Happy New Year! I Quilted!

I know I'm a little bit late in my celebration of the New Year, but I wanted to say it anyway. I hope 2014 is treating you all well so far!

We have had a whirlwind of a month! My sister, her husband & their 3 kids, who had always lived within an hour of us, left for 6 months of Spanish immersion language school in Costa Rica on January 15. It's been strange and emotional knowing that they are so far away and we anxiously await their return in early July. We are so thankful for Skype and Facetime! It makes the distance not seem so bad.

I had a finish done for 2014 on January 2nd! That's my Mom's birthday and I made her a table runner for her buffet that she had requested. I was in such a hurry to wrap it that I forgot to take a picture of it! Thankfully she lives just a few blocks away and I will be able to get a picture of it soon.

This week has been very productive! I got the "Rock Candy" pattern by Jaybird Quilts, along with the Sidekick ruler that the pattern uses and went to work. I was in the middle of fabric selection (Kona Sunset charms) for the first one when my Mom stopped over and commented on how she would "love one of those" using the fabrics shown on the front cover. She is not a big fan of black, so she requested one of the lighter colors as the background. I chose Kona in lavender because it matched and I had enough on hand. She hasn't seen it yet, but I have a feeling she's going to love it!

When I bought this pattern, I had envisioned it with just 3 colors, in an ombre-like pattern. I found these Michael Miller Cotton Couture solids at my LQS and they were exactly what I was looking for! I paired them with Kona in white and I finished the binding just this morning. I love how this turned out and it will really help brighten my house, which looks very bare after taking down all of our Christmas decorations.

I love how different a pattern can look by just changing the fabrics used. I can't say enough about how wonderful Jaybird Quilts is in her pattern design. I had never worked with diamonds before and both of these went together easily and without a lot of puckering. Most of my seams even match! I've been a big fan of Jaybird Quilts for a long time and I can't wait to see what she will come up with in the future! I saw that she is introducing a line of mini patterns and I will definitely be trying those!

This is a rough time of year for (most) homeschoolers, thanks to cabin fever and the slowing down of life after the holidays. I'm trying to pass the time with a lot of fabric, sewing and designing. I can only hope February will go as fast as January has!

I'm linking up today with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts. Head over there and check out everyone's finishes this week!