2022 Cutting Chart

2022 Cutting Guide
2022 Cutting Guide

I finally figured out what I was cutting during 2022.

This guide details many fewer pieces than previous years. I have a lot of pieces I have cut and need to make into quilts, so I am scaling back.

 

3 1/2 x 12 1/2 – this piece is for the Half Hexie Star quilt

2 1/2 x 4 1/2 – blue gradation quilt

2 1/2 x 2 1/2 – FOTY 2022

2 1/2 x 2 1/2 -I cut 2 1/2″ squares to have them handy in case I need them. I can’t seem to give it up.

1 1/2 x 2 1/2 – pieces for another Scrap Dash. I am not sure I am cutting all the pieces I need to be ready.

1 1/2 x 1 1/2 – More for another Scrap Dash

I am not sure what happened to cutting charts for 2020 and 2021. Can we blame that on COVID? Based on my 2019 cutting chart, I may need to cut more for the pink gradation quilt. I also need backgrounds for the Spin Wheel quilt, which I’d like to get off my to do list this year.

2019 Cutting Chart

Once again, it has been awhile since I showed my cutting chart. It is something I meant to do in January, but it never seemed to get done. The same thing happened last year, so it has still been a year, which is my actual goal. Once a year.

2019 Cutting Chart
2019 Cutting Chart
  1. Spin Wheel – 3.5×4.5 rectangle – all fabrics except background fabrics
  2. Blue Lemonade – 2×2 square – blue, green and purple
  3. 30 Something – 2.5 x 4.5 rectangle – foreground and background
  4. 30 Something -1.5 x 2.5 rectangle
  5. 30 Something – 2 7/8 x2 7/8 square
  6. 30 Something – 1.5 x 1.5 square. I also cut one of these for a friend and send those off when I have a chance.
  7. 2.5″ squares for different projects. One square is for the 16 patch donation blocks, one is on spec and one is for FOTY 2019
  8. 5″ squares – no particular project, but I thought it might be a good idea to start storing some up for a future project. The impetus was that DH got me a 5″ square keeper for my birthday. That’s as good a reason as any, right?
  9. Half Hexie Stars – 3.5 x 12.5 rectangle
  10. Blue Gradation quilt – 2.5 x 4.5 rectangle – this has been on the Dream Projects list since at least 2014. It might be time to put up or shutup.
  11. Pink Gradation quilt – 2.5 x 4.5 rectangle –
  12. – this has been on the Dream Projects list since at least 2014. It also might be time for me to put up or shutup about this project. I am not sure how many gradation type projects I can do in a row.

As you know, one of the major aspects to my quiltmaking is hunting and gathering. I prefer to make quilts, usually, that use a lot of fabrics. I think many different aquas will be more interesting than just one. This means that many projects, I need to cut a lot of patches from a wide variety of fabrics. It doesn’t work for me to decide to start such a project, open up a fabric bin and start cutting. I don’t want to always stand that long, I get bored and the whole situation results in me hating the project or just stopping about halfway through. Also, if I use that strategy, I get tend to have too many of one color and not enough of others. None of this is good for my stress level and definitely not they way I want my quiltmaking to be.

My system, which I have explained in similar terms before, is that once a project is in my queue, I decide if it requires a ton of cutting. If it does, I can figure out what kind of cutting I need to do (coordinated fabrics or scrappy fabrics as well as size). Either requirement can work with my system. Then I put the shape and color on my list, which I keep the list near my cutting table.  When I have a new piece of washed and ironed fabric I have a good list of exactly what to cut.

Also, I don’t know of another way to really randomize this type of fabric selection. Cutting from fabrics I buy new or pull out to use seems like as good a way as any. Also, as an added bonus, I use fabrics that I like right now -> immediately.

Another problem I had was that I would take fabrics out of bins and find that NOTHING would be cut from them. Not one square. Shameful! This problem was alleviated by the Fabric of the Year project. You can read about the beginnings of that project for me in a post from 2008. Using this method for cutting started the solution to my Hunting and Gathering.

As I got use to cutting one shape, the Fabric of the Year shape, out of new fabrics, it became easier to cut more than one shape. I thought it was a good idea and it became easier to use this new system to make progress on projects I was not yet ready to start sewing. Pretty soon I was up to the number of pieces I am cutting now. And the stacks of those pieces were piling up.

I also found that the fabrics became less precious. I started not to save them for a better project. This meant that fabrics that I loved RIGHT NOW were in a project RIGHT NOW.  I also found out, which I have talked about in terms of the FOTY projects, which fabrics were going to work for other projects. I could go and buy more before it was 3 years later and too late to buy more.

Now, there are many fewer fabrics that not been cut into. When I buy fat quarters, there is not much of them left after all this cutting.

One of the great things about cutting pieces from new fabrics is that it is a great warm-up. Sometimes when I need to get started, pressing fabric and cutting new pieces from new fabrics is a good way to get started. If I have 10 minutes, I can cut, feel like I made progress and got a little stress relief in.

FOTY 2018 – early November

FOTY 2018 squares - early November 2018
FOTY 2018 squares – early November 2018

I cut all of the fabric that was waiting on my ironing board to be cut. I tend to press fabric when I am stressed, but I don’t always get to cutting up the pieces I need for future projects.

I really should have been packing for two trips I was taking, but instead I cut fabric. Now I have a completely empty ironing board and a lot more pieces to add to my various boxes. Future projects: here I come!

FOTY 2018 AGAIN…Finally

FOTY 2018 -October 2018
FOTY 2018 -October 2018

I finally got enough squares to make an interesting post for you. The last time I posted was in August, so not horrific, but long enough. I am not cutting up fabric and the pace I should be. I keep just piecing.

You’ll notice the MetroScape fabrics mostly missing. I am waiting to finish the top before I cut up many squares, because I’d rather have those fabrics missing from FOTY 2018 than not be able to finish the MetroScape quilt. I think I’ll have plenty.

FOTY 2018 – August

FOTY 2018 - August 2018
FOTY 2018 – August 2018

It took me awhile to cut enough squares to make a good post. I did it and am still making progress.You can see that many of the fabrics are from the Stepping Stones n.2 piece. There are a few from Ends n.5 and also some from the Tool Tote. It is fun to see the fabrics I used in projects in this quilt.

There are also some new fabrics, which makes me feel happy, because I am getting fabrics cut and organized for future projects.

This is making me think of putting together FOTY 2017. I really need to get to that. Should I finish the Aqua-Red Sampler first or put that project back on the back burner and move to FOTY 2017?

I have so many projects!!! I need more time to sew.

FOTY 2018 – April Progress

FOTY 2018 -April
FOTY 2018 -April

The last time I wrote about this project was March. I have actually made a lot of progress on this quilt, though it might not seem like it. The shape and size are small for this year, so I will really need to step up my cutting game.

Time has been short recently due to a lot of family events, but I have had time to press and cut shapes from my new fabrics. This means lots of new squares for FOTY 2018. In this group you will also see lots of familiar fabrics. Fabrics show up from the projects on which I have been working recently.

There is also something a little different this time: the butterfly. After I washed the fabric, I wrote myself a note to fussy cut one of the butterflies. I did, but I am not sure it will end up as is in the final project. I don’t want one fabric to dominate. If I buy (or use some already in the fabric closet) some other fabrics with fussy cuttable designs, then I might keep it. For now, the opportunity is there.

2018 Cutting Chart

It has been awhile since I showed my cutting chart. It is something I meant to do in January, but it never seemed to get done. The previous post describes my process very well.

2018 Cutting Chart
2018 Cutting Chart

I am still working on some of the same projects as I was the last time I showed my cutting chart, but others are off the chart and finished. I think the number of patches I am cutting seems very paltry, but at least I have some organization. I think I should add grey windmill pieces to the list, because I still don’t have enough for that project and I would like to get going on it. I didn’t think of it until now.

 

FOTY 2018 Starts

Fabric of the Year 2018 Jan-mid March patches
Fabric of the Year 2018 Jan-mid March patches

I finally had enough cut pieces to write a post on the Fabric of the Year 2018 piece. This year I chose a 2.5″ square so I could have a realistic chance of doing the Ellsworth Kelly style layout. The size of the pieces from Fabric of the Year 2017 makes this layout realistically impossible. First of all, I don’t have a design wall large enough to accommodate such a large piece. Second, I would have to cut all the pieces down to a square and I want to work with the subway tile shape. Third, I don’t want to wrestle such a large quilt. FOTY 2017 will probably be a monster anyway and I don’t want to add to it. It seemed better to start afresh with an idea in mind.

The 2.5″ shape also means I can get pieces out of small leftovers where needed. I am excited, though FOTY 2017 being undone still drags a bit. I am making progress on my list, so I can’t complain too much.

FOTY 2017 Oh Dear

Design Wall with FOTY - December 2017
Design Wall with FOTY – December 2017

After photographing the rectangles for yesterday’s post, I took a photo of my almost empty design wall. In doing so, I realized that FOTY 2017 might be another giant unless I did something about the size.

My design wall is 73×46.5 and not big enough, however the FOTY pieces on the wall are 24×36. The pieces shown is just the most recent, small selection of all of the patches I have cut. I am kind of scared at how big this thing could be if I don’t cut some of the patches down. Now I have to figure that out.

Finally FOTY 2017 Again

Now that the En Provence top is finished, I had some design wall space to show the rectangles I have been cutting.

FOTY 2017 - December 2017
FOTY 2017 – December 2017

There were quite a few: some from PIQF purchases, some from the Sarah Goer Class, some from gifts that are in process, some are from the pillowcases I made for the YM and friends – a whole variety. I really do enjoy seeing the fabrics and thinking about what I made or what I will make.

FOTY 2017 – More Rectangles

FOTY 2017 - mid October 2017
FOTY 2017 – mid October 2017

The FOTY 2017 is not dead, though I haven’t worked on it much beyond cutting a few pieces here and there. As you know from my En Provence and Triple Star posts, I am not cutting a lot, which means no new FOTY pieces to show.

This group shows fabrics from the back of the Terrain donation quilt, the back of the Stars n.3 donation top, a couple of the Little Cell Phone Wallets, a few pieces from the Triple Star.

FOTY 2017 More Progress

FOTY 2017 - early July 2017
FOTY 2017 – early July 2017

I am still cutting for FOTY 2017. It’s only halfway through the year, so why wouldn’t I be?

When I went to crop the photo, I saw that it was sideways from the orientation in which I had photographed it. Since I intend to arrange the rectangles in a horizontal orientation, I thought I would display the latest additions in this orientation, so you could tell me what you think. Lots of greys since I am working ona  grey background right now.

Peacock Solids

In my last post, I talked about how my design method can run into problems. Still, it is the way I work and I don’t want to plan out a whole quilt in each detail before I work on it as there would be no reason to make it. Therefore, I have to cope with design challenges as they come up. I really am struggling with what to place on the top of the quilt.

The other day, since I was determined to make progress on The Peacock, I pulled out all of the solids that were in the running for use and put them in order by color. The photos above don’t look very good. It is hard to see the subtle differences in hue. Still, it makes it easier to choose, which blue to put next as I move up to the top of the quilt.

 

FOTY Squares – end of November 2016

FOTY - end of November 2016
FOTY – end of November 2016

You got a little peek at the FOTY squares yesterday when I posted about last week’s design wall.

Here are most of the squares in all their glory. I really couldn’t fit all you could see in the photo into the space I had on the design wall. Yes, you saw them all on, but in order to take a photo, you will have to wait for the rest to show up in the next installment.

There is a lot of yellow in the group. I had forgotten about those pieces. they will make an interesting addition to the FOTY 2016 quilt.

It hasn’t been that long since I posted about this project last. I am gearing up to start placing squares in order as soon as I finish the Peacock, thus I am cutting diligently. I want to get it started and done, though I am afraid the size of the squares will make a piece that is too large for my design wall again. Sigh.