Looking Back

At the end of this week, I will celebrate my first anniversary as a quilt blogger, and it has been fun to look back over the last year's worth of posts and what I have accomplished.  Getting involved in the online quilt community has been fun, inspiring, and full of lots of learning for me!  Thank you to everyone who has hosted linky parties for me to join, posted tutorials that I have learned from, or taken the time to visit my blog and comment on my projects.  I think I have accomplished more in this one year than ever before in my 15 or so years of quilting.  It has been a year of many firsts!

My first Block of the Month to participate in, thanks to Kristy of Quiet Play.  From this first block in January:

to the finished product in November:

From my hours and hours (and hours!) spent reading blogs and tutorials, I have completed a Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt:

  

 an Open-wide Zipper Pouch:

 

 

several baby quilts:

and many other smaller projects, like this fun pincushion for my quilt group's Christmas gift exchange.

 

 

Of course there are various WiPs that I have plans for in 2014 as well!  And finally, yesterday, I finished up a Christmas quilt (only a few days late!) that I slept under last night.  I think it is true that I always love my current project the most, and that is definitely true of this particular quilt.  It is made from a layer cake of Aspen Frost, and the Layer Cake Lemonade pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop, so it went together quickly and was fun to make!

  

I love the bright, modern colors, especially the aqua, red, and olive green together.  I machine quilted it simply, mostly echoing the seams, but with a few curvy, "organic" lines through the middle of the bigger blocks.

I added a row of the leftover main fabrics to make a pieced back, which makes the back interesting to look at, too!

Even though Christmas is past, I'm going to enjoy this quilt well into the new year because it just makes me happy to look at, and isn't that what creating is all about?!

I am wishing all of you the Happiest of New Years, and a 2014 full of quilty inspiration!  I can't wait to see what I learn about next!

Linking up to Freemotion by the River for the last linky party of 2013!

WIP for a Thursday

Between being out of town for Thanksgiving, and a busy week at work, I haven't had much time for sewing, but I have a WIP that I'm looking forward to working on this weekend.  A few weeks ago, a layer cake of this arrived on my doorstep.

I wanted to try making a simple, modern Christmas quilt.  I discovered that I love this line of fabric! Here are a few close-ups of my favorites.

 

About the time that I got the fabric, I saw this tutorial for the Layer Cake Lemonade pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop.  I decided it was the perfect pattern for a quick and simple Christmas quilt that my family would enjoy for the holidays.  It is also great for featuring the fun patterns in the fabric because there isn't a lot of cutting to be done.  Half of the pieces are used in their 10 inch square size.

My Aspen Frost layer cake turned into this:

 

 

The colors in this photo aren't the best because of the lighting in my sewing room, and the fact that I am not home much in the daylight these days!  But at least you can see the pattern.  I am really loving the teal and olive green in this fabric.  It's so different from the typical Christmas colors.  I was ready to try something more modern! 

 

I've been working on a pieced backing for the quilt this week.  There is one strip of the half-size pieces left when you are done piecing the top, so I decided to work it into the back.  The rest is a yardage of red with white hearts that I am also using for the binding.

 

 

I am definitely looking forward to putting the quilt sandwich together this weekend and starting on the quilting!

 

I'm linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday this week!