PHD Challenge

June 30 is here and the PHD Challenge is over! I have accomplished so much and I am very proud of myself.I really stuck to the challenge of getting PHD done. Any new projects that I started got done except for 1.  I committed to getting 8 projects done, knowing that it would be probably end up being 5. I did get 5 PHD done and I am further along with the other 3.

Here they are:

Table runner for my in-laws

Winter Through The Looking Glass

Walking Down the Garden Path

Summer Fun

Grammie's Garden

I also got much further on these three projects.

Winter Wonderland

Halloween Block Swap

Tulip Table Runner which I am hand quilting

I think I might take a day to relax tomorrow and enjoy Canada's birthday. Then I am going to get started on a new project!

Lost Love

or Love Lost? I have not been watching Lost for a while. I realized it was getting too intense to be half watching it while quilting. It is great for me however while binding which I have been frantically working on this weekend. I am trying to finish up for the PHD Challenge and hopefully will be able to show you on the 30th.

 In the meantime I have been trying to get caught up on my Bee Blocks.  Here is the June one for Sew Modern Bee.

My May tulip for Bee Beautiful is done except for the leaf. Then I will get to play with some amazing Neptune for Julie and make some circles for Nicole.

I just barely  got my Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Bloc done last week

I will be happy when July 1st comes around. Canada's birthday, and I can start on new projects. I committed myself to working on my PHD and I have done really well at sticking to it. The only thing is I think I have got the PHD bug and there are a few more quilts I want to finish up.

Birthday Fabric

I asked for Birthday money for fabric and this is what I got. The Aster Manor is going to be used for the Elizabeth pattern by Miss Rosie. I think I need a couple more of the creams and then I can start. I am hoping to make it my summer project. I also got a charm pack of Boutique. I love love the colours. I am not yet quite sure what I am going to make with it.

I have also been searching a long time for Halloween fabric for my Halloween swap quilt. I was hoping to piece it with all of the great suggestions you gave but then after looking at all the fabric realized I had to many bits and pieces. I knew what I did not want for backing but it was hard to decide what I did want. I finally chose this one with the cute spiders. Since I spent all last summer working on the spider web blocks I thought this would be a great remembrance of that.

Friday Night/Saturday Morning Sew-In

I participated in the Friday night sew-in. Lately I have found it easier to turn into the Saturday morning before the kids wake up sew-in. I got my stuff ready to sew last night and worked on it this morning.

I got the top almost finished. Just one row left to sew. I have 30 squares from the Halloween Block Swap. I am having a hard time deciding if I want to make one big quilt or two smaller ones. I am concerned about the sharing of one quilt. At this point I am still undecided.

Signature Quilt

I have been wanting for a long time to make one of Julie's tutorial/patterns. I passed on the second round of the Modern Siggy Swap because I had so much going on. Then I found out that a friend was retiring and I thought about the quilt Julie had made for her niece with all the signatures. With the help of another friend, I was able to get most of the signatures of the people where I work and put it into a quilt for her. It turned out really well, and my friend was very happy. I just hope I have not set a precedent and that other people will want one as well.

I love before and after pictures:

This is the fabric I started with. The second and third fabric I won in a giveaway. They were perfect for the quilt.

This is all of it laid out. I was going to do something different for the centre but I needed the space for more squares. I ended up having a 9 x 9 layout. It made it easier to do, because I made 9 9-patch squares and then took the 9 squares and made 1 huge square. I started to quilt it myself but quickly realized that I had not pinned it properly. I took it all out and I am going to have Tammy quilt it now.

School Days

Well, school is almost done with and my School Days quilt top is done just in time. Each time I finish up with a quilt I think this is my favourite, until I move on to the next one. I love, love the zigzag pattern and am definitely going to be making myself one. I love to how each border fabric is different. The fabric is called Chaking it Up to Success. It has been sent off to the quilter's and will soon be going to a soon to be born sweet baby.

I have started on my hand quilting adventure. I hand quilted years ago but was also doing hand piecing as well. I did not like the hand piecing so I ended up stopping both. Thanks to Ariane I have started it again. Right now I am working on my tulip table runner. When I will get a ways with it I will show you.

Plan B

I had to do some Plan "B"ing on Wednesday. I was making a quilt where the borders had part of the quilt pattern. Somehow some of the pieces I cut were too short and I had to scrap the border completely changing the design. I am still happy with out it is turning out. That's what I like about quilting. How many life lessons can be learned from it. Sometimes a Plan B can be better than a Plan A, and sometimes a Plan B can make you look great if you don't tell anyone there ever was a Plan A. Oops!

 I did have something to make my Plan "B" ing better. I got my win from Bec Clarke as part of the May Giveaway Day. I got to choose a pendant, and she promised some surprises. Well, the pendant is incredible and the surprises are great. I got a coin purse, an Australian magazine with stitchery and quilting, my new favourite combination, some fabric and a charm pack of Fairy Frost by Michael Miller.

Last week I was trying to frantically get my table runner done for my guild meeting. We had a block swap and I was in 2 groups, brights and country. I decided to try something that I had never done before by making it 2 sided, with the bright side for spring and summer and the country side for fall.. For a while I thought I might need to Plan B it to, but it turned out okay.  It turned out okay but I was finishing it up 5 minutes before I had to leave for the meeting. I had some extra batting hanging out of it, and when I went to cut it I ended up cutting a hole in the binding instead. I stitched it up anyhow, and hid it behind Ariane's amazing bags at the meeting. 

The meeting was supposed to be the last on the executive as the newsletter editor. I told my husband to stop me from signing up for anything else for the executive and I ended up becoming the webmaster. So much for Plan A, again! Luckily, my dh knows me well enough and is supportive enough to laugh at me when I told him.

Feeling Good

Yesterday was my birthday and I had the Michael Buble version of Feeling Good in my head all day.

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good.


It was a great birthday. I actually made time over the weekend to look after myself. I cut my hair cut and some new clothes, something which I rarely do. My world is being rocked a bit right now, just a bit and just gently. I had a lot of reflection time over the weekend to think about things and the direction I want to be in for the next year. Things are going to be changing, but the memories and feelings will still be there.

One of the things said to me on the weekend was by my daughter. She asked me why did I have to grow up to be a quilter? I think that suggests more time with her is needed and I am hoping to change the direction of my quilting to reflect that need. I would love to do more hand stitching and more redwork. Machine quilting and I just don't seem to get along and I am fine with that.

My birthday itself was spent with friends and family. I was surprised at work yesterday with a cake made by my friend. I got to have lunch with my closest co-workers and enjoy the warmth of their company. I got some birthday money and went right away and ordered some fabric that I have been wanting for a long time.

I am trying to get done as much as possible for my PHD challenge in the last few weeks of the challenge. I still also have my bees to complete as well. July will be a welcome respite, and a move forward.

Since we need to have a photo here is Block 7 of my Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along. I have really been enjoying this. The pace is just right for me and I love each of the blocks.

I hope you are all feeling good!

Excuses

What a crazy week it has been. I have not had time to post about anything including my Spring to Finishes, and my OPAM.

Here was my list:

1. Remove wallpaper from my hallway. DONE
2. Decorate my dining room.
3. Get rid of some toys and books.
4. Organize my children's clothing. DONE
5. Get a label on my friend's quilt and give it to her.
6. Pick a pattern for my sister's quilt. DONE
7. Finish my mom's quilt top. DONE
8. Finish my zig zag quilt top.
9. Put together my guild blocks into a table runner.
10. Quilt my tulip table runner.

Okay, so I only got 4 done by the end of May. I love to look back at my earlier posts and see my naive optimism about getting things done.  I did get #9 done, on Wednesday making it my 1st finish for June. Some of the other items on my list got partly done. My OPAM for May was my Pinwheel Quilt.

Well, I better have some good excuses for not getting things done, even though I knew my husband was going to be away on business for a week and my family was coming to visit after that.


Here they are:

I have fallen in love with redwork. I love, love, it. I love its simple beauty and the fact that I already know it is not going to be perfect. I have the first done and have almost finished the second one.

We had a heat wave here, so I needed to cool down by working on my winter quilt. I now have the quilt top done and I am thinking about hand quilting it. I really hate machine quilting.



I thought things would be slowing down for me but I have 6 things I have to get done by the end of June including quilting a quilt. I feel like I am doing final papers and getting ready for exams. I will be happy when summer arrives. I have had to sit on my hands a few times from not joining any more swaps. It is so hard not to join things when there is so much inspiration all around.