Ahhh, glad to be back among the folks at Carol's "Quilt Schmilt" to chart my weekly doings for "To Do Tuesday". It has taken awhile to come off of the holiday high and get back to working on projects. Being buried by the big snowstorm this weekend helped!
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| The view out of my kitchen window during "Snowmageddon". |
I've spent most of this month doing Karen Brown's (of "Just Get It Done Quilts") "Declutter Challenge". For the first twenty-one days of the year she prompted quilters to take a good look at their creative spaces and try to sort, organize and discard (if necessary) things from a variety of spots within your space as well as your notions and project stashes. This is the first time I've done the Challenge from beginning to end. My space really needed it and while some organizing and "re-homing" progress was made, I can't say I discarded a lot or even cleared places fully.
However, what I have really gained is new insight into having a better handle on where I currently do or would prefer to store things. Most important is now I really appreciate what are the "capacities" of those spaces. Going forward I can be more focused about answering the questions that will keep those spots clear:
- "Do I really need this and does it need to be here?"
- "How much space do I have or want to designate to this item/category of things?"
- "Do I really think I will use/need/make this thing in the near future or can it be discarded, donated or be more useful if given to someone else?"
That was a big eye opener as I admit to being guilty of focusing on "wanting to make" things but not as much on if I think I'll get to it soon. Who am I kidding, I always THINK I will make something sooner than I actually get around to doing, LOL!!
Now before committing to another project or purchase, I want to really take stock of how much I already have and whether there is space to accomodate storing it if it doesn't get into the "To Do" rotation immediately. If not, I really have to consider waiting on a purchase until making it is either a more urgent need or space opens up to accomodate it.
I did come across three project fabric stashes that I decided could be put back in general stash and will consider using in the mystery I signed up for this year.
Reorganizing the remaining stashes meant cataloging exactly how much is already there (whew!) and then setting new priorites for getting some things started and out.
Plans for the Year
So with all that said, I did take some time to think about what I need or want to work this year and when. I also focused an eye on things that have already been laying around for a long time so need, once and for all, to get moved on so they can free up a project box or bag for a new project when the time comes. I also am trying again to have a "UFO Challenge List" for the year and have picked twelve projects for that.
I'll be following the Quilted Forest's monthly prompts on YouTube for that but I saw that Corey Yoder of Coriander Quilts is also doing it this year. I also identified quite a few charity, gift and holiday deadline projects I want to tackle so have put those on the calendar so I have a heads up on the need to work on those in order to get them done in time.
Finished So Far
Speaking of getting some long sitting things done, I have one completed: last year I finished this replica of the quilt Beth Dutton used in the "Yellowstone" TV show but never made a label for it.
Having done a unique label technique for a quilt during two of my "7 Days of New Year's" sessions, I was thrilled that I had another quilt that needed a fun label idea. While doing the "Magazine Declutter", I came across these issues from Fons & Porter from 2003.
I had them together because I had once considered making the "Jubilee Album" series in them. I am still considering that project although this year it's for a special reason (hopefully more on that later if I get it started). However the quilt on the cover of the first issue the series appeared in gave me the label solution for my quilt! When I had finished the "Yellowstone" quilt I didn't do my usual procedure of piecing a label area into the back. When I have to do a label that will be applied after quilting (which means it will have to be sewn on by hand), I am thinking of how to make it a little special.
Since this is a Western-themed quilt I thought a Western themed label would be appropriate. I had picked up an interesting horse print while shop hopping last Fall that I had thought would be great for that label. One idea I had was to cut out the big Y-shaped Yellowstone branding symbol out of it and do the label that way. In my journal notes for this project I had at one point thought about doing a label in the shape of a cowboy hat. Although the cover quilt also offered a block for that, what I liked even better for using the print that I had was the cowboy boot block on the cover!
It took a bit to get it done since printing the label text onto the fabric meant prepping it with Bubble Jet Set first. The bottle I had was just about empty so I had to order more and then wait for it to arrive. I also tried just cutting and ironing a label sized piece of fabric to just one corner of a freezer paper sheet to put through the printer. I have two packs of pre-cut sheets and found that pages pulled from one of the packs weren't really securing the fabric well and twice the fabric shifted during the printing. So the last and third time I prepped a full sheet of fabric and used a page from the other pack which stuck better and I got what I needed.
To piece the rest of the block, I needed to find scraps of the barbed wire print from when I made a Western themed quilt for my MIL's husband to use for the foot protion of the boot and the backing fabric of the quilt to fill the spaces in the corners and between the foot and the heel. So that has managed to get done and therefore off of my cutting and sewing tables!
Plans For the Week:
1. At the end of last year, I had plans to finish finish quilting my "Over and Down Under" quilt that I had started back in 2023 for the annual "Sew a Jelly Roll Day".
I only have a few more columns of stitching to do on it and it will be done.
2. The UFO Challenge number pulled by the Quilted Forest was #4 which on my list to finish the quilting for my "Modern Twist" quilt.
This one had long stumped me as I wanted to do it with "water motifs". I realized in the last few days that it might help to move this forward by making a small quilt sandwich to sample and practice potential stitch patterns rather than just trying to visualize them in my head.
3. I just barely had gotten my blocks for December done for my Alaska BOM. I had held off making a set of pieced triangle blocks last month as I got to working on the blocks late. Now here I am again but do I have another easy set of blocks to work on since once again I am short on time?
4. My MIL's (well also mine since I joined it last year) guild has a very active Quilts of Valor ministry. I had picked up a kit for one when I joined the guild and contributed a top that was finished into a quilt last year but hasn't been awarded yet. Last year the process was to have all QOV tops submitted by September in order for the guild member that quilts them to have them ready for the November presentation ceremony. This year they are looking for members to submit tops all through the year so the finishing work can be distributed throughout it.
We will be traveling to visit my MIL in February so I wanted to try to have a top ready to bring for that upcoming trip. Two weeks ago I went through my QOV/RWB fabrics and QOV patterns to see if I had anything I could make up quickly. I found two and have this one laid out on the design wall waiting for me to make the final fabric selection:
5. Oh and the last thing is to get back to my Cross stitch!! I was going gang-busters toward the end of last year and then got flumoxed when I realized I had miscalculated the width of the fabric I was using for my "NY Skyline" project. I had come up with a possible solution but will admit I was nervous about pursuing it and procrastination set in. Since I already have a frame for it, I am determined to get back to it but in the meantime to help get me "in the stitching mood", I am also starting another "Year of" piece in celebration of the Chinese New Year.
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