Feeling angst about WIPs-B-Gone

Project that broke my sewjo, July2021

 Have you ever done a 100-day challenge? I haven't, but I have FOMO about the times I lurked and followed along with someone else's 100-day journey as if I was the one doing the work.

Most recently, Sarah of Sarah Goer Quilts had her own 100-day challenge to finish a bunch of WIPs--which she did amazingly well. I tried to use her finishing energy to get myself motivated on some of my own UnFinished Objects, but ended up being mightily frustrated and losing my sewjo. The exact opposite of successful.

So, along came Leanne of Devoted Quilter with a 100-day WIPs-B-Gone challenge that involved actually signing up, with prizes for encouragement and gentle accountability. I signed up.

That 100 days starts today--100 days left in 2021. If you're keeping track, that means I have made a commitment that will extend through my busy travel-for-work month of October and the whole end-of-the year holidays. What am I getting myself into?

Well, the first issue I am contending with is my HUGE list of WIPs: 63 as of this writing. In fact, most of them are so long since the last time I worked on them that I generally refer to them as UFOs (WIP having that pesky "in progress" part of its acronym).

 

Currently in progress Norah Quilt

Some folks have declared a Top 3 Goals for the first 25 days of this challenge--I'm so very scattered when thinking of my extra long list that I haven't been able to winnow down to any sort of reasonable "what should I start with" or even "where do I want to finish". I know I want fewer than 50 items on my list at the end of 100 days. That's a goal, right? I also want to experience what it's like to make time every day for my stitching practice, no matter what the busyness of the day/month/season feels like.

So today, I decided that I would let go of a project or two. That's one way to embrace WIPs-B-Gone! My Quilt Guild has a "Kiss it Goodbye" table that shows up at meetings a few times a year--and that's happening next week. So, in preparation, I went burrowing in the bins and totes and canvas bags to find projects I am well and truly ready to part with.

 

Discarding or donating projects counts towards WIPs-B-Gone!

 

I am choosing to let go of 4 projects: paper-pieced kimono wall hanging (last blogged about in July 2017); two other paper-pieced kimono blocks that feel too much like cultural appropriation; funky fish blocks that I made as prototypes for writing a tutorial (in August 2014); and teen-friendly wheel blocks from 2017's Row by Row "On the Go" free pattern, that were used as a floor sample when I worked at a quilt shop.

  

Row by Row 2017

 

Lo and behold, in parting with these blocks, I may have discovered my first WIP to tackle. I have a pair of placemats that are pieced with the same kimono blocks that I just parted with. I also have enough background and backing fabric to complete 4 more. 

Bonus reason that this project speaks to me now? I leave in 12 days for a business trip and need a portable handwork project to bring with me. The existing placemats are lightly hand-quilted with big stitch; I think they're a perfect travel size! Add in the motivation of deadline sewing to get the piecing done before I travel, and I might be off to the races...

Any 100-day challenge words of wisdom?

BOM: The votes are in

I teach the Block of the Month group (BOM) at my shop.  This year, the theme is traditionally-pieced, very star-heavy blocks, using black-and-white fabrics with a white background.  To make each project unique, the color palette is to be supplemented by each participant--some are using the same accent fabric all year, and some are making it colorful (like my samples!)

audition blocks...

We are six months into this 12-month project, and I let the participants decide on which blocks they wanted to complete for the remainder of the year.


I made 5 blocks at retreat in January


And another 5 blocks during the first week of February

The BOM group voted at February's session.  They were very thoughtful in their choices, and so that's what we're gonna sew up.

Wanna play along & learn these blocks?

I had my reasons for making up different block samples, mostly having to do with techniques to teach.  (Oh, and a couple of them were just plain cute.)  What I didn't take into consideration so much was how the 12 blocks were going to play together in a single quilt/project.  I think this is what I was missing--my gals helped me to focus on the whole, not just the cute individual bits.

Techniques still to learn: piecing along diagonal rows; no-waste flying geese; quarter-square triangle; and more uses of folded corners.

I'm excited for the rest of this year!

Fear of FMQ

I've been following the stashbusting sew-along all year, without really participating in the "sew along" part of things. But August's theme really grabbed me: face your fears.

I realized that fear had been holding me back. No garment sewing had taken place because of fear of cutting into those special fabrics. You know, the stashed fabrics that I have held onto for so long, just waiting for perfect to happen: perfect pattern, perfect fit, perfect execution of some tricky sewing detail (like welt pockets, or an invisible zipper, or a curved dart, etc.)

But the stashbusting community was behind me this month. We were all gonna face our fears together! A garment was finally gonna come together in 2015.

Only thing is, I told myself I had to finish the quilting on a little ol' wallhanging before I could start something new (like a garment). And guess what? Fear had been holding me back from finishing that, too!

I didn't even realize... Didn't acknowledge to myself that I was procrastinating on the quilting--I just knew it wasn't getting done in a timely manner.

Followed the mantra

PERFECT IS GOOD. 

DONE IS BETTER.

Practice session: ewww

Dived into a bit of FMQ (Free Motion Quilting--last seen publicly in this post from 2012).

Does it look like bubbles? Or sea foam?

And the quilting is DONE. Fear faced.

Not afraid of a close-up: perfect in its imperfections

Not perfect by any means, but it beats the heck outta hiding in a paper sack for another year or more. Win!

Now, can some elves come over and whip up a binding for this one so I can count the stash that was used? So very close to done done.

Thank you to all the Stashbusting Sewalong followers on The Facebook!  Seeing your work has really encouraged me.

Technicolor Sky

I finished a quilt top!!!  In record time, too.

When last seen, the Bright Sky quilt was just the center star, but I had already started piecing the outer star--and I was just a tiny bit worried about the loudness of my color/fabric choices.

I finished the piecing at Stitch-n-Bitch last night (YAY for Friday nights with the gals!) and lemme tell you, it's not just loud, it's Technicolor.

Here it is, straight off the ironing board, being held up by the owner of my LQS (they really *are* a full-service shop: "I'll hold it up so you can take a picture for your blog.")

You might notice that I made some modifications to the original pattern. (Yes, I can complicate anything; thank you for paying attention.) 

Changes include:

• outlining the outer star points with a contrasting fabric (loud Hawaiian print + leopard--how can that be wrong?)
• adding a 4" white border to the outside of the outer squares
• outlining this white border with a narrow strip of the floral from the inner star
• continuing the white-and-floral strip along the diagonal of the corner squares
• extending the top and bottom of the quilt to the edges of the additional border strips

 I wanted a more rectangular quilt; my finished size is about 75" by 64".

Technicolor Sky, 2014

I think it turned out pretty good--the fabrics seem to play together nicely, despite the obvious loudness of the green Hawaiian print.  The directional background fabric caused a little bit of fussing and extra work, but it looks effortless and almost-perfectly matching.

And I totally love the way I made an on-point frame for the whole thing.  Really wasn't sure how that was going to look, but it is so graphic and wonderful!

Best part: everything was made with stashed fabrics.  The Hawaiian and the background were the oldest--maybe 1990?--but even the newest (the center panel) was at least 7 years old.

I missed the Quilt Along for this pattern by a week or so, but that beats the heck out of lots of my previous sew-along adventures.  The winners of the quilt along were announced earlier this week, and all the participating quilts were linked up for your viewing pleasure.

 I am linking up with Can I Get a Whoop Whoop, hosted by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Bright Beginning in October

I succumbed to starting a new project in October: the Bright Sky quilt by Blossom Heart Quilts.

Got so excited about finishing off one of the items on my 4th quarter goal list that I skipped down to the bottom of the goals, where it said "Start something I am *excited* about" (aka do something for ME).  And that insistent ME person wouldn't quiet down until I cut into yardage from the fabric hoard (or is that horde?  Helpful grammar hint: If you have a hoard of something, a horde of people might try to take it from you.)  This quilt is being made entirely from long-time stashed fabrics--some approaching the 20-year vintage.

Hello there!

I used the no-waste flying geese method to make the center star points.  This method not only saves fabric (especially compared to the folded-corner method I often use), but ensured that my directional background fabric would automatically sort itself out.  The background stripes line up pretty good!

Center Star: approx 36"

Sweetie has commented that my fabrics are a bit loud.  Oh, Sweetie... fasten your seatbelt, cuz it's about to get really loud up in here.

The Outer Star is a Hawaiian print, bordered by your basic leopard (just to give it more presence).  Yep: LOUD.

So... I'm off on the new flight of fancy.  The link-up for the Bright Sky Quilt Along runs until Sunday.  Any possibility I could finish this top by then?  I highly doubt it, but stranger things have happened.

Bright Sky Quilt Along

Grr... I bought (another) pattern.

Just when I thought I had talked myself out of leaping into sewing a new garment, and steeled myself against rashly cutting into fabric before I got around to finishing something, I went out and bought another new pattern.

This time for a quilt: Bright Sky, by Blossom Heart Quilts.

Pro's

• The quilt pattern is sold on Craftsy by an Indie designer, so I am supporting an artist and her small business.
• The pattern uses large-scale prints, of which I have several already in my stash (see photo for a sample).
• The pattern uses large cuts of fabric, so will (theoretically) be quick to make.
• There is a quilt-along going on right now, so if I choose to start, I can join in with others online (this has actually been good motivation for me in the past).

A few of my lingering as-yet-unloved fabrics

Con's

• I have not finished last year's "leap-right-in-this-minute" sew along that I joined.
• I also have not finished the last project that I bought the book for after seeing it online and succumbing to the "must have it now" demons whispering in my ears.
• I don't have a recipient or intended use for this quilt.
• The primary large-scale print that I want to use up (see top left corner of the fabric collage) has a cream background, and I am not currently enamored of the cream.
• Stash-busting: do my large-scale prints play well together?  Even a few of them?
• Christmas is coming, so I should be focusing on finishing some things in that direction.

Regardless of the Pro's and Con's, I bought the pattern.  It's very different from what I usually make (my norm: tiny piecing, often from scraps vs. large cuts).  It will sit in time-out until I complete something and take some deep breaths.

Meanwhile, you can check out the Quilt Along for this pattern and its associated excitement.  I'll just be finishing up some WIPs over here in the corner...

Love Inspiration

So many ideas, not enough lifetimes to complete them!

Saw this version of an abstract LOVE, when it was linked up to TGIFF.  Vera, the intrepid blogger at Negligent Style, thoughtfully provided a link to her previous projects using this design.

She also pointed out that this idea came from a Jason Mraz video.  A quick Google image search on "Jason Mraz love" yielded page after page of the same design:

And there you have it: a perfect marriage of Geometry and text, just waiting to become a pieced design on a modern quilt.

If, by chance, I come to the finish line of summer-sewing-on-deadline, I might just try this out.  Maybe on placemats?  Jess at Elven Garden is holding a sew-along for FMQ, and I desperately need to polish/practice my FMQ, if I'm ever gonna get outta the starting gate on that skill.

Parking lot for now; possibility of making it later.

Here Comes the Sun

Finished the May step of my Relaxing Robin at a mini-retrreat, and I am so pleased!

If you recall, the May step was


5. using some of the fabric in the first border make another border of your choice

first border seems so long ago...

I chose to feature the pink flannel as the background for a pieced sun.  The inspiration was a pattern I received at quilting retreat in January.

Just enlarged it a bit, and made the sun's rays out of a taffeta instead of flannel.

Oh, and they're dimensional rays.  I really love dimension in quilts.

I had intended to piece the stars, but ended up just going with fused applique.  They aren't actually fused down yet, because I am waiting to see where they look best with the side borders.

Scrap of bright pink flannel demanded to become a star

What's next?
Did some thinking about what I wanted to add on the sides and bottom.  So many ideas. 

Sketches.  Consulting of magazines, books, patterns, blogs. 

Ooh, an ADD adventure of possibilities!



June's step is


6. make a border that has squares in it; 4 patch, checkerboards etc would be welcome here. again have fun

I am still undecided on what those squares might entail.  My quilt is approaching twin size, so I'm almost out of room.  In fact, when I checked the dimensions, I really only have about 6" more to add to each side.  Not quite enough room to play with some of my wilder design ideas.  Plus, it's getting so busy that I don't want to make it into a giant mess.  (I have done that before; it's not pretty.)

So, I have the competing desires of "use up those flannel scraps" and "make something pretty".  Heavens! This open-ended idea stage may have to marinate a bit...

Linking up with the Relaxing Robin folk over at Sew You Quilt 2.  I just love seeing everyone's progress, ideas, and interpretations.

Fixed the sun

Plugging away on my Relaxing Robin project.  May's step is to reuse the inner border fabric in some way.  So I am making a pieced sun; it will sit on the pink background.

Here was the sun when I last checked in:

And here's what is sitting on my table now:

Oh yeah, so much better.  I envision using yellow thread to big-stitch quilt this (since when am I planning out my quilting step while I am still working on the piecing?!).  Plus, the sun has a ray portion that will be a brighter yellow.

I think I might get this step completed in May!

Relaxing Robin: Supersize

Finished off the April step for the Relaxing Robin quilt, and I must say that it is feeling LARGE.

56" wide by 68" tall (on temporary display in my classroom)

I think that means I only have one more border to add to the quilt!  (Going off of a suggested 72x90 twin size.)  My planned May step will only add a single row at the top, so I will have 3 more sides to tackle after that.

Received this full block-of-the-month pattern packet as a gift.  Planning to make the patchwork sun block, with a pink background and blue plaid stars.

Cute pattern!

Wish I had more yellow flannel...

Process confession: I don't love the way it is looking so far.  In fact, I rather dislike it.  Too loud.  Yuck.  Is there a way I can rescue this?

I will ask my stitch-n-bitch friends for opinions.  Sometimes it takes many hands to make a quilt.

Relaxing Robin April Check-in

It's the end of April.  I scurried to make visible progress on my Relaxing Robin sew-along.  Even though I haven't finished this month's step (which I made a carryover from last month's step), I feel pretty good about where I am at.

MARCH APRIL IS-

 

4. add some triangles. this could be flying geese, pinwheels, etc. again, have fun with this. there are many blocks and ideas with triangles.

I based the "picket fence" choice for add some triangles on another Relaxing Robin project, made by Sunny at Quilting Dreams.  This border will go all the way around the quilt, with a cute corner treatment inspired by my friend Dwynn.  (Stay tuned!)

Design wall floor:  envisioning what this border will look like when it goes around the sides of the quilt.  Ooh, I am impressed with my progress!  Can you tell how large this is?

Honestly, a quilt top usually takes me years.  I have only been working on this one since... December January.  Go me!  I am wanting it to finish out at twin-size.  The next row is planned out

APRIL MAY IS-

5. using some of the fabric in the first border make another border of your choice

But first, I need to finish up my April step. 
Just keep working along, at my relaxing pace...

And I'm not even a cat person...

Thanks to Dawn at Sew You Quilt 2 for hosting this Relaxing Robin.  There's a link-up on her blog; I hope others who are participating will feel bold enough to post their progress, too.

Relaxing Mid-month

I talked to a friend today about the progress of the wedding sewing.  Ummm...

Oakie and friend.  At least he's not alone.

Well, despite Oakie's best efforts to coax me to his corner of the sewing room for some satin-y creating, I have just been playing in the other corner this past week.  That corner contains my Relaxing Robin.

My favorite part of this project right now?  That I can set a timer for 15 minutes--or 30, or 45, whatever time I have to spare on a weeknight--and just sew a little.  Cut a little.  Iron a little.

No pressure.  No keeping track of progress.  No deadline looming (yet); it's just the middle of the month.

This is truly relaxing.

I am linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.  Yay for little bits of progress.  Soon it will grow up to be a quilt.