Month: December 2013

I realized that I had started 16 new quilts in 2013 (not counting the one I abandoned and threw away), but had only finished 15. THAT CANNOT HAPPEN.

So. I finished two more yesterday. My fingers hurt but now I have a net positive of ONE QUILT for the year. Go me.

 

Anyway.

 

The first one was from the “Christmas Favorites” pattern booklet by Nancy Halvorsen. I signed up for the Block of the Month with Fat Quarter Shop so that I could get the complete set of fabrics and embellishments, and not have to run out to get this and that to finish the quilt, since it was the first time I had ever done something so whimsical and I didn’t know if I’d ever finish it if I had to go hunt for stuff. The first month shipped in September of 2012 — right when we were moving back into the house. Obviously I didn’t get to it right away.

 

Progress was slow, because fusible applique and the blanket stitching, particularly around words, is not a fast process.

 

I started working on it at a retreat in February, and was discouraged when I realized how long this was actually going to take me to complete. And then for Lent I decided to give up buying new fabrics and taking on new projects. Since this one was already started, you see, it was a legal project to work on during Lent. So during episodes of Downton Abbey I traced every single shape to be fused onto fusible web, even for the months that hadn’t been shipped yet. Then I cut them out. Then I fused them to the correct fabric for the months that had been shipped, and had the rest stored in bags with the correct pages of the pattern. Yes, I was compulsive. I even made all of the 3D embellishments during Lent — the ones that would be attached after the quilt was completed — like the poinsettia leaves, Santa’s mustache, etc.

 

By the end of Lent, I was caught up with all of the months that had been sent, and I was a little ahead on other months because Fat Quarter Shop is so good about sending extra fabric each month. When I could work ahead, I did.

 

Santa’s block took the longest, because of all of the letters. Letters were a pain. But I got really good at doing a machine blanket stitch, so I guess that’s a valuable skill to have, right?

 

At retreats this summer, I finished making the top and adding the borders, and then decided to continue in the spirit of no-new-fabrics and made a backing out of the leftover pieces of fabric that remained at the end of the project. Turns out I had much more than I anticipated!

 

I love this approach to making quilt backs — using up fabrics from the front of the quilt. It does slow me down, of course, but in many ways that’s a good thing. And it’s economical. And it’s entertaining — to me, anyway.

 

So after the quilt show this October, I started quilting this one. I decided to quilt the dickens out of the backgrounds, which is something I’m enjoying right now for some reason, and match the thread to the background fabrics. At some point I had purchased all of the correct threads for this — I guess when I signed up for the project during the summer of 2012? — because I didn’t have to buy any thread.

Here are what each of the blocks look like up close:

I really love what the three-dimensional embellishments add to the quilt, and I know that I never would have bothered with those on my own.

 

Here’s the whole quilt on the back fence, and then on the wall in our dining room.

I followed the pattern book exactly, except that I did change Santa’s eyes so they weren’t as lopsided as her pattern showed because Jerry really didn’t like them super crooked. I will let this hang in our dining room for about a week before packing it away for next year. I’m so glad I finished it before New Year’s because otherwise I think it would have languished in the “almost finished” pile for another year, making me feel guilty. I’m so happy to have that one finished. It was fun, but it was much more involved than I had anticipated when I signed up for it. It was also a very big challenge for me to do since it is so outside of my usual style. Fantastic learning experience.

 

And then I also finished this small Cross quilt yesterday, a commission for a friend. It’s 27″x33″.

 

I worked on a lot of stuff this year. Several have asked me “how long does it take” to complete a quilt, and since I don’t work on them in a linear (i.e. one-at-a-time) fashion, that question is always hard to answer. I work on one until I get bored or hit a trouble spot, and then move to something else while my subconscious works through the obstacle. While this approach wouldn’t work for everyone (and admittedly I do have too many going at once), it does work pretty well for me.

So, here are the ones that I worked on this year and a little information about each one. I count 27 quilts, 15 of which are finished and 2 more of which will probably be finished before midnight on the 31st. One was abandoned and thrown away without guilt. This list does not include quilts that I have not worked on in 2013 but are still unfinished, nor does it include other items I made this year (like bags, doll clothes, clothes for myself, napkins, tea towels, tiny schedule mini-quilts for teachers at school, etc.).

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1. Scrappy Trip Around the World #1

I got sucked into the madness of the ScrappyTripalong on Instagram and Flickr, and this was the first one I made.
Started: December 30, 2012
Current Status: Finished on January 8, 2013.
Size: 60″x72″, which is a great sofa quilt for one person.
Current Location: In a closet downstairs
I posted about it here.

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2. Scrappy Trip Around the World #2

Started: January 2013.
Current Status: Layered and waiting for quilting
Current Location: on the quilting machine table and the thread is loaded and the binding is made. So it’s next in the queue. I’m not allowing myself to do that until I’ve finished the last two for the year, though.

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3. Scrappy Trip Around the World #3

Started: February 2013
Current Status: completed quilt top, waiting to be layered
Current Location: in the closet in my sewing room

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4. Something Out of Nothing

Started: April 2012
Current Status: Finished, January 2013
Size: 51″ square.
Current Location: in the closet in my sewing room, waiting to be hung in the gallery over the stairs when I have a few more completed and ready for that purpose.
I posted about it here.

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5. Helen’s Bed Quilt

Started: 2011
Current Status: Finished, January 2013
Size: Twin bed quilt
Current Location: On Helen’s Bed
I posted about it here.

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6. Alice By the Numbers

Started: 2012
Current Status: Finished, February 2013
Size: Twin bed quilt
Current Location: On Alice’s Bed
I posted about it here.

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7. Oops

Started: January 2013
Current Status: Finished, Lent 2013
Size: 20″ square
Current Location: hanging in my classroom at school

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8. Secret Garden King-sized Quilt

Started: Summer 2012
Current Status: Finished, Lent 2013 (long-arm machine quilting done by Lisa Marshall)
Size: King-sized Bed Quilt
Current Location: in a closet in my sewing room because elderly cat thinks that quilts are an acceptable substitute for litterboxes

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9. FLiQs#2 Swap Quilt

Started: April 2013
Current Status: Finished, April 2013
Size: 24″ square
Current Location: with my swap partner from the FLiQS#2 (Fab Little Quilt Swap) on Flickr

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10. Improv Pieced Study in Brown

Started: April 2013
Current Status: Completed quilt top, waiting to be layered and quilted
Current Location: in a closet in my sewing room

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11. Red Sky at Night: the $35 Experiment

Started: January 2013
Current Status: Finished, May 2013
Size: 33.5″x 54.5″ (the golden mean! and almost Fibonacci numbers!)
Current Location: on the wall in my classroom at school
I posted about it here.

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12. Sparks

Started: Thanksgiving 2012
Current Status: Finished, May 2013
Size: 51″ square
Current Location: in the front hall, under the presser foot of the 1938 Singer featherweight sewing machine in the cabinet that serves as our entry table.

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13. Cross #1: Easter 2013

Started: April 2013
Current Status: Finished, Summer 2013
Size: 27″x33″
Current Location: purchased by a friend in Atlanta as a wedding gift for some friends

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14. Cross #2: For God So Loved the World

Started: Summer 2013
Current Status: Finished, November 2013
Size: 27″x33″
Current Location: purchased in the silent auction by Sam Barnett, as a Christmas gift for his mother, Sally Barnett

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15: Cross #3: The Light in the Darkness

Started: Summer 2013
Current Status: waiting for hand-sewing the binding to the back, label, and hanging sleeve
Size: 27″x33″
Current Location: on the sewing table

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16. Champagne Friday

Started: Summer 2013
Current Status: Finished, December 2013
Size: 24″x45″
Current Location: on the wall at the Bannisters’ house

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17. Christa’s Quilt: I’m glad [you] happened to be awake

Started: Summer 2012
Current Status: Finished, Summer 2013
Size: Queen sized (almost)
Current Location: in the private collection of Christa Reaves

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18. Wonky Town: Not Up To Code

Started: 2010 (!!!)
Current Status: Finished, Summer 2013
Size: 80″x108″
Current Location: in a closet downstairs

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19. Entropy

Started: September 2013
Current Status: completed quilt top, needs backing, waiting to be layered and quilted
Current Location: on my ironing table

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20. Log-A-Rhythm

Started: April 2013
Current Status: Finished, Fall 2013
Size: 62″x75″ I think
Current Location: on the wall in Jerry’s office downtown

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21. Farmer’s Wife Quilt

Started: Summer 2013
Current Status: 17 blocks made, many to go
Current Location: in a zip-top baggie in closet in my sewing room

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22. Scrap Vomit

Started: Fall 2013
Current Status: finished quilt top
Current Location: in a closet in my sewing room

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23. Partial Seam Nightmare

Started: Summer 2013
Current Status: abandoned and thrown away. I had the idea during a faculty meeting so I explored it with one block, and decided that it wasn’t an idea that needed any more of my attention. I threw the block away so that it wouldn’t make me feel guilty. Liberating!

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24. Fibonacci Revisited

Started: November 2013
Current Status: layered and marked and waiting to be quilted
Current Location: folded up next to the quilting machine

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25. Holiday Favorites Block of the Month

Started: Summer 2012
Current Status: binding almost sewn on; needs 3D embellishments, hanging sleeve, and label
Current Location: on sewing table
This one will get its own post when I’m finished. It’s probably the first time in a very long time that I have followed a pattern exactly.

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26. Bonnie Hunter’s Celtic Solstice Mystery

Started: December 2013
Current Status: Currently on step 5. Step 6 will be revealed on Friday, January 3. I don’t know how many steps there are but by my estimation, probably less than 3 more.
Current Location: pinned and stacked and next to my sewing machine

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27. Peacock Quilt

Started: April 2012
Current Status: Quilt top complete in 2013, waiting for backing to be made, layering, quilting, etc.
Current Location: in a closet in my sewing room