Wash fabric AKA The Great Unwashed (I am guessing this will never be off the list, but a girl can dream) – I washed and pressed a load of grey fabric. It made more of a difference than I expected and I had some fun doing it. As I said last time, I still have a lot to do.
Make stiff bucket or box for TP in main bath
Make stiff bucket or box for TP in second bath
Dragon Box (gift)
Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker tote (gift-due Holiday 2013- oops) – found the pattern, which is a good start.
Aqua-Red Sampler – Frances and I are back at it regularly and I give Frances full credit as I have been letting her “drive the bus.” I did work on the hexagon tutorial as promised. It is ready to post, but I could have taken a few more photos and might still do that. If you look at it and think there are a paltry number of photos, check back.
The Tarts Come to Tea: I still haven’t worked on this since April 2011, though, periodically, I think about working on it.
Pointillist Palette #4: Fourth is a series of 6 quilts; needs tiny square patches sewn together. I still haven’t worked on this, though, I did find a bunch of squares already made. That makes me hopeful.
Self Portrait: started in 2006 at a class at Quilting Adventures in Richmond, Virginia. My career counselor breathed new life into this project for me. She asked a simple question and the end result was inspiration for this piece. I am working on printing images on fabric and looking at the shoulder fabric. I am still trying to decide about a mouth and I need to find some monsters. 😉
Under the Sea: class project; like the design, but not the colors much. Possibility for abandonment. I have to face reality.
Ready for Quilting
Wow! Everything on this list is new.
New:* Wonky 9 Patch: Basted; needs quilting and binding. I am planning on quilting this myself. (Not on original list)
New:* Super Secret Project #4: at the quilter
Table runner: needs quilting and binding. I am planning on quilting this myself. (Not on original list)
In the Finishing Process
See: I finished the quilting! YAY!! Needs facing and sleeve
In Process
I decided that I had better put in an ‘In Process’ category. The difference, at least in my mind, between ‘In Process’ and ‘UFO’ is that I am actively working on a project that is “In Process.”
Spin Wheel: really not started, but supplies gathered. I probably have enough fabrics and just need to decide to start.
Windmill quilt: Still hunting and gathering. I will use a grey for the background, because if I use more of the cut fabric patches, the pattern will be lost. The pieces are too oddly shaped and I don’t want to lose the pattern in a mass of scraps.
Stepping Stones #2 using Bonnie & Camille fabrics Bliss, Ruby, Vintage Modern: made two test blocks, but still in the thinking stage while I decide on the background colors. I want the contrast to be good.
Stepping Stones #3 using the Macaron pre-cuts from Hoffman. I just remembered this project. It isn’t started, but I have all the pre-cuts and should think about actually using them.
FOTY 2014: cutting out 3″x5″ rectangles.
Abandoned
Nothing so far for 2014
You can find the last update for the Current Projects list provides a good comparison to this month.
I thought you might want to take a look at the first list I made, the one with the 26 Projects. I started the list in October 2011. I have made REALLY GOOD progress. Up until last month, I was still planning to stop this post when I had no more projects from the original list to write about, but now, that the end is in sight, I am not so sure. It is so useful to keep track of all of my projects. Since I still have some pretty old projects on the list, I don’t have to decide right now.
*New – Project started after I started working on the 26 Projects list
The weekend felt short and I think part of that was because I had to work on Friday. Granted I only worked half a day, but it still cut into my free time. I shouldn’t complain since most people have to work all day every Friday. Since I don’t normally work that schedule, I feel I can indulge in a little complaining once in awhile.
Saturday, as I will talk about in another post, was the CQFA meeting. It was packed and busy. A few of us stayed for sewing afterwards. Stay tuned for more on that.
I came home, having declined to join DH for some more Political Wifery, and worked on the blog and some tasks related to the upcoming CQFA show. In general, though, I felt out of sorts. It translated into me not sleeping very well and the monkeys that sometimes chatter in my mind being quite active and irritating.
I woke up late, still feeling a little out of sorts, so didn’t get as early a start to my sewing as I would have liked, but I can’t beat myself up all the time, so I ate breakfast and just got to it.
Four Patches
First, I made some Four Patches for a friend who is doing a Lovey for someone going through a hard time. I will put those in the mail today.
I used the fabrics that I used for the Flower Sugar Hexagon quilt, because they are bright and cheerful and I don’t plan, right now, to use them for anything else. I show some pictures of the finished project when I get them.
Fish postcard
After those, I decided to put the finishing touches on the Fish Postcard and send that along as a little thank you gift for all the work my friend is gong through to get the quilt out. I only had to zig zag around the edges, so that didn’t take very long. I’ll, maybe, do a blog post on the post card later.
Next, I realized that the BAMQG meeting is next week and I promised to do an orphan block project. I decided to make a lanyard. I used the Two Peas in a Pod tutorial with some modifications. I’ll probably write another post about what I did to change the lanyard pattern above.
Orphan Block Lanyard
Following the lanyard, I felt like I had completed all of my obligations and could get on with some of my projects, but wasn’t sure on which project to work.
Eventually I decided to quilt on See to try and get that done. I quilted away for about 4 hours on and off and got another quarter of the quilting done. I am within shouting distance of having this project done, though I do need to face it and put a sleeve and label on it. After mostly not working on it since 2003, the progress I have made recently feels phenomenal.
I had a little bit of a weird food weekend as well. I bought a Milka Hazelnut chocolate bar a few weeks ago and went on a little binge. I just finally dedicated the calories to eating the whole thing over the course of a couple of days.
Done:
Scissor Sheath
Fish Postcard
Orphan Block Lanyard
Machine quilting on See
There is a lot of flux in my life right now, so I think that is part of why I feel so out of sorts. Good thing quiltmaking keeps me grounded!
This is probably the basic layout of Fabric of the Year 2013. It needs some tweaks in terms of where specific fabrics are placed, but I feel like I have a basic layout. I have found that taking photos and looking at them helps me figure out the placement. I am not sure why I didn’t do that more for the previous quilts in the series. It could be that I am taking more time with this one. Others have been put together in, essentially, one weekend.
It also occurred to me that I could also use the green and red films that come with the Ultimate 3-in-1 Color Tool by Joen Wolfrom. I am going to try that next.
One issue I have found troublesome in the past is not seeing the individual fabrics for the predominant color. I am really trying to make the transitions smooth this year. It is hard to see which colors predominate in a fabric with multiple colors, but I know it is a process. I have to work at it.
Wash fabric AKA The Great Unwashed (I am guessing this will never be off the list, but a girl can dream) – I washed and pressed a load of grey fabric. It made more of a difference than I expected and I had some fun doing it. As I said last time, I still have a lot to do.
Make stiff bucket or box for TP in main bath
Make stiff bucket or box for TP in second bath
Dragon Box (gift)
Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker tote (gift-due Holiday 2013- oops) – found the pattern, which is a good start.
I don’t get to the Sew Days very often, but I am glad I went to the July Sew Day yesterday. I was a basting fiend (for me). I basted two projects that have been hanging around for a long time. This feels like a major step towards quilting and finishing them. Hooray.
I don’t even remember when I bought this Christmas panel, but I remember buying and it thinking that it would make good practice for free motion quilting. Aside from that, I like it. It is cheerful and the colors are a little off of the traditional Christmas colors.
It has been hanging over my door ever since I bought it. When Kelly mentioned last week that I could baste at the Sew Day, I immediately remembered this project in addition to my Wonky Nine Patch.
Wonky 9 Patch – basted
Since I was planning on working in my workroom yesterday anyway, I thought I might as well baste and cut out projects with my pals rather than alone. Also, the tables at our meeting place are pretty big and it is much easier to baste using large tables than crawling around the floor of my laundry room. Much better on my knees as well.
First, I basted the Wonky 9 Patch. My thinking was that I would suffer through the large project, then zip through the small project. Basting just sucks, but it is a necessary evil. I took my time and put in plenty of pins so that I didn’t have the droopy problem I had with Calm. I think I spent about 2 hours total basting, then I moved on to ripping.
As you might remember, I started a Jane Market Tote for something (BAMQG officer gifts??) and my 9K stopped working in the middle of the last decorative stitch. Recently, Mom asked for something for her church auction and I thought of this bag. It was, after all, almost done and meant I didn’t have to start a new project. Perfect. Photos when I finish it!
Kelly’s Swap Star
I had barely started to rip when Kelly, who was working on the binding of a small swap wall hanging, offered to rip for me, in exchange for sewing on her binding. She doesn’t like hand sewing much and I was planning to be sitting there anyway, so we swapped projects. I hand sewed her binding and sleeve onto her swap project while she ripped out the decorative stitching on my bag. It was pleasant sitting there stitching and a good break from standing.
We both finished at about the same time, though I finished a little bit after Kelly because I offered to sew on the sleeve as well. I think Kelly was pleased and I was pleased not to have to rip out that line of stitching.
[Update: 7/7/2014] Kelly is heading off to the Fat Quarterly Retreat and will take a quilt she got from the South Bay Modern Quilt Guild to donate to Siblings Together (a UK charity that keeps siblings together in foster care). After Kelly finished machine quilting it, Lynette took it to trim and bind it, so it’s truly a collaborative effort. BAM’s charity committee has also donated another quilt for this cause! We’ll be well represented next week!!
Lynette, as mentioned, was there, too. She brought me Fresh Fruit and the Whole Cloth Quilt back from the county fair. They had been having a vacation at her house. I thought about them while I was at Disneyland, but completely forgot about them once I got home. Friday afternoon, I remembered that I wanted to hang Fresh Fruit in my office and I put all of the pieces together. I contacted Lynette and fortunately she was coming to Sew Day. I am glad I remembered and she was able to bring them.
Lynette’s Mystery Quilt
Lynette worked on her Retreat mystery quilt and it looks really great. She added an original block to the eight blocks we made as part of the mystery pattern, so she had a large 9 Patch. I think she will also put some borders on it. She said that she had already cut the batting and backing. I look forward to seeing it finished.
Seeing Lynette’s made me think of mine. UGH. I am pretending it doesn’t exist, but I have to do something with it.
Amanda came and was working on her word quilt. It is a gift for friends who have been married for 25 years. All the words have to do with love and marriage. She has been working on it for a long time, yet she finished the last word block yesterday, so I think she is nearing the home stretch. Amanda is super nice making so much effort for a gift. Definitely someone to model myself after.
She didn’t bring Cat Bed kits, but gave me an already-made Cat Bed to fill up. Good thing because my my schnibble bag overfloweth. I feel bad that I haven’t made any recently, but at least a kitty will be comfy on my schnibbles.
Geri was there making everyone laugh and working on a feather quilt. I am not sure if it was the Anna Maria Horner pattern or another.
Rhonda and Peggy were also there. Rhonda has a new haircut. It is a blunt cut and it looks really great. She gave me a huge hug when I arrived which made me feel great. Rhonda was working on her whole cloth quilt, which is a kind of sampler of free motion quilt stitches that she started for the BAMQG Whole Cloth Challenge. She has the middle all done and was working on quilting the outside of the design, which I would describe as the between sections of the rays of the sun.
Charity Kites
Peggy, the Energizer Bunny of BAMQG, finished a charity top and back, then worked on another top of her own design that was a big hit. She took some blocks leftover (squares and rectangles from strips) from another charity project and cut them in half. She thought they looked like kites and voila’.
I really enjoyed myself and was pleased that it was a small group. I got a lot done and wasn’t as intimidated as I have been at other Sew Days. I tend to take cutting and other non-sewing projects and it feels like I don’t get as much done, but I gave myself a stern talking to about process and how not all of the parts of the project involve sewing.
I am not ready to piece yet, but I am so much farther along than I was when I last checked in.
I know a number of you liked the falling water/color gradation effect, but process wins and it wasn’t working for me.
This is so much better. I couldn’t have done it without the work I did on the first version. I did extensive sorting of the colors, as you may have noticed if you enlarged the photos and looked carefully. I expect that most of you didn’t have time and will just take my word for it.
The extensive sorting that I did really helped me leap frog over the preliminary shuffling that I have done in the past. I’ll have to keep that in mind for the future.
I still have a lot of work to do, but I am feeling better about the piece.
I know many of you liked the progress I was making on FOTY 2013. I didn’t like it, so I talked to Maureen and her son and started over.
This project is killing me and I have to get it done. I have to get it done for my own piece of mind. I also want to get it done, but the other layout was not achieving the goal I wanted to achieve. I was having a hard time gradating the colors horizontally and thought that I would need too much background.
I also didn’t want to do the same thing as FOTY 2012 despite the success of that quilt. I don’t want to do the same thing over and over.
Maureen and Andy suggested starting in the middle. I went home and started, which is what you see in the picture, and I feel like the process is going a lot better.
As you can see I making some progress on this piece.
FOTY 2013
FOTY 2013
FOTY 2013
FOTY 2013
FOTY 2013
FOTY 2013
I have about a thousand more photos of this piece and it doesn’t seem to be working. If you click on each photo in turn, you can see the minute changes. It doesn’t matter what I move around, the piece is not working.
I knew I had to go back to the regular format, but I wasn’t sure how. I had a chat with Maureen and her son about it last week and they gave me an idea. Stay tuned!
Wash fabric AKA The Great Unwashed (I am guessing this will never be off the list, but a girl can dream) – I washed and pressed another bunch of fabric. It made more of a difference than I expected and I had some fun doing it. I still have a lot to do.
Make stiff bucket or box for TP in main bath
Make stiff bucket or box for TP in second bath
Dragon Box (gift)
Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker tote (gift-due Holiday 2013- oops)
I don’t really even remember when I finished the last Pointillist Palette quilt. The late 1990s? It had some reproduction fabrics in it by Jinny Beyer, maybe? there are 3 quilts in the series and I think I had planned 6. I don’t know if #5 or #6 will ever be made as the bloom is somewhat off the rose after all of the these, but I am more interested in finishing #4 now that I have found some blocks.
Pointillist Palette #4 Blocks
Fortunately, the fabrics have held up well and are somewhat timeless.
This quilt in the series is called night and the black and white fabrics in it are supposed to represent that. I took apart a back of #2 or #3 so I could use the fabrics in this quilt. TFQ thought I was insane and I probably was since I didn’t actually finish the quilt…yet.
I have done nothing on this list. Bleah! Having a list is good, but it doesn’t make the work get done. I have been stitching on sleeves, which I probably should have put on the list, but didn’t. I’ll try harder for next month.
Wash fabric AKA The Great Unwashed (I am guessing this will never be off the list, but a girl can dream) – I did wash and press another bunch of fabric. It made more of a difference than I expected and I had some fun doing it. I still have a lot to do.
Make stiff bucket or box for TP in main bath
Make stiff bucket or box for TP in second bath
Dragon Box (gift)
Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker tote (gift-due Holiday 2013- oops)
Make 3 notepad covers (gifts)
Day in the Park backpack variation
Petrillo bag #2
To see the 26 Projects Lists, which list quilt WIPS, visit the March Current Projects update. Last month’s to Do List is a little longer.
Completed items since November 4, 2013 (prior to this month’s list)
Wash fabric AKA The Great Unwashed (I am guessing this will never be off the list, but a girl can dream) – I washed AND pressed a bunch of fabric. It made more of a difference than I expected and I had some fun doing it. I still have a lot to do.
Make stiff bucket or box for TP in main bath
Make stiff bucket or box for TP in second bath
Dragon Box (gift)
Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker tote (gift-due Holiday 2013- oops)
Short version: what a mess! 😉 I do make good use of the cutting table I made out of our old microwave cart.
The way I arranged this post was to number different areas of the image. You probably have to click on the photo to make it larger to actually see the numbers. I start from the right (who knows why?) and go left, then down, then finish in the upper right hand corner.
1. Scrap pile. Usually the scraps from whatever I am working on at the moment. They get in my way, so I do cut them into smaller pieces or put them away pretty regularly.
2. Jelly Roll I created (2.5″ strips) for Super Secret Project #4. These are from the color work I did for the Russian Rubix, but these strips are for a separate quilt. I am interested to see two quilts made from predominantly the same fabrics (perhaps different backgrounds).
3. Box of 2.5″ squares that is still sitting there from Scrapitude. I was cutting a few extras from the scrap pile and putting them in there. While I don’t want to cut a whole selection of different sized pieces like Pam and Bonnie Hunter do, I did like having a bunch of 2.5″ squares available to me.
I use the plastic boxes that used to contain my beloved gluten free cranberry orange scones (before I devoured them). They aren’t very sturdy, but are better than tossing the boxes out and useful for storing patches.
4. Fabric leftovers (larger pieces) from the Scrap Lab Backpack. The various pieces may become scissor sheaths, which is why the fabric is still on the cutting table. Stay tuned for that.
5. Fat quarter pack of Michael Miller dots from TFQ still stubbornly sitting there refusing to say what it wants to be. ERGH!!
6. My two go to rulers and the rotary cutter I use all the time. Both rulers are Creative Grids. One is 4.5″ x 8.5″ and I find it fits well in my hand. It is good for cutting smaller pieces and trimming. I love that ruler. I have three of them so there is always one at hand. (Yes, this is crazy fo the small workroom I have, but….welll…you know.) The other is 3.5″ x 12.5” and is good for squaring up fabrics and cutting strips.
7. Partially started journal covers made from the leftovers from quilt backs – Sparkle Pink, I think.
8. Scraps and messed up blocks from the Disappearing Pinwheel. Yes, I found a bit more of the background after I finished the top. Not much, but I could have used it. That is the problem with a messy cutting table.
9. Second tier ruler – Creative Grids 18.5″ x 4.5″ – which is good for slightly longer cuts when the fabric can’t be folded or I don’t want to fold it.
10. Bolt of ShapeFlex. I love this stuff and am more than halfway through the bolt.
12. That fabric isn’t really on the cutting table. I pressed it A LONG time ago in preparation for making pillowcases then got distracted. The green typewriter key fabric would be fabulous for one of my nephews that went off to college this semester. He needs some auntie-love, so I should get sewing.
This project has been on my mind since December when Friend Julie suggested it. I am finally making a wobbly start. The start is that I have started to choose the colors.
Julie bought me the book as a gift and after some discussions with her, I decided I would be inspired by the city around me. This, in my mind, fits into the ‘City Sampler” theme that Tula Pink encourages also.
In the winter, the sky is very blue here and, though cold, I enjoy the strong light and clear colors. It should be no surprise that turquoise factors into my choices. I just can’t help myself.
Another appeal of this project is the block element. I miss making blocks on a regular basis like I did for the A-B-C Challenge and the Star Sampler. This project will help me satisfy that craving and, hopefully, will not annoy me.
Finally, shortly after Julie and I talked about the project, Kelly brought it up as a BAMQG small group project. This means I can have fun with Julie and participate more in BAMQG.
I was having trouble getting started. I have been distracted by life and picking a few fabrics (I am sure I will need more) really helps me to get the process out of my head and started.
– I washed and pressed a load of grey fabric. It made more of a difference than I expected and I had some fun doing it. As I said last time, I still have a lot to do.
