2018 Goals Summary

Here it is the 3rd of February 2019 and I am just wrapping up some of my goals for 2018. I took 13 months on some of these. But that is okay, because late is better than never. Let's review the goals.

1. Three quilts for family - can be started, especially finish UFO (UnFinished Objects) or NSY (Not Started Yet)
2. Complete three UFO or NSY - can be used for #1
3. Work on something 20-30 minutes each day. Can be sewing, Cutting, Prepping, Quilting or Studying -  a hold over from last year
4. Use what I have and only buy fabric to finish a project.
5. Document Quilts I have made, this is a hold over from last year.
6. Read The Technical part of the Thread Waggle quilt blog.
7. Try Paper piecing - use the cake mixes you have.
8. Do an easy project now and then. Life isn't all about learning.
9. Clean up after each project. it is easy to let things sit and then I don't get going on the next project.

That was a pretty big chunk to work on and I didn't accomplish all of them or even most of them.  The thing with setting goals, they have to be fluid and sometimes while the goal is a good idea it isn't practical for the stage of life you are currently in.

So How did I do:

1.  Three quilts for Family - DONE!!! Actually I did 4 but 3 of them were bigger quilts than I had been doing.
2. Complete three UFO's or NSY - Mostly accomplished Completed two UFO's. The third  just needs binding stitched on the back side and a label.  Started three quilts and completed two of them. The third needs borders and quilting.
3. Work on Something 20-30 minutes everyday.  I have to say only partially accomplished this.  I did really well for the first quarter of the year. then was very hit and miss (mostly miss) the rest of the year. Still it is something I need to work on.
4. Use what I have and only buy fabric to finish a project.  About half way accomplished.  With the exception of one layer cake,  the fabric I bought was for projects and did not just add to my stash. I spent way less on fabric this year. I need to try and do that again in 2019. Starting now of course, because In January I hit an awesome sale on batiks. $5.00 a yard and well I couldn't pass that up. I do know what I am using some of them for though so it wasn't all stash building.
5. Document Quilts I have made.  I finished that this afternoon.  At least as much as I could for the quilts from the past 9 years.  I do know there is a table runner and a baby quilt that I made but I didn't photograph before I gave them away. That was more than 5 years ago so I am unlikely to get a picture now. But I believe I have all of the others documented.
6. Read the Technical part of the Thread Waggle quilt blog.  Not even close. This goal, it  turns out, was not really a practical goal for me at this time. I ended up dropping it. 
7. Try Paper Piecing. I didn't get around to that. I will keep it for this next year. That layer cake I mentioned in number 4 is probably slated for a cake mix quilt.
8. Do an easy project. The third quilt I started is an easy project.  The next one I plan to start will also be and easy project. Then I will jump into a more complicated quilt.
9. Clean up after each project. I did pretty good with this one and will keep working on it. I also think I need to do better about organizing and putting supplies up instead of letting them pile up.

I also looked at how often I blogged this past year.  I posted 40 out of 52 weeks.  Which is about 76.9% of the time.  This year is off to a bad start since I missed 5 weeks already but I am going to try and do better.  I am starting to look forward to projects again.  I don't know why I got so discouraged but I did. Then I was traveling, then trying to catch up at work and now trying to catch up at home.

So I haven't really settled on goals for 2019 yet.  That will be topic of my next blog.  

What are you working on? What new challenge are you taking on?  I could use some ideas.

Quilter's Block And Absent Minded Ramblings

Hello out there.  I dropped off the radar for a while. In fact I dropped off for seven weeks. This journey I am on to be a better quilter is important to me but like everyone else out there I got a little discouraged.  In fact, I had a bad case of quilter's block. You know like writer's block only with quilting. That and probably more than a little bit of depression.

In my last installment, I told you how I totally messed up my second Ribbon Dance quilt.  Well I spent the following week tearing out the stitching of the border and the bottom two rows. Except it hit me that I didn't need to separate every block apart.  I just needed to take out the stitching between the 6th and 7th row. Then I picked out the stitching between the 2nd & 3rd and the 4th & 5th columns of those two rows.  This gave me 3 - 2x2 blocks.

The first week of December I stacked those blocks onto each other and ended up with a 2x6 column. I sewed that onto the center and my now 8x6 top was ready for borders.  Except that now I had borders that no longer fit my top. At that point I was really down and for a while very unmotivated.  In fact I didn't even want to be in my studio. I was starting to hole up in my bedroom again. A sure sign of depression.

It was the second week of December, I was down a tech at work, I had people taking vacation, and a really nasty bug was running rampant through work. Long hours and lots of stress had me short tempered and gave me a bad attitude.  I had done nothing in the way of Christmas preparations and had some more shopping to do.  I just didn't have the energy to put into quilting and everything else.  Like I said I was down. Kim came home on the 14th and I just had one week until I was on vacation as well.  That helped but not enough. I didn't even look at my projects.

While I was cleaning up in the Studio a bit to make it nicer for Christmas, Killian's girlfriend asked me who the Christmas Lemonade Quilt was for. I had been wondering who to give it to the whole time I was making it. When Joy asked who the quilt was for, I was trying to figure out what to get my friend Liz for Christmas and it hit me the quilt was for Liz.

That quilt evolved from a bargain purchase that wouldn't work for the project I had in mind. I was determined to make something with that purchase. I ended up with a wonderful quilt. When I met Liz I was her supervisor. The housekeeping staff need more supervision than Sanitation could provide so management temporarily put them under quality. Shortly after that we ended up firing 2 of the 3 house keepers. Apparently Liz was the only one who had a decent work ethic.  Morning reports with her led me to realize we had lots in common. I enjoyed talking with her. But I was her supervisor and decorum dictated distance. A few months later, housekeeping went back to Sanitation. That was when Liz and I became fast friends. It seemed that the Christmas Lemonade quilt was symbolic of our friendship. I decided that the quilt would be her Christmas present. That meant I had to finish binding and put a label on it. I started stitching the binding down on December 18th and once that was done I put the label on it. That was the 20th. It was wrapped and under her tree on the 21st. 

That seemed to break the quilting block so to speak.  I then moved onto stitching down the binding on the first ribbon dance quilt. The label was on it by Christmas Eve.  At which point, Christmas took center stage.   

The day after Christmas, I got to work on fixing the inner border for the second ribbon dance quilt.  I had a long piece left over. I gathered all of the pieces, starched and pressed them stiff. then I sewed them back into a long strip and then measured and cut the inner border pieces. There are more seams than there were but that's okay.  Once the were on it was time to cut the outer border. On December 29th, I put the outer borders on and made the back. I then got the quilt on the machine. I also wound the bobbins and threaded Millie with the lavender colored thread I wanted to use. Before starting the quilting part, I made the binding and set it aside. The next day I quilted it.  On New Years Eve, I trimmed the quilt, and sewed the binding to the front.  That night I turned the binding and using one of my favorite gadgets, wonder clips.  I even started stitching it down. 

I didn't finish it though and in fact I didn't finish it until just last week.  I still had some time off and the star quilt needed to be quilted. Binding I can do in the evening after work, quilting I need blocks of time to do. So I made the back to the star quilt and got it on the machine.

I have decided to name the star quilt Starry Night. It is made of batiks in blues greens and purples. The sashing, back, and binding is an indigo batik with little white star corner stones. It reminds me of Van Goth's Starry Night. Which by the way is one of my favorite paintings.  I didn't start out to pay homage to that painting, it just turned out that way.

Anyway, I found a really cool star and swirl pattern to quilt Starry Night with. I just seemed perfect for it. Now what color thread to use? I went with silver. I got bold and used silver in the bobbin even though the back is almost black. Than means the stitching really stands out on the back. I am really happy with how it turned out. No, its not perfect and my mistakes are visible, but I am happy with it and I have figured out who is getting it. Now I just need to trim and bind that quilt and of course put a label on it. 

I am really glad that I got past the quilter's block. I am even happier that I am getting projects done. I also know that Liz is a big reason why it happened. I wanted so much to give her something more than a sweater or trinket. Finishing her quilt broke the block.  It also reminded me why I was working on these projects, for the people I love. Liz loved the quilt by the way. She won't let anyone else touch it. And when I told her the story behind it, it made it even more special.

Sometimes I forget that quilts don't have to be done on a deadline. I forget that they don't have to be perfect. I think I need to allow myself to move on and come back to the project later.  I think that part of my quilter's block was due to the fact that I was trying to get these two quilts done and it became a chore instead of being fun. And because I kept imposing deadlines on myself, I was getting discouraged.  Also I was not letting myself start another project before finishing the ones I was working on. Sometimes we need to take a break from projects, especially big ones. 

I have decided to do a couple of quick little throw quilts before starting another big quilt. I need a couple of easy ones to get my creative juices flowing.

Have you ever had Quilter's Block? How did you get past it?

Pride Goes Before the Fall

How many times are we warned in scriptures not to lean to our own understanding. How many times are we warned to not to be puffed up in Pride. How many philosophies warn against being being too sure of ones self. How many times have we been told that pride goes before the fall. I have heard these many time in both my spiritual and intellectual training. Yet like so many others I have fallen.

In my haste to finish this quilt I didn't pay close attention to the directions. After all I have already just made one.  So this should be no problem, right. I know what I am doing.  There are 48 blocks in this quilt, so the lay out should be 6 x 8, right? Wrong!  The blocks are rectangles not square.  The lay out is 8 x 6.  

I was making pretty good progress, I managed to sew all but one day this week and finished the center of the quilt. It looked a little wrong but I dismissed it. I measured for the inner border and it seemed wrong but again I dismissed it. I got the inner border sewn on and pressed and still it bothered me but again I would have dismissed it.  Then I was showing the pattern to one of my kids' friends and I noticed the measurements listed for the finished size. I immediately knew what I had done wrong. 

Now I am in the process of tearing out the stitching for the inner border. Then I need to take off the bottom two rows. Once I have the rows removed I need to take them apart.  I will then make two columns of six and sew them onto the end of the rows. It is not an ideal fix but it will work. 

I just hate that now I am even farther behind in completing the quilt. I will have to mail it at a later date and hope it makes it in time for Christmas.  This is so frustrating for me. I hate that it will be rushed. I also hate that I made such a stupid mistake. Quilting under pressure is proving to be a bad idea. 

Hopefully this week I will be able to work on it every night.  But I still need to purchase some gifts to mail this week as well as finish shopping for those ones who live here.  It will be a busy week. But it is that time of year.

I hope you all are having better luck at finishing your projects in time for Christmas.  

Finished is Better Than Perfect

I was about half way through piecing the second ribbon dance quilt when my son pointed out a mistake. I had the top draped over the rollers of my long arm machine and he saw a break in the pattern.  I calmly pointed out the blocks, still not seeing what he saw. Then I really looked at it and sure enough I had made the same mistake several times in both quilts.

The picture on the top shows how the pattern is supposed to look. The colored pieces or ribbons flow across the top of the first block down across the bottom of the second block thus creating the look of twisted ribbons. This effect is created by the white of the center strip of the blocks all going in the same direction across the row. Unfortunately when I was piecing the blocks I didn't notice that little detail in the pattern. In some of my blocks the center strip goes in the opposite direction. That would have been okay if all the block in that row were going in that direction. But when the blocks that are going in opposite directions are joined, you get a chevron effect as is shown in the bottom picture. Which is okay but not as dramatic as the the proper placement.

What really bugs me about this is I am better than that. I've taught my daughters to pay close attention to pattern directions. I was taught this by my mother. And yet I got cocky and thought I knew what I was doing and didn't read the pattern thoroughly enough to do it right. I am just a little disappointed in myself with this one. But not disappointed enough to rip it all apart and correct it.

Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company has said many times that finished is better than perfect. I have to agree with her. Any one looking at and criticizing a quilt that is a gift, doesn't deserve the quilt. These quilts are for my granddaughters who are ages 3 1/3 years and 6 months. By the time they are old enough to see my mistakes, they will have been sleeping under these quilts for a long time.  Plus I know their mother will teach them about the love and time that went into the quilts. I would much rather get these quilts done and have my grand babies asleep under them keeping warm. The alternative is to rip them out and start over.  No one would have any of my quilts if I did that every time.

So Finished is Better than Perfect.  I will still strive for perfection but I am not going to beat myself up over this mistake. My granddaughters will still have warm quilts and I will still have my sanity.

Has this happened to you? What did you do?

Holidays Approaching = Panicked Rush

Here it is a third of the way through November and I am already panicking about finishing projects.  The thing is I only need to finish the second ribbon dance quilt so why I am I feeling the pressure. It may be because this is peanut season and work is really busy. Or the fact we had a hurricane and our lines are running seven days a week to catch up. It could be that I am really tired due to this asthma flare kicking up with every weather change. Or the fact that I want my house ready for company and don't have all the time I want to clean it. I just know that I am feeling panicked.

So to put things in perspective, I decided to evaluate my progress on my goals.

1. Three quilts for family - when I get these two ribbon dance quilts done that will be complete.
2. Complete three UFO or NSY - I have one done, one needing binding and labeling and the third ready to quilt. Should be no problem to have it done by the end of the year.
3. Work on something 20-30 minutes a day. - I always start out really good on this and then it slowly fades to the wayside and I am back to quilting on the weekends. Usually because things have gone to pot at work or I am sick.
4. Use what I have and only buy fabric to finish projects - I only partially achieved it. But I have spent way less on fabric this year than in years past. And the fabric I have bought is designated for quilts and not just building a stash.
5. Document Quilts - Still not started this but I expect I will take the time after Christmas when I have time scheduled off from work.
6. Read the technical part of the Thread Waggle quilt blog. - I did this once. I think I will start to focus more on the Quilt Path manual.
7. Try paper piecing - haven't yet. Maybe after Christmas.
8. Do an easy project now and then - working on one with Rorie.  Plus I think I will do up a couple of jelly roll quilts just to do them. I have 2 rolls to do a stack and flip quilt. After the new year of course.
9. Clean up after each project - I am actually doing pretty good at this one. I do like to have a clean space to start the next project. Of course that doesn't mean others using my studio are doing it. But that is okay. My friend Kerri Lynn used to say the first step of every project is to clean up and the last step to every project is to clean up. I think I need to make a sign with that on it for the studio.

So I still feel panicked about finishing the one quilt but I am in pretty good shape with my goals. I am hoping to carve out some time in my life to quilt more and work fewer hours. Maybe after the holidays, things at work will slow down. Who am I kidding, it won't slow down until after the Super Bowl. I just need to push myself to have a better work life balance. That may be my number one goal this next year.

Oh and I have one row of the second ribbon dance quilt put together. So just seven more to go.

Are your holiday projects coming together?

Some Progress and My Little Helper.

I don't know about everyone else but for me time seems to be disappearing.  I am having trouble managing it.  Maybe I am trying to do to much. Maybe I am being unrealistic about how much time I need to do things.  Honestly I think I am just getting older and have less energy. I just can't seem to get things done as fast as I used to.

That being said it has been a rough week for me.  I am still struggling with this asthma flare.  I am feeling better but not well. I ended up coming home from work early one day last week and then stayed home the next day as well. Unfortunately all I did was sleep during that time off. Having trouble breathing makes one very tired. This week is not boding well either.  May boss is at his other plant this week so I have to be at work.

Progress for this week was minimal. I managed to get all the squares for the second ribbon quilt

trimmed and I will start chain piecing the blocks tonight. It is starting to feel as though I may get this project finished. I would really like to get it done by Thanksgiving. But that is only about 19 days away so I am not terribly optimistic.

This is the first time I have done the Easy Eight Method for half square triangles.  I have done the two at a time method and do a fairly decent job. The thing is I am not always as accurate as I need to be. (Usually when I am rushing a project or getting bored with it). With the two at a time method, if you mess up, you end up with one block that is too small and one that can be cut down. So you may lose one block. With the Easy Eight method you may lose 4 blocks. It can be a little frustrating to see that pile of blocks start to diminish.

I think I know where I went wrong though.  When marking the layer cake, I drew diagonal lines, then drew lines 1/4 inch on either side of the diagonal lines.  The thing is my 1/4 inch ruler wasn't long enough and well I probably didn't get things lined up correctly.  Also my stitching my not have been as accurate as it should have been. I used my regular presser foot and stitched on the lines. 

Next time I think I will only draw the diagonal lines and use my 1/4 inch presser foot. I am definitely going to do this method again.  Just need to take my time doing it.

This past week I told my husband that I may have my two year old grandson, Emerson, organize my studio. That way I will know where everything is. He is a great little helper and has some very strong ideas on organization.  I have a very long level for my Millie.  It is hanging in one part of the studio.  At the other end, I have a couple of yard sticks hanging on the wall. I kept finding my level (which has markings on the side for measuring) over by my yard sticks. It finally dawned us that He was putting all of the measuring things together. 

Emerson loves to be in the studio with me. He loves machines and tools. He is very good about picking up and putting things away. Unfortunately it isn't always where I put them.  I have been looking for my Fiskars rotary cutter for about a month.  Some time ago I picked up a Omni-Grid rotary cutter on clearance at my local Walmart. This is the one I have been using for the last month. It is taking some getting used to.  This rotary cutter doesn't have a button or slide for opening the blade. You just press and cut. It is probably a good tool to use when you have little ones around. Especially if you are like me and tend to forget to close the blade when you set the rotary cutter down. I am starting to get used to it.

The other day I was working with Emerson's sister Aurora on a project. I heard their mother say "Emerson what are you doing?" He calmly replied "I helping". He had found a bag of 4 inch squares and had them spread out on the studio floor (fortunately it had just been mopped) and was "pressing" them with my (unplugged) steam iron.  He was getting them ready for me to quilt.  I love that kid. I should mention that he had carefully sprayed each block with what he thought was starch (in reality water) and was spreading them out to dry after pressing each one.  I helped him move the blocks up to my long arm table and when they were dry we stacked them very carefully. Later I put them back into the bag I was storing them in. 

Another thing he did to help was he clipped some blocks together with my wonder clips. Which gave me an idea. If you look at the picture of the blocks at the top, you will see that I have them clipped together.  I didn't have enough random clips sitting around the house so when we were at the flea market I picked up a couple of packs.  These will help me keep sets of blocks and rows of blocks straight until I can revamp my design wall. I was really pleased with Emerson coming up with that idea.  I think I will try and keep him engaged in the whole quilting process. He may help me improve my process in other ways.

What progress have you made this week? Who is helping you in your work space?

Three Weeks Gone

I can't believe it's been almost three weeks since I last posted.  Time is moving much faster than I am these days.  Hurricane Michael came and went leaving a swath of destruction in it's path.  I was fortunate to have minimal damage on my property. The plant where I was worked was not as fortunate and frankly we were luckier than most.

Work was shut down for a week.  I was able to go back a little earlier than some.  My boss kept me out of the major cleaning because of my asthma.  I did go back after five days to do all the environmental swabbing and other testing that needed done before we could start up.  The blanch line started up after 8 days. Dry roasted line took 10 days to get going. Peanut butter line took 13 days. We have been running all out since then.  We need to get caught up on orders.

As I said, home only had minor damage. Some slight roof damage and siding damage. The insurance adjuster will be here on November 3rd around noon. They are that busy trying to get things appraised etc.  He was very apologetic about how long it was going to take.

The real hardship for us was not having power for a week.  No power equals no water since we are on a well. Also no air conditioning, which makes sleeping very difficult in 90 degree heat with 90% humidity.  We were more fortunate than most. My daughter,TK, had power so we moved our freezers to her place as well as our washer and dryer. We lost some food from the fridge but we could have lost so much more.

I have done very little in the way of quilting these past 3 weeks. I did get the half square triangle blocks cut apart and pressed but that was about it.  I turned the binding on the two quilts but haven't stitched it down yet. It was way too hot to sit with a quilt on my lap when I was off. Then I have been so busy at work working 10-14 hours that I haven't felt like it when I was home. Plus we have a lot of clean up to do in the house. On top of that I am in an asthma flare. Which is good and bad.  My pulmonologist had not seen me in a flare and I had an appointment scheduled. So that finally happened, which is good.  The bad is I have no energy to do anything. Everything takes so much energy when you aren't breathing well.

But I am feeling much better and am getting back to work on quilts.  I am behind on my goals this year but I am still working on things and that is what counts.

How are your goals coming?