and Stiles quilt too :)

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a happy holidays or merry Christmas! Enjoy your festivities :)

PS: I did get the binding sewn on yesterday, just haven't had time or decent light to take a photo. So here's my xmas wallhanging quilt instead :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 12 quilting ...

I'm so pleased that I've managed to get the quilting on this one done. I used the pattern Dwirling from the Pajama Quilter's DVD as I wanted something with lots of curves to counteract the angular look of the patchwork. This has really done the trick! I'm sure this pattern is a cinch on a longarm, but on a normal machine you really need a large flat working area to ensure you can achieve long flowing lines.

Should have this quilt finished tomorrow, then only one more to do before year end :)

SBChallenge - Number 14 finished!

Not a brilliant picture as the light is really dull and the fairy lights are draped over my design wall, but you get the gist!!

I'm pleased with how it has turned out and flimsey number 12 is already basted and ready for quilting later this week. I just need to decide which quilting pattern to use :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 14 quilting ...

I've worked out that if I want to get my last 3 flimseys quilted before year end I need to finish one every 4-5 days - that's basted, quilted and bound.

So ... I've finished the quilting on this one this morning. I used another pattern from the Pajama Quilter's first DVD - Simple Flowers connected with Loops. This is one I haven't tried before, but thought it would suit the floral theme of the quilt. You can see in the picture that I had to piece the backing - mostly the pink/blue paisley, but with a stripe of pink added to achieve the length needed.

SBChallenge - Flimsey 14 ...

Those florals have made it into a finished flimsey - a Disappearing Nine Patch (DNP). I've been asked to demo the DNP for my Guild's spring Quiltathon, so this has the added advantage of being a test-run of the sizes and assembly methods etc.

I now have 3 flimseys waiting to be turned into quilts and I'd really like to have them all finished by the end of the year. I think this is going to be the first one quilted ...

I just couldn't do it ...

... couldn't leave my challenge flimsey count at THIRTEEN at year end, so I had to push on and start number 14. This one is using up several oddments of floral fabrics, together with the strange pink that also made an outing on quilt 2 and the back of quilt 4. I had to pull the green from 'other stash' as there really wasn't anything in the challenge stash to do the job.

Also, I HAD to order the Pajama Quilter's second DVD yesterday. My excuse is that "Marilyn made me do it" - well, she was the one who posted that it was on sale at 40% off and then goaded me into it! I know how good the first one was, so I'm sure I'll love the second and a copy should be on its way to me soon :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 13 ...

I'm on a real piecing roll here, as number 13 is now a finished flimsey too! If I thought the materials were tight on the Posts & Rails quilt, it was super-tight on this one! In fact I had to raid my 2.5" strip bin to get a little more mustard and teal to finish the blocks.

When I put the blocks on my design wall in the furrows layout, it just wasn't looking right to me. So with a little bit of fiddle, I came up with a layout that did please my eye, but you'll have to wait until it's finished to see what I did :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 13 begins ...

Here are the fabrics for the next quilt, again all from my challenge pile. It's going to be tight again, but I think I can get another lap quilt out of this. The unusual print was the starting point and other fabrics were chosen to tone with it. I'm thinking of something along the lines of Bonnie Hunter's Four Patch and Furrows, but I'll use different sizes and construction methods :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 12 ...

I had a couple of days this week when I could concentrate on my sewing ... so flimsey 12 is complete! The pattern worked really well and I'm happy with my choice of fabrics.

I'm not stopping to quilt this one just yet ... I want to carry on piecing :)