Sewing

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Years ago I made my bridesmaids little zipper pouches. That was the first and last time I made anything with zippers. It took me signing up for the Open Wide Pouch Swap on instagram (#openwidepouchswap) to finally try it again. Before I put together the pouch for the swap (which I'll show you on Friday when I'm hosting TGIFF) I decided to put together a practice pouch. I used the leftover fabric from making my son his mushroom pants. In the end my practice pouch turned into two pouches, since I couldn't decide which interfacing to use. ;-)

I used the Open Wide Zippered Pouch Tutorial from Noodlehead. The tutorial is great. Easy to follow directions with lots of detail and great photos. And measurements for three sizes! The pattern recommends Pellon 101SF interfacing, but some discussion on IG included the suggestion to use fusible fleece (Pellon 987F), particularly by people who wanted their outer fabric to be quilted (which I planned to, but ended up not doing). So I made one of each and I'm happy with either option in this size, though if I wanted to quilt the outer panels, then the fleece option would be my pick. These first two are the small size and I kept them simple, just using a single fabric for the outer panels. I look forward to showing you my fancier, pieced, large pouch on Friday.

Please visit Friday to link up your latest finish when I host TGIFF.

This finish is one of my Q2 Finish Along goals. I'm linking up with the Q2 Finishes party.

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Two quarters in a row I've knocked 5 WIPs off my Finish Along Goal list. As much as I'm enjoying mini quilt swaps, it's impeding my ability to get more of my old WIPs done... so I'm really trying to resist joining any other swaps. That said, I have 4 open swaps at the moment. Between starting a few new quilt projects for myself and joining additional swaps my WIP list is growing. Oops. At the start of 2014 my list had 24 WIPs in it and my yearly goal is to cut that number in half. Looking below, I think I can realistically finish 8-10 of these done this quarter. (Are you laughing at me?) 5 of those are swaps, I have 3-4 baby/cuddle size projects well underway. The chef's hat and apron should only take a day. And I have two kids in school now. If only I had nothing to do but sew. ;-)

These past couple quarters I've tried to prioritize my goal list. I'd say this is roughly in priority order until number 12 or so.

  1. Rainbow Mini Swap (finished and shipped on 4/2, my first Q2 finish)
  2. The Purple Ninja Quilt (quilt top complete, need to piece backing and send out to long arm quilter)
  3. My safari animal baby quilt (quilt top complete)
  4. Open Wide Pouches -- pair of mushroom print bag (fabric cut out)
  5. Open Wide Pouch: small rainbow bag (fabric cut out and pieced)
  6. Open Wide Pouch Swap (due April 25, pouch sides pieced)
  7. Chef's Hat and Apron for my daughter (fabrics selected (by her))
  8. Assist my son to make his next quilt (designed and cut out)
  9. IG Pin Cusion Swap (due May 15, design planned)
  10. Alison Glass Mini Swap (due June 15, fabrics chosen, design in progress)
  11. Cotton & Steel Mini Swap (due June 19, fabrics chosen, design in progress)
  12. Ocean quilt for The Girl (top pieced, but needs applique done)
  13. Little Letters in Blues/Greens Quilt (all letters pieced)
  14. Little Letters in Brights Quilt (all letters pieced)
  15. Cotton & Steel (and low volume) Quilt (I have a plan... with these 5" squares)
  16. 2004 (ugh) Baseball Quilt (some blocks pieced)
  17. Batik SCVQA philanthropy quilt (sandwiched)
  18. Roman Stripez with butterfly backing (some blocks pieced)
  19. Roman Stripez with turtle backing (some blocks pieced)
  20. Memory House Vol. 1 Quilt (2 houses complete)
  21. Pirate Quilt (pre-cut fabric selected)
  22. Very Hungry Caterpillar twin sized quilt (fabric and pattern selected)
  23. Hawaiian lap quilt (fabric and pattern selected)
  24. Leah Day's Building Blocks Quilt Along (first 3 sets of blocks done)
  25. Winnie the Pooh Skirt/Shorts for The Girl (fabric selected)
  26. Envelope quilt (a couple blocks pieced)
  27. Monster Quilt (first applique block in progress)
  28. Christmas Mini Quilt (using 4 orphan blocks I somehow acquired)
  29. Swoon Quilt (first two blocks cut out)
  30. Patchwork City Metro Area Quilt (BOM: current status)

 

I'm linking up to the Q2 Finish Along Goal Party.

2015 FAL at On the Windy Side

Things I Make

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Today I set up a gallery of my completed quilts. I have completed 19 quilts since I started quilting in 2002. NINE of them were in 2014. That feels great! Of those nine, four were old (two really old) WIPs. I also made progress on some additional WIPs that I hope to finish this year. Here are some of my goals for the year.

On the quilting front, first and foremost, I want to cut my # of WIPs in half by the end of the year... taking care to reduce the number on my list quarterly (um... currently 21). I tend to have 6 new ideas for every one quilt I finish. I need to finish more projects and have exciting ideas that are faster to implement. ;-) It felt really good to finish a 2003 and 2006 quilt this year. I think my new oldest project is this baseball quilt I "gave" to my brother for Christmas in 2004 (see below for him modeling the "quilt" back in 2004). It was a wrapped up "see what I'm working on for you... I'm totally gonna finish it soon" kind of gift. Um... soon? I just missed the ten year anniversary of giving that gift.

baseball quiltThere's a weight that comes with an old project looming over us. I think it makes it feel even better to check it off the list when it's something that old. Of course, I'm also a fan of reassessing whether it's really still important to finish, or if you should decide to sell, give away or re-purpose a project that you really don't still have a passion for. I've decided this project is still important to me, but I will probably have to change my initial plan a little.

I'm excited this year to be participating in some Bees and BOMs for fun and skill-building.

As of November 2014, I'm a member of the Promise Circle of do. Good Stitches. Our group of this charity bee creates quilts to benefit Threading Hope. Here are the blocks I've made so far for do. Good Stitches.

I've also joined the Stash Bee as a member of Hive 1. I have my fabric pull all set for those blocks.

I've joined Leah Day for her 2015 quilt along, Dancing Butterflies. I'm totally inspired by her amazing free-motion quilting and wanted to ensure myself regular practice of my FMQ skills as well as push myself to try new patterns.

I've signed up for the Patchwork City Metro Area Block of the Month from Intrepid Thread. I saw the purple and green piles of fabric when I was in the shop and asked what they were for... then I couldn't stop thinking about it! I'm excited about the great color and fun fussy cutting in this project.

I'm drooling over the 2015 Skill Builder BOM at Pile O' Fabric, but I think I may have my hands full with everything else. I'm keeping a mental note in case I just don't have enough quilting work. ;-)

I'll continue participating in ALYoF and Finish Along to help with monthly goal setting. I'm also joining in on #SewMyStash2015 on IG (while I'm not committed to stop buying any fabric, I'm excited to start using more of the stash I've been building for the past year).

A Lovely Year of Finishes

2015 FAL at On the Windy Side

Details from ProjectLeasa

Some other sewing goals I have are knits and zippers. Not together. I'd like to start with some knit jammies for my kids. And some simple zipper pouches (I made a few in 2009, but that was so long ago!) as a gateway to some more involved bags.

On the blog, I'd like to work on getting some more tutorials posted. Part of the reason that I blog is to inspire others and I think this may be just the thing to help do more of that.

In 2015, I strive for better balance in life in general. I want to sew every day. And do something active every day. I also want to eat more salads. ;-)