2015 Ends, 2016 Begins

For 2015 I joined the "choose a word" for the year. Mine was FINISH. I had a lot of areas that needed attention that I had been unmotivated to tackle.

In my living spaces,  I got the major pieces I need to make living in my lovely condo more delightful, including a piece to display quilts, a comfortable sofa and a media console (still need a flat screen TV). I incorporated quite a few organizational pieces into my sewing room. In both spaces I made great headway in culling out things that were just taking up space and donating them to others who will use them.

In the quilting area, I got quite a lot accomplished, even though I was out of commission with illness and surgery for at least 1/4 of the year.  I tallied up what I did in 2015. As far as I can remember:

• 4 quilt tops delivered to be quilted (by someone else), binding put on by me
• 5 tops completed and awaiting quilting
• Completed one center portion of Dear Jane, including quilting every block and assembling it using the QAYG method
• 5 tops donated (they've been in the way for a year or so and I wanted them to be useful for someone)
• 3 pillowcases made and donated for the AQS million pillowcase challenge
• 5 embroidery projects completed and 2 made into pillows, 1 was donated as part of Flood the Streets with Art on Black Friday
• Row by Row done start to finish and a winner for first quilt at KAQ
• One art quilt piece done start to finish to hang at ArtSpace in Herndon this month
• 2 quilts done by longarmer waiting for binding by me
• Hanging sleeves put on 6 quilts/miniquilts
• 4 mini quilts completed start to finish, 2 mini quilt tops done
• Pieced/Finished piecing 6 tops
• Participated in an Embroidery Club at KAQ for 5 months (missed the last one due to eye surgery)
• Took one class sponsored by my quilt guild
• Attended one sewing retreat

I got so much done and I like the idea of choosing a word as a sort of compass for the year. I have a personal phrase that I am keeping to myself for now,  For my home and quilting, I am still contemplating my word.

Time to  plan for 2016!

SVBAQ Pineapple Block Prepped

Now that my background fabrics have been selected and the range of fabrics selected for the applique', I decided to prep the first block in the sew-along - the Pineapple block.  I will be using a wide variety of Grunge Basics for the applique pieces (great idea Suzanne!) and I bought the fabrics for the three Pineapple blocks that appear in the quilt. I may try to place similar colors as they are in the original quilt - we'll see how that goes as we progress

So the first Pineapple block is in the upper left-hand corner, and is pink. Here's my version laid out - it may not end exactly like this as I numbered all of the pieces and the pattern and I have not checked to see if I have the pieces in the right place yet.

It's not sewn down yet as I cannot see well enough to do that yet.

So I will continue to make good use of my light table and trace some more blocks. I think I'll do the yellow Pineapple next.

I'm doing the 20" blocks and it will be my Springtime bedspread if (WHEN) I finish it!

SVBAQ Backgrounds and Layout

I finalized my background fabrics and layout. It's a bit hard to see here, so the photos of the individual blocks will show more detail.

I am using 5 fabrics: black and white stripe; black and white text; purple tone on tone grid; solid lavendar; solid light periwinkle.

I will be using a wide variety of grunge fabrics for the appliqué. 

Patterns Printed for SVBAQ

I had trouble finding a place to enlarge my patterns for the Shenandoah Valley Botanical Album Quilt Along. Most places (FedEx Office and a Staples) said it would be over $100 to enlarge them because I needed an 8 1/2 x 11 page enlarged by 200%. I finally went to a Staples that knew about paper that is 18" x 24" used for engineering drawings. It worked perfectly!

Now onward!  I need to find one more fabric for the block backgrounds and then I will cut the background squares. And the most fun for me, is picking the fabrics for the applique! The top pattern, Pineapple, is the first block in the sew along - this pattern is used three times in the quilt.

I will likely use the method of tracing the pieces onto heavy freezer paper, then ironing the freezer paper to the fabric and turning under the edges with starch. It's a lot of prep work, but I find it's the best way for me to get those edges turned under cleanly.

I still cannot see well enough to sew the applique down, but will get as much done to get the pieces ready as I can.  This will be a fun project!

There's also a Shenandoah Valley Botanical Quilt sew along page on Facebook, if you're interested in following along there.

Mini Quilts

I had never made any mini quilts, and then several months ago I was with friends at Oh Sew Persnickety and we all picked up a cute little mini quilt pattern.

Thimble Blossoms mini - May 2015

Then one night when I couldn't sleep, I made a Scottie block or mini:

Scottie - pinkdeenster - May 2015

And finally, now that I am not doing any Blocks of the Week or Month, I'm doing an online Mini Quilt series called Little Lovelies hosted by Swirly Girls Designs.  I've pieced the first two (for September and October 2015):

Little Lovely Layla - September 2015

Little Lovely Lexi - October 2015

 Now I need to get on the ball and quilt them!  I am going to use basting spray on these to see how I like the technique (since I seem to be very pin basting-challenged).

I'm enjoying these - they are easy to put together in small snippets of time, and I think they're really cute!  For the Little Lovelies series, it looks like I'll be "mad for plaid" when I make them.

(and colvinkiwiquilts- there's GREEN in them!)

Dear Jane Borders

Over the next month I will be working on a project or two in order to determine how my eyes are healing and whether I will need to return for a "tweak" or another procedure. The aim is to get my close vision as good as possible and correct the longer range vision via prism lenses. Not perfect, but will hopefully be better than it has been in recent years.  

One I really am intent on finishing is the borders for my Black &White and Bright All Over Jane.

Here they are partially sewn and 

on my design wall awaiting my initiative to get going.

I am deciding how to quilt them that I can do successfully and that will look good. I have figured out (I think) how to put them on in a QAYG way. Then I need to decide what fabric to use on the back of the borders. So many decisions! 

Another Finish!

I went on a cruise in April 2014 sponsored by Swirly Girls Design and Kelly Ann's Quilting. The quilt was a new design by Swirly Girls Design called Stars at Sea. The pattern called for a white background, but I decided to use a black background instead, so I guess it's now Night Stars at Sea!

I used the machine applied binding again and did a little better this time, I think.

This brings back good memories! I'm roomed with my friend Suzanne on this cruise, and I am still in touch with a couple of ladies we met on that cruise. Fun times.