WIP: NY Beauty Edition.

Remember this stack of fabric? It's now this:

Yum.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. 

Stacking Blocks Mini Quilt.

Recently, I received a package all the way from Kauai, and this was inside! My quilting sensei K sent me a mini quilt for Christmas, and of course I absolutely adore it. I'm incredibly glad I have a bit of dowel rod on hand so that I can get this hung, and pronto!

A few months ago, K made an entire baby quilt of stacking blocks, and it was super epic and super fantastic and altogether amazing. Did I mention this mini quilt is backed in a hot pink and white polka dot? Complete perfection. *Sigh.*

And a close up. Eep! I'm in love. If only I could figure out where to hang this lovely!

Thank you, K! I love my gift!

SS: The Winning Edition.

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Carrie at Gotcha Covered Quilting telling me that I had won her giveaway from the big SMS giveaway day. This was all kinds of exciting because it's not too often that I get to stalk someone's etsy store, pick out my five fave FQs, and get them sent to me for free. It. Was. Glorious. Except, I stumbled onto a problem. I wanted ten FQs instead of five, and how was I supposed to eliminate five from my list? Carrie, being a peach, let me purchase an additional five because she's cool like that. (Thank you, Carrie!)

I picked five FQs from Bluebird Park by Kate and Birdie. (How could I say no to those hedgehogs?)

And then some Little Figs from Little Things Organic. (I have a serious thing for raindrop fabric, and I love love love the blue in those two FQs. The gray is because I use up my grays almost as quickly as I purchase them.

And last but not least, a couple of FQs from Sweet Serenade by Basic Grey. I somehow missed this collection entirely, and I'm glad Carrie had some because I love these two prints.

The moral of the story is that you should go and visit Carrie's etsy store, Gotcha Covered Quilting. She is super super nice, and my new additions practically zipped to my house, that's how quick it was.

You know what else is super awesome? Sunday Stash, which I'm totally linking up to because it's just the right thing to do, you know? Fiona at Finding Fifth has passed the torch, and now Molli Sparkles is hosting, complete with a sparkly pink button. (You all know I totally heart the sparkly pink button, right? Because I so so do.)

FF: Supermassive Black Hole.

Hello Friends! I think most of my January 2014 finishes are technically December 2013 finishes, but I couldn't show them off until after the holidays, or in today's case, after a birthday.

Photo used courtesy of W. John MacMullen.

Some moons ago, my friend John gifted me the most amazing mini quilt for my birthday. I don't remember when I first started scheming John's birthday gift, but it was probably before my birthday because I knew his gift had to be fabulous. (He's a quilter-enough said.) I had the idea to use a ton of different solid black fabrics in differing textures and weights to create a pillow of awesome. I knew I wanted it to be improv-y and randomness. I knew it had to be awesome. So when I was flipping through my bookmarks and stumbled across the Bloomin' QAYG panel tutorial at Let's Eat Grandpa, I knew I had found the one.

To be honest, when I went fabric shopping, I didn't even note the type of fabric I was grabbing. I knew I wanted linen, corduroy, and lace, but everything else was up for debate. The only quilting cotton I used was to back the panel. I grabbed fabrics based on appearance and feel, and when I took them to the cutting counter and asked for a miniscule amount of all six, the girl looked at me like I was a nutcase. When I explained my plan, she was totally on board and looked like she might get grabby with the pillow if I brought it back for show and tell, so needless to say, I didn't.

While I admired the finished product, I knew that if John didn't like it, then I had no idea what he liked after all. And when I delivered it, I think John liked it okay. Just kidding! He loved it! The pillow's title is a nod to Muse's Supermassive Black Hole, but I'm sure y'all know I didn't name this pillow. John did! I would have titled it Black Pillow of Awesome or some other nonsense.

I kind of really want a pillow like this for my couch. But in hot pink. Or in Tula. OR BOTH.


I'm linking up today with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and TGIFF hosted this week by Quokka Quilts.

A Fabric Stack.

I have big plans for this stack, and eep! They include curves! And paper piecing! And scrappy goodness! Fierce Quilters Bee for the win!

Q4 FAL Finishes!

Hi Friends! Q4 wasn't a perfect quarter, but I'll take 5 out of 6 finishes. You can find my original list here.

I didn't finish my Sisters' 10 BOM quilt, which is a big ol' bummer, but the top and backing are pieced. I just need to baste, quilt, and bind. Easy peasy, right? Right. This will be moving to my Q1 2014 FAL list.

I finished my niece's quilt, and I'm happy to say my younger sister loved it!

I did a bit of baby sewing, not as much as I'd hoped for, but I got a bunch done anyway.

Lito's quilt has already been in heavy rotation, is great for car rides, and has already been the subject of quilt surgery.

I finished a dress for myself, which I've been calling the raccoon dress, mostly to freak people out because they don't know how to picture a raccoon dress, and then they see mine and chillax because hello! These raccoons are awesome!

Baby Kenna's quilt was delivered, and while the baby hasn't arrived just yet, his mama and dad both love his quilt. 

I'm linking up with the 2013 FAL Q4 Finish List. Hooray for finishes and checking things off goal lists!

Bye Bye 2013.

I finished 17 quilts in 2013. On top of that, I finished a ton of small projects that I can't possibly list or count. On top of all that, I have a quilt top ready for basting and another quilt that just needs binding. To say that my 2013 life was consumed by quilting would be a bit of an understatement. It's just, quilting made me happy. Cutting, pressing, piecing, even basting of all things--was relaxing.

But Friends, I'm tired. There were so many things that I felt I "had" to do, and I did them. I did them all. And I'm happy I did, but now I'm tired.

I'm going to take a step back. And while I won't be backing away from Agatha completely--OMG, how could I ever do that?--I am planning to pare down my expectations and my "must-do" requirements for 2014. A list this small looks so weird to me, but I think it's healthy.

• Finish Mr. Audrey's Quilt. Needs to be basted, quilted, bound.
• Make a quilt for my mama. I had hoped to make her one in 2013, but I promised her earlier in the fall that I would definitely get to her in 2014.
• Complete my bee blocks on time for Stash Bee. (I freak out at the thought of late bee blocks. I totally understand when other people are late because life happens, but I can't seem to allow myself that.) 
• Totally rock my time with the Fierce Quilters Bee. (Which includes finishing the prep work for my own quilt, but at least I have an idea, templates printed, and fabric pulled, so that's a start, right?) 
• Finish my quilting sensei K's Christmas gift. SOON. But she loves me, so she'll totally let me slide if I'm a bit late. (You will, won't you K sensei?)
• Finish a Project Linus Quilt. I like to donate at least one quilt a year, and I've already got one nearly finished. It just needs binding.
• Not mandatory, but I'd like to make a tree skirt for next year's Christmas. 
• Also not mandatory, but I'd really like to make myself a pillowcase to go with my Tula bed quilt. I have a lovely bit of fabric that is just yearning to be transformed, but I haven't scraped together the energy/enthusiasm.  

And that's it. This seems so small to me, like a quarterly list or even something I could get done in a month or two if I was really ambitious. And y'all know how much I adore a good long ambitious list. But for now, this is all I want to commit to for 2014, and I think that's a really smart and healthy idea.

I do want to say thank you for being a pal and cheering me on this year. Y'all make blogging so much fun! I love the relationships I've built and the lovelies I've chatted with and feeling like I belong in such a generous and amazing community. I wish you the bestest of 2014, whether you have a long or short list!

Mucho love, Audrey