Thursday, December 1, 2016

December Quilty 365 Linkup

For all the Quilty 365 people, I just want to hang my head and say 'nothing to see here' this month! The only thing accomplished with these blocks during the month of November was a sort-of, possibly, maybe-it-might-be-definite layout plan. Which is slightly better than nothing, but still. I am a bit embarrassed by the extreme lack of progress here.
Stacks of circles for Quilty 365
I planned the time carefully when there would be nobody home but me. That's important around here with a massive living room takeover! Had all the blocks laid out in the living room floor--some half hiding under the couch and on the other side of the quilt, overlapping the next block over so as to remember there was actually an outside row. Things get complicated when there are oodles of blocks and plenty of seam allowance to deal with!

Then, wouldn't you know it, my husband came home early. {Hey Sweetie, could you just sit in a kitchen chair until I finish up?} Next comes my youngest son, desperately needing to get upstairs to his basketball practice clothing. {Okay. If you take your shoes off maybe you could carefully walk across my lovely fabric blocks? Yeah, about those sweaty socks... Wince, wince, wince} And then finally, my youngest daughter comes home from work thinking it's her right and privilege to access her bedroom door too. Hmmm... I give up!

And so I'm at a stalemate with my hastily made-up-into-rows circle blocks. I can: Be brave and sew the rows together as is, trusting that my natural instincts caught all the weird issues that sometimes come up with scrappy fabric pairings.  Or, I can be cautious {nitpicky} and take the time to once again, lay all the blocks out for another audition. I'm leaning hard toward a real life scenario and letting the blocks fall where they may.

In the meantime, I am stitching away my concerns into an impulsively made up project that consists of nothing but two pieces of fabric, some batting and lots of thread.
Lots of Perle Cotton in this Peppered Cotton backing
I believe some people call it a whole cloth quilt, but for me, it's become a hilarious, eye opening look at what the stitching looks like on the back side of my quilts. Not wanting to waste time marking the quilt, I chose a basic gridded fabric to guide my stitching lines. Oh yeah. Did not think this one through at all! Good thing it's a small lap size intended to be used at church. Hard to be judgmental there.*wink
Trying to be consistent with my stitches on the
back side of the quilt this time....
But enough of that. Are you still circling with me? It seems there is a loyal few left so please give us something to look at. Some are moving ahead to the next step already! Love the finished ones I've been seeing. So incredible to see them come to life as a full fledged quilt! If you're still working on the blocks, please feel free to link a thumbnail picture to a current post on your blog detailing:
  • What particular day you happen to be at now {such as 'day 350'}
  • A picture of all your November circles whether they are stitched to the background fabric or not
  • A link back to this post
  • Any thoughts or introspection you might want to add about this particular project
   
   

15 comments:

  1. Yo tampoco sé por dónde empezar a unir mis bloques... Abrazos

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  2. I finished the quilting and binding in November! Done

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  3. Thanks, Audrey, for this wonderful idea. I've absolutely loved the process

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  4. You've made me feel so much better. Here I am with nothing to share cuz I've been in "Christmas" mode for all of November. Family will be arriving for our Christmas in 9 days so I've been decorating, finishing up gifts, baking, etc. When that celebration is over, I'll get busy with circles again. Hmmm, life does seem to get in the way of circles...I've only completed 2 months (Sept/Oct) and I can see there will be problems.

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  5. I decided early on to just assemble mine in the order they were made, this meant I could sew rows together as I went along, and explains my quick finish now. It sounds like you need a design wall, I made a simple one just by pinning batting to a wall, it makes such a difference for layout planning.

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  6. Uh oh. I sorta sewed Dotty 366, posted All Done and forgot about actually finishing and showing my quilt off. I think it will be worked on in January. With all my health issues I'm sad to say I had to push my 2016 finishes off to next year [sigh]. Maybe you can do a linky for us laggards in...March. May?
    As for your project, Go for it. But didn't you write the dates on the back, you can piece following the inscriptions? I'm looking forward to seeing all the finished quilts/ tops. Thanks again, loved this project. (I m hoping to begin my next 365 project, I call it Blue Moon[s] in June...).

    lizzy

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  7. Your big stitches look wonderful, nice and even on the back too :) It's fun seeing circle quilts pop up all over blog land. I love that are all so different from each other.

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  8. best of luck puttoingyour circles together, I woild be tempted to do it in a random way, reminds me I have 140 square in a square blocks waiting to be done too. Quiling looks good to me

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  9. This turned out to be a very popular project for 2016.
    If I were you I'd get busy sewing and let them fall where they may.

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  10. You were busy with your parents celebration... that was the most important thing. The rest will catch up in time :)

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  11. I am at a similar point with Allietare, actually. My back is too sore for the design wall, so I sort of laid it out a quarter at a time on the table. It may be ok, but a little voice is telling me to suck it up and set up the design wall. That voice is usually right. BUT, how wrong could things really be? Isn't "too perfect" bad too?

    Maybe tomorrow morning things will be more clear...

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  12. Families can be so unreasonable. Mine often think they have the right to walk across a floor I am regarding as my own personal quilting territory! Maybe sew them as they fall, but intervene occasionally is something really jars?

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  13. I really love this project - I'm starting it next year !! I only found out about it a few weeks ago but I've got my templates organised for making the square circles :) daisyandjack@hotmail.com

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  14. One month left for me and then the putting together. Some of those quilts are amazing.

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  15. I think it's wonderful how successful this project has been for so many this year. You were a wonderful host and so many cool quilts were inspired by your idea! (Are you running it again in 2017 or desire a break?)

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