Accomplishing a lot and starting even more

I have been pretty lucky so far this term as I have had plenty of time to work in my sewing studio as I guess others would call it. Most weekends other then doing things needed around the house I have managed to work in my room.

I finished my Mardi Gras Girl, I finished the baby blanket that I needed to make, I have kept on top of Pat Sloan's block a month program. I got a bird, I made a cover for his cage and a cover for my daughter's tv as her room mates cat likes glass among other things. I completed another box of ornaments and started on another box this one is done in purple variegated thread for my daughter.
I started working on my dragon again and am making some headway on him as well.

So, what haven't I done well I have not labeled my projects that well, mainly I guess because I am completing them in a timely manner but I still need to go through my kits and projects that I have but haven't started yet and clean those up and label them before I forget what I wanted to do with them.

I still am working on organizing and sorting through my stuff as I also continue to add more tools as well. I still have to schedule a time to take my serger and my machine in to be serviced.

I am waiting on some special fabric to start a new project that I am super excited about it is a challenge where only 120 quilts will be chosen.  I really hope that mine is one that is chosen. I think it is going to turn out spectacular but we shall see. I have drawn out the pieces and even know how I want to sew it but just waiting to see the final four pieces of fabric to make sure they will work for what I need.

I started my daughters quilt with the panel from Nightmare before Christmas and I think it came out pretty good. I am working on quilting it now. Which reminded me I still have my last Pat Sloan vacation time quilt to quilt so will pull that out and pin it as well to quilt up.

 The second Pat Sloan block.

 The cats discovering their new TV channel.

My daughters Nightmare before Christmas Quilt which I am designing as I go.

Practice Practice Practice!

By now everyone knows that I love to quilt, I love to play with fabric and thread and I think I always have. My problem is I get bored doing the same thing over and over again. So I always jump to doing something new, however, recently I have discovered that by doing something over and over again that is called practice and that is how you get better at doing something.

Recently I found out that my friend's daughter was going to have a baby and since babies and quilts go hand in hand I decided I would attempt to create something for her that was unique but not overly complicated for one such as me. Of course if anyone knows me they know complicated is my middle name right along with double trouble.

So the nursery is to be Lilo and Stitch so I chose that as my starting point. I have seen these two around but have never really watched them. I found a coloring book page and enlarged the picture and drew my pattern from that.

 This is my pattern drawn out on Freezer paper and then each shape was cut out and ironed onto the right side of the fabric as the Freezer paper leaves no residue. I then ironed the cut out pieces onto Heat n Bond light and re-cut them out so they were now ready for appliqueing.

Once I had all the pieces cut out I began to sew them on in the proper layers I started with Lilo and then the pillow and then Stitch. I then used my Accu-quilt Go to cut out the flowers and applied the heat and bond to them and then sewed those on in a random pattern. Then I sandwiched the finished top with batting and backing and quilted it in straight lines across by passing the flowers and the center. All in all I am pretty happy with it. 

 However, I still need more practice for both appliqueing and quilting.

Progress

I have always struggled with how to mark progress, is it getting closer to finishing a project or is it getting closer to understanding how something goes together, or is it mastering a skill. Well, in reality all of these are a form of progress. It has taken me many years, many projects, many failures to understand that true progress is the ability to try something new and not feel like a failure when what you tried doesn't work out the first time, the progress comes when your willing to try again. That to me is progress, I always felt that I had to pick up the technique right away and if I didn't  it meant that I would never get it.

Awhile back I posted about what I wanted to accomplish and I made a list here is the update of that list:

First on my list was the Mardi Gras girl it was started in 2015 from a coloring book page to me making a list on January 18th, to me stretching her across a frame on January 25th. Progress, well this weekend we went to pick up wood so my husband could make a frame for her and that is also progress.

Second was to keep organizing my sewing space-I have managed to add to my storage space and I am making a little progress in putting things away into the space I have allotted for them.

Third was a special baby blanket, oh my have I made progress, I located the picture I wanted and found the fabric and appliqued the main design on and then I thought well it needs flowers, did I choose a simple flower pattern no! I chose multiple single petals to form the flower. But, still I am making progress.

As this is January 31, Pat Sloan hasn't released her 2nd block so I am still on schedule for that. Of course I still need to quilt the previous block of the month that she did but that is next after the baby blanket.

Fifth was my crocheted ornaments I have 3 boxes of 6 to still do but I completed the box that only needed two more done and started a new box and out of that box I have crocheted 3 so still making progress on that and I still have lets say 10 months before I need to ship them off. And the cool part is I have wrapped the other 7 boxes that I did and labeled them with the names of the people who are to receive them so next I will address the Christmas cards and attach them as well. Staying ahead of the game here.

Sixth was to continue to blog and I seem to be doing fairly well with that as well.

However, on the last one label and sort all my projects I haven't really made much progress on that as I have been focused on finishing up projects which in and of itself is also progress, because if I finished a project then I don't need to store the project right!

I have found that though applique is a time consuming method I really like the outcome of it and I am following a woman who has a passion for applique and she has released 3 Blocks of the Month recently all applique work. I will continue to download the patterns but I am only going to do one at a time as it does take up space and time. So the wonderful woman who designed the quilts her name is Esther Aliu her website is here:  http://estheraliu.blogspot.com.au/  and she has several blocks of the month going on but you need to join her face book groups for them. The first one I am doing is her 'Lily Rose' I figure that one will give me new techniques to work on and I can progress through her Blocks and onto her other quilts.

And still I am attending classes every Monday and Wednesday. And in May we will be flying to the East Coast. So yes, progress is the word of the year for me. And because I just can't have an all word post here is a photo of my work in progress.

Mardi Gras Girl is stretched on frame

 I began this piece with the idea from a coloring book page, I tried many different techniques in the attempt to get her laid out right, First I enlarged the picture and then I thought I would use freezer paper and do applique but instead I chose to cut the design out of the fabric with an exacto knife and then use a backing fabric and use an applique stitch around each cut piece.
All in all she was a great deal of fun to work with and a huge learning curve for me. She measures about 19 by 22 inches I believe. My husband will be making an outer frame for her soon as well.

In other news today is my second class day of my semester. I have only 4 more boxes of ornaments to crochet around. I am getting my sewing space organized and cleaned up. As you can see in the picture my craft/cutting table actually has some room on it. this was pretty amazing for me as on Saturday the 22nd she was filled no room to be had.

Getting organized is much easier when you are using things up and not immediately replacing the item with something else.

Snow White of Wasteland

My daughter has a yearly event that she has attended for the last two years, the first year she went I was so amazed because it did not seem like an event she would go to but basically you spend something like 5 days out in the desert and it is much like the Mad Max movies from long ago. But she came home and told me that her new nick name was Snow White of Wasteland. Which brought to mind a panel that I had bought for her several years ago because she has always reminded me of Snow White  and I knew exactly what I had to do. So I started with these components below.

First I cut the pictures out of the panel and I did some embroidery work on the larger panel to bring out some detail in it. I then cut the below fabric which was made by David Textiles from Thomas Kinkade's work. 

Below is the logo for the event that my daughter attends I pulled a jpg into Canvas and created a fcm file and then cut it out of black smoked fabric on my Brother Scan and Cut and then appliqued it onto a deep green fabric to give it color.

This project has been two years in the making as I did the handwork on it, I pinned it onto my shades so as I walked back and forth in my room I would see it as I tried to figure out how I wanted it to go together and today I completed it. I worked all day on it I finally knew how I wanted to do it and today was the day and I FINISHED IT! I am so happy with the way it came out I even got the filler fabric going in the same direction. Happy Birthday Tasha I love you.

Another Semester Begins

Today is Monday, Martin Luther King day it is the last Monday off that I have for the next sixteen weeks. I want to be able to accomplish several projects as well to complete while I am in classes. So here is my list of projects that I hope to be able to work on and keep going while I am in classes.

1. My Mardi Gras Girl I have her going but need to continue to work on her and keep making progress.

2. Keep working on organizing my sewing space.

3. A very special baby blanket, hopefully have it completed and mailed by the third week of February if not definitely finished by May 19th.

4. Keep working on Pat Sloan's block of the month-it is only one block a month

5. Finish crocheting my ornaments. I have 4 full boxes of glass ornaments to cover and 2 more in a box of six to complete.

6. Continue to blog and make progress in that area as well.

7. Get my projects organized and put the fabric and the patterns and ideas together that way I don't use the material for something else and then wonder hey what happened to .. you know what


So those are my desires for this year with my textiles. And while I am doing all that I need to be able to keep up with my classes and hopefully be able to transfer to the San Marcos University this fall to get my bachelors and my teaching credentials. Sometimes I really think I bite of more then I can chew. But you only live once, and I have a life I thoroughly enjoy today.

What to do with this block

This is January's block for Pat Sloan's 2016 Quilt along. I am very happy with the center block and the colors go well together. However, I am thinking I am going to redo this block it took me a full day to complete this block because I am working on my accuracy with cutting and sewing. This block is suppose to finish at 16 1/2 X 16 1/2 and I am close but not exactly where it should be. One of the good things I did accomplish with this block is I did not lose any of my points. I also have a quarter of an inch to join this block with another and that is a bonus because I won't lose my points there either.

Now the draw back is that I don't have enough of this fabric I believe to complete the quilt and the fabric that I used even though it is cotton it is more like the weight of a nice light linen dress. So it won't hold up to a lot of wear and tear.

Another drawback is I am not a pastel kind of girl I guess because though I like the way it came out I am just not over joyed with it. 

Pat Sloan's quilt along can be found here: http://blog.patsloan.com/2016-my-secret-garden/

Pat gives both written instructions and has pictures so her patterns are fairly simple to follow along. Take  your time cutting and lay out all your cut pieces and you should be ok.