Word for the Year 2016

In 2014, JOURNEY was my word for the year.  I wanted my life to be about the process rather than the end product... not just in quilting but in everything.  I did pretty well on that front, enjoying the journey along the way, rather than rushing through everything to get to the end. 

For 2015, I chose the word SIMPLIFY to guide my steps for the year.  I got rid of a lot of superfluous stuff... quilting and otherwise.  Moving helped a LOT with that - we got rid of SO many books and LOTS of trash - truckloads of stuff, literally, but lots of quilting things too - excess fabric, duplicate rulers, notions and the like.

My word for the year 2016 is going to be FINISH.  I've started so many things in 2015 and I really need to see an end to these projects so I can feel good about starting new ones.   I have made a promise not to start any new BOMs that I'm not already signed up for (only one new one of those, so I don't feel overwhelmed to start the year.  I'm afraid they will do a Bertie's Summer quilt and I will feel the need to sign up for that one... luckily the Bertie's seasonal quilts are all small, just 4-5 month projects, easy to make, easy to quilt. 

I am not forgetting my words from previous years... It's still all about the JOURNEY, and I'm still SIMPLIFYing - ridding myself of extraneous 'stuff' both quilty and otherwise (yes, there are things we moved with that we didn't really need, so still stuff to get rid of), but I want to finish UFO's this year - I have a lot of them...

I would love to choose a word like 'PLAY' or 'MESSIFY' (I know that's not a real word, but I don't know how else to say it), but I feel like that will have to wait a year.  (By messify, I mean giving myself permission to paint messily, color outside the lines and so forth - I need that encouragement sometimes to be 'me' when I am creating instead of just following patterns by rote). 

Anyway - I look forward to 2016 and all the finishes I will have for the year!

What is your word for 2016?

Shenanigans

So the new house needed some work... we knew that when we bought it... the pool had to be demo'd, we'd need some new furniture, some painting and lots of cabinets and drawers to line... But the house wasn't done with us yet... We did all that and then realized in the light rain of a few weeks ago that we needed a new roof.  With the prediction of an El Nino year, all the roofers in our area were booked til January or February, leaving us with a serious problem... FINALLY, after a zillion phone calls, we found one roofer who could do the work now.  He had a questionable review on Angie's List, but we needed him.  The work is now done, and we're waiting for the inspector to come and sign off on the work... Wish us luck!

As for quilting, I AM working hard at trying to finish projects, but not getting as much done as I'd like - I caught up on some projects and have fallen behind on others.  That's to be expected this time of year with all the social obligations and holidays.

I finished Which Witch... but not quite in time for Halloween - I'll have it for next year though! :

I did another block in the Arcadia Avenue BOM:

I finished Bertie's Spring, all ready to hang in March, when the season arrives:

And Bertie's Winter, all ready to hang in December!:

While it may seem like a lot of projects done... the two Bertie's projects were BOMs, so they took a long time, and Which Witch, in all honesty - took just a few hours to make, including the quilting - the binding was the longest part of the project. 

I'm not running out of projects to work on - lots of BOMs still to finish, and crazy person that I am, I just signed up for another one... sigh...

Where have I been ? ? ? ?

Moving!  I moved from one town in So. Calif. to another about 30 miles closer to the beach (for the cooler weather).  We officially moved on July 16th, and have been unpacking and settling in for the past couple of months.  We bought two new sofas for the den and living room and are now hanging art around the house... there is a LOT of art to hang (between quilts and prints and paintings.... sigh). 

I have a new studio... and while the fabric isn't ALL as readily accessible as it was in the old house, it is all shelved and ready to use (some piles of fabric are behind others, so a little hard to get to, but I'll manage - the Costco metal shelves are very deep, but they are what we had to work with).  I have access to all my books and patterns, fat quarters, tools and notions, it all works... just waiting on my design wall (not a high priority just yet in the whole scheme of 'to-do' lists).

I have been able to work on my BOM projects and other things (like making pillowcases... this is one of our new sofas with the pillowcases I made today:

 We don't exactly live AT the beach, but the pillows have a nice beachy vibe to them.

I have been sewing through all the chaos, albeit not as much as I'd like to have been.  I am working on 7 or 8 different bom projects, all in progress at present.  I've also been taking a Thursday night 'class' (class is a loose term as it's more like an open sew time).  I made this quilt as my first Thursday night project:

I love stars, and it's a pretty blue, teal, purple and green quilt.. my favorite colors together.  A Buggy Barn 'crazy' piecing project.

Then, not done with the whole Buggy Barn craziness, I made this on Thursday nights too, just finished this week (well, not exactly finished, as it's not quilted yet):

So as you can see, I've been busy with more than moving in...

We've been kind of overwhelmed too with the money pit of a house we bought... I know, everyone says their new house is a money pit, but we had to demolish a pool (more then just filling it with dirt, as the old pool has to be broken up, and THEN filled with dirt... took almost a week and a half.  Now we are in the middle of roof repairs, which with the predicted El Nino year, is getting difficult as most reputable roofers are overbooked already... and we just had a little LIGHT rain and had a leak.  sigh.  And these are just the big things... we've had lots of little things come up as well.  Hopefully all will be done before the rains hit in earnest.

In the meantime, I will just enjoy my new studio (which has no leaks), and keep a bucket in the master bathroom (where there is one). 

Moving along...

The mystery quilt I made, laid out on a bed, takes on an entirely different look!

It's still busy - but not unpleasantly so... I like it, and glad it has a great home where it will be appreciated.  Amazing how something so subtle like seeing the quilt on a bed as opposed to on a design wall makes it take on a whole new look.

On another subject entirely, our move went smoothly... We are in our new home now.  We moved closer to the beach for the cool weather, and moved right into a heat wave.  Sad, as our new house has no air conditioning, but we are handling it okay - opening the house up in the morning and early evening to take advantage of the cool breeze then, and closing things up during the warmest part of the day to keep things cool.   Just opening things up and shutting them down during the day seems like a big job - we're realizing just how big this house is during the progress... it just doesn't see so big until you have to traverse it multiple times a day... it seems to get bigger and bigger... lol.

We are getting very tired of opening boxes and putting things away... but it has to get done.  All the master bedroom boxes are done with, as are the kitchen and dining room boxes... and the boxes for the hallway closets.  We just have a few rooms left to do - the game room isn't finished, and the living room hasn't been tackled yet, neither has the sewing room.  That last is going to be a BIG job, since i have so much fabric.  Once the boxes are done in there, I still have to put up a new design wall and the inevitable television (can't survive without a tv in my studio... what can I say?  I'm an addict).  

It will be weeks before we are finished most likely, but we ARE working on it.  Any progress is good, that's how I'm looking at it, and we do something related to unpacking every day... some days more, some days less, but always progress.  We have made a promise to each other not to live with unopened boxes, like we had in our old house - we found things in boxes that we hadn't opened since we moved in to that house 20 years ago - SO not happening again... not here, not now, not this time. 

Thimblecreek Mystery

I love receiving the Thimblecreek Gazette (from Joe Wood of Thimblecreek Quilts) every Tuesday morning.  Recently, he posted a mystery quilt with 15 different clues.  I decided to make the mystery - it sounded like fun and I had this collection of Downton Abbey fat quarters that wanted to be used for something.  So in I dove.. and what an odd collection of blocks and sections!  I couldn't imagine what it might look like when it was done!... I'm used to mystery quilts where the different bits and parts made a new pattern when put together... but this one worked a little differently - it was a lot of finished blocks.  I just couldn't fathom what was to come.

I dutifully did every set of blocks every week... then the final clue came - how to put it all together.  The process was interesting - putting sequences of borders on a central medallion... border after border after border... It took several days to get it together because I am in the middle of packing to move, so it developed slowly.  Finally I got it all together (it's about 50x50, so it's pretty big).  I love this picture of it, but I can't say I love the quilt itself... It's a little busy for my taste.

It's very odd how I can love the picture, and dislike the quilt itself... but that is the case... Really, how can I dislike a quilt full of purple?  that makes no sense either lol....

So I offered it to a quilting friend who said she really liked it and it would go with her decor.  She will make a back for it, have it quilted and use it in her home... which is great - it will be loved... and she will have a quilt of her own - She tends to make so many things for her 12 grandkids and her kids too, that she ends up having none of her own quilts to treasure at home (ie she gives them all away).  Someday, perhaps I will have grandkids (*peeers at her son and dau-in-law expectantly*)... but for now, I have lots of quilts and no homes for them except my own. 

Anyway, glad I made this one - it was definitely a fun process - and glad it has a good home.

Now, on to Thimblecreek Mystery #2 which just started (it's a Halloween themed quilt by colors, but not requiring themed fabric, and could probably be done in any colors)... If you're interested and don't get the Gazette, google Thimblecreek Quilts and sign up for their newsletter (the Gazette)... clues are free and very well written, so they are easy to follow!...

Now, back to packing for me... We are moving to a new place with a whole building for my husband's mancave and radio shack (he's a ham), a larger quilting space for me, and a huge game room for us to come together with our friends (we are gamers - boardgames, roleplaying games, and the like).   It's no fun packing and getting ready for the move - the sorting and purging has been heart-wrenching and hard... but needed to be done... we've lived in this house for 20 years and had some boxes we never opened since moving in here - scary, huh?  I highly recommend this sorting and purging process, and wish we'd done it a long time ago - we'd have had a lot more room here if we'd done it, but then without the impending move over our heads, we might not have been so ruthless with the purging part of it...

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but it is the godmother (at least) of motivation. 

2015 Row by Row Finished

Finished and ready to go into my local quilt shop tomorrow morning.  I basically spent most of the last weekend working on this instead of packing for our move... I should feel guilty for doing so, but I don't really... I'm glad I finished it. 

California Row by Row Experience on Facebook hasn't reported a California finish yet - I've seen a few from Texas but that's it so far... I'm not counting on being first in the state, though that would be cool if I were, but I DO intend on being first at my LQS.  Wish me luck!

Row by Row Experience

Row by Row is a yearly shop hop-competition that is all over the US and Canada - you go from quilt shop to quilt shop collecting patterns, and make a quilt using at least 8 patterns... this is the top I made using the patterns I collected.

 I still need to quilt it, bind it and put a label on it, but it is almost done!!!  So happy to have gotten this far with it! 

I an hoping I have time to  make a backing for it on Sunday and start quilting it then too... maybe finish up by Monday and bind it by Tuesday... wish me luck... that's where the 'competition' part of the Experience comes in... the first to take their row into a participating quilt shop wins 25 fat quarters and possibly more... fun times!

I won last year, and hope to win again this year.  Wish me luck!

Insanity Prevails

Right now, things are a little wild and crazy around my house.  We are in the middle of getting ready for a major move...  We haven't moved now for 21 years, so we've accumulated a lot of 'stuff'...  Currently we are in the process of 'de-stuffifying' ourselves (I know that's not a real word, but I'm using it anyway, as it fits what we are doing).  21 bankers boxes full of books for donation, and we still have many many books to go through and sort out ones we can part with.  Oh, this is so devastatingly hard... Both my husband and I are bibliophiles and have been collecting books since the 60's...

Not just books though.  We are getting rid of LOTS of things!  Anything we can part with, we are letting go - donating, selling or giving away.  I have spent a few days sniffling back tears over what we are parting with, but I know in the long run, it's been a long time since we've used these things, so we don't really NEED them.

I don't think it's in an artist's nature to enjoy a move... We like the comfort of our usual surroundings and our studio space...  It is a matter of being grounded and knowing where everything is and how best to use it as it is.  I look forward to the time when I am settled in at the new house and ready to resume my quilting life.

Still among all the chaos, I've managed to partly keep up with projects.  A few of my block of the month commitments have fallen behind, but a few I've managed to keep up with.  I also took a class in how to make a Buggy Barn quilt called Crazy Eights.  If you're not familiar with the Buggy Barn method - it is a 'stack, slash, and shuffle' technique that results in some really fun quilts.  I wish they were still in business publishing new patterns.   Here is the quilt top I finished in this class:

It's a little bigger than the original pattern called for, but I don't like making square quilts when I can avoid it, so I added more rows to the bottom.  It needs to be quilted soon, but the top is constructed and just waiting for a backing.  SO much fun to make!  And to make it even more fun - I got to meet some fascinating and fun ladies in the class, so win-win for me.

We enjoyed sewing together so much, we decided to make class-night a regular thing, where we will meet each week and work on our different quilts - Either the same pattern or something individual, depending on personal preference that week.  Anyway - lots of fun to make.

I also did another round robin block:

 My contribution was the applique in the turquoise rectangles (trees/presents/flamingos).  The round robin deadline is this coming Tuesday, so I'm done in time, and I'm happy with the results.

WAYWO??

Keeping up with the Karda.. I mean the BOMs lol

So, I haven't posted here in a very long time... I've been crazy busy closing escrow on our new home.  Now we are busy sorting, purging, getting ready for the imminent move...

With all of that, I am also working hard to catch up with my Blocks of the Month and Saturday Samplers. 

I have made significant progress on my Past and Present Animals blocks:

 There are still several blocks to go... and the borders are incredibly busy with applique, so lots left to do, but the hardest block (the cat block) is done, so I'm happy about that.

I finished a block for Arcadia Avenue:

This time with the fabrics in the right order... I'm very happy with this one... though I am still behind with another block to sew now and another on its way via mail already.... so I'm about to be 2 months behind on this one... Maybe I can get it done tomorrow so I don't fall further behind when the mail arrives on Monday.

I have another BOM I'm working on called Spooky Hollows:

I'm all caught up on this one... 7 blocks done (one not pictured), and a little time left before the next one is set to arrive... *takes a deep breath and relaxes a little*

I've made my May block for one of my Saturday Samplers (no picture yet), and another May Saturday Sampler block yet to make (it's on my to-do list!)

I also have another round robin block to work on... I didn't even have time to take a picture of last month's block before I had to turn it in to be passed on to another 'player' and here I am falling behind on this month's block as well... Last month I had a good excuse, but this month I have none except for procrastination. 

And I am also doing the Thimblecreek Mystery quilt, which I am 2 steps behind on... step 9 is cut, ready for sewing, and I haven't even read the instructions for step 10... I am sure that step 11 will be out on Tuesday, so I've got some real catching up to do there... I hope it comes out okay... as I am using a hodge podge of Downton Abbey and civil war fabrics... could be a total disaster.. lol... anyway, I just hope it doesn't end up square (I hate making square quilts)... I don't know what possessed me to start it before I knew what shape it would be.  I could have just downloaded the patterns each week and waited...

In all of this I still have roomfuls of 'stuff' to go through so we can move in a few months... the old owners of the house are leasing it back from us for 2 months while they househunt for themselves, then we have a little work to do on the new house before we move in... then we have to work on the old house to get it ready to rent it out... So much to do... so little time.  I know a few months sounds like a lot, but I know it will creep up on us when we are still not ready to pack and move... Thanks goodness for professional movers... I'm far too old to move myself anymore and 20 years in one house gives you lots of time to accumulate 'stuff'.  I don't want to move most of this 'stuff' to the new house.  I just want the essentials.... the hard part is sorting essential from non-essentials... So hard to let it go. 

And now I have that song from Frozen running through my head.... aaaaagggghhh...

Round Robin, Pt 2

My mini group is doing a round robin this year.  There are 7 of us participating and this month was our second month.  I put borders on an eagle panel this month, adding only 2 borders (top and bottom rail fence blocks) with some appliqued stars.  I knew when I started that I needed to calm down the first border of scrappy Americana squares with a more solid looking border. 

However, I didn't put it on the design wall before doing the stars, and I might have rearranged them a little if I'd seen it from a distance first.  Still, I'm happy enough with it as is... I hope the owner likes it when she gets it.  The way it's going, it is going to be a good sized quilt by the time it's done - it's already about 24" x 36".

Other than this little foray into the studio, I've done little quilting of late.  Yesterday was Worldwide Quilting Day and to celebrate (well, not really, they just happened to coincide) we had a quilter's yard sale.  I took 5 bins of fabric and sold some of it... I only made about $300 but it doesn't even look like I made a dent in what I took with me... I will need to do it again to sell more... I just need to get rid of more fabric I no longer want!  Especially if we might move in the next few months (probably not gonna happen, but you never know).

Sewing through the Pain

I signed up for a class to be held the 28th of March.  Part of the preparation for the class was to make sixteen 9 1/2" blocks in advance.  I decided I wanted to make the project out of selvage blocks so I made sixteen of them.  By the time I was done making them, three days later, my right wrist was killing me.  I managed to work through the pain to piece them into an 8x2 panel of blocks:

The pain was the result of constantly raising and lowering the needle with the wheel on the right side of the machine.  I'd forgotten I had a button that did that on the front of the machine... would have been much easier and caused me no pain.  Ah well, live and learn... or in this case live and remember.  Next time I hope I recall this little lesson.  My wrist hurt so bad that when I went to see the Buddy Holly Story at the Civic Arts Center last night, I couldn't even applaud.  Tonight I will take some pain meds I think.

I spent yesterday quilting the blocks so that they can be made into a bag.... that part was easy peasy in comparison to the piecing and I DID use the button instead of the wheel to lift the needle. 

Now I have one week to prepare for a fabric sale.  I hope to get rid of at least a couple of bins of fabric to quilters who have less.  I sell the stuff I no longer want for $3 a yard, so it's a great deal.  So sad to let go of some of it, but I know I'll never use it all.  Besides, we just put an offer in on a new house and the less we have to pack and move, the better. 

It feels good to purge stuff I don't want any more... as artists, often our tastes change over time.  Lots of fabric I loved, and just don't anymore... and then there's the stuff that I look at and think 'What was I thinking???' and can't imagine why I bought it in the first place.  All of it has to go.

Last year after this sale, I felt SO good, and I took the money and invested it in stock, rather than more fabric which felt really great to be doing something productive with the money.  This year, that fabric money may be going toward things for a new house... we shall see.

Other arts

So I haven't painted in 15 years, being too busy with cross-stitch and then quilting.  Yesterday, I bought some new paints, and started on this figure, which I finished today:

It is a miniature for a table top role playing game (a la Dungeons and Dragons).  She is a little gnome cleric of a goddess of healing and the sun, hence the fire in her hand (sun=hot=fire).  Anyway, I had a lot of fun painting her... I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed figure painting.  Glad I did it, not sure how many more I might do, but this was enough for now.  

Going back to quilting now.  I made the second block for a bom I'm doing called Pumpkin Patch Lane:

I also cut all the pieces for the third step in the Thimblecreek mystery... I will sew those tomorrow because tonight is my mini-group meeting and I won't have time to sew.  Tomorrow we meet again, but it is for our weekly sew-in at the LQS, so I will have all day to work on quilty projects with friends. 

It felt good to stretch my creative muscles a little and do something outside my recent wheelhouse.  Feels great to know my hands haven't grown too shaky to paint.  

Featured Quilter

Today, I am the featured quilter at amy's creative side.  Go on over and check me out...

...and then look at all the other featured quilters.  So much to see and learn about how people got into their craft and how they see themselves and their work.

Thank you Amy for sharing the stories of so many of us!

Arcadia Avenue block one

Yesterday I finished my first block of Arcadia Avenue... except for the little problem with the colors, I'm very happy with it.

Here are the colors I received to make the blocks... the reason why the blues and greens seem out of order becomes clear when you look carefully:

The yellow and yellow-green are both listed as B colors, and the blue and indigo are both listed as A colors - the pattern of A-B-A-B... etc was broken... I will double check them when I get my next kit and make sure they are correct.  Still, I'm happy with the block and in the long run, no one but me will notice this one little glitch.

Today I pieced my first block for the new Saturday Sampler I am doing at another local quilt shop.  It's called the 'Nifty Nine-Patch Sampler' and here is block 1 from it:

They are doing it all in blues, but I thought I'd like it better in reds... so this is my version.  I know the whole idea behind a Saturday Sampler is that they give you the fabric for free each month if you've done the previous block, making it almost a free quilt... I just didn't like the fabrics they were using. 

And this is the state of my design wall for February:

They don't even look like one person's taste... they are all over the place in regards color schemes, styles, etc... I guess that says something about me, too, doesn't it?

The Importance of Labels...

I spent the weekend making paper-pieced sections of a large pieced hexagon.  I finished them today, only to discover that 4 of them were labeled incorrectly.  Half were As and the other half of each 60-degree section were Bs.  The 4 greens and teals were all reversed, so when the pieces are put together, they can't be placed in the right order.  Here are the four green/teal/blues:

As you can see, the yellow green and green should be reversed, and the teal and blue should be reversed.. but they don't fit that way because they were mislabeled (As as Bs and vice versa). 

Here is what the whole hexagon looks like:

It's obvious they are wrong, but I think in the whole quilt when it's put together, no one but me will notice, at least I hope that's the case. 

Here is a link to a picture of the whole quilt:  Arcadia Avenue - Though mine will be on a black background because I think it will  be more striking that way.

Anyway.... right or wrong, it's almost done... I am content.

Work in Progress... back to Paper Piecing

I LOVE paper piecing... Always have since I first discovered it... Followed a book and self-taught the process.  Once you learn to 'think backwards', it's a lot of fun and very precise.  So I started a new Block of the Month called Arcadia Avenue, designed by Sassafras Lane.  (there's no individual designer's name associated with the pattern). 

These patterns are not for the faint of heart, nor for beginners to the process, but I haven't done any paper piecing for about 2 years, being too busy with applique of late... So I was a bit leery of jumping back in with such a complex set of patterns. When my first block arrived, I stared at the components for two days before delving in today.  I cut the fabric mostly according to the instructions and jumped in with the process.. It was just like I remembered...  The only thing I do differently than described in the book is that I chain-piece when I paper piece.   This of course means that instead of having maybe 2 complete blocks and 10 unstarted blocks, I have 12 partially done blocks.

Here's what I've got so far:

The picture in the upper left corner is what the block should look like when it's done.  The papers with the fabric stuck to them are how far I've gotten.

This weekend is Stashbuster's Stay-at-Home Retreat weekend... I sewed most of today (on various projects, including Arcadia Avenue)... Tomorrow is my Dungeons and Dragons game (most of the day) and then dinner and a movie with my husband... I will get back to Arcadia Avenue on Sunday to finish out the retreat weekend.  I am having so much fun with these blocks!  Paper piecing is the bomb!

If you're new to paper piecing and interested in more information, I highly recommend the tutorial at Paper Panache - it is well-written and one of the best I've ever seen or used.

Happy quilting all!

Block Therapy

Mindless sewing can be very therapeutic.  Today I needed a little of that, so I sat down to make blocks for my Cotton and Chocolate block of the month ("Amish With a Twist II").  I put the corners on block 1 to set it on point, and made block 2.  Block one is a simple rail fence, but set on point in a pieced frame, it looks much more complex than the simple piecing would suggest.

Block 1 on point

Block 2 is a four patch of four-patches.  It isn't in a frame to set it on point yet, because the blue fabric to do so wasn't included in the kit - yet.

Block 2

Also included in the mindless sewing of the day was 6 rail fence blocks made for the piano key border that will, in a year's time grace the quilt as well. 

When it's done it will looks something like this:

The shop I'm doing this program through is using slightly different fabrics, but the blocks are the same... I actually like the Jinny Beyer fabrics that we are using better than the original ones in the quilt.  They are very rich and tonals, rather than solids, which would be a bit boring. 

Accomplishing these blocks might be  a small thing, but it made me feel good, and we should all do at least one thing that makes us feel good every day.

Saturday Rainy Day Sewing

After an intense session of Dungeons and Dragons, I decided to get busy in my studio.  I finished the sashing and borders on another Saturday Sampler from last year.... still needs a back made for it, but the top is finished...

The sashing and cornerstones might be a little bit too bright, but the quilt is bright too, and I think it will make a nice quilt for a child - girl OR boy.  So I will pair it with a unisex back, stash it away once it is quilted and save it for another rainy day. 

I really enjoy sewing on rainy days... I feel freer to be in my studio - no guilt for not spending time doing other things, and I love the view out my studio window - the lovely gray clouds and the sounds of rain pattering down.   What joy!

What do you do on rainy days?

Postcards from the Edge

Today was a busy workday for me.  I got the second set of instructions for the Thimblecreek Mystery.  I made the block today:

Then, when that was done, I finished some postcards I've been working on.. I had to complete cards for 4 different swaps.  The first was for 'Opposites':

The second one I completed was for 'Love, hearts and flowers'

The third was for the February postcard 'lottery' among the group I belong to:

And fourth and finally is for a 'tag' swap with the theme of texture, shape and lines:

Lots of fun in the studio today - I made a total mess and enjoyed every minute of it!  I hope the ladies who receive these cards like them.

Making Progress, Making Blocks

I did more things on my list today.  I made a very busy little animal block for a block of the month I'm doing:

Lots of little pieces to cut and fuse, but it's done... I've got to stitch the pieces down, but the hard parts are done. (tracing and cutting all the pieces, fusing them down without burning my fingers, lol).

I posted a picture of part of this quilt in my previous post because I couldn't find a picture of the entire quilt online... I scanned it from the book I found it in... Maybe I couldn't find it because I thought it was by Yoko Saito, but apparently I was wrong, it's by Satomi Funamoto... Just so cute!!! can't wait til it's done... but OH those borders ... they will take forever I think.

My second project of the day was an easy one.  A pre-fused, laser-cut quilt called Spooky Hallows.  This is block 4 of the quilt:

I just love the black kitty (and the little frog in this block is just adorable too).  Nice big pieces, no chance of burning my fingers... easy to stitch down the edges when i get around to it.

Tomorrow, I ship my Woodland Creatures quilt off to Paducah for inclusion in the Lancaster AQS show.  And my to-do-list has me making fabric postcards and tags for exchanges... Should be fun to make the postcards, but the tags have me a bit challenged... I have to work with textures, lines and shapes... that is the challenge... Not sure what to do yet,  but I'm sure I'll work something out.

The Power of the List

Lists have great power.  I notice that truly busy people keep lists of what to do when and do their best to follow them, get to meetings on time, finish projects on time, and so forth.  I have been keeping an daily online to-do list at 1-3-5.com for several months now and it has done wonders to help me stay on track with projects.  I highly recommend some method of keeping a to-do list - virtual, on paper, whatever works for you.

Today was a sleepy day - I woke up, took the dog to the dog park, and came home to crash on the sofa.  I slept through about 3 episodes of Law & Order, waking from time to time, only to fall back asleep again.  Husband woke me up about noon to go to the grocery store with him... I shopped, came home, ate lunch and dozed off again... Why couldn't I keep my eyes open all day?

Finally, about 4pm, I woke up enough to do a little sewing.  I sewed down about half the appliques on my Pumpkin Patch Lane block of the month.  Then I came back to the computer and ran Dungeons and Dragons for some friends for a couple of hours.  Then it was dinner, and back to the sewing machine to finish that block.

Pumpkin Patch Lane block 1, in progress

 Saturday, I traced all the shapes of the animal block #4 from Yoko Saito's Past and Present book, onto WonderUnder and set them aside.  After sewing my bom, I chose fabrics for the Animal quilt and pressed the WonderUnder onto the back sides of the fabric... Tomorrow perhaps I'll cut them all out and begin planning block 4 of the quilt - placing the appliques where they belong and pressing them permanently onto the background.  Of course, I'll still have to sew them down, but if they are pressed, they won't be going anywhere.

This is a little preview of what a part of this quilt will look like - The original is all made from homespuns, flannels and wool... SO very much, NOT my personal aesthetic.

Still, I had to make it, because I love all the little animals on it... I will try to get some pictures of the blocks I've done in the near future.  Maybe a pic of the whole quilt if I can find one 'out there' on the web.

I've really discovered the true benefits of 'to-do' lists in the past few months - I get much more done, and I'm more motivated to finish tasks when I have a list and endeavor to follow it.  While I didn't finish everything quilty on my list yesterday, I did finish 2 tasks, which I wouldn't have even started without my list!  I feel semi-accomplished at least. 



             

Round Robin Time

My mini-group is doing a round robin.  That's when each of us supplies a center block and each block makes the rounds of every person in the group.  Each time a block comes to each person, that person adds a border of some kind to the project.  We just got our first block this week, and mine was this 30's panel of a child in a bunny suit.  Of course I have NO 30's fabrics in my stash, so I had to make do with what I had.  30's colors are very distinct and hard to match without going to reproductions.  I got a close red and purple, but the green I chose, whike the right shade, is too pale, and the yellow a bit too bright, but those things weren't so obvious until it was all pieced and together. 

I made the hourglass blocks in the border of course, using a black and white print for my background and 4 colors for the hourglasses.  Despite the 'wrong colors', I'm not re-doing it.  I hope it works out okay as it goes on to the next person, who has to build on what I've done. 

One finish... one WIP

I finished a quilt ... my first for 2015!  It is called City Zebra...

It is a challenge quilt - my guild is holding a challenge to make a quilt with a funny animal or an animal in a funny situation... This was my attempt to meet the challenge.  The 'reveal' comes next month at our meeting.  I hope it goes over well.

I also worked on my Bertie's Year quilt.  It has sashing, but no borders... which I'm debating the width and design of.

I'm considering a 3" border (the sashing is 2")... or a 2" border... or something else? I would love to make a sawtooth border but I don't want to make the quilt that much bigger... I'd like it to fit on a wall, and it IS getting big.  Any ideas?

Happy New Year

Yes, a new year has  begun, which means an end to the old year.  I have been finishing up some year long projects: a Saturday Sampler and a couple of BoMs.  The BoMs are still 'in progress' - one is pinned and ready to quilt, the other is just pieced and appliqued, still needs a back and batting:

I added the borders and they threatened to swallow the whole quilt.... not what I was expecting... Rather than chop off some of the width of border in the HOPES that it would alleviate the problem, I added some applique of my own design.  

The dog of course is our dear Maggie, who wouldn't move despite my attempts to get her up and out of the picture.  She wouldn't be budged.

The BoM is called Bertie's Winter and looks like this:

It was lots of fun to make and I can't wait to finish quilting it. 

I also worked on another BoM called Bertie's Year (same cute bird as in Bertie's Winter, but it was a year long project).  I am still finishing up the November and December blocks of that one, and no pic to share yet.

I have another Saturday Sampler in progress (that one ran February thru January, so it's not done yet).

Looking forward to another year of BoM's, Saturday Samplers and just projects to do of all sorts.  I'll even be doing a round robin with my mini-group.   A fun year to look forward to!