To do:

• Start Alzheimer's quilt for CMQG meeting (sunday)
• Pillow Talk Swap - due March 12th
• DQS12 - due April 9th
• Harry Potter Swap - still deciding when/what
• {Modern} Robin - swapping again Sunday? 
• Finish hand sewing Swoon binding (how long have I been working on this?)
• Raise another $300 to meet my goal of raising $1000 for childhood cancer research. 
• Play with the tiny scrappy fun quilt... 

To do list:

I've got a few nearly finished projects hanging around... and see an opening to maybe start a new quilt soon. So I'm going to start a list so I can cross things off.

• Finish binding small project
• Sew down binding on Linda's Swoon quilt -- this has been sitting for more than a week!
• Finish quilting and bind {sew} Beautiful Bee 2011 quilt --- finished and it's on my bed!
• Send out fabric for Feb of bee. 
• Send out {Modern} Robin - or meet up with Emily.
• Stalk and work on Pillow Talk Swap pillow
• Doll Quilt Swap 12 --- starting soon and I'm a swap mama! :)
• Do something with CMQG round robin?
• Michelle's Quilt. 

I want to play around with some giant paper piecing. The book that I ordered earlier this week came in today -- it has paper patterns (printed on giant paper) for medallion style quilts styled after mosaic floors in Italy. I'm throwing ideas around in my head of making something with this for my Aunt Kathy. We'll see. Oh the book can be found here: Bella Bella Quilts Paper Foundations

2011 Goals Accomplished and a Quick Recap

Last year I wrote out a list of sewing goals... as you know I've met most of them. 




Here they are:

1. {Sew} Beautiful Bee & Swaps.  Done.

2. I'd like to make a quilt for my mom or my MIL this year.  Finished my mom's and just need to baste and quilt Linda's!

3. I really would like to finish the String Quilt I started last january... lol. It's supposed to be for Allie's toddler bed. I decided I didn't want to do that one... lol.

4. I'd like to follow a pattern for a quilt this year. Done. Followed the Swoon pattern and while it turned out awesome I didn't enjoy the process nearly as much.
5. I want to make a wonky star quilt with light/medium grey and a pop of color. Done -Gia's quilt
6. I want to keep working on taking better pictures of my work. Done - still improving.
7. I'd like to make a baby this year. Ugh... still working on this one. 
8. I want to make more ruffly dresses for my daughter. Done, well mostly skirts but they count too!
9. I would love to make more personal connections in the sewing world. Done - CMQG and Sewing Summit!
10. I'd like to keep teaching my niece to enjoy crafts and sewing. She's pretty much hooked!


Two off my list not accomplished. Not bad. Especially since the one I decided not to do, the other I tried as much as I could. lol.


If you want to take a look at some of my projects finished in the past year they're all on my sidebar there to the left. That's 15 quilts ... yes I count those doll quilts since they're just as much work sometimes. And I didn't count all the small mug rugs and pouches etc.  I feel pretty accomplished! :) Here's to more fun sewing in the new year!! :)

Sewing and Blogging Goals of 2012

Fabric for Michelle's Celebration Quilt
(yes I had to re-fold it all - typical fabric.com)

• Finish my Swoon quilt - free motion quilting it by domestic machine (even though it's huge!)
• Finish my {Sew} Beautiful Bee quilt - drunk love with AMH. It's even huger than the swoon quilt!
• Try a mid-arm or long-arm machine. Just to say I did. I know it's been offered before but I'm still a little shy about it. I need to give it a try (maybe on that ginormous bee quilt?)
• Do a bit more designing of quilts and tutorials. As in actually record the how and what. Maybe put together a quilt pattern? 
• Sell, swap, etsy, or commission. I'd like to sell something this year to make money for more fabric. I feel like I suck a lot of money into quilting... obviously. I'd feel better about it if I had a little cash coming in. 
• Meet local bloggers (specifically Sally, Sara, and Angela. Speak up if you're from the general Chicago area and want to meet up for some coffee or something and chat about blogging/sewing/quilting!
• Continue with swaps and bees. Pushing myself each time to learn something new and challenging myself to work on more and more difficult blocks. 
• Work on making connections within the sewing industry community. There is so much growth happening in the are of modern sewing that I feel like I should have an idea of how it all happens. Maybe contact a book or magazine editor, or see if I can write a pattern for a new fabric line. Who knows I just find this to be pretty interesting. Oh also under this topic, I'd love to take a class on sewing machine repair.... anyone have an idea of where one learns such a thing? 
• I'm toying with the idea of trying to get published somehow. Is it worth jumping through hoops to do so?
• Go on the quilt retreats offered by the CMQG - continue getting to know those fabulous ladies!
• Co-host a new swap with Emily (Pretty awesome!)
• Quilts to make this year

• Michelle's Celebration Quilt 

•  A quilt for Lindsey (I wonder if she reads this blog??) Haha... it may be a surprise to her.

I didn't make a baby this year.

So it's December already, and I've been thinking about what my goals will be as we move into the new year. What do I want from my sewing hobby? What is worth working for. What am I doing now that isn't worth my time? I'll see my list here from last year, and aside from one quilt that I decided I didn't want to do, I accomplished everything (except for the baby - darn!). Well let me make a slight correction to that, I haven't finished everything here, but the two nearly projects will be finished before Christmas! 

(scary mailing day. Sending out a baby quilt for a friend!! I hate the wait!!!)

Before you get lost in my list of past goals, what are your goals for the next year? Do you want to get published (book, mag, guest blogging?) Do you want to be one of those crazily prolific bloggers (you know like OhFranson! etc). Do you want fame and fortune and a thriving small business? Or are you looking for projects that let you try new things on the slightest whim? I'd love to know. 


1. {Sew} Beautiful Bee & Swaps. I'm making this just one on my list since this is the extra, the push my boundaries and try something without worry. Whether it's a project pushing my color comfort zones, or my style... or even something technically challenging. Done, ok well still in process. I have done three swaps so far and just signed on for another!
2. I'd like to make a quilt for my mom or my MIL this year.  Nearly done, mom's needs binding, MIL's is halfway finished.
3. I really would like to finish the String Quilt I started last january...  I no longer want to do this. 
4. I'd like to follow a pattern for a quilt this year.  Swoon - I love the end result (so far) but I feel really boxed in during the process. I'm not sure I'll follow another pattern all the way through. I would love to take just one block from the swoon quilt and add other stuff... maybe round robin style? 
5. I want to make a wonky star quilt with light/medium grey and a pop of color. Done! I love it, but it's not quite like I wanted, so I'll likely make another.
6. I want to keep working on taking better pictures of my work. It's a process... and I can see it getting better and better as we start getting more sunlight this spring/summer!
7. I'd like to make a baby this year. (too much? sorry). Oh and maybe not flip out nearly as much each month when I'm not pregnant. (can this just happen already? geez)
8. I want to make more ruffly dresses for my daughter.
9. I would love to make more personal connections in the sewing world.  Totally have done this! I joined up with the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild and have met some pretty awesome people. Add The Sewing Summit to that, awesome! It was great meeting everyone there!
10. I'd like to keep teaching my niece to enjoy crafts and sewing. Continuing on this path. Katee is getting soo good! 

List making helps me get things done.

Things to do before christmas!!

• Make a quick little baby quilt for a friend (I want to do this tonight!) I"m thinking a single swoon block with borders.
• Make a lap quilt / tiny quilt for my grandma - at the reccomendation of my aunt. (Started cutting fabric for this yesterday... but cutting 2.5" squares is boring).
• Finish my mom's quilt - buy backing, quilt and bind.
• Finish MIL's quilt - 5 more swoon blocks to go, buy backing and batting, quilt, bind.
• Gift for hubby.
• MorsBag for gift.
• Zip pouches times a million.
• Stockings for at least Katee and Rosemarie. 
• Mug Rug Swap
• 
  

Checking it off my list!

Well, not just yet - but I'm pretty confident I'll get there.

Not with me? I'm checking #4 off this list that I made last December. That list of ten things I wanted to do this year? Maybe I'll finish them all! Still nothing happening about #7... but I guess there are still a couple months left in this year to fix that.

Last night I cut the pieces for one Swoon block. I timed myself while I was sewing the block together - it took me just about 2 hours to piece one block (cutting time not included)! It's well worth the time! I love this block!! And... I have some bonus HST's since I HST'd the outside edges of the flying geese sets. Those bits of fabric would have otherwise been tossed so they're completely bonus (for very little additional work)

The Swoon quilt will be for my lovely MIL, Linda. She's pretty much awesome as far as anyone goes, and much cooler than any other MIL that I know!

Here's my inspiration board for this quilt. You'll be seeing more of these blocks soon. I'm really loving it!

(update - I've made another block - and I'm still loving it!)

Linking up at Fabric Tuesday on Quiltstory

Just a quick post to say...

I love Jim, the repair man from Vogue Fabrics in Evanston. :)
(even though I feel a little bad)
He spent 5 hours looking at my machine trying to figure out what exactly was making my machine appear to have tension issues (note that it wasn't actually the tension)...

Guess what it was? Apparently I had sewn so much on this machine that I actually wiggled a couple screws loose in the take-up-lever area! lol. He said it's not something he's really seen happen often, but that the number of hours I've put on this machine probably has something to do with it!

A couple other reasons I love that guy/place

• The repair still only cost the normal $35 labor fee - even though he spent so long on it. They're good to their word on that!
• I didn't have to replace anything.
• Nancy is so completely dust free as a result of that 5 hour surgery... I'm pretty sure they got stuff out of places I couldn't get anywhere near! 
• I just sewed up a couple micro-star blocks and some other stuff - it sews better than I can even remember! (I'm thinking this issue started sometime before the CMQG retreat...) 

WOW! That's all. Pictures and all that stuff later!

Things you didn't know... or maybe you did.

1. I haven't bought a single inch of fabric (any) in a month. I'd like to say it's because I'm thrifty or something, but really, we're pretty poor these days.

2. Whenever I need a good cry I turn to youtube. usually the culprit of the sad tears are kids with cancer and the related videos (try searching for "he's my son" by Mark Schultz seriously). Then there are the infant/pregnancy loss songs ("held" by Natalie Grant). Then finally I sometimes make it to happy... which includes videos of kids getting their hearing aids and/or cochlear implants turned on for the first time. Mostly though I get wrapped up in the sad ones... it's like picking a scab - you know you're going to be all torn up when you're done but you can't stop.

3. Two of my three sewing machines are pretty much broken/out of commission. One of these days I'll take them in to be fixed... but until then I'm using my old old machine from Jr High... I just named her Betty. She's a White (hehe Betty White). I'm missing the detachable compartment that she came with (it's back at my parent's house somewhere I'm sure) ... so I managed to tape cardstock and a roll of batting as a makeshift piecing area. I'll take some pictures it's really lame looking! It's working though. I fear that it's affecting my piecing though. It's not quite at the quality that my sewing normally is.

4. My friend Amy came to visit this week. It was great to see her and she's officially the only person to have visited me in all four places I've lived since moving here (well until my parents visit here that is). Pretty cool! :)

The week of making deals with myself.

Right now I want to sew up a pretty hot pad to put our teapot on. We've been drinking tea several times a day here recently and it's pretty lame that our teapot sits on a cheap store-bought christmas colored pot holder.

But I have a million things on my sewing to-do list. And so many things have been hanging around half finished (and I love the feeling of a finish!). So here's my deal with myself. If I hem my mom's pants tonight I am allowed to make a pretty potholder. hehe. My mom's been waiting for her pants for months.

If you're wondering, DH is working a couple night shifts this week and that leaves me with lots of sewing time. Hopefully I'll have something fun to show from tonights sewing.

Ps: I'm kinda taking this week as a "try to get my projects finished" week. Unofficially though. I just love being spontaneous about projects but my lack of long periods of sewing time has left me with a lot of half finished projects recently. Here are a few things on my list:

• Finish the other half of my April Bee block.
• prepare a backing for Chloe's baby quilt. Baste, and quilt (before easter?)
• sew my last two drunk love blocks (from my month of the bee) by sunday's Chicago Modern Quilt Guild sew-in day (where I'll have access to a 20" square ruler to square them all up!)
• Hem Mom's pants
• Make two large simple purses for mom and aunt kathy (not necesarily on the top of my list by any means)
• MAKE 4 FITTED TABLE COVERS for my aunt's show booth.... yeah that huge roll of 31yds of fabric in the corner is yelling at me to get busy. I need a day without the toddler around to get moving on it. 
• Finish the awesome bookshelf mini quilt - to eventually go in Allie's room (I need to buy some pink ric-rac first)
• Plan/finish my Pretty Little Pouch for the swap.
• Quilt and finish Allie's dresden pillow. 
• sash, quilt, and finish pillow to match Wally's quilt. 
• Determine how to file some paperwork for tax purposes and put things in my etsy store (eek!)

lol. That seems like so much more than it really is. I'm going to plow through it this week. See last week I already finished three (out of the 5) bee blocks I need to do before determining a layout. I also finished up a quilted pillow to go with the baby quilt I'm working on.

Now to get off the computer and sew for about an hour before collapsing into bed.

By the way, I just spent the prior part of this evening (re)reading "Curly Girl" by Lorraine Massey. This updated version just came out and after reading it again I feel much more confident in my hair.... and excited to try cutting my curly hair by myself. I highly recommend it. Seriously if you have curly hair go read this! Also it leaves me wondering if I can use olive oil on my hair regularly... some of the recipes in there have olive oil and since I'm allergic to hair products (mainly propylene glycol) the simpler the better!

Posts like this tend to encourage me to get things done.

To do tonight:

• trim, back and finish pillow for Ruthie's baby (Chloe).
• Finish the other half of my bee block for this month.
• Knock out a couple drunk love blocks (from my month of the bee), maybe trim some of them up to size too. (only two more to go!!!!)

Manageable right? I can sew until ... 3am? DH is at work so I can just go for it!

Five out of Ten, not bad.

Here are the goals for this year that I listed out last december. I've accomplished several of them already! Although I have changed my mind on #4, I don't really feel the want to follow a pattern anymore. lol.

1. {Sew} Beautiful Bee & Swaps. I'm making this just one on my list since this is the extra, the push my boundaries and try something without worry. Whether it's a project pushing my color comfort zones, or my style... or even something technically challenging. Done, ok well still in process. I have done three swaps so far and just signed on for another!
2. I'd like to make a quilt for my mom or my MIL this year.
3. I really would like to finish the String Quilt I started last january...
4. I'd like to follow a pattern for a quilt this year.
5. I want to make a wonky star quilt with light/medium grey and a pop of color. Done! I love it, but it's not quite like I wanted, so I'll likely make another.
6. I want to keep working on taking better pictures of my work. It's a process... and I can see it getting better and better as we start getting more sunlight this spring/summer!
7. I'd like to make a baby this year. (too much? sorry). Oh and maybe not flip out nearly as much each month when I'm not pregnant. (can this just happen already? geez)
8. I want to make more ruffly dresses for my daughter.
9. I would love to make more personal connections in the sewing world.  Totally have done this! I joined up with the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild and have met some pretty awesome people. Even had a little mini sewing day the other week!
10. I'd like to keep teaching my niece to enjoy crafts and sewing. Continuing on this path. Katee and I made these cool glasses cases last time she was in town! :)

A little update.

Here are some bullet points about what I've been up to:

• Sent my Doll Quilt Swap out last week and it was received by my bloggy friend Kaelin (The Plaid Scottie). So I can finally reveal that label that was actually the first part of the quilt I made. I tried a bit of embroidery for her little Scottie, and a Chicago flag to represent me (she had lived here once too). I love it!
• Participated in Iron Quilter at the CMQG (Chicago modern quilt guild) meeting a couple weeks ago. I have pictures and have meant to blog about it but it just hasn't happened.
• I had a sewing day (afternoon) with my new guild friend Emily and we had a blast. I worked on a baby shower gift (another one --all these stupid pregnant people), and some blocks to finish up my bee quilt. She finished piecing the top to her modern quilt challenge monochromatic quilt (which is fabulous - go to the link and watch her progress video)!
• I potty trained my 2 1/2 yr old. Whoa. Ok well mostly she wears a pull-up in the car and while sleeping but that's pretty good if you ask me. She's at the intelligence level now that all it really took was a bit of patience and a pretty selection of underwear. (the Ariel ones are her fav's right now).
• This was really trying since we have no washer/dryer here - hence the apartment search is moving forward.
• I broke down and paid $14 for some new Old Navy (men's) PJ pants. I had two pair from high school (eek like 10 yrs ago) that had ghosts on them (my "ghosties") that bit the dust recently. I want to live in my new pants but they need some ghosts on them. I miss my Ghosties... they got me through a lot. I wonder if my brother still has his... (my mom found them on clearance before Christmas that year... we all had at least one pair... even my dad!)
• DH and I got a little date of sorts today. We went to a tea tasting thing at our local tea store. Pretty cool and I know a lot more about tea and tea varieties (loose leaf) than I thought. Next up is tea blending class! (I'm drinking "Forest Berries" black tea right now which is pretty good). FYI my favorite "tea" (Rooibos) is not actually a tea, since it doesn't come from the tea plant. lol. It's still my fav.
• I want to sew right now but I think I might go snuggle in bed with DH and watch some Dexter... although I'm a bit peeved with Dexter right now. Grr (season 4 finale).

To do tonight (if Mary comes to sew)

• Make more Drunk Love blocks for my bee quilt
• Assemble more wonky stars for that quilt
• Cut, prep, and sew binding on the DQS10 quilt
• Put together "extras" and a note for my mug rug swap (needs to be mailed by monday! Eeeek! It's been finished FOREVER!)
• Figure out a backing and quilting pattern for my Urban Home Goods Swap mini. Figure out how I'm going to finish it
• Make more mug rugs from my idea sketches from this round of the swap.
• Bake a cake for Mary's birthday (last week)
• Eat some of that cake
• Plan what I'd like to work on/what to take on the retreat next week
• Hope that my blog readers don't get annoyed at these kinds of posts... for some reason putting it out there gets me off my butt and checking things off!

Today's the day...

Things I want to do right now. (I'm feeling unmotivated and sometimes putting out here makes me get off my butt and do something I want to do!)

• make tiny tiny stars. Why? Who knows. Will they be a part of a mug rug? will they be a part of my DQS quilt or Urban Home Goods project? Who knows. I just want to make them. Out of Good folks fabric.

  

  Edit: finished... with one. It measures just under 2 1/4" square and is the cutest thing I've ever made!

  
  
• Scrap my DQS start (minus the special thing - which is AWESOME and I wish I could show it to you guys). I think that curved piecing is fun but the "art quilt" style isn't really me. I think I need a more traditional layout and some embroidered bits to tell the story. I'm not sure what to do with that start, but at least I'll show you:
  
  
• Make some pleated blocks. Or tiny patchwork. 
• Decide what to make for the Urban Home Goods Swap.
 

That's it for now. I'm hoping today doesn't end as crappy as I think it will. 

Things I could be doing, things that I can't.

I could be doing:

• cutting my fabrics for Feb of the {Sew} Beautiful Bee. (some of them... since I need to make it to the store to buy some more grey.
• Playing with scraps to potentially add up to quilt blocks for a quilt for my mom or MIL? 
• Finishing that mini-single irish chain quilt into a doll quilt or pillow cover. 
• Make a really awesome cool zippered pouch. Just because.

What I can't:

• Finish my practice Dresden plate into either a pillow or a doll quilt for Allie's room. (I don't have a single piece of solid colored fabric large enough!)
• Start on my Nicey Jane wonky star quilt... Again, with the not having solid fabric. I don't have a single bit of white fabric which I plan to use for this quilt. Frustrating since I've had that fabric for a year and have finally settled on that type of quilt.
• Actually cut all my fabric for the bee... I like the fealing of finishedness. Cutting half the fabric isn't as desireable as cutting it all. (again with the no solid fabric).
• Make a baby gift for Adri's baby (I'm dreading that baby shower. Hate seeing pregnant people right now, and especially hate pregnant people who are really full of themselves --they deserve to be don't get me wrong). Need to get some flannel from joann's when they have it on sale next.
• Get started on swaps... that I haven't gotten into yet! lol.

I don't really feel like doing the things on the "Can" list. lol. Don't you hate that? And no chance of getting to Joann's until Friday!

Out of order.

I worked for literally an hour last night putting together mosaics for a post about my projects from this year. After all that I'm going to write about goals for next year today instead!

Here they are:

1. {Sew} Beautiful Bee & Swaps. I'm making this just one on my list since this is the extra, the push my boundaries and try something without worry. Whether it's a project pushing my color comfort zones, or my style... or even something technically challenging. But I'm going to try this year to make doubles of what I make for swaps. I really miss my DQS9 quilt that I sent off this year... I wish I would have made even a tiny one for myself

2. I'd like to make a quilt for my mom or my MIL this year. Not to push too much, since I made two quilts for my nieces at the same time this year. That was really crazy. I'll see how it goes. I think maybe my mom first since I seem to make little things for my MIL more often since she's here locally.

3. I really would like to finish the String Quilt I started last january... lol. It's supposed to be for Allie's toddler bed.

4. I'd like to follow a pattern for a quilt this year. I (kinda) followed my first pattern with the color brick quilt, it was crazy how quickly that went together without a lot of time thinking about it/figuring out measurements.

5. I want to make a wonky star quilt with light/medium grey and a pop of color.

6. I want to keep working on taking better pictures of my work. I've come a LONG way this year... gotta keep learning!

7. I'd like to make a baby this year. (too much? sorry). Oh and maybe not flip out nearly as much each month when I'm not pregnant as I have been. Just saying, although throwing myself into sewing is a pretty helpful way of coping.

8. I want to make more ruffly dresses for my daughter.

9. I would love to make more personal connections in the sewing world. I feel like I'm just out here. I don't go to guild meetings since they're a bit far away, and I don't know anyone in real life who quilts (aside from wally's great aunt...). I'd possibly like to make these connections at the Sewing Summit. :) Lofty goal there... don't know if we'll have the money.

10. I'd like to keep teaching my niece to enjoy crafts and sewing.

Now link up your goals over at Don't Call Me Betsy