New Year's Eve 2015

I have been doing pretty well organizing myself the last few days, and have made some good progress on the table runner.  It's actually at a point that I can baste and quilt it, but now I need space to tape it down for the basting.  Which involves cleaning off a table... we will see if that happens this morning.

 

The top of the French Braid table runner completed.  Loving how striking the colors are.

This is how I pass the time until the Seahawks play.  Also, check out my NEW JERSEY!!

I pieced the back with the strips cut off the sides of the runner when I squared it up.  I would like to make a larger version of this, again, very striking.

I also found in my organizing my Mini Stitch that I had started summer 2015 and got that pulled together for a completed top.

The pattern was fun to work with, it's also mini sized so assumes you know what you're doing basically.  Not many instructions.  You can find Mini Stitch and more mini patterns at Fig Tree & Co's website here.

This is going to make the best wall hanging, I am very excited to have it ready to quilt.  I picked colors that make me happy and will stay interesting to me.  Some of them will also bring back some memories, but as I haven't made a lot of quilts most of this fabric is just from my stash.

And I completed mom's Christmas present the day after, but it sure turned out nice!  And she is very excited to have a sewing project bag of her own, she has really been picking the sewing back up lately (I may be causing some of that...), even made 12 Seahawks hotpads for Christmas gifts, and 4 pillowcases!

This fabric is so pretty, I got it at the shop in Bonner's Ferry when we went to Montana.  I keep hoping to find it in blue for myself.

Another chance to practice my FMQ, I did not mark this feather, just made it happen, and filled in the gaps with pebbles..

I am learning the best way to install my tags is to wait until I'm finished and sew it on the seam afterwards.  I redid this one 3 times before I figured that out!

 

I have to laugh at myself, I have made this project bag at least 7 times, and I make it differently every time.  I have been making notes on the last 2, and taking pictures, I'm hoping to pull it all together into a tutorial for you all.  And to help myself be more precise and timely in the construction.  What is taking the most time (and I'm pretty sure I said this before) is the quilting.  I keep using these bags as my practice pieces for free-motion quilting techniques, so instead of it taking me 5 minutes to quilt it I end up taking closer to an hour.   The bag assembly itself is only taking ~30 minutes. Quilting is my hobby though, I'm not in this to make things REALLY fast.  I am trying to enjoy the act of MAKING.  And lately, I've just been very thankful to have the time to sew at all.

And without further ado, I'm off to take advantage of the bit of time before I go to work!  Make the most of every minute, the year is nearly done!

Happy New Year everyone, here's to strong finishes and exciting new beginnings!
~Brandy

Linking up with Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts