Starting January off with a top and a join

MT got his final marks back a few days before Christmas. He made the dean's list for the last time and has graduated. He started his new job the first week of Jan and is loving it, what he's not loving is the 2 hour bus ride each way. He had planned to move into his own apartment after he has banked a good nest egg but with 4 hours of travel time (2 hours there and 2 hours back home) every day I suspect that his move into town will happen sooner than later. Again the girls quilts are temporarily on hold and his got first priority.

Deckade the halls has been put away for now. Using Fat Quarters shop Layers of Charm pattern and Zen Chic Reel Time fabric I whipped this up. I would absolutely make this again. I love how it turned out. I saw it on the FQ top 10 videos of 2015 hop and a few said they had this top done in about an hour, it took me an entire weekend. Granted, I didn't use charms for the diamonds but that really wouldn't have shaved much time off. A quilt top in a weekend, that's really incredible for me.  Now for a little hiccup, I originally picked a different pattern and had cut up 90% of a layer cake into 4.5 blocks when I showed MT the two patterns I had been looking at. He picked the other one (Layers of Charm) that uses the full 10' he thought this one was more modern and would suit him more. Thank goodness I had two layer cakes for this fabric. I played around with it and came up with a layout I liked and added a black border while we watched season 2 of grey's anatomy on Netflix (9 more seasons to catch up). I have the material for the backing, just need to decide how I'm going to quilt it.

Next up because I am the queen of procrastination on the girls quilts, my goddaughter D turns 21 in early March. She loves blue, I bought Laundry Basket Quilts Cold Spell batiks. I was leaning towards rail fence type pattern but kept eyeing my wall hanging I made with 3 Sisters - Paris Flea Market (pictured above) using Katie's Quilt pattern by Missouri Star. I really enjoyed making this last year and anyone who knows D would agree that she needs stars in her quilt. I have made a few of the patches and will be changing it up so the the stars are one of the blue fabrics instead of patchy so they stand out. I hope to get some progress on it before this weekend. We are going out to dinner with her parents Jackie & Tom on Saturday night so I'm hoping to give Jackie a sneak peek.

Did you notice the new button over to the right? I joined The Splendid Sampler. Can you believe it?? I can't, a week later I'm still feeling a bit numb abut it. I sat on the main page for hours, read the page countless times, checked out the Fb page, thought about it some more... then about 11:30 Sunday night I decided it's time to take the big leap and signed up. Will my blocks be the best ones, nope not by a long shot (not to worry I have no illusions on that front). Will I struggle to complete the blocks, yep and and I may not even be able to complete a number of them. So why join? Because I know I'll gain some really great skills along the way. If i want to keep up I'll need to get in a routine (which is a resolution for this year). I especially need a routine during the work week when I know I should sew to help ease some stress but just can't get it together. Lastly, (and its a doozy) while I do post on my blog - I don't really share my hobby outside of this little white text box and occasionally a block or two on instagram. I don't have a sewing buddy, haven't joined any classes, guilds, swaps, charity blocks, BOMs or even the new blogger hops that were taking place at the time I started.

Why now? The timing seemed right, first block will available Feb 14th. On the 7th of Feb 2013 a few months after discovering quilting blogs I took the plunge and ordered my Brother SE400. My machine was received on the 13th. The next few days were spent making simple blocks and since then I have learned a lot about myself and am bit more comfortable (I can finally sew a 1/4 inch seam somewhat consistently). With all of that in mind, it seemed it was time to finally get over the hurdle. My email confirmation was received and verified, the Fb request was accepted within minutes of sending, so there's no backing out. I am now officially a joiner!