I love a finish!

Doesn't it feel so great to get a quilt finished? Especially since this one gave me a few hiccups along the way:

It's not easy to see in the photo, but I quilted it with one of my favourite all over designs, a swirl with petals. White cotton thread to fade it into the background. The backing fabric was hiding in my stash - it was a double wide pink reproduction fabric. Not from the same era, but it looks cute all the same. When I think about it, this project was put together entirely from my stash - nothing was purchased - not even the batting, that had been laying around waiting to be used for some time too!

I won't give it to Mary until I've been able to show the quilting ladies, and then it'll go live with my sweet grandbaby :-)

Once this project was finished, it was time to evaluate the state of the cutting table. I've had a bunch of must make projects on the go, and then some holiday laziness, so the scrap pile on the side had become hectic:

I spent an afternoon cutting strips and squares in 1.5", 2", 2.5" and 3.5". All sizes that our dear Bonnie recommends for her Scrap Users System. Christmas fabrics are stored in that zip-loc baggie so I can put my hands on them easily when I want to make more mats. A few small pieces are ready to put in the applique fabric containers, and large pieces placed in their appropriate colour drawers. It feels really good to have a tidy cutting area, but I'm sure I'll be busy making a mess again soon lol!

I had a treat in the mail recently, my beautiful friend Linda who lives in the USA sent me a Christmas block:

Linda is not a fan of applique, so it's a huge deal that she made an applique block for me. She is such a special friend, we always have so much fun when we are able to see each other, and I love her to bits.

Because I've made myself a promise that I won't start anything new until I've finished some of the other things I'm working on, I'm being really good, and I'm continuing to busy myself splodging paint:

I'm really getting somewhere, and still finding it fun. I was intimidated by the dark paint colours at first, but now that I'm over that nervousness I can get more done. 

Next week my Xmas break is over - tennis resumes, and most likely quilting, so I won't have as much free time. I'll try and use my time wisely and keep moving toward getting projects finished. Maybe that should be a goal for this year - finish more things. Let's see how I go! Chatter soon xox