Catching up with a couple of finishes

I am not sure what has happened to my quilting bug.  It has waned on and off over the years, but it seems like the past 5yrs it has really taken a nosedive.  I am trying to keep it fresh--or as fresh as I can... and boy I can find some great projects that really excite me... however, the doing part!

After finishing up Daniel's Eagle Scout quilt, I was drained.  I joined in on the Humble Quilts doll quilt exchange, I enjoy that one with hopes it would spark something.  And I think it did get me going to work on Stitch Happens.  I started two of these, one (pic below) is a quilt I gave as a birthday gift to a dear friend.  I had planned to give her the other one however (still not finished), but I wasn't happy with the quilting (I admit I am too critical of myself) so I went with straight line quilting on this one--and it still wasn't the way I wanted.  Shift Happened vs Stitch Happens.  It's still a great pattern though.


Here is the little quilt (18" square) that I created for the Teal Mini Swap which is an Ovarian Cancer fundraiser:


My partner likes cats, The Broncos, orange, rabbits.  Perfect.. I love using orange, and I planned right away to create something with a cat.

Here is the transition I went through as I created this quilt:
I first sketched out an idea with flying geese and a cat under a tree.  My tree in the sketch was larger and this just wasn't working for me.


The next step involved looking for a paper pieced cat pattern, and craftsy has some great ones in silhouette.  Adding the butterfly was needed.


Overall I am pleased with how it turned out.  My quilting wasn't perfect, but it was ok.


Here is the quilt I received from my partner:

I love how it turned out.  For a first time experience with this exchange, I had a good time with it and I may do it again in the future.

My current project:
I am currently working on a new quilt called Madame Rouge by French General.  It's a very simple string quilt (though the strings are suppose to match up, so not quite so freewheeling).  I finished the top on Saturday and will show that one in the near future.  I have an idea in mind for quilting already--that rarely happens!  Looking at the sidebar of how many quilts I have started this year, I am surely lacking in creativity!  I do plan to do Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt this year--how can I not?  She has orange in it :)   Here's to hoping that the new year I get some sparks of creativity lit under me again.