Let's Assess the New Years Quilting Resolution List

Assessing the List

In the spirit of Good News, Bad News, I'll start the the YES category:

More improv:   Especially if you count UFO's from workshops! 

 from Jacuque Gering's Improv Workshop

from Claire Witherspoon's Scrap Strategies Workshop

Both of the Michael Miller quilts and Goats Askew I would consider improv - their design developed in a very organic way. 

The "second front" of these two were improv as well. 

Use of Solids:  Not necessarily exclusive use and less than many modern quilters, but for me it's a big bump.  The last one is a collaborative quilt that I helped with and did the FMQ on. 

My stash of solids grew if that counts! 

precious Oakshott,  solid-ish 

Garments:  a (super cute) Costume and modified onesie are all she wrote. 

Needlework:

one button, check. 

Fewer New UFO's: Although the post starts with confessions of new UFO's they are still accumulating at a rate lower than I've been keeping.

Real Photo Shoot: 
"A" for effort, I tried.    The wind, the tourists walking by, the size of the quilt vs the height of the holder... this goal is definitely a work in progress and one I hope to improve on.

2014 FAL Q4 GOAL complete (linking up)  

Three Tardy Birthday Quilts:  the first of three. 

Just this week I nailed down the design direction for one of the other Birthday quilts - some variation of delectable mountain - so that's progress.

Fabric Pull for next Belated Birthday Quilt

Two of Two Wedding Quilts:  THIS goal is HUGE!  Both were gifted and are loved. 

Social Media: 

After joining the IGmini Swap I changed my IG profile from private to public and my followers and following are almost the same number, even if they aren't the same people!  I'm calling 554 posts "active" and although it may be less regularly, I still blog and check in with flickr and thanks to QDAD, I'm on Facebook daily. 

Link Ups:   All things considered, I' patting myself on the back about Finish It Up Friday, WIP Wednesday, ALYOF and 2014 FAL.  Even though Q4 had seven items and I finished two (Redwood Grove and IGmini shown above), Q3 was three for three, Q2 was a bust and Q1 was one out of four,  I'm still calling it a win because there were no double digit goals set and stuff got done!  

That Leaves the Bad News. The NOPE, not even close category:

Hand quilting

Less iPhone game time 

Categorize/Organize  photos  

Ergonomic sewing (slightly improved in habit, but my sewing space is unchanged)

Here's What's Up for 2015

1. QDAD a Reality 
2. Continue Linky Parties (I repeat, because they're fun)
3. The remaining two Belated Birthday Quilts
4. One new Wedding Quilt
5. A London's Calling Quilt
6. #SewYourStash (including FQ bundles and Oakshott, yikes)
7. #UseItOrLooseItStashChallenge
8. #ScrappyLogCabinAlong
9. Crafts for Baby - whether it's clothes or a squishy, plenty projects have been pinned
10. Meet Up and get to know more Virtual friends in person
11. Photos Shooting Sessions that are actually successful 

I'd love to hear what you have in mind for the New Year, any rollovers? 

Holiday Cheer and Marsala

Merry Christmas - QDAD Cheer

12.24.2014 mid-century glass ornament 

12.06.2014 vintage elf/gnome hats

12.22.2014 Snowman Cupcakes

Lots of Holiday Cheer in the land of QDAD lately. My daily routine of designing in the morning over a cup of coffee before heading out to work was interrupted a couple of weeks ago and I've struggled to get back in the rhythm.

a sampling of recent designs

The member provided Sparker images were too great to skip so I played catch up. Seems like shades of Marsala are sneaking into the palette lately. My friend referred to the Pantone color of the year as "light raisin" which feels acurrate. 

Marsala Head to Toe 

Taking a selfie that includes your shoes is kinda nuts but they are Marsala and match!

It isn't often that I wear heels or a dress but my inlaws were in town and took us to Cafe Sparrow for a delicious dinner for hubbies birthday.  Housed the heart of Aptos Village in the town's original grocery store/post office.  They celebrated 25 years in business this year which is tough to do for small restaurants and is great to see.

Merry Christmas

We are spreading out our Christmas celebration beyond today and started a little early with Mateya opening her Hanna Andersson long johns.  The graphics are yoda in a Santa hat and Darth Vadar with antlers adorned with candy cane light sabers.  

She insisted on dressing herself and let me straighten up.  I'm not usually a trademark kind of gal but these were too fabulous to resist and the organic cotton so soft.   Plus, now she matched the ornament collection on the tree! 

Goats Askew and You Know Who

Goats Askew

At first I titled this original design Askew and then I just had to add "Goats", can you see why? I fell in love with the vintage fabric and used stash to feature it. The scale is hard to capture in the same way Capitola Crossing appeared larger than it was, this seems like it photographs smaller.  Finished size is 72"x86"

It's a bit hard to tell but there are several different LV prints used to give a little scrappiness rather than the initial pull of just two shown above. The palette is much more controlled than my typical kitchen sink approach and that was an intentional goal I set out for myself. 

The technique is an improvisational project score from the newly releasing book (pre-orders for March 2015) titled The Improv Handbook For Modern Quiters by Sherri Lynn Wood aka: Daintytime.  She put a call out for testers that I was happy to be part of.  Although it won't be included in the book,  it was fun to give input.   

For the backing sleeve I matched the fabric since it was going to be permanent.  I'll share it at our local guild's show next February since it wasn't accepted at QuiltCon.  My skill set improved much more rapidly than I'd expected.  All the more reason to try new things, right?

The FMQ was a free form inspired by the shapes of the petals as well as the square in a square graphic in the feature fabric.   Although I didn't just finish, I couldn't share it before because it was a secret so I'll link up to Finish It Up at Crazy Mom Quilts and Let's Be Social now that I can. 

Behind the Scenes

First off, using scissors felt so foreign. I found that placing the ruler under gave me better control when cutting the strips.  My experience making bias tape was practically non existent before this and by the end, I felt pretty confident.

The frixion pen for the light fabric and chalk for the light were invaluable for tracing cut lines and registration marks.  

I challenged myself to exclusively machine piece rather than appliqué the quilt despite the need to join many (MANY) odd shaped areas.  This is lovingly referred to as my X-Y-Z seams. 

When the large chunks of progress became too cumbersome for the design wall, I migrated to the living room floor.  I used painters tape to square off the target size on the carpet and build out the background where I was shy and trimmed the excess where the petal hung over. 

I brought it with me to our SBAMQG Retreat last month to cozy up our cabin.   Goats Askew was a tad oversized for the twin.   My friend Renee and I celebrated our birthdays that weekend. 

Renee and I, the Birthday Girls

Funny enough, there's a photo of us at the Get Your Curve On workshop with Sherri Lynn Wood in this magazine.  It's the side of my head but that counts - and I'm especially proud of my excellent posture!  We had no idea until Renee was thumbing through "The Story of Modern Quilting" - so cool.   

One of my News Years Resolutions should be to finish up that UFO from the workshop - it's on my 2014 Q4 FAL goal that's not been met.

S'mores fire pit and our Workroom in the Redwoods

Since I may never get around to a proper post devoted to the 3rd annual retreat, here are some pics.  Anne is in charge of setting up the group shot each year and they are my favorites (past two are here and here)

SBAMQG Fall Retreat - Look what we did

Great Swag Bags

Wonderful Sponsors

One thing that I plan to be working on in 2015 is the Scrappy Log Cabin Quilt Along with Ginny at Fishcreek Studio.   Check it out - and read all about her on the Around the World Bog Hop post.  She tagged me so be sure to visit back and see who I tag next. 

IGmini Swap and BIG FAT (quarter) win(s)

IGmini Swap Received 

My new mini has a home on the wall of my sewing room right next to my computer and for now the hoop sits on the shelf above.  I love them both - thank you Kristin @ktstitches and swap mama @mugirl113!

adorable label

Kristin included yummy chocolates, Cotton & Steel and some notions along with a cute card.   You can see the one I sent to my partner in this post.

Lucky Me, x2

In case you happened to notice that big bundle of Kona sitting next to my mini and wondered if I'd been on a shopping spree, the answer is no - I've been on a Lucky Streak.  Thank you Rita @ Red Pepper Quilts and Julie @ Intrepid Threads for the giveaway!

If you follow me you might also remember that I was the BIG winner of this staggering collection of  Denyse Schmidt Hadley FQ's bundle on Quilt Dad's blog - so not to rub it in or anything, but I hadn't shared a picture yet.  Thanks John and Free Spirit Fabrics, you've made for one happy girl. 

Sewing for Sydney #hashtag blocks

Molli Sparkles FAQ details blog post

With so much to be thankful for, I wanted to spread the love a bit and had (made) time on Wednesday to sew these seven blocks and mail them off as part of the Sewing for Sydney quilt making efforts - check out the link above for all the details and help out if you can.