Final 2014 Finish for the Lovely Year of Finishes~

It has been an amazing year,

full of sweet blessings 

and, 

(yay!!),

many finishes!

I finished my December block, 

the Ribbon Star by Lee Heinrich

in Honeydew, Cardinal Red and Clover

then had the bright idea to take it to the beach,

for a seasonal picture.

The sand moisture was freezing up on the calm, +20 degree day.

The water was moving in it's slow "gelatin" form,

which I think is neat to watch.

So I thought, "Hey, let's put it by the edge here for contrast.  

What is the worst that could happen?"

The answer came on a breeze as the blocks lifted

and one flew into the Bering Sea.

Luckily, it didn't go too far and the slow-moving water

made it easy to pluck.

The extra weight and moisture helped the blocks 

stay in place for more pictures!

The wet one froze and held the dry block 

securely.

Without the splash of color from the blocks,

the seascape was multiple shades 

of white on white.

I hope you have had a year full of good things,

and finished projects!

Thanks so MuCh to Shanna and Melissa

for again hosting the 

Lovely Year of Finishes!

Please check out the other projects here..

Best Wishes in 2015 to you all.....

Final Finish Up Month and Goal Setting for 2014~

Have you been "elfing" for a while?

Getting everything ready for the holidays?

It is a busy time of the year!

One of my goals is to get the final block finished and 

in the mail for our

Color Adventure.

Here it is half-way done.  

I love it more with every added month.

I hope you get time for yourself
to enjoy

and absorb

this special time of year!

I am linking up

for the final month

with 

Melissa and Shanna 

at a

Lovely Year of Finishes.

Please stop by and check out the other projects!

This Month's Challenge~

In our family,

I get to make stockings for the holidays.

It seems to take as long as 

a full-sized quilt does, but they bring back a lot of 

memories all hung up.

This month I have a couple to start and finish.

The bigger challenge, though, 

might be connecting online at the end of month

when they are done.

Our big plan is to get the family

all together for Thanksgiving!  

Our kids, families, and a few friends

will come from all directions

to celebrate.

I had better get to sewing before it is time

to start traveling!

Do you have plans?

Please stop by Melissa and Shanna's 

blogs to see what everyone is working on.....

Good-bye October, Good-bye~

 I guess, like it or not, 

it is time to kiss October good-bye.

Those rich fall colors have faded into darker tones.

Time to remember days that have past,

in warm, sunny places.

My October block is 

Grand Canyon Suite 

from Judy Martin's Ultimate Book of Quilt Block Patterns.

I used my version of autumn desert colors:

Kona Kumquat,

Corn Yellow,

and Valentine Pink

They were inspired by our trip to 

the Grand Canyon in 

October, 2012.

October is also Tammy's birthday month

so we celebrated it 

with a GrAnd AdvEntuRe.....

I am linking up with 

 at

Hosted by Melissa and Shanna!

Please stop by to check out the other projects.

Maybe you will find the perfect holiday gift inspiration.....

An October Goal~

I have a pattern picked out,

and three colors chosen

from the Kona cottons in my basket.

Did you notice the frost underneath it? ;-)

It is time to get October's blocks done 

for our 

Color Adventure!!

Since the person who will receive one of the blocks

reads this

(Hello!)

I will have to wait to show the details.

But that set of blocks

is my goal.

Time to get back to stitching.....

October's Goal Setting Party 

can be found here ~

Come check out what everyone is doing

now that summer is over!

August's Colors~

For us August is a time of 

back to school and birthday happenings.

In honor of our birthday girl,

I used greens and orange.

The Kona Kiwi and Honeydew greens represent

August's birthstone, Peridot.

School Bus is for the orange..

one of the current favs

of someone back at college to finish one more SemEstER!!

I chose a paper-pieced pattern

(yes, I really did) 

from Fresh Lemons,

Whirling Star.

She did an excellent job with her directions

(thank you..PP makes me

so nervous!)

By time I did both blocks,

I think I was doing better with the process.

Does anyone else feel like they 

are working backwards,

sideways

and upside down

with paper-piecing?

It is a great brain exercise!

Anyway, I was happy with most of the results.

Just need to practice,

practice,

practice...

One block has whirled its way to Oregon,

and 

that leaves just four more monthly blocks 

to go.....

A Little August Finish~

A few short weeks ago

it was the beginning of August...

Where did those days go?

My goal (#88) for this month was to turn this

pretty fabric

into a make-up bag for traveling.

I drew an oval to use as a pattern for the top and bottom,

then lined it with PUL for water resistance. 

It is tall enough for travel bottles, tooth paste, etc.

and has a pocket in the lid 

that is wide and flat.

The vinyl pockets have bias on the top and bottom

but are only sewn between the pockets.

They are located just above the bottom

so the pockets can be washed out and not get that

dreaded travel build-up!

The "floor" of the bag keeps items in their place.

Dirty running clothes can even go into

 the center so they don't 

touch clean things in her gear bag!

It was all loaded and ready to roll

back for  o n e  m o r e  semester.....

Yeowzer, did summer go fast!

Please stop by and browse these other great finishes 

at Melissa and Shanna's 

July's Color Adventure From Alaska~

Ever get an idea that you really want to try,

but it challenges your brain..

a lot?

For my July block, I wanted to make something resembling

fireworks.

The way they shoot in the middle,

then radiate out.

After some playing around,

and lots of little blocks,

this is what I came up with.

I made my triangles by stitching around the squares,

and cutting diagonally in both

directions.

It is an easy way to make four identical ones.

I cut, pressed and trimmed all of the sections..

then arranged them for piecing.

 Two Firework blocks for July!

One has been delivered to Oregon 

before this posting.....

August's LYOF Goal~

My July project is sitting here,

looking at me sadly in its

almost-finished state..

In our busy, busy July

the poor thing just kept getting pushed down the list.

..sigh..

Our warm, glorious, summer days have been such a treat
that it would be a shame to waste them.

Winter and more time to work indoors will be here 

soon enough!

I will get back to July's goal for a finish,

but right now this has jumped to the front of the line.

From this beautiful fabric, 

I will create a gift

for someone very special.

I hope you are all having a wonderful, memory-filled summer!

I am linking up for an August Finish
with Melissa and Shanna.

As always, you will find a 

lot of 

inspiration here.....

Six Months of Color Adventure~

This is 

six months 

into our Color Adventure.

Can't wait to add more blocks and colors!

And then ..

a.. 

layout.....

Our June Colors~

In June we were both inspired by flowers!

Tammy, by her beautiful over-flowing roses..

Her block is Georgetown Circles

with

Bright Pink, Clover, and Chartreuse

And my inspiration were the late tulips

blooming in Idaho.

I decided to make the June block,

Teach,

since Tammy and I both do that!

My colors were:

Tangerine, Leprechaun,

and

Lipstick 

 Flowers among the leaves.....