Project Quilting Challenge 10.2 - RW&B

I have completed Project Quilting Challenge 10.2!  I am so stinking happy with this finish!  Not only do I love the way this looks (it's kind of retro-cool, I think) I am also really proud to have finished it despite some challenges outside the parameters of PQ10.2  This entire Dresden Plate Mini Quilt was completed within the walls of Children's Hospital of Wisconsin! 

My 13 year old daughter is currently inpatient at Children's receiving treatments for Cystic Fibrosis.  It is common for CF patients to spend 10-14 days at a time getting strong anti-biotic treatments and respiratory therapy, along with other interventions.  She has been hospital free for 2 years, but our luck ran out last week.  Her team of doctors decided on Thursday to admit her.  And we agreed.  It was time.  We had the weekend to prepare, which is really a luxury! 

So, on Sunday, amid the meal prep, laundry, notifying teachers, writing sub plans for work, and getting hospital ready...I also checked to see what the next challenge in Project Quilting was going to be. The theme, "Red White and Blue" made me think of my sewing room color scheme, and I decided I'd make a mini quilt for the wall behind my sewing table.   After all, I knew I'd have some time on my hands this week!  I also knew that it IS possible to make a mini quilt while during her stay.  In fact, I did it the last time she was in, in March, 2017!

This one was called Home Sweet Home.  I absolutely LOVE that there are a few of the same fabrics in these two minis!

That mini was made partially at home, as I was going back and forth on the weekends.  I also brought my machine to the hospital to work on it.  This time, however, I knew I needed something I could make entirely in her hospital room since I won't be going home until next week,  I also just didn't feel like bringing my machine. 

I decided to try some English Paper Piecing.  I've had some experience with hexies, so I knew the basics.   I decided I'd try a simple Dresden Plate.  Late Friday Night I printed templates on card stock, started to pack a kit and pulled fabric. I also read through  the multiple part tutorial by The Inspired Quilter.  It was so helpful, and I'm sure I'll be referring to it time and time again!

So pretty!  That white floral is old.  I don't remember how I got it, but it was cut out to be a bodice on a top someone was making!  

On Monday, my daughter was admitted, a broncosopy was done and her PICC line was placed. Day One is always a busy day and there isn't time to sew.  Plus, my mind doesn't stay focused.   I stayed that night with her, but went home in the morning to work the next two days.  By the time I returned to the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, I had pulled together more supplies, cut my fabrics into smaller pieces, and cut a front and a back.  I was all set to work once we settled in on Wednesday evening.  Except that I left the small pieces of fabric at home.  And I had forgotten to pack batting.  It wasn't looking good for a Sunday finish!

My husband agreed to bring what I needed from home during his lunch hour on Thursday.  He works about half way between the hospital and home.  It wasn't exactly convenient for him, but he did it.  And I was making Dresden blades by 2 P.M.  By that evening the Dresden Plate was pieced. 

A recliner, a good TV show...good to go!

On Friday I appliqued it to the 24 inch square I'd brought along and gave it a press with my mini iron.  I had to piece together some batting because the "scraps" that had been delivered were REALLY scrappy.  Oh well.  That was surprisingly easy!

My exact words were "Don't bring the big ziploc bag that says "small batting scraps."

A little bit of Friday evening was spent doing some big stitch quilting with three strands of embroidery floss.  Saturday morning I woke up so excited to quilt and bind!  Saturdays are quiet at the hospital, and I really looked forward to sitting in the sunny corner of  her room in my own little space while she worked on her own projects.  In each of her 9 stays of this length, we have found this lovely routine by about day 4 or 5.  The hard stuff is done by then, and when she is not doing a treatment or going for a pulmonary function test or having vitals taken... we settle in to a very companionable rhythm  Some time is spent playing games and watching movies, but, now especially that she is older, we each get some time to do things we are passionate about...on our own!  We laugh and chat and just really enjoy the time together.  It's like a weird little medically tainted vacation in some ways.  There is a part of both of us that kind of looks forward to these stays, because they give us time together.  Anything can be a blessing if you choose to see it that way.


So, on Saturday morning,  I set up my cozy spot.  There are two TV's in the room, and as I flicked through the guide on my TV, I noticed a very familiar line up on our local public television station.  It's Sew Easy, Quilting Arts, Sewing with Nancy, Fons and Porter...the same kinds of things my mom and I used to watch on Saturday mornings when I was my daughter's age!  What a treat!  It really was lovely hand sewing on that hospital room couch with a coffee and quilters for company on the TV!  I was a little sad when my coffee ran out, but just then my husband appeared with Starbucks!



I had grabbed two packs of double fold bias tape from home, thinking they might work for binding.  I don't remember how I acquired these packs, but the date on the packaging was 1983.  So, my mom could have bought them around the same time we were watching Sewing With Nancy together!  They sure look "vintage" don't they?  It took a while to decided between the red and the blue.  In the end, I chose the blue because it was a perfect match for that navy pindot in the block.  It looks so intentional, when really I didn't notice they were a match until I pulled out the bias tape Saturday morning!


 

I am so pleased with how this turned out.  There are several little flaws that are the result of not having the tools I would have wanted or from prepping in haste or not taking time to re-do.  But those don't matter.  This will hang proudly on my sewing room wall, a reminder of this particular hospital stay. Also, a reminder that like life, a quilt doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful.

The view from West 11.  Improved by my new mini quilt called, "...to be beautiful."

 

I am so excited to link this up with the other finishes in the Project Quilting Challenge.  And I'm so proud to be 2 for 2 with Project Quilting this season!

Project Quilting Challenge 10.1

Will Wonders Never Cease?? I completed the first challenge in Season 10 of Project Quilting!  A FIRST in a lot of ways!  I've been following Project Quilting and voting for a couple of years now, but I've never taken the plunge and entered!  The concept of completing a project in a week's time has always been daunting to me, even though the entries for Project Quilting can be any size.  When I saw the first theme for this season, however, a project idea came immediately to mind.  So, without giving it too much thought (another first...I usually hem and haw and generally overthink), I pulled out some fabric and gave it a go. 

The first theme this year is Hope Springs Eternal.  I have many hopes and many wishes, but for the last 13 years, one HOPE has been on the forefront of my mind - a cure for cystic fibrosis.  My daughter, Emily, lives with the disease, and she is doing quite well - no hospital stays for almost 2 years!! - but every few month a new "hallmark" symptom of the disease seems to appear.  She is an amazing kid who rarely complains and does a great job managing her own care.  And, it's a lot of work!  She's up before 5:15 each day to do a round of meds and treatments before school, she has known the name, function and dosage of all her medications since she was 7, and she just generally does what she needs to do.  I have high hopes that she will continue to be active and mostly healthy for a LONG time.  In the last few years, several new medications have come on the market that basically correct the genetic defect in CF.  Researchers are attacking this disease mutation by mutation, and the results are nothing short of amazing.  But, so far, no miracle drug has been developed that works on Emily's specific combination of genes.  Early testing on the newest combination of drugs, however, indicates that this *MIGHT* be our year.  I am very HOPEful that Emily could go from taking more that 30 pills and spending 2 hours doing percussive therapy each day to taking one pill each day before the end of 2019.  What a gift that would be. 

So.  When I read "Hope Springs Eternal," an image of a purple awareness ribbon popped into my head.  Then, I remembered a ziploc bag of purple fabric squares that I won a while ago through an Instagram give away.  If memory serves correctly, they came from Laura at Slice of Pi quilts.  When I won them, I thought I'd someday turn them into a CF themed quilt, since purple is the official "awareness color" for the disease. That never happened.  But, I quickly found the bag, and realized that they would make the perfect background for a mini quilt featuring a purple ribbon!

I need to dive into this bag again in the near future.  So many pretty shades of purple!

Before work on Wednesday I picked out 16 squares, and quickly arranged them.  No second guessing, no re-arranging.  That night, after dinner, I sewed them together and gave it a quick press.  Thursday. I printed out the first awareness ribbon template I found on a Google search, cut it out of a large purple scrap, and raw edge appliqued it to the background.  Again, no debating, or thinking.  So not like me!  I still had the extra batting from basting my Happy Thoughts quilt in a bag under the sewing table, so I grabbed that and cut a square the right size.  My daughter happened to be in the sewing room working on her "lettering" skills.  So, I asked her to write "hope" on the ribbon.  I LOVE that it's in her writing.  And I quickly hand stitched over it without once going back and un stitching to make it more even and smooth.  On Friday after work, while my daughters made a meatloaf for dinner, I went to the sewing room.  On the way up, I grabbed the open toe free motion quilting foot that had been a Christmas gift and was still under the tree.  I had no intention of using it on this project.  I was just putting it away in anticipation of taking down the tree in the morning.  But, when I got upstairs, I thought, "Well, why not?  I have to try it sometime!"

So, I put the new foot on the machine and dropped the feed dogs!   Now, I am NOT a free motion quilter. I've only dabbled a few times, never on a real project and never on this machine!  But, after a quick practice piece to check tension and figure out what I was doing, I did it!  I free motion quilted this little purple piece!  Its terrible quilting!  Just swirls and loop-de-loops and lots of stitching in the same areas while there's none other parts.  But, in about 5 minutes, my 8 inch square was done!  I FMQ'd!  With no overthinking and no procrastinating out of fear that it wouldn't be "good."  Wow!  Who am I??  When I finished the quilting, I realized that I had enough backing around the edge to do a quick self binding.  So, before the meatloaf was out of the oven, my Project Quilting entry was done!

I really love seeing "HOPE" in Emily's handwriting.  So special to me.

Is it my best work? Oh no.  Do I expect to win anything in the challenge?  Nope.  Was it fun and freeing and did I learn a few things?  You bet!  I learned that the foot goes on my machine really easily and it's easy to adjust the tension to get a good stitch on the front and the back!  No need to procrastinate because I'm not sure how to put it on or what settings to use!  I learned that perfection is not as fun as spontaneity!  I learned that it feels really good to just jump in and try!  And I learned that my daughters make really, really good meatloaf!

My mini quilt is 8 inches square and might be destined to be a mug rug.  OR, it just might hang on the wall in the sewing room as a reminder to be spontaneous, to try new things and to never give up hope! 
 
See all of this week's entries at Persimon Dreams.  And don't forget to vote for your favorite starting Sunday at noon!   

2019 Finish Along

Oh my poor little blog! How I've missed you!  And, if there are any readers out there...I've missed you, too!  I've missed blogs in general.  Instagram and Facebook have become my places to get my quilt fix, but I am making an effort to get back into reading and commenting on blogs.  It's just the nature of life, and of social media, I think, that things come and go.  Certainly many quilters who used to blog don't anymore.  And I may come and go many more times from the blogging scene.  But for now, I'm going to try again!  When I sat down to write tonight, I spent some time reading back through old posts.  It is just so lovely to have a record of the things I've created.  I  am sad that there are so many quilts and projects that I didn't blog about over the past few years.  This realization just might be what keeps me blogging this time!

I have decided to join the 2019 Finish A-Long.  I gave this a try back in 2017, and it was helpful in meeting some sewing goals.  I've already listed several WIP's I hope to finish this year in my planner, so why not blog about them as I work my way through the list?

There's something really satisfying about starting a list of goals, don't you think?  

Maybe I'll reconnect with some blogging friends or make some new ones!  As things often are in the quilty/bloggy world - it's a  WIN-WIN!

Goal #1: Happy Thoughts Quilt

This pretty thing got basted on New Year's Day.  It was a lovely start to 2019!

This is my "youngest" WIP, however it has been in progress for almost a year.  This is the Happy Thoughts quilt by Allison at Woodberry Way.  It is a really lovely pattern and I'm happy with the colors I've used here.  This quilt was started in January, 2018 for a friend who had just started chemotherapy.  I had every intention of finishing it while she was still undergoing chemo.  When that didn't happen, I thought maybe I could finish it during the 12 weeks of radiation that followed the chemo.  Then, I thought it would be a good celebration quilt on her last radiation day.  Now, well. it's a quilt to say, "Hey.  Last year sucked.  It really, really did.  This year is going to be better, and here's a quilt to prove it!"  Or something like that.  I'm looking at it as a celebration quilt, and true to its name it will be given with many "Happy Thoughts."

Not many things make me happier than quilting on a snowy day.

Quilting is currently in progress.  So, I am hopeful that binding and a label will be added quickly once that is done.  A promising start to my First Quarter list!

Goal #2: Mini Quilt
Sometime in early 2016, I exchanged round robin quilt centers with my quilting pen-pal.  We had planned to keep sending the tops back and forth until the creator of the center decided her top was "finished."  I hoped for a completed mini quilt out of the experience, but my pen pal had her sights set on a bed quilt.  Somewhere in the process, we stopped corresponding.  I'm not sure why.  I miss our letters and packages.  I see her posts on Facebook from time to time, but we are no longer pen pals.  I wonder if she ever finished her quilt?  I ended up with a top that was just too big to be the mini I envisioned.  She had added a border that was about 9 inches wide, adding 18 inches to each side!  I recently took that border off, and now plan to finish it at this size (or maybe just one more, thin round).

Hmmm.  One more border to finish off the "Star" in the corners?  Or, call it done?  Or, take it apart at the navy inner border and redesign the outer rounds?  Choices, choices.

 Goals #3 and #4: Mini-Mini & Mug Rug
The corners of the last border my pen-pal added to my "Mini" were beautifully pieced stars.  Those will become a mini-mini and a mug rug to keep next to my machine.  The bonus is that they will coordinate with my new mini quilt!

Goal #5: Rope Bowl
This is just something I pulled out of my WIP basket in the closet.  There are several things in there that will take less than an hour or two to finish.  I have no idea why they're not done already  I've listed them as Quick WIP's in my planner, and intend to finish one or two each quarter.  I have no idea when or why I started this rope bowl.  It will make a nice auction or raffle donation, or possibly a gift when it's done!

Yes, it will be good to get this out of the WIP basket.  What a tangled mess!

I am feeling very energized and optimistic about finishing these WIP's during this first quarter!  I'm also loving the process of putting this post together.  Sewing and creating are good for my soul, my mind and my spirit.  Writing is too.  I look forward to following all of those Finish-A-Longer's out there.  Here's to steady progress and checking off goals!

I'm linking up at Sarah Goer Quilts, but there are lots of hosts for the FAL this year!  So much fun!

Doll Quilts And Happy Hearts

Oh yeah, that's right!  I have a blog!

It never fails to amaze (and dishearten) me how easy it is to fall out of the blogging habit.  I have sincerely enjoyed the times in my life when I've been able to make a consistent habit of it.  But, my life is so full of so many wonderful things, that I simply can't do all of them all of the time.  That's just the way it is, and I'm blessed to have that problem.

And, while the blogging has stopped for the last year, the sewing has not.  Nor has the reading of blogs or the Instragram stalking of my favorite quilters, sewists and bloggers.  Sewing and following the "Sewciety" are my primary forms of relaxation and stress management.  I spend a lot of hours each week doing these sewing related things...I just dint take the time to write about them!

So, why this post now?  Well, leave it to Bernie from Needle and Foot to bring me out of bloggy retirement!

I love the "fabric pull" stage of starting a new project!

Bernie has been one of my favorite bloggers and Instagrammers for a while.  She is full of good ideas and is passionate about what she does.  So, when she posts about cool stuff, I take note.  Recentlly she introduced her readers to an organization called A Doll Like Me.  Through another quilt blogger, Bernie had become aware of Amy, its founder.  Amy is another amazing woman who, like Bernie, is creative, passionate and a loving spirit in this world.  Amy makes adorable dolls that are representative of children (and some adults) with physical differences.  Like their kids, these dolls might have scars, wearable medical devices, or limb differences.  Amy lovingly crafts a special doll so that it's recipient feels less alone in the challenges they face.

I borrowed this photo from A Doll Like Me's Facebook page.  I just had to show you how wonderful these dolls are.  Please find Amy on Facebook and read through her posts.  Yow will be touched and amazed by the power of representation and acceptance.

Bernie was moved by Amy's story, and decided to join in with another quilter who had made some mini quilts to accompany the dolls to their forever homes.  That's not all, though.  Bernie decided to open wide the gates of caring and invite us all along!  She issued a "challenge" to her readers for the month of February.  Her goal was to provide Amy with a small stack of quilts, but, in reality, Amy has been met by her local post office workers with a CART FULL of packages, each containing a one of a kind work of art!  SO. MUCH. LOVE! And there are more on the way!  Call the post office Amy!  We're not done yet!

I was as moved by Amy's mission as I was  by Bernies' drive to help.  It was really a "can't lose" situation.  After I finished up some Valentines' Day treats for my girls, I decided I'd make a couple doll quilts to send to Amy.  She lives pretty close to me, and has some connections to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, where my daughter is a frequent patient.  It felt good, and right to join in on this project.

These quilts are almost entirely created from my scrap baskets.  It felt so good to be putting those scraps to such a good use.  And I loved having a quick, no stress, doesn't have to be perfect project to work on these last few weekends.

These little hearts are so fun to make.  I wasn't thrilled with the color choices once I finished the top.  They seemed so dark and drab, not the rainbow I was going for.  But, that cheerful yellow binding helps a ton, and I think that Amy is going to make the perfect doll for this quilt, and they'll make someone very happy!

The second quilt was quick and fun to make.  Strippy and colorful, it uses up lots of pieces of odd fabric that have been given to me over the years.  The back uses the bonus HST's from the other quilt!

Amy sometimes receives pictures of the kids and their dolls.  I'll be keeping an eye on her site, in hopes of catching a glimpse of one of these little cuties in action!

Thanks, Bernie for following your heart and helping this amazing organization.  And thank you for giving us a way to join in, too.  Nothing soothes my anxieties quite like being creative and doing things for others.  This project certainly fit the bill!

Bernie is sharing some of the many, many quilts that were made this month on her blog.  Be sure to pop over and take a look!

Jan and Jen's Mini Quilt Blog Hop

Have you seen all the adorable Quilter's Laundry Day Mini Quilts popping up the last few days?  They are all part of Jen (A Dream and A Stitch) and Jan's (Color, Creating and Quilting) Mini Quilt Along.  Jen designed a super cute pattern that looked too fun to resist.  Plus, I need some mini's to decorate my bare sewing room walls, so, I signed up!

I've been more consistent with sewing regularly than I have been with blogging, the pattern seemed simple enough to put together, and I had a relatively clear calendar.  So, back on Feb. 10, I didn't anticipate any difficulty getting done in time for today's big reveal!  As it usually does, life had other plans!   My 11 year old daughter has cystic fibrosis, and lengthy hospital stays are not an uncommon occurrence for us.  On Feb. 20, we learned that it was time for another one.  She was admitted on Feb 23, and just came home Thursday.  I stayed at the hospital with her for all except two nights when I came home to spend time with our older daughter, and judge forensics meets for her team.

This was our home away form home for two weeks.
My Candy Hearts Quilt (now know as The Sister Quilt) gave it a cozy feel.

Now, I don't like to give up on things I've committed to , so, I made this mini quilt a hospital project!  The night before we left for the hospital, I printed and read through the pattern (you can get it here) and pulled my fabrics.  The first time I came home, I did all my cutting. I also made the 4 1/2 block that would become the little quilt hanging on the line.  Then, I packed up my machine, an assortment of notions and my cut pieces and took it all along.

I've had hand sewing projects along on several previous visits, but this was the first time I've taken my machine  The rolling case that Santa gave us for Christmas made it easy to get the machine to Emily's room, and it held ALL my sewing stuff, too!

My cutting session at home was a bit rushed.  This resulted in discovering that I was short a piece or two, and that I had mis-cut one or two others.  I neglected to bring extra fabric, so, I had to get a bit creative.  I also had to text my daughter pictures of the fabrics I needed more of so she could bring them when she and her Dad came to visit.  But, by the end of the first week, I had my mini pieced and was quite happy with it.

At that point, I decided to send my sewing machine home.  I knew I wanted to do some embroidery, and decided that I'd have a go at hand quilting, too.  It's been YEARS since I've hand quilted anything. It turned out to be the perfect choice for this mini quilt, and for a hospital pastime. Working with the needle and thread calmed my anxieties and gave me something to look forward to each day.

Several afternoons, Emily and I sat together in the couch under the window, usually with a coffee for me and a frappuccino or smoothie for her.  I stitched while she read to me from the novel she was assigned for homework. Sometimes, she worked on her cross-stitch project.  It was a cozy time, and took some of the "sting" out of being there.

Pretty proud of those shingles!

On Friday, I did the last little bit of quilting, and bound my sweet mini.  The quilting angels were with me...I joined the binding ends together correctly on the FIRST TRY and without needing to look up directions!  Whoo hoo!

Jen named her pattern Quilter's Laundry Day.  But, I'm calling my mini "Home is Where the Heart Is."  Whenever I look at it, I will think about the days spent with my sweet girl in the hospital, and be reminded that where ever we are, as long as we're together, it's home.

There were almost 30 quilters who joined in on Jen and Jan's quilt along.  You can find all of the cute minis at the links below.  If you visit Jan or Jen, and leave a comment, you will be entered to win a great prize!

Thanks, Janice and Jen for organizing this fun QAL and blog hop.  It's been a lot of fun, and it turned out to be just what I needed!

Friday, March 10
Jen Rosin  A Dream and a Stitch
Kate Heads at Smiles From Kate
Jennifer Fulton at Inquiring Quilter
Karen Thurn at Tu-Na Quilts, Travels and Eats
Melva Nolan at Melva Loves Scraps
Vicki at Vicki's Crafts & Quilting
Diann at Little Penguin Quilts
Jayne at Twiggy & Opal
Susan Arnold at Quilt Fabrication
Leanne Milsom at Lizzie the Quilter
Sandra Walker at Mmm! Quilts!

Saturday March 11

Janice Holton at Color Creating & Quilting

Sola at Alice Samuels Quilt Co

Jennifer Strauser at Dizzy Quilter

Amy Gerlich at Amy Scrap Spot

Sharon Denney Parcel at Yellow Cat Quilt Designs

Steffi at Steffi's Hobbys

Tami at Sew Much for Free Time

Suzy Webster at Adventurous Applique & Quilting

Tish Stemple at Tish's Adventures in Wonderland

Susan Gordon at Sevenoaks Street Quilts

Anne Boundy at Said With Love

Barbara Wootie at The Flashing Scissors
Jan Welander at Making Scraps

Candy Hearts for Valentines Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  Do you do anything special to celebrate?

For the last few years, I've been making the first two weeks of February all about celebrating my incredible daughters, and letting them know how much I love them.  We call it "14 Days of Love!" Each morning of the month, until Valentine's Day, they wake up to a small surprise.  Sometimes its a gift or a treat, but often its a note from me, or a gift to complete and give to the other sister.  I don't ever spend a lot of money; its about the fun, the thought, the love and appreciation.  One year, I plastered their bedroom doors with cut out hearts on which I wrote things I loved about each of them.  The highlight this year was silly Valentines' Day jokes written on slips of paper and placed in their buckets.  The answers to the riddles were in the sister's bucket, so they had to work together to complete the jokes, then they read them all to Dad at dinner that evening.  It was goofy and fun and we all giggled.

This year, the "14th Day" featured a "big" surprise!  I made the girls a lap quilt!  Blankets get used in our house just about year round.  We have at least 5 throw size fleece blankets in our living room at all times - but nothing that I've made.  Time to change that!  I'm hoping that "Candy Hearts" will be the one they reach for when they need a snuggle.

When I got the idea to make them a quilt, I immediately reached for the Project Planning pages in my Quilter's Planner.  What a great spot to keep all my ideas and notes!

I had made a handful of heart blocks using the tutorial from CluckCluckSew for the #QuiltsforPulse drive last summer.  So, using that block again was an easy decision.

Once I decided on hearts, I just knew they'd need to be in the colors of Candy Conversation hearts.  I always love the way those hearts look in a fancy bowl.  Some pastel, some slightly more saturated colors, and all of them sugary sweet!  I went through my scrap bins and folded stscks and pulled any colors that fit the bill.  This is the first time I've worked with my fabrics since they've been organized.  Oh my what a joy it is!!

I decided that I wanted each heart to be bordered in the same low volume fabric used to make the corners of the heart block.  In most cases I was able to match, but there are a few extra scrappy blocks.

I cut all of the pieces for all of the blocks right away.  This made it really easy to sit down and sew a block or two whenever I had time.  I tried to do most of the sewing when the girls were out of the house or too busy to visit me in the sewing room.  I really wanted this to be a surprise! ( I did get busted by my younger daughter.  She is very observant and loves to pop in to say hi while I sew.)

Why does a pile of trimmings make me so happy?

It felt really good to make this whole quilt from stash!  Not only did this use up some scraps, I also used up LOTS of partial spools and half bobbins.  I got a little thrill each time I tossed an empty spool into the bucket!  It's really fun to use stuff up!   Is that weird?

For backing, I used up a large piece of soft pink fleece, and simply folded the excess around to the top, trimming the corners, and securing with a big zig zag.  It's a quick finish, and I think it will hold up well.

There are plenty of chopped points and wonky seams and not quite squared blocks in this little quilt.  It's not technically even a quilt, I guess, because it's backed with fleece and there's no batting.  It is very lightly quilted, and, because I didn't take time to baste well it's a bit bunchy in spots.  None of that matters.

Please excuse the early morning, bad lighting, bed head and glasses photo!

This was made with for my girls.  It's full of my pride in them, and stitched with all the joy I have in being their mom.  Its beautiful, just the way it is!

Linking up to all the fun at :
                    Sew Fresh Quilts,  Let's Bee Social,
                     the Valentine's Linky Parade at Quilt Fabrication

Off To A Good Start

I'm not sure where it went, but January has come and gone. Already. I sure could have used a few extra days.  But, I have to say, it was a good month.  While we didn't get the snow day I was hoping for, we did enjoy  going back to sleep for a couple hours on our late start day!  And most importantly, we all made it through the month healthy and happy!

I can not even tell you how much I am enjoying my new sewing space.  I still get giddy walking into the room (even though there is still a stack of empty plastic bins and a few odd jobs left to take care of).  Having a place for everything and everything in its place makes sewing SO much more fun.  I can actually find what I need, and I have everything within reach, so I can get right to work.  Most importantly, I am so motivated to keep it that way that I tidy everything up at the end of a sewing session.  (I know, I know, this is all common sense, and the way it should have been all along, but, for me, this is a new concept!)  I just love looking around the room and seeing all these things that make me happy.

I've managed to sew a little bit most days this month, or at least to do something creative if I just couldn't get to the machine.  Some days I just had time for a quick doodle or pairing some fabrics, but I have tried really hard to feed my creative soul every day.  I've felt pretty on top of things in general, and have managed to set and stick with a meal plan most days.  It just feels so good to be in the groove, and not like I'm flailing around.

The tool that is helping the most is The Quilter's Planner.  I treated myself to one this year, ordering almost as soon as the order date was announced.  I am SO glad I did.  It was a fabulous investment.  This planner is gorgeous and substantial.  Its as much a pleasure to use as it is impossible to ignore!   I have quickly settled into a routine of setting aside some planner time every few days.  I go over schedules and update various other family calendars, make to do lists and check off items, and break down progress toward the goals I set at the beginning of the month.

For this first month of the year, Stephanie, the creator of The Quilters Planner, has given a daily prompt on Instagram.  Many of them focused on goal setting, and some were just for fun, like sharing our favorite writing tools.  I haven't posted daily, but playing along and watching everyone else's posts helped me to commit to using my planner actively.  I wish the prompts could go on all year, and I'm hoping Stephanie has something else in store for us later on!  The Planner had become a place to practice doodling, to capture thoughts and moments I want to remember and, of course, to keel information.

The Quilter's Planner is FULL of wonderful quilting resources.  I have only just begun to explore them, and I'm sure I'll be using this book as a reference for years to come.  The part of the resource section I"ve used the most so far is the project planner.  An idea struck one night, and instead of jotting things down on a random paper, I grabbed my planner and got to work!  As I started cutting, I had all the measrements there and could check them with just a glance.  I've even added a little tracker to color in as blocks get finished!  The project is called "Candy Hearts" and it has a Feb. 14th deadline.  If I continue to stay organized and productive, I might just make it!

I haven't quite met all the goals I set at the beginning of the month.  But, I'm focused, and I will keep working toward them.  And that's the whole point, isn't it?  These little check boxes right here made the difference between posting tonight and not posting!  So fun to check one more off!

I look forward to sharing progress pictures for Candy Hearts, and my "When Life Gives You Scraps" project.  February will be a good month for blogging!

Unfortunately, I think that The Quilter's Planner for 2017 is no longer available.  But, do yourself a favor and make a note to order yourself one next year.  I love mine, and the good start it has helped me make in 2017!