Wrapping up 2021

It's been seven months since my last blog post, so I will start by filling you in on what has been happening in my life.

Work. Sleep. Work. Sleep.

[At least that's what it feels like.] 

I switched jobs in February, landing a great position at a large nonprofit. It is really nice to have my opinion respected, and to be able to make a big impact. Like $$ millions impact. Positive. I handled filing for various pandemic-related relief programs, and improvements in controls and forecasts. Now I have a title upgrade and a big pay increase. And the work environment is awesome - like a big family without a lot of drama.  

On the sewing front, I actually did get a few projects done in between the Work/Sleep cycle.

1. Participated in the RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge) by making 48 blocks from Bonnie Hunter's Jackknife pattern from the Addicted to Scraps column.  The backing fabric is a colorful print from Connecting Threads.

2. Finally finished quilting Moda's Be My Neighbor quilt. I am thankful so many of you posted examples of your quilts online so I can borrow quilting ideas. My collection of thread colors grew by necessity, trying to match all the bright colorful fabrics in this project. This one is even labeled!

3. Finished all the blocks and assembly for Flying Flags (or nearly finished - had to rip out a couple seams to flip some of the flags around). This was a super easy project. Once the border goes on, this flimsy will be added to the Awaiting Quilting pile.

4. Heading Home is in the quilting stage with just one final section left. Sketching out the FMQ design was the big game changer which helped me approach FMQ with confidence. I am quilting a double set of angled lines in the flying geese and outside the black triangles, with infinity loops in the white sashing. Each polka-dot square or triangle will have a different FMQ design just for fun. I will finish up with a bit more quilting with black thread in the black triangles, then add scrappy binding. 

5. Made all the scrappy squares for my version of Good Morning Sunshine. A few have their outer triangles but I'm considering switching up a few bold prints for calmer prints so the scraps will stand out more.  

6. Cut out pieces for a Connecting Threads kit called Flock of Geese. This will be sewn in 2022.

7. Bear Claw quilt is fully assembled and ready for quilting.

On the personal front, I was able to travel to visit my parents twice this year. My dad turned 80, and my mother is not far behind. It makes my heart ache to know that we will not have many more years together. I cherish the opportunity to visit and help out whenever I can. 

We also got to see my daughter twice - she surprised me with a weekend visit this summer, and we recently traveled to visit her for Christmas. She is still young enough to need her mom and dad, yet independent enough to live 800 miles away, working on her bachelor's degree and working to cover some of her expenses.  I may not always agree with her choices, but I am proud of what she has accomplished and for working toward her life goals.

On the flying front, well, maintenance issues continue to stymie my desire to fly. A loose wire caused a small fire (while we were on the ground doing an engine warmup, thankfully). I finally found a shop to fix it and will be flying it to the shop (with the electrical power off) as soon as weather permits. Before that happened, we got in a trip to a local fly-in and met up with lots of fellow aviators and walking the field to see all the awesome airplanes.

My theme for 2021 was "Do" and although I had lofty goals in mind, at least I feel happy with what I was able to accomplish. I also learned to not compare myself and my work pace with others. Instead, I am learning to savor the journey and choose to be happy with it.

And that brings me to the theme I have chosen for 2022 - Savor.  Tomorrow is the start of a brand new year that I plan to fill with experiences to savor. I hope you will join me in savoring the journey, rather than counting coup or comparing yourself to the oh-so-perfect-but-how-can-I-ever-measure-up social media posts.

     If you look for perfection, you'll never be content.  - Leo Tolstoy

     Beauty and ingenuity beat perfection hands down, every time.  - Nalo Hopkinson

Happy New Year!

RSC Update for May

Have you been working on RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge) blocks? I have participated for several years, off and on. On those off years, I feel intense FOMO (fear of missing out) and vow to try again the next year. For 2021, I am working on two RSC projects. 

My first RSC2021 project is Bonnie Hunter's Jackknife block pattern. My zeal for this year is obvious. I've been working ahead and already have SIX sets of blocks.  My goal is to make 48 blocks then assemble into a lap-sized quilt. I finished May's red blocks. Missing colors are light green, orange, teal, light blue, brown and black. 

But wait! Do you see that low contrast green block? Here is a close-up:

Should I make a higher contrast replacement and relegate this one to the back, or keep it on the front as a lesson in choosing better contrast?

My other RSC2021 project is a square-within-a-square inspired by QuiltDivaJulie and her Dumpster Diving Quilt "Good Morning Sunshine". Take 1.5-inch strips in a color family to create an 8.5-inch square, then pair a contrasting wild print for the large outside triangles. The resulting blocks should be 12-inches but mine are ending up more like 11.5-inches. That's okay. I have several middle squares, and am saving several wild prints to eventually finish 12 blocks. So there's not much to see.....and it's not making much of a dent in my scrap pile. I may just have to choose another scrap-busting quilt next year.

I love seeing blogspots by fellow quilters and seeing progress on their RSC quilts!  Hope you are enjoying making RSC quilts as much as me!

Linking up with SuperScrappy. 

 

Bear Claw Time

Springtime here means vibrant azaleas, heavenly peach blossoms, and flowering trees of all types. I have enjoyed the deep pink and white azaleas edging our front yard. 

View of my yard:

View near my office:

I have not seen many insects other than wood-boring hornets buzzing around our log home. We put out a couple traps and managed to catch a few. We found several holes, sprayed some insecticide and plugged the holes. Yesterday I looked on the front porch and found a pile of sawdust under the bear sculpture climbing the front post. I didn't find any new holes, so my husband took a peek. He found the bear had a new butthole and armpit hole. He's all plugged up now. LOL I wanted to respect the bear's privacy, ya know.

On the quilting front, I have nearly assembled the plaid bear claw quilt. One of the yellow blocks needs to move over and then the colors will look better balanced.

I'm still working on the quilting for the Be My Neighbor quilt. This project is stalled until my thread order arrives. I have plenty of thread, just not in the right colors. 

Last week Naughty Me started a flag quilt and a scrappy Irish chain, adding to my backlog rather than reducing it. I need to quilt a couple flimsies to rid myself of the guilt. 

On the flying front, I have not flown my airplane since last August. <sigh>  It's time to get back up there, after I address a couple issues. I scheduled the airplane's annual maintenance check and hopefully will get back up in the air in early May with an instructor for a flight review.  Then soon I can post some cloud pics and high aerial views and maybe fly to one of the events now that people are starting to venture out. I'm vaccinated and ready to go!

Please post a comment and let me know what is your favorite aspect of spring time! 

Where are my glasses

Hello from rainy South Carolina! While the midwestern United States is shivering with frigid temps and snow showers, we are staying indoors, too, due to all the rain. Thank goodness it does not get cold enough here for that rain to turn into snow or ice. My sympathy goes to those of you who are dealing with that cold weather stuff.

The yellow RSC Jackknife blocks are done, as is the crazy scrap block. Then I was free to sew another bear claw block and prep some 2-inch squares for leader-ender sewing. 

Today was super productive. Be My Neighbor quilt was sandwiched, ready for lots of creative FMQ. If all goes well, this will become my March finish.

.....IF I can find my glasses!  Do you have a problem setting down your glasses, then forgetting where you laid them?  I know they are in a safe place, just not sure where that safe place might be. And before you say "They're on your head, silly!", those happen to be my backup pair.  Arrgh!

My life has taken an interesting turn recently. I accepted a position with another company, and last week finished working through my two-week notice period on Tuesday. For the next eight business days, I can stay home and work through a long list of Things I Need to Do But Just Don't Have Enough Time. 

My list for next week is ready.  Hope your week is productive, too!

Arcadian finish and RSC

Arcadian Chain has been completed!  In 2018 Connecting Threads introduced a fabric line Arcadian Dusk which had a warm palette of blues, burgundy, rusty orange, browns, and cream. I used two 10-inch stacks, plus fabric from an earlier Connecting Threads line Heirloom Manor, to sew a simple pattern of nine patches and solid squares to create this Irish Chain style quilt. 

When quilting this project, I stitched a chain link in each of the cream chain squares, then got stuck when trying to figure out what to do with the larger colorful blocks. I wanted to emphasize the colored blocks. After attempting some swooping arcs that looked more jagged than smooth arcs, I spent hours with a seam ripper and finally tried again.  I wanted the colored blocks to really stand out, which meant I needed a less complicated and less dense design. A simple cross hatch did the trick. Then I decided on a rope-like design on the inner border and a simple piano keys treatment for the outer border. This quilt is really striking and I am proud of it.

Many of you quilting bloggers are participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2021. I admit it. I was quite jealous of all the bright blocks being posted. I have enjoyed participating in past years, but I have this long list of unfinished projects accumulating in my sewing room. How could I add to it? Finally I caved. 

I decided to make large blocks similar to Good Morning Sunshine by QuiltDivaJulie. That only used up a small handful of scraps. Maybe I should add another RSC project?

Then I saw those pretty Jackknife blocks Bonnie Hunter was making.  After digging up the Sept/Oct 2020 Quiltmaker magazine, I started cutting fabrics for four blocks and began stitching. Oh no! The instructions were wrong! Those hourglass units ended up a full inch too small. [And Quiltmaker did not acknowledge the error on their Addicted to Scraps page.]  If you are considering making this block, Unit C must start with 4.25 inch squares (or better yet, 4.5 inch), not 3.25 inch squares.  I did not have quite enough of one neutral print to redo those units so had to substitute another white fabric. 

A cascade of my own stitching errors made these blocks more difficult and frustrating than they should have been. Finally, I sewed the last stitch and pressed the blocks. Whew - the pinks are done for January.

Aargh! Two more projects to add to my list! Maybe I need to finish up some of the smaller projects to alleviate my guilt. 

Linking to SoScrappy and Monday Making.

2021 Word of the Year

My word for the year is "Do".  Super simple, right?  I have always liked Nike's slogan "Just do it", so rather than encroaching on their copyright, I am choosing to just DO.

(Funny - Pat Sloan chose the same word for 2021, too!)

If 2020 has proven anything to us, it's that plans change. Who knows what 2021 will bring?  Plans definitely will change. But one should at least have some goals. 

My goals for 2021 are:

1. DO some quilting. My priority is to quilt one flimsy a month. I have more than a year's worth of finished tops (aka flimsys) in the quilting closet. In 2020 I had hoped to earn my PHD by finishing 12 quilts. Instead, I finished 8 flimsies and quilted 2 quilts. I won't mention the increase in UFOs. Instead I will focus on moving forward to the finish line as much as possible.

Yearned update - derailed a bit. At least several quilting projects advanced to the flimsies or a bigger collection of blocks. 

2. DO some painting. During 2020, I started learning how to paint with watercolors. There are lots of YouTube videos out there with tips and project ideas. In 2021, I am planning to expand this hobby by painting a set of greeting cards and learning how to paint with gouache watercolors.

Yearend update - I painted a couple clumsy portraits and bough a set a gouache paints. However, I daydreamed watching Instragram posts of gorgeous watercolor painting rather than trying it myself. 

3. DO more cooking. One of our fellow quilting bloggers (CatPatches) broke several bones in a fall, and her husband had to take over the cooking. They started using meal kits from HomeChef. I was curious and decided to try their meal subscription service. OMG! The quality and variety are awesome! So far there has not been a kit I haven't loved. I love to cook and experiment with new recipes, and these HomeChef meals have really stepped up my game. If you decide to try HomeChef, I would love to earn the referral award which I plan to use to send kits to my parents. My referral code is SANDRAW751.  

Yearend update - I did a lot more cooking. Switched meal kit service to Every Plate after another quilter raved about them on her blog. Definitely better pricing and just as good.

4. DO some flying. I slacked off on exercising my pilot's license in 2020, and I am planning to change that in 2021 by flying at least once a month and to take a weekend flying trip next summer.

Yearend update - Plagued by maintenance issues, I was at least able to fly a few trips.

5. DO exercise. I was one of the few who lost weight in 2020, although not nearly as much as I had planned. I feel so much more energetic when I exercise. Yet I found it hard to motivate myself. Now that we have our workout equipment set up in front of a television in our new house, there are no more excuses. 

Yearned update.  I don't want to say.