Amelia Canyon Quilt Finish

I'm so excited to share Amelia's quilt with you today! She finished it over a week ago but it's been crazy around here and I'm just now being able to sit and write about it. Amelia is six and this was her first quilt. I helped her baste, quilt, and bind it so I put it on my Q4 FAL list as number three. This was also my ALYoF goal for November. Prepare for an adorable picture overload!

She chose a layer cake of Canyon by Kate Spain for Moda to use for her quilt. We just did simple patchwork for this as it was her first attempt at a quilt. She has sewn other things before like pillow cases and bean bags.

It's just so pretty and she did so well at lining up the seams. We used washi tape on the machine as a guide for her to follow. We also used wonder clips to keep the pieces together. I find they are safer for the kids than pins and much easier to place and remove.

I love putting tags on my quilts and this one is especially cute because Amelia wrote her own name. I did the rest of the tag. It matches so well too! This is from yardage by Sweetwater for Moda.

Amelia picked both the thread color and the style of quilting. I think the meander is the perfect choice for this one. She said she likes it because it makes "little puffy bits I like to poke".

Here she is relaxing on it and enjoying the feeling of accomplishing something big!

Like my other two kids who made their own quilts I let Amelia lead in the photo shoot. I like this one. She looks snug as a bug.

This one is also fun with the quilt flowing behind her. There were a lot of funny outtakes with this one and her little arms were getting tired holding up that much quilt so high while running.

Here's the backing she chose more of that same line - Canyon by Kate Spain. I love the texture of the quilting in this picture as well.

Isn't she freaking adorable?!

Well, That's it for this week! Thanks for stopping by and checking out her finish. I'm linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

Also, this week I was part of a block hop to promote my friend's new book. Check it out in this post and visit the other stops on the hop...

Nov. 16 - Lee at Freshly Pieced
Nov. 17 - AnneMarie at Gen X Quilters
Nov. 18 - Leanne at She Can Quilt
Nov. 19 - Julie at That's Sew Julie
Nov. 20 - Lyn guest-blogging at Flourishing Palms

You Can Quilt! Blog Hop

Today I'm excited to be a part of the blog hop to promote You Can Quilt! Building Skills For Beginners a book co-written by my friend Leila from Sewn by Leila.

Here's the book in all its glory! You can get your own copy here. Also available so many other places like Amazon. I was able to test three blocks for this book and you can't imagine my excitement when all three made the cover! I'll show them a bit later.

My knowledge of this book and story dates all the way back to October 2010. Leila and I went together to the AQS show in Des Moines. On the way out she mentioned how she wanted to write some patterns or maybe even a book. I was instantly excited for her and having seen her work knew she would do so well.

In 2011 she started the You Can Do It! Skill Builder Sampler Quilt-Along totally not the shortest name but applicable. ;) I was so excited to join up as I knew there were several blocks on the list that I had never attempted. You can see all my efforts here. The sampler quilt was amazingly helpful to my skills and I saw vast improvement! This idea is not just for beginners. I'm sure we can all improve in one method or another, especially with guided help!

Here's my finished quilt from the Quilt-Along. Many of these blocks made it into the book. I organized mine from easiest to hardest.

The hardest being this butterfly block. Honestly, I didn't think it was even possible! This is the final block in the You Can Quilt! book as well and it's totally possible with the skills you pick up throughout the rest of the book!

Now on to more from the book itself. I mentioned how I was able to test out three blocks earlier. You Can Quilt! is broken up into different sections with three blocks per section. The idea is start with an easier one and get harder as you go along. I was privileged to test the Flying Geese section.

Each section starts with an overview so you can see what you'll be learning about in that bit. The flying geese section is particularly awesome because it teaches three different methods commonly used to make flying geese.

These different geese methods are given clear and easy to read explanations and pictures so even a beginner can easily master these skills. I tried the magic method shown above the first time and was surprised at how easily and perfectly the blocks turned out.

Here are two of the blocks I tested for the book. I was a little nervous because historically my flying geese left something to be desired but the book made it so easy to get perfect points this time around. I'm especially proud of the "Breaking Out Block" on the right. You can find these on the cover on the bottom right and middle left!!

Here's the last block I tested for the book. This one used the magic method which is great for so many geese to create them accurately and quickly. This one is also on the bottom right of the cover.

Well, I hope that got you excited about the book! Again, you can purchase it here. However, there is a great giveaway running on Leila's blog right now for a copy of the book and a bundle of fabric. Go check it out here!

Also check out the other stops on the hop...

Nov. 16 - Lee at Freshly Pieced
Nov. 17 - AnneMarie at Gen X Quilters
Nov. 18 - Leanne at She Can Quilt
Nov. 19 - Julie at That's Sew Julie
Nov. 20 - Lyn guest-blogging at Flourishing Palms

Christmas Runner Finishes

I finished my Christmas Runners and mailed out the swap packages yesterday. These were my last swaps of 2015 and I only have one lined up for next year. It was fun to swap but I think I'm going to enjoy selfish/family sewing for a while. This marks off #14 on my Q4 FAL list. Without further ado, the runners...

It was pretty awesome that both of my swap partners had the same tastes and liked Holly's Tree Farm by Sweetwater for Moda. I'm a big fan too! I got a Honeybun and sewed it into strips.

Then I cut little trees out based on the pattern found in the kit Sweetwater put together.

I added some white background and did some pebble quilting so it looked like snowballs. I didn't quilt the trees so they'd pop more.

Here they are finished! I was a little worried about binding those points but it worked out to be quite simple. I can't wait to make the quilt for me like this! It was hard to ship these out!

That's it for the week! Thanks for stopping by! I hope to finish up the Amelia quilt to show by next Friday but I have three people with Strep in the house so far, we'll see how it goes. Until then I'm linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

ALYoF Goal post and Pigs Finish

Another thing off my Q4 FAL list with the Pigs out of the way. I am on a roll and even have something to share on Friday too! But first, my ALYoF goal for November and another little something I've been working on.

My middle daughter Amelia finished her quilt off this weekend. I'm so proud of her! She is 6.5 and while it took a little more teamwork than her older sister she did do a ton of the work by herself. To finish this off she picked the layout, pushed the pedal, and together we guided the fabric through the machine. Several times she felt confident enough to do it completely alone. I'm so happy with her progress! Since she's so young I'm going to quilt and bind this for her. This is my ALYoF goal for November. The backing and binding are in the mail and should be here by Friday. Woohoo!

I've also been doing a little cross stitching. I used to do it all the time which feels like a million years ago but was really just the 90s. Randomly I picked it up again for my Back to the Future swap and have been playing around with it ever since. It's great to do while watching tv and was especially helpful during the 5 hours of online BSA training I did this week.

The pigs are finished and aren't they adorable?! This is #20 on my Q4 FAL list and I'm so happy with this one! I found the pattern here. I picked up some pink fleece as a remnant on sale at Joann's and these pigs were born.

My Sister-in-law teaches third grade and is reading Charlotte's Web with her class this year and asked if I could create two pigs for her. I was a little worried about making them since 3D objects are not typically in my wheelhouse but I made it happen and they were much easier and faster than I expected. I made three all in one day!

This one was the prototype and extra so we are keeping for ourselves. My baby girl just loved it so much it will probably become a Christmas present.

That's me for the week so far! I've been loving this stint of getting things done! More to show on Friday! Until then I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday.