Making a list...

...checking it twice - no wait, that was last month.

I have lurked many a blog post pointing me in the direction of this Finish Along business over at The Littlest Thistle and have come to the conclusion I should invite myself to the party! You know, as part of working on this shyness problem I have (those of you who know me, your eyes are going to get stuck like that if you roll them any harder!).

Truthfully, the proposed list of FAL (that's quilty-bloggy jargon for Finish Along) projects could be really, really long but in order to keep it somewhat realistic (and spare you the details), I have narrowed it down to the following four projects which I am excited to work on over the next three years months.

#1: Catnap Table Runner

Ever since I caught my first glimpse of Lizzy House's new line, Catnap, I knew I would be adding some to my stash, and I'm not even a cat person (but it's okay with me if you are). The prints are whimsical without being childish and the colours are super yummy. I have constantly been clicking through my online retailer's website awaiting this line to arrive in stock while silently cursing the polar vortex, snow and ice storms, Canada Post, and our customs service for contributing to my ever-growing lack of patience in this matter. I am so happy to say it arrived today and I may have stopped dead in my tracks at work to order some (sure did!). Having said all that, I actually did score a charm pack of these delightful fabrics shortly before Christmas and have had a smidgen of these much-anticipated beauties in my possession for few weeks now. With all the holiday frolicking done and obligatory sewing complete, Catnap is being worked into a reversible table runner inspired by this one at Saltwater Quilts.

#2: Happiness Remixed

Although bee blocks don't necessarily qualify as legitimate FAL projects the rules do say if they are going to be put into a finished quilt, they can go on the list. January is my month in the Happiness circle of Do Good Stitches and I requested flying geese blocks so we can make the fabulous Remixed Geese quilt for which you can score the pattern as a free download over at Robert Kaufman (thank you, RK!). I love the original quilt and want to emulate it as best I can so I asked my lovely sewists to make their FG (flying geese) in bright colours. The first three envelopes of blocks arrived today and I can't wait to tear into them and start laying things out on my design wall (which is a fancy schmancy way of saying I'm going to use masking tape to stick them on the wall in our family room).

#3: Mystery Quilt

This mystery quilt was something I joined on a whim. Although I must admit these blocks are looking really busy to me, I have to give the quilt a chance and see how I feel once everything has been put together. The final quilt design was revealed on New Year's Day but I still have a few steps to go. The cool thing is it came almost entirely out of my scrap bins (less 1/4 yard was actually cut from stash) and I learned some really neat techniques along the way.

#4: Flagged Quilt

I have been wanting to make another quilt for the living room for some time and came across this Flagged Quilt tutorial by Jeni a couple months back. It looks like good bang for the buck; it should go together quickly and it looks terrific. I didn't have anything in mind as far as a colour palette so I turned to my stash to see what might inspire me. Whilst rummaging through the stacks I came across a Kaffe Fassett print that had a lot of great colours in it, and not ones I would think to put together. With the help of those lovely selvedge dots I was able to quickly pull the fabrics I need, setting the stack of loveliness aside in anticipation of this project.

So there it is, my list of FAL goals. I look forward to being able to report they are all finished come March 31st!

Linking up to the Q1 FAL post here.

e.