My pledge to finish all the things!

No not really. That would be crazy. I have decided though to join in the 4th quarter of the 2013 Finish along going on over at She can quilt. My friend Holly participated last quarter and finished some great projects and as I need to finish some things up(don't we all?) I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon while I could.

Then the decision. Which projects to actually pledge to finish in the next 3 months? You know, arguably the busiest time of year. One of the busiest for me anyways.
Here's what I decided on.

1. Penguin Pillow, I started this almost a year ago and it has sat prettily on my wall since then waiting to be finished. It should be done before this Christmas right?

 

2. Christmas quilt, this was an unplanned, on a whim, start a couple weeks ago. I finished the blocks in a frenzy of activity and then it's been sitting. I don't want it to stay sitting for a year like the penguin pillow.

3. Needle book, This is for a swap, I finished the front a few weeks ago, I just need to finish it up or I won't be able to send it off!

4. Sam's quilt, My kids were next on the list for receiving quilts, and Sam had picked out a half square triangle design. Then the VMQG announced the Cotton Couture Challenge and I thought GREAT! I'll combine the 2. And cut 252 squares to be made into 252 HSTs. How many are now HSTs? 4. I have a ways to go! Go Michelle go!

So to re-cap:

1. Penguin Pillow
2. Christmas Quilt
3.Needle book
4. Sam's Quilt

And I'd better stop there. Is this realistic? I'm not sure. But I'm going to give it a good
go!

My first finish

Do you know how long it's been since I've blogged? No, don't go look back at dates. I'm not talking  time wise, it's more important that that! It's quilt time. In quilt time I haven’t blogged in 3 quilts time. Since I've blogged I've finished(quilted, bound, labelled, everything!) 3, yes THREE, quilts! I should probably add here that I have only ever finished 3 quilts :)

I believe I can now officially call myself a quilter. I'm a quilter. Yay!

And funnily enough my first finish wasn't my first start, nor what I expected.

In May I suddenly decided to make a quilt for my Grandpa. He's ageing very quickly and lives in Alberta so I don't get to see him very often. We were going to road trip out there and I wanted to leave something of me there with him.

 The front

I had only a month or a bit over until we were leaving so it had to be something quick and simple to make sure I would be able to finish it in time. And I decided to pick fabrics entirely from my stash. Oy. Picking fabrics for others can be tricky!

 The back.

Grandpa with his quilt. Which I perhaps a little uncreatively named "Grandpa's Quilt".

 The kids had a surprise from Grandpa too. His care home had a wood shop and when he was doing well he made these absolutely beautiful gifts for his great grandchildren. They loved them. I love that they have something concrete to associate with him as we don't see him often.

All of us together. Payton has a beautifully painted birdhouse, Sam a dog piggy bank, and Theron a stool. Absolutely priceless gifts.

As those of you with kids know June, end of the school year, is crazy busy. And there were moments that I though I was crazy. But I got it done! With even enough time to show it at the June VMQG meeting. Which was nerve wreaking as I don't like to be the center of attention. But I did it! And now that I've shown 3 times it's no big deal :)