A Lovely Year of Finished 2014 - January

I think I'm getting old, because time is passing by at a very rapid rate.  I can't believe January is almost over, but I am so happy to say I did accomplish my goal. At the beginning of the month I set a goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes 2014 and I'm the first to admit that I set the bar low, because I was a little hesitant.  I wanted to finish the yellow and black quilt I had loaded onto the Avante.  Well I finished that one and three more, yes that is right I quilted FOUR quilts this month.  Now for some that might not be a lot, considering all the tops were made, but for me it is a big accomplishment.  And they are all bound and labeled.

Here is my yellow/black one. which was my goal quilt. I love the size of this one, it is just short of a queen size, but the colors aren't my favorite.  I will say that Hollywood loves it, he laid claim to it the night it was finished. I used a pantograph to quilt this one, and I really struggle to get my curves right from the back of the machine. I hand sewed the label on which is not something I enjoyed.  But I think I've found an easier method.  Overall I'm happy with it, and it is warm so that is all that matters.

The next one was a very small quilt, so it was easy to do...ok maybe not. I switched thread brands and had to pick out about 1/2 the quilt because of tension issues. Luckily it wasn't too hard or too big. I learned a lot about tension with this quilt.  I also even wrote some notes so in the future I can fix things a little easier. This is also the first quilt I quilted from the front of the machine, and I just used a ribbon meander.

Next I worked on my Brick quilt.  I love the colors in this one, and so did Tucker.  He tried to lay on it at every stage including when I was trying to bind it.  He really likes blankets, so he is always happy to lay on one.  I did the ribbon meander on this one as well, and it is alright, but not anything special. What I learned on this one was to slow down.  I made the Avante beep a lot, but it was so easy that I kept getting ahead of myself.  I did a narrower binding on this one only 2 1/4 inch strips and I liked that for the most part but the corners were tough.

The last quilt I just finished this week, and haven't shown before.  It was pieced by Sharla and I just did an all over meander on it and it is by far my most favorite quilt so far.  I really like how it looks.  I don't have any great photos of it yet, but I do have one of it and the two other big quilts on my quilt ladder. I can't wait for Hollywood to be out of his chewing phase so I can put the ladder out were everyone can see it. Right now it is in the corner of the sewing room.  The newest quilt matches the wall color nicely.  It is bright and cheery and was so much fun to do.

I'm quite happy with my accomplishments for January.  I have much tougher and bigger goals for February, but I'll talk about those later.  I'm linking up with Sew BitterSweet Designs for the January Finishes. If you've not checked them out you should, there are some really great finishes. And if you haven't signed up for my giveaway, you'll find it Here.