Starts and Finishes

It’s been a week of starts and finishes in my little quilting loft. That’s always a good week! And I learned something new, which adds more points to the mix 😉
I participated in the Hexies by Halves Quilt Along over at Pieces by Polly (link on the sidebar) and finished my Christmas Quilt, complete with candy cane stripe binding to match the table toppers I finished earlier:

front

back

We love it! I haven’t washed it yet, so I can’t wait to see it all wrinkly and cuddly!

I got a better picture putting it on the dining table 😉

I also finished a bag for my EPP. It was a challenge, to put it lightly, but I did learn a lot. I’m one of those who just dives into the unknown. It’s stitching. What’s the worse that can happen? Anyhoo, after three weeks of struggling with fabric I don’t know the name of (but it doesn’t ravel and doesn’t slide under the machine nicely) and fighting with that clear plastic stuff – ’cause I want to see what pieces I’m reaching for, and stitching and unstitching a zipper for the back pocket (had never done one of those), and racking my brain and looking at lots of blogs and pictures for design elements, since I was designing as I worked….it is all done! And I do LOVE it!

The front. See my little needle book attached?

And the best part is how it organizes my EPP…

And my needle book flips conveniently to the inside for easy access. I know – I’m brilliant 😉

So that’s two finishes this week! And today, I started my Secret Garden quilt from Amy Gibson‘s workshop on Craftsy.

What did I learn? The local quilt guild meeting was this week, and I learned how to make a fabric bowl/basket with cotton clothesline, strips of fabric, and my machine. I can’t wait to make one. Or ten. I think I’ll start with a Christmas one from the scraps of Christmas fabric left from all those recent Christmas projects 🙂 Maybe I’ll put my first tutorial here for that…anyone interested?