Balanced for 2020

After a few minutes of careful thought (LOL), I decided my theme for 2020 will be Balanced.

It's funny in a way because I am an accountant by trade, which requires my journal entries, accounts and financial statements be Balanced.



My astrological sign is Libra which is depicted by a set of balancing scales.

Being Balanced also means that I balance work with play, mix old things with new things, eat a healthy diet that is balanced nutritionally, and that I maintain balance in many other aspects of life.

As a quilter, being Balanced means that I will mix old projects with new ones. And that means I will continue to balance finishing up Works in Process with new projects that catch my eye (squirrels).

As a mother of an adult daughter, it means that I will balance my worry with pride in her steps toward true independence.

As 2019 comes to a close and we slide into the 20s, here is my Quilting Scorecard:
Began with 21 WIPs, started 9 new quilts, finished 7 (3 old and 4 new), ended with 23 WIPs. That's assuming I finish quilting and binding my two RSC projects over the weekend. As for achieving my four quilting goals for 2019, I missed the one about reducing WIPs in half but did achieve three out of four. I tried new techniques, used leader-ender method (albeit intermittently), and began documenting my quilts with an information page on each one plus a log (quilt #75 was begun this past month). Venture was the theme for 2019, and I did venture out into exploring more flying, building friendships and enriching my life with new experiences.


My goal for 1Q 2020 is to quilt and bind four WIPs (3 are already tops ready to quilt). Do you have a pile of quilt tops aging in a closet, too?

Overall for 2020, my quilting plan is to clear out old projects while making time for new. Three of my WIPs are long-term projects requiring several blocks a month to be sewn in a slow yet steady progress toward the finish line (Lady of the Lake, Double Delight and Bow Tie).  My RSC20 quilt will be Garlic Knot blocks for which I want to make 4 blocks in each month's color. Also, I am finally ready to begin using up plaids collected for several years to expand a few test blocks into actual quilts (Moth in the Window, Sugar Bowl and Double Pinwheel).

One of my goals is to participate in a project with a partner, not necessarily to swap blocks, but to sew a similar quilt at the same time. I promised Cathy at saneandcrazy.blogspot.com that we would each make a quilt based on the Endless Chain pattern. Cathy sewed her test block using a gray background and I will soon cut into the brown fabric chosen for a background. I'm sorta trying to wait until the calendar switches to 2020 so I can count it as a new project rather than a WIP.

Another goal is to make a Christmas-theme quilt. I have four patterns on my wish list.  Most likely I will use a layer cake to sew Anita's Arrowhead blocks.



Would any of you out there want to join me in making the Arrowhead quilt?

Merry Christmas 2019

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Side Projects

Slowly but surely the Works in Progress are, well, progressing.  But recently I took a bit of time for a couple other projects.

My quilt guild president is stepping down, after several years of leading her team to give us high quality programs and wonderful quilt shows. We are secretly making a commemorative quilt for her. During a recent trunk show of antique quilts I found out her favorite quilt block is the Bear Paw. I decided to make that block, but oooh boy, the size they wanted was 5.5 inches finished. Yikes! That is some small piecing!  But I was determined to do it.

After calculating that the triangles needed to be 3/4 inch finished, I carefully cut them out. I changed my sewing machine needle to a brand new sharp size 12. Then I used tissue paper under the triangles so they would not get drawn down into the feed dogs. That worked perfectly!  When the block was assembled it was 1/8 inch too small. Aargh!  I picked out the seams of the inner sashing and re-sewed them with a more scanty seam allowance. That did the trick.

The next side project was to make a hostess gift for a family member we planned to visit during Thanksgiving week. Pat Sloan had a little fall-themed table topper on her website that was just what I wanted.  In just a couple hours it was done, quilted and ready to bind. I decided to use a single fold binding and quickly stitched it on. It turned out so pretty I almost don't want to give it away.

Now back to the THREE quilts I am in the midst of quilting....

Fall colors must be on my mind now that it is finally cool in the South.  Both of my side projects used brown and rust shades. Sometime soon I will begin an Endless Chain quilt with a medium brown background  once I decide on the block size. I ordered the fabric from my favorite online source, Connecting Threads, and it arrived a few days ago. I will allow myself to start once I finish one of the WIPs.

Please leave a comment and share what you are working.

My First Quilt Show Ribbons

OMG! I am jumping for joy to learn that all four quilts I entered in my local quilt guild's show were award winners!  Maybe my quilting doesn't suck after all!

Jamestown Landing won a FIRST place ribbon for bed quilt/pieced/duet made.  I pieced for YEARS and Cindy Carey of North Star Longarm Quilting finished it with some marvelous quilting.

Mesa Valley won SECOND place for bed quilt/pieced/duet made. One of my Fat Quarter Shop Sew Sampler boxes included lovely Tula Pink fabrics and a modern Aztec-y quilt pattern. Rather than using stark white, I chose a light sand background. I handed it to Patty Lennon and told her to design something modern to highlight the design and fabrics. She came up with a crescendo-angled design which is a bit reminiscent of crop circles that totally made this quilt sing!

One Fish Two Fish placed SECOND in the show theme category. It is one of my first quilts, and was made for my daughter to take to college. The pattern uses "Mary's Triangles" in various scraps on a deep blue background which look like fish swimming through the ocean. The quilt title is from one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books. My daughter and I selected fabrics with rainbows, cats, zebra strips, red prints, blue prints, and a dinosaur print.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is a baby quilt which placed THIRD in the lap quilt/pieced/single maker category. I had fun incorporating scraps from my other quilts and clothes I had sewn for my daughter (remember that green daisy dress?). I had made it as a gift but could not bear to part with it because of all the memories those scraps represented. It will be held for a future grandchild.

They like me! They really like me! <grin>

Doldrums of October

Hello! It has been several weeks since my last post, but yes I intend to keep this blog active.

I've been reading lots of other blogs.What are your favorites? The quilting-themed ones I check daily are Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville and Cathy's saneandcrazy.blogspot.com. Cathy is a prolific scrap quilter, and I have been having fun suggesting quirky names for her quilts. There are many other blogs I enjoy checking periodically, although they tend to inspire me to pursue 'squirrel' projects instead of finishing the ones I already have in progress.

So why am I feeling the doldrums? My favorite part of quilting is piecing. But right now I have a tall stack of quilt tops to be quilted, and I am in the midst of quilting two rainbow quilts sewn in 2019. These require 11 thread changes because of all the colors. Ok, playing with all those colors is kind of fun. And I have some skill in ditch-stitching and several FMQ flourishes. Then I see all my imperfections - a few tucks on the back side, a bobble in my curves or straight lines, and my rudimentary stitching motifs. Ugh!

Do you feel frustrated, too, when comparing your quilts to at all those beautiful quilts online and featured in quilt shows? Do you describe your quilts as "folksy"? Maybe we need to change that attitude and feel happy when we finish a quilt all by ourselves - that we selected the colors, prints, altered the design to our style and did all the work to make a lovely quilt and those 'imperfections' are what makes it unique.

[Deep breath] Onward and upward!  Here are my quilting goals for 4th quarter:

1. Finish the three 2019 block-of-the-month quilts (don't let them become UFOs!!!).

 

2.  Quilt and bind Arcadian Chain.

3. Pick one of three other finished tops and quilt it.

 

4. Feed my piecing muse by making a simple baby quilt - and finish it by yearend. (Update: Blocks are cut and ready for assembly.)