January Goal Üpdate

January has been a good month for sewing for me! I had the first week off of work because my school didn't go back from Christmas break until January 9th and January 16th was off as we observed Martin Luther King, Jr Day. 

This added up to lots of sewing time toward reaching my goals!

On my January 4, 2017 post I listed several of my goals for 2017. 

I joined the One Monthly Goal challenge over at Elm Street Quilts and chose my delectable mountain quilt as my January goal: 

My goal will be to finish the blocks, decide on a border or not, and get it to the flimsy stage.  

Not only did I meet my goal but I surpassed it! 

It is amazing what a deadline (and a lot of sewing time) can do for you! 

I finished all the blocks, decided on a 1/4" inner border of purple and a 2" outer border of black, sandwiched, quilted and bound this quilt!

The only thing left is to label it!

Although we have had very few sunny days,

 I took advantage of last Saturday's sun (we have not seen the sun since) 

to do a photo shoot. 

Presenting Splendid!

I quilted this quilt with organic straight lines about 1/2" apart from the top to the bottom inside the borders.

The outer border is also quilted in organic straight lines (seen in detail photo above).

The backing of this quilt was pieced with a fabric I had in my stash and the remaining scraps from the floral print. I really like how the back coordinated together!

The binding is left over scraps from the backing of my 

Diamonds in the Rough quilt.

This quilt finishes at 55 1/2" x 65"...a nice nice throw. 

Another of the goals I mentioned was #5: 

learn to crochet a border around it (flannel) for a sweet receiving blanket. 

Taking a break from the crochet blanket that I have been working on at my Knitting Club, I started crocheting an edge around a piece of flannel. I have made several crocheted edged fleece blankets using yarn but not flannel using pearl cotton. Some differences are: fleece doesn't ravel and with fleece, I rotary cut holes along the edge with my skip blade. 

I started by squaring off the flannel, then rounding the corner and finally serging around the edge. 

With pearl cotton and a steel hook, I started crocheting the edge with a stitch that kind of looked like a rose bud.

The pattern I followed said that you could push through the fabric with the hook but I found it difficult so I used a large needle to start the hole. I crocheted every 1/4" (eyeballed) around. It used a lot more thread than I thought that I actually ran out of pearl cotton. 

I couldn't find the same color so I used a coordinating color. Why not? We make scrappy binding for our quilts! Can you see the 3 colors I used?

This baby blanket finished at 33 1/2" x 38"

I'm linking up to One Monthly Goal ~ January Goal Finishes 

over at Elm Street Quilts. Linking up at Em's Scrapbag ~ Moving it Forward.

How did you do with your goals?

Welcome 2017

Today I am setting a few goals for 2017. 

Many of the quilts I make are a challenge to me as a new technique or pattern. 

It is a rare bird for me to make a quilt over again. 

I can only think of 2 repeat quilts patterns since I started quilting in 1996.

At the end of 2016, I had a few UFOs that carry over to 2017. 

First is my mini blue houses. When I started these little guys, I didn't have a goal in mind...just letting the neighborhood grow at its own pace. At the end of 2016, the population stood at 38!

The houses are 4"

This is the last addition to the neighborhood in 2016. 

In 2017, I will continue to add to the neighborhood until I run out of blues. 

(Ha! That maybe never!)

The second UFO from 2016 is my Sail Away! quilt. This is all pieced and at the flimsy stage. 

My goal will be to sandwich and quilt this nautical quilt. 

Third in line is my Chicago Cubs quilt. I'm using the economy block for this quilt. 

So far I have 10 blocks made. 

My goal will be to start making the alternate block to compliment these blocks. 

My fourth project is this delectable mountain quilt. My goal for starting this quilt was to use some of the fabric that was donated to me and try a new technique. 

(The bright large print flowers that I paired with Kona black.)

When fabric is donated to me, I feel guilty not using it even if it isn't my colors/style. So I use it as an experiment to try a new technique and often donate the finished quilt. 

My goal will be to finish the blocks, decide on a border or not, and get it to the flimsy stage.

The 5th project that I am setting a goal for is to use this pretty scrap piece of flannel (donated) and learn to crochet a border around it 

for a sweet receiving blanket.

And finally I will once again join in the 2017 Rainbow Scrap Challenge over at So Scrappy. January's color is purple! 

I need to choose a block that I will do this year. 

I will also link my scrap quilt progress to Oh Scrap! over at 

Quilting is more fun than Housework.

This year I will also join and link up to One Monthly Goal over at 

Elm Street Quilts. 

For January, I have picked my fourth project ~ the delectable mountain quilt. 

Head on over to see other quilty goals!