Sewing Goals - March

Because of February's drudgery, I tried some looser, more exciting goals.  Wish me luck!

• Get started on the FFAII quilt
• Finish Hocuspocusville #4
• Make a couple of zipper pouches
• Experiment with fabric

February Sewing Goals - Recap

I can't believe it's already time to review this month's sewing goals.  View February's list here.  The final list is as follows:

• prepare backing for the 36-patch quilt
• trace Hocuspocusville #4
• piece the Christmas 9-patch quilt top
• plan the grid and finalize block numbers on the wedding quilt

Overall, this felt like a to-do list rather than a list of goals I wanted to accomplish.  These maintenance tasks really killed my motivation, especially since there wasn't a whole lot of actual sewing involved.

So what did I learn?

I learned that I need actual fun sewing in order to be motivated.  A bunch of tiny sewing-related tasks does not sewing make.  They all felt like chores and everyone knows how much I hate obligation sewing.  As a result, my mind wandered to projects and possibilities that weren't even remotely related to my goals for the month.  Never again.

Additionally, I learned that it's easy to kill your momentum on a project by not allowing enough freedom.  I think I did this to myself by focusing on all the same projects from last month.  The only one I remained excited about was Hocuspocusville, but I didn't feel that I could continue to work on it after meeting my goal because the rest of the list was looming over my head.  Then, I came to resent the projects that needed to be worked on, even though I was previously excited about them in January.

Lastly, I learned that it's disheartening to achieve a goal, but not in the way I'd imagined it.  The 36-patch backing is technically prepared, though it's not what I'd envisioned.  I really struggled with meeting my goal versus meeting my vision for the project.  The need to strike that item off the list and get the whole thing to the quilter was pretty great.  However, the dissatisfaction with the whole thing was even greater.  Was it fair to say I had met the goal without having met my vision?  Sadly, these ideas all apply to the Christmas 9-patch, too.  Safe to say that these projects need to rest for a while.

February has been a tough month.  Perhaps the worst part of it all was that I met the letter of my goals without meeting the spirit.  I'm looking forward to what March has to offer.

Sewing Goals - February

Here we go, the second month of my so far extremely productive adventure.  What can I accomplish this month?

• prepare backing for the 36-patch quilt
• trace Hocuspocusville #4
• piece the Christmas 9-patch quilt top
• plan the grid and finalize block numbers on the wedding quilt

You'll notice I skipped a step with the Christmas 9-patch.  I don't need to finish the rest of the blocks, because I already did it!  Okay, all but, like, six.  Easy-peasy.  The rest?  We shall see...

PrOgress

Things are going pretty smoothly with the January sewing goals.  I've accomplished a couple and worked on all of them!

Here's a picture of some of the progress I've made on my Hocuspocusville block; since last night I've stitched that whole area including branch, cat, and part of the trunk.  I'm ready to attack the treehouse tonight! 

There's the final layout of my 36-patch quilt.  Yes, that is my classroom floor.  I brought the blocks to school with me today so that I could finally work on the layout-- it was the only place I knew with a large enough surface to lay out all of those blocks!

*   *   *

Often, when feeling the desire to sew, I'm left with no direction because there are so many projects to work on.  I will stand listlessly in front of the sewing closet, unable to decide what to work on.  Sometimes I will even set up materials and equipment only to put it all back in the closet without even having sewn a stitch.

I thought I would regret setting these goals, but I really don't.  The goals give me direction for what to work on; having set multiple goals ensures that I have plenty of direction, even after having achieved one of my sewing objectives.  The decision of what to sew is already made for me; no more listless pondering required.  Also, having an agenda makes me more likely to sew and more likely to finish a project.  Lastly, the blog posts have created some sense of accountability-- people are checking in on my progress!

I don't know that I will be 100% successful on this month's goals; even so, I've already enjoyed a considerable amount of success!  It feels good to say you're going to do something and then get it done.  I know that I will definitely do goals again in February.

Sewing Goals - January

Happy New Year!  2012 looms ahead of us, and what better way to approach it than with a good old-fashioned list?

My sewing goals for this month are as follows:

• Piece the 36-patch quilt top
• Complete 24 Christmas wonky 9-patch blocks
• Complete Hocuspocusville block #3
• Sew and install drawstrings for my drawstring bag

These goals are simple and straightfoward.  That makes them easy to measure-- either I've met them or I haven't.  The official check-in date for these goals is January 31; at that time I will revisit my list and see what I've accomplished.  

Moving Forward

Instead of doing a big year-end post like most folks, I'm into looking forward this year.  2011 was fine, sewing-wise; I made three bed-sized quilts, lots of progress on my Aunt Millie's project, and had several small finishes.  The problem is, I didn't really do anything new, and I still have a couple unfinished and neglected projects hanging around my head.

This recent realization about my lack of sewing progress has led me to think about what I want to be doing.  There are so many answers to this question, I don't even know where to begin.  So I won't try (not here, anyway).

I recently saw 365: A Daily Creativity Journal in a bookstore and became intrigued.  I've always found the 365 projects admirable, but unapproachable.  They seem constraining and keep a punishing pace; what if you fall behind?!  But the accountability of these projects is appealing.  They set an expectation about what will be done, and when.  This is a lot different than making as you go-- it's pretty easy to leave an unfinished project in the closet for eternity, especially when there's no deadline to finish.

I'm not promising to undertake some kind of 365: Sewing challenge.  Like I said, I find those projects to be too regimented and maybe even impossible to accomplish.  Instead, I plan on setting small, manageable goals for each month of 2012.  Posting them here will give me the accountability that I appreciate and the short time line will be motivating and approachable.

Here's hoping this process will be motivating, not taxing.  Stay tuned for my January goals.

Sewing Machine

I have sworn off all forms of virtual bees, swaps, and quilt alongs for 2011.  Most of you reading probably already know this.  Over the past couple years, I have found that those types of activities suck all the fun right out of sewing.  It goes back to that quilting with obligation thing, no?

But, I’m a sucker for plain-old, straight-up, old-fashioned patchwork.  Especially if it's made of cute little squares.  If it's cute little squares, I’m there.

Which is how I find myself in a contradiction. 

I’m sure you’ve seen the 36-patch quilt-along over at Crazy Mom Quilts.  And you see how I might be enticed.  Those blocks are adorable.  Not only are they adorable, but they are also easy.  Strip-piecing?  Check.

Make no mistake: I am not quilting along.  So let’s just get that straight.  I am, however, making 36-patch blocks because they are cute.  I’m not going to stay on any kind of schedule or add photos to the flickr group, because those are the things about quilt-alongs that stress me out.  Instead, I’m going to be inspired by Amanda Jean’s idea and I’m going to make some sweet, traditional patchwork blocks.

Now that’s out of the way.

I am strip piecing these blocks using fabric from my stash: one neutral and one print.  As of now, I am at a standstill because I am out of neutral fabrics!  That’s really too bad, considering I was on a roll; so far, I’ve got 37 blocks complete, and that’s after only three (four?) sewing sessions. 

I used the Robert Kaufman QuiltCalc to figure out how much yardage I’ve used.  (It’s pretty easy to do this using the “pieces to yardage area” calculator.) 

Sessions one and two yielded a combined 10 blocks (six strips per block, 2.5” x 16.5”, 60 strips in all) and used a total of 2 1/8 yards of fabric from my stash.

Session three (and four?) spanned two days and yielded 27 blocks!  That eliminated another 5 5/8 yards of stash fabrics.

Total destruction?  7 ¾ yards of stash busted and I’m already nearly halfway to a queen-sized quilt top.

It’s okay; you can clap.

Wedding Quilt Update #1

Things are chugging right along on the wedding quilt.  I can't believe that I am lucky enough to have friends willing to do such a special thing for and with me.  Check out all the stars hanging on Kristal's design wall!  

I must admit that most of those stars are from Kristal, but a few of them are mine!  If you roll over the above photo in flickr, I've made a note about which blocks are mine.

It seems like a lot, but it's not really much, or at least that's what everyone else is saying.  This is supposed to end up a queen sized quilt-- as of right now Kristal maintains that we've only got enough for a crib sized quilt.

No big deal, though, because I am really enjoying making these blocks.  I've dug into my stash for grays-- I hoarded a million a couple years ago during Fat Quarter Frenzy at Quilting  Adventures--  and am trying not to mooch too many beautiful batiks from Kristal.  I've had to buy a few blues, and have swapped a few, too.

The wonky star is much easier to make than I thought it would be.  Now that I've done several I hardly have to think about the process anymore.  Of course, that's how I've always felt about "improv"-- it's not as improvisational as everyone would have you think.  There's actually a fair bit of planning and consideration that goes into it.  Or maybe that's just my brain.  Thoughts?

Sunday Stack

Half-square triangles-- 108 to be exact.  I love stacking up cut fabrics and seeing the color patterns that emerge.  These look a bit like stained glass, don't you think?

Swap Progress

Something is happening with my Modify Tradition swap quilt.  You know there's a swap going on, right?

I've paper pieced these blocks with templates from EQ7.  I have to say, the program is amazing!  The block I chose (from what seemed like hundreds of blocks) isn't even intended to be paper pieced.  However, the program allows you to print any block in foundation piecing format.  It will even section and number the pieces for you!

My swap partner likes house blocks, and I've always wanted to try them, so I decided to go for it.  I went through several virtual mutations in layout and eventually settled on some kind of combination of all of them.

The blocks are about 6.5" square and I think they are super cute!  I love the fabrics I chose.  Originally I had picked a pink Kona solid, but decided to use a bit of pink dotted batik from my stash instead.  I'm glad I did; these pink houses are adorable.  The background is a natural colored Kona solid, and the roof is also another Kona solid.  I don't really pay attention to the colors; maybe I should get one of those whacked out color cards.  Or just check the bolts when I buy.

Aunt Millie's Flower Garden

So far, I have completed one of twelve Aunt Millie's Flower Garden applique blocks.  One lone block.  I started it over a year ago.  That's pathetic!

I will finish appliqueing all these blocks before September 1, 2010.  That gives me three and a half months to finish.  This means I will have to complete 3.14 blocks each month.  Quite a lofty goal.  Check my progress in the blog sidebar.