Wrapping Up 2019 So We Can All Move On

I always think this end of the year retrospective should be a quick post, but somehow

it never quite works out quite that way. Oh well. Time for a glimpse of whatever finishes 

managed to come to fruition during the past year! It always surprises me how it stacks

up. Never quite what I imagined somehow!

2019 Finishes (1)

It's been a surprisingly productive year. So many times it felt like I was just sort of spinning my wheels, or at times, chasing after ever single squirrel that popped around the corner. Some of the oldest quilt tops did get checked off the list, but it felt arduous at times. 'I don't wanna' was not an uncommon feeling at the start of some of these quilting/stitching finish-it-up endeavors.

2019 Finishes (2)

A surprising amount of larger quilts were completely hand quilted. Well, maybe not so surprising.as it was a terribly stressful year here on the home front. So happy to see 2020 roll around with the all the possibilities of a fresh new year! When life's troubles start to get extra heavy, I tend to have a habit of ending every evening nose deep in the quilting hoop. Well, right after finishing off the popcorn and catching up on Blogger and Instagram.*wink  Helps me sleep ever so much better, that hand work. Seriously therapeutic. If I didn't have so many hot flashes, I'd probably pile on about six quilts every night when I go to bed. Just bury myself in them. You know, for the good vibes?

2019 Finishes (3)

Lots of baby quilts were made and finished up, plus quite a few little bitty ones. Very fun, fast quilting sessions which felt kind of rewarding. I don't think that would be good for me full time though. The feeling lasts only a little while and then it's gone. Poof! Almost like it never happened.

2019 Finishes (4)

So now it's time for the stats. 23 Total Quilt Completions last year! Woohoo! {If you count the Barbie quilts.} But lets not. Leaving off those smaller, quickie quilting projects, it's really more like 18 for the true total. Not too shabby. And because I like to break things down even further....

• 9 Bed sized quilts finished up
• 5 Lap quilts
• 4 Baby quilts
• 5 Doll, Table Runner or Barbie quilts
• 9 of these quilts were completely hand quilted
• 8 quilts were completely machine quilted
• 5 quilts were a combination of both machine and hand quilting
• 1 quilt was a combination of machine quilting and hand tying

It was a good year. Also a good year for giving quilts away! 20 different quilts, including the 5 mini quilts, but not limited to completed-in-2019-quilts, were gifted to a hopefully happy recipient.Two or three other quilts should have been given as well, but I'm sort of dragging my heels about those. Not quite ready to give them up just yet. Still having pangs about a couple of the quilts I gave to my daughters!

Some thoughts about looking ahead:

I'm still very invested in keeping lists as per usual. The most important one is for the quilt projects that have been started, but are still in the works. These are ongoing, in many different phases, but most importantly, they have fabric cut out though not yet a completed quilt top. Its not just a fabric stack of dreamy potential! I'm committed, hopefully engaged and generally always pushing forward toward a conclusion. 

There is also a list for the finished quilt tops that are not as yet quilted. Totally separate lists for different categories of UFO's. That's because the 'in progress' quilt project list fluctuates all year long. What I've finally found to be an optimal balance {for the way that I work} is somewhere between 6 to 10 projects. Anything over that and it inevitably starts stressing me out. Anything under that and I start feeling incredibly bored. Good incentive to cross projects off the list and then promptly dive right into the new!

The 'finished quilt top' list has been slowly shrinking from a high of 28 several years ago, to this past year where I seem to have regressed. These tops are listed in order of when they were completed with a vague idea toward quilting the oldest one firsts. Ha. For now I'm going to ignore the fact that quilt tops are multiplying like rabbits and just keep on doing my thing. I really don't know what else to do.I tried severely limiting quilt starts, but that was stifling. There's only so much a person can do to put the breaks on creativity/new starts/inspiration before all momentum comes screeching to a halt. Some day maybe I'll be able to afford having a few tops long armed again, but what probably needs to happen is for me to work a little harder at {being open to} combining machine and hand quilting. That's where I seem to gain the most ground.

Last year saw me taking an even more intentional look at the fabric stash. Many of you know that I truly love digging deep and coming up with interesting or unexpected combinations of fabrics and colors. I'm super pleased to have a 20-30 plus year range of quilting fabric colors/prints, but to be frank, some of those fabrics are stale dated now. Over time there are fabrics which have somehow become bland or completely and totally uninspiring. It's kind of sad, but mostly it irritates me because every single time I've tried to earnestly address these dated 'colors', the ideas crash and burn. The quilting plan seems lackluster and pointless so I give up.

On a whim late last year, I tore through the green fabric totes and pulled out most of the worst offenders. Some of them really aren't that bad. Truly. They're just dated. They've sort of gotten lost in the trends of colors changing. Marketing.That sort of thing. When digging through for fabric choices, they are easily pushed aside and ignored because they don't always play nice with the new additions and then, of course, the situation compounds itself through time. Take a look at the Sherwin-Williams 'Color Through the Decades' to see what I mean. I'm totally stuck in the 70's, 80's, 90's and 2000's in regards to over half of the fabric stash! What to do?

At somewhat of a loss, I took these annoying {green} fabrics and put them in largish clear plastic bags and purposefully left it all out where I couldn't fail to look. See. Be reminded and think about solutions. Eventually I came up with a personal challenge that involves using these 'So Tired' fabrics. The first phase of that saw me making a really weird {okay, it's ugly}, purple and green comfort sort of quilt top, and since then, I've incorporated quite a few of these less-loved fabrics into the Christmas quilts. Other than the first quilt {totally an experiment}, I don't really intend to waste a lot of time making ugly quilts though. Finding a good place for them is the ultimate goal. That and using them up so they aren't in the way anymore!

The most awful of all these fabrics have already been sewn into a large quilt backing for one of the recent Christmas quilts. Extra time, but hey, the fabrics were put to good use and I save money on a backing. One way or another, I totally intend to sneak these troublesome colors/fabrics into quilts and find a way to love them again. Maximize their potential. Then I'm going to move on to a different color and start all over again. Yes! Loving this challenge so much. Look for the 'So-Tired' label at the bottom of  posts moving forward. This challenge could last for a long time.

If somehow the hours can be found, {crossing my fingers}, I plan to put together a 'Hand Quilting with Perle Cotton' tutorial this year. Yikes. So intimidating. Several people have inquired and seem to want to know how to get the 'Quilty Folk' look and feel to their quilts. Deep thoughts here. Please don't get in a rush expecting anything. My life is full of crazy ups and downs and I often barely have time to proofread current posts for misspelling, much less organize an intelligible tutorial.

Yay. This is also the year when I will be turning 50 years young. See how excited I am? Just loving the gaining-weight-at-warp speed and experiencing my lack of mind/mouth coherence due primarily to hormones. How is it that I'm thinking a specific name in my mind, but what comes out is totally different and sometimes I don't even realize?*sigh  My kids think this is hysterical and I just feel stupid. This has turned my thoughts to perhaps making a celebratory quilt such as Lori and Barb both did in years past? Why not make turning 50 into a good thing? I want to walk more and take better care of myself for sure. Will keeping thinking about Jubilee quilt ideas though. It's not a terrible idea.

And last but not least, I plan to keeping on making interpretations of antique, utility style quilts and also, continue to follow along with the AHIQ prompts. Both of these challenges, while difficult at times, seem to feed my creativity in a way that helps me to flourish as a quilter. As a maker. Very important during this particular phase of our life! Thanks so much for following along with me along the way. It wouldn't be nearly as much fun without you....

Lots of Things Going On This Month

What have I been up to? Oh the list is so very long! For one thing thing, at the prompting of Ann, I attempted to clean up my blog. That resulted in having to eliminate a few widgets that I rather liked, such as 'LinkWithin', thumbnails at the bottom of each post to previous, but similar subject matter. I don't understand a lot of it, but don't want people to feel unsafe coming to my site.

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The Big Woven Basket quilt in the hoop....

I cleaned up some of the clutter, deciding to keep the 'Current Quilt in the Hoop' at the top of the sidebar. You've probably seen the progression of hand quilting projects there for years and years now. The latest quilt in the hoop happens to be 'Big Woven Basket'. It was one of those improv. projects that also sort of jumped into my Big Basket quilt series. I really love this one so was happy to get this one sandwiched and snug in the hoop awaiting quilting efforts.

Getting it ready for quilting

The hand quilting has been really sporadic on this one though, not an every night sort of thing like I expected. Sometimes I want to hand quilt so badly that's all the quilting that happens of an evening, but with other quilts, it's a different story. I've discovered that it's usually a stitching dilemma most of the time. Decisions, decision! If I can just push through, then it all gets sorted out and I'm back in the groove of wanting to stitch again.With a quilt like this, I often tend to get paralyzed at the thought of 'what' to stitch in those wide open borders. Stencils are just not my thing, so it can take me awhile to make up my mind how to address all that yawning emptiness. It's scary. That's where people can more readily see the stitching...

Always trying to figure out the game plan for stitching!

Being a new year, I've also been diligently trying to trim down the open ended quilt project list. How can I start all these new projects tantalizing me if I have oodles of old projects demanding my time and attention? One of the things that help to make certain projects drag on for so long is the addition of applique. Which is totally fine by me. There are always at least two or three {or more} projects that need applique attention around here and that is completely by design!

Quarter Circles sewn together

Eventually they all need some piecing work done on the machine though. This particular project was started with the leftover quarter circles cut from the back of another project. Rather than throwing them away, I saved them for a rainy day. In my original thinking, these blocks {after the spiky bits were added}, would have been left in the quarter circle presentation and simple joined together in rows. Then sometime during layout auditions, I absolutely fell in love with the look of four quarter circle blocks being joined together and making a sort of 'sun'.

Initial block layout

Okay. So off in that direction we went, having a grand old time. The reality was, unfortunately, that I wasn't truly happy with so much lightness glaring out at from what had become a busy, busy quilt. I played with all sorts of colors and ideas for sashing , alternate blocks,and/or applique in the centers. Finally, I settled on a cream/gray text fabric for the sashing and a basic dark fabric for the cornerstone squares. The text fabric was a last ditch effort to find something, anything and it worked because it adds whimsy, which I love. The center of the larger blocks took quite a bit more time and effort and in the end I just had to sleep on the idea one more night. The final solution just seemed way too easy, which always makes me nervous for some inexplicable reason.

Looking at the applique centers

Can you see that the circle applique is all the same fabric? The pink with white print really did the trick for me. And it's not a great fabric, just a basic two toned floral print! What's funny is that I pulled it directly out of the scrap bin totes, all that was left from the backing fabric on another quilt! Nothing else even came close to giving the feel that I was looking for. Okay then. All the circles were rough cut in different sizes and deliberately placed slightly off center. It's a really subtle thing from a distance, but really gives excellent feel-good vibes. Well, to those of us who like that sort of imperfection....

At least one thing about this project has remained constant from the beginning! Back in 2017, I saw a picture over at Kankerdoodle blog. At that moment, I knew the antique crows would be making their way into a quilt of mine at at later date! Isn't it funny the things that set off a spark of inspiration? I've been fiddling around with the parts and pieces, trying to expand the graphic out to a longer border look. Still have to get the bias stem sewn up of course, but I'm almost at the point of being able to situate the pieces and get them ready for the applique stitching.

Playing with the applique border parts and pieces for antique crows border

And last but not least has been the quilt room re-organization, de-clutter attempt. It started when I took an afternoon and pulled out a few small totes worth of scraps, thinking to use them in my string quilt blocks. The impulse was very strong to get rid of all the rest of the scraps--just toss them into the dumpster!

The larger scrap re-organization attempt....

Being a frugal soul, I resisted and delayed, thinking there had to be a better solution. Then one evening I read through Cheryl's 'KonMari Your Sewing Room Space'. I've heard lots about the book and recent show, but am not much of a trend follower honestly! Cheryl's blog though, is something I generally read. This post was very timely for me as it hit on several of the key things I had been struggling with. 

Getting things organized....

Although I do keep things fairly tidy {else I couldn't ever even function properly}, the scrap bin for sure had gotten completely out of control, my love of quilting books were crowding into every corner of my space and entirely too much 'stuff' had resulted in yes, a feeling of being flooded and overwhelmed.  Cheryl made the case that , 'We are sewers and quilters, arguably everything we have for creating sparks joy - eventually.'  That really made me think. She gets it, us, the whole creators extraordinaire! Maybe I should pay attention and see how it could apply to my lovely mess.

She started from a different angle altogether, and broke things down into simple categories. Then she lined out a plan of attack in a direct and no-nonsense way that totally made sense to me. And part of the good timing was that it happened during those days while I had such a bad head cold so didn't feel like doing much else. Otherwise, I might never have done anything but read through the post and think 'what a good idea that is, maybe I'll get to it sometime later in the year...'

The wall of totes between my sewing room
and my sons bedroom....

It took three very long days, but I went through every single drawer, tote and shelf except for the stash fabric itself. In the end, I tossed out three black garbage bags full of stuff and kept back one box of quilting books, patterns, blocks etc. to give to some quilting friends. I organized ALL of the scraps by color and put them into totes--something I've always scoffed at before. If they don't see a whole lot more use by being organized in this manner, then the goal is to eventually start tossing certain un-used colors at the time of cutting. I keep all the stash fabrics in opaque totes so that the sun doesn't bleach them, but the scraps were put into see-through totes. Hopefully this way they will catch my eye on occasion and inspire me to do a little bit of string play or whatever. It just feels weird to keep so many scraps, but I could NOT ditch them all, though I did dump more than you realize. Part of one black garbage bag was filled with scrap fabric. That's a start!

My quilting space feels so much better now. It's been needing this for several years now. I was brutal in throwing/giving away things that hadn't been looked at for a very long time {other than the scraps}. The books are down to two shelves and a small book caddy on my ironing counter. All the old thread has been discarded and the batting remnants organized by size into two totes or otherwise tossed. All the old applique templates {kept from every project ever attempted}, have been gone through and reduced to a small drawer full. I found things that I didn't even know were lurking in the corners of my quilt room! It felt good though I was exhausted every single evening after. 

The stash fabric itself is still up in the air. As long as it fits into the current totes I use, it feels okay. One of the things I love most about scrappy quilts and flying blindly through quilt making, is the idea that I can somehow manage to use a piece of unloved, deep in the stash totes kind of fabric and make them shine. Tossing every piece of stash fabric that is years old, an odd color or so-dated-as-to-be-ugly might take away from my joy. So I'm calling it good. Brushing my hands together in a 'project finished', 'putting it all behind me' sort of way. The lure of those new projects is starting to sound pretty irresistible....