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My Q2 Finish-A-Long List

4/17/2018

Yikes! I've waited until the last minute to make my list, what was I waiting for? Just busy that's all. Anyways, here we go, once again I've decided to only list 7 projects, though my list is really probably 30, but honestly I'm not even going to touch most of them, so lucky 7 it is.

1. Bonnie & Camille Log Cabin - Something about this quilt just has me wanting to work on it, so it will remain on my Q2 list. I have ALL of the supplies needed for it.

2. Bee Sewcial Flower Quilt - I'm planning on starting this one soon, even if it just starts with adding more hand stitching in car rider line. Can't wait.

3. Once Upon A Time Cross Stitch - You can't tell from this photo but all my stitching is actually finished. I just need to frame it and get it up on the wall, because it isn't finished until I do so. This should be done real soon.

4. Bee Sewcial Triangle Quilt - Yep dragging over from Q1, I just need to do it. The top is done, need to work on the backing.

5. Waterfall Raglan Woman's Shirt - I totally lied in my last blog post and said I wasn't carrying this one over, but then I got on Instagram and saw lots of gals wearing this totally cute style, so I'm totally doing it! I also really checked out this photo and discovered the pattern here is the child's size, so maybe I never printed the adult version. Well problem solved, I sent it to the printer this morning!

6. Mother/Daughter Espadrilles - I have all the supplies finally and I need to make these pronto before my daughter's foot grows AGAIN. I'm hoping this will be a fun quick project.

7. Boys Pajamas - My oldest is in desperate need of more pajamas (growth spurt) and he still loves all his handmade ones, so I'm riding that train as long as it lasts. Here are the fabrics, the black is cut out and I'm using my favorite PJ pattern the Sweetheart Pajamas from the book Sewing for Boys.

I thought I would share a scene from my sewing room, I bought one of these letter boards on clearance from Target and thought it would be perfect to keep in eye sight as a daily reminder to get to work!

You still have today to link up, so get cracking! You can link up via a blog, Instagram, Flickr, no excuses people, link up those WIPs! The Q2 link up can be found HERE. For all of you who have already linked up, thanks for playing along.

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My Q1 Finish-A-Long List, How Did I Do?

4/12/2018

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I started the first quarter of the year with six items on my list, I have a TON more than six, but I only put down those that I think I might actually work on. Though I didn't even touch 4/6 I'm still thrilled with what I accomplished. Here is how I did:

1. City Sampler - Complete! This big 102" x 104" king sized quilt is finished and on my bed This is the last time it will appear on my FAL list and I couldn't be more thrilled. You can read about it HERE.

2. Once Upon A Time Cross Stitch - I diligently worked on this the entire quarter. I'm happy to say that all of the stitching is finished and it just needs framing. I plan for this to be my first finish of the second quarter.

3. Ladies Waterfall Raglan - I planned to work on this top for myself, and after literally moving all of my sewing stuff into my new sewing space I never ran across the pattern that I had printed and taped together. This frustrates me immensely, totally not putting it on my list next quarter. I'm not printing it again, I just don't even want to.

4. Bonnie & Camille Scrappy Log Cabin Quilt - Didn't get touched.
5. Bee Sewcial Flowers Quilt - Didn't get touched.
6. Bee Sewcial Triangle Quilt - Didn't get touched

There we have it, one big finish, one almost finish and four that I didn't work on. Now I just have to figure out what I'm putting on my Q2 list. I'll figure that out and blog soon, but in the meantime you still have plenty of time to make your list and link-up. The link up closes on Wednesday, 4/18/18 at 11 pm EST. So you have almost a whole week to get it done. I certainly hope you decide to join us. You can find the Q2 Finish-A-Long Linky HERE.

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2018 FInish-A-Long - Quarter 2 Link Up!

4/10/2018

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Its time to link up your list of unfinished projects that you propose to finish in Q2 of the Finish-A-Long. We are hoping that the FAL community will inspire you to work on your unfinished projects this quarter (and throughout the remainder of the year) and to get them finished!

The 2018 FAL is hosted by a community of bloggers across the world. Our hosts are:

Marci - Marci Girl Designs - USA

Sandra (also Social Media Director) - Studio Sew of Course - Ireland

Leanne - She Can Quilt - Canada

Ella - Throw a Wench in the Works - USA

Felicity - Felicity Quilts - Canada

Karen - Capitola Quilter - USA

Izzy - Dizzy Quilts - Canada

Lynne - Tinking Along - USA

For those of you who are new to the FAL, it is a place to find motivation and encouragement to complete those unfinished projects that are hanging around. At the start of the quarter you post and link up a list of projects you hope to finish in the next three months, and then at the end of the quarter you link up each successful finish from your original list.

Each linked up finish is an entry into the draw for wonderful prizes from our sponsors. There is no penalty for not finishing a listed project, so feel free to make your list as long or short as you wish. The 2018 Schedule and Rules for the FAL are on my permanent 2018 FAL page, let me know if you have any questions.

Here are the fantastic and generous sponsors for Q2 of the Finish-A-Long. you can see each of their prizes listed under their logo. Please think about visiting them and saying thank you for their support of the FAL.

$50 Gift Certificate

3 PDF Patterns

$25 Gift Certificate

2 PDF Patterns

$20 Gift Certificate

3 PDF Patterns

2 PDF Patterns

3 Six Month Subscr.

$25 Gift Certificate

A Minikins Bundle

$50 Gift Certificate

2 PDF Patterns

$30 Gift Certificate

$40 Gift Certificate

So now it is time to round up those projects that you want to finish over the next three months! Take a photo of each one and make your list. Please ensure that you have at least started your projects - pulled fabric with a pattern is considered a UFO - and remember it is only finished projects that will get you an entry toward the above listed prizes. So while we love to see your bee blocks, the "finish" is when they are a completed, usable project.

If posting on social media (Flickr, Facebook & Instagram), it will be very helpful if you tag your list with #2018FALQ2yourname (where yourname is unique to you). Using the same hashtag over the quarter when sharing project progress or finishes helps the host to make the connection to your original list quickly and easily.
IMPORTANT: Don't forget to link up your finishes when the quarter closes!

The 2018 Q2 list for your list of proposed finishes is now open, below, on my blog and each of the hosting blogs. You need only link your list once, on one host blog and the link will show up on all the host blogs. If you are using Facebook, Flickr or Instagram, post a mosaic of your projects and put your list in the description. Don't forget to include your unique hashtag. Katy of The Littlest Thistle has a great tutorial on how to link up if you need it.

We also ask that you become part of the FAL community. Please check out the links of others - visit and comment on their lists. We all need encouragement to get those finishes done, so please share some of your own too.

If you want you can follow us on Facebook, Finish-A-Long and/or on Instagram, @finishalong, too. We'll post encouragement during the quarter and reminders when the finishes link up opens at the end of the quarter.

When creating your list there is one thing to remember - No deductions for not completing something so - Aim High! Nothing to lose!! Well now, get those list together and get linked up.

Feel free to use and share the FAL button above and this one too:

The Q2 proposed finish linky party will stay open until 11 pm EST, Wednesday, April 18, 2018 - as we are global, you might want to check your time zone to determine your last possible time to link (you can also see how much time is left below the linked up images on the right.)

Remember: you only need to link up at ONE hosting blog and it will automatically show up on all hosting blogs.

An InLinkz Link-up

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City Sampler Quilt - A Finish

4/9/2018

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FINALLY, FINALLY we are here today with a finish. It took a bit of digging on the blog, but I found out that I started this project mid-June 2013, you can see that first post HERE. Four years and nine months to be exact. That is a long time to work on a project, but I'm happy to report it is finished and on my bed!

A brief history - This quilt is from the book, Tula Pink's City Sampler, 100 Modern Quilt Blocks. It was started in 2013 as part of a Sew Sweetness quilt along, if I remember correctly, I finished all the blocks in time to link up at the end of the quilt along. I used Lizzy House's fabric line Constellations and matching solids to construct the blocks. I believe the blocks sat for quite some time while I decided on layout and ordered fabric. I chose one of the finishes from the book and the two gray solids are Hawthorne Threads solids line, Hawthorne Hues. I constructed the quilt top and ordered backing (a Riley Blake wide back) as I didn't want to have to piece it. My mom helped me baste this monster on my kitchen floor and then the quilt sat for quite some time. In 2016 Gnome Angel hosted an Instagram event, #100days100blocks and instead of making the blocks I decided to quilt the blocks in the same manner in which they were quilted in the book in the 100 day time frame. I met that deadline and quilted each of the individual blocks. Then the quilt sat again until the beginning of this year when I decided it was time to get this monster finished (and my husband said he was tired of seeing it folded and full of safety pins.)

The quilting story - All 100 blocks were quilted using free motion quilting and based on how they were quilted in the book. The blocks in the book were quilted by Angela Walters and I thought it would be a great learning experience to duplicate how she had quilted each block. Boy was it a great learning experience and I highly recommend it! By the time I had finished quilting all 100 blocks I really felt that I had a great grasp on free motion quilting. This was the easy part, the hard part was deciding on how I was going to quilt the stripes or background and why the project sat for so long. I was so hung up on the idea that it had to be free motion quilted and I kept circling around some kind of "star or celestial" theme. In the end I just couldn't figure out a way to make it work and I just picked up the quilt. Fast forward to January of this year, Debbie at A Quilter's Table was working on a table runner for her mom and talked about the book Walk by Jacquie Gering, which I already owned but had yet to read. I started reading the book and it just hit me! Why not straight line quilt it using the techniques/designs from this book? I was overthinking it as usual. I pulled out the quilt and using the blocks and stripes as a connect the dots of sorts was able to use the Point-To-Point Lines technique in the book and created this really cool diamond pattern seen below.

I started with the dark stripes and marked the centers between each block and the centers of each block that extend into the stripe. Then using my hera marker I "connected" the dots creating large and small diamonds. I quilted all the dark stripes in this manner. When that was complete I went back and added in the smaller diamonds that are in the center, once again, marking centers and using my hera marker. Once all the dark gray lines were complete (half of the quilt finished) I switched to the light stripes. I had to mark considerably less since I was matching up to the dark stripes. You can see this below where the diamond points meet from the dark to the light stripes. I used matching 40 weight Aurifil 100% cotton thread and had no issues from the start. No breaking, no tension issues, it worked perfectly. The quilting took me roughly 3 weeks to finish, working a few lines every day until it was done. I quilted it on my Juki 2010, using a size 14 stretch needle, and I wrestled the hell out of it as it is really heavy.

The binding is a Lizzy House asterisk print that I bought specifically to use for this and thank goodness I bought a yard as I used almost all of it. I decided to machine stitch every bit of the binding as everything else on this quilt was done by machine, so why not. I did try a new to me technique when binding this quilt and from now on I'll do nothing else as it worked so wonderfully. I stitched the binding to the front as I normally would and then i took the time to iron the binding to the back and iron the mitered corners. Then using Elmer's washable school glue, I ran a small bead underneath the binding and ironed it again (to dry the glue almost instantly) thus holding it exactly where I needed it and I used no pins or binding clips. From the front of the quilt I stitched in the ditch right beside the binding and you can see below exactly how it turned out. Using this method I didn't have any mess-ups or spots where the binding didn't get stitched, it worked perfectly! Ta-da! I was finished.

I finished the quilt mid-March and on Easter Sunday with the help of my husband and brother-in-law was able to get photos. The finished quilt measures 102" x 104" and they are both standing on ladders in order to hold it high enough to get the whole thing off the ground. You have no idea how thrilled I was to get these photos and this quilt finished. It really and truly made my Easter day.

This quilt has been on my Finish-A-Long list, on and off for years so I am delighted to say that in the first quarter of 2018 it is officially linked up and off of my list! The quilt is now on my queen sized bed in our new master bedroom in the addition that we have been working on for the past year. This quilt is really a king-sized quilt so it hangs generously off the sides and gives us plenty to cover our pillows which is fantastic.

I had to include this outtake of my husband cutting up after we finished taking photos. It really is like pulling teeth to get help for 5 minutes to take these photos, but he was a big help and without him I wouldn't have been able to get it done.

I'm linking this finish up with the 2018 Finish-A-Long, even though I'm not eligible for prizes since I'm a host, but that is ok as the ultimate prize is this finish! My Q1 list can be found HERE.

Though the link-up is closing in a few hours, you do still have time to link-up so go and do it, you can find the Q1 Finishes link-up HERE. If you didn't join us for Q1, feel free to join Q2, anyone with sewing/quilting/stitching/yarn work projects are welcome to join us and we would love to have you!

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2018 Finish-A-Long - Reminder! Link Up Your Finishes!

4/6/2018

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Popping in today for a quick reminder that the Quarter 1 Link Up for all your finishes closes on Monday, April 9, 2018, 11 pm EST. So you still have a few more days to finish a project or two and link them up to be eligible for prizes. The link up can be found HERE or on the blog of any of our current hosts.

A few reminders for linking up:

Please only one finished project for each post that you link up, so that each finish can be an entry in the (random) prize draw.
Please include a link to your original list in each post of your finishes (on Instagram the link is the unique tag #2018FALQ1yourname to be used in the Q1 list post, and in any Q1 finish post).
Please visit some of the other participants and leave a friendly comment, we all love to get those!

If you didn't have a chance to visit the tutorials that were posted as part of Finish-A-Long Tutorials Week, here is the schedule once more:

April 3, 2018 - Marci of Marci Girl Designs - How to Link Up Your Instagram Photos to Inlinkz Via Your Computer

April 4, 2018 - Sandra of Studio Sew of Course and Marci of Marci Girl Designs - They will be sharing a round-up of last year's fantastic tutorials.

April 5, 2018 - Lynne of Tinking Along - Ripstop Nylon Packing Bags Tutorial

They are well worth a visit!

Finally, we hope you will be joining us for Quarter 2 to do it all over again!! So get your List ready, the link up for Q2 Lists will open on April 10, 2018.

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A Round-up of 2017's Finish-A-Long Tutorials

4/4/2018

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Hello and thank you for joining us today, Sandra and Marci here to share with you a ton of really good resources from last year. The 2017 Finish-A-Long produced a lot of fantastic tutorials and we thought it would be a great idea to highlight them this year in one feature post. They are categorized by subject below and all you have to do is click through to get some really great patterns, tips and techniques.

Quilts and Quilt Blocks

Twister Block Quilt Pattern by Sarah of Sew Me

Tipi Quilt Pattern and Tutorial for Sewing 60 Degree Triangles by Marci of Marci Girl Designs

Churn Link Block by Felicity of Felicity Quilts

Improv Piano Keys - A Tutorial on Unique Curved Piecing by Marci of Marci Girl Designs

Quilting Techniques

How to Make Half Square Triangles (HSTs) different ways by Abigail of Cut & Alter

Faced Binding by Sandra of Studio Sew of Course

Binding by Machine by Izzy of Dizzy Quilts

Taming Seam Allowances by Sandra of Studio Sew of Course

Sewing Projects and Techniques

Easter Bunny Bags by Judith of Just Jude Designs

A Polaroid Mug Rug/Snack Mat by Ella of Throw a Wench in the Works

Easy Framed Accent Strip by Karen of Capitola Quilter

Tiny Pumpkin Pin Cushion by Nicky of Mrs. Sew & Sow

Cord Keeper Tutorial by Lucy of Charm About You

Hump Jumpers and Jean-A-Ma-Jigs by Stacey of SLO Studio

We hope you enjoy this look back on the 2017 Finish-A-Long tutorials, there were some real gems in there. And of course we are continuing with tutorials for 2018, too. See our Finish-A-Long pages for more details and a link to this quarter's Tutorial Week post.

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How To Link Up Your Instagram Photos to InLinkz Via Your Computer - A Tutorial

4/3/2018

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This tutorial is part of the 2018 Finish-A-Long Tutorial Week. The Quarter 1 Finishes Link-Up is currently open and you can find it HERE. It will remain open until April 9, 11pm EST, hope you have some finishes this quarter to link up and if not, join us April 10 for Quarter 2!

The tutorial I have here today is a step-by-step photo tutorial on how to link up your Instagram photos to an Inlinkz link-up via your home computer. Personally, I find this the easiest and quickest way to link-up Instagram photos, and maybe I'm in the minority, but it honestly only takes a minute to do this. You do need to know how to copy (Ctrl C) and paste (Ctrl V) website addresses (or URL) in order to use this method.

A quick note - I know this tutorial seems really simple, but every single quarter I (and the other global hosts) receive questions on how to link-up Instagram photos, so hopefully this will make it easier for everyone.

Step One - Using your home computer, open your favorite internet browser. I'm using Firefox here but it really doesn't matter. In the spot where you type in website addresses, seen above circled in pink you will need to go to your Instagram account. Instagram's website is https://www.instagram.com/ and behind that you will enter your user name minus the @ symbol. For example my user name is @Marci_Girl, so I would type in
https://www.instagram.com/marci_girl/ and ending with a forward slash.

Step Two - Now that your Instagram page is pulled up, scroll down until you see the image that you want to link-up. My chosen image is circled above in pink. Click on the image.

Step Three - Once you have clicked on your image it will open up and look like the screen above. You will see your photo with the description and comments next to it. The individualized website address attached to this image is seen up top circled in pink. You need to copy this URL. Highlight it and hit Ctrl C. This URL is what you will use to link up.

Step Four - Now go to the Inlinkz link-up that you are wanting to participate in. In my case it is the Finish-A-Long Quarter 1 link up found on my blog. You scroll all the way to the bottom of the link-up until you see the blue button on the left that says "Add Your Link" circled above in pink. Click on that blue button.

Step Five - Now the Inlinkz link up tool has opened and looks like the screenshot above. There are three sections you need to fill out. The first spot is for that URL that you copied, so paste it there with Ctrl V. The second spot is for your title, you can put whatever you choose there or use what auto populates. The third spot is for your email address. This is how the Inlinkz host can contact you should you win a prize, use an email address that is something you actually check on a regular basis. The image will also auto populate and you can crop it if you choose but normally it is good as is. Once you are happy with everything, click on the blue DONE! button on the bottom towards the right side.

Step Six - You are officially linked-up! I always like to go back to the link-up and double check that my image is there and sometimes I will click on it to make sure it actually works, it usually does, but if not, refresh your page and check again. If for some reason it still isn't working, just repeat all the above steps because sometimes it will glitch, but I've only had this happen once or twice in the past 10 years.

Helpful Hint - In the above screenshot, in the pink box at the bottom it says "Collection Closes ..." this is the amount of time you have left before the Inlinkz collection closes for good, aka your deadline to finish up those projects and get them linked up!

I hope this was straight forward and helps at least someone out there, but if at any time you are still struggling to link up, don't hesitate to contact me here on my blog or via Instagram.

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2018 Finish-A-Long - Q1 Tutorial Week

4/2/2018

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Today kicks off "Tutorial Week," which has been part of the Finish-A-Long since it's inception. While the link up for Finishes is open, we share some tutorials for you all to enjoy. They are varied, interesting, and usually helpful, so take some time to investigate and visit the blogs below on their scheduled day!

April 3, 2018 - Marci of Marci Girl Designs - How to Link Up Your Instagram Photos to Inlinkz Via Your Computer

April 4, 2018 - Sandra of Studio Sew of Course and Marci of Marci Girl Designs - They will be sharing a round-up of last year's fantastic tutorials.

April 5, 2018 - Lynne of Tinking Along - Ripstop Nylon Packing Bags Tutorial

The Quarter 1 Finishes link up opened yesterday, you can find the link up HERE or on any of the hosting blogs. There is still plenty of time to link up or finish those projects as the link up does not close until April 9, 2018, 11 pm EST.

And whether you had a lot of finishes, or none at all this quarter, or you missed Finish-A-Long Q1 altogether, you can always join in for Quarter 2 which is taking off on April 10th, with the link up opening for your List of Proposed Finishes. We hope you will join us!

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2018 Finish-A-Long - Quarter 1 Finishes Link Up

4/1/2018

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Here we are, April 1st and already at the end of the first quarter of the year, hard to believe, I know, trust me I can't believe it either! I do hope you have some finishes and take a moment to link them up and play along. If not, roll them over to next quarter and play along for Q2. Find all the rules, sponsors and link up below. If you have any questions or problems don't hesitate to contact me. I can't wait to read about all of your amazing finishes.

Can you believe it, we have made it to the end of the first quarter of the 2018 Finish-A-Long and it's time to link up your Q1 finishes. We hope you have used the first three months of 2018 to complete a bunch of those UFOs on your lists!

The 2018 FAL has a community of bloggers across the world jointly hosting and this year's hosts are:

Marci - Marci Girl Designs - USA

Sandra (also Social Media Director) - Studio Sew of Course - Ireland

Leanne - She Can Quilt - Canada

Ella - Throw a Wench in the Works - USA

Felicity - Felicity Quilts - Canada

Karen - Capitola Quilter - USA

Izzy - Dizzy Quilts - Canada

Lynne - Tinking Along - USA

Before the link up, let's give a huge thank you to our fantastic sponsors:

$50 Gift Certificate

3 PDF Patterns

$25 Gift Certificate

2 PDF Patterns

$20 Gift Certificate

3 PDF Patterns

2 PDF Patterns

3 Six Month Subscr.

$25 Gift Certificate

A Minikins Bundle

$50 Gift Certificate

2 PDF Patterns

$30 Gift Certificate

$40 Gift Certificate

For the 2018 FAL, we continue tutorial week. Here is the schedule for this quarter so you can visit them all:

April 3 - Marci of Marci Girl Designs

April 4 - Sandra of Studio of Course and Marci of Marci Girl Designs

April 5 - Lynne of Tinking Along

The 2018 Quarter 1 link for your finishes is now open below on my blog and on each of the hosting blogs - you only need to link on one blog for your finish to appear on all host blogs.

Link-up "Rules":

Add one link for each finish. If you want to link a round up post of all your finishes, use that link to enter one of your finishes and then link the rest of your finishes separately. Please, only one link per finish, as your link is an entry into the randomly drawn prize draws.

Please ensure that the photo or blog post you link up contains a link or reference back to your original list so that we can verify your entry (make sure it is from the appropriate quarter, too). On Instagram, tag your photos with #2018FALQ1yourname (where yourname is unique to you), this makes it easier for us to match your finishes with your list, which also should have this tag.

Please become part of the FAL community. Check out the links of others and leave a comment. We all need encouragement so let's applaud each other. The 2018 FAL Facebook page is HERE and you can follow us on Instagram @finishalong.

Our hosts will also link up their finishes to share in the community but they are not eligible for any of the prizes.

The Q1 Finishes link will stay open from now thru 11 pm, EST, Monday April 9, 2018 - as we are global, you might want to check your time zone to determine your last possible time to link (you can also see how much time is left below the linked up images on the right). It is best to link up your finishes early and if you have a last minute one, add that one later so you don't miss out. The prizes will be awarded as soon as we can verify all the entries and do the drawings. We will post the winners on each host's blog.

Lastly, don't forget to start making your Q2 list as the Q2 list link opens on April 10, 2018.

2018 Q1 Finishes Link Up:

An InLinkz Link-up

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