What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

As I look back on when I started quilting, there are many things that I wish someone had told me. But there is one thing in particular I wish someone had drilled into me. I wish they had embarrassed me, harassed me, or taken whatever means to instill this message into my being. What is it? 

NEVER, and I mean NEVER, take on more than you can do! I'm talking about UFOs. 

Here's a piece of advice for any of you out there (not Elle, of course, as she's on top of it! and I'm darn ...

We all have them - UnFinished Objects that relate to our hobby of quilting. I have them, I have way too many of them, but I've been very fortunate to have room to hide them out of sight. But the UFO creep is hitting Studio B, and I need to do something about it. I have several places where I store my UFOs - in giant tubs under the long arm, two shelving units in the storage room where the community projects reside, three shelving units in the stash room, a closet in Studio B, a closet in one of the ...

We all survived the weekend! There were five Zooms, which I hope will never happen again. I have no one to blame but myself. But all is good! Going forward, it will be different. In the fall, I've decided that I'll do my teaching on two weekends, and that will leave room to schedule them so they don't fall on a weekend with a special event, or if I need to move them because of travel, there is some flexibility. No more than two a day, and so on. I have set guidelines, and I won't ...

I don't know what to say this morning, and that's a first. 

OK—I'm kidding, but I had a very eye-opening experience this morning. If I were of sound mind (which I'm not), I'd go downstairs and take every pattern in those boxes, bundle them up, and take them somewhere. I don't know where, but somewhere. I have NO RIGHT to even consider starting a new project. 

What happened to traumatize me? I'm working on this MASSIVE project for my concurrent show next week at Quilt Canada. It's called Celebrating 25 Years ...

No change in the numbers.

Same two projects on the go, the afghan and the boro piece. Neither one looks much different than the last time I posted pictures.

I recently pulled out a UFO that I would like to move forward and arranged the blocks the way I want to set them. This was a free BOM from way too many years ago. I didn’t get any further than that, although I keep thinking about it.

The setting is more involved than the blocks. I could do something else, but I really like the pattern as is. I ...

Oh, FARCE!!!!! If you read yesterday's post, I mentioned how men overlook little details. So imagine my dilemma when I couldn't see a box of fabric if it hit me in the head! 

I was looking for a new UFO to work on. I knew where the project was, so I dug out the basket with the supplies. My goal for this month was to get myself organized, so I went for this project: Farm Girl Vintage. 

The basket for the Farm Girl Vintage project

I had some free time yesterday afternoon, so I decided to get organized ...

OH my -- I always get a chuckle from the comments, and I need to get back to answering them individually. I'm not a math nerd, so I don't calculate how much batting cutoffs get used in a year, but it is shocking when I see people throw those batting bits away. I "glue" them together for smaller projects like table runners, bags, placemats, etc. I am working my way through the batting cutoff closet, and once April is here, I plan to be on the long arm to try and finish up some community projects where I use ...

Is it just me, or is this month flying?

No fabric in this week. The fabric declutter resulted in several yards going into donation bags. I still have a lot of fabric to sort through.

I finished the applique on the heart block. I’m auditioning colors for the motif under the hearts and deciding if I want to add beads or not.

I used Sulky 12 wt cotton floss on two of the hearts and Weeks Dye Works floss on the third. The pink fabrics came from the scrap bins. The heart blocks will all come from stash.

Fabric ...

No fabric in this week.

The sewing room declutter continues. Last year I let go of lots of fabric scraps, but this year I’m ready to part with some yardage. I’ve only gone through one drawer so far. There are several more drawers to go.

I spent most of this week working on a second heart block. The three hearts are an adaption of a motif in a book. It isn’t clear in the picture, but there is a design under the hearts that I plan to embroider.

Here’s a picture of the first block.

I ...

As of this morning, at 6 AM, I have not touched ONE project I brought with me. WOW—can you believe how well I packed? It was another very successful day, and I'm excited. However, I'm also learning (well, I know this) that having a plan is vital! 

In the past - long, long ago - I would flit from project to project. In my "new" life, I'm pretty good at sticking to one thing. I don't get distracted by what others are doing. I'm focused. There has to be a plan, or I will never get ...

 Oh gosh—I just realized I'm eating my breakfast in front of my new laptop. That means there's going to be a mess of splashed milk! So I must be cautious!!! The bowl is moved off to the side! 

This is the most productive (knock on wood) retreat I've been to in a long, long time. I dug into the second bag of projects as I had finished everything in the first one, and I'll be taking that to the car later today. There is no sense in keeping all this crap in the house, and ...

My OMG for the month was finishing Remember Me, a quilt started while I was in the Scraps to Squares quilt group back in 2006. Members made me blocks out of 1930s reproduction fabrics, block design of their choice.

I ended up with an odd number of blocks, which I sewed into rows sometime after that. I don’t remember what year.

Then it aged for quite a while. I sewed the rows together and added the borders a couple years ago. I’ve quilted on it off and on ever since.

I’m very happy to have it finished ...

No fabric in this week. There were opportunities but no interest.

The binding is sewn to Remember Me, but I need to stitch it down. The label is in process. I’m counting the fabric for this project out. I didn’t make most of the blocks and never counted them as fabric in, making the usage lower.

The socks are also very close to finished, with just the heel and the top edge left.

I expect to wrap up both projects this week. I can’t wait to have something different to talk about, like this project.

I may ...

Did you get a chance to watch that video on one woman's journey with her Mom and Swedish Death Cleaning? If you have been following my blog and you are NOT convinced that you need to be cleaning up your crap, then you need to watch this video. It's 22 minutes long and well worth watching. 

I cried at the end, not just because of what she said about the time wasted with her Mom but because it made me think of my situation. I would have loved conversing with my Mom about her stuff—where it came ...

No change in the numbers.

I finished quilting and trimming Remember Me.

Next week I’ll count the fabric out. I may not have all the binding stitched down, but it should be attached.

I made a lot of progress on the second sock this week too. Looks like I’ll finish multiple projects at once. How does that happen all the time?

Fabric In: 16.5 yards

Fabric out: 22.125 yards

Net Fabric Used: 5.625 yards

How did you do this week?

October was another challenging month, with work the guilty party. Not much you can do about it when it involves other people.

I framed Peace on Earth last month and started nothing. It wasn’t on the October list, but I’m good with that. November will result in finishes, which means different projects on the Short List.

I began the Short List many years ago to create short-term goals and a way to focus. I change things up as my interests change.

Project 1 (Crochet): I finished the first sock and started the second. This project will likely finish ...

I’m always surprised when the end of another month rolls around. They come up so fast!

My OMG for October was to finish quilting the center of Remember Me, everything except the borders.

Not only did I do that, but I also quilted the top and bottom borders and started on the side border.

I’m so ready to finish this quilt and move on to a different project.

For all the other OMG finishes, visit Stories From the Sewing Room.

 While I like the "UFO" acronym...cute...I think of these as Unfinished Projects since mine are usually full size quilts. Ha!

September was quite the month. A lot of life happened, which never equates to a lot of creative time. We do what we can with what we have.

I finished stitching Peace on Earth last month and started crocheting a pair of socks. I have a lot of projects going, more than suits me. This month, the Short List is everything in active rotation.

I began the Short List many years ago to create short-term goals and a way to focus. I change things up as my interests change.

Project 1 (Crochet): I started a pair of socks as a ...

No change in the numbers.

It goes without saying that I’m still quilting Remember Me, although I finished the feather.

On a happy note, I finished stitching Peace on Earth.

I’d like to frame it if I can find the right size frame. It’s a bit of an odd sized square.

Fabric In: 16.5 yards

Fabric out: 22.125 yards

Net Fabric Used: 5.625 yards

How did you do this week?