August OMG

 Last year, Wendy of Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life did an unofficial sew-along with me, giving me moral support when I made a Running with Scissors bag.  It was fun doing it together, so we agreed to do another sew-along together, this time with Wendy picking the pattern.  She chose Coral Coreopsis, a James & Gracie quilt pattern.  We've been pretty slow on this; it's been nice to not have any pressured deadlines.  My OMG is to finish my quilt.  I'm showing you my cut out pieces, but it is a bit farther along than that.  Part of my goal is to post my finish on time!  Last month I completed my OMG of prepping and starting a new leader & ender, but then forgot to post!  Ooops!

Linking with Patty of Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal.

July OMG: a new leader and ender

I enjoy using leaders and enders as I sew.  I don't waste nearly as much thread, I feel like I don't waste as much time, and I love the progress that can be made on projects with lots of pieces.  Projects with no deadline or timeline work best for leaders and enders. The problem is that I have to pick a project and prep the pieces.  I currently need a new one and I'm using the One Monthly Goal as my kick in the pants to choose something and do the prep work.  My goal will be successful if I pick a pattern, decide what scraps I will use for it, and cut out a bunch of pieces to start.

I have not yet chosen a pattern but I have this new book by Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs and I will likely use a pattern or inspiration from the book. Thanks to Patty of Elm Street Quilts for the monthly motivational link up!

first blocks of Boho Heart

I have been working on my blocks for Boho Heart, a pattern by Jen Kingwell & Andrea Bair.  I've been wanting to make this quilt since last summer and I was lucky enough to find a quilt along starting February 1st hosted by Anne of Said With Love.  Anne has divided the blocks into ten groupings/weeks with two built-in catch-up weeks.  I started on the second week, so I actually made those blocks first.

These blocks all use HSTs and I was luck that they are all 2" finished HSTs because I have the accuquilt die for that.  Not having to trim the dog ears helps tremendously!  I am going full scrappy with these, using whatever calls to me in the moment from my Island Batik fabrics and scraps. 

I also made most of the blocks for week one.  I am missing Gardenvale, and I need to make two of them.  They will have to wait until after QuiltCon, as that will be my focus for the next five days.  I accidentally double cut the squares for some of the 4-patches so there are eight of those and I only need five.  I can figure out later if I want to use them all or if some will be extras.  

 

The neighbor's cat, Boba, crashed my photo shoot!

I set my One Monthly Goal as finishing at least twelve blocks for Boho Heart.  If you count all the 4-patches, I've made twenty-two, or nineteen if you subtract the extras.  Since February is a short month, I'm not sure that I'll be able to make more blocks before the end of the month, so I'm calling my OMG a success and will link up with Patty of Elm Street Quilts once the linky is open.  

OMG: A Start to Boho Heart

Last August, a neighboring quilt guild had a (virtual) session with Jen Kingwell and they generously allowed guests to join them for a $10 donation to their local food bank.  Well, win/win!  I have never done any of her patterns before and while I've seen some beautiful Gypsy Wife quilts, that pattern had never spoken to me.  But during part of her presentation, there was a new quilt behind her, Boho Heart, just released. (Pattern was co-written with Andrea Bair)  I could not get this quilt out of my head!  I thought about it for three days, then bought the pattern!

 

From what I had heard from those who had done Kingwell's Gypsy Wife, the best way to do her patterns is in a Quilt Along.  And lucky for me, Said With Love is hosting one!  She's got a weekly schedule that is a little ambitious for me, and February is a busy month with lots to work on.  So I'm setting my One Monthly Goal with Patty of Elm Street Quilts as finishing a minimum of 12 blocks for Boho Heart.  The blocks are in a wide range of sizes and I'm setting no size expectation, just 12 blocks. I'll be using Island Batik scraps for this; I think the bright, saturated colors will be perfect.  I can't wait to get started! 

One Last Finish in 2020

I managed one more finish in the final few hours of 2020.  I actually have another project I finished a few days ago that I haven't blogged yet, but that will need to wait a few more days.  I set my OMG with Patty of Elm Street Quilts to finish a Big Sister gift for the 2-year-old daughter of a coworker.  Young Miss N became a big sister last month!  I finished baby brother M's baby quilt earlier in December and wanted something to give big sis at the same time.  I decided on a doll quilt.

 

One of the sizes I used for cutting my scraps is 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles.  I went through my stash of I Spy scraps and paired them with some Kona Lemon. I laid them out with rows of like colors on the diagonal.  It sewed up very quickly!

 

I used a wavy serpentine stitch for the quilting; I like the texture it adds.  

 

quilt back

The back is two different dog prints that I had in bag of leftover I Spy fabrics a friend gave me--I've been using a lot of her scraps lately. I hope big sister M enjoys the quilt with a doll or stuffed animal!  

Also great for staying cozy on the couch!

 

Pink and Purple Postage Plus

I am always looking for patterns that make good leader and ender projects.  One of my favorites is Postage Plus from the book Modern Plus Sign Quilts by Cheryl Brickey & Paige Alexander.  Last year, I made a version using I Spy scraps.  This year, I used up some of my Kona scraps in pinks and purples. 

The instructions have you make strip sets but since I use scraps, I use those instead.  It's a great leader and ender project!  My Kona bin can get really full and most of what is in there are pretty small leftover pieces.  I pulled out every shade I could find that was pink, purple, or in-between and used my Accuquilt Go! cutter to cut squares.  Then I just kept a little bin of them by the machine and paired the fabrics up randomly.

 

My version is much smaller than the one in the book and for this one I opted for a single background color rather than stripes.  The background is Kona Shadow.  I did not keep track of all the colors of Kona scraps but there are quite a few different colors in there!  I did wavy line quilting on a grid using pink thread.  I really like how it looks and sill use a wavy grid again.  With the squares, I wonder if I missed a good opportunity for organic orange peel quilting.  I guess I need to make another Postage Plus and give it a try!

Since this will go to a kid and is patchwork with solids, I decided that the back needed some novelty fabrics.  I had a few width-of-fabric scraps that I combined with strips of Kona in pink or purple in between.  This will be donated to Friendship Trays as a part of my guild's philanthropy project and is the second of three finishes needed for my One Monthly Goal with Elm Street Quilts. 

November OMG

I was a day late for my October OMG, so this month I'm picking a goal with an earlier deadline.  My guild is planning another in-person, outdoor gathering and I believe that is the final call for our donation quilts this year.  I'd like to get three more done for the donation.  Two are already at the binding stage so finishing them should be no problem.  For the third, I'm using a fat quarter bundle of robot-themed fabrics that was in the big box of fabric given to me by a good friend's mom as she de-stashed craft supplies she was unlikely to use.  My plan is to add in some of my I Spy squares with robots.  Completing all three quilts (2 already mostly done plus the robots) is my One Monthly Goal with Patty of Elm Street Quilts.

October OMG

Another month, another monthly goal!  Today we put together our new couches.  I like them quite a bit but they need more throw pillows.  I was making us a menagerie of animal cushions but I stalled out.  I have two paper piecing patterns enlarged and ready to go, both the giraffe and the lion from the zoo animals paper piecing series by Kristy of Quiet Play. My goal for October is to make the giraffe pillow.  This will be a double whammy, as the pillow is also on my list of projects for my PhD, Projects Half Done, with Quilting Gail.

 

The Current Menagerie

I'm linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts for her One Monthly Goal linky party.

September OMG

 It is so weird that it's September.  On the one hand, this year has flown by.  On the other hand, March was 5 years ago.  But regardless, since it is indeed September, it is time to set a monthly goal.

I took Fire Monkey's first day of (virtual) school off and I stayed nearby in case of technical problems or other reasons I might be needed.  My sewing room/guest room and his room are next to each other, so once he was in a class, I could sew and keep an ear out for any problems.  Except that the project I was working on at the time required deep concentration.  So instead, I worked on a quick top that will be donated to my guild's charity project.  This is also on my list of UFOs to earn my PhD (Projects Half Done) with Quilting Gail.  Linking up with Patty of Elm Street Quilts for her fabulous monthly motivation challenge. 

Jelly Snowflake

Rose from Something Rose Made and I agreed to do another QAL together this year--the first two we didn't realize the other was doing, but this time we chose together.  After looking at a different things going on at the time, we decided on the Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt hosted by the Fat Quarter Shop.  Here is my snowflake:

I used the Glacier View collection designed by Kathy Engle for Island Batik.  This means it matches my Christmas Tree skirt that I made earlier in the year, though I haven't decided if I'm keeping the snowflake yet.  I love all the shades of blues in this collection--perfect for a wintery snowflake without being limited to Christmas.  

I didn't love the long skinny blocks in the original so I took a page out of Rose's book and did strips instead.  I chose to have mine radiate from lighter blues to dark navy.  Rose calls this being a QAL Escape Artist 😀  Rose's version, which she named Frosty Flake, makes an appearance on this post on her blog.

I did spiral quilting.  If I had it to do over, I'd do a slightly closer spiral, but overall I'm happy with it.  I set Jelly Snowflake as my One Monthly Goal with Patty of Elm Street Quilts.  My goal was to finish the top but I'm pleased to have a finished quilt.

August OMG: Snowflake

I started the Jelly Snowflake mystery quilt along with the Fat Quarter Shop in July, but I have not finished it.  I made the first two blocks and then waited to see the final design before continuing because I thought I might change a few things.  I'm probably not changing anything, at least not anything major, so now it's time to make the rest of the blocks and finish the top.  I am setting having a completed top as my OMG, or One Monthly Goal, with Patty of Elm Street Quilts.

I'm using Island Batik's Glacier View collection designed by Kathy Engle.  I have yardage rather than a jelly roll, which actually gives me a bit more flexibility to make some minor changes.  The centers of the stars for block 2, for example, were background in the original pattern but since I had yardage and wasn't limited to 2 1/2" wide, I used a print from the collection.

I'm looking forward to seeing this one put together!

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Throw in the Towel

I started a new Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2020.  I started with polka dot centers and used any strings in the color of the month to make as many 8" log cabin blocks as I could.  My goal was to empty my string bin by the end of the year.  I kept up really well for the first three months.  Come April, I realized I wasn't enjoying the blocks and I dreaded making more.

So I stopped.  Problem was, that left me with green, orange, and aqua blocks, 15 total.  I set the goal of putting them into a top as my One Monthly Goal with Patty of Elm Street Quilts.  I really didn't want to make another scrappy block and I gave away the remainder of my string bin contents to a friend (so at least I met my goal of an empty bin!) so I looked to see if I had enough of the polka dot fabric to use for an extra block.  I found a different polka dot that would work and leave me with *just* enough of the original dot to use for binding. (I played binding chicken and won!)

It's a bit of an add little quilt and I don't like it much, but it's done.  It's 32" square.  It'll be donated to the local children's hospital.  Enough of my scraps are naturally I Spy that it has some fun things to look at.  While my goal was to complete a top, I did finish the quilt.

July OMG

Last month, I completed my OMG goal but forgot to link up with Patty of Elm Street Quilts at the end of the month!  Whoops!  Hopefully I will do better this month.

I started the year doing a new Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects of string blocks.  I kept up January-March.  When April came, I dreaded making the blocks.  Hmmmm...I shouldn't be dreading a project I chose.  Well, as much as I wanted to get rid of all my strings, turns out I wasn't enjoying myself.  So I stopped.

So now I have green, orange, and aqua string blocks.  I need to make something with them or I won't qualify for my PhD with Quilting Gail--her rule is you have to finish all projects started that year so you don't create new UFOs.  So my One Monthly Goal for July is to figure out what to do with them and finish the quilt top.  With other sewing, I don't think a finished quilt is realistic but a top should be doable.

June OMG: Big Sister Gift

My cousin Tim & his wife Nichole are expecting their second child later this month.  I have a baby quilt well under way and know I can get it finished fairly soon.  When I give a baby quilt for a second child, I like to add a smaller homemade gift for the big sibling.  Big Sister Emma is four and a half.  Making her a big sister gift is my One Monthly Goal for the linky party hosted by Patty of Elm Street Quilts.

Yikes!  This needs to be ironed!

I have not yet decided what to make for Emma.  I know she really likes stuffed animals but doesn't have a particular favorite animal or favorite color.  I have two different stuffed toy panels that I could make--one is a penguin and one is the Little Red Riding Hood doll by Stacy Iest Hsu.  Or maybe I'll make a stuffed animal-sized quilt that matches baby sister's quilt. Making a decision is part of the goal!

Sunset Radiance

I've seen the quilts from the annual quilt along hosted by Sandra of mmm! Quilts for the last several years, but never joined in.  This year, though, the design really spoke to me.  And when I learned it could be made with a jelly roll, I knew the stars had aligned.  I had a strip pack of Island Batik's Sunset Blooms that was essentially burning a hole in my pocket, if fabric can do that.

The hardest part of the Centered pattern for me was figuring out the placement of my fabrics.  I used Sandra's coloring chart to figure out placement of the three color families in Sunset Blooms (teals, purples, and yellows) but didn't choose specific fabrics until I cut each block group.  The Quilt Along was perfectly paced and I really like the size of the finished quilt--I like my throw quilts smaller than many, so the 40" square seems really versatile for me--could still be a baby or kid quilt, but can also go over the legs when sitting on the couch or in bed. 

I absolutely love the finished quilt!  If I were starting over, I might keep each corner with exactly the same fabrics instead of the mirrored blocks that I ended up with--I know you can tell it's a little on the scrappy side in the corners where the fabric colors are the same but the prints are different, and I'm not sure I like that as much as I would a consistent corner.  But the limitations of working with a precut is I only had so much of each print. And who knows, maybe if I had done each corner the same I would be wishing I had symmetry!

Bottom Left

Bottom Right

I named this Sunset Radiance, to honor both the name of the fabric line and how the pattern radiates out from the center.  I wanted the quilting to also radiate out from the center.  My original plan was straight lines radiating from the center, much like Sandra did on her original, but I couldn't figure out a way to make it work that I could do and achieve the look I wanted.  So I did a large spiral that starts in the center instead--always one of my favorite quilting motifs, and it's fairly fast to do.  It also gave me the look I wanted of the quilting radiating outward from the center.

I set finishing the top for Sunset Radiance as my One Monthly Goal with Patty at Elm Street Quilts, with the understanding that I was really hoping to complete it.  And I did!  This is my 18th completed project in 2020.

Centered--first blocks

I've decided to follow along with Sandra of MMM Quilts on the quilt along for her quilt Centered.  I liked the design when I first saw it, and when I realized you could use a jelly roll, I was sold.  I have a strip set of Sunset Blooms by Island Batik from my most recent Ambassador box and it's been burning a hole in my pocket, so to speak.  Here are the first half of my blocks, in the arrangement they will be in the completed quilt:

The color representation in this photo isn't the greatest but it gives you an idea of the range of colors.  I'm loving this so much!  I've seen Sandra's QALs in the past but have never played along.  This was the year, and the fabric!

Center of Centered

The color representation is more accurate in this photo of the center blocks.  Sandra is doing a clue a week, released on Fridays.  These 8 blocks sewed up fairly quickly once I figured out how I wanted my fabric placement, so there is still time if you want to join in the fun.

These will not be placed together like this.

I'm using Centered as my OMG, or One Monthly Goal, in the linky party hosted by Patty of Elm Street Quilts.  I'll consider my goal met if the top is completed but truth be told, I'd really like to finish this in May.

Caught up with the Twist

I love doing the Scrap Dance Mystery quilt series with Carole of From My Carolina Home.  I waited a while to start the current mystery, Scrap Dance Twist, because I couldn't decide on fabrics.  She stepped up the pace when most of the country went under Stay At Home orders, so I knew I had to get started.  I picked my leftovers of Island Batik's Flea Market collection, given to me in my first ambassador box.

Carole has current released steps 1-5, and I am all caught up!  Step 6 comes out Friday May 1st with the final reveal two weeks later.  I'm excited to see what it will look like!  Getting caught up was my One Monthly Goal with Patty of Elm Street Quilts.