Wednesday, December 31, 2014
2014 In Review: Accomplishments and Wishful Thinking
In some ways this year has gone really fast, but there are a few times where the year just seemed to drag. The year was pretty uneventful till it reached late summer. In the space of a about a month Drama Teen tore her ACL, then had surgery to repair it. The same day DT fell, we learned that My Guy's mother was terminally ill and we lost her just a few days after DT's surgery. The holidays were hard this year as my MIL has always played such a big part in them. As hard as it's been, her loss reminded us just how precious time is with the rest of the family. Drama Teen especially learned that lesson and made some significant changes in her approach to spending time with everyone, but especially with her remaining Grandma.
There have been some bright spots this year as well. Drama Teen passed her permit test and is learning to drive.
The learning to drive is probably a brighter spot for DT than it is for us. It will be nice not to have to jump through hoops and call in favors to get her from point A to point B for volleyball practice and such. The brightest point in the driving situation for me is that she'll be driving my 11 year old Toyota, so Mom needs to find something else to drive.
This came home with us on Monday (We were supposed to be just looking, not buying). But it wasn't red. Our last two cars have been red, my only requirement was that it not be red (well that and that it have all wheel or 4 wheel drive). My Guy really liked the way this one drove, so that decided it.
I've also been reflecting on what got accomplished in the sewing room this year. Quilting is a hobby, one I enjoy immensely, but this year I struggled to get myself into the sewing room. Maybe I just needed a break this year. I spent a lot of 2013 sewing on a deadline where I really had to be in the sewing room almost every day. I was so flush with the victory of having finished 7 quilts in 2013 that when it came time to make goals for 2014, I probably fell victim to a lot of wishful thinking. It makes for a bit of let down as I review what did get done this year.
The Plan
1. Finish 10 quits, 5 UFOs and 5 WIPs
2. Start 8 quilts
3. Add only 100 yards of fabric
4. Use 75 yards of fabric
The Actual
1. Finished 3 quilts, 2 UFOs and 1 WIP
2. Started 5 quilts, only one from the list
3. Added a lot more than 100 yards
4. Used less than 35 yards
On the bright side, one of the quilts that was finished this year, Scrappy Stars, was the oldest one on the UFO list. I haven't blogged about that finish yet as I put the final stitches in the binding, then promptly wrapped it up for my Mom. And though I only started one of the quilts on my "to make list", I can look back and know why none of the others got started. I'll be less ambitious this year and only add what I'm positive I'm going to start (that's easy as both relate to challenges).
I added a lot more than 100 yards, but I have a more robust stash now. Of the 5 quilts started this year, there were 2 where all the fabrics were pulled completely from the stash. That's better in past years where I've had to buy a background or accent fabric because my stash didn't have that color. So hopefully I'm set up this year to do a better job of using the stash and not adding to it as much.
For the rest of this last day of 2014, laundry ranks as a "have to do". Other than that, we have plans to go to the gym and get a slight jump on our exercise plans for 2015. Drama Teen has a church party tonight. My Guy and I will probably watch the ball drop on TV, so there will probably be some slow stitching on tap for this evening.
Have a happy and safe New Year's Eve.
There have been some bright spots this year as well. Drama Teen passed her permit test and is learning to drive.
The learning to drive is probably a brighter spot for DT than it is for us. It will be nice not to have to jump through hoops and call in favors to get her from point A to point B for volleyball practice and such. The brightest point in the driving situation for me is that she'll be driving my 11 year old Toyota, so Mom needs to find something else to drive.
This came home with us on Monday (We were supposed to be just looking, not buying). But it wasn't red. Our last two cars have been red, my only requirement was that it not be red (well that and that it have all wheel or 4 wheel drive). My Guy really liked the way this one drove, so that decided it.
I've also been reflecting on what got accomplished in the sewing room this year. Quilting is a hobby, one I enjoy immensely, but this year I struggled to get myself into the sewing room. Maybe I just needed a break this year. I spent a lot of 2013 sewing on a deadline where I really had to be in the sewing room almost every day. I was so flush with the victory of having finished 7 quilts in 2013 that when it came time to make goals for 2014, I probably fell victim to a lot of wishful thinking. It makes for a bit of let down as I review what did get done this year.
The Plan
1. Finish 10 quits, 5 UFOs and 5 WIPs
2. Start 8 quilts
3. Add only 100 yards of fabric
4. Use 75 yards of fabric
The Actual
1. Finished 3 quilts, 2 UFOs and 1 WIP
2. Started 5 quilts, only one from the list
3. Added a lot more than 100 yards
4. Used less than 35 yards
On the bright side, one of the quilts that was finished this year, Scrappy Stars, was the oldest one on the UFO list. I haven't blogged about that finish yet as I put the final stitches in the binding, then promptly wrapped it up for my Mom. And though I only started one of the quilts on my "to make list", I can look back and know why none of the others got started. I'll be less ambitious this year and only add what I'm positive I'm going to start (that's easy as both relate to challenges).
I added a lot more than 100 yards, but I have a more robust stash now. Of the 5 quilts started this year, there were 2 where all the fabrics were pulled completely from the stash. That's better in past years where I've had to buy a background or accent fabric because my stash didn't have that color. So hopefully I'm set up this year to do a better job of using the stash and not adding to it as much.
For the rest of this last day of 2014, laundry ranks as a "have to do". Other than that, we have plans to go to the gym and get a slight jump on our exercise plans for 2015. Drama Teen has a church party tonight. My Guy and I will probably watch the ball drop on TV, so there will probably be some slow stitching on tap for this evening.
Have a happy and safe New Year's Eve.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Tuesday Archives - Log Cabin Blocks
It's been awhile since I've linked up with Val's Quilting Studio for the Tuesday Archives.
Most of the time I just don't have appropriate archival subject matter to blog about, but probably just as often there hasn't been the time to write the post. Since I'm off work this week, I was able to do a bit of digging into the blog archives. Unfortunately there are no log cabin quilts in any of my posts. The only place any log cabin blocks make an appearance on the blog is as a border in a medallion quilt.
The pattern is Back to Square One by Judy Laquidara who blogs at Patchwork Times. This was a mystery BOM she hosted in 2013. There is one more border that includes log cabin blocks mixed with friendship star blocks. I finished a few of those star blocks before this quilt got put away in favor of working on Bonnie Hunter's 2013 mystery quilt. The last post noting any progress dates from December 2, 2013, so this quilt is definitely on the UFO list.
Back to Square One is probably the closest to being finished of all my UFOs; so it's a candidate for my 2015 UFO hit list. But I have 10 UFOs that are older on the list as well. So I'm trying to decide between focusing on the older ones first or working on the ones closest to being completed. How do you decide which UFOs to work on?
That's it for me today. Check out Val's Quilting Studio for more archival fun.
Most of the time I just don't have appropriate archival subject matter to blog about, but probably just as often there hasn't been the time to write the post. Since I'm off work this week, I was able to do a bit of digging into the blog archives. Unfortunately there are no log cabin quilts in any of my posts. The only place any log cabin blocks make an appearance on the blog is as a border in a medallion quilt.
The pattern is Back to Square One by Judy Laquidara who blogs at Patchwork Times. This was a mystery BOM she hosted in 2013. There is one more border that includes log cabin blocks mixed with friendship star blocks. I finished a few of those star blocks before this quilt got put away in favor of working on Bonnie Hunter's 2013 mystery quilt. The last post noting any progress dates from December 2, 2013, so this quilt is definitely on the UFO list.
Back to Square One is probably the closest to being finished of all my UFOs; so it's a candidate for my 2015 UFO hit list. But I have 10 UFOs that are older on the list as well. So I'm trying to decide between focusing on the older ones first or working on the ones closest to being completed. How do you decide which UFOs to work on?
That's it for me today. Check out Val's Quilting Studio for more archival fun.
Monday, December 29, 2014
Design Wall Monday and Grand Illusion Progress
Not much stitching got done last week, there was just too much Christmas prep to finish. We had a nice visit with my family, lots of talking and laughing. Things finally got back to normal on Saturday and there was some time for playing in the sewing room.
The first thing that got done was cutting the strips for step 5 of the Grand Illusion mystery.
I finished the four pink/black/yellow 4 patch blocks and made a good start on the blue/yellow 4 patches. The top blocks are from step 4, that's the only step I didn't have a chance to really make a lot of progress with. I'm off work all this week, so hopefully I can get caught up there before clue 6 comes out next Friday.
The other project up on the design wall is the Rainbow Challenge Sampler quilt. I've been working on adding all the sashing.
I wasn't sure how well all these blocks were going to work with each other, but the black sashing helps unify and highlight each block. Hopefully this will be a completed flimsy by the end of the week.
That's it for me this week. You can find more progress on Grand Illusion over at Bonnie's Quiltville blog. Design Wall Monday is going on over at Judy's Patchwork Times, pop over there and find out all the stitching that went on over the holiday.
The first thing that got done was cutting the strips for step 5 of the Grand Illusion mystery.
 |
| Grand Illusion A Bonnie Hunter Mystery |
I finished the four pink/black/yellow 4 patch blocks and made a good start on the blue/yellow 4 patches. The top blocks are from step 4, that's the only step I didn't have a chance to really make a lot of progress with. I'm off work all this week, so hopefully I can get caught up there before clue 6 comes out next Friday.
The other project up on the design wall is the Rainbow Challenge Sampler quilt. I've been working on adding all the sashing.
 |
| Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler By Angela Feldbush of Soscrappy |
I wasn't sure how well all these blocks were going to work with each other, but the black sashing helps unify and highlight each block. Hopefully this will be a completed flimsy by the end of the week.
That's it for me this week. You can find more progress on Grand Illusion over at Bonnie's Quiltville blog. Design Wall Monday is going on over at Judy's Patchwork Times, pop over there and find out all the stitching that went on over the holiday.
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