Sunday 13 January 2019

WEMQG BOM 2019

At the West End Modern Quilt Guild, my friend A has organized a Block of the Month that is going to be SO FUN.

She worked her buns off and designed this super cool block layout with all these rules to push us out of our comfort zones.


The way I plan to push myself is to take all of the blocks designed by (or at least presented by) guild members and inverse the background and patterned fabric. I also plan to use my bundle of Honeymoon fabric from Sarah Watts, a Cotton+Steel release in 2015. I love this fabric SO much but it is a really unusual mix of colours and so it doesn't really seem to "go" with other fabrics. This will put them all together into one quilt!

A offered the additional challenge for January to make it with just two fabrics.

The January block, finishing at 16", is a pain in the butt. It is a Carpenter's Wheel (also called many other things) and it has 64 pieces, many of which are HSTs. I was cursing A, trust me.

I coloured one in to see how the inverse might look, then I made myself a legend to figure out how to reverse the pattern.



Then I started my block and had it finished in time for the January meeting of the West End Modern Quilt Guild!

I am quite delighted with the inverse effect, though my seams are a little questionable. Don't look too closely!

Can't wait to see what the end quilt looks like!

Tuesday 1 January 2019

2019 Goals

So what are my plans for 2019? Last year I managed to accomplish every. single. goal. Wow! I am impressed with that. Maybe I can do the same in 2019!

Here are my goals:

1) Finish my Summer Sampler 2018. The top is all finished and I have the batting. I just need to buy some backing (7 yards of it!) and it is already spoken for. My mom hinted very strongly that she sure would like this one. So to Mom it goes!

2) Finish my Polaroid quilt. This top is made, and so is the backing. It is one of the one I will be basting at my friend A's house this week. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it and it isn't going anywhere. (Except nowhere near the dog).

3) Finish the quilt I started for my older daughter's teacher as her year end gift (end of June). The top and backing are made. This will be basted on Thursday.
4) Finish the quilt my now-10-year-old made when she was seven so I can donate it. It is quite the colour combination but she has lost total interest and with very little work it can be finished and donated.
5) Make a Stack quilt for my younger daughter's ECE. I haven't picked the fabric yet but I am dying to make a Stack quilt so I am excited. 
6) Make a Banner Year quilt for my younger daughter's Junior Kindergarten teacher. I haven't pulled this fabric yet either, but there is so much potential.
7) Make a Meadowland quilt for my best friend who is getting married in September. I have a fabric pull for it but I think I need to beef it up some more. Stay tuned for progress on this one!
8) Speaking of that wedding, I need to make about 70 fabric succulent pots for her wedding favours. Yikes! Wish me luck!

9) I have a whole bunch of Lizzy House fabric squares all cut. I want to add the newest Constellations fabric and then make a basic patchwork Lizzy House quilt with each square being different!

10) I have a bunch of red and white HSTs ready to sew into a baby quilt to donate.

11) I also have a bunch of turquoise and grey HSTs to sew into a baby quilt, also to donate.

12) I have assigned myself a BOM using the Doctor Who pattern from Quiet Play and A Joyful Fox. I will make one doctor a month (and hopefully she will make a Thirteenth Doctor before 2019 is out!)
13) I won a bunch of book cover blocks at West End Modern Quilt guild and had already cut fabric to make a ton more for a book quilt for my uncle.
14) Speaking of West End Modern Quilt guild, they are doing a BOM too, so I will participate in that. I'm hoping to do it in 100% scraps (with the exception of the background fabric).

15) A Sew Together bag for my mom. She saw the one I made for my MIL and commented on how much she liked it. I am thinking for her birthday in May.

And those are my goals! I think they are achievable, though I need to find a way to baste in my own house. Oh, which I guess brings me to:

16) Repair the three quilts my dumb dog damaged. Already almost done repairing my Christmas tree quilt. The one I made my husband for our anniversary is a much more serious case. And my quilt made of tiny text fabric squares just needs a binding repair. Note: Puppies and quilts do not mix! 

2018 Wrap Up

Blogging is just not something I seem to prioritize these days, which is also the case for the vast majority of quilters I know who have blogs. Still, I see this blog as a way of tracking finishes and goals and so I will do a wrap up of 2018.

My goals as set in January were:
1. Turquoise and yellow quilt for my cousin's new baby that I made but have been avoiding basting. FINISHED!

2. Teal and grey baby quilt for a friend. FINISHED!


3. Finish binding my Christmas Improv Quilt. FINISHED!

4. Quilt the Rainbow picnic quilt. FINISHED!

5. Quilt my Aviatrix Medallion. FINISHED! (Though technically I had it quilted).

6. Finish a Knuffle Bunny quilt I have waiting. FINISHED!



7. Pineapple Farm Quilt (for April). FINISHED!

8. Gamer Quilt (for hubby...maybe March for his birthday?) FINISHED! (Though for our anniversary in July instead).


9. Finish the QB travelling quilt that I have been doing with friends...assuming C gets out of thumb jail after some minor surgery on her hand in the new year. FINISHED! (Just waiting for A and C to finish so we can exchange at March Break!) I can't show you a picture because they haven't seen it yet!



I also made these things in 2018:
Baby quilt for a co-worker
A map quilt of Southern Ontario from a workshop I took through the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild with 3rd Story Workshop.

Pillowcases for my nephews.

A shoe storage bag for packing for my MIL.

A pineapple Sew Together Bag for my MIL (my other MIL...yes, I have two!)

I kept it simple for her and she loves it.

I used the stars I won at the West End Modern Quilt Guild for our Block Lotto to make this baby quilt to donate.

I made 17 of these vinyl pouches using the pattern Pouch with a View from Three Owls.
They will be the goodie bags for my daughter's fifth birthday party the second weekend in January.


And they have these adorable charms on them.

I put binding on this quilt that my friend C pieced and A quilted as a gift to a principal friend who was retiring.

My older daughter had a sleepover party in October and each girl got a pillowcase.

A Peppa Pig pillowcase for my youngest daughter and a Mario pillowcase for my best friend's son.

I made more of these then I can count, but this large size (Project) was for a family friend's son who LOVES flamingos. It held his birthday gift.

This Thank you Nadia quilt for my daughter's Grade 4 teacher in June. I guess I never posted about it? It uses the free Art Gallery Plenum pattern and I quite love it. (The teacher's favourite colour is red).
So I was busy quilting. I do not have as many quilt finishes as I normally would (only 11 this year) because of our new, furry family member who arrived in August. Basting has now become impossible because of the help of our very friendly puppy. I have FOUR quilts ready to baste at my friend A's house later this week! So stay tuned for some new finishes soon!

Hooray for another awesome year with lots of great finishes!