Mid Year Review

It's hard to believe 2020 is half over now. Everything has changed since I set goals for the year. Let's take a look. This is a wordy post, so if you're not interested, skip it.

2020 Goals:

1. Use (or give away) at least as much fabric as I bring into the stash. 

2. Blog at least once a week; continue posting monthly goals and stash reports because they keep me focused and accountable.

3. As time permits, continue making donation quilts (see #9).

4. Review list of UFOs and determine whether to keep and finish or get rid of each one. Finish at least two of the projects on the list. 

5. Send unquilted donation tops to someone who can/is willing to quilt and donate them.

6. Participate in Hands2Help and 12DCiJ. 

7. Do something with the STLMQG Color BOM blocks, perhaps inspired by the Gypsy Wife concept. 

8. Complete WIGSP Piecing Group project to a flimsy.

9. Prep for moving to AZ and possibly living in temporary housing for several months.

Okay, Items 1 and 2 are still valid. My stash is down more than 38 yards for the year, mostly due to the fact that the Paducah AQS Show was cancelled and my annual stash replenishment didn't take place. I'm still blogging and posting monthly reports. 

Let's skip around a bit and address item 9.  Everything else on the list was planned to get done mostly in the first few months of the year because we anticipated moving anytime after May. In March we were booked to go out to AZ and look for - hopefully buy - a house in Pebble Creek. We had appointments with the realtor, the lender, the financial advisor etc. booked and also some recreational plans. Then the virus hit, the stock market tanked, and we cancelled our trip. Plans to move to AZ are on hold until next year. We are hugely disappointed. 

Link to Pebble Creek website

Since the move to AZ is postponed, DH put off his retirement date from April 30 to July 31, but he's been working from home so we're "practicing" for being retired. We cancelled a trip to our favorite beach on the Gulf Coast planned for May. Our state and county had stay home orders until early May and "safer at home" since then with limited openings, so I've been mostly at home since mid March.  I cancelled my gym membership. Now I have a lot more time than I anticipated to get stuff done. 

Back to the goals list: 
Items 4 and 5, UFOs and unquilted tops: I sent four unquilted tops that I knew I would never quilt myself to Kat of Kat and Cat Quilts for Covered in Love. So far she's finished and posted about two of them. I finished a UFO that was started with bee blocks a couple years ago, and a baby quilt UFO. I'm currently working on another baby quilt that was a PIGS. 

Donated top, quilted by Kat for Covered in Love

UFO with bee blocks, finished for Hands2Help

Item 6, Hands2Help and 12DCiJ:  I sent the above quilt to Happy Chemo (story here) and three kid/baby quilts to Little Lambs Foundation for Hands2Help. 12DCiJ isn't taking place this year. 

Item 7, the STLMQG color BOM blocks: I puzzled them together into a flimsy which was finished in March. I had planned to show it at the April STLMQG meeting, but that and all subsequent meetings have been cancelled. The top is now basted and ready for quilting, but a friend is ordering some invisible thread for me and the order is delayed. 

STLMQG 2019 Color BOM

Item 8, the Piecing Group WIGSP (Work in Glacially Slow Progress): I hosted Piecing Group in February as scheduled and received the last blocks from my friends. I told them that after the March meeting I was resigning from the group since I'd be moving soon. I really pushed during February to finish hand-piecing the top so I could show it to the group in March. I felt I owed it to them to finish it, since they'd helped me make it over several go-rounds since 2008. They surprised me with a going-away party at the March meeting. (No meetings have been held since.)

Piecing Group with my WIGSP Flimsy

Which brings us back to Item 9, prep for moving: Back in February we had a realtor come look at our house to tell us what we need to do to get it ready to put on the market. Turns out, not too much. We've removed some wallpaper and have plans to powerwash and paint the deck after DH retires. I got bids from moving companies and PODS, etc.  I worked some on sorting and downsizing and interviewed an estate sale professional. We can still address all that when the time comes. Meanwhile all that activity is on hold. 

So, Item 3: As time permits, continue making donation quilts  

Well, since I've been stuck home due to the virus and I have a lot of time on my hands, I've been making a lot of baby quilts for donation to Operation Shower. Baby quilts are small enough that I can baste them on my cutting table and don't have to crawl around on the floor. I've been making 2-3 baby quilts a month these last couple of months. I guess I'll keep it up for as long as necessary. 

That leaves the rest of the year to pretty much continue with these same goals. I keep thinking I want to make something complicated and long-term, but inspiration hasn't struck yet and I'm not going to force it. I'm also thinking I might post a couple of tutorials, one for my basket weave  top and one for my strippy spiral. 

So, as I said when I originally posted my 2020 goals, I should just keep it simple: 

 - Buy fabric

 - Pet fabric

 - Cut something

 - Sew something

 - Quilt something

Can't go wrong there, right? 

From PIGS to WIP: Positively Peachy

Packed away in a box labeled Work on at Retreat was a bag with some FQs and coordinating fabrics. Three of the FQs were from a Riley Blake line called Calliope dated 2013. It's rare that I use a fabric collection, but I must have acquired these at some point and kept them together. Some of the fabrics were cut into 4-1/2" squares. 

However, a couple of the FQs measured only 17-1/2". I needed the full 18". That's probably why the project was packed away. 

 

An 18" FQ should yield four rows of 4-1/2" cut squares. But 17-1/2" would yield fewer squares and a lot of waste. OK, what can I do with this? 

If I want four rows of squares from 17-1/2", the maximum size I can cut the squares is 4-3/8" which would be 3-7/8" finished. 4-1/2" cut squares would be 4" finished and ten across would be 40". Ten of the 3-7/8" finished squares would be 38-3/4".  Not a significant difference if my pattern uses only squares, but a huge PIA if my pattern is any more complex than that. 

Okay, a simple Plus quilt will work. I trimmed the previously cut squares down to 4-3/8" and cut more from the rest of the fabrics in the bag. I found a couple additional fabrics in my stash that work with the overall palette and cut enough for a baby quilt. Here it is laid out on the design wall. 

Soft mid-tone and pastel shades of peach and seafoam in a modern Plus layout. This will make a nice baby quilt for Operation Shower. And it moves this project from a PIGS to a WIP. 

Link ups: 
Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Love Laugh Quilt

Bright Strippy Spiral Flimsy

This was a squirrel that I just had to chase a couple months ago. I love how it turned out!

It was inspired by something I saw online, and if I knew where I saw it I would give credit, but unfortunately I don't. The original inspiration was concentric squares, not spiral, and white, not black. 

I tried to get a good photo earlier this week, but the wind was helping just a bit too much. 

The flimsy is 60 x 68", a good throw size for a short person like me. I want to get a bright large scale Kaffe Fasset print for the backing. 

I plan to quilt it myself and keep it. My hope is that this will be for outdoor living during the winter when we move to AZ, but since the move is on hold, it may be next year at the earliest that we could move. 

Link ups: 
Confessions of A Fabric Addict

Alycia Quilts

Wendy's Quilts and More

My Quilt Infatuation

June Stash Report and Goals Update

Seems like whether I feel motivated or not, I have a lot of time at home so I've been sewing a lot. So much so that I needed to refresh my stash this month, but that helped revive my sewing mojo. I finished piecing and/or quilted several projects this month, so it was a productive month in the sewing room. I purchased this cute little bird print...

 ...and this is what became of it: 

Little Birds top

June Stash Report

IN this month: 13-1/8 yards (3-1/2 yards from QF.  7-3/8 yards wide backing from Backside Fabrics. 2-1/4 yards solid Kona colors.)

OUT this month: 10-1/2 yards (Basket Weave top (my fabrics only) 4 yards. Round Robin top 2-3/4 yards per EQ and binding 3/8 yard. Little Birds top 2-1/2 yards per EQ. Sea Glass backing 1-3/8 yards and binding 3/8 yard.)

IN YTD: 42-5/8 yards

OUT YTD: 77-1/4 yards

YTD Net Change: 38-5/8 yards out

 

Basket Weave Bee Blocks top

Still far more out than in; no wonder my stash was looking a little boring to me.

Sea Glass baby quilt

Goals: 

June Recap

1. Finish piecing Bright Strippy Spiral. DONE, photos Friday. 

2. Talk to Sandy about quilting How Many and Corona Medallion; get and/or prep backings. Yes, talked to Sandy and she's on board. Custom dyed backing from Vicki Welsh for How Many is on order, due to be shipped in late July (her dye order is on backorder). Still need to piece the backing for Corona Medallion.

3. If possible, start quilting Color Spoke Puzzle. No, my friend hasn't been able to place an order for notions including my invisible thread yet. 

4. Layer, baste and quilt Sea Glass baby quilt. DONE. 

5. Finish piecing basket weave bee blocks top. DONE.

6. Design something new and complicated to piece. DONE, created a Jen Kingwell block variation, pieced the block, added to it round-robin style, quilted and bound it for a baby quilt.

Other: bought fabric, pieced another baby quilt top (little birds) 

Round Robin baby quilt

July Goals:

1. Piece backing for Corona Medallion. If backing for How Many arrives, ship everything to Sandy for quilting. 

2. Find fabric, piece backing, baste and quilt Warm Strippy Spiral. 

3. Quilt Little Birds baby quilt. 

4. Plan a more complicated quilt and start piecing it. 

5. Piece and quilt another baby quilt.

6. Find a UFO to work on and move it forward.

I'm sure I'll have plenty of time for sewing in July, so we'll see what I can get done. I'm very glad to have an outlet for baby quilts (Operation Shower) because there are already too many quilts piled up around here. 

Link up: Quilt Fabrication