Wow! I can’t believe we are already in the last quarter of 2018! As much as I’m not a fan of the decreasing daylight in the Western Hemisphere, I do like this time of year to start preparing for the holidays. Although I love seeing all the Halloween and Fall projects on Bloglovin’, Pinterest, and Instagram, my all-time favorite holiday is Christmas, and you will see at the end of this post three fairly simple Christmas projects that I am planning to complete this quarter. But first things first, my number one priority is to finish my Alison Glass Feathers Quilt that is at my local quilt store in the queue to be quilted. I’ve promised my niece, Kim, that she will receive it before the end of the year.

The Feathers quilt is the only project that I am carrying over from my 2018 Qtr 3 FAL Goals. I still plan to accomplish the last three goals on that list but just not this coming quarter. Like so many other quilters, I could definitely use more hours in the day!

Next up is the project that I’m pretty darn certain will be finished this month which is my Floating Hexagons Quilt. The pattern is by Sarah Goer Quilts. Check out my Floating Hexagons Pattern Test post to learn more about this project. I am at the hand-stitching-down-the-binding stage which is a perfect activity to do while I watch MLB playoffs!

My step-daughter and her new wife received their Wedding Whirl wedding present last week, and I am happy to report that they are thrilled with it, so much that they have put in on their bed even though at 60” X 80”, it really isn’t a bed-size quilt. However, with a nice duvet or plain comforter underneath it, it will work just fine. For Christmas, they have requested two coordinating pillow shams featuring a teal/turquoise whirl on each pillow which is my third goal for this quarter. In the cropped photo below, I will be replacing all the purple and orange half-square triangles with Kona medium grey squares/rectangles and will add a larger than necessary medium grey border. My plan is to make the two teal/turquoise whirls one on top of the other with an oversized border in between and then send them to Melissa at Sew Shabby Quilting to quilt with the same Splash of Love motif as she used with Wedding Whirl. I will then cut them into 20” x 26” rectangles and turn them into pillow shams using the same teal Longitude Batik print as is on the back of the Wedding Whirl quilt.

Christmas Projects

I have made a start on two of the Christmas projects that I plan to finish this quarter. I like to decorate my quilting area with Christmas decorations since I spend so much of my time working on quilting projects. Below are 54 squares that I will use to make a simple patchwork 24.5” X 36.5” Christmas cutting mat cover.

The 22 2.5” squares pictured below along with white-on-white snowflake background pieces (not pictured) are going to be used to make a Christmas Baubles Mini Quilt. I still need to cut out the pieced border.

I will be making a Penguin Party pillow using Elizabeth Hartman’s pattern to add to my holiday decor using the plaid black and white fabric pictured below along with Kona black, white, medium grey, and a little scrap of gold or orange for the nose.

Linking up to 2018 Qtr 4 Finish-A-Long Goals.