Reviewing Old Goals - Part 1

Every year since retiring I have made sewing and quilting goals, and by all accounts 2022 was one of my more successful years as far as completion goes. I fondly recall my big success of '17, when I finished all those UFOs - gosh, what an undertaking. I am so glad to have done that. The success of '22 may well rank a strong #2 behind '17.

Numbers 1-6 and 8-9 are all successfully completed, meaning they were all made. Some are quilted, finished and gifted (1 & 2), while others are quilt tops awaiting quilting (3-6 and 8-9). I also finished 11, 12, 14, and 15.

Click here (#1) and here (#2) to see the two baby quilts. Below join me in viewing a little quilt parade of the others finished throughout the year.

Goal # 3 was the red and white Double Irish Chain. Finished in July; I still might add borders.

Goal # 4 was Great Granny Squares. I worked on this mostly at April's retreat, finishing it soon after.

Goal # 5 was Mini Trip Around the World. This was started here at home and finished while at Retreat. It's not very big, but it sure is pretty, and was totally fun to make.

Goal #6 was Temecula Baskets. This was a carry-over quilt from 2021; I finally finished it in February.

Goal # 8 was Ohio Stars from our block exchange. I took my stack of stars to April's retreat, and made this quilt top while there. I am still thinking about adding a border.

 

Goal # 9 ended up being combined with #12, making Lil' Orphan Scrappy with the William Morris fabric.

 

Goal # 11 was Ocean Ripples, a Kaffe Fassett quilt top finished in March.

So what about those things I didn't do? Goal #7, continue working on Lake Effect, is carrying over to yet another year. I really ignored it last year, and vow to be more diligent in giving it my attention.

I don't think I spent a single minute thinking about getting out those Blockheads UFOs - goal #10. Consequently, at least two of these find themselves added to the new goals for 2023. I promise I will finish these Blockheads quilts - someday!

Goal # 13 basically got ditched early on. I thought it would be fun to do another sew-along with Sharon and Dee (like we did in '21) but, alas, we found our lives going in all different directions, so I scrapped it.

Down at the bottom of the list are two goals added almost as an afterthought to my list. I am glad I added them, as I was motivated to see how far I could get on both. Goal # 14 was to quilt at least 24 quilts on the long arm machine, and I exceeded my projected goal with 28. Have a look at the page dedicated to tracking my long arm quilting.

Enough for today. That last item on the list - Numerous TBA Quilts - lends itself to a great big quilt parade, so come back tomorrow for that bit of fun.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

November Plans

It seems prudent this late in the year to check my progress on the original 2022 goals, so let's get into that straight away.

 1 - Teter baby quilt and 2- Baker baby quilt are both finished and gifted. 

3 - Red and White Double Irish Chain is a flimsy; I still think I will add borders, and then it awaits quilting. 

4 - Great Granny Square and 5 - Mini Trip Around the World - both are flimsies. 

6  - Temecula Baskets - flimsy.  

7 - Lake Effect - I am not working as diligently on this as I ought to be; I find too many other things to do rather than focus on this. But I have done some and for that I am happy.

8 - Ohio Star quilt is a flimsy; I could add a border; It would really enhance it, so we shall see. 

9 - This item was combined with #12, and I am thrilled with this flimsy. I will need a big, big piece of fabric for the backing. Yeah, I probably have some. *heh*

10 - I have done zero, zilch, nada on this goal. Shame on me!

11 - Ocean Ripples is a flimsy; I also found a wonderful piece of fabric for the backing, so...

12 - see item 9, above.

13 -  Sew Along - I totally scrapped this idea; it was a good idea, but time just didn't allow.

14 - Two quilts per month on long arm machine - believe it or not, I have quilted 20 quilts, so I am right on target. This surprises me, honestly. I will say that most of these quilts have been small and/or baby quilts. That makes for fast quilting. I think I will get this goal by year's end, for sure.

15. Numerous TBA quilts - oh, my goodness! I have been able to make so many fun quilts to fit into this category! Two 3-yard quilts; Autumn Green, Cottage Green, 4-Patch Delight; Rosy Stepping Stones; Small Rosy Stepping Stones; Copy Cat Kaffe Quilt; Pink Single Irish Chain; 2 baby boy quilts; Spring Double 9-Patch. 

 I've pictured a few of the quilts here in this post; but all of them can be viewed in the pages tab labeled '2022 Quilts.'

Now what will I do this month? I ought to devote some time to Lake Effect, and I ought to tackle at least one of those Block Heads QALs. I know for sure that I a going to work on a Pine Tree quilt, and possibly a Maple Leaf quilt. 

Then there's the quilting that need doing - the last baby boy quilt, the pink single Irish chain, and maybe Temecula Baskets? We shall see.

 It sure seems like I will be able to stay busy!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Let's Be Realistic

Realistically speaking, it becomes more and more likely as 2022 rolls along that I will fall short on meeting all my goals for this year. Oh well. This does not aggravate or disappoint me in the least. Those goals I set each January are best guesses at what I will be eager to make in the coming year. Let's delve in to the list to assess the situation.

Items done to either the flimsy or quilted stage: 1 (quilted), 2 (quilted), 4 (flimsy), 5 (flimsy), 6 (flimsy), 8 (flimsy), and 11 (flimsy).

Temecula Baskets - Item 6 on the list.

 

I have just started working on #3 - red Double Irish Chain. Excited to be doing this one!

Item 7, Lake Effect, continues as a work in progress. I need to get myself in gear on this project. There is no reason I can't have this further along.

Now we come to the goals that are looking doubtful in being completed. I have not made a single stitch on any of the UFOs mentioned in item 10. One day about a month ago, I pulled out a couple of those tubs and pattern notebooks. It was more than I could handle; I put them right back away. One of these might be tackled before year's end; I sure would like to think I could make a bit of progress somehow.

The only progress I have made on items 9 and 12 might be slightly more impressive; I have combined the two. I will make Lil' Orphan Scrappy using my William Morris fabric. Clever, eh? I am holding onto some hope that I will get going on this in the next few months. It seems doable, and I have a strong desire to make it.

Item 13 - this one won't be done. Period. It was an idea that Sharon and I entertained for awhile, but we are both just far too busy to commit to it.

In regards to the 14th item - quilt 2 quilts per month on the long arm - I am off the mark, here, and ought to direct my focus to this more than I do. I still fear failure on this machine, even with several successes under my belt. Those darned eyelashes have really caused a setback. I must persevere.

The 15th and final item on the goals list, I am happy to report, I am making magnificent strides accomplishing. I just start new stuff all the time. More starts! More and more and more! I love this part of the process. Beginning new projects is just so much fun. I try to keep my verve, and more often than not, I do finish what I start (except for QALs, i.e., item 10). I can count quite a few new flimsies and a couple of quilted finishes that fall into this 15th goal.

One of the TBA quilts - Stepping Stones

Cottage Green - TBA quilt - it's quilted, too!

One of the many TBA quilts that crop up are baby quilts. I have 2 baby boy quilts ready to be quilted, and 2 more needing to be made. 

Another TBA area that I must keep in mind: those projects that just show up. I willingly take on additional things, and I love helping out friends in a pinch. I quilted a couple baby quilts for a friend. I willingly took on the task of finishing a handful of quilts for another. 

And, more impactful than either of those - I am always finding more quilts that I want to make! And more fabric that I want to sew! Geesh.

One upcoming TBA quilt will be made with these fabrics.

Earlier I said that I would assess the goals situation, and after going through the list, I have come to the conclusion that I created this year's goals more as a guide to stay on track, as opposed to definite accomplishments I wanted to achieve. Add in a month-long vacation in Florida in January, and a 2-week vacation out west in June. We are living it up in our retirement! 

Internet pic - inspo of a quilt I want to make.

It's the 3rd week of July. August through December - what will I be able to accomplish in 5 months? I have big ideas! I sure hope I can achieve quite a few more goals. 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Checking The Goals

Here we are five months into 2022, and I am feeling like I need to check my progress on my goals for the year. I first shared that list back in January, naturally, but I don't refer to it too often. I try to return to it every few months just to be sure I am staying on track.

Goals met - DONE in other words: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11. Seven finished goals out of 15 in five months - I'll take that. Those two baby quilts are quilted; one is gifted and the other is ready for gifting. Click this link to see all these completed quilts.

In the works: Item 3 - Sharon and I have set aside our red and white double Irish chain quilts for July. We are making it the same as item 13 - sew along. And, for what seems like ages, I am still working on Item 7, Lake Effect.

Partial credit for 14. Since the first of the year, I have quilted 12 quilts, so I am definitely ahead of pace for 2 per month. I do hope to ramp up my productivity here. I need to stay focused on this and keep the momentum going. I have a page - click here - for just quilts that I've long-arm quilted. The page is a comprehensive list; the first for 2022 was #29 - Teter Baby Quilt.

Item 15 is quite vague; since it will take all year to fully assess this one, I will give myself partial credit for the following quilts:

4-Patch Delight

 

Cottage Green

3-Yard Quilt

No progress has been made on items 9, 10, 12. Need to get in gear! Especially those UFOs in number 10. I still want to make these quilts, but the freedom of items like "numerous TBA quilts" seems to capture my fancy before I can zero in on them.

All in all, it seems like I am doing okay on meeting the goals. In a few weeks, we will take a rather long vacation; not much quilting will get done, but I am going to take hand work, specifically Lake Effect, and work on it from the passenger seat of the car. Hoping for some significant progress! After that vacation, I can sew, sew, sew. I see no major interruptions to accomplishing the goals.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Ocean Ripples Goal Met

One of my goals for 2022 was to make Ocean Ripples, a quilt from an older Kaffe Fassett book, Burano. After finishing Cottage Green, I dove right into the blue KF fabrics at my disposal and with great fervor made HSTs - lots of HSTs - big ones and little ones. The process of beginning a much-anticipated quilt began again.

This post from March 14 (11 days ago), shows that I'd made quite a few of the large triangles, but at that point, not nearly enough. In between binding Cottage Green and Red Jacob's Ladder, and tidying up the cutting table, my anticipation of making this new quilt intensified. 

Today, I've finally attached the small triangle strips that serve as borders. Done. Well, the quilt top is done. The quilting will be down the line a bit. Backing decisions will have to be made first.

With all these triangles, the very best thing I did was to trim every last one of them to size. Even with that, I had two or three places where I had to ease fullness. The smaller triangles which make the border seem as though they will be wavy, but I'm hoping that once it's quilted and bound that it will lay reasonably flat.

 We shall see.

Here's the picture of the quilt in the book.

I knew I wanted it to be larger, and I knew I wanted to rotary cut my pieces rather than use templates. I recently read that because all of Fassett's books are published in the UK, he has to use metric measures. Secondly, because so many of his patterns are designed block by block for optimal, artistic color placement, they opt to use templates so that they can fussy cut, or select a portion of a fabric based on the predominant color or shape. 

Conversely, I am interested in making quilts FAST. I did some moderate figuring for the best, most economical use of the layer cakes I planned to use. The results are as follows: cut 6" squares for making the large HSTs; cut 3.5" squares for making the smaller, border HSTs. I trimmed my large triangles to 5.5", and, yes I did trim every single triangle. The smaller triangles were trimmed to 3" and I made way, way more than I needed. Even with the extra border row on each side (not the top or bottom, although I could), I have over 100 HSTs left over.

Did I mention that I trimmed every single triangle? It was time consuming, for sure, and tedious, but construction of this quilt top came together nearly perfectly. I am glad I made myself do all that trimming.

Here is my quilt top pinned to the design wall. I should have spread it out on the bed, but I had a day-date with DH, so I had to be satisfied with this. Maybe a few more pictures will be forthcoming.

Now, it seems a good time to re-examine the 2022 goals, and I am happy to say that less than 1/4 way through the year, I have 1/3 of my goals met. So far, I can mark off 1 -  Teter Baby Quilt, 6 - Temecula Baskets, and the subject of today's post, 11 - Ocean Ripples. Additionally, I am ahead of schedule for 14, as I have quilted 7 this calendar year. And that last item, 'Numerous TBA Quilts,' will cover my  4-Patch Delight and Cottage Green. 

Wonderful!

Hope you have a relaxing, productive weekend! Will it include some quilting? Mine will!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Goals for 2022

After giving this list some very deliberate thought, I believe I have come up with goals that satisfy me. It has a variety of new, old (UFOs) and current (WIPs) projects. I hope I don't get tired, bored, or frustrated with the UFOs - unfinished objects. And I hope I can maintain my verve for the WIPs - works in progress. Starting new things has never been an issue, for I am always ready to begin a new quilt; for me, that's the most exciting activity of all! 

It is so much fun to look forward to making these quilts as we enter this new year. I am always optimistic and hopeful that I can accomplish my goals. 

I figure that you might not have a clear idea of what a few of these look like, so I've pulled a few pictures to illustrate. First, Ocean Ripples is a blue Kaffe Fassett quilt made entirely of HSTs - oh, so easy and oh, so fabulous.

Lil' Orphan Scrappy is a pattern I bought a couple of years ago and have yet to start it. I have pulled a good bit of fabric, however, and it really needs to be started. This picture is grabbed from designer Lynn Wilder's Etsy Shop Sew'n Wild Oaks.

 

Great Granny Square and Mini Trip Around the World are  sorta' similar, but don't look it at all; at this time I am planning to make them with my scrap stash of 2.5-inch squares. 

Great Granny Square from Pinterest search

Mini Trip Around the World - Pinterest Search

So now you have some idea of the stitching I will be sharing this year. The greatest take-away as I consider the quilts on the list is that I am doing quite a lot of stitching of squares - the Trip Around the World, the Great Granny Square, the Double Irish Chain, for example, are all entirely made with basic squares. Easy! Simple! Striking results! 

And given that the UFOs and Lil' Orphan Scrappy will involve a lot more cutting and piecing of all shapes and sizes, those other simple square quilts will serve as a nice balance.

Happy Quilting, Friends!