Last and first

  
 

Last project of 2015: I needed a runner to go on the china hutch-and I was never going to finish those tedious snowball blocks for a quilt-so I started sewing them together.  I stopped after sewing the first two columns together-and I'm glad I did as four blocks would have made this too deep for the hutch!  I needed to make two more tedious blocks and then I just knocked this out!  Very minimal quilting but I'm happy with the result-and extremely happy to be done with those snowball blocks!

This is my first project of 2016. I've wanted to make something with this fabric for years-I think I started collecting it in 2011.  I was making the aforementioned tedious blocks but I realized that I would never ever ever finish that-even to a lap quilt size.  So I was looking around on my pinterest Christmas board and saw a pillow on the Polka Dot Chair using some of these same fabrics.  I loved the star so I pulled out all of this fabric.  The pillow uses 4 1/2 inch squares but I had a ton of 5 inch squares already cut out so  I simply upscaled the size of the blocks.  I've finished these two blocks and have two others ready to sew.  I need to cut out more Kona White 5 inch squares to finish.  I also have a Kona White jelly roll-I may use that for sashing.    I expect I will have a lot of 5 inch squares left over so I will probably make a disappearing nine patch with them. I do think I will buy a Kona White charm pack so I don't have to cut any more!

 

Note to self: be sure to label kona white and kona snow when you buy it!

 

First finish of 2011

My first UFO finish of 2011:

I sewed this table runner last summer after a trip to Kerrville. It is a kit from Creations, a lovely and very friendly quilt shop there. I had finished sewing the runner and had halfway quilted it when I decided I wanted to quilt it differently. So I put it away and never got back to it-who wants to rip out quilting? So on New Year's Day I pulled it out, decided against ripping out the quilting and finished quilting it. I began the binding (thankfully I had already made it) on New Year's Day and finished it on January 2! I've got it in my office at work. The little pig bowl is a gift from a friend.

La rentrée

Sort of. Red and Tig go year 'round at the Montessori school and DH and I are year 'round employees at our school so la rentrée is more symbolic for us than anything. However, in celebration of the day I made this table runner. I bought it as a kit at Quakertown Quilts (and 20% off!). I like the little handprints and, of course, the chalkboard fabric is perfect for back to school. I backed it with fabric handed down from my mom and I used batting remnants as well. Thrifty! I figure I can use it during the summer with the strawberry side up if I want-it would look nice on a blue or red tablecloth.