Happy New Year! I enjoyed my last full week off from work. I did some baking and worked on finishing my 2021 temperature quilt. This quilt ended up being the biggest pain in the ass to finish. Most of the problems probably stem from there being such a long lag of time from when I last worked on it. I didn't remember what I did and I made mistakes when I last touched it.
My rows had 20 blocks each when I started. When I did June and July, I mistakenly made the rows with 19 blocks each. I sewed the rows in twos and sewed the sets of twos together. When I got to the last row, I realized I had made a mistake and realized then that each row should have been 20 blocks each. When I fixed that and went to sew two rows together, I noticed they were different sizes. My blocks through July were 4.5" and after July they were 4.75". I decided to resew the rows with a slightly bigger seam allowance, then trimmed them height wise down to 4.5". I was so close to throwing the whole thing in the trash and lighting it on fire. I'm so happy that I didn't give up and love how my temperature quilt came out.
Once that was out of the way, I got started on my January project for Jaftex. All I did was cut out some strips and set them on my long arm in an ombre. This was to give my mind some time to look at them and think about the color combinations that I want to put them into. In this set the black and the purple colored prints at the end are causing me the most grief as I try to figure out in my mind where they fit in and what color grouping they should be in. This will make more sense as I start to post about the next step in making the quilt that I plan to make.
While I let those strips sit there, I decided to see if I could get one more WIP finished before 2023 arrived. I purchased the All the Good Quilt pattern by Jittery Wings when it came out in 2021 and immediately got started on it using a quilt kit I had bought at Goodwill. The kit was obviously for a different quilt, but the kit was comprised of the exact number of fat quarters that I needed for the pattern. In hindsight, I wish I had used different fabrics or sewn the fabrics in a different order.
The All the Good Quilt Pattern is a "controlled improv" pattern. It tells you how many of each unit to make, then gives you suggestions and guidelines on how to combine the pieces and lay them out. It instructs that to create a visual flow that is appealing that all the flying geese should go in the same direction. Well - I accidentally have one geese going the wrong way. Since it's improv - I guess that means it's not a mistake? The pattern also instructs you to create visual lines and movement by grouping some like colors together to create visual lines and arrows. I did this - or attempted to. Somewhere in the sea of reds and browns I think I got distracted and sewed a few rows upside down and lost my intended visual lines. This was a fun pattern to make and I definitely want to try it again one day with fabric from my stash.
- Quilt Kit from Alaska that has curves and applique. I purchased a really cool quilt kit on a cruise I took in 2022 and am determined to make it this year.
- Finish the Star Crossed Dream Quilt (Pattern by Kelly Renay) that I started I guess 2022. I have all the pieces cut out and about a dozen blocks already finished.
- A Plus Quilt made with knit scraps. Last year I started to cut my knit scraps into 5" squares for a plus quilt. The scraps are from a variety of things I made myself over the years.
- I want to make myself about 10 pairs of leggings and shorts before Spring/Summer - all with pockets. I wear leggings pretty much daily in the Spring and Summer (some in the Fall weather permitting) and found that I tend to wear my legging with pockets before all others. I only have a few pairs with pockets and have a large stash of athletic knits that I bought for the sole purpose of making leggings.
- Quilt Coat - I really want to make a quilt coat this year. I say this every year and it hasn't happened yet. I'm thinking I might just make one using one of the quilts I make this year.
In 2023, I want to:
- Buy less fabric
- End the year with no unfinished quilts. If I make a top, it will be quilted before the end of the year.
- Use my scraps
- Find a way to possibly sell/auction off a quilt for a non-profit.
Do you have anything you want to achieve or focus on in 2023? I'd love to know.
Gosh, you are productive!
ReplyDeleteI especially love the colors in the temperature quilt and the Jaftex project. I'm eager to see what you do with the knits, as I have an enormous stash of knit fabrics.