finishes

 

Happy 2015 y'all! A lot happened right during that last month of 2014....I retired ( wahoo!), sewed furiously for some gifts to co-workers and for Christmas gifts and then I got sick and lost about 2 weeks progress. Nothing serious and starting to catch up again.
Friends went to Hawaii for their wedding and brought me fabric and a pattern. I thought that was pretty cool so I made the first one for them. I didn't quite get the water on the shoreline straight...and didn't notice till it was basically finished...but oh well, I like the whale :-)
Then late to the party...like on New Year's, I was able to finish this Christmas present for my sister. She had purchased the pattern, Right On Target, from A Quilter's Dream at PIQF. I used a jelly roll of River Rock from Hoffman and quilted it with randomly spaced straight lines.

This last quilt is for the daughter of co-worker. I used a jelly roll from the designer at A Quilter's Dream. Loved the fabric but not the precision of the strips in this jelly roll. I had to continue with what felt like stunt sewing...leaving some seams really scant trying to end up with blocks that were close to the same size. Lots of fudging and not much precision but fortunately, the fabric and pattern are so busy that where the points don't meet up etc, it doesn't really matter. I have not sewn with jelly rolls before. Are the ones from Moda cut more precisely? I love some of the ideas with precuts but wonder about the trade off. I meandered a quilt pattern just so I could make it as sturdy as possible...don't want any surprises from skimpy seams.
This "pattern" is from a video from Missouri Star Quilt Company. I altered it a bit by using only 3 strips instead of 4 ...which may have added to my precision problem...maybe not.  It was fun to sew, except for the skimpy seams part.

Backing fabric from same designer.

I made a couple more things for gifts...forgot to take pictures of the penguins I sewed up from The Raspberry Rabbits and one gift is still waiting to be given...very delayed Christmas exchange in the plans.
It seems I was on a bit of a batik binge here for awhile as they seem to be good for gifting to non-quilty people. I am working on one more for a co-worker and then one for me :-)  Then...I hope to get back to some homespuns and plaids!