waiting for the New Year

So, today I decided that I would wait on finishing up those quilts until the New Year starts so I can count them for next year. I also decided to tackle some of the projects that are sitting around, part way done before this year ends.

(Sorry everything is turned sideways, I'm having troubles with the pictures tonight. Just tip your head, and you will be fine!) I finished piecing two quilt tops that were sitting in the way. The first is a Chinese coins in greens and I like it very much. When I was cleaning yesterday, I stashed one of the pieces somewhere and had the hardest time finding it. I have no idea why I didn't put all of the pieces together, but I decided rather than keep looking for that piece, I would sew together what I could and pray that the piece turned up. Just as I was about to give up, I saw the piece in a bucket, tucked under a bag!

Then, the Bento Box I have been working on got my attention. Can you say UGLY? Well, this one is really ugly, but I learned a lot from this ugly quilt top. For this pattern to show up, you need small prints or solids, not the large scale prints I chose. The colors are ok, but I think more contrast between the different squares would be nice. After laying it out on the floor and stepping back to look at it, I though, how awful! This thing is just horrible. I should just shove all of these blocks in a bag and leave it for later. Then, I decided that I would never go back to it and to just finish it off. I probably could have pulled out a couple of the really bad blocks and added some better ones in, but I don't think it would have helped that much and I decided it just wasn't worth spending more time trying to make it better. I would get it done and ready to quilt and then give it away. Someone will love it. I've learned that there are so many different tastes out there that someone, somewhere is bound to like it and it will keep someone warm.

Then, I started working on the crib set for my friend at work. She fell in love with one on ebay that cost $545 and I told her I could sew it for much less. She bought most of the fabric and I hope to have everything done except for the quilt by Monday. She is due in March and is having a boy :)