Reminder- This is the 2022 Saturday Sampler from Cotton and Chocolate in Thousand Oaks, CA.
My April goal for this WIP was to do the December Packet. When I looked at the details this pointed to page 23 of the pattern and I wasn’t that far along yet. I looked at the previous pages and I hadn’t done page 20 yet so that became my April goal.
It took a long time as I was very busy this month and didn’t spend hardly any time in my sewing room. Luckily we had a mini retreat this weekend and I was able to put these 4 corners together.
This is the inner part I got done last month
So next month’s goal is to put these parts together. Hopefully I’ll have some time to get it done next month. And I’ll have a finish too to share!
the last several weeks have been very busy with life and not much going on in my crafting. Every weekend seems booked with something and I’ve been gardening a lot now that weather is permitting it.
found time to redo my strawberry tower which was not fun and defeats the whole thing about the tower for me. I hope this effort produces great strawberries though. I’m a new chicken mama!Mt husband’s cousin from Italy and her family is currently in Phoenix for several months so we took a weekend to visit with them. I met some more of my husband’s family who also live in Phoenix for the first time. One of my blueberry plants still doing really well.
This was a kit and class originally purchased during my fave LQS, Quilt Emporium, 12 Days back in 2021. I attended the class in December of that year and started the project. There are about 12 ornaments and they have all been attached to this backing and slowly worked on. I finally finished the last ornament that I needed to embroider. The next step is to attach the stiff heat and bond to the final back, trim, etc etc.
I’ll start with what I’ve finished since posting this list in January and then the remaining queue will follow. As before, it’s in no order of priority but in order of when the tops were done. Ideally I’d like to get the tops quilted in the order they were finished but the bigger tops are older while the smaller tops are newer. And so I like to alternate between big and small tops.
Storm at Sea / Snail’s Trail
Wendy Mathson
December 2022Linda Ballard Dresden – 01/2023Scandinavian Snowflake – 02/2023Grassy Creek – March 2023
Similar to my WIP list, I’ll remove the finished projects the next time I do an update. I am planning to post these updates at the beginning of each quarter so it helps me move myself along the path of finishing!
In January I made my WIP list and I go off this list and my quilt queue list when making my monthly focus list. Things get added as I start new things and updated as I finish projects. Here is an updated list with my Q1 starts and finishes.
2. February – Linda Ballard – Dresden – finished top 01/2023
3. By Annie – Everything in a place bag (name?). Finished 1/2023
4. March – Catherine Wilson – Snowflake finished top 2/21/2023
Still a WIP:
1. 45 & Life to go
2. Christmas in Paris
Christmas in Paris by Coach House Designs
3. Tuella and Friends
Tuella and Friends by Colette Belt
4. Judy Neimeyer’s Double Wedding Ring – started Jan. 2020
Double Wedding Ring (not my quilt) – started in Jan 2020
2022 New Starts
5. Cotton and Chocolate’s 2022 Saturday Sampler Plum Fusion in January 2022. I was pretty caught up until about June. Then I fell behind. As of now I’m up through the November packet and hope to finish the top in April.
hand projects started in 2022 –
6. Ornaments – I started this in December 2021 but I’ve been stitching diligently on this throughout 2022. I think about half of the 12 ornaments have all been stitched and embroidered. When they are all done I need to adhere it to a backing with stiffer fusible and then sew the little strings to allow me to hang them.
7. Prairie something…. I haven’t started this really. I bought it and attended the class at Quilt Emporium and other projects jumped in line. This is not my product but a picture of the instructors and a reminder of the cuteness of it.
8. Tula Pink’s Butterfly 2.0 – I haven’t actually started or cut the fabric. But I want to very badly. I’ve had a lot of new starts the last few months so I want to get the flimsies finished before cutting into this.
9. Mountain Mist: Apple Blossom (November 2022)
2023 New Starts
1. Quilty Pleasures 2023 Saturday Sampler
I’ll remove the finished projects the next time I do an update. I am planning to post these updates at the beginning of each quarter so it helps me move myself along the path of finishing!
#1 – Lucretia’s Journey – My goal is to quilt and finish finish finish this flimsy.
#2 Plum Fusion – This month I plan to tackle the kit for December 2022.
#3 – The Quilty Pleasure Saturday Sampler – the April block
March Block
#4 – Tuella and Friends – This is #4 on my WIP list for 2023 and I generally like to go in order. That’s just how my brain works. But the next couple are ones I work on at retreats and Tuella is not one I am able to work on at retreats. It’s machine applique and I need to match the thread when working on it. So i don’t bring all my thread to retreats and often find myself not able to work on this project. My goal for this month is to do block one. If memory serves, The background is pieced and the applique pieces cut and fused on. I just need to applique it.
Tuella and Friends
by Colette Belt
#5 – Mountain Mist – do a bit every day. My plan is to work on this project daily for 15 minutes.
#6 – Ornaments – Last time I posted about this project was here and I’m almost done. I have one more ornament to embroider before I can move on to the next step. And I was busy trying to finish Good Fortune and Plum Fusion goals for March that I didn’t get a chance to move on with this project.
#7 – Sashiko… I feel that this should be added to my daily craft to do list. But I already have 3 things on that list that if I add anymore I won’t get anything done. So instead my plan is to do this one day a week.
#8 – Raining Cats and Dogs- this is an old hand quilting project that I set aside. I am adding this on this list to remember it and figure out how to get this done. Ideally It’s one of those projects I spend a little time on each day but I have a lot of those now and so need to think about my game plan.
I got hit with Covid again! After 2.5 years of not getting it until my first bought last July, my second case was just a mere 8 months. I got it from my husband this time around. And now that he works outside the house, who knows where he got it from. This time around was not as bad as the first and mainly because I was able to get some good drugs and this current strain was not nearly as bad as the delta strain causing havoc here in CA last July. But it still put a pause on my crafting energy. A whole weekend went by without me touching my machine or any craftiness. All in all, a much better scenario than the weeks and months of weakness, lack of energy, and covid brain that engulfed me all last summer and into the start of fall. Here’s my progress on my to do list for the month:
#1 – Good Fortune – My goal is to quilt and finish finish finish this flimsy.
Good Fortune
Update: It’s finished!!!
#2 Plum Fusion – This month I plan to tackle the kit for November 2022.
November is done!
#3 – The Quilty Pleasure Saturday Sampler – the March block
March Block
Update- Finished!
#4 – Grassy Creek – I believe there is a border left to do but I’m not sure so I’ll need to pull it out and figure out what’s next. – FINISHED!
#5 – Mountain Mist – do a bit every day. My plan is to work on this project daily for 15 minutes.
Update – I worked on it a little bit this month. Not enough to post about but a little progress.
#6 – Go through my cabinet full of UFOs and I want to get those jotted down on my UFO/wip list too. Some of them are already but a lot are not. In addition that cabinet needs to be organized and cleaned out. It has become my stuffing spot – you know what I mean – I stuff things in there I am not ready to deal with…. And it’s jammed full.
– Finished
#7 – Sashiko… I feel that this should be added to my daily craft to do list. But I already have 3 things on that list that if I add anymore I won’t get anything done. So instead my plan is to do this one day a week.
Update – I have two projects in the category now. The first is the Road class I took with Carol Zioga. The second is the project from my guilds March workshop on boro inspired stitching with April Sproule. It was great and here is where I’m at with the project I started for it.
#8 – Raining Cats and Dogs- this is an old hand quilting project that I set aside. I am adding this on this list to remember it and figure out how to get this done. Ideally It’s one of those projects I spend a little time on each day but I have a lot of those now and so need to think about my game plan.
Update – no progress! 😢
#9- added ornaments to this list as I’ve only got one more to do and then I can move on to thnext step. My plan is to actually do something in April.
This is the Block of the Month I’m working on for 2023. It’s hosted by one of our LQS’ Quilty Pleasures in Simi Valley, CA.
I was not able to attend the Saturday Sampler and the sew day in March. So I missed out on all the hints and tricks that they provide. I cut slightly bigger when the pattern used insane measurements like 2 and 5/8 etc etc and simply trimmed down. There was one where the instructions had us cut 8 – 2 and 1/4 squares and 12 – 2 and 5/8 squares and another 8 – 2 and 5/8 squares. I cut 20 – 2.75” squares and trimmed. I found out later I should have also cut the 8-2 and 1/4 at 2.75” as that one was too exact and caused some issues for me when I trimmed down.
This month we had to make 8 of these blocks. It was a lot and took me one evening to cut everything and one Sunday to sew everything. I ended up also prepping my leaders and enders to help me move along. I’m working on piecing 1” squares and I hope to one day have a postage stamp quilt.
He’s a bit of a shy bird or maybe just a teen boy who doesn’t like me posting picture of him on Facebook and Instagram. Actually he doesn’t mind the posts. He doesn’t like to be tagged. So as long as I don’t tag him I can post to my hearts content. And he will stay friends with me on those platforms. This is opposite to my daughter who loves it when I post things and tag her.
On this day, the boy is 18 and weighing heavy decisions on which college to select. He’s been lucky enough to get accepted to a number of colleges local and out of state. The major issues are financial and while his heart would love to go to an out of state school the finances don’t make sense. So far he’s leaning on staying close to home to our local state university. While I wish we could send him away (as he wants) I am proud of the young man he’s becoming to make the smart financial decisions he’s able to make.
