OMG - April

So far for the OMG goals, I've managed a complete finish for each month (even if I didn't blog March's finish - ooops.) and am hoping for the finishing streak to continue.

For April, I'd like to finish this quilt:

It has been a UFO for over a decade and has been basted ready for quilting for a year or two now...  It's time to get this one done!

Now to settle on a quilting design.  I have sketched out several ideas over these last few days trying to settle on a design, but keep changing my mind.

I tend to do fairly dense quilting but would like to keep the quilting on this one light.  It results in a softer quilt which would be nice if this one becomes a baby quilt.  Plus, the blue fabric is pretty cool, it has a subtle pattern and I don't want the quilting to make it impossible to see.

Here's a closeup of the fabric.  Can you see the dancers?

If you want to see what other people are planning to accomplish this month; check out Red Letter Quilts OMG April link-up.

OMG - March

I'm on a bit of a finishing roll with my OMG goals, so I'm going to attempt to stick with the trend.

This little top was made using a French General charm pack a while back (okay, maybe years) and has been basted waiting for quilting inspiration.

My goal for March is to find the quilting inspiration and finish this top.

If you want to see what other people are planning to accomplish this month; check out Red Letter Quilts OMG March link-up.

OMG - February Finish

I was so excited about finishing the Estonian Flag Quilt that I almost forgot about my February quilting goal.  Fortunately I'd thought small for this month and was able to squeak it in.

This quilt is a mini; made from a circa 1934 charm pack along with a fat quarter for the binding.  I started making miniature quilts ages ago as a way to practice machine quilting - it was the only way I moved beyond stitch in the ditch and stippling.  While I'm felling more comfortable with my quilting skills these days, these little quilts are wonderful to play with and test out new ideas.

Lately, I've been playing with HSTs (Half-Square Triangles), there are so many patterns you can create from such a simple block.  This one was an experiment with colour.  Conventional wisdom says colour doesn't matter and you need to pay attention to value.  However with this quilt, I made red and black zig-zags and many of the red and black triangles are light in value compared to the background triangles.  I was curious if the zig-zags would still show up even though I broke the value rule.

Here is the back of the quilt.  To give you an idea of the scale of this quilt - it is pieced from whole charm squares (leftovers) that weren't needed for the front.  I love that little typewriter in the middle square and spent way too long trying to figure out how to make it work for the front.

And a close-up of the quilting...  While I've done lots of pebbling, I'd never tried just a row before - It's been such a cool element on so many quilts I've admired.  I hoped it would help emphasize the zig-zags.

To see how everyone else did with their OMG goals, check out Red Letter Quilts OMG - February Finish link up.

OMG - February

Well, January's goal proved to be a little time consuming and I do have another quilt to finish this month; so I went with something a little smaller for February's goal.

Once again, my goal for the month is to have this project quilted and bound.

To see what everyone else is up to, check out the OMG goals for February.

OMG January - Finished!

With just a few hours to spare, the Solids Quilt is done!

This was a fast top to put together, it was done during a retreat weekend with the guild (a few years ago).  Then it sat as I pondered the quilting.  Eventually, I decided to do a quilt pattern per shape with thread to match each colour.  (Close-ups below).  It was bound in a dark grey solid to frame the quilt.

Here is the back of the quilt.  I almost had enough of the writing fabric for the quilt but I really really wanted to use it on this quilt, so I made it work.

And this is why I wanted to used this fabric on the back.  When I quilt, I usually use the same colour thread on the top and bottom - I like the secondary design you get on the back and for this one I thought (hoped) it would be almost like a reversible quilt if the back was quiet enough.

This closeup is my attempt to show you the quilting I did.  For the little squares I did a diagonal thin line (almost matchstick) quilting back and forth.  On the pieced rectangles I went for pebbling.  While on the solid rectangles I tried a swirl.  Since the quilt was full of strong straight lines, I wanted to add some curves into the quilt's overall texture.

I hope everyone else had a good month and were able to complete their January goals for Red Letter Quilts - OMG.

OMG - January

Red Letter Quilt has taken up the torch and is continuing one with the One Monthly Goal (OMG) link ups.

For January, I'd like to focus on the solids quilt.

I'm about half way there with the quilting and I hope January 31 will see this quilted and bound.

Good luck to everyone for their January finishes!