Announcing the 2019 Finish-A-Long

As we are approaching the end of the year, I should be finishing up the last projects for 2018. In reality I am not finishing any... Instead I am making plans for the coming year!

Fortunately I already had one finish this quarter: I posted about the quilt I made for charity in a previous post, and I am very pleased about that.
And again fortunately, Marci and I have been busy to make sure there will be another Finish-A-Long for 2019, for much-needed encouragement to finish some more Works-in-Progress (WIPs). I am so excited to be joining the Finish-A-Long again in the coming year!!
(If you are not sure what the Finish-A-Long is, have a look at my Finish-A-Long page).

So let's see what the Finish-A-Long has in store for the coming year, shall we?!

The 2019 Finish-A-Long Hosts

The hosts this year are not as international as they have been for some years, but we have a wonderful team again:

Sandra of Sew of Course - Ireland

Marci of Marci Girl Designs - USA Louisiana

Leanne of She Can Quilt - Canada

Ella of Throw a Wench in the Works - USA Georgia

Karen of Capitola Quilter - USA California

Lynne of Tinking Along - USA Maryland

Izzy of Dizzy Quilts - Canada

Sarah of Sarah Goer Quilts - USA California

Julie of That's Sew Julie - USA Iowa

Sarah of Cedar Fork Stitches - USA Montana

Sharla of Thistle Thicket Studio - USA Kansas

Nicole of Handwrought Quilts - Canada

As you can see, I am representing all of you outside the North Americas... It is just the way it worked out this year!

The 2019 Finish-A-Long Schedule:

Q1
10 January (Thu) Proposed Finishes List - Linkup opens
18 January (Fri) Proposed Finishes List - Linkup closes

1 April (Mon) Finishes - Linkup opens
2-6 April - Tutorial Week
9 April (Tue) Finishes - Linkup closes

Q2
10 Apr 2019 (Wed) Proposed Finishes List - Linkup opens
18 Apr 2019 (Thu) Proposed Finishes List - Linkup closes

1 July (Mon) Finishes - Linkup opens
2-6 July - Tutorial Week
9 July (Tue) Finishes - Linkup closes

Q3
10 July (Wed) Proposed Finishes List - Linkup opens
18 July (Thu) Proposed Finishes List - Linkup closes

1 October (Tue) Finishes - Linkup opens
2-6 October - Tutorial Week
9 October (Wed) Finishes - Linkup closes

Q4
10 October (Thu) Proposed Finishes List - Linkup opens
18 October (Fri) Proposed Finishes List - Linkup closes

1 January 2020 (Wed) Finishes - Linkup opens
9 January 2020 (Thu) Finishes - Linkup closes

So join us, write your list of WIPs, and link it up at the start of the first quarter.

You can make your list any way that works for you. But if you like a ready-made planning page, I have made an up-to-date planner for you to use, too. Download the 2019 Finish-A-Long Planner for free and use it to make your FAL list. It also has all the important FAL dates and hashtags...

The link-up for your list opens on 10th January, here on the blog (and on any of our hosts' blogs). If you are joining us, feel free to use one of the buttons below:

And if you have been participating with the 2018 Finish-A-Long in the fourth quarter, the link-up for finishes will open on January 1st 2019 and close on the 9th, so you still have a few more days to get another finish done!

 Sandra

Making a charity quilt

Recently I received a call for craft items for an auction at work to benefit a local cancer charity. And since I had been thinking of making a simple quilt from some fat quarters I had, I suddenly found myself with a deadline.

Not a bad thing, since I seem to need a fixed deadline to finish a project these days...

So I started cutting...

Making it a challenge to cut as many blocks from a Fat Quarter, I managed to make five blocks out of most of them, ending up with 59 blocks. Of course it should have been 60, but well, let's say mistakes were made...

I decided on a 7 x 8 layout, and used the remaining 3 blocks on the back.

I quilted with straight lines on my domestic machine, bound with a solid light green, and of course finished with a label.

The auction was a great success, and the organisers donated the money last week. I have no idea how much the quilt itself made in the auction since I wasn't able to go to the auction myself. However, I have no illusion it will have fetched as much as it would be worth commercially.

But this is the way I look at it:

• I have made a quilt I loved making
• I had the opportunity to refresh my memory of a pattern I enjoy
• I have used fabrics from my stash
• I have contributed to a great charity
• I have contributed to the success of a fund-raising event which is now to be repeated next year
• Someone has ended up with a quilty hug to enjoy!

 Win-win-win in my book!

Also, I am considering writing the pattern for this, would anyone be interested?!

Details:
Size: 46" x 52" approx.
Fabrics: 12 (metric) fat quarters for the top
Wadding: lightweight cotton
Threads: Aurifil 50 wt colour 2479, used for piecing and quilting
Photos: phone camera in poor indoor lighting (sorry, the weather isn't on my side these days)!

This is a finish from my Finish-A-Long Quarter 4 list, too, and is linked up with the Finish-A-Long. My full Q4 FAL list can be found at this post.

Sandra