First Finishes of 2019

Since I've started quilting, I've noticed lots of quilt-alongs and Blocks of the Month and lots of fun in the sewing community.  Trina and I are still working on our BoM from last year, and I haven't even done my 2018 review post, but that isn't stopping me from playing with new projects!

I follow Project Quilting and have done one or two of their challenges -- sew a project, from idea to completion, in one week, within the suggested theme.   Right after Christmas they hosted a Mystery Quilt, which sounded quite intriguing.  So I jumped in on it!  Lots of tiny 2.5" squares.  But half way through I figured out what it was going to say - I heart PQ.  Which is great, but I've only done a few of their challenges so it isn't super inspirational to me.  So I spent some extra time to add MORE squares and came up with this:

It is 16" x 42" and is hanging up above my sewing desk.  I adore it.  Aside from being first finish of the year, and my first mystery quilt, it was also the first time I had made fabric from scraps (the heart), the first time using low volume fabrics (not just white on white), and my first time using decorative stitching to attach the binding (which was harder than I thought it would be).  Lots of firsts, lots of fun.

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And then immediately after finishing that I started the first challenge of Season 10: Hope Springs Eternal.  Start the timer, I've got one week.

Sunday: Project Quilting posts the first challenge of Season 10, Hope.  Perfect.  I had a stack of grey and yellow fabric just waiting to be turned into a baby quilt for a friend.  And what is more hopeful than a brand new baby!  I finally settled on this Giant Block from Kitchen Table Quilting and got started.  I added an extra block in the middle to feature the little lamb fabric - my first economy block!  It was fun to make and I want to make more in the future.

Monday - Wednesday: Making the top.  Aside from adding the center square I followed the directions for the 36" square and added a 3" border around it.  I like how the grey and yellow play together.

Surely you remember Cupcake's best buddy Grey, right?

Thursday: My favorite sandwich is a quilt sandwich.  Actually, basting is one of my least favorite parts of quilting, because I just can't seem to get it right and always end up with wrinkles in my backing.  But this time wasn't so bad - I used grey flannel for the backing and it stuck to my rug just enough to keep everything pretty flat while I pinned!

Friday - Saturday: Quilting.  I had to keep it simple to make sure I got it done in time.  To keep it even faster I used the backing for the binding - and it's the only way I can manage to get the binding to look decent.

I hope my friend loves this for her baby due next month.  I hope it brings a bit of sunshine as she adjusts to being a mom.  And I hope that baby is healthy and happy and brings great joy to family and friends.