October November December

What is it about creativity versus determination? For five quarters now I've entered the finishalong hosted by A Quilter's Table (let's be honest, I piled a bunch of UFOs on the floor in the living room and took a picture of them) and have struggled to finish them. In the interim, I've started and finished lots of other projects, but since they weren't in the official beginning of quarter picture, either I don't want to work on the official entries or I'm perturbed that I can't count the in-betweens. Laugh out loud. Serves me right? In any case, I've found inspiration and ideas browsing the works of others, as well as a small increase in self-discipline, to follow through to the finish. I've also realized there are some roadblocks to finishing things for me, e.g. the realization that since I'm not free motion or longarm quilting (I've been quilting by hand) so it takes forever. Another insight - this is why there were quilting bees, once upon a time. They didn't have internet or email, they got together to finish hand pieced quilt tops and eat chocolate.

Last October I was visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Dallas, then friends near Syracuse; while on vacation I was working on this Cheerful Child blanket. The outside picture from late October just doesn't show the colors (Vanna's Choice). 

I bought the brightly colored "Backlights" (Red Heart) on impulse, visualizing it as a constant color stripe with many other colors, chosen from the range of colors in Backlights. It has earned many kudos and much admiration. Size J hook.

I've been admiring stripey blankets for a while now, even created a Pinterest board. I love their crazy quilt appeal - a real blast of random colors and variety of stitches. And it's so much better in person.

Early December I came across the blog of two salmon fishermen known as the "Salmon Sisters" and enjoyed their spirit, creativity and entrepreneurship. At the end of the month I purchased one of their grab bags, which has 3 items (a hoodie and 2 other items) which will be in the size you specify. I ended up purchasing enough items to get the free shipping (since the shipping alone was $21) and happiness day was Monday, January 9th when my grab bag box arrived. One of the blind items was "The Mermaid Life" which is a super incredibly comfy shirt with raglan sleeves, thick cotton with fleece on the inside. Retracting the raglan sleeves - the shoulders are extended and droop over like raglan sleeves.

Three down, mumbamillions to go

This last week's labors spent finishing and last minute touches and rechecks on the baby quilt for Savannah (#Savannahsmiles!!) which will be sent out today. This baby quilt marks my first real attempts at freemotion quilting, as I learned how to drop the feed dogs and put the foot on my Elna. Zach at ABS in Vacaville was most accommodating, waiting while I pushed the feed dogs up and down several times. The foot was $11 which seemed entirely reasonable, due to the price-checking I'd done at a certain nationwide chain, whose staff has been just plain UNhelpful and one baby step away from rude. 

The blanket is the Carolyn Christmas' Cheerful Child, from pinkmambo, which I have now made three times. This pattern's skill level is "adventurous beginner" (her classification). I've found the pattern to be easy enough that there has been almost no frogging, yet subtly complex enough to delight all viewers. My only frustration was in taking the photo, finally took this side-by-side on the cedar Adirondack chair. The baby quilt is match-up of orphan blocks (16patch small batiks and neutrals) trimmed to 5" squares, matched up with a charm pack by Penny Rose Studio, Toy Chest. There is now a Toy Chest 2, this was from the first Toy Chest.



These pictures are only of one finished project, which is "E" (Baby Quilt A nine-patch/charm for Savannah); to be added at a later date, e.g. tonight or tomorrow will be the "pink pile" from the middle and "C" the Stripey Blanket.

Finish Along 4th Quarter

I've been wondering about my participation in the finish-along, specifically if it has helped me to actually finish projects. Yes, in that my head count is 2 baby quilts, one mini-wall quilt and one child sized blanket. These are tangible, finished projects - yet somehow I find myself lacking, possibly because it takes so long to finish a full-sized project. A year ago, I finished the quilt top for "Gypsy Wife" but it languishes in the stack of quilt tops. I've been pondering this, and have come to the conclusion that I have to improve my ability to finish a quilt, specifically doing the quilting. There is a Brother Computerized Sewing Machine sitting on my worktable, and me unable to figure out how to work it. I'm no novice to sewing machines, just recently (without manual or internet access) at a friend's house, I figured out how to thread, wind the bobbin and sew on a friend's machine, then taught her how to do all of the above. I've decided that my Brother inability is not reflective on my general ability. Anyway, my goal for October is to get that thing going and finish a quilt top. 

And in that spirit, here are my proposed finishes for the fourth quarter of the Finish-a-long. 

Clockwise, from the top left: 

A-Christmas quilt (double quilt top of Ohio Stars & red-edged appliqued Christmas trees,     B. Pat Sloan's Little Stars 2015 Scrappy Challenge, 

C-Stripey Blanket, 

D-Baby Blanket A (Cherry Blossom), 

E-Baby Quilt A (nine-patch/charm for Savannah), 

F-blue linen sheath, 

G-jade linen sheath, 

H-Julie Yeager Garden State CAL,

 I-Scrappy Wall Quilt (making its 4th appearance? lol), 

J-Baby Quilt B (Resolution block set on point), 

K-Afghan in multi-browns, 

L-set of two appliqued terrycloth kitchen towels. 

In the middle, from top, log cabin in aquas and newsprint, baby afghan in Monet, and the pink pile is Cheerful Child Blanket (Carolyn Christmas) which is almost half-finished already. That's a lot! I'd better get going to finish!

One Is Better Than None...

I am a butterfly, I flit and I float and I enjoy the journey as I create. Here's to finishing one project and enjoying what I did in the last 3 months. Baby Blanket "B" in brights. Huzzah!

Finishalong - 3rd quarter 2016

ACK!!! I've been assembling and deciding and pulling all my beautiful WIPs and UFOs for a week now and it's the moment of truth and putting it out there and I have less than 17 minutes now!! Of course I'm struggling with the new laptop, rushing back and forth with the old laptop but my entry is in, with at least 30 seconds to spare. For the 3rd quarter - think varied and think big lots. Top row, left to right - Garden State CAL, baby afghan "A" in Monet, baby afghan "B" in brights, Craftsy's 2016 BOM (I've been defiant because my absolute #1 despised quilty thing is to cut up little squares and sew them at the edges of larger squares, on a diagonal, then trim, fold over and press. I only like techniques like "no waste flying geese.") Middle row, left to right - baby quilt "A" (Resolution block set on point), the string quilt that won't take a hint and disappear into Permafrost UFO land, the log cabin in aquas and newsprint (Quilt Sandwich Fabrics in Marysville, WA had a tutorial on this last summer and I loved the color combination), and baby quilt "A" (which will be for Kristin and Jose's new baby, Savannah.) Bottom row, left to right - two lined linen sheaths (McCalls6887) in electric blue lol and jade, set of two appliqued kitchen terrycloth towels, cherry blossom afghan (baby afghan "C"??), and Pat Sloan 2015 challenge "Little Stars."

Thirteen projects, varied crafts and techniques. My problem with finishes is I get bored doing one kind of thing and want to do something else. Hence the varied projects may service my ennui. And I just realized I forgot to include the mug rugs. Hello, October!!

Second Quarter Finishes for Finish-a-long

This picture, and its bold prediction, appeared April 16th, or three months ago at the start of the second quarter of the Finish-a-Long. From top left, a sampler quilt from Quiltnon 2016, Baby Blanket A (the vibrant colors), Baby Blanket B (nine patch), Baby Blanket C (also in vibrant colors and extremely similar to Baby Blanket A since A and C were made for twin boys...!!!), Baby Blanket D (blue background, Resolution block set on point), and a string quilt.

Baby Blanket C #FAL2016

 I have two more finishes to announce, Baby Blanket C and the sampler quilt from the top left, and a confession. In addition to the pedestrian quantity of finger pokes, I actually snipped my left index finger (proximal, second phalanges) and my left thumb (distal, first phalanges) while snipping off thread. GOOD GRIEF, and it hurt like h-e-double chopsticks. Yes, I am paying loads more attention to my snipping.

Sampler Quiltnon 2016 #FAL2016

Thank you, Snoopy. Ah, a man in the right place, at the right time...

Bonfire quiltalong - Tulip Lady Fingers

Since January, I've been making the blocks from Sister Sampler Quilts in the "Bonfire" quiltalong hosted by GenXQuilters. My techniques have improved in the overall sense (cut, measure, sew precisely, measure again and trim to exact measurements) and well as specifically. Last month there was a tutorial for "no waste flying geese" which I treasured. One large square, four small squares, pin sew cut trim press..repeat and then you have four flying geese units and the only waste is a little bit of trimming to make the units uniform and square. Brilliant!

Looking at the January, February, March and April blocks, I've noticed my color selection is all over the map, or should I say the palate? I like using low volume fabric for background (Jan and Feb) but unless you use the same low volume throughout, it's going to glare out against the white background blocks. I may double up and make two sets of each block, which will solve the problem of WHAT to use for backing. I really prefer to use two quilt tops together instead of one quilt top and acres of backing material. (An added benefit, if you donate quilts, is the material fact that there is twice the value - two quilt tops - which gives me a sturdier leg to stand on while arguing the market value of the donated quilt.)

I now abhor instructions to cut one 2" square of white, sew at the edge then trim the edges at a 45 degree angle - because all you're doing is wasting fabric in little driblets all over the place. I even went so far as to throw into the trash one quilting book whose instructions were all about cutting little pieces of white fabric, sewing and cutting at a 45 degree angle and discarding. The quilt looked fun, for sure, but since I still don't have an opinion about sewing those little white squares, let's just say there was no fun left for me after the first 2 pages of making everything with little white squares.

Today I made a "Tulip Lady Fingers" block using the bright white background. The second block in this pattern will be some of the Blueberry Park fabrics (Karen Lewis), and I will photograph the process (which will make me even more disciplined!!) I can't decide which side goes which way.