Goodbye 2020 and Resoluting Into 2021

I am participating in a bloghop hosted Quilting Gail for phd-in-2021. 

For the past couple of years, I have joined in with the American Patchwork and Quilting Challenge. This past year, I made two lists and sold nearly half of my projects. 

I have separated my two lists and have earmarked more projects for sale. The reality is my wrists and hands just cannot take the constant movement, especially since I am still working full time. 

Here is Project No. 1 from the Quilt list - the Basket Block Quilt

Project No. 2 - Atomic Starburst. Only problem, I found I don't like to do paper piecing. The templates are even printed out! Maybe I can motivate myself. 

Project No. 3 - Orphan blocks meet Jelly Roll. I had this one all laid out until Christmas quilt top moved to the forefront.  

See that pieced star at the top in the center? It no longer exists. I tried to piece it into a block, and well, let's just say a quilter accident happened. I destroyed it in a sewing rage.

Project No. 4 - National Park Quilt. I have the center panel and all of the companion fabric. 

Project No. 5 - Chinese Lantern Quilt. This is one where I have gathered quite a bit of Asian-inspired fabric. The four cross-stitched lanterns are going to be my anchor cornerstones. 

Project No. 6 - Red Vignettes Quilt

Project No. 7 - Dark blue/black quilt. There are quite a few finished blocks. 

Project No. 8 - I didn't realize how little I had of these companion fabrics. Black and pink fabric will be turned into curtains. I pulled this pattern from resale as a keeper.

Project No. 9 - Patriotic quilt includes completed blocks and pieces.

Project No. 10 - Mariner Quilt, a collection of fish and ocean-related prints.

Project No. 11 - a Moda Tuppence jelly roll and other pieces.

Project No. 12 - The Americana quilt, only a project image that carries over year after year.

I had accomplished more than I thought this past year. I didn't include two pink bordered star quilts I rehabilitated and sent to the longarmer. Funny, some projects you lose complete interest. Others you complete to the finish in a flurry, like this Christmas quilt top. Started and finished December 2020.

Here is the intended backing, a 20 year old poinsettia print and a current Robert Hoffman fabric to be sewn together. 

Other the obvious downsides and bad things that happened to others, the year was good to me. I received a promotion at work, I tripled my ebay sales for the year, and added two amazing pieces to my thrifted art collection. I feel blessed that my job utilizes all of my legal skills I have gained over the years. As a senior legal analyst for the state of California, I prepare prosecution memoranda against certain California health plans that may have violated the provisions of the Knox Keene Act. 

College update: I earned an A in my Modern Art history class last semester (yay!) I begin the Introduction to Art History class this spring. It will be a fast-paced 8 week class and I have to put all of my other interests aside during that time frame. 

One of the oldest publications to join my collection is this 1935 The Romance of Patchwork Quilt in America. A keeper for me that lists the original names of some quilt blocks. 

I love to see what others are creating, please visit those participating in the hop!

Quilter's Confessional

I had a quilt in sandwich form for nearly a year now, 
plaid-hexagon-quilt-in-low-volume-way 
At first, I committed to hand quilting it. Part of the reason was because I couldn't figure out how it should be quilted. 

My previous quilting machine was only straight stitch. My new machine a Babylok Jazz II, has a few decorative stitches. This past summer, I took an introductory course on my machine and that opened my eyes to new possibilities. 

I finally decided to do a fagoting stitch. It hid the loosely pieced hexagons. I started quilting and nearly finished it. I pushed the machine too hard because I wanted to finish it before year's end. I did have a hexi quilt on my 2019 APQ Challenge list (listed below). After my machine is back from the shop, this one is queued up first to finish the quilting and binding.  


On to the 2020 American Patchwork & Quilting Challenge. The top 6 are what I may be able to complete, the bottom 6 are just dreaming. For my No. 1 Retro Quilt I am squaring up the blocks and want it to be traveling to the longarmer before the end of January.

I will be most likely working out of order on my list. I have got to take another hard look at my projects to determine which ones I will keep, which ones I will sell and which ones I will give away. 

Spicing it Up and House Hippos

The FB group of American Patchwork and Quilting has chosen No. 2 in the UFO Challenge. 

That is my Spice it Up quilt. I have been distracted by other projects NOW is the time to dive in. I have committed to the Atomic Starburst pattern with the pattern printed on Perfect Piecing paper (pattern image blocked out). 

There are 20 starbursts in the pattern, meaning I have to piece 40 half stars. If I can set a goal of just a couple of completed starbursts at each sitting, I will eventually get there. 

While I was out of town, I bought fabric, two bags from Value Village at $7.99 each. I used the fabric to pack the box I shipped home so it served two purposes, as packing material and now as part of my stash.  

Reselling update: The push is on now. Just like the retailers, the next two months will be the true test whether I will make my goal of $500 for the year. I have gathered some product to sell. New listings will include batches of Barbie clothes. 

Finally, I know I have come late to the game regarding house hippos. First mention of them was on the FB group Weird Secondhand Finds that Need to be Shared. A Canadian PSA didn't air in the U.S. and it is adorable! You will have to Google "house hippos Canadian PSA," I have tried to embed the video but it keeps disappearing. It is rumored it had to be pulled because children believed there are house hippos.

I found my ceramic one that is just loaded with personality. 

Quilting IRL

Having taken the month of March off for quilting challenges, April's prompt for UFO Challenge over at Patchwork Times is 11. That was my patchwork crazy prompt highlighted on qwilt-qwazy-queens-and-doodle-quilt.

The FB prompt for American Patchwork & Quilting's UFO Challenge is 5. The vintage blue quilt is in the queue but I am not ready for it. I continue to winnow down my fabric stash by giving it away to thrift shops or on a quilty-orphan-adoption. 

I had the California holiday of Cesar Chavez on April 1 and finished a project sent off to the longarmer. The creation will be highlighted on the Nifty Novelties blog hop, my post to go live on May 24.  

Looking ahead, I have three quilts in sandwich form. My machine has gone to the shop with it skipping stitches when I use the walking foot. 

I really have to turn my attention to piecing my daughter's quilt. I won't have to worry about running out of fabric because I bought more than enough. 

Finally, I found a quilter Bernie at needleandfoot.com who encouraged her readers to post comments about their mistakes and blunders encountered while quilting. 

I have many rookie mistakes because I taught myself how to quilt. Let's dive right in!

Mistake No. 1: Not keeping to the 1/4" rule. We all know what happens, fabric skews and that pretty grid you were going for is now a mess. Threw away my first quilting attempt. 

Mistake No. 2: Misunderstanding of fabric values. My second attempt at quilting was a log cabin quilt in blue. Blue, blue, blue and more blue. I still have that one, it was also a study in free motion quilting, "study" being the operative word. Let's just say it is not an heirloom quilt. 

Mistake No. 3: Not knowing your limitations or the limitations of your machine. Now this mistake I have been doing much better on. I have given up the idea of quilting bed-sized quilts on my domestic machine. It frustrates me and I don't like to do it. Free motion quilting hurts my wrists and back. It was time to concentrate on perfecting my piecework. 

There you have it, my mistakes were mainly early ones in this craft, but like anything practice makes perfect. 

Sometimes progress is slow and go

On my UFO Challenge list, February prompt No. 10 qualifies - the Art with Fabric quilt. This has been in unfinished mode since last year. I have been chipping away at it, shooting for matchstick quilting or very close to it. I have called it the "monster" behind its back, so heavy and bulky. Lawd, how I wish this was a finish like right now. 

Next to composition quilt is the plaid hexagon in pin basted stage.

My basket of goodness, WIPs, wanna be WIPs and a few fabric pulls.

The prompt for the linkup group is 6, my magnolia needlepoint. I am about a third of the way through that project. 

So we move into March with the blog linkup prompt being 4 (black/cream/pink quilt), and the FB challenge prompt as 8, a Mariner's quilt. Thinking I will punt on both prompts. Half on my To-Do list are wanna be, they wanna be quilts but I don't have a solid concept of color and design. I also would like to get back to my No. 1 - basket block quilt began at the end of 2018 and put aside to keep up with the challenges. I have also promised my daughter a quilt but I am stuck on how it should be designed. We've picked out a block but it intimidates me just a bit on its construction. 

I have also committed to the Quilt Qwazy Queens blog hop with my post scheduled to go live on March 15. I've got that project to git to gitting if I want to fulfill my commitment. 

The #IGQuiltfest on Instagram began today with introductions as the Day 1 prompt. I will be posting as tamaschen. 

Because Google+ went by the wayside - I had a lot of followers through that platform, I have reactivated my Twitter account with the handle @CommandoShop. I will be pushing my blog posts there also. 

Linking up with wendysquiltsandmore

and www.patchworktimes.com