Finishing up in 2013

That's both finishing sewing projects and finishing the year. Incredible isn't it? I've already got plans for some quilts for next year, and took advantage of a fabric sale this morning at Fabric Spot. It's a Canadian business with modern fabrics. They offer great shipping rates, and an order of over $100 ships free in Canada. Need I say that I took advantage of this? My Christmas present to myself! And for the next few days you can get 25% off your whole order. That's the icing on the Christmas cake!

Anyway, I digress. Today I finished another baby quilt, this one is for my niece's baby boy who is due in February. I felt like a change and on the advice of my friend Lisa, I made the Giant Starflower Block from the tutorial by Jeni at In Color Order . The squares to make the HSTs are cut at 18" and then cut on the diagonal. I did all this, and then found that the quilt was going to be much too big, so I cut all the triangles down again. I now have enough triangles cut to make another 3 quilts!

The new size square is 12 3/4", not a convenient size to cut, I agree. Next time I would just cut with a
 12 1/2" square ruler.

The quilt measures 45" square, a convenient size for a baby, I think. The tutorial finished at 68" square, quite a difference.

The binding is scrappy, since I had so much left over fabric! It's backed in turquoise minky.

I got carried away with the FMQing. I've been watching the Angela Walters classes on Craftsy, this time the class on Quilting Negative Space. Of course, you learn something every time. Well, lots of things really, but there is always one hard lesson.  I started with the white areas, and really I should have started in the middle and worked outward. Anyway, it came out right. Relief!

Here are some closeups of the different quilting patterns I used:

Paisley in the background. It's not white, it has a faint green dot.

Wiggly lines:

Swirls:

Meander with loops:

I also tried two designs I liked less ( or made a worse job of, take your pick!) A meander with double loops really depended on ending the second loop in the same place as the first. It was hard to see. I also tried combining swirls with a pointy leaf. Let's just say the leaf didn't look very leafy.

Here's the quilt showing a bit of the back:

Also, I put on a burst of speed , ha!, and finally made my block Perennial Pleasures into a cushion cover.  

I had intended it to back it with some hand piecing I did. Let's just say that hand piecing is not my forte and leave it at that!

I'm glad it's done and in use at last.

So to all my quilty friends, have a very Happy Christmas and enjoy yourselves with your families. I've loved reading all your blogs, and I look forward to much more in 2014.

Best Wishes, and see you in 2014!

Linking to Sewing With Certainty, a series at Quilty Habit