![Planned Improv Block n.4](https://www.artquiltmaker.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/IMG_20171230_162904_369-300x300.jpg)
I am working very hard on this piece as I don’t want it to get stale. Block number four is another winner.
Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I decided to get my quilt house in order and see what kind of a year it would be with regard to quiltmaking. A few years ago, I cleared out my UFOs and after that I started new projects with near-wild abandon. I don’t think this year will be either of those years, but I want it to have healthy doses of new projects and clearing out the old.
Finished 2018 Quilt Projects
Yes, I already have a finish for 2018
Finished 2017 Non-Quilt Projects
Doing Good
Blocks are in process, but nothing so far
In Process
The ‘In Process’ is used to denote projects on which I am actively working or pretending to stitch. I try not to put away projects, because that will ensure I never work on them.
Still WIPs
I still have WIPs. Who doesn’t, after all? A project in the ‘UFO’ category means I am stalled. A nicer way of saying UFO is a WIP. The list is a lot shorter and the projects are newer, for the most part.
Ready for Quilting
In Quilting Process
Binding
Nothing at the moment
Hunting and Gathering
Other
What’s on your list?
I am still a little bit a loose ends with quilts. Not sure why, but there it is. That doesn’t mean I am not working. I am. I am working on bags, but I thought it would be a good idea to have something other than an empty design wall in my studio while I worked. FOTY 2017 came to mind. I’d like to get it out of the Hunting & Gathering stage and to Colleen sometime before I am 80.
I was thinking subway tiles. I have been worried for awhile that the patches were too big and wouldn’t fit on the design wall. When I saw the stack of patches, I thought that I might actually get them all on the wall for once. No such luck. The white and grey stacks as well as a few light pinks and violets are still on my cutting table.
I did an ok job getting the colors up that I could fit. Not perfect, but ok. There is a lot of moving around that has to happen before I can start sewing.
I like the size of the patches and don’t really want to cut them down, but that means that I have to figure out a different way to arrange them. The design is simply not large enough. Right now I am toying with the idea of getting a section arranged, sewing it together, then working on the next section. I just don’t think I have it in me to cut up all those patches.
The Friday creativity posts will return soon.
Yay! I finished a quilt on the first of the year! In fairness, most of the work was done last year and I just had the binding to sew on. I couldn’t quite finish it in 2017, so it counts as my first finish for 2018. 😉
I started cutting this last year after buying the layer cake at QuiltCon in 2016.
I made the top, as you might recall, at the Quilt Retreat relatively quickly.
Now it is done and I will take it to Portland with me next week. It is a gift for one of the people that helps out the YM.
The YM came home complaining of cold wearing a thoroughly disreputable hat. I have knit hats before, so while we were lunching with Mom before Christmas we stopped at a knitting shop and he picked out some yarn.
The yarn is not my ideal. It shreds and is very slidey. Still, now that I can easily discern when to knit and when to purl, I am on my way.
SIL gave me the first step in her hat pattern. I am getting to the point where I am going to need the next step. I will also need to be reminded how to decrease.
Number of 2017 Blog Posts: 346
Number of yards of fabric used this year: 178.5, 40 of which was for charity (24%)
Quilt Projects
Small and Medium Projects
Donation Tops and Quilts
Non-Quilt Projects
After yesterday’s post, I wanted to see all the donation quilt tops I have made in 2017 all in one place. I cannot take all the credit as Gerre, Tim, Erin, Cyndi and others have quilted my creations in a collaboration in which I revel. Quiltmaking is a collaborative exercise and making these donation tops in collaboration with someone who quilts them is a wonderful experience.
The above are not in any special order. Also, not all of them are finished.
Again, I thought I had made more. I do have to give myself credit for making my part of this many quilts. They aren’t large or complicated, but they do provide something and I can honestly say that I am contributing something to the world in exchange for all that I have been given.
I thought about making one post for all donation blocks and quilts for next year. When I mentioned it, at least one of my dear readers commented that they liked seeing the donation blocks throughout the year. I decided that *I* wanted to see how many donation blocks I had sewn in 2017, thus here is a visual list of all of the donation blocks I have made for my guild.
The count above looks like about 54. Some were made into tops, like the black ones. Frankly, I thought I had made more. I think I will have to catalog the quilt tops I have made as well, just to make myself feel better. There is certainly nothing wrong with these and every little bit helps, but the words of the NICU nurse who runs the program at Stanford ring in my ears. Now with the people who lost their homes in the Wine Country fires, there are not enough hours in the day to fulfill all the need.
Of course, I have to remember that I didn’t start this post early in the year, so I can’t possibly expect to capture all my work. I may do it again next year and will be more organized.
I received some photos from people who received gifts from me. I am always pleased when the recipients can, at least, be bothered to look happy when they open a gift I have made.
Remi and Murdock got the Nighthawk and Cosmic Wonder Dust, respectively. I sent them, along with the others, up to Portland and the YM distributed them. I didn’t get photos of the other recipients, but will perhaps soon.
My sister also got a scarf as well. I sent her Christmas gifts in a box wrapped up with a note that hell would freeze over and she would be sucked into a pit of lava if she opened her Christmas gifts before Christmas. She used to have such a hard time waiting and, of course, I have no way to monitor her actions. To mollify dear Sis, I sent along the bamboo scarf that started me off on this crazy 2017 knitting journey. She has been freezing this winter and it looks like it is long enough. I am not sure it goes with the jersey, but to each his own fashion choices.
I also sent off the Sparkle Pink quilt. A friend’s son died and I decided to send Sparkle Pink to her daughter. I had it available and thought it would be a comfort.
I love this quilt. I really love the fabrics, but it was made from a pattern (not my own design) and doesn’t really go with my decor. The recipient loves it and that makes me happy. This is a quilt that needed to go off into the world and bring happiness. The room in which it now lives will be redecorated to match.
That paintbox fabric has been hanging around and I have not used it to make the set of sewing items for my mom as intended. I dug some out and made her a bag to replace one I made her several years ago that is becoming threadbare and dirty.
I used the Jane Market Tote pattern, but added some extra pintucking and interfacing. I like the way it turned out. It has some body, but can still be rolled up.
Fortunately, it was just what mom wanted. She had been reading the blog and was feeling sorry that I wasn’t making her a bag after reading about Mary’s bag and the bags I made on the quilt retreat.
The design of the bag makes a smallish shopping tote. I had forgotten the size. It seemed to work for her and the bag really goes together well after getting all the pieces cut.
Mom recognized right away that it was the same fabric as her Sew Together Bag, which I made last year.
I realized that I had forgotten to sew up the turning hole when I started to photograph the bag. I had to do that on Christmas Day before we went off to our further celebrations. There are worse ways to spend a holiday than by sewing.
Sometime in September, I found some Le Cafe fabric by Danhui Nai for Wilmington. I was in the mood to make pillowcases at the time and bought a whole bunch of the fabric to make pillowcases for my sister for Christmas.
My idea was to use the toss prints for the main body of the cases and the border print for the cuff. I quickly screwed up the cuff idea by not buying the right amount for cuffs and screwing up the cutting. I found an old Verna Mosquera dot print and used that for the cuffs. It was like the fabric was made for the pillowcases, because I had plenty for four pillowcases. I think the dot provided a good contrast for the pillowcases.
I cut the pieces out during some evenings when I had 10-15 minutes while dinner finished cooking. I did most of the sewing over the Thanksgiving Weekend. I used the pillowcases as additional leaders and enders as I pieced En Provence. They are not ideal leaders and enders as the seams are long. I beat myself into submission as using the leaders and enders technique gets projects done.