That was close! My 2013 Q4 FAL round up.

There's nothing like leaving it to the last minute is there? I've just about managed to write about all of my recent (and not too recent) finishes which means that I just need make one last little reveal and write a round up.

So back in October I thought that I'd try to be a little more realistic in my goal setting and 'only' set myself seven (don't laugh too hard now) goals. To tell you the truth I'm not too disappointed in the results as there have been a few Christmas makes in between and there have been a few other things going around here to.

So how did I do? Let's see shall we?

1. Anwen's quilt. Quilt top ready? Check. Backing ready? Check. Wadding cut and ready? Check. Binding ready? Check. 

Just (ha) need to get this quilted and bound. - DONE

And being used

2. Birthday pouches. I'm really ashamed to say that three months after their birthdays Anwen and Esyllt are still waiting for their pouches! The main reason why I stalled is that the pen that I used to mark their names bled and I couldn't remove it. However as I was looking through my WIP ready to compile this list I noticed that the blue marks had vanished so I really should get on and finish these. - DONE

Along with some other small makes

3. Cian's quilt. As soon as I was told that my cousin had had a little boy I got out an Apple Jacks charm pack and cut some solids to match. I've noticed recently that the main reason why I'm not 100% in love with the quilts that I'm making is because they don't have the same level of negative space as the quilts I admire on-line do so I'm going to add quite a lot of white in a D9P based design. - DONE!

Solids left over from Marged's quilt.

Cian was born at the beginning of August but I didn't start piecing his quilt until the 3rd of November. He recieved his quilt on the 5th!

I started with some chain piecing..

And by the end of the day I had a completed quilt top.

With the obligatory name appliqué!

I really enjoyed piecing this quilt. The D9P is so simple but (in my opinion) very effective.

I had to leave it here as I had the small matter of a day job to attend. As soon as the kids had gone to bed I set about quilting.

Coming off the frame

It took a total of 65 minutes! 30 minutes to load the quilt onto the frame, 30 minutes to quilt it and 5 minutes to take it of the frame. This was a welcome relief considering I'd only just finished quilting Anwen's quilt (over ten hours quilting) although in fairness I had only used a large simple stipple.

A neat corner

I'd backed the quilt with a green ginghamish flannel that I'd found in Oxfam for £1 a yard! This was the first quilt that I backed with flannel. It won't be the last - it's so soft and cuddly!

Now, I've only ever bought one Moda Scrap Pack. Unbelievably this scrap pack had two WOF x 3" strips from Apple Jacks in it! There were also another two strips that were a really good match colour wise. I added a few small lengths of solids and we had a nice and scrappy binding. Now you see that picture above? I honestly didn't try to get the seam on the corner - there's no way it would have been that neat if I had! This was my second time sewing the binding down by machine and I don't think it looks too bad.

As soon as I'd finished attaching the binding I threw the quilt in the washing machine and went to bed. It went in the dryer as soon as I got up in the morning and was dry in time to go with me to work. There was just enough time for a quick photo shoot.

This is the best picture we got!

At just over 30"sq this is the smallest quilt that I have made and Anwen was just about able to hold it for me to get a few pictures. I also got some pictures during my lunch hour in the park.

And I struck lucky with the light!

When you quilt a baby quilt in 30 minutes you get stitches that slightly too long.

But that corner still makes me smile!

Then after work and a dentist appointment (Marged's first one) we went to meet little Cian.

Somehow I couldn't find the pictures that we took during our visit so I had to take this one off Instagram

He was sooo cute. And he seemed to enjoy his quilt!

4. Oakshott quilt. I've lost count of the number of times I've read on-line that Oakshott has to be seen in the flesh to be fully appreciated so I held off buying any until I'd had the chance to see some with my own eyes. That chance came at the Fesitval of Quilts where I made a beeline for the Oakshott stand and fell in love!

It took me quite some time to decide on which collection I was going to go for but eventually decided on Impressions and limited myself to a charm pack. I then scurried of to the Simply Solids stand and the lovely Justine (along withLu and Nat) helped me choose Essex yarn dyed linen in Flax for the background. I have a plan and have already started cutting the linen. I see very simple piecing and simple straight line quilting in the hope that the Oakshott will shine! - Untouched, I'm really sad about this as I'm looking forward to working with the Oakshott.

All though this shot has given me another idea for a quilt design.....

5. House quilt. This quilt hasn't progressed since my Q3 goal setting post. Well that's a lie, I did cut the wadding and backing whilst I had the floor clear to cut the wadding for Anwen's quilt. I'm stalling as there's a very large blank canvas on this one and there's no way that the piecing (or the lack of it) is going to hide and quilting mistakes. Must. Get. This. Finished. Before. Baby. Turns, Eighteen. - Still no progress but I have an idea about changing this up a bit, I have a feeling that it will be near the top of my 2014 FAL Q1 list :-)

6. Liberty Bag. I may have mentioned before that a quilt shop (sells quilts not fabric!) in the town where I work sometimes has some vintage Liberty for sale. I have told Jen, the owner, that she's not allowed to put any more out in the shop as my husband is very close to killing me for spending all the housekeeping on fabric. She won't listen. I think that this comes from a sample book. It's home dec weight and just big enough for some fussy cutting which I'm going to pair with some cream sketch and hopefully turn into something that resembles a bag. I've ironed some interfacing onto the sketch and now need to bite the bullet and start cutting the liberty. Untouched. I've fallen out of love with the idea of this as a bag. It might turn into a pouch instead, we'll see.

7. Kaffe Snowball.I was lucky enough to get a last minute bargain and found myself at a workshop with Kaffe Fassett and Brondon Mably over the summer. I learnt quite a lot about the use of colour and the design process when it comes to making a quilt. I'm ashamed to say that at the end of the workshop I rolled up my flannel design wall and this quilt top has been squashed into a carrier bag since the workshop. I really should take it out and make some progress.(although I'm not holding my breath on this one) Good job I didn't hold my breath.

Three out of seven isn't too bad is it? Well, as I said at the start of this post, I'm happy enough - it just means that I've more to do during the next quarter!

How did you do? You still have over three hours to link up if you haven't managed to write that post yet ;-)

Linking up to Leanne at She Can Quilt for the last time :-( 

Although I've only played along for the last two quarters I really appreciate all the hard work Leanne has put into this little linky party. She commented on all my posts for Q3 which makes me assume that she does this for every link up. When you think that there are already over 300 link ups in Q4 that's a lot of reading and typing.

So thank you Leanne and enjoy your year off!