2022 Quilt Planning

Looking back at my Planning Party quilt plan for 2021, I actually did better than I remembered. I made three of the four quilts I had hoped to make. 

There was the Queen's Jewel that I finished in February, after I got it back from the long armer.

I also said I wanted to make the Snake River Log Cabin in William Morris fabrics. I finished that flimsy in January. It hasn't been quilted yet because I decided to buy a long arm so I'll eventually do it myself, once I get skilled enough.

And I said I wanted to make an Unbeweavable quilt with 4" squares, which I finished in September. This was a fun one so I'll definitely be making this pattern again.

The last quilt, the SeaSwept, I haven't made yet because when I received the fabrics I'd ordered, the colors were all wrong so that one is still pending fabrics. I hope at some point to take the fabrics I've already received and go to a quilt shop and pick out the perfect colors. Mail ordering batik fabric sucks when you're looking for the perfect shades.

To be honest, now that I've participated in WOOFA for two years, most of my old UFOs have been finished (or abandoned) and I have almost no in-progress projects but I do have quite a few fabric sets I purchased during the pandemic. So, I decided to plan for an overall monthly goal, rather than for specific quilt designs. I don't want to feel so locked into a schedule that I can't participate in unanticipated Sew Alongs. That way, I can just choose to go wherever my mood takes me. 

So, for 2022,  I would like to finish an average of one quilt each month for family/friends, including lap-sized quilts. I've made a page where I link up the quilts I've put into EQ8 (not necessarily my designs), so when I am in the mood for a new quilt, I can start there for inspiration.

It would be nice to learn how to applique and foundation piece. I've been wanting to try both techniques for a couple years now and I'm hoping this will be the year that I either take a class or just follow along from books/videos.

I would like to become proficient using my new Handiquilter long arm, beyond just edge-to-edge. I want to be able to quilt borders and blocks separately, I want to be able to fill odd-shaped areas, and I want them to look professionally done. 

I hope to finish quilting the dozen or so unquilted flimsies I've accumulated during the past couple of years. 

I'd like to be more disciplined about making pillowcases as soon as I finish the bed-size flimsies. I don't want to have to keep leftover fabrics separated from the stash simply because I'm too lazy to spend another hour or two actually finishing everything I planned.

Finally, I would like to engage with both of the Portland-area Quilt Guilds (Northwest Quilters and Portland Modern Quilt Guild) by participating in some of their activities. I'd like to make some local friends who share my enthusiasm for quilting.

I'm linking up with JetGirl's 2022 Planning Party.

Tuesday ToDo #21

I made fairly good progress on my list from last week. These were the tasks I was hoping to work on last week:

1.    Cut out additional papers for the Japanese Poppies EPP (English paper piecing) project. ✔︎

2.    Work on the EPP project whenever we're not at home. ✔︎

I actually spent a few hours on this project when we went to a friend's house for a gaming day.

3.    Continue work on the Unbeweavable Lap Quilt. ✔︎

Flimsy finished! I blogged about it here.

4.    Make backing for the Finger Lakes Log Cabin Flimsy.

  

I cut out the pieces, but I haven't sewn them together yet. My main goal was to make sure I had enough fabric and I did.

5.    Work on Halloween Monster Wreath from my WOOFA list (or ditch the project). ❌

I also worked on tidying up my sewing room. I am trying to finish up projects that are lying around, so with that goal in mind, my list for next week:

1. Work on the EPP project whenever we're not at home.
2. Make a purse clutch that fits in my craft tote.
3. Work on the Halloween Monster Wreath from my WOOFA list (or ditch the project).
4. Make pillowcases to match the Harvest Quilt I finished last year.

5. Make pillowcases for the Snake River log cabin quilt.
6. Make pillowcases for the Finger Lakes log cabin quilt.

Since we're already halfway through August, I'm also trying to focus on tasks from my 2021 WOOFA list. I definitely won't get everything finished by the end of the year, but I may as well try and get as much done as I can. I've decided to try and work on the Sea Swept quilt next; it's been on my WOOFA list for two years now. Despite being frustrated with my fabric, I'll just choose the best fabrics that I have. Or maybe I'll mix some of them up and make it a bit more scrappy. I have already spent way too much money buying fabric online for this project.

7. Finish making cut files in the Cricut Design Space.
8. Finalize the fabric selections and prep the fabric for the cutting mats.
9. Cut out the Sea Swept quilt project.

Thanks to ChrisKnits for hosting the Tuesday ToDo linkup.

Unbeweavable Flimsy

Once I got started, it really only took me a couple of days to piece this small lap quilt. The blocks themselves are fairly easy to piece. This flimsy also finishes up one of the projects on my WOOFA 2021 list, though it will take me a while to finish quilting it. I've ordered a Handiquilter long arm so it's just going to have to sit tight until I get it set up and get enough class time/practice that I feel confident enough to quilt it myself.

I originally saw this quilt pattern on one of the reddit quilting lists and I went looking for the rulers that folks use to cut this out, but they are designed to make 6" blocks. I decided I wanted my blocks to be smaller because I wanted to use more colors; my blocks are only 4". I had originally planned to cut it out by hand with templates, but once I got the Cricut Maker I figured this would be a perfect project to practice using the machine. 

I was able to export the SVG file for block #2562 from BlockBase+ and make only minor adjustments in the Cricut Design Space. I'm quite sure it would have taken me more than a day cutting this out by hand, but instead, it only took a few hours with the Cricut. 

The block itself, according to BlockBase+, is called Washington's Puzzle and was originally published by the Ladies Art Company in 1895. It was then published again in 1973 by Beth Gutcheon with the name Checkerboard Skew. It is a fun block so I would definitely like to try making this pattern again, maybe with a rainbow. This might be a fun project for next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I'm linking up with 

• Design Wall Monday
• Monday Making
• TGIFF, being hosted this week by Songbird Designs
• Brag About Your Beauties
• Peacock Party
• Quilting Patchwork Applique

Meadow Flower Lap Quilt Flimsy

The Meadow Flower flimsy is finished! This more than completes my One Monthly Goal, which was to get started on an EPP (English Paper Piecing) project. This also completes a project from my 2021 WOOFA list. 

This was my first ever EPP project so I wanted to do something relatively simple so I could get the hang of it. I really enjoyed working on this project so I am definitely going to do more EPP projects. It's wonderful to have something to work on when I'm out of the house.

Even though I wanted this as a project primarily for when I was off doing things outside of the home, I have to admit I did work on it fairly often while I was at home. It was a fun project and once I only had 4 blocks left to finish, it was too difficult to resist the lure of finishing before the end of the month.

The flower block is from BlockBase+ (#4143) and is called Meadow Flower.  According to BB+, it was originally published by the Old Chelsea Station Needlecraft Service in the 1930s. I exported the SVG file from BB+ and cut it out on my new Cricut Maker, so it was super easy to make this project.

That wild floral print is a really old fabric I bought in around 2000 to make square dance clothes. The rest of the coordinating prints are just a random assortment of fabrics from the stash.

I'm linking up with

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Finished or Not Friday at Alicia Quilts

Off the Wall Friday

One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts & More

Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

WOOFA at Gone Stitchin'

Tuesday To Do #18

Has it really been a week since I last made a To-Do list? My, how summer is flying by. I'm having a hard time resisting the urge to sew but I really need to finish a stained glass project I started more than a decade ago so I can sell off the supplies and clear some room in the basement. I ordered a Handiquilter Infinity long arm and I can't have it delivered until I come up with a 14'x7' space in our basement family room. You'd think it would be difficult to keep me from that project, but surprisingly not.

Anyway, back to last week's list.

1.    Assemble the long border pieces for the Finger Lakes log cabin. ✔︎

2.    Finish the Finger Lakes log cabin flimsy. ✔︎

The flimsy is finished. I posted about it here.

3.    Assemble the backing for the Finger Lakes log cabin quilt.

I don't feel like doing this right now. It will be quite a long time before I manage to quilt this into a finished quilt so it can wait for now. I also need to make some pillowcases. I'll set the fabric aside and return to the project later this fall.

4.    Continue sewing the Meadow Flower blocks when we're out of the house. ✔︎

The quilt is nearly finished. I am sewing on the last black border pieces on four of the blocks. The rest are finished. I may actually manage to finish the flimsy this coming week.

5.    Start figuring out how to cut out the Unbeweavable Lap Quilt (from my WOOFA 2021 list). ✔︎

Figured out and Complete. I posted about it here. 

I actually spent a couple hours last night starting to put blocks together. These angles hurt my brain; I keep making mistakes on the assembly so it will be a bit of a slog until I get into the routine (and memorize the orientation of the pieces). And I'm also trying to figure out which direction to iron all the seams so they are oriented in the opposite direction as the adjacent block. It will take a bit of trial and error to figure everything out.

Also, last night I realized I cut out twice as many pieces as I need. Oops. If I cut out another set of black pieces, I could actually make another quilt with the weaves going in the opposite direction. We'll see how this one goes first before I decide to make another. LOL

My list for the coming week:

1. Continue to work on the Meadow Flowers Lap Quilt.
2. If I finish the Meadow Flower blocks, trim them down to size and piece the flimsy on the machine.
3. Choose fabrics for the next EPP project. (I've already cut out the papers.)
4. Cut out the fabric pieces for the next EPP project.
5. Continue work on the Unbeweavable Lap Quilt.

Linking up with

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Making at Live, Love, Laugh blog

Tuesday ToDo at Chris Knits

Drop on by if you want to see what everyone else has been up to.

Tuesday To Do #17

Last week I filled my To Do list with tasks I didn't think I would actually get to, but I did. I guess my motivation to sew is pretty high right now since I'm close to finishing a complicated project.

1.    Assemble the central portion of the Finger Lakes log cabin quilt. ✔︎

2.    Start piecing the border blocks. ✔︎

I am nearing the end of the Finger Lakes Log Cabin quilt. I finished piecing the central portion early last week.

Then I built the strips and blocks for the border during the later part of the week. What a miserable project that was; I couldn't believe how many mistakes I made. Clearly, there was some failure in my process when I was prepping the strips. I did more ripping than I've done in a very long time, but the blocks are done and I do love them, but I am going to take a couple days off this project. I'll try to get it done by Friday for TGI Finished Friday. LOL

3.    Rework the hanging hooks on the design wall. ✔︎

I have plaster walls in my house so I'm unwilling to drive screws into them to mount this so I actually installed picture hangers along the top edge of the foam and suspended it from the picture rail with picture rail hooks. It works well enough. It's not a very large design wall, but it's much better than nothing. 

4.    Continue to sew the Meadow Flower blocks when we're out of the house. ✔︎

5.    Cut out the Irish Chain blocks for the Meadow flower lap quilt.  ✔︎

And I've obviously made some progress on my meadow flower lap quilt. I'm happy with how this is turning out too and I'm definitely going to do more EPP projects in the future. It's a great little handwork project for when I'm away from home.

For next week, I would like to:

1. Assemble the long border pieces for the Finger Lakes log cabin.
2. Finish the Finger Lakes log cabin flimsy.
3. Assemble the backing for the Finger Lakes log cabin quilt.
4. Continue sewing the Meadow Flower blocks when we're out of the house.
5. Start figuring out how to cut out the Unbeweavable Lap Quilt (from my WOOFA 2021 list). I had to change the color scheme because I didn't have enough of the fabric I originally planned.
   
   
   

   

   This is the current fabric palette, but I may make
   some changes if I find fabrics that work better.

Thanks to Chris for hosting the Tuesday ToDo linkup. Also, thanks to Judy for hosting Design Wall Mondays linkup. Drop on by if you want to see what everyone else has been up to.

Love My New Cricut!

I got a new Cricut Maker 3 machine on Monday and spent the afternoon cutting papers for the Hatter quilt. At least enough to get started. I'm expecting to be able to reuse some of the pieces.

Yesterday morning I was hoping to get started on the Hatter quilt, but I am still waiting for fabrics to arrive. I ordered a black and white stripe as well as a light purple. They seem to be taking a long time as I ordered them over a week ago.

While I was trying to decide what to do, I was looking at my WOOFA list and realized I have yet another quilt that would work great as an EPP, and I have everything I need for it already.

Meadow Flower Lap Quilt

Luckily I was able to find this block in BlockBase+ so it was really easy to import it into the Cricut Design Space and make minor modifications.

It only took me a couple of hours to cut out all the papers and then I tried cutting out fabric for the first time.  It was like magic!

OMG, this took maybe 3 minutes to cut out.

I cut the center gold squares out of a scrap from the bin.

Cutting out all the papers and all the fabrics took maybe 6 hours and I suspect I'll get faster as I get more experienced with the design software. And the glue I ordered came today, so now it's time to get gluing.

Linking up with Midweek Makers.

Finally Finished

I started these projects last year and added them to my 2021 WOOFA list, hoping I could motivate myself to finish them up this year. Since I cleared my One Monthly Goal so quickly, I decided I really should pull out these UFOs again.

I started the overnight bag in August. I actually found the directions in a YouTube video and this was the second one I made. However, I would recommend if you use a heavy tapestry fabric, do not add interfacing (at least not as thick as the video recommended). It made my seams too thick to sew on my pfaff by the end and I actually had to hand-sew the ends together when I sewed in the lining. (That's why I set it aside last year and didn't finish it right away.)

Savoring that finish, I decided I would also turn my attention to the three circle denim bags I started last November. I don't know what I was thinking, starting three of these at once; I'd forgotten how long they take to finish after the panels are assembled. I will NOT be making more of these as they don't use enough of the denim to make it worth the time. 

Normally, I would have used salvaged denim for the entire bag, but I just wanted to get these bags finished as quickly as possible so I used some new denim gifted to me last summer. These bags are fully lined with a second bag inside because I wasn't sure how strong the denim circles are and we tend to really load up our shopping bags.

I'm happy to be able to link up with TGI Finished Friday, Finished (or Not) Friday, Whoop Whoop, and Peacock Party. 

I am ecstatic to get these projects cleared out of my sewing room because now that I've finished these projects, I will let myself start a new quilt for tonight's Friday Night With Friends, I just need to pick which one. =)

TuesdayToDo #7

Last week my to-do list was to work on catching up on the Sewcialites QAL. I was successful. I already finished all of the blocks published to date. These are some of my favorites, so far.

Since they only publish one block a week, I think I will turn my attention to some other project for the rest of the month. I have a couple of UFOs on my WOOFA list for the year and it sure would be nice to finish them.

• Finish 3 Denim Tote Bags
• Finish Jeff's Overnight Bag

I'll be pretty happy if I can get one of them done this week, but it sure would be nice if I could finish them all.

Garrick Finished

Well, almost. It still needs buttons and a little bit of handwork but the hard part has been finished. I think it needs buttons that are larger than an inch and I don't have any in my stash, so I'll need to go shopping. At this point, I think I'll wait until after I've been vaccinated.

This completes my March One Monthly Goal, for the most part. I got really distracted earlier in the month and didn't think I would make it, so I'm pretty relieved.

This also is on my 2021 WOOFA list, so it's nice to be able to cross it off.

Linking up with TuesdayToDo. For next week, I'm hoping to get started cutting out my next quilt. I'm not really sure which one is next; I want to make everything at once. LOL

March One Monthly Goal

More than a year ago, Jeff asked me to make him this Georgian-style overcoat. I'm not sure why, but this project really intimidates me. It's been such a long time since I made any kind of period clothing (but I used to make medieval clothing all the time, without patterns). I just need to make myself do it, thus I am choosing it as my March One Monthly Goal. Hopefully, I will do it.

Check out everyone else's plans at Elm Street Quilts' One Monthly Goal and good luck to all participating.

Feb End of Month Update

Thanks to Cheryl for hosting the 2021 WOOFA challenge; it helps motivate me to finish my UFOs. I find it fun to start projects but I often don't get around to finishing them without some extra prodding. 

I can't believe February is already over. This month went so fast. Despite the short month, I made a lot of good progress on my WOOFA list.

I finished binding the Queen's Jewel Quilt and I made four sets of matching pillowcases. I also made a matching dress for Jeff's stuffed dog, Louisa.

I finished binding my (Lenton Rose) Batik Flower Quilt and I made two sets of matching pillowcases. Next time I'm in the mood, I'll make a dress that matches this quilt.

I finished binding the Fire Dance quilt and I made two sets of matching pillowcases. I'd also like to make a matching dress for this quilt too eventually.

I finished binding my Harvest Gathering Quilt and I made two sets of pillowcases. This is the photo from the long arm quilter; I still need to lay it out on a bed to take photos.

And, finally, I finished binding my Xmas Quilt and I made one set of pillowcases. I would still like to make one more set of pillowcases but I need to dig out the fabric. I also haven't taken photos of this one.