Quilting Goals

My quilting goals for 2017 were as follows:

• backgammon mini quilt with my dad's ties (ties taken apart but that's it)
• repair old family wool quilt (not touched)
• half-square triangle sampler quilt (Snowy Day Quilt Sampler) (done)
• blue jean quilt (pieces cut, a handful of pieces sewn)

Doll quilt

Finishes that were not on a list:

• doll quilt
• A Boy and His Dog 2 (Connor's quilt)
• mini quilt (Nolan's wall hanging)
• Two Double Irish Chain baby quilts
• Jeep baby quilt
• Barnyard baby quilt
• Christmas table runner

In reviewing my quilting goals for 2017, I've only managed to get one item on the list done. That's perfectly fine with me because I did finish a total of 9 quilts this year (all on this post). Two of them were very small at less than 22" square. Another smaller one was a table runner. Two baby quilts went to charity. I learned how to paper piece which was very exciting. It's like sewing by numbers. This alone opens up so many possibilities. I also purchased some quilting software to make my own patterns. I have already made several and hope to sew them this coming year.

paper pieced spinning wheel block

I was going to try to pick my favorite quilt for the year and I just couldn't. I like each one for different reasons. OK, there's one I like a little less than the others but that's just me. It was somewhat out of my comfort zone.


Goals for 2018 (not in any particular order):

• tackle backgammon mini quilt (Honestly, this is just procrastination because I'm not sure how to proceed with it, so some research is needed before I can continue.)
• repair old family wool quilt (Research is needed with this one as well.)
• patriotic table runner
• graduation gift quilt top, maybe start quilting it
• Christmas tree quilt (it's really cool and simple)
• paper pieced quilt
• charity quilts
• blue jean quilt
• continue working on crazy hexagon table runner (started 9/20/16)

We'll see this time next year how I do on my goals.

I don't really care as long as I'm quilting!

Christmas

We had a very nice Christmas this year. Low key just how we like it.

We had a beautiful snowfall perfect for Christmas morning.

(Pretty time is over, the snow can leave now...)

We had a great visit with my mom.

We were thankful the snow stayed away until after our visit.

It was nice of the snow to do that.

It's not the greatest picture but it's Pepper on her new warming blanket.

We moved it to her doghouse the next morning.

For Christmas morning I made Grandma Schultz's cinnamon rolls.

I finally got them right!

Someone was excited to get Jim Carrey's Christmas Carol.

Oh look, more books on writing.

We also got him a book on writing fight scenes.

You need something to use those weapons for...

That would be Connor's itty bitty flash light that is from his new knife.

And yes, there's a stuffed duckling stuck beside his face.

I took the boys roller skating.

I brought along my hand quilting project to do in the snack area.

As much as I love quilting, I would have loved to have skated with the boys.

My foot is slowly returning to normal... very slowly.

Someday I'll be able to put my skates on again.

Sorry for the fuzzy picture.

He was squatting not falling.

The last several years the boys have not exchanged gifts with their cousins.

We have done an activity instead.

This year we went bowling and had a blast.

OK, I watched and the rest bowled but it was still fun.

Spare!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a nice several days with food, family, and play time. I was hoping I would escape this holiday season without having a major mourning moment. I made it all the way to the evening before Christmas Eve. Then I fell apart for a short time that lingered into Sunday morning worship. I had a couple of sad moments before then but not the onslaught of tears like this time around. I'm pretty sure it was the predicted snowfall that triggered memories with my dad on Christmas Eve. I should have expected it. It's part of life. It's good to have good memories of a missed Papa.

One Last Finish

I got one more quilt finished for the year!

Truth be told it could have been finished a couple of weeks ago.

I wanted to free motion quilt it.

I had never done that and needed to practice.

I practiced and practiced.

So I finally bit the bullet and did it.

Did I make mistakes? Absolutely.

Finished is perfect in my mind.

This quilt had a couple of firsts for me.

It was paper pieced and partly free motion quilted.

I designed this table runner in my quilting software.

I printed off the patterns, cut out the sections, and started sewing.

Look how closely the mock up matches the final product.
Isn't that cool?

 Here's a stack of tree sections.

Sewing by numbers goes really fast!

Once all the sections are sewn they get trimmed.

Next the papers are torn off.

All that's left is to sew the sections together.

They went together really fast.

(I used the polar bears as the backing fabric too. It was an awesome thrift store find.)

In case you don't know what free motion quilting (FMQ) is, it's you doing all the work.

You are the one controlling the material's speed and movement, not the machine.

It's harder than it looks.

After many practice sessions I finally decided to go for it.

I so badly wanted it to go perfectly...which is why I procrastinated for so long.

At first it was hard for me not to see the parts I didn't like.

But I did it and that's all that matters.

I'm still learning.

This section has nice rounded bends in the quilting.

The quilting motif is called stipple

It's a common quilting pattern.

I free motion quilted the tree blocks.

I used my walking foot to stitch in the ditch around the striped sashing

and add diamonds in the border.

Christmas tree table runner

12 1/4" x 35 1/4"

How About That

The other week I attended a painting party.

Before coming to the party our group picked a nice winter scene.

I'm not much of a painter.

The teacher took us through step by step showing us exactly how to do each thing.

Those of us who weren't painters kind of commiserated together over the harder steps.

There was a lot of laughter.

Oh and chocolate. We rewarded ourselves with chocolate after the hard steps.

Chocolate makes everything better.

We had lots of fun attempting things we don't normally do.

I'm such a visual person that this is probably the only way for me to paint.

All in all it wasn't so bad and I'd probably do it again.

Here's my painting.

Yes, there's a little Indian Runner duck.

I have to admit that this little duck is my favorite part of the whole painting.

He wasn't in the sample original.

There's supposed to be a fancy "peace" scrolled across the mid bottom area.

(You might be able to see them in the group photo above.)

I knew that my skill for lettering with a paintbrush was lacking,

so I attempted a duck from a photo on my phone.

I'm pretty proud of my little guy and I kind of wish he had some friends.

However, I knew that there was no way to do that again and

make it look good so I quit while I was ahead!

And that's the short story of my painting with a duck.

Mmmm Cookies

Over the weekend Dwayne and I wanted cookies.

This is nothing new but he wasn't feeling well and my foot was grumpy.

So we jokingly asked Nolan to bake us some.

He did and they were awesome!

Why is there a laptop in the kitchen?

Good question.

Upon our request Nolan searched allrecipes.com for some good cookies.

That's what the laptop was for.

Armed with his recipe he began working. 

I stayed out of the way except to tell him where some of the ingredients were...and to take pictures.

:)

Almost in the oven.

I have no idea what recipe he used because he closed it as soon he was done.

I'm hoping he remembers what it was so we can keep it.

I will say they were very good.

Our only complaint was that there weren't more!

We knew Nolan was capable of doing it.

I think the school's cooking class has taken his fear out of cooking.

Using a new recipe doesn't deter him at all now.

Awesome job son.

(Can't wait for more cookies!)

Thinking

This is one of those hodge podge posts about a little bit of everything.
I've had extra time to think about things because I'm supposed to be resting my foot.
It's hard for me to sit and do nothing. Especially when the rest of me feels fine.
So I try to sit on the couch with my hand quilting project. It keeps me sedentary.

Since we're nearing the end of 2017 I have been thinking about the blog and goals.

Some I have implemented already as I'm not a New Year's resolution kind of person.

Why wait until then? Why not start now?

Before my accident and before we left for vacation I was

contemplating how I could improve my time with God's word.

Improvement in both quantity and quality.

Not only to be in it more but to be in deeper study as well [something I (s)lack].

What works for one person may not work for another.

So I came up with what I thought would work for me and started after we got back from Tennessee.

It is a work in progress but I'm happy to report that

I have, for the most part, kept up with my goals.

As a believer it's vitally important to be in God's word.

And the older I get the more I understand that there is no

such thing as "enough" when it comes to God's word.

I'm not going to lay out my specific plan except to say that it's several ideas.

One for morning, one for lunch (which I'm loving), plus studying something specific.

I'm still working on an evening idea that will work for me.

I use a Bible app on my phone. It's real handy, especially in a waiting room!
The more I use it the more I like it.

So there's no excuse to not read the Bible.

Funny how people have enough time to check Facebook, Twitter,

Instagram, Blogger, etc. but no time for reading the Bible.

It's all about priorities.

I would encourage you to find what works best for you.

Without God's word in your life you can feel empty

like this can of frosting I found in my refrigerator.

Evidence of children.

Clearly a child was in this. An adult gets a spoon.

The boys are not quite "child" aged any more.

Maybe I should say, "Evidence of teens."

But I think true evidence of teens is an empty refrigerator after

making supper and there's no left overs... and they're still hungry.

Another empty container.

This I pulled out expecting to enjoy some mashed potatoes with my lunch.

Thanks boys, I managed to scrape a whole spoonful.

:)

Speaking of offspring.

This blog started out as a way for us to keep family updated with our lives.

I have noticed that most of the posts lately are about quilting.

This is partly due to my newfound enjoyment of quilting.

Another reason is that we're not homeschooling anymore.

The boys aren't home as much for me to post about what we're doing.

I will say they are doing very well in public school.

So now I've been thinking of the content of this blog.

This brings us back to quilting.

My newly found hobby that I really enjoy and like to share.

I realize that not everyone shares my enthusiasm.

To that I would say as Connor would say, "Well too bad!"

Now, you have to hear it the way he would say it.

Snarky but loving as only Connor can get away with (and he does it with a big grin).

My point is that quilting is part of my life now.

And since it is it's going to be posted. :)

I have thought about starting a blog just for quilting... just a fleeting thought though.

Many quilters say that quilting is their therapy. I say it too.

I read a description on one blog that went something like this:

It's not necessarily the quilting itself that is therapeutic.

It's during the simple tasks of quilting that allow one to think clearly enough to process something.

(I wish I could remember which blog I read that from.)

For me I do think a lot but I have also found that my quilting time can be a great time of prayer.

With some of my quilts I can tell you who I was praying for while I was making it.

I've got a blog post in the works about my quilting goals.

Stay tuned!

Two More

I have recently finished two more baby quilts.

Just like all the others, there's a story to tell.

I once again made two baby quilts for a shower.

One to be given to the baby and one to be donated on behalf of a miscarried baby.

The charity quilt is going to a crisis pregnancy center. 

This center "provides caring, loving, non-judgmental support to women and girls who are distressed by an unplanned pregnancy."

These quilts are roughly the same size.

Barnyard quilt 33 1/2" x 37 1/2" (on the left)

Jeep quilt 32 1/2" x 37" (on the right)

The wind blew the one on the left making it look much bigger.

I wasn't sure I would get these quilts done in time.

I had carefully planned around my surgery.

Then the car accident threw a wrench into my plans.

I knew no one would have cared if it was a little late... I had a good excuse.

However, my wrist/thumb healed fast and I was able to finish with plenty of time to spare.

I tried new to me quilting that went fast.

The quilting is called organic waves.

It's pretty hard to mess up...even for me.

One quilt has a Jeep theme for a little boy to enjoy.

The other one has a gender neutral barnyard theme.

It has lots of cute farm animals romping around. 

There's never a dull moment on the farm.

I heard my in-laws coming so I waited to capture them in the background.

How many other quilters have tractors in the background of their quilt pictures?

Or ducks?

Some of my quilt inspectors came over to see if I had any peas.

(Ducks are crazy about peas.)

The other quilt inspector wanted to play.

It's hard to get good help.

Typically when I finish a quilt it stays here on the

living room quilt rack until it goes to its new home.

I'm happy to give them away but I do miss them when they're gone.

Until I make more that is!

This is the quilt that went to a dear little boy.

A little boy who was given up for adoption so he could have a chance at a better life.

A little boy who made a couple become first time parents.

A dear little boy.

A precious gift.

Here's mom holding her charity quilt.

I have plans to make more of these charity quilts.

There are several moms I know who have lost babies.

I have lost one too and plan on making one in memory of that baby.

We may not have been able to hold our babies but we have never forgotten them either.