Taking Stock: 2014 year end review

Stash report:

December turned out to be a very good month because of several finishes. The Plus Dash top used 10 yards, the Secret Sewing #3 used 5-1/4 yards, and the Christmas potholders used 1-3/4 yards for a total of 17 yards out. Only 7 yards came in, my winnings from STLMQG and the fabric I bought for the potholders. Pretty good, 10 yards more used than came in!

Some of my STLMQG winnings

So, here are the 2014 totals:
IN: 167-1/4 yards
OUT: 155-1/8 yards
Net change: 12-1/8 yards added to the stash.
All in all, a very good year. I didn't break even as I had hoped, but only adding 12 yards isn't too bad.

Now I get to start 2015 with a clean slate. I doubt I'll acquire or use as much fabric in 2015 because some of the 2014 usage was for book quilts and there aren't any book quilts in the works for 2015. As you can see in the previous post below, I finished 18 quilts in 2014, by far a record for me, and I don't expect that kind of productivity in 2015.

 

Goals:

December recap: Other stuff got in the way and I got sidetracked so I didn't accomplish some of what I had hoped to. I added an extra Christmas project at the last minute which wasn't originally on the list. I will need to more carefully consider what I put on the list each month and focus better in 2015.

1. Finish secret baby quilt #3.  DONE
2. Work on project for potential publication. Not touched. Some attention with the seam ripper is needed.
3. Finish Plus Dash top. DONE
4. Work on adding borders to CSQ raffle quilt (top is due to long-armer in January) Not done yet but is absolutely first up in January.
5. Keep up with bee blocks.  DONE
6. Design cover for Broken Chevron pattern in Photoshop. Not done.
7. Design cover for Plus Dash pattern in Photoshop. Should not have been put on the list because the top must be quilted, bound, and photographed before I can Photoshop the pattern cover. Plus Dash is on the long-armer's waiting list and piecing the back is on my list for January.

Other: 10 Christmas potholders for gifts, DONE

January Goals:
1. Add borders to CSQ raffle quilt.
2. Design cover for Broken Chevron pattern in Photoshop.
3. Piece backing for Plus Dash top.
4. Work on project for potential publication.
5. Keep up with bee blocks.
6. Prep project to work on at Girl Scout Camp retreat in Feb.

Year-long goals: I'm hesitant to specify anything because I know myself - I'll jump from project to project, lose interest in something, get a new idea and run with it, etc. So, I think I'll just enjoy the process and enjoy the connection with other quilt bloggers. Oh, and I hope to break even in the stash report.

P.S. I still don't know anything about a date for my little book. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it comes out before Paducah Quilt Week in April.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts, and on 1/4/15 with Stash Report Sunday at Patchwork Times.

Close...

I'm close to finishing one of the secret sewing projects; I should have it completely done by Wednesday so I'll be able to count out the fabric for the back and the binding. Meanwhile, nothing in and nothing to count out this week. I'll post a year-end stash summary on the 31st. I'm pretty sure I'll end the year with a few yards more in the stash than I started with, but it was a very good - and busy - year. I think I can count 18 quilts finished for the year, a flimsy, and a couple other projects started.

Many of the projects I worked on in 2014 were secret sewing that I couldn't post here on the blog. I'm hoping that in 2015 I can show more of what I'm working on. I still don't have a date from AQS for when my book will be published, but as soon as it's out, I'll post about it here.

Meanwhile, here are some favorites from 2014:

Big Print Beauty

 

CSQ Charity Quilt

Girl Charity Quilt

 Chain of Love Baby Quilt for Great-nephew Max

30 Circles, for CSQ's 30th Anniversary Challenge

Broken Chevron

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times for Stash Report Sunday.

A Good Christmas

We had a good Christmas, and I hope you did too. Family, friends, and good food.

I can now reveal the last minute secret sewing (previous post below): Christmas potholders for my nieces. Actually I forgot to photograph them all before I wrapped them up, so I grabbed a snapshot of two of them after the recipient opened the gift. I ended up making five of each print. Cute and modern, and they go with the girls' kitchens!

Since these are a finish, I'm linking up with Friday Finish at Crazy Mom Quilts and Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Stash Report 12/21/14

Some spur-of-the-moment last minute Christmas gifts prompted a trip to the fabric store. 1-7/8 yards in. Got them sewn up and ready to wrap. 1-3/4 yards out.

I also finished the flimsy for Plus Dash this week so I get to count that yardage out, too. 10 yards used. (Photo in previous post, below)

I'll tally up the totals for December and for the year at the end of the month. Two more weeks and I can start fresh for 2015, right?  :-)

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times. Check out everyone else's stash management efforts over there.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

...for taking photos.

My Plus Dash flimsy is finally finished, but we'll have to settle for a lousy indoor photo, because it's snowing outside. I pinned it to the design wall at the ceiling and could barely get it all in the photo.

Plus Dash flimsy

This is on my long-arm quilter friend's waiting list. I'm hoping she can get to it in January, so I'd better get busy and piece the back. I'll use leftover prints and a couple extra blocks from the front. I'm hoping she can quilt something interesting in those white spaces; she's good at that. Then I'll bind it with a stripe that perfectly picks up on all those colors.

Linking up with Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Friday Finish at Crazy Mom Quilts.

On the other hand...

On the one hand, I was confident of fabric usage this week because I finished the top of Secret Sewing #3 for 3-1/4 yards out. I didn't buy any fabric. I was hopeful my stash report would show a reduction.

On the other hand...
I went to the STLMQG meeting yesterday. I was one of the participants in this year's War on WIPs, and for each completed WIP (or UFO) from our lists, our names went into a drawing for prizes. I was fortunate to win a FQ bundle of Tula Pink's Parisville for 1-1/4 yards in.

Tula Pink's Parisville from Westminster Fibers

We also had our annual ticket fundraiser. I bought tickets, never really believing I'd win anything, but I won this cute bundle of Playground from Camelot Fabrics. I think it was a kit someone donated, as there are both linear quarters and fat eighths of these prints, and there was white with it as well, for 3-7/8 yards in the bundle.

Playground from Camelot Fabrics

So, 5-1/8 yards in this week. It's all good. I scored some cute fabrics I can use in future projects, and enhanced my stash at very little cost to me. I call that a win, even if my stash numbers did take a hit!
I'll tally the totals for the month and the year at the end of December.

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times for Stash Report Sunday.

Didn't make it into QuiltCon

Broken Chevron

I got the news last night that my quilt Broken Chevron didn't make it into QuiltCon. I'm not disappointed that it didn't get in, just mad at myself for wasting $30 of my very limited quilting budget on the entry. I could have bought fabric with that money!!!

Funny story:
I've privately called this design "Walk Like an Egyptian" since I designed it in EQ and it reminded me of arms and legs going every which way, like that goofy old song. I even started the spiral quilting at the "elbow" because of that. I've never mentioned that name on the blog before because "Broken Chevron" seems like a more descriptive and more professional pattern name for publication.
A quilter in CA is testing the pattern for me and she e-mailed photos of her top. She chose shades of gold with white, and one of the photos shows her top hanging on the wall over her bed, where it looks gorgeous with her decor. She told me she named her quilt "Walk Like an Egyptian."
How cool is that?!!!

I Chose Fabric #3

December First Saturday Block

Five Months of Blocks

We're five months into this BOM. Each month's blocks use 6 different prints and a cream-on-cream background. By the time we're through with the series there will be 72 different prints and 12 backgrounds, so with that many fabrics, it probably doesn't matter which print I chose. I went with the one I liked best, #3 in the post below.

Since this is a BOM project, it will remain a WIP for quite awhile. I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

BOMs & Color Choices

My LQS has a First Saturday BOM that I participate in. It started in August, so we just received the kit for month 5. This year's theme is autumnal forest colors.  There is a main block, like a leaf, and two matching alternate blocks each month. Here's where we're at so far:

First Saturday BOM Blocks

This month's kit for the main - leaf - block has a pastel seafoam green print for the points & squares around the leaf. The pale seafoam seems out of character with everything else, too light and weak. Several of us were talking at coffee after First Saturday, and some of us are planning to swap out something else for the seafoam.

In the photo below, the fabrics in this month's kit are at the upper left. The tan print is the center of the leaf. The brown is for the bars around the center.  And you can see the pale seafoam.  Below these are some greens I've pulled from my stash that I'm considering instead.

Wall with blocks, latest kit fabrics, and green options

In some of the leaf blocks there is high value contrast; in others it's very subtle. I'm guessing it doesn't matter too much. We don't know what the next seven months' colors will look like, although she mentioned that there would be some purple and it hasn't shown up yet.

I've pulled these four greens from my stash. My first one was #3 because it's lighter, but it' also yellower, more olive-cast than any of the other greens in these blocks so far. What do you think? Which one should I use instead of the pale seafoam that came in the kit?  The colors in all these photos look pretty accurate.

Options for green in block

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times. And since I didn't post a stash report yesterday, I'll mention now that no fabric came in last week  and I can't count anything out yet.

Pantone's Marsala

Pantone, the internationally recognized authority on color, has announced it's Color of the Year for 2015: Marsala 18-1438. More info at Pantone's website here.

Image from Pantone's Website

Marsala is a muted shade of wine. In recent years Pantone's Colors of the Year have all been clean and bright, so this is a change of character for their featured color.

It will be interesting to see what impact Marsala has on quilting fabric design. Most of the Modern fabric collections have clear colors, not muted. Marsala seems like it would fit better into traditional and historic fabric designs.

While I like the Modern quilting aesthetic, my home décor is not Modern. It's actually very traditional, with deep warm rich colors. My front room was last painted ten years ago. Guess what? It's so old, it's now au courant! That's right, my wall is Marsala.

My Marsala Wall

I may have a UFO featuring this color. Maybe I should find it and finish it in 2015.

For anyone who's interested, the nearest Kona cotton match to Marsala is Wine 1390.

Kona nearest match to Marsala: 1390 Wine

I think my Marsala décor is whoop-worthy, so I'm linking up with Whoop Whoop Friday over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.


P.S. The items in those picture frames are souvenir tickets that we've collected over the years, from events, vacation destinations, etc. Several years ago when our Christmas budget was very limited, I framed all these tickets and gave them to DH as his Christmas gift.

WIP Wednesday 12/3/14

If I worked on a project during Thanksgiving weekend, and the project generated leftover bits, would those bits be Thanksgiving Leftovers?

snowball trimmings

They came from this process:

my work cut out for me

 

chain piecing

 

snowballs ready to be trimmed

 

 

In other WIP news, my Plus Dash top is coming along. The sashing is complete and now the top is ready for borders, which I'll work on this month. Since it's pressed and I don't want it to get all wrinkled up, I've spread it on the bed in the guest room, on top of the 7 or 8 other quilts that are there for the same reason.

Plus Dash WIP, ready for borders

Linking up with WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced - check out all the other inspiring projects over there.