What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

My tradition is to post my goals for the new year on December 31. Plans... Goals... Resolutions... I seem to be in good company with people who are feeling like planning is hard to do at the moment. I seriously considered a blank post here. Hats off to you much more ambitious folks.

Okay, here are some thoughts. They aren't grandiose. In many ways they are continuing status quo.

Life

• Walk daily.
• Read daily. (I read 33 books this year which was awesome!)
• Watercolor and other creative pursuits multiple times a week.
• Board games 5-7 days a week with ...

We are seven weeks into the Quilting the Countdown 100 day project. There are 50 days left until QuiltCon. I'm spending at least 15 minutes a day working on my Patchwork City blocks

I finished two blocks this week. This brought me to 52 out of 75 blocks complete. (I think I'm on track to finish all the blocks by the end of the 100 Day Project.) The finished blocks shown feature Kona Tomato.

This is the only black and white print that I'm using that includes another color. I'm afraid I'll regret it, but ...

I've been mostly keeping up with the mystery quilt schedule and I'm all set for the next set of instructions on January 7 for the Morewood Mystery. I opted for a Hanukkah quilt, which I'm looking forward to enjoying next Fall as Hanukkah begins November 28 in 2021. The mystery quilt along wraps up in April which gives me plenty of time for quilting and binding by November. :-)

I chose this luscious blue Alison Glass Sun Print (2018 Compass in Lapis) for my background fabric, partnering it with Kona Blueberry, two Hanukkah prints from my stash and ...

It's become a tradition for me to share my top five blog posts of the year. This year the trend is all about community: monthly linkups I've hosted, a challenge I participated in, and a blog hop about holiday traditions. Seems fitting that 2020 would be focused on connecting with others. Incidentally, if you haven't already linked up a project to this month's Show Me Something... hop on over and Show Me Something That's a Gift! (You've probably delivered those gifts by now, right?)

Top Five 2020 Posts

1. Show Me Something Kickoff and Show ...

To all who are celebrating, Merry Christmas!

The post Merry Christmas! appeared first on Sarah Goer Quilts.

Merry Christmas to Ellyn!

Her prompt for the bee this month was to use this bright, happy palette to make three improv, pieced blocks approximately 12 1/2" x 12 1/2". She also requested we include a triangle(s) in each block. These Kona colors are Bright Pink, Orange, Duckling, Chartreuse and Jade Green.

I immediately decided that I would do some improv curves. Here's what I came up with.

The post December Bee Blocks appeared first on Sarah Goer Quilts.

We are six weeks into the Quilting the Countdown 100 day project. There are 57 days left until QuiltCon. I'm spending at least 15 minutes a day working on my Patchwork City blocks (a project I started in 2015!)

I finished three blocks this week. This brought me to 50 out of 75 blocks complete. Two-thirds done with blocks! The finished blocks shown feature Kona Charcoal.

The start of the week was cutting out all my pieces (and using my filing system of keeping them in the book).

Then I started sewing them together, working on all three blocks ...

These are my seven most listened to podcasts, presented here in alphabetical order. Please share your favorites in the comments.

Code Switch

Shereen Marisol Meraji and Gene Demby co-host this podcast that "tackles the subject of race head-on. [They] explore how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and everything in between."

Happier by Gretchen Rubin

Co-hosted with her sister Elizabeth Craft, a lively podcast full of "practical, manageable advice about happiness and good habits."

Happier in Hollywood

Elizabeth (Liz) Craft again, this time with her best friend and writing partner Sarah Fain ...

Earlier this month I shared my newest project. At that point it was a stack of 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" and 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" pieces. Some progress has been made. I cut out all my Kona Snow background pieces and got everything up on the design wall.

My graph paper "pattern" is meticulously labeled. (You can see the beginning sketch, before labeling, in my previous post.) All of these pieces will go into nine sections before those are combined. I like to chain piece, sewing many seams one after another another without breaking ...

For the 8th night of Hanukkah I received what most would think is a pretty random gift. My husband gave me a bun pan rack. Actually a half rack (cause a full rack would be ridiculous!). You might not know what this is. It's a rack like you would see in an industrial kitchen to hold sheet pans. Most likely maybe you've seen one behind the counter at a donut shop or bagel shop.

So why did I receive this gift? Well, I don't have an industrial kitchen and my oven isn't even large enough to ...

I share my work over on Instagram @sarahgoerquilts. Top Nine combs a person's feed from the year to find the nine most popular posts. Here are mine.

1. My Sewcialites quilt along week 1 block.

2. Mini Series Sew Along Week 3.

3. My new board game closet. (Some of my favorite games can be found in this post.)

4. Mini Series Sew Along Week 1.

5. Blackwood Cardigan. (pattern from Helen's Closet Patterns)

6. Mini Series Sew Along Week 8.

7. Project QUILTING 11.3: Put a Heart on It. (2nd in Improv Log Cabin Mini Series ...

As I reached the end of my 100 Day Project (July - October 2020) I realized that my series of mini quilts was one color short of a rainbow. Therefore, I had no choice but to make my final improv log cabin purple. There weren't many days left, so I opted for quick and easy. I hadn't made a quarter log cabin yet, so that's what I created, alternating black and white prints with purple prints.

I chose two filler motifs for the free motion quilting.

In 100 days, I completed these five mini quilts, start to finish ...

We are five weeks into Quilting the Countdown 100 day project. There are 63 days left until QuiltCon. I'm spending at least 15 minutes a day working on my Patchwork City blocks (a project I started in 2015!)

I finished 9 blocks this week. Nine! This brought me to 47 out of 75 blocks complete! The finished blocks shown feature Kona Bluegrass, Coral, and Grellow.

I've been avoiding this block, but it's the only one I have (mostly) cut out. I've already finished the other two in this color.

And the next color to cut out ...

I was invited by Bernie from Needle & Foot to join in her Holiday Tales & Traditions Blog Hop. Be sure you visit the other participating bloggers listed below to read about their holidays.

Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is a minor Jewish holiday. The traditional story is that in response to the suppression of their religion, Jews rose up and rebelled, eventually taking back control of their land and re-sanctifying the Temple in Jerusalem. The legend is that when the Temple was re-sanctified, there was only enough oil to burn for one day, but the oil miraculously lasted eight days, just ...

I use the descriptor "planned improv" loosely. Sometimes the improv comes in the piecing. Sometimes it comes in the design work before piecing starts. In this case, the improv had to do with having no idea where I was going when I started piecing scraps together. And the plan was that HSTs would be involved, and I was working with a limited amount of scraps (at the beginning) with a limited color palette (that I'd curated for the bag of scraps).

This quilt has been a long time coming. The scraps that were the start of it predate February ...

Today marks nine months that I've been home. There is so much that I miss. But I am thankful to live with family that I enjoy and we have certainly found some new ways to entertain ourselves. I haven't gotten to paint as much as I'd like, but I did get into watercolor during this time.

I started in May with Let's Make Art's watercolor kits. Sarah's tutorials on YouTube are great. I generally watch once through so I know what's coming and then watch and paint along, pausing as needed or stepping ...

Fat Quarter Shop is currently hosting the Sewcialites quilt along. With 3", 6" and 9" size options, there are 36 blocks being released one week at a time on the Jolly Jabber blog. One block a week on top of my other sewing sounded like a lot, but I dove in on week one and made this 3" block.

I didn't really have a plan other than to make a few blocks, but I haven't made a second one yet. Someone recommended that I use this block as a rug in the dollhouse we are (very slowly) building ...

My family enjoys board games and we've been playing them nearly daily for months while we've been home during the pandemic. My son is 10 and my daughter is 8. My husband and I are in our 40s. ;-) Here are a few of our favorites. (Affiliate links are included in this post.)

Our Newest Game

I'd heard Trash Pandas recommended over and over again so it was on my board game wish list. My son ended up picking it out for my daughter as a Hanukkah gift. She opened it up Thursday evening and we played our ...

Two years ago, my son I started making these 8 1/2" monochromatic blocks from my scraps. As with many of my projects, these were set aside in favor of other projects... to be worked on from time to time over the last couple years. I finished it up in October just in time to send to my niece for her 2nd birthday. (I also finished her "baby" quilt.)

The project consists of twelve 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" scrappy slab blocks in monochromatic primary and secondary colors. I prioritized fabrics that had animals and other items, fussy ...

We are four weeks into Quilting the Countdown 100 day project. There are 71 days left until QuiltCon. I'm spending at least 15 minutes a day working on my Patchwork City blocks.

I finished 4 blocks this week, bringing me to 38 out of 75 blocks complete, which tips me past halfway for block construction! The finished blocks shown feature Kona Clover and Punch.

I've cut the next six blocks featuring Kona Coral and Kona Bluegrass. I like to keep all my pieces in the book since I'll be sewing them up ASAP and not taking them ...