Deana's Cracker Jacks are FINISHED!

I am pleased to present another long time coming finish!  These little miniature quilts are called "cracker jacks" and were designed by Kaye Evans of Utah.  They are just so cute!  The sunglasses and spoon were placed in the photo to give you some perspective on how small they are.  The largest one is 12 1/2".

Here is the back.

Another finish for Deana!

I finished my brown bag quilt just in time for the deadline.  This has been a fun project and best of all, I now have a PhD because of Myra.

Below is the back side.  I used up the leftover blocks and some leftover green fabric from the top.

Deana's first PhD finish.

It feels so good to have a finish!  Jessi put it on her bed immediately after the last stitch and some photos.  The colors are not as rich as the true colors, but here it is.

Here is one close up of the back.  The back is really very pretty.

Deana's PhD Quest List

Hello everyone.  I was recently emailing Myra about some PhD questions.  I told her I would post my 6 PhD goals for all to see.  I would like to encourage EVERYONE to do the same (if they haven't yet) because they inspire me to keep going.  I think Myra would like it too as per her message in black on the participant's tab.

As of yet I have not finished any of them, but you have likely seen some progress posts on this blog regarding them.

Here they are in no particular order:

1.  Jessi's quilt: black and white with flowers (needs quilted/bound).
This one is for my daughter.  She picked out the design and colors.  Isn't it a perfect teenager quilt?

2.  Brown Bag quilt challenge (top close and needs quilted/bound)
This one must be done this month to qualify for the challenge.  How do we play this game?  I submitted my  name and was given a brown bag partner.  We sent each other 1 1/2 yards of fabric that we didn't want any more.  The plan is to use 90% of the mailed fabric, any from our stash, and purchase no more than one fabric to complete a quilt. 
These are the fabrics that were sent to me:

I found some old UFO blocks that were the perfect color to go with the fabrics so I decided to finish up a UFO while I was at it.  It is a stack-n-wack made from an ugly "food" fabric, but it makes cool blocks.

The pink didn't match at all, so I dyed it.  Here is a link if you have any interest in what I did there.

http://dreamworthyquilts.blogspot.com/2011/02/dying-to-brown-bag.html

3.  Cracker Jacks miniature (working on this month:  needs top assembly, quilted, bound)
This is a quilt of miniature blocks.  They were made in the most fun class I've every taken!!  It was so fun that I repeated the class at another retreat.  One quilt was finished and given away and this one remains.  It is made completely from 10" squares of light and dark scraps.  The pieces are itty bitty.

4.  Christmas Hexagon (needs quilted/bound)
I have blogged about my progress on this one and the "winged things" earlier.

5.  Winged Things (needs quilted/bound)

6.  Dorinda Quilt (half hand-quilted -- needs quilted/bound)
This quilt has an incredible story and journey.   My great great great great grandmother Dorinda designed it and won best of show at the world fair with it.  Myself and some other family members have recreated the quilt for ourselves.  Mine is half hand-quilted.  I hand dyed all the fabrics except the background which is from my scraps.    It has been a work in progress for 2 1/2 years and will be my greatest quilting accomplishment.

Deana's progress

I am happy to say that I finished my February UFO top.  Horray!! I am 2 for 2 -- 2 months 2 tops.  This quilt will now move to the "needs quilted" list (my personal goal was a top finished).  I will still try to make it a PhD by June.

 

Deana's February progress so far...

I hoped to get my hexagon PhD quilt this far this week and I did.  Goals and goal accomplishments are so wonderful!  This hexagon quilt was made from a pannel fabric. It will have enough blocks for two quilts. I am trying to decide if I want to reverse the red and cream fabrics which would give the second quilt a red background.  For some strange reason, this quilt looks more stunning in the photo than in person.

Funny, you can faintly see my snowman hexagon quilt on the wall behind it.  It is an addicting pattern.

This will hopefully be queen-sized by the end of the month. 

Deana finished her first UFO -- "Winged Things"

A BIG THANK YOU to Myra!!!

WaaLaa, I cannot believe I finished it.  My goal was just the top but I got the borders done too.  I am going to attempt to quilt it this month also, but I have to be realistic about my time.

This quilt was born in 2003 when I asked fellow round robin participants to make me a "winged thing".  I sent it around again in 2004 to get more blocks.  I LOVE IT!

If you look closely you will find birds, angels, humming birds, lady bugs, dragon flies, butterflies, a baby chick, and bees.  The workmanship of many talented needle-turn appliquers is my favorite part.

January project: "Winged Things" round robin

Judy from Judy's UFO Challenge randomly selected #6 to be completed in January, so this will be my Jan project for this PhD challenge. My number 6 is my "Winged Things" round robin from several years back. My goal is to assemble the top this month.
This project began as a state needle-turn applique round robin. I pieced all the backgrounds and asked the ladies to applique a "winged thing" on them ("No aircraft," I requested). The blocks were OUTSTANDING! I just didn't have enough of them so I joined another round robin the following year and asked for more "winged things" but this time it was not a needle-turn group. I should now be able to put something together with all of them.

Wish me luck!