Sunday, April 7, 2013

Ambrosia Reveal and the First Quarter Finish A-long Report

 My postage stamp quilt is a finish and I'm so excited about it!  Doesn't it just shout "Spring"! 
I made the blocks as leader/enders over the course of a year using 2 inch bright pastel squares from my scrap stash coupled with 2 inch Kona white squares. Did I mention that the blocks had been finished for a year? Sad, but true!
 The backing is a fun Swedish print that I purchased from Ikea last summer. Since the fabric wasn't quite wide enough, I pieced in some leftover squares and Kona white.
The quilt measures 65" X 83" and for binding I settled on a black and white stripe from the Happy line by Me and My Sisters as a contrast to the colorful piecing.
 With the busy patchwork, an all over quilting design seemed the way to go. From a white section on the back, the daisies and loops show up really well.
 My quilting adds some great texture to the front of the quilt. It will look even better after a trip through the washer and dryer! This picture shows off the colors in the quilt really well.
After lots of thought, I named my latest finish, Ambrosia because It reminds me of a big  luscious fruit salad....which has nothing to do with the fabulous green train engine. Oh, well!

Just under the wire, I'm reporting on my progress at finishing up a bunch of UFOs in 2013. Leanne is hosting a Finish-Along all year long to help keep everyone motivated. Tonight is the deadline for finishes in the first quarter. (Maybe you would like to join for the second quarter.) You can see my original list and post here.

Of the nine UFO projects that I had listed, I was only able to complete three. Do you think that maybe I was a just a bit unrealistic? 
Besides Ambrosia, here are my other two finishes:

Dipped: The top was already pieced so this was a fairly easy UFO to complete. You can see more views and details here and the "before" view here
 Pow: Starting out as just a few completed blocks, this twin size quilt took a lot of effort and time to complete. Because I wanted to give it as a gift for my grandson's birthday, I was super motivated to finish it. See all the beauty shots here.
 Although I can't claim "Bam" in the Finish-Along because I hadn't actually done any more than purchase the fabric for it, I consider it a finished UFO in my own mind because these two quilts 'go together' and it was also a birthday gift that I'd been putting off making. 
Progress on the other 6 projects:
Fortunate Friends: Lots of progress made, with the top almost completed.
The other 5 projects get big fat zeroes as no progress was made on them at all!  
Thank you, Leanne for helping to motivate me to keep FINISH as a priority in 2013. 

23 comments:

  1. Oh Carla! That photo shoot! Lovely on every level. Love the quilt, love the train ; )

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yummy ambrosia! And superb photography!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ambrosia is so cheerful and spring like and I love your grandsons quil! There's almost a midcentury modern feel to it. All the pieces of color are just fab.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love the postage stamp quilt!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think that you have made excellent progress so far. Love this last quilt, it is going to be a real treat for someone to cuddle up with.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love everything about Ambrosia- the quilting, the backing and the binding! And you chose such a brilliant setting for your photos! Don't suppose that train is going anywhere!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ambrosia is a perfect name! It turned out so nice. Your are doing well for only 4 months into the new year, congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Woweee Carla, I adore Ambrosia, both in name and in quilt!! What a beautiful one, and your quilting is perfect. All those teeny, little squares, oh wow! I adore your train setting, how wonderful. xo

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love Ambrosia because it's one of those quilts that you can look at and remember all the projects that "funded" the stash for it!

    Three for nine is way better than my one for four so I say way to go! Anyway, for me any finish accomplished justifies the intent.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Fun stuff & I love the backing on Ambrosia!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love your Ambrosia quilt! It makes me think of Easter. Linda Hungerford mentioned your blog so I checked it out. I love it. I just started a blog (Basically Quilts) and am very uncertain of how it all works, but you have to start somewhere.

    ReplyDelete
  12. So lovely and spring-y! Makes me want to run upstairs and start cutting Kona White squares. I've got a huge pile of both 2.5" and 3" squares cut from many, many project leftovers. My intent was to do the "leaders and enders" thing, which I believe I first learned about from you :) Someday...

    Also love "Dipped". Great idea for a loarge scale fabric!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Congratulations on the finished Ambrosia! It is very pretty!! Your pictures are so lovely, the train is a perfect backdrop. I wish I could quilt a large quilt as beautiful as you do. And I know there's only practice, practice, practice...
    You do have lots of great finishes at the start of spring!
    ; )

    ReplyDelete
  14. Your postage stamp quilt is beautiful and I LOVE the pics of it.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ambrosia is just beautiful! Great name and I love the train engine. You have such a talent for photography! Looking forward to seeing more finishes!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Your leaders and enders project, Ambrosia, is beautiful! I think you've now finished three L&E's to my one unfinished one. Good for you to have made something so beautiful using scraps and white. It looks wonderful on that train. Your photography skills are fabulous.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I've just discovered your blog via Pinterest and have fallen head over heels in love with your Ambrosia postage stamp quilt. It's one of the prettiest postage stamp quilts I've ever seen. You can't help but smile when you look at it.

    ReplyDelete
  18. It's so wonderful. I hope you'll post another photo after its voyage through the washer and dryer. That backing fabric is to die for, too. I have never been to an Ikea, if you can believe it. I need to go!

    ReplyDelete
  19. It's your Ambrosia quilt that brought me here from Pinterest but I am so enjoying browsing through all your posts. Great projects, brilliant photography. Thank you.....

    ReplyDelete
  20. Your finished quilts are wonderful! I love the colours you have used and also the pictures with the train are wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Beautiful finishes!! What is that fabulous print you used in Dipped? And that photography...stunning!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Sering main Poker tapi tidak dapat bonus apapun?
    Jangan khwatir kawan mari join bersama kami di POKERVITA
    Dapatkan bonus harian & mingguan bersama kami di POKERVITA

    Info hub
    WA:0812 2222 996

    ReplyDelete