Happy Friday, everyone!
It’s my turn to host Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday (TGIFF) and I’ve been eagerly anticipating this moment. If this is your first time visiting my blog, welcome! I’m pleased to tell you that I have some very exciting announcements to make about TGIFF! Check out the details at the end of this post.
I am in the middle of moving (I’m blogging from a hotel right now), so there hasn’t been a whole lot of sewing going on for me lately. I will admit, I’m going a little bonkers without my sewing machine. This past week I finished a mini quilt for Fab Little Quilt Swap and my partner just received it, so I can FINALLY show the entire quilt to the world (or at least the handful of people who read my blog!)
I present to you my “Over the Rainbow” mini quilt:
I am really pleased with how this little mini turned out. My secret swap partner, Kim, is a big “Wizard of Oz” fan and she provided this mosaic for inspiration. I loved that the mosaic was full of rainbow colors, flying geese, circles and Oz-inspired items. Like me, she also has a thing for quilts and crafts with a sense of humor, so I was originally going to use a humorous Oz quote, but then I decided to go with sentimental:
I had also planned to use grey/black & white fabrics for the background, but I walked into my LQS and those beautiful sepia fabrics were staring right at me. Sepia is the true beginning of “The Wizard of Oz”, after all!
Deciding how to quilt something is always the biggest challenge for me and I usually just end up doing a basic meander. I have been inspired lately by all of Angela Walters beautiful free-motion quilting patterns, so I decided to try something more intricate. I free-motioned a brick road around the flying geese and then did poppies (or at least my representation of poppies) in the corners.
The label is the beginning of the yellow brick road (remember the scene in Munchkinland?). Fun fact: I used to work next to the sound stage (Sony stage 27) that the Muchkinland scene was filmed in. Legend is it that the yellow brick road is still under the floor somewhere, so I snuck in one day to search for it. No dice…or should I say, no road!
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Now onto the announcements and the linky party!
October marks the one year anniversary of TGIFF! In honor of this milestone, M-R and Laura are celebrating with OctoberQuest (challenge, quilt fest – get it?). Your quest, should you choose to accept it, is to finish up those quilty projects, whether it’s for the upcoming Bloggers Quilt Festival, the 100 Day Hustle, Finish-A-Long, Halloween, Thanksgiving or even, gasp, Christmas (just think how Super Quilter-ish you’d feel if you were done some of your Christmas gifts before November even started). Or finish up those WIPs, UFOs, charity quilts, or um, overdue gifts — you decide!
Did I mention the prizes? Oh, there will be prizes! Pam from Mad About Patchwork is giving a $50 gift certificate to two lucky participants! Oh, what quilty goodness I you could get with that! There’s something for everyone too – Pam’s offering a 10% off purchases for the month of October to all OctoberQuest participants — just use TGIFF10 at checkout.
So here’s how OctoberQuest will work:
- Your quilty project must be completely finished (As much as we love celebrating quilt tops or completed blocks, they will not be eligible for the prizes).
- You may enter one or more finishes each week. Just add a link for each finish to one of the linky parties. The linky parties will stay open from their start date until the end of the month.
- Your post/photo on Flickr/Picasa must have a link back to the TGIFF! site and the particular party you are participating in.
- Link up your quilty finish in any of the TGIFF! linky parties this month:
- October 5 – Janice @ Better Off Thread
- October 12 – M-R @ Quilt Matters
- October 19 – Jenelle @ Echinops and Aster
- October 26 – Lynette @ What a Hoot
- OctoberQuest will be open until October 31st at 11:59 p.m. EST. A winner will be picked via Ms. Random Number Generator on November 1st and notified via email. Please make sure we can contact you via email or we will blow the gift certificates on ourselves need to run Ms. Random again.
So ramp up your “Let’s Get ‘Er Done!” attitude and start polishing off those projects!
Happy OctoberQuest and let the linking begin!
OMG! This is fantastic! The story, your quilting, and the layout are simply spectacular. That is one very lucky partner.
Your mini is fantastic! As is your FMQ (FMQ envy?!). I love all the little details you added – what a beautiful and special swap quilt. I bet your partner was absolutely thrilled!
Mouth. Open. In. Awe! What ana amzing quilt – fabulous design, incredible quilting… Wow. Just… wow.
This is beautiful! I love all the details you thought of down to the label.
I love everything about this quilt, Janice — the colours, the design, the FMQ. Gorgeous! Your partner is going to be thrilled!
I know I’ve already told you a few times how much I love this but I’ll say it again. And I didn’t get the whole bricks thing in the FMQ before – so cool! You are so creative!
There is not one thing I don’t love about this quilt. it’s STUNNING. Great finish!
Its very very pretty. I will have a finish next week… so I will cheer and share..
Now that is a masterful mini – fabrics, design and free motion magic. And what a lovely and funny back! It’s my first visit and I like the tone of your blog.
GORGEOUS mini quilt. I’m sure your partner was thrilled!
Oh my gosh, your mini is amazing!!! Just beautiful! Talk about best swap partner ever! Well done 🙂
that is amazingly beautiful! What a lucky partner!
Your quilt is stunning!
It’s gorgeous!! I love the rainbow effect and the quilting is fabulous. And kudos to you for being able to post while in the hotel. Life is so crazy and funny sometimes.
This is gorgeous! I so wish I was your swap partner!
Your mini is incredible! I love all the little touches and the quilting is superb!
This is one stunning quilt!
I LOVE this quilt and would love to try to make one for myself. Do you have a pattern for it?
I love the over the rainbow quilt, it is so beautiful!
What a fantastic quilt!! That is one lucky swap partner!
What a marvelous quilt! I’ve been away from blogland for awhile, but do have some UFOs that I could try and finish for this challenge too. Thanks for hosting TGIFF this week!
Love this color wheel mini quilt!!!! Is this pattern for purchase as I would gladly send in the money. Please let me know how I could make one myself. Carol
Unbelievably beautiful mini.
Holy Smokes, Janice!!! Over the Rainbow is amazing. Love, love, love the fabrics – absolutely perfect background choices. And your quilting motifs are wonderful – check out that round brick road border quilted in!!! Terrific job start to finish. 😀
What a fantastic quilt! I love the explosion of color and the brick quilting ties it all together perfectly. Congrats on getting it into QuiltCon!
This is a beautiful mini quilt! I was searching for a pattern to make one and saw yours… Is there a pattern for sale? Thanks!
This mini quilt is beautiful. My Relay for Life team are running a quilt block challenge
12 inch blocks
Theme
“somewhere over the rainbow”
to raise funds for the Cancer Council wish you were near
regards Ann G