Finished! :)

I've been really sporadic about posting, so I have no clue if I've mentioned this project ._. Anyway-finished quilt!
Don't have the greatest pics, but I'll post what I have. It's ~48x56 inches and meant for a 3 year old cousin. 16 patches in a pretty limited color scheme for me (red/orange/yellow with black/white/gray) but definitely not a limited pattern range! :) There are 4 embroidered blocks with different firefighter things & a pieced back. The brown hydrant print was too cute to pass up (since there's no brown on the front), so I stretched it with yellow sashing, more 16 patches and a strip of red on one end (last second recovery attempt). Machine quilted in a grid except for the echo quilting around the embroidered parts. Machine sewn red/white houndstooth binding (LOVE).

Chugging along :)

Noah's quilt is moving along quite nicely. I'm seeing I overestimated the amount of fabric I really needed for this size of quilt, but better too much than too little! It's a pretty crazy mess of patterns when you look up close, but the controlled palatte & 2 print 16 patch blocks hopefully helps :) From a distance, it isn't too bad at all!
Now for the "meh" news-my machines are dying on me. My Brother just had some ridiculous & unexplainable high pitch whine while sewing, my Kenmore now won't turn (the flywheel is stuck). Of course this happens when I'm too broke to get them fixed and in a time crunch (can't afford to lose a week or more). Trolling CraigsList seems to have some promising options. I can't afford the $500+ machines-hell, I can't even really afford an $80 basic, barebones machine from Walmart. But if I can find a solid workhorse, all metal machine for like $50? I'll make it happen :)
Back to Noah-I have less than 2 weeks to finish. Should be more than enough time-would definitely be if I hadn't insisted on adding hand embroidered blocks. I'm making more 16 patches than actually needed so I can swap out some to get a good color balance-not sure what I'll do with the extra blocks/strips, to be honest.
OOH-wanted to mention my sister final had the "moment"!!! :) That moment when you see a fabric and just KNOW it's what you need-it's something that has never happened for her. She always overthinks presents, paper/color matching in scrapbooking/card making, etc. She doesn't think she can combine patterns & color like I do (and my skills are elementary compared to some!$ So when we were walking to the back wall of calicos to look for a binding fabric, it was a proud moment for her to grab a bright pink/green floral print on black & say, "THIS is Juliana's!" with a big smile on her face :D It's busy and gorgeous AND the pink & green actually match the shades on the front of the quilt! The absolute confirmation it was meant to be was when I looked at the receipt after we checked out-the pattern is named "Jacqueline". Juliana's mama is named Jacquelyn :)

Playing catchup :)

After my last post, I just pulled out the scrap bin with 2" strips and started sewing. Sewing and cutting, making 16 patches.
I realized I didn't have enough 16ish inch strips to pair up & make a 2 fabric block, so I set aside the extra pairs of squares from the blocks I completed, cut some 8ish inch strips. I might be able to pair some of those up to make a 2 fabric block, but I'll likely have many more scrap-style blocks. I'm completely okay with that :)
In my usual style, I decided about 3 weeks before the due date that I wanted to make a quilt for Noah. He turns 3 in early August and I haven't made him a quilt. He still has some of his receiving blankets I made though! One's a Curious George firefighter flannel-his daddy's a firefighter & basically that was his theme before he was born...
I was having so much fun making the 16 patch blocks that I decided to use something similar for this quilt. It won't be a large one-it'll be big enough for him to snuggle in though! I'm combining the patchwork with embroidered firefighter themed blocks, including the logo of his daddy's station. The handwork (obviously) takes the longest-I always have to pick complicated designs. Sigh.

A kick in the pants...

No better way to get motivated & sew again than to be part of a quiltalong :) When I saw the option on Don't Call Me Betsy to join in an upcoming kaleidoscope QAL, I had to hop on board! I love kaleidoscope quilts, but I'm usually turned off by the need for templates. Still need them for for this one, but it should be fun...right? To be safe, I'm going to aim for the toddler sized quilt instead of the lap sized. I'm guessing having a *finished* quilt at the end is more important than adding yet another large lap sized/bed sized quilt to the stash of half-finished projects.

I'm not sure what fabrics I'm going to use yet, although they most likely will be scraps. I'll probably end up reconsidering and want to go with a red/teal/white or orange/teal/white scheme. I want something bright...if I go red/teal, it might be appropriate enough to give to my lil cousin for his 2nd birthday! If I can bear to part with it, of course :) My sister told me that tonight his mama asked if we were the ones to give him a Curious George blankie at his baby shower (we were). Apparently he loves the blankie and carries it all the time now. Hearing things like that make me happy. These days, I can use all the happy I can get :)