Four More Quilt Tops Complete

It's been a busy couple of  weeks. I've managed to get four more quilt tops done. It's been a bit of challenge with limited space and limited time. I still have to add a border to the Hopscotch Revival Quilt. I may save that project for later when I get home. I will have the room to do there. 

Back in Quilting Business!

It is amazing how much I missed quilting after waiting two months to get a sewing machine shipped overseas. The first one I ordered is still missing and have since filed an insurance claim through the post office. I appreciate having the ability back in the states to get stuff quickly when needed. It is amazing how long some things take to get overseas. I had to finish the patriotic flag quilt top first. It was an easy project to start up with. 

I worked on the Rail Fence and Random Ohio Star quilt tops at the same time. It is kind of nice to work on two projects at once. It seems like I don't get bored and I can use one project as a leader and ender for the other one. I have quite a bit of catching up to do if I want to meet my quilting goal this year. I have plenty of projects cut and ready to sew together!

T-Shirt Rag Quilt Complete

I was commissioned to finish this t-shirt rag quilt. When I got it, everything was cut up, however, I had to do some trimming to get all of the blocks the same size. It is strange to finish up someone else's work. I wonder what they were planning and if how I finished it would have been the same way they would have. I think it turned out fairly decent. I would have probably done things a little different if I had started the project from the beginning.

Two Finished Quilts

I was able to get to quilts back from the quilter this week. 

It is nice to be able to actually finish a couple of quilts. Hopefully I can get some more done by the end of the month! I have a rag quilt that needs finished up. It shouldn't take too long to do. I still want to try and make one quilt per week this year. I know it is a lofty goal but feel like I can do it. 

2017 Quilting Year in Review

2017 was a pretty good year for quilting. I made it to three quilt retreats and finished 24 quilts. I also have 18 quilt tops finished and 37 quilts cut up and ready to go for next year. If it wasn't for my longarm breaking, I probably would have had finished 52 quilts. With that, I think its time to look forward to 2018 and make some goals for the new year. They are pretty much the same as last year's with a couple of additions.

1. Get longarm fixed.
2. Finish 1 quilt a week (52 quilts).
3. Go to three quilt retreats.
4. Finish all UFOs
5. Take a longarm quilting class.
6. Organize quilt stash.
7. Make 4 Quilts of Valor.

It is going to be very challenging year and I'm looking forward to it!

Rainbow Bookcase Quilt Complete!

I didn't think I would complete another quilt this year but I did. I just picked it up at the quilters this afternoon and got to work on adding the binding. I ended up breaking a sewing machine in the process. Its a good excuse to buy a new machine. I was thinking about buying a new one anyway. The two machines that I have are cheap and I think it's time to upgrade for the amount of quilting that I do. It will be well worth it in the long run.

Harley Davdison Quilt Layout

It seems like every t-shirt quilt has it's unique challenges ranging from too few shirts to shirts of various sizes (kids small & adult large in the same quilt). What do you do when you have mostly black shirts and there a lot of them? I know the answer would normally be to add sashing. The quilt is already going to be a pretty good size quilt so that wasn't the answer, plus the person I am making this for doesn't want it. I finally came up with this layout, trying to alternate the really greyed out shirts with the darker ones and spreading the other colors around. I still have eleven blocks left over which I plan on adding to the back of the quilt. I hope to have this one done by the end of the year. We will see what happens!