31-Day Blog Writing Challenge Conclusion

This post was supposed to be my year in review. This post was supposed to be my plans for 2017. This post is the last day of the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge and it has been a journey.

The 31-Day Blog Writing Challenge was hosted by Cheryl Sleboda over at Muppin.com. In my first post I covered some things I wanted to accomplish during the month of December. I think I accomplished most of them. 

I finished the Virus Shawl and just waiting to be blocked. Winter means it takes a little longer for knit and crochet projects to block so I like to have the opportunity to block them for about 24 hours. This means I need to not be walking around in the studio for 24 hours. Not going to happen when I have quilting, sewing and other fun things going on. Maybe after my winter break.

I did not find the time or inspiration to draft the pattern for my super-sized tote. It's still on my list of things to do.

My Smooth Move shawl is done. Way over-sized and all manner of awesome.

I wanted to finish two more charity quilts for Annapolis Quilts For Kids. I think I managed to finish six!

Clue number six of the 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt En Provence was just released yesterday. I am caught up to clue number 5 of the mystery quilt. This project has taught me some new tools and I'm sure I'll be able to add them into other projects. 

I hope you accomplished your December goals and are ready to set new goals for the new year. See you when I go back to my 3-times a week posting. I'm don't know that I could maintain this every-day pace for much longer. 

Day 31 of the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge.

31 Day Blog Writing Challenge

The beautiful and talented Cheryl Sleboda over at Muppin.com has challenged the lot of us to use the month of December to blog more regularly. Build habits, practice, and get better at it. I figured I would jump in with both crazy feet and give it a go. Don't expect exceptional posts, or even daily posts, but I'm going to give it a shot.

To get us started here are some of the things that I want to accomplish in the next 31 days:

I want to stop sharing in-progress photos of this shawl. It is turning out to be such a great shawl and I want it finished and blocked and gifted by the end of the year.
Pattern: Virus Shawl
Yarn: Knit Picks Felici, color: Time Traveler (no longer available but they have some awesome new colors to check out)

I want to sit down and write the pattern for this tote. If it is good enough for me to make five of them then it is good enough to write down and publish.

I want to finish this super yummy shawl knit up in sport weight. At the expense of sounding like the rest of the internet: winter is coming.
Pattern: Stephen West, West Knits Best Knits Number 1 - Shawls, Garter Breeze (also available on Ravelry as Smooth Move)
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Sport in three blues, two purples and one green (Stroll Sport is no longer available from Knit Picks)

I want to finish up two more charity quilts to drop off at the last meeting of the year of the Annapolis Quilts For Kids.

Continue to make progress on the 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt En Provence.

I'm sure I have plenty of other things to do. Things I should be doing, things I could be doing, and so many things! I hope to fill the month with photos and little stories about the crafting insanity that is December.

So go check out the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge to see who is participating and share some blog love.

Day 1 of the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge.

Scrap Vortex

Somewhere in my travels I came across a quilt along for the Scrap Vortex.  Go check out the quilt along for more instructions on making your own scarp vortex quilt.  Amanda Jean over at Crazy Mom Quilts has some wonderful tutorials and walks you through working with your scraps for the Scrap Vortex.

I've been using my crumbs to make stacks and stacks of 4.5" blocks.  If you want to make some of these yourself I recommend you check out Victoria Findlay Wolfe's 15 Minutes of Play.  The book is wonderful and gives you so many ideas of how to work with your scraps to make some really amazing things.

I pulled out my stacks and stacks of 4.5" squares and got to work.  Two shoeboxes full of these little suckers. It was time to make something.

I wanted some places to rest the eye so I made some groups of blocks and framed them with 2.5" strips.  I used different sizes of groups for each one.  Since the border for these units made the blocks 4.5" bigger in both length and width they fit perfectly into the rest of the blocks with minimal adjustments and zero partial seams.

I chose the finished size of this quilt based on the size of the backing I had available.  This year I have restricted myself to buying only backing fabrics and I've been really successful with not growing my stash this year and still making loads of finished quilts.

Some of the framed units aren't as obvious as others.  If I do this again I will pay much closer attention to these and try to make them stand out more.

The turquoise frame is the most obvious.  This might be because of this is the only solid or due to the blocks in and around it.

A scrappy quilt like this deserves more than one color quilting thread.  I pulled some Magnifico, OMNI and So Fine #50 and got stitching.  Each of these threads is great for long arm quilting.

Basted and ready to quilt.  Since this quilt has so many things going on, I decided to use a different motif in different areas and let the bobbin tell me when to change color of thread.

The Flower Power design from Angela Walters is always a great filler.  I know this is in one of her books but I've packed up all my books for the move so I can't pull it out and let you know which one it is.  I also used echoing a great deal.

Free-hand baptist fans are another great filler.

Pebbles!  They aren't my favorite, but I'm glad I included them.  A little bit of ruler-work there in the block.  It isn't anything spectacular, though.

This was my first real try with the ribbon meander.  I really like the effect.

I used this as an opportunity to practice my feathers.  Some are better than others.

The back of the quilt gives a better idea of the different colors of thread used.  This backing fabric is a dark blue flannel.

The purple and blue threads are pretty well hidden.  The yellow, orange, read and white are not so hidden.

The pebbles really show up on the reverse.

For binding I pulled out my bin of leftover binding and pieced some together.  Scrappy quilts finish pretty quick when I use the scrappy binding bin.  Binding finished by machine (you can check out my binding tutorial over in tutorials).

Have you done anything really scrappy this year?

The Bitchy Stitcher and Clever Notions

I've mentioned The Bitchy Stitcher a couple times.  She makes me giggle (and maybe even snort).  She is smart and funny and no-nonsense about quilting.  I love these things about her.  She even wrote a book about how funny quilting is.  A few months ago she put out a call on Facebook for volunteers to test her virgin foray into pattern writing.  I'll admit, I'm not a pattern person.  I like to go my own way.  On the other hand... I wanted to do this so much it hurt.  I threw my name in the virtual hat.  I was pleasantly surprised when I was chosen.

Step one was to pull out a bunch of fabrics.  (I've been on a fabric diet this year.  I have self-imposed a rule that I cannot buy fabric to add to my stash or for new projects.  I am allowed to buy backing fabrics because that is the only way quilts are finished.)  That means I can file this quilt under Sew My Stash 2015!  I'm calling it a win!

I started with a yellow solid for the background and then started digging in my bin of batiks.  I've pulled three quilts (including this one) out of my bins and boxes of batik fabrics.  This is why I'm on a diet.

I stitched up the required number of blocks.  These blocks are really fun to put together and go together quickly.

Sadly, I still do not have a design wall.  I just don't have the room (or an appropriate wall) in my sewing space.  I've been using a design floor for a while so I suppose I can do it a little longer.  This quilt is big!  This photo doesn't show all the rows.

I love the way the blocks march across the quilt.  The block is easy to piece but it makes a big impact.  I'm still thinking of other ways I can use this block.  Keep an eye out for this block in other projects.

With all that yellow I have the perfect quilting thread.  Top thread is So Fine #50 and the bobbin thread is Omni; both threads are from Superior Threads.

I loved the area of negative space.  It was a perfect way to use some different quilting.

I love the texture that the swirl hook provides but I always seem to stitch it so small.  This means the quilting seems to take forever.  Totally worth it, though.

The final lap!

Here it is fresh off the frame.

With the dense quilting I ended up trimming just a tiny bit more than usual.

A quilt like this deserves an awesome label.  (DISCLAIMER:  Megan named the pattern Daryl, I named my quilt Blooming.)

Scrappy binding is the best!

Some outdoor lighting and the pattern release inspired me to run out in the yard and take some better photos.

The sun was setting so the colors aren't washed out but they do read a little closer to true.  Sorry about the creases, I've been keeping this one under wraps for a few weeks.

I had to work to get a good photo of the entire quilt.  My lawn is a little shaggy, but the quilt is amazing!

I'm super pleased with the finished quilt.  I recommend you check out this pattern and others from The Bitchy Stitcher.  At the very least you should pick up a copy of her wonderful book Quilting Isn't Funny.  Because quite honestly, it is.

Linking up with TGIFF.

Random Projects: 1 Hour Basket

A couple months ago Kelby Sews posted this 1-Hour Basket Tutorial.  Somehow I managed to put off trying this great little project for weeks after everyone else had gotten in on the fun.

One Sunday afternoon I found the pattern I had printed out (you can find it through Kelby's site and on Craftsy) and decided it was time to round up some fabric and give it a go.  I don't have any progress photos as I was pretty much on a roll from the get-go.  I pieced the outer panels to fit.  My start to finish time was 54 minutes.

I really like the finished basket.  This would make a great gift basket for new mothers or quilters or... well almost anyone.  Imagine the possibilities!  You should totally go check it out.

Aunt Betty Strikes Again!

Have you heard of my Aunt Betty?

Professor Pincushion made this great video that you should totally check out!

Let's just say that I have my very own Aunt Betty.  She loves to give me fabric, books, sewing machines, thread, and other things that she no longer needs, wants or has room for.  Sometimes I find new homes for these things, sometimes I fill my shelves with books and fabric.  I will not discourage my Aunt Betty.  She supports my habit as surely as she supports her own.  Last week I received these two bags of unwanted fabric.

To be completely honest, this fabric came from a completely new Aunt Betty.  It seems I'm beginning to gain a certain reputation in my local community.  All of these wonderful fabrics came to me from a friend that is trying to clean out things so she can work more efficiently.  I totally understand how having too much fabric can be overwhelming.  That's why I try to make it into things and send it out the door as quickly as possible.  

I won't be hoarding this fabric.  I've already got plans for some of it.  I want as much of it to go to good homes as possible.  Stay tuned to learn more about where some of this fabric is headed.

Do you have an Aunt Betty?

Freedom - A Leaders and Enders Quilt

Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville fame shares her patterns with quilters around the world.  Bonnie is all about scrappy quilt-making and that is an idea that I can totally get behind.  The block design can be found on her Quiltville under free patterns.  A friend gifted me several different fabrics and the box had some red, white and blue fabrics.  This inspired me to pull some more fabrics from my stash to make up scrap-filled quilts.

I started this quilt back in March 2014.  This is my bin full of finished half-square-triangle blocks and the red, white and blue squares to make the split nine-patch.

I finally finished up all the blocks and had to play with the layout.  These blocks spent months being made while other projects were on-going.  Learn more about Leaders and Enders here.

This took way more moving of blocks than I thought but I finally came to a final layout that I liked.  I did sneak some wonky star blocks into the layout and I love how they work with the rest of the quilt.

When I was finished sewing all the blocks together the quilt asked very nicely for a couple borders.  I was happy to oblige.

I embroidered the label directly on the backing fabric (that red fabric).  The backing for this quilt is wide flannel that I pre-washed to control shrinking in the final quilt.  We'll see how well this works out when I wash the finished quilt.

I even got the whole thing loaded onto the frame!

And finished making the slightly scrappy binding.  Four fabrics just isn't all that scrappy.

I'll be linking this one up with A Quilting Chick because, well, I have a leaders and enders project and she asked.  You should totally go check out the rest of the link members to see what they've been doing.