January Project Complete!!!

I put the final stitches in the binding this evening!!! Woo hooo!! This was my first attempt at free motion quilting a full quilt and I am really pleased with the results! I really loved how you didn't have to pull and push the quilt through that narrow area of the sewing machine while quilting. I still have a lot of practicing to do, but I know I will want to quilt my quilts this way from now on! Not to mention it is so much FUN!!!!! Here are a few photos of the final product!!!

I decided to make this my January Project to complete for the One Project a Month Challenge




The reason the photo below is darker is because I turned off the flash as I noticed a close up with the flash only made it look too bright and you couldn't see the quilted designs. I actually used an unbleached cotton for my backing.


For my next project, I will hope to get a start on cutting out the Double Irish Chain quilt I am making Trevor's parents for their wedding anniversary. Their anniversary is the middle of March. I started washing the fabrics this evening. Tomorrow I plan to get a good start on this quilt. I have made it several times in the past and I love this pattern. I found a really nice Celtic Knot design to machine quilt in the centre areas.

I have the place to myself this evening as Trevor is working another overnight shift. Since I didn't feel like taking out my machine, I set up my Grandmother's Garden fabrics on the dining room table and thought I would cut out and prepare more fabric pieces to recycled file folder patterns. I started hand stitching this project back in September. Tonight I counted 8 completed blocks. In total I think I am putting together 24. So I guess this means I am a third of the way through making the blocks. Cool! I'm in no hurry to finish this one, so if it takes me a couple years, that's okay.

While cutting and pasting, I was watching Moulin Rouge. The one with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. It was a bit weird in the beginning, but I found myself getting into it more. I find both are great actors and enjoy other movies by them.

Recently Trevor and I have been watching a show called "The Long Way Down". It is based on a road trip Ewan McGregor and his best friend Charlie did on motorcycles. They drove from London to Mongolia, through Russia, flew to Alaska then continued their trip to New York City. What an amazing trip! We haven't finished watching the whole show. I think the last episode we watched was when they made it to Alberta. What an amazing trip to take! I would love to travel more and see more countries and cultures. So far I have travelled to almost every province. I even lived in the North West Territories for a bit. What a culture shock that was! I mean it was hard to adjust to 24 hours of daylight and a different way of life and believe you were still living in Canada! I drove from Nova Scotia to Florida one summer, and enjoyed everything I saw along the way. I have been to the Dominican and to Cuba. But of the travels I have done so far, I think my favourite and most memorable as been to Turkey. I travelled by myself when I was 21 years old to visit two penpals (yep, there were no emails then.. all letter writing by hand) from Istanbul and Ankara. I fell in love with the country, the food, the culture, the sounds, everything about it! I think this is why I am enjoying the show "Long Way Round" so much. To get out of the norm as we know it and see how other people live! Perhaps one day I will share my trip in more detail. I still keep in touch with Sinan and Pelin. I will get back there someday!

Well should be going. It is going for midnight and I still want to complete pasting a few more fabric pieces to the hexagons I made out of file folders. I work on this project over my lunch hours at work, so I need more pieces cut out and ready to sew.

As for my January project, I will now add a tick or the project next to JANUARY on my side bar. It's a good feeling to complete something off my 2009 list! I will tackle another UFO soon for February. Or maybe I will make the Double Irish Chain quilt my project to finish for February. We shall see :)

Quiltingly Yours
Andrea