As I begin this blog it is Saturday morning, February 1st. On our way to tutoring (and Starbucks), I realized I haven’t posted for awhile. I’m torn between giving a rundown on everything or sticking to one area. When I do the rundowns, they are such a long post. I keep meaning to have more posts but shorter. #sigh So far that has been a pipe dream. As the title suggests, I have decided to do the rundown on what I have done the past two weeks. Hopefully, this post will not go on and on.
Monthly Challenges
All People Quilt UFO Challenge 2020 (#apqchallenge2020)
Last post I cried all over your shoulders about my rough start, but ended up with a winner when deciding to do the center (blocks) all over straight-line quilting. I know how challenged I am with actually sewing in a straight line, so with intention I sewed straightish lines with evenish spacing. Unlike my normal sewing, I began and ended each line of stitching. I usually try not to break thread. I had a new challenge which over the space of the quilt I got better with those starts and stops. I switched to how we start and end on the long arm. I liked those results much better. I am not too worried about how the back looks though as this quilt is for ME! I just have to hide it when my daughter comes, because she will love this quilt with all its various shade of purple (and orange, teal, blue, pink and green). I had forgotten how much I loved Kate Spain’s Terrain line of fabric. The straight line quilting was very soothing and it was easy to do my 15 minutes of sewing every day. My weekly goals with Amy (#onethingwithAmy) helped me to stay on track with this project initially. I finished the center last Sunday and with 5 days left I was very optimistic with my ability to finish 3 borders and bind the quilt.
My first border (white) I kept it simple. I wanted to frame the other quilting so that is exactly what I did. Straight line quilting all the way around several times to create the look of a picture frame. The lavender top thread and gray bobbin thread show up a little more than I intended, but after stepping back, I think it is perfect. You can see the frame.
Once I started on the borders, I realized I did not finish stitching in the ditch. I did not stitch down the borders at all. I have no idea why I didn’t do that. This whole quilt basting and everything was not my usual standards. Must have been a rough go when I worked on this a year ago. With that in mind, I decided to stitch down the borders on a “As I Go” basis. Since border 1 was straight line framing, it was natural to continue that to stitch down both sides of border 2. I stared at the border with just 4 days left wondering what I should do. Once again, it could not be complicated. I fell back on one of my 3 go to patterns which is just a straight up and down with a slight curve as you come back around. I think it is called match stick, but not sure. Filling the border with this was good. When I got to the corner, I had to decide what to do here. I am still not good with turning the corner with my free motion quilting so I opted to put square spirals to get me to the other side of the corner. All these borders are being stitched on my domestic Bernina 880. My poor machine has put in a lot of hours in the past few months and desperately needs a service. When I started this border, I also decided to put in a new needle with all the sewing I had one over the past few weeks.
I finished Border 2 with only two days left in January. Theoretically, I could finish Border 3 and bind the quilt with the two days left. Unfortunately, life and work got in the way of this lofty goal. Of course my indecisiveness on how to quilt border 3 did not help matters. I decided to go with a meandering loop (and other thing thrown in as it struck me) but with this free motion stitch, it would be important to stitch down the outside of the border. Once again I discovered some sloppy craftsmanship. My batting doesn’t go all the way to the edge. As I sit here typing this, this whole experience reinforces how I normally prep and quilt a quilt. I typically go from the outside to the inside. I listened to all those experts out there and did the inside. I have wrinkles in my back, which I don’t usually have, no batting on my edges, uneven back. Moral to that story, do what you feel comfortable doing. Back to the third border. I finished stitching down the outside of the border on the 30th and the morning of the 31st before work stitched one side of the border with my loopy meander. I love the look and believe it looks good with the border fabric. Unfortunately, last night I just wasn’t feeling up to staying up to midnight to finish the quilt for my own deadline. I got home from work close to 8pm and sat down to dinner and never got back up until I went to bed at 10.
Recap for this UFO Challenge. I quilted the center, 2 of 3 borders and 1/4 of the 3rd border, as well as cut the binding, and made the label. For me, this is real progress. I will keep plugging away at it since I am so close to being done but it won’t be a priority. I am very very happy with my progress and what I learned with working on this quilt. This week my one thing with Amy (#onethingwithAmy) will be to finish making the binding. My One Monthly Goal with Elm Street Quilts will be to finish this quilt – Binding!!!! The pressure is on; the label is made.
Today All People Quilt posted the UFO challenge for February which is number 9. For me that will be my 2018 Quilter’s Planner Sunflower colorway Quilt. This quilt isn’t even as far as the my New Year’s Eve quilt was but it is lap quilt size. This quilt has all the blocks sewn, some even have sashing. So lots to do on this quilt. I am not sure what I should set as the goal for this quilt. I think it would be realistic to expect to finish the top and baste it. I do not recall if I have a back or if I will need to piece the back or not. If so, then if I get to the basting stage, it is definitely a win! At least I know where all the parts are for this quilt!
2020 Quilter’s Planner Block of the Month Sew-A-long (#qp2020sewalong)
I was able to cut, sew, and post my January block in a timely manner. I really love the Michael Miller fabrics I picked out. The quilt is going to be vibrant and striking with the gold, teals, and corals.
Cotton Cut’s Cosmos Mystery Quilt – Team Catherine
Surprisingly, I was able to get clue 6 sewn up last weekend and got a notification yesterday that clue 7 is on the way! I had a few ironing problems even though I followed the directions so I am assuming those are user error. They look great though.
Paper Pieces Lost and Found Quilt (#lostandfoundquilt)
As you saw in the last post, I had cut and glue basted all the pieces for blocks 1 & 2 for this challenge. I finished piecing block #2 (cool color: blue/purple) and only have one row left on block #1 (warm color: pink/orange). I am surprised how well and how quick the blocks go together when I actually focus on them.
Monthly Challenge …. slips
I sadly report that the Sugaridoo monthly challenge I am hung on the freezer paper row. Now the new row challenge has come out. I will have to push through my … hesistancy to work on this challenge. Meanwhile, for the Monthly Color Challenge (January-Yellow), it didn’t get sewn only because my NYE quilt was on the machine. Everything is cut and ready. I printed out the instructions for February – Teal block already. It is time to get my new Tula Pink machine out of the box and setup or to get my two longarms serviced so I can use them. Or both!
Applique Projects
Wooly Mug Rugs Series
As you may recall, I am working on my last two projects in this series by Shabby Fabrics. Flying home from Orlando, I was able to whip stitch (down) all of the Snowmen mug rugs and even started the Candy Canes. I finished up the Candy Canes on Thursday last week so we are ready for the next step on these – embroidery.
Blooming Series
I think it has been awhile since I even worked on these, but I did work it in over the weekend (Oh yea! It is now Monday morning.) After finishing my borders on the NYE quilt, I put some olive green thread in and was able to do the background on both the Leaves and Pansies. I liked the look on the Apples of straight line on the bottom, so I have decided to carry this theme throughout the series. The bottom will be straight-line and the top will be free motion quilted. The green fabric was on top on one and bottom on the other. I still need to finish the other half for both
Adoornaments Series
I finished the Leaves! So happy to have at least one finish this weekend. Now it is time to focus on the other two I have partially done – December – Santa & Rudolph & January – Snowmen. I have on my quarterly goals the February – Hearts, but we will see.
A Year in Words Series
No progress on this series this past two weeks. Winter needs to have its pieced section completed. Give Thanks needs it’s two halves sewn together and layered in preparation for machine applique. Halloween is close to be done with the machine applique part. Then I will need to some embroidery on this one for the spider.
That’s a Wrap!
That concludes the update for January projects. Thanks for following along. Until next time!
Happy Quilting and Safe Journeys,
Peggy Stockwell