Rediscovering my stash!

What a marvelous Christmas celebration this year! My younger daughter hosted and it was so low-key and relaxed with everyone getting along. It's always interesting when the blended family comes back together with the in-laws, out-laws and ex-laws. Spending time with the grandkids is always a welcome bonus!

With this most recent move I have found that I'm missing several projects that I was working on before I moved in October. So, my post-Christmas project has been to find and organize my stash in the new place. I had no idea what a huge undertaking this would be. On day 3, I'm still finding fabric and am still missing some projects. Sheesh!

In the past I've had my stash sorted in plastic totes that were stacked in the closet. The problem with this is they kept getting mixed up, partially emptied and refilled with mismatched stuff, and pieces I would be looking for were seemingly lost in the black hole of totes. The other problem is what I wanted was usually in the bottom tote, which meant emptying the closet (which is remarkably clean in this picture!) in order to get to the lower levels. Definitely a frustrating system.

I've been watching some of the Facebook quilting groups to see how others sort and organize their stashes and decided I'd switch things up for this place. I'm using the cube-storage units that I purchased at Target. I already had a 3x4 cube unit which I put in the closet next to the stacked drawers that hold fat quarters, kits, and old patterns. I figured if I could get two stacks of fabric in each 12x12" cube, I could get a lot of fabric in that unit! Well, after 1-1/2 days of folding and sorting, the unit was beyond capacity and I still had a ways to go with more fabric in boxes and bags under the sewing table. Notice the stacks on top waiting to be sorted into cubes! 

I took myself on an outing yesterday and picked up an additional 2x3 cube unit, which I assembled and placed on top of the first unit, filling the space completely from the floor to the shelf. Yep, I had to remove the rod to hang clothes in this closet, but I wasn't using it anyway. I discovered one more tote in the other closet (yep, there's two in this room!!!) and it's FULL, but the fabrics are bundled in ziploc project bags for specific quilts, so I'm leaving them alone for now.


So, how did I do it? Here's the system I used. First I measured the cubes and found them to be almost exactly 12x12" square. I knew the fabric being rolled up would take up some space, so I cut a piece of foam poster board 5-1/2" x 18" (the length of the available piece) and tried a few pieces out. When stacked up, they were too wide to fit next to each other, so I shaved an extra 1/4" off of the board and found the 5-1/4" width worked just right.

I opened up the fabric on my sewing table, putting the fold on my right and the selvage edges on my left, placing the board near the end nearest me. 

Next step was to fold the fabric over the edge of the board and begin folding/rolling the yardage onto the board, tucking and pulling gently to keep it snug around the board.

I continued rolling the fabric until it was all wrapped neatly around the board. I did my best to have several inches of fabric on the last wrap so it would stay wrapped when I folded the finished piece.

At the end I would slip the board out of the folded fabric to use again with the next piece. 

 The finished piece is then folded in half and ready to be stacked in the cubes.

The stack of cubes is now as full as I'm going to get it today. There are more pieces to add that will get folded in a similar fashion as I come across them in various bags and boxes. I know there's more (besides what's in that full tote of projects) because I know I haven't seen several pieces I purchased recently. The search continues until I have all of my stash out where I can see it.

What I love about this system, in this house anyway, is that it is inside a closet that I can close the doors on and keep everything reasonably dust free. Also, the sewing room has one window that faces east, so it only gets morning sun and because of the way the house next door is located, the sun doesn't reach the closet.

The next major project will be to tame the bags and totes of scraps that have been collecting over the past year. After making Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice mystery quilt last year, I got hooked on scrap quilting, too. My quilting buddies have been very helpful providing me with more scraps than I know what to do with! For now UFOs and projects I had already planned are at the top of my list for 2015. After that? Well, I'm guessing I don't need to buy fabric for a very, VERY long time! LOL!

More snippets from the sewing room soon,
Liz

Life keeps getting in the way of my keeping up with my blog. I had great plans, but those were dashed by school assignments, another move, and many projects. I'm grateful for all that has been going on and hope to continue sharing here those changes.

First off, I've gained yet another grandchild! My oldest daughter and her husband have adopted a baby girl who missed sharing my daughter's birthday by just a few hours. Little Joslyn is just adorable and a true redhead! She's such a blessing to our family. With my son-in-law's older two girls, this makes six grands for me now. Big brother and sister, Joe (14) and Jordyn (11) are enjoying having Joslyn in the family, and little cousin Jacob (2-1/2) thinks she's pretty cute too!

Back to my quilting... Well, there have been too many projects to list as I attempt to play catch-up. One that I'm quite proud of is a set of wall hangings made for a friend to present as gifts earlier this year. I have been a member of Eastern Star for closing in on 40 years. I was asked to turn our Worthy Grand Matron's ideas into a quilted wall hanging for each of her officers. What began as a simple drawing came into reality and was duplicated 20 times! Everyone was so happy with them!

The design, made entirely of dupioni silk and shantung included a paper-pieced star with the points made in the five colors of the Eastern Star emblem, surrounded with ivory shantung which was machine embroidered and bordered in fuchsia and teal, the Worthy Grand Matron's colors for the year.

I was able to set up an assembly line for myself, making parts for each and assembling in what I think of as progressive chain piecing. Once they were all made, then I used 1/4" Steam-a-Seam 2 tape to seal the binding to the back before machine stitching from the front in the ditch of the binding seam.

Working with the silk was a challenge at times. I ended up adding a light weight fusible stabilizer to the shantung to make it more manageable. I also worked with a pinking blade in one of my rotary cutters to reduce fraying. It worked, but it sure did leave a lot of short little teal threads everywhere! My ironing board cover is still in need of some serious cleaning!

I have plans to write up instructions for these beautiful wall hangings, a task I probably should get to before I forget the details of how I went about it!

 

I made 20 total, 6 having already been presented when I took this picture. They measure 14" x 18" and were thank-you gifts for the Kansas Easter Star Grand Officers for 2014-2015. What a fun project to take a rough concept from my friend Donna and turn it into reality for her to present to each of her officers at their respective receptions!

My current project is another for this group--a special Christmas gift to the Worthy Grand Matron and Worthy Grand Patron (only two this time!) from their grand officers. They are nearly done, but can't be shown until after they receive their gifts next weekend. What fun being asked to create unique quilted items for my Star sisters and brothers. 

More snippets from the sewing room soon,
Liz

Repairing an Old Quilt

At a recent flea market I was asked by one of the vendors if I could repair her old quilt for her. In my typical fashion I immediately said, "Sure!" Well, then I took a closer look and wondered what I had gotten myself into. I brought the quilt home with me knowing I had at least a few weeks to work on it as the vendor was going on vacation soon for two weeks. Turns out I got buried with school work and then left for my own two week vacation, so today was the day to bring it out and just do it!

I'm certainly not an expert at repairing old quilts as this was only my second one. I'm also not sure whether this the correct way to repair one, but it worked and so I'm happy with it.

It's an old, well-loved quilt that had a gaping hole/tear in it that was close to 8" across at the widest. I pulled some muslin out of my stash that was about the same color as the backing and cut two 8" squares and pressed the edges under 1/4" all the way around to use as patches on the front and back. 

I retrieved the quilting hoop from the closet where is has sat untouched until today and hooped up the area to be repaired. Then I placed the first patch onto the front and blind stitched all the way around, doing my best to keep it square while also pulling the torn area back into shape where it had been stretched. 

 Once the first patch was on, I marked the back at the four corners of the front patch with pins so I could place the second patch as close as possible to the back so they would be closely aligned.

 Then I placed the piece of batting over the actual hole and pinned it from the front so the pins wouldn't get caught inside the quilt as I stitched the second patch on. (I've been known to sew pins into things before--hems on dresses, forgotten pins in skirt gathers, etc. You get the idea. LOL!)

 Second patch lined up with the 4 corner points from the other side and I began stitching once again.

 Little blind stitches with a betweens #10 needle and Aurifil #50 did a great job of blending right in and not showing once the stitching was all done.

 The next challenge was to do hand quilting that matched what was already there. The main body was quilted with Baptist fans and the border with simple diagonal lines. I used a water soluble blue pen to mark the lines. Luckily the fans were still there around the hole so I was able to follow those lines and complete what had been torn apart. I used the same needle, but a waxed hand-quilting thread that had been recommended to me by a shop owner several years ago (nope, never did hand quilt that project). For my very first hand quilting, I'd say it's not bad! Because of the lumpy nature of the hole, despite trimming away some of the torn fabric & old batting, I ended up going up and down for each stitch, but luckily it was a small area. And here it is!

 All ready to go back to its owner who can love on it some more.

And now it's my turn to have some quilty fun. Getting ready to start a Row by Row pattern in hopes of getting 8 rows made into a quilt to turn in to one of the shops soon. Oh yeah, I had quite the adventure with my grandkids touring the country for two weeks and collecting rows from five states! More on that in the next post.

More snippets from the sewing room soon,
Liz

Another UFO complete!

I made a resolution to complete some of the long-term UFOs in my closet this year. I have yet another one done and I think this one may have been the oldest--at least 4-5 years since I started it. My daughter and son-in-law are going through the process of adopting a baby, so this little beauty will go to them. It's made with the Cat's Cradle pattern. Sweet and simple.

When I started quilting this one I used each different fabric to practice a different FMQ design, making it an FMQ sampler. I finally finished all of the FMQ and got it bound last week and love how it came out!

This weekend was, once again, the monthly Honey Beezz Flea Market where I have a booth showing my quilts. I have been talking about taking orders to make memory quilts with photo blocks, but the only two I have made went to new homes. This week I got busy and made the top for a 26" square wall hanging in memory of my folks. I included pictures from 1935 when they met at Neptune Beach in Alameda, CA; 1946 when Dad was in the Navy and he was home for a weekend with my mom at her parents' home in San Francisco; 1960 when they were all dressed up to go to a dinner dance; about 1968 when we were on vacation at the family cabin in Ben Lomand, California (near Santa Cruz); and in the center, their 50th anniversary portrait taken in 1987. I'm pretty proud of myself for getting my mitered corners to come out so well! I took it with me today and had it laying on one of the tables in my booth and it certainly generated a lot of conversation! No takers yet on commissioning one, but I'm sure it will happen.

One exciting part of the flea weekend is I have been invited to be a vendor at the EudoraFests, an annual community event that features over 100 vendors featuring arts, crafts, and food, plus live music throughout the day. A vendor from the flea is on the committee and said my quilts would be perfect for a booth and gave me the name and number to call to get an application and more information! Now that's exciting!

Over time my booth is looking better with more quilts and other small items like mug rugs, coaster sets, novelty print pillowcases, and machine embroidered lace ornaments. It's exciting to have people stop and ask about the quilts and once I find the right venue, I'm sure Gypsy Dreamer Quilts will finally take off.

Time to wind down for tonight. I have to be back at the flea early in the morning to finish out the weekend commitment. I'll have my hand-sewing with me, so I'll be busy working on something while I visit with patrons who stop by my booth.

More snippets from the sewing room soon...
Liz

Mission Accomplished!

It's Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend 2014. Where has this year gone already?!? Can it truly be nearly June? It will be a fun and fairly quiet holiday weekend for me with just one outing tonight. The rest will be spent quilting.

My bookcase has a permanent display in memory of my father, and in honor of brother and great-nephew who were/are all Navy. Dad served in WWII and I received the flag at his and Mom's burial in May 2012. Wayne served in Viet Nam and my great-nephew Christopher is currently in and stationed in Japan. I'll also have my flag out on Monday remembering all who served.

This evening will be a fun time calling a contra dance for friends in Manhattan, Kansas. Although I haven't gone regularly for a number of years, I still call on occasion when asked. It's great fun, easy steps that anyone can learn, and everyone gets to experience the joy of moving to live music! I took the above picture of my friends Enid and Lou at the Manhattan dance several years ago. I love the way I managed (accidentally) to capture the movement as they were swinging. Plus, it's a nice break from the quilting projects to do something entirely different. I'll still get a quilting fix as I plan to stop at a couple of shops along the way that I typically don't get to. On the way home tomorrow, I have a date with one of my best friends to meet for banana splits! I'm definitely looking forward to that, too!

Now for the quilting news! Mission accomplished!!! Way back in 2010 I flew from California back to Kansas to visit my daughters. Being a new quilter who had recently experienced my first shop hop, I decided to create my own shop-hop across Kansas between my girls' homes in Emporia and Leavenworth. It turns out there are a LOT of shops between them! In fact, so many that I ended up shipping an extra box of goodies home that I couldn't get into the already over-packed suitcase. LOL! One of the shops I visited was Quilters' Paradise in Baldwin City, KS. Little did I know, it would become my favorite and "home" shop years later when I moved back to Kansas. Anyway, Sharon, the shop owner, was in the process of designing a block of the month pattern out of the Wizard of Oz fabrics that were becoming popular. I fell in love instantly and bought the block kits she had on hand and ordered the rest. Several months later, back in California where I was caring for my folks, my box arrived with the rest of the blocks and a finishing kit, including Oz character picture blocks to be included in the backing. Life had gotten busy by then with work, full time classes for my BA, and Dad who was becoming increasingly frail, so I put the box on the shelf, thought about it now and again, and went on with my daily routine. That box would travel back across the country to my home in Kansas before moving to the top of my "to do" quilting list!

Jump forward to 2014 and I'm back in Kansas two years, living in my second home already (having followed my kids so I could continue babysitting my little grandson), and in January I decided it was time to start on the Oz quilt. I managed to make a block a day for several weeks, but it turned into a block a week sometimes. But I stuck with it and by early March the main part of the top was complete! I just love the way Sharon designed this pattern with the yellow brick road sashing marching from corner to corner! Then there was the matter of the pieced borders. Sharon had designed pieced film strips using lots of fussy cut pictures to go all the way around the top! It took me a few weeks to get those put together. The inner film strip went together great and fit the way it was supposed to. The pictures were another story--I had to fussy cut each to the correct width for side pix and height for top/bottom pix, put a strip of black between, and have them come out the right size to fit the film strip. It took some doing, but I got the top and bottom done and loved how it was looking. The sides were a bit more work, making sure the corner blocks fit and the rest of the pieces matched up. The outer film strip turned out to be a bit more of a challenge. The border had gained just enough that the 1" blocks didn't fit quite right. I took it with me to a quilting retreat and spent the entire weekend just finishing the borders! But by Sunday afternoon it was done, complete, finished!!! I literally did a happy dance when the last stitch was done! I'm so happy with it and can't wait to get the backing made so I can quilt it and put it on my bed! Here is the completed Dorothy's Adventures in Oz quilt top.

I have several other projects underway and plan to take the time to write about them too. In the meantime, have a safe and fun Memorial Day. While enjoying your time, be sure to remember why we celebrate.

More snippets from the sewing room soon,
Liz

Crazy spring makes for scattered life

I can hardly believe it's almost the end of April!!! This winter-melting-into-spring has been crazy with lots going on. I've actually gotten more quilting done than I thought, but it's been bits and pieces of a variety of projects, so nothing new is actually finished. Ugh!

I did have one finish! The jelly roll race I had made at a Saturday Sew and Sew several months ago finally is quilted and bound. Race to Spring was fun to quilt! There were prints of sketchy circles and modern flowers in the 2.5" strips that I managed to complete in the quilting, taking the flowers out into neighboring strips. It was a stretch for me to step outside the box like that, but I think it came out great! 

 I got the idea to quilt the flowers out into neighboring strips from a blog post I read by Marija Vujcic late last year. She was quilting a woven quilt and used the flowers in the fabric as inspiration for the quilting designs. I remembered that post and tried to follow her lead as I dove into quilting my Race to Spring. Marija explained her quilting thought process in her post "The clue was in the fabric."

I took the partial flowers in the strips and created complete flowers in neighboring strips with the FMQ.

There are so many other projects piled up on my sewing table that it's hard to decide what to do next. I have one major project for a friend (20 personalized 11"x17" mini-quilt wallhangings) that has a fast-approaching deadline, so that will have to be first. Then it will be back to my Wizard of Oz quilts--two in progress, both nearing completion, my pink and black camp quilt, and the Vintage Rouge that is just about ready to assemble (I've been doing English Paper Piecing on several blocks before I can start sewing rows together).

I am trying to stay on track with my quest to have more UFOs finished in 2014 than started. We'll see how the rest of the year goes!

Mormor Liz with my grandkids--Joe (14), Jacob (almost 2), and Jordyn (10)

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter with family and friends. My day was wonderful, spent with all three kids, two sons-in-law and all three grandkids. It's so wonderful to be close enough to spend holidays and other times together again after living 1800 miles away from them for over seven years.

More snippets from the sewing room soon,
Liz

Catching up with projects

It's been a busy few weeks between school assignments, Jacob care, and two retreats. I was gone at the end of the month, so missed out on the NewFO Challenge linky party for February, but plan to be back in March. Here's a quick update on the projects I've been working on.

Over Presidents' Day weekend, I spent four days with the gals from the Eudora Quilting Bees Guild enjoying four days of quilting at the Tall Oaks Retreat Center in Linwood, KS. The accommodations were delightful and the food fabulous, and the array of projects being worked on dazzling! I took way too many projects with me, but rather than being overwhelmed with too much to pick from, I focused on several that had been waiting to be finished. First I finally caught up on the flannel self-binding receiving blankets I had started months ago. That's a relief! The major UFO I took to work on was the "Remember 'Whooo' Loves You" quilt for my great-niece Chelsea and her new little one Opal Faye. I had assembled the top before Thanksgiving with plans to get it to Chelsea before Opal was born in early December. It turned out I hated the way it looked--the Irish chain disappeared with the fabric choices in the layout, so I had taken it all apart and it was waiting. Now I'm very happy with it and, although Opal is already 12 weeks old, it's never too late to send a quilt that she can enjoy for many years to come.

This week I got it pinned so I can do the quilting on it. I also played with the label and chose a design I could color in with my fabric pens. It is already sewn on so it will be quilted with the rest of the quilt to make it more permanent.

Between retreats I went back to the Wizard of Oz BOM from 2010 that I had started, but was far from finishing. All of the blocks are now done, sashed, and assembled into the main body of the quilt. Next will be to start on the pieced border. Maybe that will be a task for the next retreat over Spring Break.

Finally, another BOM I started in 2013 is the Vintage Rouge. It's a gorgeous pattern that includes piecing, English paper piecing, embroidery, and applique. I was going along great until the English paper piecing blocks popped up and I came to a screeching halt! There are five of these blocks that feature a Dresden plate--four smaller ones and one large one for the quilt center. I have to admit I was intimidated by the prospect of doing the Dresden plates by hand. This week I pulled those blocks out and started in making the Dresden plates entirely by hand and amazingly the first one came out great! I'm so relieved and have started on the second one with three to go.

There are several other blocks yet to be completed before I can start sewing them together, but at least I'm not stalled anymore.While attending the quilt retreat in Oklahoma last week I went with several of the gals to another nearby camp where a huge quilt retreat of about 90 women was being held. Numerous quilts were hung up on the walls around the main room including a Vintage Rouge that one of the campers had made and quilted. It was gorgeous and reminded me why I loved it so much! I am now anxious to get it together so I can do some fun and hopefully fancy quilting on it and get it onto a bed to show it off.

Projects are getting done, quilting is being finished, and I have bindings ready to sew on. It feels great to be making progress on several of the projects that have been stalled for too long.

More snippets from the sewing room soon,
Liz

Kamp Kutti Uppi--a reunion 42 years later...

Last week I drove down to Oklahoma to Kamp Kutti Uppi, a four-day (Thursday through Sunday) quilting retreat hosted by the Kiamichi quilt guild from McAlester, OK. The camp was held at the Pickens Camp facilities within the Eufala Lake State Park. The facilities were a little more rustic than other retreats I've attended, having the main building for quilting and eating, bunkhouse style cabins, and a bath house a short walk away, but still totally acceptable and quite fun! About 27 women attended from around the area and from surrounding states (including me from Kansas and at least one gal from Texas). They had a very fun program that included an optional fabric exchange and free quilt pattern to make, the Dirty Quilter game on Friday night, and a camp round robin quilt that was completed and given to the winner of a drawing of those who worked on it before camp ended. It was all very fun indeed and I definitely plan to go back next year!

Mostly I worked on my Delightful Stars blocks for the Aiming for Accuracy quilt-along I joined on Facebook and Craftsy. Having gotten buried in school work recently, I was several blocks behind and wanted to catch up. Working with the beautiful batiks I've been collecting and using a black Kona cotton background, this will be a gorgeous quilt when completed!

Once those were caught up, I moved on to the fabric exchange. Those who were interested in participating were encouraged to bring 14 2.5" x WOF strips and 40 5" squares of black/white/gray fabrics to exchange upon arrival. If we wanted to make the free pattern available at camp, we also needed to bring 1.5 yards (or more) of a neutral color of our choice. I chose a hot pink Kona cotton that I have since learned is named Pomegranate. I love the vibrance against the black/white/gray prints! 

The pattern was fairly simple and before I left on Saturday afternoon (yep, a day early because of the snow and ice between me and home that was starting Saturday night) I had a throw size quilt top made!

The round robin quilt these gals make during the camp weekend was great fun! It started out with a starter block made and brought by the recipient of last year's camp round robin quilt. These two stars Linda is holding were the starting point and throughout the weekend whoever wanted to work on it could add rows or borders as they pleased until, at the end of the weekend, the names of those who worked on it would be thrown in a hat and a winner drawn. There were several vendors in attendance, so if campers wanted to work on it but didn't have the right colors in their retreat stash, they could purchase fat quarters or other amounts of fabric to work with. It's amazing how it turned out and Paula was so pleased to win! Next year she will make a center starter block and let the camp chairman know ahead of time what colors/theme she chose so campers can better plan to bring something to add to next year's round robin quilt.

What made Kamp Kutti Uppi even sweeter was the fact that I reunited with a friend from Pittsburg High School (Pittsburg, California) some 42 years later! Yep, even though we hadn't seen each other in decades, the reconnection was instant and we had a blast! After reconnecting on Facebook several years ago, Linda and I found that we are both now quilters living in adjoining states in the midwest. As coordinator for Kamp Kutti Uppi, she had invited me to attend some months ago. Once it got closer I couldn't wait to get down there to see her and to meet a whole bunch of new quilty friends.

Although I was sorry to have to leave early, I was so grateful for having made that decision. I drove into freezing mist a couple hours into my nearly 5-hour drive, and the snow had started falling at home before I got there. Chatting with Linda after I got home, I learned that I wasn't alone in my decision. The group of 27 had dwindled to 12 locals by Saturday evening. I'm already looking forward to next year's camp and hope to make it an annual event. As a Gypsy Dreamer who used to dream of gypsying to contra dance weekends, now I'm gypsying to quilt camps. And I couldn't be happier!

More snippets from the sewing room soon,
Liz

Giving back with Sew it Forward

A new group on Facebook has grown out of a couple of the FB quilting groups I follow. One in particular got started earlier this year when a member of one of the open groups asked other quilters to make and send her blocks so she could make a quilt for each of her family members who lost their home to fire around the first of the year. That launched the Sew it Forward, a closed Facebook group, that has since grown to 200 members and is now collecting blocks for their sixth family who lost a home to fire.

The first project was for rail fence blocks in red, green and white. Everyone who sent blocks made them from their own stash, so while the color theme is the same, each block is unique. 

The next project I made blocks for requested disappearing nine-patches in black, white and red. I found a FQ that I had been hanging onto for something special with encouraging words and was happy to include it in one of the blocks.

Finally, the last project I donated to was to a widow with twelve (yes, that's 12!) children whose house burned down. I had western panels that had been given to me that I had already turned into tops. I went ahead and finished them completely and shipped them out to go to two of the boys in the family. It feels so good to give to those in need.

I will be watching the group for new projects as they open up and will try to send at least one block to help others with their projects. Once the point person for each project receives all the blocks and completes the top(s), there are quilters who are donating their time to provide the longarm quilting to finish the quilts. Quilters have big hearts and this is one group that I am very grateful to be a part of.

February and March are busy months for me with three 4-day retreats! I went to one two weeks ago just 15 miles from home. It was a good trial run to be sure I do better at including the supplies I'll need for the upcoming weekends further from home. I made a list so I won't forget to pack the few things I needed and had forgotten. This week I leave Wednesday night and head to Oklahoma (nearly 5 hours away) where I'll be attending a retreat organized by an old high school classmate from California! Who would have ever guessed that she and I would both become quilters AND live in neighboring states in the middle of the country 40+ years later! Thanks to Facebook we have reconnected and become friends all over again. I'm so looking forward to our mini-PHS Class of '72 reunion. Tomorrow (my day without my grandson) I'll be doing most of my packing and last minute shopping so I'll be ready to go when Jacob gets picked up Wednesday afternoon.

There have been lots of projects started, but I'll save those for another day. That's all for tonight's update.

More snippets from the sewing room soon,
Liz

The first NewFOs of the New Year

I'm joining the fun again this year at Barb from Cat Patches' 2014 NewFo Challenge.

For those who don't know about it, Barb's challenge is to starting something new every month. Now, whether you finish it or not, or when, is up to you. I love the challenge to be creative and maybe learn something new. Or maybe it's starting some of those PIGS [projects in grocery sacks] or PIZB [projects in ziploc bags] that have been accumulating and are threatening to overrun my sewing room! And there's always the chance you might win some wonderful little goodies by posting to the NewFO Linky Party each month.

I've started 2014 off with a bang. I already have several new projects going and for my 2014 quilting resolution, I am determined to finish quilting the already-pinned quilts on the closet shelf, as well as the several completed tops that are waiting until I have enough pins freed up to use. If I do get everything quilted this year, I suspect I'll need a bigger safety pin box! I've purchased more pins several times as I wanted to get yet another project pinned and ready, but haven't gotten around to quilting them it. Such is life... We'll see how this year turns out.

For my projects, the first big one that actually started in November, is Solstice Moonrise. This is my version of Bonnie K. Hunter's Quiltville 2014 Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt. I started cutting out and making units in November and early December, then skipped to around New Year's when I dove back in and finished up the top. I love how it turned out, especially the modified border I put on it. It's in line to be quilted this year, too.

Next, I've joined in the Aiming For Accuracy 2014 Delightful Stars paid quilt-along.  I paid for the pattern through Craftsy, so download the updated file there as it's released with additional block patterns; however, I'm really enjoying being part of the Facebook group who are all working on this project! It's fun to see everyone's blocks and how different color choices can make them look. I found the collection of bright batiks that I had been saving for a fun project. I also purchased (hopefully) enough black Kona cotton to use as the background. I've long admired the quilts that use brights on black background and decided this is my year to make one. This weekend I should get to block #2, but the first one is done and I love the look of it!

Back in 2010, while I was still living in California, I had come to Kansas to see my kids. I shop-hopped my way from Emporia to Leavenworth and happened to stop in Baldwin City at Quilters' Paradise. Sharon, the owner, had a Wizard of Oz BOM going that I fell in love with! I purchased the first few block kits she had available in the store and several months later she shipped me a carton with the rest of the blocks and finishing kit to my then-home in California. Well, life got in the way and the box stayed on the shelf, got moved back to Kansas in 2012, and from Emporia to Eudora in early 2013. Hoping to get some existing projects going or finished this year, I added this quilt to the list. Over the last few weeks I've gotten to within 4 blocks of being done with the block kits and plan to take the project with me to a retreat next month to start the assembly. Here's what would fit on my 54"x54" design board last week. Fun blocks with lots of fussy cuts!

As a spin-off from the Facebook page Quilter's Show and Tell, there's now a new group called Sew it Forward who are making quilts for families who have lost homes to fire. Having been started just in the last few weeks, we are already working on, I believe, five projects in different states and Canada! There is a point-person for each project who receives the blocks made by the members of the group from around the world, who then organizes getting the tops made and quilted to be presented to the families. I've made blocks for two separate projects and have two children's quilts that I'm finishing and sending to a third project. The first project leader asked for rail fence blocks. The second is using disappearing 9-patch blocks. 

The third project I'm contributing to has 13 family members, so two UFOs from my closet are going towards that project--the western quilt pictured is one of two nearly identical quilts that are almost ready for binding. 

Last month at a Sit-and-Stitch day with some of the gals from the Maple Leaf Quilt Guild, I helped several of them make stack-and-slash blocks. I made a set too, working along side them. Instead of just putting mine together, I used Marti Michell's Sashing Stars templates and added beautiful gold stars to my blue snowflake sashings. It, too, is ready to be quilted, so it's been added to the stack.

Finally, I'm just a couple of weeks out from the next Honey Beezz Flea Market where I share a booth with a friend who crochets. We put out my quilted items and her afghans and enjoy visiting with the people who come to the flea and stop by our booth. This is a new venture for me, so don't have any small things that are quick sale items on hand, so I've been trying to plan ahead. Today I spent all afternoon making some of the cutest mug rugs! Two are Valentine's theme, two have pink ribbons, and four were orphan blocks and left over piano keys that I used in a quilt several years ago. I have one more to bind tomorrow and I'll have 8 ready to go to the flea this month!

 

I'd say I have definitely accomplished Barb's NewFO goal for January! With two retreats in February to plan projects for, I suspect I won't have any problem starting at least one NewFO next month. As Jacob, my grandson, continues to get bigger, he plays independently much better and doesn't get into things quite like he did just a few months ago. This allows me to be working on projects in the kitchen while he plays around me or watches a few cartoons on NickJr. This morning he "helped" me organize my scraps that I'm collecting. I had them sorted by 1.5", 2", and 2.5" squares and strips, but now they're all together. He sure had fun and I got to sew, so I'm not complaining. It's just entertaining to watch him get interested in something as basic as my scrap drawers instead of his basket of toys.

More snippets from the sewing room soon,
Liz