I need some April goals

I had set some reasonable goals for March because I was afraid I wouldn't have much sewing time.  And I'm pleased to say that I met all of these goals plus a couple of other small things.

3 RSC Sampler blocks - DONE 3 green blocks

2 Saturday Sampler blocks - DONE

12 green Ritzy Cracker blocks - DONE (13)

finish top of Christmas Grand Adventure - DONE

bind ABC kid quilt - DONE

10 new blocks for Christmas jelly roll quilt - DONE

April will definitely be busy as we have things going on during 3 of the weekends between Easter, 4 family birthdays, and a retirement party in Kansas. So, my April goals need to be small again.  I'm working on a few Ritzy Cracker blocks today since I don't have much sewing time.  4 are made and 4 more yellow ones (because the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for April is yellow) are cut out and waiting.

3 RSC Sampler blocks in yellow

2 Saturday Sampler blocks 

12 Ritzy Cracker blocks (yellow)

finish top of Christmas jelly roll quilt

bind unicorn & stars quilt before April 14

make unicorn pillowcase before April 14

Stars & unicorns

 

I picked this one up from my quilter this week and as always, Bonnie did a great job. I usually leave the quilting design and thread choice up to her because I trust her instincts.  This time I did request something with stars to go with the stars on the front and the stars on the back.  It's ready to bind with a deep pink print that blends nicely with the pink stars.

 

This quilt is made from parts and pieces of En Provence, which was last year's Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt. I decided to use the various units in other ways because I just wasn't happy with how it was looking laid out in the original pattern.  I really love this result and am so glad the parts didn't just become another UFO.

 

 

The back has unicorns - granddaughter Olivia's favorite thing - and stars and rainbows.  The pink in this photo is not very true as the light is gloomy again. But it is a nice bright pink that fits perfectly with the front.  I'm not sure yet if I'm going to give Olivia the quilt and matching pillowcase for her April birthday, and save the big floor pillow for Christmas.  My original plan had been to save the quilt for Christmas, but she was asking for another quilt on the phone last week so maybe she needs to get this one now. But first I need to get it bound.

 

Nearly enough

Laying the blocks out on the floor was very helpful although some rearranging will need to happen yet.  This jelly roll quilt will be big enough for a good sized throw if I finish that bottom row. So I need 3 more red blocks and 2 more green blocks.

I "wasted" a non-working day yesterday and didn't do any sewing at all.  I had doctor appointments and errands to run in the morning, and then spent the afternoon sitting in the sunshine (indoors) and read a book.  There are 2 ground level windows in my basement sewing room and I wanted to be able to SEE that sunshine! My family room has a south wall of windows, and in the winter - yes it's still winter here - the sun pours in and warms that room.  This was the first sun we've seen in a week, so I sat in my rocking chair next to those windows with a good book all afternoon. I watched a couple of bunnies playing, and saw a couple of rooster pheasants strutting around in the back yard. Everyone wanted to enjoy the sun.  Very relaxing, and I think the sun has melted a little bit of funk from my attitude. 

It was sunny again this morning when I got up, but now the clouds have moved back in. But at least it's not raining or snowing today.  Like much of the country we are expecting unseasonable cold and rain for Easter weekend.  Maybe I'll get those last 5 blocks made on Saturday while it rains again.

On being a list maker

I've always been a list maker.  I do this with work related tasks, when I'm planning for an event, etc. Otherwise I just spin in place and don't get anything accomplished.  It's just how I function best.  I'm keeping track again this year of UFO projects for the APQ 2018 UFO Challenge. So far I've done well, and it does help to be accountable by writing about it.  BUT - I am choosing to not beat myself up about anything I don't finish, and that is an improvement.

The file they provided in the Facebook group had 3 lines per month, so I actually put in 3 different projects. That way I figured I could choose which one or ones I worked on - or move on to another month.  And I've given myself permission to replace things on the list that I've lost interest in with things I DO want to work on.  No quilt police here!  January's number drawn was 12 and I finished all 3 of the projects. Two of those were small, but they are still done. The blue bag was even given away right away.

February's number was 9.  I finished the binding for the ABC quilt in March finally, but it's done.  And I did manage to get both of the other quilts to flimsy stage. The QOV quilt is actually at the quilter's right now, along with 2 other quilts, and I hope to have it bound and ready to donate in April.

March's number is 3 and I've been working on 2 of the projects.  I have the parts all cut for Olivia's pillow, and the center section with her name has been sewn. And I bought the pillow form to go inside.  Yay!!  The Christmas jelly roll quilt (see yesterday's post) has 10 new blocks so far, but I know I'll need even more.  Jack's pillow will have to wait.

 

 

So - it definitely helps me to see what I've finished - written down and checked off.  I have a new project I want to start, but have challenged myself that it's the reward for finishing the flimsy of the Christmas jelly roll quilt. And for me, the process is more fun when I don't have so many UFOs hanging around taking up space. 

Design Wall Monday - jelly roll blocks

I wish I knew what this block is called. Six more of these 8.5" Christmas jelly roll blocks were pretty much the extent of my sewing this weekend. I have 41 of them done, and I need to lay them out and determine how many more I will want to make.  I haven't quite decided yet how big I want this quilt to be.

Check out other Design Walls today at:  http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

I did pin a pillowcase, so it's ready to sew once I get some ambition back.  Also, I bound a Valentine table runner UFO.

I'm out of mojo for now. It's another grey, damp, dreary day - 5 in a row. I really need to some sunshine.  I can just feel the gloom setting into my brain when it's so dreary outside.

ABC quilt is finished

I finished the binding on the ABC quilt over the weekend and totally forgot to take a picture. This was a UFO on my list from February. It's an alphabet panel with a striped border added. Nothing fancy, but it turned out pretty cute with that stripe, which was rescued from the stash.  I auditioned several different stash options for binding and finally settled on the red. It has white wavy grid lines on it.

This one will be donated somewhere or given as a gift as needed.

A Quilt of Valor flimsy

I have the flimsy done for this Quilt of Valor, way more quickly than I expected.  This is an adaptation of the Spotlight pattern by Mountainpeek Creations, which I've used before on a different panel.  I love the borders made up of a combination of pieced blocks and plain strips.  The original pattern used 9-patch blocks. But I felt that the stars would be more appropriate for this one.  I ended up only using 12 of the stars, so there are stars left to use somewhere else.

My husband left at noon on a business trip, and I went right down to my sewing room.  By 4:30 in the afternoon I had the flimsy done. And the bonus - I didn't spend the afternoon snacking. 

Working on a New UFO

I was looking at my UFO list yesterday, and decided that I just wasn't "feeling it" for the next item on my list for this month. It's an autumn themed churn dash quilt and it's just the wrong time of year to feel excited about autumn fabrics. So I decided to simply pull another UFO out instead.

This week I had bought some red and blue yardage to finish this patriotic panel. So it was the ideal next project.

I've added a red inner border around the panel so far, and have 7 red/cream/blue stars made for a second border. There are 13 more stars cut out and ready to sew.  And there is plenty of the red and blue to add a third border.  I think this will become a Quilt of Valor.

Laser cut words

I picked up this laser cut message on my road trip through Iowa last summer.  At the time I didn't know what I wanted to do with it, but I just knew that I wanted it.  I've ironed it onto a medium tan fabric with a small print.  The color here is way off, but the black does look good on it. The vines printed on the fabric look like the vines in the black laser cut piece.

So now, I'm thinking some simple hand quilting to finish it and then mount it in a picture frame.  I recently saw a gorgeous small hand quilted piece done with a diagonal grid and a tiny bead stitched into every place the stitching crossed.  That might be too much work, but I think it would look great. So for now it's hanging on my design wall.

RSC18 green blocks

I'm keeping up so far with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2018 blocks. January was blue, February was purple, and March is green.  http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/p/rsc18-sampler.html Check out the Squared Away sampler page.

The March block is an old pattern called Red Cross.  It has elements of Broken Dishes I think with the half square triangles joined this way.  So far I'm loving all 3 months' blocks and am looking forward to see what April brings.

Saturday Sampler

I really love going to Saturday Sampler each month. First of all, the Show n' Tell is always amazing and inspirational.  And the demo teaches us new techniques or reinforces techniques that we maybe don't always remember to do correctly.  Even though I've been quilting for over 30 years I still learn new things at Saturday Sampler and other classes. And it is an opportunity to experiment with colors and blocks.

This Saturday Sampler has encouraged us to "shop our stash".  Since I have a lot of black and whites, and a lot of brights in the stash that is what I've chosen to use. I've pulled different brights each month.  And since each month we are doing 2 variations of the block, I've been trying to make a light and a dark version.  This month's block is called Homemade Ice Cream and I used a coral batik, with a slightly lighter coral in this second block.  This might be my favorite block so far from the group.



Summer Watermelon Sampler is the name of the sampler program, but my fabric choices say nothing about watermelon.  But they might be kind of summery with all of the bright colors. The only block I'm not sure I like is the one with the green. It should have black where the green is and more yellow in those corners. 

Homemade Ice Cream

Isn't that a great name for a block?  It looks a bit like the dasher in an ice cream churn.  Have you ever made homemade ice cream?  We used to do it more often when the kids were around, but now that we have grandkids it may be time to pull out that ice cream maker again.

This is the first of 2 versions of this block for Saturday Sampler.  I have the parts cut for the second one, which will rearrange the colors.  Hopefully I'll get it sewn together later in the day. Black and white and bright makes for a happy color scheme so far. 

Fabric weaving

What a fun afternoon with friends!  Our friend Sylvia is visiting from Iowa and brought a project for Pam and I as early birthday gifts.
Fabric weaving. These take 3 identical fabric panels, a canvas and staple gun.



One panel is stretched over the canvas. The other 2 are ripped into strips and woven like a lattice pie crust. I love my red poppy. But don’t love the bad hair. LOL

EDIT: http://fronddesignstudios.com/  Check out the designer of these fabric panels. And the Cedar Rapids Iowa shop Delve MIY. All I can say is Wow!! I visited this shop in December and it is wonderful.

Yellow Pineapples

I have a finish for March and it's all from scraps, including the back and binding.  I love the quilting (Thanks Bonnie!!) because it looks a lot like the texture of a real pineapple.  It's only 14" square and may just need to hang in my sewing room to brighten the space.

Motel room binding

We are enjoying our annual Summit League college basketball tournament mini vacation. And I’m glad I brought some binding to work on in the motel room when we aren’t at a game. 

We are expecting a winter storm tomorrow. That’s how we know it’s basketball tournament time in South Dakota. 

Design Wall Monday - Tackling another UFO

It's Monday, so can you check out lots of Design Walls at:  http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

This is one of the #3 projects on my 2018 UFO Challenge list.  It's another Christmas quilt. This one is made from a couple of jelly rolls, plus solid backgrounds.  The jelly rolls are Greetings 49 Karat by Kaye England for Wilmington Prints. It's a fun block and I already had about half of the blocks made. Now I can add 4 more. And I'll keep working on this one for March.

Green Is for March

The color for March in RSC18 is green - specifically lime green and yellow green. My goal for the month is to make at least 12. And I have a good start because 8 are cut out and I managed to get 4 of them sewn. 

Grand Adventure is a flimsy

I was hoping to just get the blocks made in February but now those blocks are a complete quilt top. It’s 60 x 72 so it will be a generous throw size. 

And I really like how these Christmas fabrics look in the blocks.