2016 Goals

2015 has not been a productive year for me, in many respects, but especially in sewing and blogging. Readjusting to life with a new baby… there’s just things that take priority. Like sleeping, eating, using the bathroom, showering… and sometimes cleaning. Both my kids have been/are clingons so I don’t have free hands or time very often in the baby stage (and even after). And two is more than one! With one, when he napped or was busy I could get stuff done. Now I basically switch from one to the other and grab a bagel and a pee in between. But the little one is starting to have more independent time and he is starting to get mobile. We are starting to work on the sleeping. And the older one is in school. So, it all comes back to the goals. I am taking stock of where things are and where they need to be and how to get there. It is overwhelming.

1. The UFOs

It may be funny that I put this first, but honestly if I have one overriding goal in 2016 it is to tackle the ever growing pile of quilt tops I am amassing. There are a variety of reasons why I “abandon” a project at this stage, and usually a different reason for each one, but I need to make this a focus and a priority.

2. Learn to longarm

This has been a longtime goal. I have a past teacher/friend who has moved near me and has a longarm and has offered many times for me to come learn. I absolutely intend to take her up on this as things settle down in 2016. This should also help to chip away at item #1, above.

3. Get back to sewing

Well, duh, right? Other than a burst of deadline quiltmaking to get my Michael Miller challenge quilt (#quiltconreject) ready in time, I haven’t done much this year. I’ve more or less kept up with my block of the months (usually in three month marathons). I’ve been slowly making blocks for my cousin’s wedding ring quilt. I’ve managed to make some teacher and birthday gifts. But really, not a lot. I want more time sewing, more stuff getting done.

4. Get back to blogging

I’d been doing a pretty good job blogging and reading and making connections. That’s mostly all fallen apart this year. I need to find the time to sit and type at the computer as much as to sit and sew. And rebuild my online presence.

5. Clean. Declutter. Reorganize. Reduce.

And oh, this one is so big. When I named my blog, little did I know how true those words would be.

When I say it has all gone to hell, I am not kidding. So even when I do have the opportunity to sew, I walk into this and pretty much either start working on cleaning it or walk right out.

This is a theme for my house and my life right now. Other than the kids, the reason I am not sewing is that this is pretty much the state of my whole house. So when I have time, I feel I need to be cleaning, and even more importantly decluttering.

I kept a delicate balance in my home and adding another person, taking away the space that is now his room, taking away the time and ability I had to maintain and keep any order… it has all caused a perfect storm. This is the road to Hoarders, y’all. I am not kidding. I am so worried. One more life event before I get a handle on things, and that could be me so easily. I know it. So, I am working my way though my house. Trying to reduce, remove, declutter, sell, give away… None of this is easy for me but the overwhelming looming feeling I have when I look around is giving me the drive to tackle this. It means a lot for my house in general. It means less time to sew. And in my sewing room, it means I have to get rid of fabric. I need to use it, and I need to sell it. I just have to. I want to hold on to it all, but I can’t even work in there. I just shift piles from one surface to the other, then spend a lot of time looking for things I “just had”. It’s a waste and I have precious little time and energy to waste these days.

6. Storm at Sea

I throw this one out there for a stretch goal. When I started this blog, I wanted to pick one goal pattern to tackle every year that intimidated me. I did my kaleidoscope one year. I meant to do storm at sea last year, I believe. It didn’t even almost happen. So I’m throwing it out there again.

7. Put myself out there

Ok, one more. This is another hard one. I am so isolated. I’m being honest so far, so I can go all out, right? I said I  am a hoarder. I also have social anxiety. Badly. I have a hard time navigating new relationships. I need to. I have no friends. I want to try to bridge that gap with some people. I want to go to guild regularly. And, you know, actually talk to people there. Not just sit in a corner. I want to see if I can get a sewing circle or something to join. See people who can say more than a few word sentences that revolve around something other than bathroom habits. Y’know?

Thanks Yvonne, for giving me the excuse to sit down and write this. Even though it still took me a week to get it done. And I’ll probably think of 100 more goals once I hit post. 🙂

ALYOF: September. Am I back?

So I am trying to emerge from hibernation. The last several months deserve their own post, which I hope to get to soon, but to sum up:
-Baby
-Summer
-Baby
-Travel
-Baby
-Juki never worked
-Baby
-Still trying to get an RMA
-Baby
-Sewing room is a nightmare and I can’t get to anything
-Baby

When I am not constantly holding a baby, I am trying to do things like eat or pee or an occasional shower. If I get a longer free period I do strange things like laundry or dishes. Not a lot of sewing happening. Or ability to type.

So, I am hoping by making this post it’ll give me the extra motivation I need to try to get back to sewing. And clean the sewing room. And get my machine fixed.

This is the status of my cousin’s wedding quilt. The wedding we went to in June. I had a small period of productiveness a few months ago, but I was staying up til 3 or 4 to get sewing in, and it wasn’t pretty. I’m needing more sleep now. So I have 12 blocks done (And another two in progress). I think I need 24 plus sashing to finish the top, which is my September goal.

ALYOF: October Finish

OK. I finished my quilt about a week ago, but it has been impossible to get pictures til today. I made a point to make sure I got them done as soon as I could.

Here it is

This is my economy block quilt that I started in April. This is the first quilt I’ve finished since around then too. 😦 However, I have a whole line up to do while my quilting table is extended. I quilted it along the diagonal seams. I want to say it measures around 52×72. My memory may be off.

Here are some closeups of the blocks/quilting

This quilt was supposed to be a graduation gift for my cousin. It is now sort of a combined grad/birthday/holiday quilt. I am just going to hang onto it til holidays and give it to her then.

Here is the back:

There’s a label under the Celebrate girl that I will fill in for her.

 

Yay! It feels good to finally FINALLY finish something. Unfortunately, the next quilt I have to do, I have no idea how to quilt it.

Here is my goal post

Here are other posts about this quilt

October goals

Man, I can’t believe it’s really October already. Where is the year going??

I haven’t really been posting my goals the last couple months (I haven’t been sewing much either), so let’s see where things stand.

July goals –

1. Improv quilt back – no

2. Make back for bloom bloom pow – no

3. Make back for Chevron – I am in the process of this. There was an incident with my fabric order, and a whole other complication that I am going to make its own post about. Cuz I need advice.

4. Finish Anchor quilt – Still sitting basted over my balcony. I’m scared to quilt it.

5. Kaleidoscope – haven’t touched it.

6. economy top – Done! And the back.

7. Finish tula top Done! And the back.

8. Reinstate cleaning regimen – mmm. I am not quite there yet. I try to do what I can but still haven’t settled into a routine and things keep coming up and some days when I clean up and my son has dumped everything out within minutes of walking in the door, I wonder why I bother.

9. Clean and declutter stuff. –I did a massive cleaning of my laundry room. It was desperate for it. I can’t even begin to tell you how awful it was and how much better it looks now. I still have some spots on the floor to work on, but I put in a book shelf and things are all organized and off the top of the dryer and it is just great. And that is all I’ve done.

10. Read – I read a bunch on vacation, and things have slowed down again. I have to try to remember what all I read.

October Goals –

1. Improv quilt back

2. Make back for bloom bloom pow

3. Make back for Chevron

4. Finish Anchor quilt

5. Kaleidoscope

6. quilt economy

7. quilt tula

8. Reinstate cleaning regimen

9. Clean and declutter stuff.(I think the focus for the month is on my son’s room/toys, guest room ,and maybe my closet)

10.Mug swap stuff

11. Start another stash only project.

12. Read

WIP Wednesday: The art of procrastination

I should be working on quilting my Anchor quilt.

I could be working on any number of bees and swaps coming due in July.

I also have multiple other projects in some state of completion.

Did I touch any of those things this week?

No! Of course not! I started something completely new.

But I am totally in love with it.

Maybe it is all the pixels I’ve been doing lately, but I’ve been really itching to do improv. Just have at it with no patterns and see what comes out. Apparently, it was such a strong need that I pushed everything else aside and completed this top in a matter of days. Just the top so far… adding it to the pile of backs that need to be made. I just need to spend some time making backs.

Click that close up button to better appreciate the seeds!

This is another (along with my kaleidoscope) attempt to use my stash. Now, that doesn’t mean I am not buying fabric (obviously LOL) but I am trying to learn how to better pull things that I already have into a composition rather than pull a couple fabrics and go buy more matching ones, which is what I usually do. I have an ever growing selection of fabrics that I never touch, yet go spend more money on fabric to use. It’s gotta stop. Space and money are running out!

I love the Denyse Schmidt seeds. I have lots (and lots!) of each of the reprint colors. They are so versatile, and, I think in this quilt, very sophisticated looking. The pink sketch was left over from my chevron quilt. I am not sure where the RK stripes came from…. I may have bought it as a possibility for my chevron and not used it (because I did not use any white in that quilt – I have a similar print that is grey on black in it). But I am honestly not sure… I have no memory of acquiring it. Isn’t that awful? And, I even have yards of Kona black (and white) that I got in a fabric.com sale. 100% pulled from stash, not a single “new” cent spent. And not a single Tula print!

I’ve been itching to use this color scheme. I am so pleased with everything about this. I just love it. Now onto the actual To Do list…

ALYOF: June goal

Lots going on this week! I still haven’t picked my June goal.  I’ve put a lot of thought into it, and I think I am going to aim to finish my Anchors Aweigh quilt. The top is done, the back is partially cut. I need to finish the back, quilt and bind. I am a little concerned that is a lot (it’s a big quilt) but I seem to need the extra motivation, since I am working on everything else and need to have it done by mid-July. I am not confident, but we will see what happens!

Blogger’s Quilt Festival Entry – Bad Piggies

I am going to make a more detailed post after my son’s birthday but I have finished his Bad Piggies quilt and I am entering it in the Blogger’s quilt festival

 

 

I created this pattern from a picture of bad piggies using Google Spreadsheets. Then I assembled the quilt using Kona solids according to  the pattern. I made this into a weighted quilt. It is stitched in the ditch every four pixels (8 inches). I backed it and bound it in two different Angry Birds fabrics featuring the pigs. It is 65″ square.

For past posts discussing this quilt, please see here.

I am so excited to be entering quilts into the Blogger’s Quilt Festival this year! Please go and vote for this quilt in the Original Quilt category. And thank you for visiting my quilt!

Anchors Aweigh top finish

I bought a quilt kit during shop hop this year. I’ve never used a kit before. I just couldn’t resist this one. I quickly cut the 2 inch squares and packaged it up for Stash Bash.

I worked on it during Stash Bash and finished 6 of the 8 rows there.

Anchors Aweigh is a free pattern by Tula Pink using fabric from her Salt Water line. People at Stash Bash (and instagram) were all impressed with it, but really, it was very simple. It is like sewing by number.

For the most part the instructions are very clear. All pieces are diagrammed in sections with an image and a letter. Each section and row is numbered then shown how to put together in another diagram. The main complaint I had with the pattern is that while you are given the cutting directions for the solids, there is no indication in the diagrams which size solid you are using. Yes, it is pretty easy to figure it out either from the image or by holding the different sizes against your sewn pieces, but it would have saved a lot of time and some trouble to just include the size in the pattern. There was one spot in particular where there were four pieces of large solid blocks in two different sizes, and I wasn’t sure until I had the whole quilt together that I had actually placed them in the correct spots.  Also, just another small annoyance – solid pieces were listed as different pieces even if they were the same size. For example, (2) 2×5 and (2) 5×2. Sure, one is horizontal and one is vertical, but when I am cutting, I want to know how many I am going to need to get from the piece I am cutting from. If I cut two and move on, only to discover later I need two more….

Anyway, I guess it looks impressive to work on – and of course, I love it, which is why I made it, but I have to say I get more of a sense of accomplishment from my bad piggies quilt, which I created myself from a picture, and which will also be one of a kind.

So, here is the completed top:

I have some pink Salt Water yardage and some layer cake blocks from the Tula Pink 10 inch swap I participated in selected for the back. My goal is to have this one done for my mom’s birthday in July.

As I worked on it I also worked on my economy blocks as leaders and enders. I made decent progress. Here are some of them:

 

Sunday stash – My favorite store is up and running

I had to make a long overdue run to the PO this week for a variety of swaps I needed to send. Since My Favorite Store is right down the street from the PO I figured I’d swing by and see what was going on in there. I hadn’t been there in a while, but the last few times I had been they had mainly drapery and upholstery out.

Well, They still had most of that stuff out, but they had a couple of tables of the cotton remnants. I am not sure if they are in the process of switching over or if they have decided to offer more of a variety at once. The nice thing about only having a couple of tables to search through is that it was a much quicker trip than the 3 or so hours I usually spend hunting there. However I still managed to find plenty and spend a bundle.

Here is what I took home (Though I wanted so much more) These vary from 1/4 yard on up to 2-3 yards of some-

Tula Pink

This is the 3rd time I’ve found those frogs there. And some Parisville! Ohh!

 

Sarah Jane

I was surprised to find some Wee Wanderer there already.

 

Lizzy House

 

Again, surprised to find Catnap already and excited to find some Outfoxed. Hoping to dig up more of this. I also found some 1001 lamps, but I have a metric ton of it and had a heart to heart with myself about definitely not needing more, not buying it just because I found it, and if I don’t buy it that’s money I can put toward something else.

Heather Ross

I found a lot of Briar Rose there last fall. This time, some Crafty Chloe and one BR print.

Joel Dewberry

These will come in handy for my Joel Dewberry swap coming up. (There’s one more print that I put in one of the other pictures.)

Assorted designers

Oh, Wrenly. You get me every time. And Lemon Grove. And Masha D’yans. And Belle.

More nice assorteds.

Sunday Stash

Despite my attempts to stay away, the sales keep getting me… My two favorites are up this week.

 

I caved on the craftsy Tula Foxfield class. I am a little skeptical because this is not a video class but a “workshop”. Hmm. Oh well, everyone else is doing it. Then while I was debating signing up they did a clearance on some of their fabric. I was only 11 dollars away from free shipping so rather than waste the shipping money, I tossed in a FQ pack. It was only $1 a FQ!! Oy. What am I going to do with all these precuts Craftsy keeps talking me into? What am I going to do with all those chevrons? Right now – looking pretty with the other precuts.

I also finally – FINALLY – bought the eyedrops I’ve been meaning to get to use for the binding on my Tula “houndstoothish” quilt (which still isn’t put together either). I had my eye on it in an online shop and realized they were selling out and wanted to grab it while I could. I also bought them out of the other two prints – both of which I already have yardage of – while I was at it. Well, what I thought was going to be a gold eye drop print turned out to really be much more of a green. It doesn’t show real well in the photos. Now I am not sure it is going to be what I want. I’ll make a decision when I get to that point. But at least I have it.

And Pink Castle ran a sale on Lizzy House. (well, Andover). Again, I already had both of these but had to grab them. I am about to use the twinkle in my next top so it doesn’t hurt to have more anyway, and the ghosts are just the cutest. I didn’t get bracelets, which I probably could use more than these, but, you know, trying to be good….