not my peasant top- I couldn’t find a pic of the top I made but in looking found this lovely pic of me in Paris.
The peasant top is #6 on my February Short List and it’s the one that I’ve procrastinated about until there was nothing left to do. I’ve even started cleaning my sewing room telling myself I can’t cut fabric and sew garments with such a messy room. Granted it was very messy and was (still is) in badly need of a good cleaning, but who am I kidding? I know if the urge to start a new project was strong it wouldn’t matter how dirty or messy or disorganized my room was – I would still happily start. But garment sewing is hard for me and takes more mental work than quilting. I even mended! (gasp!)
I’ve made this garment before with some friends. I bought special Liberty fabric from Joann’s while it was on sale specifically for this top. The last time I made it I used quilting cotton and as you, dear reader, probably know, the drape of quilting cotton is a bit stiff. I can wear it but it’s a bit small. I made it true to a size 14 per the pattern. I will be making a bigger one at size 16 and hopefully I will feel more comfortable while wearing it.
I finally got my sewing room decent enough and the floor cleared enough that I took myself to task. The month is slowly drawing itself to a close and the first step was to find the fabric and the pattern. It took a bit of work but I found it!
Every day I look at my monthly to do list and I try to figure out what needs to be done next. How can I move my projects along? As such I’m knocking out my WIPs left and right. You can find my original WIP list here.
From my 2022 starts I only have the following WIPs left…
1. Plum Fusion – and this is a BOM that I continue to treat as such. I have November and December 2022 packets to finish and then whatever finishing instructions. This will soon be on the quilt queue list.
Page 13 – October 2022 packet
2. Tula Pink’s Butterfly 2.0 – and this is a kit that has not yet been opened and has not yet been started. I bought this in 2022 and want to start this as soon as possible. I’ve been wanting to start it since I received it – last November, I think? Well, I’m also adamant about getting my WIP list in shape and I’m slowly finding my way there.
and that’s it. the rest are handwork and it’s impossible for me to do more than one or two handwork projects at a time. Here is that list:
3. Ornaments – which I work on whenever I meet with my stitch regulators (my hand stitching group)
4. Prairie kit – I haven’t actually started this. I bought it in 2022 and I do not want to forget it.
*Not my work
5. Mountain Mist – This is part of my daily schedule even though I don’t get to it everyday.
Part of the reason my WIP list came down is that I missed the last 2 guild workshops for various reasons. They are projects I want to do but haven’t started yet. Jean Impey’s Twinkle is gorgeous and I want one too. I was very jealous of all the progress my friends made and I’ve requested their help when I finally get around to starting mine.
The other workshop I missed was this month’s workshop and was Sheila Collin’s mandala. I was not interested in taking this workshop but only a few people signed up. To help increase the attendees, I signed up and quickly regretted it as the supply list was extensive and costly. But I already committed and bought the supplies. I ended up missing the workshop anyway and when I saw people’s progress at the guild meeting the following night I regretted it. I loved the colors and what they had done. So I have the supplies I bought and I can start the project but I don’t think I will. I can use the supplies in other future projects. This is one of those projects that I can only do in a workshop with an instructor to hold my hand.
Of the 5 projects listed above 2 have not actually been started and I’m not in a starting mood. I am in the mood to finish so that’s what I will do while the mood takes me.
The rest of my WIP list are projects pre-2022 and there are only 5 on the list so far.
1. Grassy Creek
2. 45&life to go
3. Christmas in Paris
Christmas in Paris by Coach House Designs
4. Tuella and Friends
Tuella and Friends
by Colette Belt
5. Diamond Wedding Ring
I’m sure I have more WIPs tucked away and I will find them when I get around to cleaning my cabinets and closets. This is part of my monthly to do list. I’m not sure this was part of the original February to do list or got added to it at some point during the month. But it’s #8 and at the very bottom. I am working on parts of my crafty room and it’s slowly getting better but I haven’t gotten to the part that holds some of the WIPs. For now I will be adding my pre-2022 WIPs to my monthly goals as they fit.
…there are only 8 actual WIPs listed here so far… Which brings to mind, how many WIPs is a good number to have? And everyone has their own number. If I have too much I feel overwhelmed and depressed. If I have too little I feel like I don’t have enough variety. Right now I’m thrilled to have the urge to finish. And will go with this flow. Hopefully the urge to clean will come upon me too.
This is the new 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 able to attend the Saturday Sampler and the sew day in February. I did all the cutting for the block during the sew in and the square in a square that is in the center of the block.
Luckily my group of friends scheduled a mini retreat and I was able to finish sewing the blocks on Friday. It took all day to finish. Getting all those points is the hardest part to this block and takes a lot of pinning, slow stitching, and concentration.
I first posted about this quilt here– and an update here.
My February goal and will be on my list for a long time is to spend 15min a day applique’ing. I don’t always get to it every day but I’m happy if I am able to do it a couple of times a week.
I plan to post an update each month to show my progress and already in this first update post I’m wondering if instead of having my goal be 15 min a day it be something more concrete like a block a month. With my various activities and such busyness, a block a month may be too much and may get relegated off to the side. It’s funny how it’s such a thin line between the perfect goal to now I’m overwhelmed. I am recognizing this in different aspects of my life, not just quilting or crafting. I’ll try 15 min a day for now and see how it goes. It’s nice that I meet with the mountain mist club every month so it keeps me honest and doing some progress even if it’s very slow progress.
And once I got into this project it was done in a few days. As soon as I got the appliquick done I started machine applique’ing using one of the several blanket stitches on my machine. First I decided on the thread. Originally I was going to use an Aurifil 50w in a light blue color that matched the blue fabric above. But I realized that the 50w would sink in and disappear which I didn’t mind but if Im going to top stitch I figure the thread should have some dimension so I chose a 40w in a color I liked. It’s Aurifil #2612 which is a light blue gray in both the top thread and bobbin. I tried all the blanket stitches available on my machine and chose #1329 on my Bernina B790 and modified the length and width to 2.5 and 2.0 respectively.
This particular blanket stitch isn’t super thick and I liked that.
#1 – Arabesque – My goal is to quilt and finish finish finish this flimsy.
Update: FINISH!!!
#2 Plum Fusion – I accomplished my goal and finished page 13 and 14!
#3 – The Quilty Pleasure Saturday Sampler –
January Block
Update – Completed my January Block. I picked up the February kit and hope to get it done this month.
#4 – Snowflake – finish this little top. This was from my guild’s March workshop.
Update- I have started working on this and I’m making great progress. This should be done this month if all continues as it has been.
#5 – Mountain Mist – do a bit every day. My plan is to work on this project daily for 15 minutes.
I’ve actually not been able to work on this for 15 minutes a day.
Week of 1/30, I was able to work on this for 4 days and I went to the shop for our club date. I got a lot done this week.
Week of 2/6, life suddenly got busy and I only worked on this once this week.
Week of 2/13, we are in the middle of this week and not much progress has been made.
#6 – my peasant top
#7 – I bought a bunch of stuff at Road and I need to go through and list all the things I want to do… and add them to this list. One of which is adding Sashiko to my list. Which list? I don’t know yet.
Update – This is done. Everything is put away in their places. and I added Sashiko to this list below. I also added projects I want to start that I bought fabric for to the All encompassing wip list on google sheets. Technically it’s not a wip yet as I’ve not cut into fabric but I have it set aside for special projects my friends and I decided we are doing. I don’t want to forget about it so it’s on that list.
#8 – After I typed #7 I remember I have a 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.
#9 – Sashiko… added this to my monthly list – I added this mid month not necessarily to do something this month but more so I remember to keep this on the list for next month.
My guild hosted this workshop with Catherine Wilson in March 2022. Catherine is a Judy Niemeyer Certified Instructor. So this project was paper pieced and is supposed to be one of a set of 4 place mats. But I chose to do just one. I have paper for 3 more so I do plan to make more but that will be for another day.
I got most of this done some time last year but stalled when it came to the applique. We had an Appliquick workshop previously with Kathy McNeil and I decided to use that method with this project. I got started but as with everything life got in the way and I set it aside for something else.
And just like my Dresden project I forgot about this project and remembered it when I was going over all my 2022 starts and added it to my WIP list. This month it’s #4 on my February goals list.
It had been so long I forgot that I had prepped the applique pieces using the Appliquick method and it took me awhile to get going again. One of the key things I remembered as I started again was to trim closer to the edge than I’m use to. Between an eighth and a quarter inch. and I also remembered to cut in the edge to help smooth out curves and avoid bumps.
I started the evening with this batch to prep. I got 9 done and have about 15 more left to do. Hopefully I can get them finished in the next couple of evenings. Once these are done I plan to machine applique with a blanket stitch.
That is all that needs to be done to call this a finished top and add it to my quilt queue. I’m not really thrilled with the light blue fabric of the appliquéd pieces but I think it’s sweet.
Gamer – 1/10/23Gamer – 1/13/23 – another diagonal finished
I went to a SCEGA retreat (SoCal Embroidery Guild of America) last month and worked a lot on Gamer. I believe I finished the really long diagonal that usually takes forever to get through. Now I’m on the second half of the page and it’s all downhill. Meaning there are less stitches per diagonal and they will finish faster as I get through it.
Another diagonal finished 1-25-2023And another diagonal – 2/9/23 – 4 diagonals left
And here’s my update on my MFE SAL.
MFE SAL – 1/4/2023MFE SAL – 1/26/2023
The June 2022 clue for the 2022 MFE SAL has almost 3500 stitches and if I do 200 stitches per day it will take 18 days to finish. I really don’t want to spend that much time on this in February. so I’ll spend 9 days this month and 9 days next month.
MFE Sal – Just 300 stitches away from halfway. MFE Sal 2022 – just a bit more than halfway through.
Reminder- This is the 2022 Saturday Sampler from Cotton and Chocolate in Thousand Oaks, CA.
My February goal for this WIP was to do page 13 and 14 and here it is!
Page 13 and 14
I discovered that this was the October 2022 kit. So I’ve only got November and December to do. I’m not sure what that involves yet but I’m getting very close to a finish!
I’m taking a class called Permaculture Design Course and in April, the last class, we are to do a talent show. So, I decided that this quilt will be what I show. As such, I decided to get this one done as soon as I finished the Disappearing 9 patch.
As a reminder, I started this quilt as part of my guild’s September (2022) workshop with Dora Carey of Orange Dot Quilts. This is all paper piecing and I love how it all came out. I didn’t enjoy piecing it together as her method requires using long big strips of fabric and I was constantly sewing the wrong things together.
Arabesque – Feb. 2023
But when you love how something is turning out, I perservered and now it’s done. I quilted this with simple big puzzle pieces on my Q20. I used Superior Thread’s Fantastico which I believe is 40w. It’s a variegated thread of blue, gray, and black. I contemplated doing more custom/complicated quilting like Dora has on her sample quilts but then it would have taken me forever. So, since my mantra this year is, ‘finish it baby!’ I decided to keep it simple. Because of the complexity of the design I think the simple quilting works well.
back
I love the fabric I used for the back. I love the color, the big design motif and it is perfectly displayed as a back.
