Girly Burp Cloths

Just when I thought I would be done creating for the year, my daughter started a conversation about the items she wants for her baby, to be born in March. Typical me, I set aside my chores and we went to pilfer in my flannel stash.

She sorted fabric. Matched and coordinated colors. Then set aside the fabrics she preferred. As long as they were out she may as well cut them to the right size. And I may as well stitch them together.

There went my day off, LOL.

Flowers

I used some decorative stitches from my fancy shmancy Janome to run a line of stitching down the length. Easy peasy quilting.

Elephant stitches on elephant flannel

I try to coordinate my stitching to the fabric or project. It just adds to the cute factor of the project.
So I added elephant stitches to the pink elephant flannel.

I added a curly vine stitch to the swinging monkey flannel.

And a circle stitch to the polka dot flannel.

It was a lovely afternoon spent talking fabrics and babies with one of my girls. The bonus was the dozen burp cloths created.

Decorative stitches ... The Good and The Wonky.

I am doing some decorative stitching on some sunflower petals and it is not as easy as I thought it would be! It's a lot of shifting the quilt top and changing direction.

It's a big quilt flimsy to stuff in a small machine. 

Sometimes it looks good ....

Sometimes it looks raggedy and uneven ....

Thank goodness my daughter loves me even if my stitches are a little wonky. Just like me!

Finishing what I start .... soon I hope.

I must finish what I start. The Little Engine That Could .... I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. The reality is that I know I can finish the quilts I have started. It's a time issue. I am busy and I do not always manage my time well. I do NOT want to start having a backlog of UFO's. They weigh on my mind and I really don't have the storage space.

My little corner to sew in my bedroom. I am so blessed. 

I could whine about sewing in the corner of my bedroom which means I am limited on the hours I can sew - my hubby goes to bed pretty early for his 430am wake up alarm. But that's not really fair. At least I do have a small dedicated space. For years, I sewed on my dining room table for an hour or two each day. I had to put everything away to serve a meal to my husband and 4 children. It was imperfect but I made it work. I will keep my little corner working too. 

Sunflower Fields getting its border attached.

Christmas is coming and I really want to cut fabric for Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion mystery quilt. However I am staying on task to finish 2 quilts for my daughters. One is a gift for my daughter for Christmas or I want it to be a gift. I finished the top Friday. I need to piece the back, sandwich it then do some simple quilting. Its a chevron based quilt so I am going to quilt lines going with the chevrons. It's a king size, so it won't be quick but it won't be hard either.

Border and more border for Celtic Solstice.

The second quilt is last years mystery Celtic Solstice. The backing fabric finally arrived so as soon as I get my safety pins freed up, I will sandwich and quilt it. Again, simple lines as the design is the main attraction. Again a king sized quilt. I apparently lost my mind when I decided to make everything so big this year. 

Inner border strips for Celtic Solstice.

Do you struggle with time?

Do you finish one project before starting another?   

Officially, I do have a 3rd quilt top waiting to be finished but it is for my bed. No rush. 

I'm not deep into stitching Grand Illusion but it is on my mind daily, so I am linking up to Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Monday Link Up. I will be playing catch up soon I hope. 

Grand Illusion Colors

2013 Celtic Solstice though it might be renamed by my daughter

Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville has released the first clue for her 2014 mystery quilt Grand Illusion. I'm excited and hesitant, LOL. I participated for the first time last year making Bonnie's Celtic Solstice. I kept up with the steps but then assembling the blocks got stalled out waiting on my cohort to work her scrappy magical arranging. I just finished the main flimsy. A year later! I'm delighted and proud that the bulk of the work is accomplished. And embarrassed that it took soooo long.

From the bright blue wall and the blues-y sun, you can tell blue is my favorite color

I also hesitated on the colors. Bonnie chose colors almost identical to what I used last year. I love them but I have other color waves in my head. Which meant I stopped sleeping because I'm loony, LOL. So finally on Thanksgiving eve I decided to follow my heart and the colors in my head.

I chose .....

Kona Mulberry for Bonnie's pink

Kona Lagoon for Bonnie's yellow

Kona Ocean for Bonnie's blue (aqua to be more precise)

Kona Clover for Bonnie's green

Kona Bahama Blue for Bonnie's neutrals

Kona Marine for Bonnie's black 

Obviously I am NOT going to have high contrast between colors. However, I hope to have a lovely rippling motion of blue - green - purple lusciousness. I tried to make substitutions based on the intensity of her colors light to dark. I'm definitely going to have to label them to avoid confusing myself. 

And now I wait for my fabrics to arrive. I ordered the Kona cottons, a couple of flannels and the backing to Celtic Solstice from Fabric dot com I can hear the clock ticking as I wait and fidget. Sighsss .... 

tick ....

tock .....

tick .....

tock ..... 

Go check out all the participating Grand Illusion quilters here