Big Plans {2019 Goals}

It's time for Quilting JetGirl's annual goal setting link up party for the new year!

First let's review my three goals for 2018:

1. Quilt and finish some of my completed quilt tops

-- I finished nine quilts that were on my WIP list in January 2018, including four twin sized quilts for my guest room.

2. Host a new QAL and improve engagement:

-- I hosted the Blocked Rainbow QAL (pattern now available!) and we had great participation!

3. Say "no" with more frequency:

-- I definitely succeeded at this! I have cut back on some of my commitments and made more time for my own just-for-fun projects.

Here are my goals for 2019:

1. Design and write six new quilt patterns with the rest of the HBD team

-- There are already three quilt patterns in the pipeline for 2019 in various stages of completion, so part of this is already accomplished! I'd like to work on designing three more Honey, Bunny, and Doll patterns over the next year and get all six into the shop.

2. Focus on finishing the quilt along and bee quilts

-- Despite the fact that I've made a nice dent in my WIP list, there are a few quilts that were tops from bees and quilt alongs that have been on the list for a long time. This list includes:

Sew Kitschy/Sew Retro quilt (started in 2014)

Pineapple Stash Bee quilt (started in 2016)

Magnolia mystery quilt (started in 2017)

April Showers C2C Bee quilt (started in 2017)

Breezy Blooms C2C Bee quilt (started in 2018)

I am going to try to finish one of these quilts per quarter in 2019, which allows me to work on other projects as needed but should hopefully mean at least four of these are finished this time next year.

3. Organize and decorate my new sewing space

-- Once we move, I'll have a new sewing space to plan, set up, and decorate! While it might not happen right away, I would like to get a nicer table and ironing board, as well as some nicer shelves and storage bins. 

4. Take a class (or a few!)

-- I'm going to make a sad admission -- I haven't taken any quilting or sewing classes since 2011. I have a long list of excuses why I haven't taken any classes: school, money, time, quilt shops being too far away. This year, I want to take at least one class (and maybe more) to learn a new skill, technique, or pattern.

Have you shared your goals for 2019? What's on your list?

Summer Shopping {Stash Additions and Shopping List}

I've added a few things to my stash this summer -- some for specific projects and some for stashing!

Back when I bought the fabric for the setting triangles for my Double Delight quilt, I also picked up a few cuts of clearance fabric:

I picked up half yards of the floral prints and a yard of the tiled cream print. These don't have any specific plans for use just yet. Over the last four years, I've really whittled down on whats in my stash, so I have been finding that it would be helpful to have a few more half yard and yard cuts on hand for things like bindings and spur-of-the-moment projects.

I also finally picked up a backing and a binding for my Magnolia mystery quilt! As a reminder, here's the quilt:

You can get this pattern from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs -- I modified my version by adding sashings and cornerstones between the blocks. 

For the backing and binding, I picked out these two fabrics from the True Blue line by Ana Davis. The drop print will be the backing and the twist fabric will be the binding. 

I really have a soft spot for these fun large scale prints for backings. I'm planning to put together a tutorial for when I get back from retreat about matching prints for backings, so keep your eyes out for that! I think the red is going to be so pretty for the binding against the grey solid.

As mentioned in my retreat prep post, I am going to be working on a new Fat Quarter Shop shortcut quilt using the Sweet Marion Line. I also picked up this coral print that's actually from a Downton  Abbey line (also an amazing clearance buy!) to use for the backing and binding for that quilt.

This is another fun, large-scale print! Once I get back from retreat, I'll hopefully have this quilt in Sweet Marion done so both that quilt and my Magnolia quilt will be ready to quilt! I should be lined up for quite a few finishes in September!

Even with this shopping I still need to get fabric for quite a few projects:
-white fabric for my pineapple quilt
-border fabrics for Double Delight and Drift Away
-backing fabrics for Blocked Rainbow and Breezy Blooms
...and this is kind of a brief list focusing on the things I want to finish first.

On Monday, I'm going to be the featured interview with my good friend Jen of Patterns By Jen as part of the lead up to the Border Quilt QAL that will kick off in September! Make sure to check that out next week. I'm hoping to have at least one post scheduled for the blog while I am gone on retreat, but I am planning to post lots of pictures on Instagram of my progress and adventures.

I hope that you've been following along with the Great Outdoors blog hop too! Twenty Island Batik Ambassadors have posted amazing projects so far and we're not even halfway done with the blog hop! Check out all of the previous posts to see the great projects and enter the giveaways hosted by the individual bloggers. My day is August 28th and uses our Summer Patio pattern!

Happy Friday -- have a wonderful weekend!

May Fat Quarter Friends Swap

Yesterday I got my goodies from the May Fat Quarter Friends Swap!

And yes, that is a package of Wonder Clips! I am very excited about that.

I requested red, white, and blue this month because I am planning to make a patriotic wall hanging using the Uncle Sam pattern from Quiltmaker. It is a rather old pattern, but I happen to have an actual copy of the issue that it is featured in! Hooray!

I'm planning to use red/white and blue/white prints instead of the "natural" used in this pattern to make mine a little less country/rustic looking and a lot more POW BAM I LOVE AMERICA looking. If that's a thing.

Happy Friday to you, no finishes for me this week, but hopefully next week!

Civil War Blocks 1 and 2

Sunday, I started from block #1 from Barbara Brackman's sesquicentennial Civil War Quilt Blog. I intended to do one or two or three blocks, but I ended up doing 10.

While I was home over Thanksgiving, I went through the scrap bin of glory and picked out a bunch of fabrics that I thought would work well in a Civil War-style quilt. I mostly picked things that were the right styles of prints (or close enough if I liked them a lot).

This project is awesome/addictive: it is super easy to get to a "stopping point". Lots of projects get put by the wayside because you get to a point that makes you say "ugh. I have to iron 288 half square triangles" or "blech. I have to sew sashings to match up to the 8 star points for 12 blocks." Maybe that's just me.

For this, I just looked at the block, picked out a stack of fabrics I thought looked good together, and cut the pieces for that block. Not a ton of any one thing at at time.

And they go together so fast! This is probably why I got so many done. It definitely has nothing to do with how much of a professional procrastinator I have become in the last 6 months. Grad school does terrible things to your brain. Seriously.

But you get that high of "I-got-a-block-done-now-I-need-to-start-another" and then you've done 10 of them but maybe that's just me and because I didn't start this thing until nearly all of the blocks had already been published. And now I'm a really big fan of some of the blocks and want to make entire quilts out of some of them. More projects to put on the quilting bucket list.

I started making the blocks in order and so that's how I will show them off, with a few each day this week.

#1. Catch Me If You Can

This block would make an awesome scrap quilt and went together rather easily.

#2. North Star

Paisley is one of my absolute favorites, so I am going to use as much as possible in this quilt.

A Surprise

Something exciting...

MY NEW SEWING MACHINE!

My mom surprised me with it when she came this weekend and I am going to work on setting it up tonight/tomorrow. The box is lighter than my old machine with its case attached so its a good sign.

But that's all new on the sewing front. Once the new machine gets set up I will get to setting and sashing the snowflake blocks. Then I'll have to see how big it is and all that to see what kind of borders will be happening with this thing. Although, I'm very tempted to find a little bit more dark blue fabric and make some more blocks. I'll just have to lay it all out on the floor and stare at it for a while. Maybe a quilt with snowflakes is better as a wall hanging or throw just because its so seasonal. Or I could do some fancy schmancy borders on it. How exciting would that be? Yeah. Let's go with that as "the plan" for the next 6 hours.

Also. I have decided that the next quilt project will be the Quiltmaker Mystery Quilt from this past summer/fall. So what if it's not a mystery to me... And as a reminder these are the fabrics I am planning to use:

Super pumped. What are your new sewing/decorating/life projects you are undertaking??

PS. The baby quilt still is on my kitchen table. It will be sent tomorrow, I promise.

Weekend (thus far) update!

My mom and I have been very productive. I have made decisions on all of my projects I talked about on Friday. 

The Stairstep Quilt has a backing:

I also got a backing for and cut the batting for the Cheery quilt. I decided to keep the roses border because the other fabric just wasn't bright enough. Here is the backing for this one:

But most importantly, I completely finished the baby quilt.

The backing is red super-soft flannel and the binding is the yellow stripe that is the same as the binding and backing of this one. I stitched my initials and the year on the back in the corner. So very, very soon this will be sent off to and be enjoyed by a new little one. I am very happy with the way that this one turned out.

Mom has been cutting like a madwoman to prepare for her upcoming quilt retreat. She is working on this black and red one from Quiltmaker. Here are some of her cut stacks and fabrics:

I can't wait to see how it ends up.

So for the rest of the day, I am going to work on my snowflakes and perhaps start cutting on a new project. Perhaps. But which? We'll see how the day goes.

But what a feeling of accomplishment to have the baby quilt completely ready to go to its new home, and two others ready to be sent to the machine quilter! Yay! I also learned how to use the walking foot!

Future projects calling my name...

I haven't gotten to sew at all this week and I am miserable. 5 more days until my presentation is OVER. I turned in the paper to my graders on Wednesday and that was a HUGE relief. Right now I am done for the evening.

Things on the agenda tonight: FINALLY putting together the baby quilt, Alias from Netflix (or Quickster, whatever), and perhaps making some banana muffins, maybe even finishing the binding on my wall hanging (post coming soon!)

Due to being deprived of my creative outlet, and instead having to stare at Word documents and Powerpoint slides all day long, I am just itching to get going on a project. So these are the 5 projects next up on the docket to start (or continue, in the case of #1)

1. Blue and White Snowflakes
This quilt I mentioned ages and ages ago. These are the snowflake blocks that I have done at the moment.

These are the snowflake pieces that I need to get cracking on (once I finish the baby quilt!)

And these are my fabrics (at least, the ones that I haven't used up yet.

I think I am not going to follow the pattern and just make a whole quilt of snowflakes. So this is a project that is already started, but just barely. I have a LOT of blues and whites that will be turned into snowflakes.

And so what if they are 8 point snowflakes.

2. Argyle
I LOVE ARGYLE.

So when I found this pattern, I was overjoyed. My color scheme is very similar to the one shown in the pattern. This is mainly from the City Girl Collection, with a few others thrown in.

I'm planning to use the very large floral print as a border. 

It has taken all the strength of my being not to start on this project. And until I finish some of my previous projects (like the baby quilt, the railroad quilt, the X marks the spot, the stairsteps to paradise, and the list continues) I am refusing to let myself start on any of these new projects. If I get bored with one of my unfinished projects, I can always work on my snowflakes or hand quilt (which I am thinking I am going to start doing now the weather is cooling down.)

3. Lime, Black, and White = ?
I bought one piece of green and black fabric on clearance and was not sure what to do with it.

So obviously, my mom and I have continued to collect other lime green fabrics.

I am really liking this one that has the tan in the print as well.
So I have no idea what kind of pattern to use with this. Something traditional-gone-funky? Something geometric? Something wild? Something....completely different? Ideas gladly accepted.

4. The Birthday Stack
Because I'm 23 and honestly want for very little in life, buying "practical" birthday presents for me doesn't happen. So my mom and sister went to the quilt store and picked out a stack of coordinating fabrics for me, bought a batting, and put it in a box. BIRTHDAY WIN.

These are the fabrics:

The prints are very classic but the colors are just so fun. I'm thinking that what I want to do is get a sampler quilt pattern and use these fabrics for a fancy sampler. Or a quilt with a crap-ton of applique.

Are quilters supposed to say crap-ton? Probably not, but I'm a "youngin" so forgive me this once.

5. Quiltmaker Magazine's 2011 Mystery Quilt.
Ok. So this three part mystery quilt series started months ago, but I wasn't super impressed with the way the blocks looked in the first two parts. Maybe it was that the color choices they used didn't speak to me.

But then I saw the finished project.

And I fell in love.

I had bought part of these fabrics on sale at Joann, from the same line, and thought that they would be a good place to start to build this quilt.

I then found  a few more, especially the green and the brown and pink print with little birds (also at Joann, probably also on clearance).

Isn't the peacock TO DIE FOR? I took a picture of it and its the background on my phone. Also starring in this picture is my big toe and my pajamas.

This is another one I am ITCHING to start. I'm not going to follow the directions exactly as in the magazine when it comes to the number of fabrics, because I just don't feel like it. SO THERE.

So these are the projects at the forefront of my mind these days. Hopefully I can get the top of this baby quilt done this weekend (between practicing my presentation and sleeping) and then get it backed and sent off before the baby is actually born. That'd be cool. Any other Friday night sewers out there?