MMXV + a Thank YOU giveaway

Happy New Year! 2014 is almost behind us and I am looking forward to see what 2015 has in store. Personally, I am hoping for a calmer 2015, 2014 was quite crazy. Thank YOU for hanging out with me this past year, I have a giveaway to thank you at the end of this post – it’s a long one!

I thought that 2013 was big year for me quilting and sewing wise; but 2014 kicked 2013’s butt in that aspect. While I never did get our bed quilt made I did get a few minis done, I learned to paper piece (and love it!), and completed a bunch more projects – 25 if my count is correct! I also pieced a bunch of blocks for the Modern Instabee, have started blocks for the Philly MQG Bee, released two tutorials (a quilt and a scarf), was featured an article about swaps & bees and a Craftsy post, and have enjoyed learning and growing with each project that I complete.

A few of my favorite finishes from 2014 (my final three are below!):

You can see all of my 2014 finishes here and blocks & swap pieces here. I started 2014 with an ambitious quilty to-do list and my tastes changed and life continued so not much got done. I am starting this year with a much smaller list: a Charley Harper quilt for my aunt (two years overdue), a Christmas colored Hazel quilt for us, two swap minis, and monthly bee blocks for the Philly MQG crew. That’s it! The rest of the projects will happen as I discover them.

Blog wise, in 2015 I will continue to share my projects with you and I am hoping to have a few more tutorials to share. If there is anything specific you would like to see, please let me know!

Without further ado, here are my final three 2014 finishes: Plus No. 2 which some of you may remember from MidAtlantic MOD in April was finally completed and gifted to my high school mentor, long time Army man, and police officer Merle Bragg. I made another 241 tote for my mother featuring Splash in Midnight from Jessica Levitt’s new Cascade fabric line with Essex linen in gray. My final 2014 finish is Spools, a wall hanging for my Aunt Becky, featuring Charley Harper fabrics. I used SPOOLS from SPOOL/Bad Ass Quilter’s Society’s 2014 Row by Row pattern without the last block of four small spools. Since this is a mini I took the plunge and completed my first real attempt at free motion quilting (FMQ) with a simple meander. It is far from perfect and I still need a lot of practice, but I am happy with it and will continue to practice on quilt sandwiches in 2015.

Thank YOU for stopping by on a regular basis to cheer me on and to see what I have been working on. Knowing that I have you expecting a weekly post drives me to keep creating. I hope that you have a wonderful New Year’s and I cannot wait to share my continued journey with you.

To thank you for hanging with me, I will make three lucky winners their choice of quilt block (pick from Hazel, an outhouse, or a shirt) in their preferred color palette! I have really enjoyed the process of making blocks for others and I want to pay it forward to three of you. To enter, use the Rafflecopter below and leave me a comment below telling me what you are looking forward to in 2015. The giveaway is now closed and the lucky winners are:

             

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I will close the giveaway at Noon EST on Sunday, 1/4 and it is open to all of my readers. I will contact the winners via email to go over their block details on Sunday afternoon and will have the blocks in the mail no later than February 27, 2015. Good luck & thanks again!

Elizabeth Hartman and Carolyn Friedlander, the block designers, have no affiliation with this giveaway.

Quilt Details

Pattern: My own Plus design.
Front: Platinum Quilter’s Linen and miscellaneous red, white, and blue fabrics from my stash and from
Beth at Stash Fabrics
Back: Widescreen in blue by Carolyn Friedlander Binding: Blue and white check print from my stash
Quilting: Aurifil 40WT #2600 (a pale gray) Finished size: approx. 45×54″

Pattern: SPOOLS from Spool/Bad Ass Quilter’s Society
Front: Charley Harper fabrics and misc. Kona solids for the spools
Back: Tan solid Binding: Red and cream feed sack reproduction fabric from my stash (I have an
original feed sack in the same print as well!)
Quilting: Aurifil 50WT #2310 (cream) Finished size: approx. 9×27″

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The Shirt Off of My Back

Exciting things are happening around here this week! My first tutorial goes live on Saturday (eek!) with my stop on Jessica Levitt’s fabric release blog hop and today, just because it’s gloomy, I am doing a giveaway. I’d like to give you the shirt off of my back…well bench. I have been making Shirts for side swaps and this one is an orphan (and honestly, not my style) so I am hoping that one lovely reader will give it a new home.

Congratulations Melissa Quinn! Look for an email from me shortly.

How do you enter? (Giveaway is now closed!) Just leave me a comment and tell me whether you love or hate Halloween. Do you go all out with decorations, costumes, parties, and giving candy to the kids or do you hide upstairs in a back room? In Philadelphia, we were in the hate it camp, but we may give it a shot in our new neighborhood. I’ll be closing the giveaway Friday night and Mr. Random will pick a winner for me. (If you are a no-reply blogger, please leave your email address so I can contact you if you are a winner!)

While you are checking out blogs, stop by my friend Carrie’s blog, Skyline Quilts, she is doing the Modern Instabee (Hive 15) and is doing some amazing things. Be sure to check back in on Saturday for my debut tutorial and my stop on Jessica Levitt’s Cascade Blog Hop. I was thrilled to be selected to work with Jessica’s new fabric and I cannot wait to share my project with you. The blog hop started on Monday and Windham Fabrics is giving away a fat quarter bundle at every stop. Check out Jessica’s blog for full details and the schedule.

A Couple of Things

We have made it successfully to Maryland and are awaiting the arrival of our possessions. I wanted to pop in and show you a couple of things that I have finished up this summer but have not gotten their space here yet.

I made another pup, this time in a lovely orange grid, for one of my good friends and Drexel colleague who just had a baby boy. I decided to give him a more modern feel and leave the eyes and the nose off.

I have also been back on the SHIRTS! train, I missed out on round two this time but I have been swapping with a few people. Here are four that I made for a fellow Philly MQG member. I have a few more in progress for some Instagram friends.

What have you been up to this summer?