I'm taking on the NewFO Challenge 2013

As I'm nosing around and reading more quilt blogs, I'm getting more and more inspired! So, I signed on to take part in the NewFO Challenge 2013 posted on CatPatches Blog. Looks like lots of fun to have "permission" to start something new each month whether it ever gets done or not. There's lots of ideas floating around my sewing room, so here's my in-the-moment ideas to start my list of 2013 NewFOs!

January: A Valentines throw like the one my friend Terry made. Why not plan ahead and if it gets done I can enjoy it in February!

February: A St. Patrick's Day table runner--design yet to be decided.
March: Start on the Vintage Rouge BOM that I purchased in 2012 but left sitting in bags waiting for me. I get to learn several new techniques with this one including English paper piecing and needle-turn applique. Yikes!

April: Start early on Christmas and make my own Advent Calendar out of the kit I bought two years ago on a shop hop. My little grandson will be excited to have cookies to put in the bowl next Christmas!

May through December, I'm sure I'll come up with plenty more from my stash, unopened kits, gifts needing to be made, etc. etc. At least one QOV to be made before November; a Halloween BOM to be done; prairie point pot holders to make for gifts; and even a set or two of tea towels to embroider before next Christmas.

Looking forward to starting lots of NewFOs in 2013 and maybe even completing some of them!

More snippets from the sewing room soon,
Liz

Life starts anew...

It's been quite awhile since I posted here. A lot has changed and life is evolving every day. Just over a year ago I was dealing with my 95-year-old father and his failing health. Quilting was one thing that helped me keep my sanity. In early April 2012, just a week before his 96th birthday, Dad passed away, thus ending my longer-than-expected tenure as caregiver. His passing prompted my immediate move from California, where I had been in my childhood home for 7-1/2 years, back to Kansas to make a new home for myself in the state I had called home for over 20 years before I took on parent-care. And the procession of U-Haul trucks began. Two trucks and a car load later on three separate cross-country drives in three months, I settled into my new home and began setting up my sewing room so I could get back to some semblance of normal. I found the quilt shop in my new hometown and was soon a member of two quilt guilds as well. Looking back at the months since I returned to Kansas I can say that quilting is taking a major role in my life. I have made pillowcases and children's quilts for guild service projects, made and gifted a Quilt of Valor to my older brother, and made my new grandson's quilt, Jacob's Jungle, that won a first place blue ribbon at both the Lyon County and Kansas State Fairs!

This fall, I managed to finish several quilted and sewn Christmas gifts in time to put under the tree, and am now looking at the stack of UFOs that need to be finished after their cross-country trek. The first one off the shelf is a One Block Wonder that I started in March 2011. The piecing has been done for quite some time as indicated in this picture of me holding the top in May 2011; however, the quilting has been dragging on. With about 80% of it done now, I started in again today and spent several hours ditching the mini orange border so I can free motion the blue field border to complete it. That's my first goal--to complete this beauty and have it bound and ready for snuggling soon.

There are many more where that one came from, so more projects will be completed soon.

More snippets from the sewing room soon,
Liz