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?

Baseball Baby Quilts {Finished Quilts}

These two quilts are ready to be sent off for snuggling! The best news is that the boys have "graduated" from the NICU and are at home!

I quilted both of these quilts with a loop-and-stars meander in white thread. I picked out this great flannel print for the backings of both quilts. I made a tiny mistake and underestimated how much the flannel would shrink in washer and dryer (I always pre-wash flannel!) so I ended up trimming my quilts to be square rather than rectangular. Next time I'll just get the extra half yard!

I bound one quilt with the yellow and one with the blue fabric. I did bind these by machine to speed up the process.

I think these quilts bring me up to a whopping 40 finishes in 2018!

Quilt Stats:
Name: Baseball Baby Quilts
Pattern: Boot Scootin' Baby, modified
Fabrics: solids + Peanuts baseball-themed fabric, flannel for backing
Quilting: stars-and-loops in white thread
Size: 38" square
Started: October 2018
Finished: December 2018

Sharing at Let's Bee Social and Needle and Thread Thursday!

Good Fortune {Clue #4}

After finishing Clue #3 of Good Fortune the night before Clue #4 came out, I was so excited to see that this clue was so quick and easy! Click here for all of the Good Fortune mystery information!

For Clue #4, we were instructed to make scrappy strip pieced rectangles. I was so thrilled with this because I was able to use up a ton of small scraps and I was able to finish the entire clue before I went out and did my grocery shopping on Saturday morning!

To start, I separated my aqua (instead of orange!) scraps into three piles -- bits, strips, and chunks. I also sorted out anything that was too small for this section of units.
-- "Bits" were anything at least 1.5" wide and up to about 6" square
-- "Strips" were strips at least 1" wide and up to 20" long
-- "Chunks" were anything WOF long or wider than 6"

I sorted my scraps this way so that I could focus on using the smallest pieces first. Some of these pieces have been in my stash a very long time -- and some fabrics were used in my On Ringo Lake too!

I did not use paper foundations for my units -- I also used a lot smaller scraps than Bonnie instructs -- so my units are actually all different, rather than having sets of matching strippy rectangles. Most of my units have 4 different fabrics, but a few have 5 or 6.

There are a lot of scraps in these pieces that came from my Wallflowers row quilt but a lot of it ended up being random things that have been hanging around my stash for a long time. I really like how many of the units ended up with red accents!

These also made a very nice dent in my scrap piles! The majority of my bits and strips piles were obliterated (literally!) to make these units and I only had to dip into my chunks pile a little bit for fabric variety at the end. Depending on the rest of the units for this quilt, I might not have enough aqua, or rather, enough variety of aqua, so another dig through my stash to pull some additional fabrics might be in order.

Here's a few units from Clue #3 and Clue #4 hanging out together:

I will admit that I'm a little confuzzled by our two different sizes of HSTs (for now) so I'm not going to strain my brain in trying to solve the mystery just yet.

Here's a collage of my four finished clues:

This is likely the point where I will fall utterly and completely behind! Between leaving for the holidays and closing on our house (!!!) the next few weeks are going to be very busy!

Sharing at Bonnie's Mystery Monday Link-up and Linky Tuesday!

Good Fortune {Clue #3}

It's time for another Good Fortune update! For clue #3, we are making two units from our green fabric -- units that Bonnie calls "half chevrons" and half square triangles that can be made as bonus triangles!

For my green fabric, instead of pulling from my green scrap pile, I pulled a single green fabric. This fabric was used in the piecing of and as the backing of my "Green in Bloom" quilt last year. I have large chunks of this fabric left over -- I'm guessing I have a little under a yard in scraps which should be more than enough for a half-sized version of Good Fortune. (This is the best picture I can grab of the green fabric!)

Bonnie lists multiple ways to make both of the units -- I decided to test out the method to make the chevron units and then use the "bonus triangles" for the smaller HSTs. I am not usually a fan of the stitch and flip method because it can waste a lot of fabric but this method puts the scraps to work!

I found I didn't need to mark two lines for the seams -- if I marked the diagonal for the first, and used my foot as a guide, my HSTs came out just about perfect, with the exception of just a few! 

By Monday, I was about two-thirds of the way complete with my units. Sewing progress in the evenings is rare and slow for me this time of year so I was worried that I wouldn't get finished before the Clue #4 came out today. However, I did finish Clue #3 last night -- just under the wire!

Even with making half as many units as Bonnie's directions, this clue took a long time for me! However, once I figured out my correct seam allowances, I only ended up with four HSTs that were slightly too small. If I need more in the final layout of my quilt, I will make more units then, but for now, I will continue to shoot for half-ish of Bonnie's directions.

Happy Friday! I'm hoping that Clue #4 (which just came out!) is just as quick and easy as I imagine it to be! I have a pile of secret sewing to sew (and HSTs to trim!) this weekend, so hopefully both will go quickly and without incident.

Crosscut Table Runner {Whimsical and Wonky}

As an Island Batik Ambassador, I am provided with samples of various lines of Island Batik fabrics to use and share with you!

While I still might not be done with Clue #3 for Good Fortune (and Clue #4 comes out tomorrow!), I did finish up my Island Batik Ambassador project for December! In my last post, I shared about how I used the Crosscut technique from A Quilter's Table to make the top of this table runner!

I quilted my table runner with grey Aurifil thread in both the top and the bobbin, and it looks great against the different shades of blue! I also used the blue dot fabric for the backing.

For the binding, I used a navy blue swirl batik. I had a fat quarter, so I used nearly all of it for this binding! I was fortunate that despite having more binding seams than normal, I didn't end up with any too close to the corners!

While the lighting isn't 100% ideal in this photo, it does show off my bear claw quilting! This is a motif I haven't worked with a lot and I had a little bit of trouble keeping my claw sizes consistent but was good practice on a small piece like this.

And just for fun -- a quilts in the wild sighting! Our Christmas tree at work was lacking a tree skirt, so I brought in my Sparkle Tree Skirt. This tree skirt is too small for my tree at home, so I wasn't using it, and it is the perfect size for our tree at work!

Happy Thursday! Sharing at Brag about your Beauties!