It is halfway through the year….I am loving being part of the link-up party “A lovely year of finishes”, it makes me more focused and increases my productivity. You too can join, if you have not, try it for a month and see if it helps you…just click on the button below.

This month’s main goal will be:

• Finish a baby quilt top, that I haven’t started yet. I do, however, have a design in mind.

In addition to this, I have also decided that I am not signing up for swaps this month….I want to spend some time doing my own thing. The last two months, I have loved my finishes, but they have been projects for our quilt guild, which is great to participate in. So, what will I do with assigned projects???….the smaller projects that have been swimming around in my head are:

• Market Tote for me (using the pattern from Patchwork, please)
• iPad cover (again I have been eyeing the pattern from Patchwork, please)
• More Cushions/Pillows (there have been a couple I want to try from Pillow pop but I also have a couple of others in mind).
• Hand-quilting on the Four Season’s in One Day quilt.

My goal is no pressure; I will just do what I can and in the time I want :-).

An update as well….Firstly, when I participated in the May Give-Away Day, the number one design item folks wanted was a design board, I knew how they felt :-). I made myself a design board using hard foam backing board and grey flannel (I love the grey background). I used staples and tape to stretch and flatten the flannel to the board.   It is amazing how the fabric pieces stick to the flannel – look at how well it works!!! If you don’t have a design board, give making one a try…it is really very easy and cheap. The whole thing cost me less than $10 (USD). Let me know if you want instructions.

The design board was invaluable as I laid out all my HST for my latest pillow project (pillow for our quilting guild pillow swap, next weekend). Here is where I am at and a look at my design board:

For the pillow, I used blues, greens and aqua fabric prints and wanted to mix them with some low-volume fabrics….I am loving it all laid out on my design board. Isn’t so cool when you have an idea in your head and it becomes equal or better in reality :-). The pillow should land up being 20 inches (the swap was for 18 in” but I really wanted to do this design, I am sure the person receiving it will not mind).

Here is a full look of my design board. I will be adding a couple of grommets in the top corners so I can hang it but also still have it portable. By adding these I can move it when the light changes in my workspace I can put it where it works. 

I think this board has worked so well, I am also thinking of adding a second design board…which I could store on the same hooks.

I hope you all had a great weekend. I look forward to seeing all the wonderful WiP’s and Finishes everyone did this week. Linking up with Beth’s “Let’s get acquainted”.