Wait is it bi-monthly or.... whatever

So - having missed November entirely, let's just move along, shall we?

I did so WELL on finishes for the first 1/2 of the year.  Let's see if I can at least pull one off here in December.

Over the long weekend, I had some unexpected down time and whipped up a Christmas table runner. 

I used a charm pack of Blitzen by Basic Grey

Charm packs are so adorable!

                

              Pieced, 

                   layered, 
                        quilted,
                             done!!  

How gratifying!

       (And a FINISH picture would go here if I'd thought to take one - d'oh)

Late Breaking News!!  The manchild sent me pictures!

Back - quilting & a little I-made-the-front 48"-&-width-
of-fabric-is-44"-&-why-didn't-I-think-ahead? edge detail

So my goal for December is to make 

two more table runners to give as holiday gifts.

(Here's a close up of the snowmen from the line because they are just so cute!)

xo
sash

Bridgeport Boogie!

My New Project?  

Creating treasures for a raffle at this event:

Wanna Join Us??

One stash becomes two!

     A Lovely Year of Finishes        T-Shirt Quilts 

    T-shirt yarn (but for heaven's sake use a rotary cutter!!) 

       Woot!                   POUF(except I'll knit one)

Happy cutting & quilting & knitting!!!

sash

Count on me!

Who would have suspected that the Math Babe would get tripped up by counting?  
(Answer? Anyone who knits!)

I finished my scarf - and here it is:

I made a SCARF!

Not bad, right?  I mean - clearly scarf-like, reasonably even, no major holes or gaps - so I'm pretty pleased.

OK - it's not exactly like this picture I was aiming for when I set my ALYoF goal for July (link here):

Notice the nice diagonal lines all running parallel the length of the scarf?  

And on mine...not so much?  

There's that pesky counting issue.  

I started off a little sketchy (right hand side of the picture above).  I did start to get the hang of it but, somehow I lost count again, and the diagonally changed directions.

I paid more attention and got more practice and even figured out how that happened, so the rest of the scarf I would do 3 repeats of the pattern and then deliberately put in an extra row to change the direction.  That made the accidental turn look intentional.

Well - Semi-intentional

Here - a handsome male model stepped up to really show off my handiwork:

L'ours, il adore son écharpe!

A successful completion for my Lovely Year of Finishes.  

Also a GREAT learning experience 

(& not a bad 2nd knitting project!)

Now back to Ravelry.com for my next adventure....

xo

sash

Road Trip!!!

I'm SUPER excited to be heading "home" to Montana at the end of this week.  The trip will be part solo, part old-home week, & I'm looking forward to miles upon miles of Harry Potter on audiobooks and handiwork in my lap.

I'm going here:

To watch this:     Missoula Marathon!!  

And wade in this:

And, in general, be out of pocket, offline, & on vacation for a full WEEK!!!

I have some paper piecing I'm going to work on but mostly I'm going to work on my knitting.  

Yeah.  I said knitting.  Yep - I'm learning to knit!  

I've finished one little piece (except for the blocking - it's too HOT to turn on the iron).  

 I've played with some other yarns.  Now I'm ready to tackle this scarf:

(I think)

The nice people over at Ravelry.com said it was a beginner piece & I understood all the markings on the instructions.  We'll see if my powers of concentration can last through an entire scarf & make an actual,recognizable pattern appear.





And that will be my project for A Lovely Year of Finishes for July.  We'll see how it goes with a non-quilting finish.  Fingers crossed that it will look just like the photo (except in some festive bright color).

Now 4 more days until I hit the road.  WoooHOO!!

xoxo
sash

I'm such a heat weenie...

... but the quilt is done.

Here's a picture:

The sashing is much more golden than it looks here.  Backing is black minky.  Binding is off white batik.  I did stitch-in-the-ditch on the sashing and then mandalas in each block with variegated thread.

So another finish for ALYOF. If it weren't for the last minute, I wouldn't get anything done, right?

Here's the link to all the finishes:June Finish Party!
And the link back to where I set this goal: Aloha!


Now I'm going to get away from irons, computers, & anything else that generates heat.

xoxo
sash

Helping Hands

I am making great progress on my Lovely Year of Finishes goal for June.  Partly because of these helping hands: 

Completely adorable, right?  That is the amazing Quilting Goddess herself & her granddaughter extraordinaire.  She's going to be 4 next month & wants so DESPERATELY to learn to sew.  Learning to iron was pretty darn exciting (& heaven knows that's a phase that won't last long).

So I'm 10 days into June & Tutu's quilt top is assembled.  Now I must obtain minky & get on with the business of sandwiching.    This week does not have time for a trip to Fabric Depot, so it's time to hit my favorite online minky source.

And yeah - this entire post is just an excuse to show off that adorable picture.  You're welcome :)

xo
sash

Hungry for inspiration?

Dinner was just delivered by SoupCycle.  Two of my favorite soups plus an exciting summer salad!!!

In addition to being delicious, though, check out these colors!

Inspiration for a quilt perhaps?  

Maybe pinwheels of "Just Beet It" and 
"Smoked Chicken Chipotle Chowder" 
Floating on a field of "Barack-a-li Cheddar"?








I'm glad the cooking's already done for tonight so I can just sew!

bon appétit
sash

Aloha!

Sometimes the universe points us in the right direction.

A Happy Birthday
for this mom

   

And a beautiful memorial
service for this mom

       

Add inspirational
ukulele music

BRAINSTORM!!

Not Julie Andrews

*  I want to make a quilt for my belle-mere (my husband's mom)

* My Quilting Goddess wants to make a quilt for this lady ---->

* They both have serious Hawaii connections

* I bought some super cool batiks that have prints that look oh-so-islandy.

Hey! One design + Two variations = Happy Quilters & Quiltees!!!

So my June goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes is to make 

a birthday quilt (quilted, bound & everything) for Tutu.

Here are the amazing stamped batiks:

These are even more gorgeous in person.  They come in strips, but I will probably just fussy cut them into blocks & add sashing & borders.  So pretty as is - don't think I could bring myself to cut them up.

We'll see what the Quilting Goddess thinks up.  She has so many more quilts (& quilting magazines) in that sexy brain of hers.  Staring with these materials, I can't really go wrong!

Check out the other goals for June at the Lovely Year of Finishes goal setting party!

xoxo

sash

Not even the last minute!!!

I set a pretty big goal for this month & it was totally done on time for the big party!

The lovely Colleen Petrina celebrated her 90th birthday at a gala event.

                | (That's my dad in the green 
                |  shirt right down here.  He was 
               \/  enjoying the refreshments.)

We had to leave before presents were opened but I have it on good authority (a text from my boss later in the day) that the guest of honor loved her new quilt.  

Well of COURSE she did!  Look at this Lovely thing!

Why do these pictures keep ending up sideways???

So this was my successful finish for May in A Lovely Year of Finishes.  This puts my record at 4 out of 5.  I'm pretty pleased with that.

If you want to see where this project started the month you can look here.

And here's a photo of the back in case you're interested (and to prove I really did get the thing quilted too!!)

Really?  This one ends up the right way??

I did pretty light quilting.  Partly because of timing.  Partly because it looked pretty and I was afraid I might screw that up.  I used spray basting for the first time ever & it worked well.  I knew I'd be quilting it immediately so there wasn't time for the adhesive to wear off. 

I also used a printable tape for the label.  Fits right in my little Brother label maker.

Not fancy but it looks ok & was quick

Now it's time to pick a project for June.  

Wow - June already?  

At least, if the year is going to fly by, A Lovely Year of Finishes is helping me have something to show for it!

xoxo
sash

Random Treasures

Unexpected finds on a cold, headachy day.

First: 
A package arrived from Melinda's Fabric Shop.
Oh yeah - They had some great batiks on sale the other day.

Sweet!

Second: 
I was clearing out my temporary files (a perfect project for a blechy day when I can't concentrate on math).

Not many treasures in there.  Random bids & plans - a picture or two.  Then I found an article that my awesome KT wrote for the zoo volunteer newsletter.  I read it back then and I'm sure I kept a copy for the manchild's scrapbook, but I haven't look at it since then.

Too cool not to keep at hand.  Too cool not to share.  We'll file this under the "book" heading.

A genuine treasure - don't you think??

- sash

It's MAY! It's MAY!

This is my boss, Joe:

 

He's a super nice guy. I've know him for over 20 years.  

We have a good work team & build beautiful homes.

He also has a swell dog who keeps me company at the office: 

When we were looking for an independent living situation for my dad (who celebrated HIS 95th birthday in March):

Joe told me about the place where his mom lives.  We checked it out, it's close to my house & it's in dad's budget.

So my dad became my boss's mom's downstairs neighbor.  They also became Wii bowling buddies & just sorta hit it off in general.

Well, Joe's mom is celebrating her 90th birthday this month!

So my May goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes is to turn this pile of Lovely Fabrics into a lap quilt in time for her birthday.

See - it actually is called "Lovely"!

These Lovely Charms plus this background fabric from Northcott will become an XOXO quilt (Jacobs Ladder blocks).  

 Like this.

  Or this.

  Or some other setting I'll figure out when some blocks exist.

  With a border maybe.

Or not.

And to give equal airtime to MY sweet doggess, here's Sparki!  (Yeah - I need to vacuum the sewing room.)

Happy New Year!

- sash

Under the wire (again)

If I did even HALF as much sewing the rest of the month
that I do in the last two days of the month, I might 
actually run out of fabric!

(Perish the thought - right?)






OK - I got it done.  

It's not midnight yet. 

Here's a picture.  

(Maybe I can figure out how to turn that picture around tomorrow.)

Oh - at the beginning of April

                          it looked like this:

                (bloggy link here)

Click here for Other Lovely April Finishes!!

Gnight

- sash