It's a Top

      On this very cool morning I pulled out blocks to finish and now they are a  comfort quilt top 48 by 60".  Whoop, Whoop!

These blocks started from leftover quilt pieces mostly batiks from at least 10 years ago.  Last summer I finally made a plan for them.  I found more pieces to add for enough for 20 blocks.  Each block is made from scrappy 4 1/2" by 8 1/2" pieces, strips or strings that create 4 1/2" squares and some plain 4 1/2" squares.  

I'm linking up with Sarah for Whoop, Whoop Friday. 

Hope you stay safe and healthy and enjoy some time sewing or quilting. 

Goals for the Week

      For the first 3 weeks of this year I have accomplished most of my goals. I am hopeful I will make a huge dent in my UFOs and use lots of stash fabric this year.

How I did on the past week's goals --

1. Finish quilting and bind my Easy Breezy quilt. Done. I shared Friday

Also pull fabrics and make the first 2 blocks of Pat Sloan's “Home Is”. First 3 made.

2. Sort and trim cream based neutral fabrics. Sorry these are still waiting. I used mostly red and pink scraps but not the neutrals.

3. Piece a few maple leaf blocks. One made.

4. Record stash fabric used or added.

Used: 10.3 yds for quilt backing and placemats

Added: 0

5. Clean out another drawer in the house. Recycle or re-home items that I will not use this year. Done. The drawer I worked on is much cleaner and organized; however, I still have to find a home for a pile of photos that were in the drawer.

     My younger GD requested 2 face masks for AG dolls. When I told her I could make them, her response was, “Now they can go back to school face to face.” She and her sister love to play school with the dolls.

     Thursday I started 4 Valentine placemats which I finished quickly. The first quilting in a pink variegated thread echoed the hearts and stitched down the word LOVE. Next I FMQ meandering hearts in hot pink thread. 

Goals for the week of January 25^th

1. Sandwich and start quilting “Wickedly Easy” day bed quilt.

2. Sort and trim cream based neutral fabrics.

3. Piece a few maple leaf blocks.

4. Record stash fabric used or added.

5. Clean out another drawer in the house. Recycle or re-home items that I will not use this year.

     I have a handful of hearts with fusible web as leftovers so probably Valentine mug rugs will be made.

How are you doing on goals for yourself?

Hope you stay safe and healthy so you can enjoy some time sewing or quilting.

Progress and A Finish

     It feels good that it is Friday and a quilt is finished plus I made progress on a UFO. Last year I made a few Bonnie Hunter Easy Breezy blocks.  Mine finish at 8 inches.  I had enough to set them on-point for a small throw 51" by 66".  Here is my On-Point Easy Breezy quilt finished.

I think the striped fabric for the setting triangles takes this quilt up a few notches. I love it! Deciding how to quilt that area was difficult. I finally decided to FMQ “straight-ish” lines in the brown stripes (as straight as I can make them FM without using rulers).

     To tackle another UFO I pieced a backing for my “Wickedly Easy Quilt”. It used 7 yards from my stash but there will be at least a yard of pieces left after trimming.  The pattern designed by Annette Unrein is pieced in strip sets and is a free download from www.byannie.com. I need to clean off my craft table to sandwich the quilt so that will be next week.

     I encouraged my church quilt group to participate in the Old School BOM. On the 12th of each month, a different quilt designer will share a block which is free for that month. They’ll be teaching a variety of techniques from traditional piecing, applique, and paper piecing. For January Kim shared a different way to piece 4 patches and also an unusual way to piece a Friendship Star block. Here is my stash fabric pull.

I wish I had chosen a different color placement but I am okay with it. Here is my first block. 

      I have a lot of UFOs but sometimes I just want something simple or different to sew on for a bit so I am also participating in Pat Sloan's free “Home Is” Mystery which shares a new block each Wednesday. I shopped my stash for this quilt also. Here is the fabric pull from my stash.

Here are my first 3 blocks.

I'm linking up with Alycia for Finished (or Not Finished) Friday.  

Hope you stay safe and healthy so you can enjoy some time sewing or quilting.

Goals for the Week

      I did a lot of sewing this week. However, instead of working on a project from my long list, I worked on a new project that popped up. I volunteered to send cards to 13 shut-ins in February and decided to make mug rugs for them. I used the “Sweet Tweets” pattern from 2015 Quilters Newsletter magazine, fusible applique and red made-fabric. You can still find it here. I changed the background size and used a lot of red crumbs.  I finished 14. 

How I did on last week's goals --

1) Custom FMQ “Easy Breezy” On-Point quilt and choose or piece backing for a waiting pieced top.

The center is quilted. I think I know how I want to quilt the border and setting triangles but I did not start that part. Hopefully I will have a finished quilt to show Friday.

2) Finish sorting last week's box of scraps and decide how to use the odd and unusual fabric pieces.

I almost cleared the bottom of the box. I sewed more red made-fabric and used most of it in Valentine mug rugs.

3) Piece together a few maple leaf blocks from leftover pieces.

Two more finished.

4) Record stash fabric used or added.

Used: 3.5 yds

Added: 0

5) Clean out another drawer in the house. Recycle or re-home items that I will not use this year.

Done. One more drawer cleaned and organized.

Goals for the week of January 18th

1. Finish quilting and bind my Easy Breezy quilt.

   Also pull fabrics and make the first 2 blocks of Pat Sloan's “Home Is” free weekly. A new block pattern is released each Wednesday, January 6, 2021 to June 2, 2021. You can DOWNLOAD Pat’s Free Patterns at http://Ilovetomakequilts.com

2. Sort and trim cream based neutral fabrics.

3. Piece a few maple leaf blocks.

4. Record stash fabric used or added.

5. Clean out another drawer in the house. Recycle or re-home items that I will not use this year.

How are you doing on goals for yourself?

Hope you stay safe and healthy so you can enjoy some time sewing or quilting.

Goals for the Week

      My 2021 got off to a terrific start for quilting. To help me be more accountable and stay on track to finish UFOs and other projects, on Mondays I plan to lay out goals for the week, 1st by choosing a project from my list to work on, 2nd by pulling a pallet of fabric scraps to piece made-fabric sometimes as leader/ender, and 3^rd by working on a selection of orphan blocks.

How I did the past week--

1) Start quilting blue “Circle Back”.

Quilted and bound. The finished quilt was posted Friday along with a pieced top from a stack of sample blocks dating back to 2015. Saturday I finished piecing a giant Swoon comfort quilt top which adds two more to my quilt tops waiting for quilting.

2) Sort a box of scraps by color and size to create red made-fabric, some of which can be used for February Valentine projects.

Not a lot of red in this box but I pieced about 12” square of made-fabric. All these sorted stacks were put in color family containers but I did not make it to the bottom of the box.

3) Piece together a couple of maple leaf blocks from leftover pieces.

Seven additional leaf blocks got pieced. These are complicated blocks with 18 pieces and 3 Y seams in each block so satisfactory progress. More to do.

4) Record stash fabric used or added.

Used: 9.85yds

Added: 2 yds   I needed dark blue for a border and had nothing in my stash to use.

5) Clean out a drawer in the house. Recycle or re-home items that I will not use this year.

One drawer emptied and organized. It is much better; however, there is more that needs to find a new home. I wonder how many drawers I have in the house and if I tackle one each week, will I get to them all in a year.

Goals for the week of January 11th

1) Custom FMQ “Easy Breezy” On-Point quilt and choose or piece backing for a waiting pieced top.

2) Finish sorting last week's box of scraps and decide how to use the odd and unusual fabric pieces.

There are a few quilters who say if the fabric is ugly, it has just not been cut small enough. Some of the fabrics need to be cut into small pieces. I normally don't cut units smaller than 2 1/2” but do use strings and smaller scraps for crumb blocks.

3) Piece together a few maple leaf blocks from leftover pieces.

Using the leftover cut units, these may not be the most beautiful leaf blocks; however, I hope once all together, they will create something lovely.

4) Record stash fabric used or added.

5) Clean out another drawer in the house. Recycle or re-home items that I will not use this year.

Are you working to keep your resolutions or have you set goals for yourself?

Hope you stay safe and healthy so you can enjoy some time sewing or quilting.

UFO Finish and Progress

      Even though our country doesn't seem to be making progress in fighting Covid-19 or not fighting each other, at least my quilting projects are off to a great start for 2021.

     My second finish of the year which was started 2 years ago is “Circle Back” Blues.

The basic pattern design is from Cozy Quilt Designs. It is great for using 2 1/2” strips.

     More UFO progress was made as sampler blocks leftover from a class I taught in 2015 are now a quilt top.

     This pace will probably not last very long. I do have another lap quilt top sandwiched. I hope to do some custom FMQ so it will be a little slower work. I am trying to stay focused by writing weekly goals on Mondays. This week's progress went so well that I pulled a comfort quilt project to work on because it was easier than choosing another UFO from my list.

     I find it inspiring to see what others are creating. Hope you will also.

I'm linking up with Alycia for Finished (or Not) Friday

and Sarah for Whoop, WhoopFriday.

Hope your new year if off to a great start.

Stay safe and healthy so you can enjoy some time sewing or quilting.

Weekly Goals

     To help me be more accountable and stay on track to finish UFOs and other projects, on Mondays I plan to lay out goals for the week, 1st by choosing a project from my list to work on, 2nd by pulling a pallet of fabric scraps to piece made-fabric sometimes as leader/ender, and 3^rd by working on a selection of orphan blocks.

Goals for the week of January 4th

1) Start quilting blue “Circle Back”.  Pattern by Cozy Quilt Designs
2) Sort a box of scraps by color and size to create red made-fabric, some of which can be used for February Valentine projects.
3) Piece together a couple of maple leaf blocks from leftover pieces.
 

     In 2004 I made a king size quilt for my older son and his then fiance`. The pattern is from Judy Martin's The Creative Pattern Book and each leaf has 18 pieces. I uncovered a container of leftover cut pieces and 13 finished blocks. My goal is to complete more blocks using the already cut pieces of fabric. Even when I was initially making the blocks I could only make 2 or 4 each day.

Here are a few more weekly goals for organization.
4) Record stash fabric used or added. I may estimate when dealing with small scraps or just not count.
5) Clean out a drawer in the house. Recycle or rehome items that I will not use this year.
 

     I am off to a great start with my first finish from my list of projects for 2021. Modern Bargello Scraps had been sandwiched for a few weeks waiting for quilting. I finally decided to use a familiar motif and FMQ Leah Day's Echo Short Cut design. The leftover bargello strips came from a member of my church quilt group and I adapted a pattern from Carole Lyles Shaw's book Madly Modern Quilts.

Hope your new year if off to a GREAT start. 
Stay safe and healthy so you can enjoy some time sewing or quilting.