OMG April: Charity Quilt

Howdy y'all! I can't believe we are already in April! As fast as time is flying by, that means another goal setting party over at Red Letter Quilts for One Monthly Goal. Honestly, I wasn't really sure what to pick this month. Most of my time lately has been dominated by quilt commissions, leaving less time for my typical sewing. And when I do have time for me-sewing, I'm usually scratching away in my little design notebook dreaming up projects that I don't have the supplies for. I can't decide if that's a good problem or not!

After a little brain storming, I think I found something that I have all the supplies for and I'm excited to get it finished this month! I started this charity quilt last month when I needed a breather and some mindless sewing. I've got part of the top pieced, so this month I want to finish piecing the top, get it quilted up and bound. Then the journey of finding it a home!

Happy stitching!

Finish It Up Friday: Embroidery Success!

Howdy y'all, it's Friday once again and this time, I've got a finish to share! You may recall that my goal for the OMG March party was to learn some embroidery. I rented a book from the library with a lovely little kitty cat in it that was perfect for a starter project! I found an old embroidery hoop and embroidery floss in my craft supplies and snagged some Kona from my stash and got to work.

I absolutely loved doing this! I actually finished the cat on the chair in one sitting one afternoon. Then, a couple nights ago, I decided to add some lettering to it. I looked up fonts for ideas, but ended up winging it in the end. I love the rainbow words, it makes me smile every time I see it! :)

RAINBOW LOVE!

I'm linking up with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts, TGIFF at A Quarter Inch From the Edge, and (when the linky is available) OMG March Linkup!

OMG March!

Howdy y'all, back again! I'm skating in just under the wire to link up with the One Monthly Goal party over at Red Letter Quilts! I have a million things I should be linking up (commissioned baby quilt, two other quilts with supplies waiting, a cover for Mr. LBC's bible...), but instead, I want something small and new and, let's be honest, for me.

I was perusing the craft section in my library when a group of embroidery books caught my eye. Part of my New Year's goals was to learn new things. I've always thought about trying embroidery but never took the plunge. This month, I'm going to do it! I love the precious little kitty in the chair, it reminds me of our Little Black Cat and how he always takes whatever chair I need! Lol. So for this month, my goal is to start learning embroidery and get this little kitty from the book onto fabric!

Linking up with Red Letter Quilts, there's still one more day if you haven't yet! Thanks for reading y'all!

Peels of Patience: A Finish!

That's right folks, I finished my Orange Peels! Y'all have been seeing these blocks since I started blogging and they are finally completed! :) All the orange peels are appliqued onto the background squares by hand using the freezer paper method. I used this tutorial that Amanda Jean shared over on Crazy Mom Quilts when she made her orange peel quilt. After that, I machine pieced the blocks together into a top.

THE TEXTURE!

I almost did the quilting with with my free motion foot, but decided at the last minute to use my walking foot/zigzag foot. I figured I could get straighter lines and be more consistent, but would have to pivot that quilt at every single corner. It was a pain in the booty, but I'm glad I stuck with my decision! The light gray thread I used just blends into those low volume squares, you almost can't see the quilting unless the light catches it! For the binding, I decided to take a note out of Scrapmaster and The Running Thimble's book and go low volume. I'm loving those little dots! :)

This isn't a very big quilt, but it's the perfect size for a car ride or to cover my lap while blogging or sewing on the couch.

And of course, a simple label. I decided to call it 'Peels of Patience' because the majority of the time I was sewing orange peels was in waiting rooms or waiting on other people. These peels saw many doctor offices, at least one emergency room, and several other places.

The backing really shows off the quilting, I love it!

I'm so glad to get this one finished and ready for some cuddles, though it will be weird to not have it to work on anymore. I'll just have to find another project for waiting rooms I guess!
Linking up with Finish It Up Friday and TGIFF! Also, this was my goal for OMG February! :) Also also, this was one of my goals for the 2016 Finish Along - First Quarter!

This quilt makes me so happy! :)

OMG February: Orange You Glad I'm Finishing?

 I was so proud of my two blog posts this week that I nearly forgot about the One Monthly Goal linkup over at Red Letter Quilts! If you're like me and are a little late to the party, there's still time (I believe the linky closes on Sunday).

Dear ol' Orange Peels. :)

I batted a couple of ideas around, but finally settled on one that I've wanted to finish for a long time: My Orange Peels. I got the backing back in January after winning the Throwback Thursday giveaway. Once again, I managed to botch color matching over the internet, but I still love the print and, as I told myself, it's just a quilt back. I can hear some of you banging out harsh rebuttals to that statement, but that's what I tell myself sometimes after killing myself to make the top.

I swear it wasn't that brown when I ordered it! Lol.

I just finished basting this one tonight (my back is aching but my heart is happy, so it balances out, right?), so my goal for February is to quilt, bind, and label it! These blocks were the first WIP Wednesday I ever posted on my blog (and it looks like I started them last January, so this has been a year in the making!). Here's to a finish!