The List

I know I'm not the only one making list and thinking about crafty goals for 2012.  I'm interested to hear what you guys have in mind for the upcoming year.  My personal goal is to make 12 quilts in 2012.  It just seems like the thing to do, right?  Well I was sharing this with my mom and I think she thought I was a little bit crazy.  But she must have at least half believed me because she did sign up for 12 slots with the long arm quilter (we share) but that really got me thinking could I really do it?  could I afford to do it?  what about the fact I can't commit to a project?  what about all the new quilt alongs in 2012?  what about all the new inspiration?  what would I do with 12 more quilts?  So I made a list to help get me started on the right track.  Of course this list will be subject to change but you know what the heck I can put a rough draft of the list out here just to give you and idea, right.

1. Twisted Fandango- Remember these post.  Well I have everything I need to finish this quilt.  Reality is I'm just working on getting the boarders sewn on and then I'll have a finished quilt top.  I have my backing and binding already so this should be a pretty easy finish if I can just pick it up and then stay on task.
2. Sunny Trails-When Corey first introduced this quilt on Moda Bake Shop I knew I had to make it and I had been waiting for the perfect project to make with Sunkissed.  I ordered all the materials then and it has been sitting waiting for it's chance at the machine.
3. Swell-I was telling Mary (my online buddy) once about how much I liked swell and how I had gotten on board too late to find any.  Well she tracked down a Jelly Roll and sent it to me and then with the help of another online friend and a swap I now have everything I need to make this quilt.  Right now I am leaning towards a quilt from Camille's Book.
4. Farmer's Wife Quilt Along-This quilt along is on holiday right now but when we pick back up the end of January we will be at the half way point.  If I can stay on track or make up a few extra blocks between now and then I should finish in plenty of time to call this one a finish in 2012.  I am still really excited about this quilt and how it will turn out.
5. Anchors Away-Yes the Neptune Quilt.  It scares me a little because the fabric is out of print, it's hard to find, and I have just enough to make this quilt.  It also involves circles and applique neither of which I am happy about but I find that after spending a year on the hunt for everything I need to make this quilt that it has to happen!  Lucky for me my dad has volunteered to help with the cutting.  He might say he was volunteered but either way I'm happy to have him on board for this project.
6. Loulouthi Tiles-Rachel hosted this quilt on her blog and I loved it.  My parents got me the kit for my birthday back in October (thanks again Mom and Dad) and my dad helped me cut it all out.  I will admit it is a little tricky to get those large tiles cut out, luckily there is enough room in the fabric provided in the kits.  I still need to cut my sashing for this one before I can get started on it but I think it will be another fun quilt to put together.
7. Swoon-Santa (or rather my amazing parents) brought me the swoon quilt kit for Christmas this year.  I love the Ruby fabric and the pattern for this one and I am excited to put it together.  I've seen tons of these quilts in blog land made from all sorts of different fabrics and I am excited about having the chance to make one of my own.
8. Multicolored Stars-One of the bees I participated in (and hosted) back in 2010 made these amazing blocks for me and I have yet to put together the quilt top.  The truth is I'm not really sure how I want it to go together and I am at a total loss for quilting it so it has been sitting in my sewing room for a long time.  I am committed to seeing it finished in 2012 it deserves a chance to sparkle.
9. Summer Sampler Quilt Along-This is one of those projects I was late getting started on.  I really wanted to participate but I didn't have what I needed.  Then one of my amazing blog friends hooked me up with this amazing kit to get started.  I jumped in right away and finished the first 3 blocks, then we got to paper piecing.  I've mentioned before I am no good at this.  I really wish I had it in me but I get it all wrong all the time.  So I stalled but I would really like to see this one finished up.
10. Max and Whiskers-This one may be a little bit of a cheater since this quilt is finished and back from being quilted but it still needs binding so technically speaking it isn't finished just yet.  Hopefully those stitches will wait another week or so.  This one may also be a little bit of a cheat because it is one that my mom and I made together.  So I only 1/2 made it.  Do you think that counts?
11. Postcards-When Ashley first made this quilt I loved it and I wanted to make one for myself.  I thought that Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow line (that's how long I've been planning) teamed up with gray for the "grout" would look great.  I've had the bricks cut out for a long time but have yet to get sashing and make this quilt top.
12. Dueling Flurry-My husband and I have matching Christmas Quilts that my mom and I made.  I thought she and I were going to have quilts made to match but in the end she gifted hers to me and now the hubs has mine.  This year we decided to make matching quilts for my brother and SIL.  I'm going to call this dueling flurry for now because I will be making one and so will my mom.  Hopefully they will like them both.
13. Just in case you guys rule out the Max and Whiskers quilt I'll give you a bakers dozen.  Spring Weekends-This quilt top is all put together and about 1/2 quilted.  I just need to order more yellow thread to see this one completed.  Funny how it would be so easy and yet I still procrastinate.

So there you have it a tentative list of hopeful quilts for 2012.  But reality is I have a ton of things in my sewing room I still didn't mention.  Like my chasing chevrons quilt and a few other quilts tops that are hanging in my closet waiting to be quilted.  Then of course there are things like quilt alongs.  Have you seen the one coming up in January.  I'm thinking of making that in child size to either donate in 2012 or have on standby for one of the babies I know that are coming soon :)

Stay tuned because I have plenty of Christmas projects to show you in the next week or so and then hopefully we will be spending more time together in 2012 learning new things and accomplishing new goals together.  So go ahead throw it out there.  What are your quilting plans for 2012?  I'd love to hear all about them.  Who knows you might just throw my list completely off track :)

Sometimes It's Just Hard

I've been meaning to update my blog for a while in fact I have even sat down and started writing out blog post only to leave them unattended until they are no longer relevant.  Things here have just been hard lately.  It doesn't seem possible that Christmas is just a few short days away.  Don't panic it's not here yet but I am sure I will be putting the finishing touches on presents on Christmas Eve.  A few of those gifts are actually surprise gifts that I am very excited to be gifting.  Not that I don't always put a lot of thought into my gift giving but this year there are a few that are pretty sentimental and I'm hoping the recipients will love them as much as I do.  Plus this is the first Christmas with my nephew so I am super excited to see the joy through a little ones eyes this year.

This is what my tree currently looks like, it's only about 1/2 decorate because I just wasn't really feeling it this year.  Like I said it's been hard.  I had the tree about 1/4 of the way done when we had to take our bulldog to the emergency vet.  Unfortunately she never got to come home with us and so like I said it's been hard around here lately.  After that I managed to get enough ornaments on the tree for it to not look too sad and I've managed to wrap the two gifts you see there.  I guess I better get busy and wrap some more since Christmas is almost here.

Denali Snowberry Boyd July 21, 2005-December 5, 2011

I have been making some progress on a few projects.  I started slowly sewing together my hexagon charm quilt.  I decided to just go with an all over scrappy look.  It's very slow going and I'm not very good at it so I'm just hoping and praying the darn thing will stay together when it's finished.

Hexagon Quilt

I also managed to make a few of the blocks for my chasing chevrons quilt along quilt.  The quilt along is actually wrapping up but I'm still working away at it making blocks.  I've been sidetracked some by projects I can't share here just yet but as soon as the presents are opened I promise to write about them here.

Chasing Chevrons

Wishing you and yours a very     

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Departure from the Norm

 How is it that about this time every year I get quilting ADD. Okay so I know I have it all year but right now I should be putting finishing touches on Christmas gifts and making sure everything is ready to go.  Instead I'm busy starting new projects.  I told you if I could eek out some time I was going to join in with Jennifer on her newest quilt along.  Immediately I thought it would be a good chance to use some of the Garden Party I have slowly been collecting.  But when I pulled out my collection I realized it was a lot smaller than I thought.  I actually have a pretty good mix when I add my Garden Party and Good Folks together and since I know I will never manage to collect all of the pieces to either collection I decided to mix them together and use them for this quilt along and then swap out anything I have left when I'm done.  If your looking for either one let me know and I'll put you at the top of my list.  Be warned though I'm not sure when I will actually be done with this project.

Okay so I went into the store planning to be just plain jane and pick up some Kona Snow.  It's a safe choice and I use it in just about everything and since I couldn't remember exactly how much I needed if I bought a little too much it would be okay.  And then I saw this really pretty hand dyed fabric in this deep burgundy purple.  Then I saw the price tag and though hum my rough guess was 4 yards and this stuff is almost $15 bucks a yard.  Needless to say I didn't buy the hand dyed fabric.  I probably would have invested if it was a quilt that I had a plan for and new for sure it would work but I wasn't totally sold on the fact that it would look good with the fabrics and I don't really have a plan for this quilt it just looked like it might be fun.  Instead I took the hand dyed fabric back over to the Kona wall and settled on Kona Garnet.  Now this is such a departure from the white, off white, and gray that I've used in past quilts where a solid was required.  I made up a few blocks tonight when I should have been making pot holders.  I'm going to let them sit on the wall for a few days and see if I still like them.  But I'd love your feedback.  Is it too much?  Do you like it?  Do you not like it?  Would you scrap it and go back to Kona Snow?  Is there another color you would suggest?

To all of my US Friends I hope you all have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving and stay safe if are going to brave the crowds on Black Friday.

A Little Farming (Week 25)

Pretty little stack of blocks

My love hate relationship with the farmer is continuing.  I haven't been making a whole lot of progress on this one lately and it's already week 25 which means I should have 50 blocks completed and be just about half way done.  But I only have 40 blocks finished.  In reality I'm not as far behind as I thought I was.  Just ten blocks really isn't too bad and really I have one that just needs a little fixing and two that could be finished if I wasn't remaking them because I don't like the fabric choices.  But when all is said and done and all things are accounted for I have a strong 40 blocks and I'm okay with that.  Here's a look at what I worked on this past week.

Block # 5 Bat Wing

Block # 8 Bouquet

Block # 44 Gentleman's Fancy

I think Bouquet is my favorite out of this group.  I like them all but that one is just so cute.  Sorry for the bad lighting but my sewing space doesn't have great light.  I keep wanting to get one of those daylight lamps for my room but haven't yet.  Maybe Santa will bring me one (wink wink).

Please don't mind the mess I ripped my sheets off my bed to snap this photo.

Here is a look at them all laid out together in no particular order.  I pulled the sheets off my bed and threw them all out there together and snapped a quick picture.  I don't have a design wall and I have these all put in a plastic tub as I finish them so I was hoping to get a feel for balance of color.  Funny even in this photo Farmer's Puzzle and the Snowball block stick out as my favorites.  Do you have a favorite block yet?

Sometimes It's Just Life

I got to work and open my lunchbox only to find that the milk for my cereal that morning had spilled in the bottom of the bag.  I cleaned up the mess and contemplated what I would eat without milk for my cereal.  As I loaded the rest of my lunch back in the bag my peach that was way too soft already and should have probably been thrown out hit my water bottle and exploded.  Yes exploded!  It was a mess and I was angry.  I grumbled under my breath about what a great day it was going to be.  Yup that pretty much sums up the way my days have been going as of late. 

I haven't been sewing very much and the few things I have been sewing are for Christmas presents so I haven't been able to blog about them just yet either.  Now no excuses, it annoys me when people don't blog for a while and then apologize and promise they will do better so I'm not going to do that because reality is with it this close to the Holidays and less than 1/2 of the items on my Holiday Sewing List complete I probably won't have much time for sewing things I can share in this space so it would just be an empty promise anyway.

If I do find some time to sew just for fun I fully intend to participate in this quilt along.  It looks like a lot of fun and having used Jennifer's last quilt along to sew up my Spring Weekends quilt I know her instructions will be easy to follow.  I even picked out my fabrics already.  I'm planning to make use of my Garden Party fabrics with a lovely gray I think.  Of course I may change my mind twenty times between now and then.

Also over at the Old Red Barn Quilt Along Group we are just gearing up to make Dresden's.  I am considering making a few of these blocks for some Holiday Throw Pillows.  Or I might just make some everyday throw pillows for my living room.  It's pretty plain right now and the place could use a little jazzing up. 

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along Week 20

So here we are at week 20 of the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along.  I am still loving working on these little blocks at my leisure without the rush of needing to finish something.  Since I made so many blocks early on I gave myself some time off to work on other projects (like those must finish holiday gifts) and then I sort of just slacked off for a while in the sewing room to.  Do you ever feel like that?  Like you love sewing but every time you go into your space to sew you just get distracted or can't decide what to work on and before you know it the time is gone and you haven't made anything.  I get that way sometimes and usually the distraction is reading blocks and looking at flickr which just leads to more must make projects.

This week though I made six blocks.  This brings my "official" block total to 36 which is still two blocks behind schedule.  Well I have 3 more blocks that are basically done.  Whirlwind which still has a corner turned the wrong way.  It will be easy enough to fix I just need to take the seam ripper to it.  I also made Blocks 1 &2 Attic Windows and Autumn Tints early on using a solid fabric.  Well I decided I didn't like the solid even if it is just Kona Snow and haven't used it in any blocks since so I need to take the seam ripper to those as well or just remake the blocks.  Those two luckily will be pretty easy.

Block # 14 Butterfly at the Crossroads

Block # 33 Farmer's Puzzle

 

 

 

 

Farmer's Puzzle is my new favorite block.  I used Lori from Bee in My Bonnet's tutorial on easy corners and this one went together really well.  I love how impactful it looks in person.  It's not as bold in the picture but hanging on my design wall (piece of batting taped to the wall) it looks 3D.

Block # 46 Hill & Valley

Another trick I figured out this week (I know I can hear you guys laughing now, but yes it just occurred to me) is that if I spray all my fabrics will Best Press and iron them before cutting any pieces I have less stretch and pull at the end with the final block.  This was especially helpful with block 46 Hill & Valley although it still isn't perfect it is a lot better than I expected it to be.

Block # 54 Kitchen Woodbox

Block # 58 Mother's Dream

Block # 77 Seasons

Hello...

Funny things happen around the internet when so many sewers meet in one place at the same time.  Flickr has been strangely quiet, blogs haven't been updated, and the online quilting community is like a ghost town.  Funny, right?  I wasn't able to attend sewing summit this year but I can't wait to hear how it went and all about the adventures I know so many of my online friends are having this weekend.

You know what else happens when you aren't spending all of your sewing time reading about what everyone else is being creative and making?  You actually get some sewing done.  I spend my sewing time this weekend working on a quilt I can't show you just yet (Christmas present) and some Farmer's Wife Quilt Along Blocks.  I was so excited that I had made extras early on that I gave myself some time off to work on my quilts for 100 Quilts for Kids but realized this weekend that I was starting to get behind so I made a few blocks.

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along Blocks

I may or may not have made even more since snapping this picture earlier this afternoon.  Okay I'll give you a clue I did but more on those on Tuesday.  Other than that it has been a pretty normal weekend.  The hubs had to work so I spent my time "playing house," (my mom is still trying to convince me it sounds less like work when you call it play) sewing, and making a mall run.

Target Goodie Bag.  Samples and Coupons make for a good day!

I went to the mall to get some new clothes for work.  I need some more options but I got distracted in Target and ended up getting groceries and coming home instead.  Are the Target's near you remolding?  Ours just added a fresh foods section.  Just when I was ready to give up on Target they woo me back in.  Check out this goodie bag they were passing out today.  And the prices on their new grocery options are comparable to any grocery store.  Plus they carry Panera Bread products.  I almost stocked up on soup (broccoli and cheese) for work lunches but decided against it since I have homemade soups in the fridge and freezer already.  Remember that bug I got to cook?  It hasn't gone away which is great because we've been enjoying some tasty homemade (or at least semi-homemade) around here as of late.  I'll share more on that soon.  Promise!

Hope you all had a great weekend and if you went to the sewing summit I'd love to hear about it.