Here's Looking at 2018

I've been reflecting on my last post of 2018 for the past few days and realizing it's New Year's Eve, now is the time to write a post especially after reading the other reviews and planning post. I don't want to be late or a no show in joining the other end-of-year posts. But before I do my review, I thought I should briefly write about my final quilt/throws for 2019 which were Christmas gifts for my granddaughter Micah and her parents.

Micah's Patchwork Blankie features yardage of a Finding Dory print backed with the prettiest teal Minkee plush which was put together quickly in time to be gifted when Micah came to visit during Christmas.  It was my oldest son's idea (Demando of the Slinky Quilt fame) who had the bright idea when he saw this print in my studio that I should make a quilt for Micah to go along with the Hank Octopus toy (sitting on the ladder, top right) he would purchase.  As you can see there's not a whole lot of Hank, smaller than a beanie baby, who arrived after the blankie was finished.  I told Demando I could have just made a mug rug instead but according to Demando, his niece likes a toy she can hold in her hand.  Besides a Quilt Detective, he's now a Toy Expert.

Last year when I was visiting Micah's house during Christmas, I realized that I've never made her family a Christmas quilt so I planned to make one using most of my Sandy Gervais Holly Jolly collection and other fabrics from her Christmas line.  Since I was short on time, my plan was to back it with the green plush polka dot fabric but I wanted it to feel more substantial so I put fleece in between which makes for a very heavy quilt.  I used fleece before in between before for the usual cotton tops and backs but paired with the plush it makes a very warm and soft and heavy quilt. I thought Micah's parents would not appreciate it but turns out that Micah likes sleeping on top of it with the plush side against her body.  It's not the first time with her family that the backing was preferred over the top.  By the way, this quilt was made with all different size strips and made like my Staggered Strip pattern which you will see more of later in this post.

And now for the review of the 35 projects for 2018, which 33 are finally finished and two are flimsies, which seems to have fallen into categories/groupings or phases.

I participated in eight QALS which six of the quilts are finally finished:

Postcards from Sweden
Wishi Washi, Dot is Crazy
Squiggles, Regatta, Adult Playtime Plus

and two are flimsies for very good reasons:

The Classic Meets Modern hosted by My Quilt Infatuation quilt completion date is January 15 so I'm pretty sure this quilt will be my first finish for 2019.

                           

My Fireburst Mystery Quilt hosted by Tish in Wonderland is still in a "I Don't Know How to Quilt It Yet" phase and I was also distracted with having to complete the two Christmas quilts.  Hopefully, I will finish it in 2019 because I think this would look nice in my son's house.

                                Spa Spurts, Kaffe Fassett Ernie Quilt, Hinto Minto Quilt

                                Smiling Sloths, Big Cat Crossing ,Echinacea

My favorite pattern seems to be any using 2.5" strips since I made six quilts including my Staggered Strips and Squares pattern which I made four variations of it. These quilts were made possible by my die-cutting and 2.5" strip die.

Four Baby Quilts were made and I used the Jungle Boardwalk pattern I created for the 30 Blocks in 30 Days Blog Hop.  It's a great pattern to use for the focal prints and for future Chicago Cubs fans.  As for the Mauve-lous Panda Quilt, I couldn't bear to cut up the very cute Panda print.

Besides the two Christmas quilts backed with plush fabrics, five other quilts were plush-backed and I have to admit I am now a big fan of making patchwork throws now.  It's a quick finish since light quilting is done and they make good snugglers.  I should admit now that my stash of plushes have increased so I am pretty sure I'll be doing more of these in 2019.

Going clockwise from the top left:
Slinky, Stacked Squares, June Quilt and Kaffe Fassett  Appliquéd Flowers

And these four quilts which three were UFOS and one refusing to be one (Slinky) since it needed to be finished now and not later.

Last but not least, are the Micah Makes which does not include her Christmas Quilt nor the other Christmas Quilt made for her parents but decided it should be hers also.  As for being my only grandchild and long anticipated granddaughter she has this right and also to interrupt any project I may be working on.

Until my accident in October which involved wearing a knee brace for six weeks and curtailing for sewing somewhat, I had a pretty good track record for finishing anything I started with the exception of the two QAL which had a later deadline.  With that being said, these projects are now part of my 2019 UFOs. (you can read about it here)

In reviewing my 2018 "production", I'm more than happy but when comparing it to my project lists, only 20 of them were planned and 15 of them can be considered "DrEAMi"--the Squirrel is strong in my studio.  I'm good at making plans and even better at not following them so I've decided in 2019 that my best laid plans are not to make them.  Although I enjoy making lists while watching the Rose Bowl Parade, an annual tradition, I don't think my planning will be as intense as in years past.  Last year was "making it easy" and this year will be "taking it easy" with few commitments and resolutions.  The one commitment I will make for 2019 will be to resume making baby quilts for the Blanket Ministry at my Church and the one resolution will be to once again repeat the 2017 Fabric Fast by decreasing my stash by 100 yards.  I have enough projects to do with this year's UFO's and the ones on my 2017 lists to keep me busy and focused.

Now that my end-of-year post is finally finished, it's time to partake in a very quiet New Year's Eve observance.  In the past, we have always celebrated with my two peeps and their husbands but this year's has been postponed until the one peep's new house is ready for entertainment.  Since rain and icy roads are predicted in my neck of the words, I do appreciate not having to travel tonight.

Wishing all of my friends and fellow bloggers a very and safe Happy New Year filled with blessings, good health, amazing energy, laughs, etc.  I'm looking forward to seeing what 2019 brings.

Best of 2018 Linky Party

The Fourth Annual Best of 2018 Linky Party hosted by Meadow Mist Designs is now going on.  I had such fun participating in it last year and didn't want to miss this party.  I think I spent more time on deciding what my best or my favorite five were and what their respective categories were going to be.  Here they are, going clockwise, with the links to the posts:

1. Most Popular Post:  Kaffe Fassett Stripe Quilt
2. Most Popular Tutorial Post:  Staggered Squares and Strip Quilt
3. Post with the Best Quilt Photo:  June Quilt
4. Best Post About An Old Quilt:  The Picnic Quilt
5. Post with the Best Finish: Kaffe Fassett Applique Quilt

I had a pretty good year, despite being sidetrack with my fourth quarter injury and recover, and will be doing a final post by the end of the week.  But before I do, I first need to read up on the other Bloggers Best of 2018 Linky Party.  

Happy Reading!

November Block Busy-ness

I could have used another title to describe my November activities since all I have to show are blocks, blocks and more blocks.  Because of my knee injury and the inability to go downstairs to my studio until the end of the November, my projects were limited to those which were already precut and waiting to be sewn.  Thanks to the superior navigation skills demonstrated by my Hubby in finding them (Thank you iPhone and my idea for him to take photos of my project cart and certain shelves in the studio) I was able to show him which ones to bring upstairs so I can sew in my formal Upstairs Sewing Room, a.k.a., the dining room.  I really had my doubt if this was going to work since this is the same Hubby when I ask him to get something out of my purse, he brings my purse to me rather than search inside my purse. Seriously, I think he's afraid something is going to bite his hand.  But a good Retriever he turned out to be and I was able to work on the following blocks or as I like to call my UFOs for 2019.

Classic Meet Modern QAL hosted by My Quilt Infatuation

Just a couple of glitches with completing the filler blocks; one being these blocks were pre-cut before my accident and I thought I would have no problems finishing them by the 15th but they were not on the project cart. I didn't know if I should laugh or give Hubby, who was feeling confident in his newly acquired Retriever skills, a big hug when he offered, if I just gave him a sample of the fabric, he would go through each of my fabric bins on my shelves in order to find  where I put these blocks.  To prevent him from having a heart attack after realizing the enormity of this task and really seeing how huge my fabric stash is, I told him "No" and I would have to think about where these blocks could possibly be. This wouldn't be the first time I've "lost" and never found something. It took me several days to figure out that I put them in a FQS Blue Sampler Box and told Hubby to look on a certain shelf for a box marked "CMM".  The first time he looked, he said there was no such box on the shelf, which threw me for a loop,  but then later said there was a blue box on a table marked "Classic Meets Modern". In my Hubby's defense, I hadn't given him a lesson on Quilt Acronyms and what's really funny is that when I first was going to mark the box, I was going to write "CMM" but thought better, in case I forgot what it meant, I wrote it out.  And the second problem was that I was short three patches and couldn't finish some of the blocks until this past week.  I'm glad the blocks are all finished and ready to be sewn together in December.  I am loving how the quilt blocks and the Zen Chic's Figures fabric line look together.  You can check out the Classic Meet Modern QAL here.

Happy Flower EPPs

What was intended as a road project turned out to be a great project to do while laying in bed during one of the many Pajamazon Days (wearing pajamas all day-so named by Hubby who still had his good humor) I observed during my recuperation.  This EPP project was inspired by Rene' Creates and I die-cut the 1" hexagon sides and squares and the appropriate sized fabric hexagons using mostly scraps and stash of Cotton+Steel, Felicity Miller's Charleston and Lily and Loom fabrics.  I've finish basting 70 flowers and now will be appliquéing them to 7" squares of gray and light low volume prints which still need to be picked from my stash.

C+S Blue and Yellow Quilt/Hold the Pickles Blocks with Alternate Block

Here are rugshots of these 30 blocks which were already die-cut and ready for me to finish sewing. You can find the tutorial for the Hold the Pickles Blocks (on the left)  by Sevenoaks Street Quilts here.

Postcards from the Jungle (HRT Blocks)

Another rugshot of blocks made from fabrics my good quilting friend Carol, has been gifting me over the year which were purchased during her travels. Most of them came from Jinny Beyer's store in Virginia and I finally decided to finally make something with these fabrics by die-cutting rectangles and HRTs several months ago.  Once the top is assembled, it'll be ready for quilting since I've already have the green batik backing which was purchased from a friend of MMM quilts who was having a destash sale earlier this year.  I guess that was the impetus to finally use Carol's gift of these beautiful green fabrics, which she knows is my favorite color,

Malka Strips

2-1/2" strips of Malka Dubrowsky and a low volume prints have been die-cut for several months now and was another project waiting to be sewn.  I'm not sure if these strips will be used for another Ernie Quilt or a Staggered Strips and Squares.  In either case, it will be nice to have finally have a quilt made from these colorful prints which have been sitting in my stash for more than five years.

Pie Making Day 2x4 Quilt

The 2-1/2" x 4-1/2" patches were cut from a jelly roll and weren't enough to make a decent sized lap quilt so thankfully I had some yardage of the Pie Making Day fabric line which I can cut additional patches.  Once this top is assembled, I'm pretty sure it going to be a throw (just backing it with Minky) similar to my Gee Whiz Patchwork Throw which is now living at my dear friend, Dee's house.

Memory Lane Blocks

Now this is what I call scrapping the bottom of the project barrel with these blocks.  I ran out of Upstairs sewing projects so I decided to finally sew these blocks together. I die-cut these blocks from a fabric line purchased over fifteen years ago and have been sitting around for a couple of years.  I still love these prints, red gingham or any gingham print is near and dear to my heart and the yellow floral print is just yummy.  It's not my decor right now but once this top is assembled to a 50" square, it'll make a nice picnic or party topper.

Thirties Tart

I started these blocks in early October and was inspired by Shannon's of The Fleming's Nine, Sweet Tart Pattern (not an affiliate link).  There was no way I could duplicate the beautiful quilting she did on her quilt so the best way for me to do anything else besides straight-line quilts was to QAYG each block which one of the benefits is that it used up a lot of batting scraps. Ten blocks were already done so the past few days were spent in the studio finishing up the last twenty.  I'm hoping my modern quilt with 30's fabrics is going to work but won't know for awhile,

Before I was laid up in October, my track record for finally finishing any top made this year was, I think, 100% which is a major first and may never happen again for me. Now it looks like I'm going to start the New Year with at least six UFO's. One thing I'm definitely putting on my 2019 list, is to die-cut more strips and squares and prepare more quilts for sewing. It also doesn't hurt to have more EPP projects since learning they're not only for the road trips. I am thankful I had these projects waiting but sorry I had to have an accident in order to get them finish.

There were a few days when I was in between sewing blocks that I decided to take up some knitting after I was given the okay to finally walk on my injured knee using a cane.  This was the reason for my first trip downstairs to the studio which was to bring up my knitting bag.

Besides the project cart, I have a project cabinet located at the bottom of the stairs which stores mostly non-quilting projects and supplies. I didn't know which door my knitting was in and I didn't have the heart to send Hubby downstairs to look since I thought it would be too similar to having him look for something in my purse.  And lo and behold, I found it immediately. 

I'm a self-taught knitter and only knit scarves and dishcloths/washcloths. Usually I only do the garter stitch but found other stitches to knit online.  I have a Craftsy/Bluprint subscription so I'm thinking I'll be taking some knitting classes online.  I've ordered some circular knitting needles in the hopes of making a stocking cap for Micah.  I still remember the ones my mom knitted for my two boys when they were little and hopefully can now make them for my granddaughter.

Just one more week of wearing my leg brace and hopefully I'll be more mobile once physical therapy starts.  Sewing on the machine with my left leg straight out or resting on top of the right foot pressing the pedal will not be missed. Christmas quilt projects will need to be started and finished in a matter of a few week. Of course, they're both for Micah and her family.  And I have not yet started Holiday decorating and still need to buy presents so Hello Stress. I'm going to miss my Pajamazon Days.

My Fall Preparation

I've been away from my blog for several weeks now, mainly because of my Granddaughter Micah's visit earlier this month and then our trip to Washington, D.C. last week.  The title of my post is a little tongue-in-cheek since it doesn't have anything to do with decorating for the Fall season even though I've included a photo of one of my favorite wallhanging from a Jan Patek pattern done raw appliquéd in the style of Sarah Sporer finished in the last Century.  Rather, it has to do with my being laid up for the next five to six weeks because of a fractured knee cap which I suffered in the first hour of being in Washington D.C.  No, I was not on my iPhone but tripped over an uneven sidewalk walking to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.  The pumpkin in my wallhanging really reflects how I feel right now.  The reason why this post is titled My Fall Preparation is because after the accident and having a brief pity party, I realized that my past decisions and activities have prepared me for this temporary hiatus from the downstairs sewing studio due to my unfortunate fall.

Before the interruptions of the granddaughter visit and the vacation, I finished my October blocks for the Classic Meets Modern QAL and the Fireburst Mystery top hosted by Tish in Wonderland.  The remainder of the CMM top consists of only the filler blocks and very unlike me, I've already precut them and can now be sewn on my upstairs sewing machine in my almost formal sewing room, aka, the dining room.

I also started two 2x4 projects, one made with Moda's London Calling fabrics and one made from a  RJR Pie Making Day jelly roll and I can also continue sewing the blocks upstairs.

What was intended as a road trip project, the Happy Flowers EPP inspired by Rene' Creates is now a great project to do and will keep me busy for awhile laying either on my recliner or on my adjustable mattress bed which we thankfully purchased last year.  It really has been put to great use this past week and boy is Tiffany Haddish funny.

And other past activities which contributed to my Fall Preparation is I recently finished my son's quilt so he's been very helpful and even photographed the pumpkin wallhanging for this post.  Best past activity of all for my Fall Preparation is marrying my hubby almost forty-five years ago and he's has been more than helpful and absolutely wonderful.  I'm pretty sure he, the Master Quiltholder, is going to be able to navigate my downstairs sewing studio, if I draw him a good map to find the sewing projects I need upstairs.  Thankfully, I keep all of my projects on a cart so it's going to be easy for him, I hope.  Maybe, a future plan would be to teach him how to sew but that would be asking too much, right?

Like my dear friend, Dee, who said "God must have wanted to slow you down for a reason", I have to admit I'm really catching up on some major zzzz's now and there won't be any late night quilting till the A.M. for awhile.  I made a very abbreviated stop at Dee's house near Cleveland, OH on the way home from D.C. to gift her the Gee Whiz Quilt.  We became fast friends in 2016 right before the World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians and I still feel a little guilty about winning the great quilting bet of a layer cake of Pat Sloan fabric.  Most important, we stayed friends. (can you see my Walker next to me--I named her Sandra for you know who--pun intended).

I don't think I will be posting for awhile now since I only do when I have some sort of finish which usually happens in my studio downstairs. I definitely will be reading other bloggers' posts which will make the healing time go by nicer.  I will say that I'm moving up and down the stairs to the second floor is pretty good using my derriere and legs, (who would have thought I's be reusing those toddler skills now) so maybe in a couple of weeks I might be tempted to venture downstairs to the studio.  The first step might be the trickiest and definitely Hubby will need to be around.  

I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween today.  Usually I don't want or say this at this time of year, but I'm really looking forward to the holidays and December coming quickly when hopefully my knee will be healed.  Wish me well!

Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation, NTT

Throwback Thursday: Forever 30's

Clarification: I'm talking reproduction fabrics now and not about age which I don't think this would be the age I would want to be forever since this is when my boys were born and wee littles, so no Thank You, I'm still recovering. 

30's Reproduction Prints have always been one of my favorite fabrics since I started my quilting journey in the mid-1990's.  My three fave fabrics then were Fassett, Feedsack and 30's and I'm still making quilts with all of them since I still love them and also have quite a bit of each in my stash.  I've already posted this year about Fassett and Feedsack love so I thought it was time to do a 30's post and what better way to do it is with a Throwback Thursday post. (This linky party is usually hosted by Sandra of mmm quilts but for the remainder of the year, Andree of Quilting & Learning - What A Combo blog will graciously be hosting).  This is a great way to do some Show and Tell and reminisce about about the 30's quilts I've made during the past twenty years--definitely before my Blog days. Doesn't the yo-yo quilt look sweet on Susannah The Tin Goat's back?

I fell in love with 30's Reproduction Prints (which are so called, if case you didn't know, because they were inspired by 30's Feedsack prints) when I first started haunting my local quilt shop and saw this poppy print on one of their display quilts.  I was so surprised and sad to learn that this reproduction print was no longer available then, which being a novice didn't understand the concept of fabric lines being available only for a season, just like fashion. Thankfully I've been quilting long enough now to know that some prints or lines get reissued and this print was reissued but only on a much smaller scale years later.  I ended up buying the original print on the secondary market which was way more than the $1.36/fq price which was such a bargain price back then.  It should be no surprise that I've accumulated quite a stash, since after I started working at this quilt shop, I bought them with my 40% employee discount which made the cost under $1.  Aunt Grace prints were designed by Judie Rothermel for Marcus Brothers and were the ones to buy, others came later, had almost the same feel as authentic feedsack fabrics, somewhat coarse.  The prints were so fun and cheerful, came in so many colors and as you can tell by my quilts, you have to use a lot of prints, `ala scrappy when you do 30's.  You also have to make the quilts big too.

Another reason for loving 30's prints were the antique/vintage quilts I saw in books and publications. Since I am the first quilter in my family and didn't inherit any of these quilts, I knew I had to make my own "antique" quilts and my first 30"s quilt was going to be a Grandmother's Flower Garden, which I posted about last year.  This was probably one of the first quilts I came up with an alternative finish (which I tend to do rather than abandoning the project) after I realized these quilts were so named because you probably became one after finishing one.

Forever 30's has a double meaning for me -- loving the fabrics and also any 30's quilt I've made were not quick; they took forever, like years, to finish. I only made no more than ten quilts in the last twenty years and, as I mentioned before, most of my quilts are big, either queen, double or twin size.  I've made only two table toppers and this one, a lap quilt. Most of these quilts started as hand piecing projects while on road trips and I don't think I ever totally used up any of the fabrics, some of them are used with other quilts and some fabrics will live quietly forever in my scrap or tidbit pile. Also being the big patch, make them easy and quick Quilter that I am, you can see by these quilts, they are all made with small patches, the largest patch being maybe 4" and the smallest patch is 1" finished which does not make a quick quilt.  I had to show the quilt made with Kaye England's 30's fabrics--sometimes you wonder why you go through the hassle of piecing when there's a wonderful cheater print also in the fabric line.  The two sides are separated by the red binding in the middle and a portion of the pieced top is on the right.  I guess you can call this a reversible quilt.

Before I purchased my die-cutters, the go-to tools for making 30's quilts were (no affiliated links here) my June Tailor Shape-Cut ruler for cutting squares and strips, Triangle Paper for the HST which was so appreciated for the Pinwheel/Broken Dish Quilt made up with 1" finished half triangles, Clover Yo-Yo maker and paper pieces.

You can see which tools were used for the making of some of these quilts and I don't think they would be in their finally finish state if it weren't for them.  I apologize for not showing full size photos or recent photos of some of these quilts, but some of them are huge and there was no way Master Quilt Holder could hold them up by himself yesterday. The Apprentice Quilt Holder had just got off duty and is sleeping on the couch. Quilts just don't look pretty when a grouch is holding them up.  (Today, of course, it was too windy to take photos outside.)

I always have a 30's quilt on my project plate.  The Clamshell quilt top, on the left, which was a road trip project but then became too large, has been waiting several years now for me to decide on a border color--should it be the traditional green or maybe salmon pink or lavender.  I need to check out the 30's solids once and for all.  And speaking of greens, when I first started, Niles Green, which was the color used for the Irish Chain Quilt, was the shade of green to use in order to be authentic.  Looking at it now, it's a rather dull green and I'm glad to see there are other brighter greens which goes so well with the 30's fabrics now.  Working on the one patch quilt, on the right, should resume again, because the Fall TV shows have started and there's a lot of good shows for me to sew by.  I probably should start thinking of its border color now.

Thanks to Shannon of The Flemings Nine I started another 30's quilt project. When I saw and purchased her Sweetart pattern, I knew I wanted to make it with my bundle of Aunt Grace Around The World prints which came out in 2005.  It's about time, thirteen years, that I make something with these wonderful, fun prints, don't you think?  

I wanted to make a modern 30's quilt with this pattern and after playing around with the fabrics, I did make a slight change with the block layout since I wanted to showcase the prints more than the happy, bright green I found in my stash.  I love it when the purchase of three yards of green fabric many moons ago finally gets to be used, I think a Minecraft quilt was the reason. As with my other 30's quilts, my Thirties Tart may take me forever to make, because I may do a QAYG with each block since there is no way I can duplicate the wonderful quilting Shannon did on her Sweet Tart quilt. Oh, I have to mention that all of the patches for my Thirties Tart quilt were all die-cut, the first 30's quilt to have this distinction.

I'm still loving my 30's stash and projects even after more than twenty years. It still doesn't look like my stash has dwindled, I sort of think that these fabrics reproduce themselves--is that why they're call reproduction fabrics, ha, ha, getting goofy now from writing this post.  I have a lot more chunks than fat quarters which is still enough to make more scrappy 30's quilts -- the more is merrier. Too bad I can't buy them anymore at 1.36/FQ or under $1/FQ.  Also sad is that I can't lay any of my 30's quilt on a bed being that Sophie, the World's Worst Dog just loves to mess up a made bed and scratch on my quilts.  It's nice that these lovelies could come out of the closet to enjoy a day in the Sun.

Linking up with: Andree of Quilting & Learning - What A Combo