Improv triangles

I have been cutting and sewing improv triangles for a border of the rail fence quilt. I am thoroughly enjoying the process.

Today, I am appreciating the sun and the rainbow, and my sister for telling me to go outside to see it.

Yesterday, I appreciated my coworkers for their helpful advice and for showing that they have the same concerns I do.

My Plans for the Year 2019

Just a preview of things you may expect to see on this blog. It is another sunny day and although I shouldn't be making plans on sunny days because they tend to be overreaching, it is good to dream and maybe accomplish some of those dreams.

I signed up for the Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop with Beaquilter. The goal is to take a book off the shelf, dust it off and make a project out of it. I already have a project I have started from a book on my shelf, and my hope is that I will be able to finish it to show you in February.  My long time reader probably knows what the quilt is, but I'll keep the new readers guessing. My day is February 19th.  February 19 is a pretty challenging deadline so it may wind up just being a quilt top instead of a finished quilt, but I am still hoping for a finished quilt.

I've also signed up with Wendy Caton Reed at the Constant Quilter to make a mini quilt every month this year. I'm not going to limit myself to just one quilt a month, and some months may not have a quilt, depending on my schedule.  I made three little quilts in December and thoroughly enjoyed it. My idea is to take all those quilt ideas floating in my head and turn them into quilts. So many times, I have seen a quilt or an idea on Pinterest, a blog, a book or a magazine, and have decided not to follow through because I worried about the commitment of finishing it and the impact it would have on my current quilts. I want to be able to make impromptu quilts and not worry so much about such things.

That's a lot of quilts and I am not used to working on quantity of quilts. I always told myself in the past it was the process and the quality that mattered more - that I should do the harder quilts instead of simpler quilts just to get them done.

The way I plan to accomplish multiple quilts is to think about the minimum I need to do to squeak by. I've never done that before, but I think I will enjoy it. It is a new form of minimalism.  Sometimes one block will be able to be a quilt. Sometimes if there is a secondary design formed by the alternating block, it might take 2 or 4 or 6 blocks to show a pattern. Sometimes if repetition is the key to the design, 6 or 12 blocks might be necessary. And of course, it won't all be quilts made with blocks.

 Today, I appreciate dreams and my imagination. Even though I can't possibly make all the quilts I image, they exist at least temporarily in my mind, and just the idea of them is enjoyable.

Linked to:
Moving it Forward - I will be moving a lot of projects forward this year!

Another Sunny Winter Day

It was another pretty day today and the sun was out.  Today, I appreciate the sun and the birds.

I spent time cutting out more fabric - yellow and black.  I'm not used to doing this much cutting at a time, but the sun is out so I don't mind. It will make the sewing part quicker.

I also appreciate the library for the friendly staff, and all the inspiration, knowledge, and pretty pictures I can find in their books.

Sunlight in Winter

Today, I am appreciating that the sun is shining.  It puts an extra bounce in my step, and the fact that it is Friday today, I have the weekend off, and the party music is already playing, has me practically dancing!

In case you missed it, I am making the Garden Mosaic quilt. I will be making mine all in yellow and white. It only has 16 blocks and is made up of these cute little blocks. I've already more than 16 of these cute blocks, but the people who have made this quilt before me have told me I needed more than 16 of these babies, so I guess I will make a few more. I have the pattern and still have fabric left over. I used up this yellow fabric - it was a remnant that was more than half yard, less than a yard. I have moved on to the next yellow fabric.

I really like piecing multitudes of blocks when I am excited to see how it will turn out!

2019 Calendar

I promised you yesterday that I would show you my 2019 calendar.  I did the same thing I did in years past to make the calendar - grab some random photos of my quilts and throw them in there and make some minor tweaks before calling it done.  Since it is just for me, it doesn't have to be perfect.

I think this picture was easily accessible because I used it in a previous calendar. Looking at the Trip Around the World quilt, the border isn't that wide, so I think I will be able to quilt this and call it done without needing to add any applique.

The template said 2018 so I had to take out the 8 and I couldn't find the right font for the 9, but I like it this way. I like this 9 better than the 9 they used in the rest of the calendar, so even if I had found the font, I wouldn't have used it.

Another unfinished quilt. See the 9? It looks like a g.

A finished quilt! It was made from swapped blocks.

This one is my favorite layout. I like how Rey and BB8 are ready for new adventures. I usually try to get the largest picture possible, but this one looks good even smaller.

I kept the wording in the template and they make me giggle paired with the quilts. I guess I do share some perfect moments with my quilts. I do appreciate my time with my quilts.

I like this layout a lot too, with the llama love.

This is my least favorite layout because of all that empty space. I should have put the LOVE graphic on the bottom. I can fix it by adding a real photograph or something else there,  so it isn't a big deal.

Another unfinished quilt, but I like how this page turned out.

This one is all right, but I should have centered the quilt. I like the welcome sign there but it really isn't clear what it is.

This one makes me giggle too. Family time shown under a bed.

This page had me scrambling for more pictures. I thought about changing the layout to one that didn't use as many, but then I figured I like to showcase more quilts. They don't match each other and are just thrown in there willy nilly, but I think it is all right.

This one is sweet. Probably would have been nicer on my daughter's birth month, but I do like the layout of the page.

This is the only one that had a season written on it. This one is okay too, I like how the graphic highlights this unfinished quilt.

365 Days of Appreciation

Today, I appreciate spices.  Yesterday, I made Lancashire hot-pot recipe. I didn't follow the recipe exactly but it turned out really nicely. It isn't a spicy dish, but I like how a change in spices can add so much variety to my meals.

I also appreciate all the people who make it possible for me to get food. The farmers, the distributors, the packagers, the transportation people, and all the people at the grocery store.

Linked to:
Off the Wall Friday - even though technically, I am putting it on the wal.

365 Days of Appreciation

Let's see if I can show 365 Days of Appreciation. I thought about finding just one thing to appreciate, so I would have enough throughout the year, but I have decided that there is nothing wrong with appreciating more than one thing a day, and nothing wrong with appreciating the same thing more than once.

Day 1

I already missed posting yesterday, but yesterday, I appreciated:

1. Zeus - he keeps me on schedule and makes sure I get my exercise every day and that I eat on time.
2. Day Off - I appreciated having a day off to start following my resolutions - not that I made any, but I did try to clean, exercise and eat healthy.

Day 2: 

Today, I appreciate the people who work in the background and magically make my life more convenient:

1. The mail carrier who brings me my mail every day. I especially like that she brought me my Shutterfly calendar today. I'll show you the calendar tomorrow when the sun is out when I can take better pictures of it.
2. The Shutterfly who printed my order, and the people who told me about the free calendar.
3. The people who bring the electricity and the internet so I could order the calendar and share it with you.
4. The people who picked up the yard trash, the recycling and the trash. The schedule motivates me to fill up those cans and my house is better for it.