Busy, busy, busy FAL

WooHoo finish #5 for the FAL this quarter!!  I was starting to sweat that I hadn't finished all my goals and I really wanted to for this quarter, so I kicked it into gear, LOL   Those of you who had followed me for a while might think this is the topper I finished last year. This indeed looks like it, maybe even the same fabrics, but I did sell that one quickly so I made another for this year!  It's pretty self explanatory so I will keep this post short. I more have finishes to get done!!  I will link to the FAL when it goes live.

New ruler fun time

Recently I discovered Cheryl Phillips had a new ruler out called the Perfect 7 and being the ruler junkie I am I had to order it. These are what I made with it. So fun!!!  Included with the ruler are 7 different round toppers you can make. These finish at 23"  You make strips sets first and then using the guide lines on the ruler you cut your wedges, using 14 wedges for each topper. Then you applique the little circle in the middle. That circle kinda puffed up a bit after I quilted the wedges and they remind me of the old metal buttons you cover.  I am addicted to making them!!  I did find a mistake in one of the diagrams on the instruction sheet-the second diagram for the Chubby Spinner(my snowman one below).  You have to lay the ruler for both strip colors the same way. I alerted Cheryl about it and she apologized and said they would pull those instructions asap and fix.

I'll be linking up with other inspiring bloggers at some of the neat linky parties!!  Have a great week everyone;-)

ALYOF-September finish

I am a little ahead of the game this month for once!!  My September goal for ALYOF was this fall round wedge topper. I had to applique the center circle, quilt and bind it, so not so bad. But I also had lots of other personal goals that I had set for myself so having this goal to meet was good for me to get in gear!!  So I am keeping this post short so I can go get more things done!!  As soon as the end of the month linky party opens I will link up with it!  It's always fun to see how many others met their goal too.

Decision made for September...

I finally made the decision of what my goal will be for September for ALYOF. A pretty simple one and I sure have lots of personal goals of finishing things up for the craft shows in addition to linking up to ALYOF. But I choose this wedge topper for my September project to link up at the end of the month. Appliquing it's center then quilting, trimming and binding.

Weekend sewing

I worked on these toppers this weekend. Now I need to get their center circles cut and appliqued on. They are kinda addicting, it's so fun to see how different fabrics will turn out.  

The first one I cut and pieced is the bottom right one, after I sewed the strip sets together I thought this isn't going to look like I pictured in my mind. Then I cut the first 2 wedges and laid them out, nope not gonna like this one so much. But I already committed the fabric to this so I will persevere. And it was fun to see it come together and look good in the end!! It was amazing each time I made another topper I kinda thought the same thing. You just had to wait it out to the end and it turned out just fine!  This was Saturdays work.

Then Sunday I decided to make these. You see I had to mix things up a bit to keep from getting bored with the same style. I love that top patriotic one. The bottom left is actually green and rust for fall. But in looking at it I think it could be a Christmas one too as the rust became more reddish looking when cut into the smaller pieces. 

The star shaped one evolved from one I made last year with my 10 degree ruler, but this time I employed the help of my hubby (he's a math guy) to draw me a template of 15 degree so I wouldn't have to make as many points, LOL. The colors are so much prettier in person, it really is a pretty light olive green-not the puky brown the picture shows.  I gotta say it is much easier to have an acrylic ruler to cut with than a cardboard template! However, it all worked out in the end and I saved money right!!  Now I think I would like to see a 20 degree one, haha.  These all measure around 28-30"  depending on how wide I decided to cut the fabrics for the strip set.  

If anyone is interested in a little tutorial let me know and I could whip one up. They look a little complicated but they really are not.

Linking up with Patchwork Times and Freemotion by the River

Some round wedges are totally done!!

I had some time on Sunday and got these 2 round wedge toppers bound-I still have a few more to do so stay tuned for those, LOL

For this one I chose prints that say Christmas but don't scream it, they are also ones that could be out any time of year if that was your color scheme. They were fun to piece and fun to quilt, lots of ruler work on my Nolting longarm. I love how the quilting almost makes it look like pleats in the round. If you click on the pix you will get a closer look at that.

The center circle is appliqued on using the interfacing sewn to the right side of the green and then clip interfacing and turn it, position it and iron it down. Then I chose a tiny blind hem type of applique stitch from my Janome Horizon 7700 to applique it down.
It measures in at 28" just the right size for my table, but I didn't make it for me! All of the round ones are for sale, as are most of what I make :-)
I was so surprised to see I was featured on Freemotion by the River blog today-great way to start the day!! Thanks Connie!

 And a fall wedge topper that measures 36"-it turned out a little bigger than I was hoping but I am sure it will fit someones table!  This was the first one I made and I was trying to scale it down from the original tree skirt size and forgot to take into account that the wedges don't meet right in the middle, LOL Live and learn :-)
The quilting on this was freehand hook swirl, an easy forgiving design that is fun to do and leaves great texture.

This little quilt you might recognize as a free pattern from Connie at Freemotion by the River.Thanks Connie-it was a fun little quilt to make up. This will be donated to our local Neonatal unit.

Linking up at Freemotion by the River and Sew Fresh Quilts

Wedge topper-What's on my design wall

I pieced this wedge topper yesterday after I mocked it up in EQ7. I am slowly learning my way around in EQ and pretty happy with how this one came out, of course it still needs it circle appliqued in the center before I quilt it. 

 And this morning I worked up this runner using the Disappearing nine patch idea. The Batik fat quarters I recently purchased at a sale, $7 for 10 of them!  

Then this afternoon I started working on another wedge round topper. Do I seem a little obsessed with round toppers lately!!  Guess it is something new to try :-)  This one will be round when I am done as there is no way I can quilt it on my long arm and bind all the points! Tomorrow I will finish the piecing. My pile of 'to be quilted' is growing and someday soon I will have to start on that.  

Linking up with Anything goes Mondays, Linky tuesday, Fabric Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, Wip Wednesday