2014 year end review

 as i looked over several 2014 year-end posts, i thought i hadn't done very much myself this year. certainly not as much as last year. i couldn't even remember a single finish because it seemed all i did this year was finish up leftovers from last year. however, there were a few baby quilts i did start and finish this year; two, actually. every other finish was started last year or further back than that (2011). for details on any of the finishes, just visit my "quilts" page and follow the links.

and there were plenty of things started last year that were still not finished this year either, not to mention all the projects i did start this year. (top left to right, by row: fl strips baby quilt, color card from color intensive class, paris daydreams, gypsy wife blocks, january sugar block club installment, bandwidth, girls weekend charity quilt, wonky stacked coins for s1, bloom where you are planted, penny patch 2.0, indian blanket from angled class.)

if 2013 was the year i really became a quilter, 2014 seems to me the year i made lots of big plans and joined lots of activities, but didn't really do a whole lot. or at least finish a whole lot. i got seduced by the gypsy wife qal and sugar block of the month right out of the gate in january so i never even got around to any of my 4 "goals" for the year. (actually, penny patch 2.0 was one of those so i guess i did get one of them started.) i did, however, do some worthwhile things, like join the fabricholics anonymous fabric fast. that was on-off-on-off-finally-make-it-6-months for me. i took two classes from rachel hauser at stitched in color: color intensive and angled. both were awesome skill builders for me. the gypsy wife qal and sugar block club both pushed my skills in new directions i didn't think i was ready for just yet. but i surprised myself with what i was able to do. i also stretched past the stipple by learning to fmq the dogwood stitch and even tried some other improvised styles on the ill-fated strips baby quilt. this year i managed to get both of my oldest two daughters to make their own first quilts, one as a school project and another for a church auction.

so all in all, it really wasn't a bad year. i took time off when i had to. when you're a mom of 7, that's quite often. i'm not a fast quilter and i don't churn out finishes. but i do enjoy this hobby immensely.

what does 2015 look like from here? i'm not making any plans or commitments this year. i'm going to take it as it comes and see where i go along the way.

but i sure better get my boys' quilts finished up soon!

moving forward, looking back

oh, joy - a new year! i love fresh starts and reasons to begin again in the hopes of doing better. the new year always seems like the biggest fresh start of them all. as i get ready to head into the new year, i'm going to take one last look at the past year to see where i started, what i learned, what i did.

really, 2013 feels like the year i became a quilter. technically, i started quilting in late 2010, nearly 3 years ago. but that only lasted for about 6 months before quilting was so wonderfully interrupted by my seventh baby. not only did quilting come to a screeching halt whilst i was pregnant with her, i did not get back to it until she was nearly a year old. that was late last year. yes, she was quite the interruption.

so at the beginning of this year, i had three major wips left from my pre-baby days, another one i'd acquired at the end of 2012, a whole slew of patterns and fabrics i'd already purchased (before i really knew what i was doing), a lonely little blog that was limping along, and a burning desire to get quilting again.

i was spending time working on "taite" at the machine and handquilting "expecting blossoms" when i could. i had "out on a limb" quilted but needing binding, and "twirly" started from a single-day class in december, that were not getting touched at all. to add to that, i signed up for a single-day class, in february, which began "romance in the garden." i was definitely having project ADD and not producing any actual finishes, but just so happy to be doing something with all my fabric again.

in march, the mr and i took a trip to new york city, where i got an unexpected chance to visit purl soho in person rather than just on-line. while there i picked up my first bits of liberty (but was too clueless to realize what it was) and shocked my mr with just how much you could spend on fabric that fit in a small shopping bag. (that was a really good post but before anyone besides my non-sewing friends actually read this blog. someone go read it and make me happy, please!)

the next few months of spring brought two actual, long-awaited finishes: "out on a limb" and "expecting blossoms."

i also discovered craftsy.com and signed up for a few classes. i have yet to make anything from the classes, but i do love watching them. actually, i take that back. i've made the diy pressing board and design wall from elizabeth hartman's class.

at this point i was making a lot of new things, but still feeling like a beginner. my accuracy and confidence were not that great. so it was a complete shock to me when i attempted hst's and found i could do them. yet another beginner's class pushed me out of my comfort zone and into hst land. i learned two different methods for making an hst, both of which i made into tutorials. my infatuation with the hst was such that not only did i start the quilt for the class, "plus a diamond," but i also began to play with my own quilt design.

tutorials for "traingles on a roll" or easy individual hsts are both available.

by may, i was no longer sewing in my bawthroom space but had migrated downstairs to my "formal" dining area (that's a loose term for a work in progress!) so that i could sew more often and in the middle of the family rather than tucked away in a corner by myself upstairs. sewing in a more public space required attempts at disguising my space.

at this point, two major leaps forward came to my sewing: i began joining link parties with my blog and i learned how to stipple fmq. becoming connected to the blogging world added a whole new dimension to my sewing experience and really pushed me to do more, go farther. linky parties also introduced me to some very sweet quilting friends, from all corners of the world.

i learned to stipple bit by bit, starting with a little doll quilt i'd pieced from scraps. then i moved on to two baby quilts for gifts, the not-a-quilt quilt (inspired by liz) and a simple 3-panel quilt of my design. this helped me work up my courage to stipple quilt "taite", something i'd been needing to do for about 2 years.

but first i went ahead and practiced on "romance in the garden", which was now ready for quilting. along with gaining new skills, i was having plenty of "home ec" moments that were teaching me all the things i didn't know, or that hadn't yet sunk in, about sewing and quilting. the worst was when i nearly broke my machine when i ran into a basting pin.

most all of this explosion of productivity happened on my two-week summer "staycation" where my kids were off to a music theater day camp and i was sewing my heart out. not only did i get all those little quilts started and "romance" finished, i also made another flimsy, a real paris nightmare that eventually became "paris daydreams", i made my 18th and final 4sq blanket, and did a liberty giveaway in honor of my angelic friend, lucy (yay, laura!).

i guess this is the time to mention i got a new machine! when i began fmq, i knew my sweet little brother project runway was not going to cut it anymore for quilting. in honor of my 40th birthday, i talked the mr into getting me a new juki tl2010q. to celebrate and spread the love, i did a few related giveaways on my blog (yay, deborah!) and shared a tutorial for making fat quarter lollies (which later got picked up by favequilts.com and featured on the cover of an ebook).

the rest of my summer was dominated by our 6 week family road trip through the western united states and the introduction of portable english paper piecing (epp) to my sewing repertoire. my epp also followed me to san diego, on a back packing trip to yosemite natl park, and to the east coast in the fall. where i go, it goes. i've enjoyed epp so much that i've started a monthly link party, "in hand", in the hopes of bring other eppers  and their projects out into the light.

one other new technique i attempted was foundation paper piecing. i made a cute little pincushion, something i'd long been in need of, as my first dip into the book patchwork, please! i'm willing to try this more . . . once i get everything else that's in progress done and out of the way.

in the fall, my family hit a baby boom, so i began dabbling in improv-pieced frame quilts. i completed two boy quilts, "patch the puppy" and "go, baby,go", with one lone girl quilt, "rain or shine", nearly done before christmas plans interrupted everything. the idea for Christmas was to complete the 4 wips i had going for the girls and actually make 2 new quilts for the boys (and a sham for the 5th daughter, too).

that got interrupted, too, by my obsession with the penny patch quilt along at stitched in color. there is a trend of interruptions going on here. so maybe my quilting road is full of stops, starts, and detours, but it has been a journey of learning, experimenting, creating, regardless of how immediately productive it's been. ***is anyone still with me?! whew! this is taking forever. it was a lot bigger year and a lot longer post than i realized.***

a mid-season reality check pulled me out of the christmas making madness and back into my family. the quilts got mostly done and gifted as they were. i have their completions to look forward to in the coming year. there were also the children's adorable makes, a few other significant events in my quilting life and on this blog, but i'm just too pooped to go into them. my review turned into rewriting this blog. here's the short list of my sewing life this 2013 year:

• completed - 1 doll quilt, 5 baby quilts, and 2 throw quilts, with 3 more throws that just need binding finished
• wips - 2 sandwiches, 2 flimsies, 3 quilt tops in progress
• purchased quilts - "lolly lolly" from rachel hauser, "beach pow wow" from ETC
• new skills attempted - hsts, epp, foundation paper piecing, stipple and other fmq
• blog highlights - linking in to parties, 40th bday celebration, 200th post celebration, hostessing "in hand" epp link party, two tutorials being featured at favequilts.com
• visited stores across the country while travelling
• met heather bailey, a favorite designer, at church, and embarrassed both of us

now, it's time to look forward to the new year, the fresh start, the new beginning.

 i have these makes in the que and some fabric fasting to do as my goals for the upcoming 2014 year. i also purchased rachel hauser's ebook versions of her classes handstitched and sewing curves to use as guides through more skill building. oh, there's lots of goodies in there! i'm going to face forward now, with high hopes that 2014 brings:

• more improv-piecing
• designing more of my own quilts
• using the fabrics and patterns i already have
• playing with scraps
• attempting garment construction
• helping the children sew more
• attempting curves

now, if you'll excuse me, i think i'll go sew something!
a very happy new year to you all, each and every one.


linking in with sarah and anne's year in review party

my first time

melissa at my fabric relish has a fun link party going called "my first time", featuring everyone's first quilts! I linked in and decided to go ahead and do a better post of my firsty, called "at last". (origninal post here)

 this quilt got her start when i finally took a leap and signed up for a beginner quilting class at ETC with louise hailey. the straight-lines-only pattern looked doable and i desperately wanted to learn to quilt. to that point i had only sewn a few headbands, but i leapt in anyway. why not learn to sew and quilt at the same time? after four mondays spent at the store, i was supposed to have a quilt.

just to be clear, i do like this quilt - for the most part. the fact that i made it all by myself alone gives it points in my book! like a first child, it was an experiment and a learning experience, but also well loved. the daughter who claimed it, d4, grows more and more in love with it all the time.

i spent half the first class lovingly selecting the fat quarters (but i bought 1/2 yds just to be safe), only to realize later that i'd selected twice as many as the pattern called for. i don't remember exactly how that happened, something about how i read the pattern wrong and thought i knew better? that wouldn't have been such an issue if i loved each and every one of them. and i do love, or at least like enough, all of them except for one: the pink dot and box fabric below.

this is probably the biggest lesson i learned the first time around: a fabric you do not like will not fade into the quilt, it will stare you down every single time you look at your project. if you don't like it - don't use it!

my color scheme for the quilt was pink, purpley-pink, light blue, acid-y light greens, and a tad bit of grey. i went for geometric shapes and a few florals thrown in for fun. that's how i ended up with that pink dot and box thingy - it was the last of the 18 fabrics i needed for my scheme. nothing else in the store fit. i'm seriously considering appliqueing something over the top of it. if i ever find the time.

the other mistake i made was choosing the light pink art gallery oval elements for the large sashing border. it makes the whole quilt read too sugar sweet for my taste. i wanted pastels with pop and this toned it down too much. granted, there was supposed to be some giant ric-rac swirling through the border and large flowers appliqued there, too, so it shouldn't have been seen as much as it is. but that ric rac and those flowers, while cute on the store sample, took my quilt to a different level of cutesy that i didn't like.  i've played with the idea of sewing straight ribbon in the sashing border, adding a ruffle from all the scraps down the middle of it, or just doing some quilting in there now that i'm dabbling in fmq.

i made all the flowers and even began embroidering them before deciding they just didn't fit the quilt. i'm thinking of making a cushion with the flowers or maybe even an entirely different quilt.

what i did do right with this quilt is the backing. i went all crazy for a beginner and pieced my own backing instead of using a whole cloth like everyone else. i took the idea of the blocks in the quilt and echoed that in the backing design. (do note that part of the quilt is draped over the fence, so this isn't the full back.)

and i'm still quite happy with my carefully thought out fabric choices. i included one floral and each of the main colors. three of the fabrics are from designers who are still my top favorites: joel dewberry, heather bailey, and sandi henderson (oh, yes, that's meadow dot in robin's egg/mint! my all time favorite fabric).

 the quilting was an easy stitch-in-the-ditch. which isn't actually that easy. first and last time. i much prefer to echo-quilt the seams if i'm going to straight line it. and, typically, there are still a few threads i need to bury even now! i'm so bad about that.

i made a risky (to me) choice, but i also got the binding right: amy butler's daisy chain in that purpley-pink, which wasn't used elsewhere in the quilt but finished it off nicely. sure wish i could change out those yucky pink dot and box squares for the daisy chain now.

my mitered corners even turned out decent! but i don't think i doubled my thread on the binding because i saw some coming undone the other day. bummer.

that's my "at last" quilt, so named based on the scriptural phrase "the last shall be first and the first shall be last" because it was my first quilt made for my last (at the time) child, d4. also, i had made a quilt "at last" after years of wanting to do it. "at last."

now here's the twist to my story: this is and isn't exactly my first quilt. nope. i'd started "star cookie" all on my own, with just my own idea and a bit of reading about quilting, a month before i took the class. however, once i realized everything i'd done wrong, i had to restart "star cookie" to fix some things. that didn't happen until after i'd (mostly) completed "at last" so i really don't know who to claim as my first. they're sort of fraternal twins, i suppose.

report

staycation is over, juki is covered up for a bit. my sewing corner abandoned, projects slung about. i didn't get all 4 quilts finished i'd hoped to, but there were also some surprises thrown in there that were fun anyway. here's the recap of what i got done in the 2 weeks of quilt-a-thon staycation.

1.  "romance in the garden" (above on chair) is fully quilted and being bound

2. that paris nightmare turned into "paris daydreams" and is waiting for a back & sandwich

3. the "not quilt" baby quilt is complete, right down to a washing. just needs delivery in the next few days.

4. "3 across" panel baby quilt for the new neighbors was delivered yesterday, washed, beribboned and all. the little miss it is intended for is expected/scheduled to arrive friday!

5. "plus a diamond" got quilted & trimmed. binding forthcoming. you didn't even know i touched this one, did you? i never said. more on her later.

i suppose that's pretty good for me for 2 weeks work. i'm still a bit sad i didn't get "twirl" fixed or "taite" quilted. really, "taite" was the most important project, but the others all led up to it in one way or another and time just ran out. almost there!

tackling the portable epp front next. join me, liz, and everyone else, will you? (according to liz, that constitutes major arm twisting from me - so join us!)

linking in to lee's "wip wednesday" at freshly pieced.

"expecting blossoms" quilt completed

 i feel as if i am finally getting in my groove again now that baby is over a year old. life is returning to what it was before her with the added bonus of all her wonderfulness mixed in. i'm starting new projects, finding time to work on things, and actually finishing stuff that has been in progress since before she arrived. hallelujah!

 we had a big sewing weekend as a family this saturday and sunday while we listened to our church's annual general conference broadcast (more on that later). the first thing i got done was the binding for baby's quilt. we were all hanging out in the glorious spring weather in our backyard between sessions when i decided to go ahead and photograph the quilt. baby saw her blanket and wouldn't get out of the way, wanting to sit on, roll up in, and drag it all around despite my intentions otherwise.

 so, even though she was in just a diaper because she'd just finished lunch (i always feed her in just a diaper at home to avoid clothing messes and to speed clean up), i went ahead and photographed her with the quilt, too. granted, she isn't always this interested in it, but she does have her moments. maybe in time it will become more of a comfort object and cherished possession to her.

originally, i was going to make her a modern charm squares quilt (pattern from elizabeth hartman here) out of french general's pom pom de paris from moda. and i still want to. but when i saw this oppsa daisy line i also wanted to wip up a quick 6 and 1/2 dozen quilt for her. well, that "quick" quilt took a year to complete. (i will admit the top was super quick; the rest, including the handquilting was the hang-up.) now i think i will make that charm squares quilt with two charm packs instead of one so she can have a larger quilt for when she is older. in time, i will, that is. she already has two other blankets, her 4sq and the furry minky made by kelly, our sewing teacher. i think we are good on blankets and quilts for her for now.

back

 what could be under that quilt, i wonder?  this reminded me of  you're just what i need (originally the bundle book) by ruth krauss. in it, a toddler hides under a blanket and mother tries to guess what could be under there. it's one we've been reading for years. our baby was having the best time playing with her quilt. for about 10 minutes, or as long as i wanted to photograph it.

 for the binding i used the large floral print from the line in the green colorway. i went through a phase where i liked to use bindings that incorporated all the colors of the quilt, if possible, to tie it together. i'm starting to branch out more now. but i still like this one.

and i still really like all the tiny creatures you can find through out the fabrics. it makes for a little bit of "i spy" fun to look for the butterflies, caterpillars, and ladybugs.

there is one tiny problem with this quilt. when i put the panels together, i didn't notice that i put the large pink tulip that appears in the red and white large floral right next to each other on the quilt top (see first photo, top left). i did turn the white panels so they wouldn't blend with the red as much, but i didn't notice those tulips together. it kinda bugs me when i see it. bummer. but not a deal breaker.

i am still super happy this is done and finally in my baby's hands for good!

'tis done!

i'm not much of an exclamation point girl, but i can allow myself one here - "out on a limb" is done!!! okay, so maybe that warrants more than one exclamation because this is awfully exciting for me.

after several weeks of toting it along for park hour on tuesdays, schlepping it to UT for my siblings snow vacation (and unknowingly sleeping with it with a binding needle still tucked in), and taking it to a couple of my oldest daughter's soccer games, i found myself heading out the door to the LDS Arizona Temple's Easter Pageant (also here). we were going three hours early to reserve good seats and i brought along books to occupy the kids while we waited. for myself, i saw another opportunity to work on the quilt binding.

once i sat down to work on it, i was surprised at how little was left; probably less than two feet. in no time at all i had my quilt completed. i was utterly astonished. when you've been working on something in bits and pieces whenever you can for two years, you almost get to the point where you think it will never be done. but it was! and the bonus was that i finished it while on location at the beautiful Arizona Temple grounds and gardens, which meant i got to attempt one of those atmospheric shots quilters love to take of their finished quilts. it was even the golden hour before sunset, which has such amazing lighting. i've got to admit, i don't know much about product photography. there were beautiful flowers just everywhere at the temple, but i couldn't manage to get them in with the quilt very well. it was still fun to try.

front

back

details

binding

 i think the back just might be my favorite part of this quilt. i really do love how that red leaf print (one of my all time favorites) looks with those three stripes off centered through it. there are definitely problems and imperfections in this project. still, i am rather proud of myself for designing and completing it. eventually, i would like to reuse this pattern with some modifications and work up a tutorial for it. wouldn't that be nice?

i guess i am now on to other things.
as soon as i was done photographing "limb," i jumped right in to working on the baby 6's quilt's binding. that is zipping right along. between the remaining pageant wait time and easter dinner at my husband's grandmother's house, i have half of it done already.

4 sqr #10 & a scrap book

i'm pretty sure this blanket was on hold longer than any i've made thus far: bought the fabric last spring, completed the top in late summer, my mom sewed on the flannel back for me in the fall while i bedrested, and i completed the border stitching for it this month in a few short sessions. whew! done, wrapped and ready to hand over to baby charlotte, who is now 6+ months old.

i have to say she is one of my favorites for a few reasons.

1. i adore the lily and will fabrics from bunny hill designs for moda. very feminine, baby, soft, vintage and classic but in that more modern color combo of pink and brown. i've gotten lots of compliments on these fabrics whenever i've been seen working on the blanket. love of fabric is one of the reasons i started sewing so you better bet i'm gonna gush a bit over designs i love. i am especially tickled by all the sweet bunnies worked into the designs of this line.

2. i really like how the brown stitching contrasted with the ivory flannel on the backing.

3. on this blanket i upgraded my technique for the blanket stitching in 3 new ways.

*i was having problems with getting my thread knots to pop in and out of the fabric. sometimes it worked perfectly and other times i had difficulties galore. finally i realized i could just put my hand and needle in the opening i left for turning the blanket. i did this to plant the thread whenever i started a new section of floss.

*i started anchoring the corner stitches (more on that when i upgrade the tute).

*i quit popping the knot in when i tied off a section and began tying off right on the stitch. this is not as hidden of a techinique, but easier, quicker, and more secure. i'll upgrade this section, too.

so long, pink lily and will bunny blanket!

i still have some of this fabric to use for myself but no plans yet. maybe i'll just put it away for use on a scrap project from the newest quilt book i bought, sunday morning quilts.

this book has some great projects for using up your scraps, as well as tips on how to store and sort them. looking over it last night, i'd say the book is for sewers/quilters with some experience because there was a lot of assumed knowledge. but if you have enough scraps to create entire quilts, then you have probably been sewing a while. fair enough. i especially liked having ideas for using my strings and the little triangle corners i cut off projects because i save the all, every last bit. even selvages. at $10+ a yard and rising, designer fabrics are precious to the last thread.