Going Around in Circles

The Quilty 365 Circle Project continues!  Besides joining all the circles I have made already, I've made some more circles.  I'm really enjoying this, because gives me a chance to be creative and start a new project every day.  And since it doesn't take a long time to make a circle, there are lots of finishes!

Here are the latest additions. Since they were already sewn together, I cropped the photos to show only one block at a time. I must have ruined the ratios, since the software cropped them all to fit its ratio. You get the idea anyway.

 I finished this one yesterday. I think it deserves its own photo.  All of these are common embroidery stitches, although you may not recognize them the way I made them.

Last, but not least, to commemorate my Finish Goal, I quilted Awards Banquet. Free motion!  I just need to add the binding and label to get it finished.

 

Linked to stitchery link party.

Word of 2016: Finish

NCDOTcommunications CCBY2.0 via Flickr

My clarity goal worked so well last year, that I am continuing it again this year.  One of the things that need clarity for me is to define a finish line.  I know that the word "finish" may seem to be on every quilter's New Year's Resolution, and it might be one of those resolutions that tends to have to get rolled over from year to year, because it can never be really satisfied.

But I think that is exactly why I want it to be the word for me this year. I tend to work on a lot of long-term projects - all my clarity goals for last year, for example, and of course my quilts, but they keep going and going and going.  This year, I have decided to have a more definitive goals that define what "finish" means.  It is not so much about actually finishing a task; it's more about knowing what a "finished" task looks like.

When I say I am going to deep clean my house, for example, how do I know when I am finished?  If I clean a closet is that called finished?  When I put the stuff back that I have decided to keep, I may wind up leaving loose ends - decisions that might be made later, or stuff that has moved into a different room for further processing. Which means that I never actually get the satisfaction of really finishing something.  I've made progress - sometimes substantial progress, but it never really ends, does it? The closet still has stuff in it, and some of that stuff that remains will eventually need to be tossed at some point.  And while I am cleaning the closet, there is something else that isn't being done. The curtains aren't being washed this week.

One of the junk mail flyers I received is from a cleaning company.  They specifically list the things that they will do - with specific intervals for different chores.  That's what I want.  To have a schedule that is so clear, that the curtains aren't a problem, because they aren't on the list of things to do this week. The cleaners are finished because they can check off everything on the list and call it a day.  They am actually done cleaning what is due this week, and don't have to worry about the curtains until their time comes.

I need an exit strategy. How will I know when I am done? And then, I am going to take whatever I am working on all the way to the end so I can then check it off the list.

This applies to quilts too, of course.  The Quilty Circles are done when I am done making the circle for that day. I don't have to make all 365/366 today.  Last year, I allowed myself to just make progress and try to be satisfied with any progress. But there was still that feeling that the progress on so many quilts is not going anywhere since there aren't many finished quilts to show for all that progress.  If I can define what progress I want - for example, a finished block, then all the blocks finished, and then a finished quilt top, then a sandwiched quilt, then a quilted quilt, then a bound quilt - then I can rest satisfied knowing that I have finished with what I was expecting to do this week. I don't have to have a bound quilt because it wasn't on the list for this week.

Right now, I'm not really sure if this word is something that will really propel me throughout 2016. But since it is a part of clarity, I figure I can pick a different focus word that also falls under clarity, or just go back to clarity as I go along the year if it doesn't work out.  Giggle.  I guess the first order of business will be to decide what a finished "finish" goal looks like. 

2015 Recap of my Year

Today is the last day of the year.  2015 was a good year for me.  Today, I am going to give you a recap of the year by reminding you of some of my posts I made this year.

My word of the year was Clarity, and I tried to be more clear in everything I did.  In my communication, I tried to make sure that people had enough background information to understand what I was saying, and tried to choose my words more carefully instead of taking the lazy way out. While there was effort and improvement, I will continue to work on this.

In my home, I tried to clear out my spaces to be more open, welcoming, and easier to maintain. I was extremely successful in this.  I got rid of some big furniture pieces and either bought something smaller or went without a replacement.  I reduced the number of flower beds in the yard. There has been substantial progress in the  family room, the kitchen, and the yard.  Other rooms also have made progress, but not to the extent that I want. I will continue to work on them in 2016. And it wasn't all cleaning-type work either.  I framed and put up artwork that had been in the closet for years, put up tiles for a back-splash in the kitchen, replaced a defunct dishwasher, had some electrical work done, and purchased and painted a picnic table so I could enjoy the outside as well as the inside of the house. Yesterday, the contractor finished installing a new front porch on my house.

In quilting, I had a lot of fun.  Although the number of quilt finishes I had in 2015 is low, there are many works in progress that provided me a lot of joy this year.  I kept my focus on the projects I was working on and I hope to finish them in 2016. Most of the quilts I made this year are made up of different blocks, so if you have been following along, you have been able to see my progress block by block throughout the year.

In February, I showed the finished the Christmas Tree quilt, which I showed you again recently.

In February, I joined the Elephant Parade Quiltalong, hosted by Lorna Mahon of Sew Fresh Quilts. I added more animals and people throughout the year, and in September, I finished making all of the blocks. These blocks were a lot of fun to make, and now it is just a matter of trimming some blocks, choosing a layout, adding the sashing, and putting them into a quilt.

I also joined A Life of Plenty Quiltalong, hosted by Jeni from the Willow in February. I think I made my last block for it in March.  There are still many more blocks that have been prepped. Even though I was enjoying making both quilts,  I realized that Elephant Parade and A Life of Plenty were competing against each other with my time and space.  Since they both required me to dig through my stash, and different parts of my stash, it might be better for me to do one at a time.  I do really like this quilt and hope to get back to it soon.

In August, I showed the finished Irish Chain Quilt.

From September through November, I worked on the Islamic Tile Quilt. It is now a top and needs to be quilted.

I started the Quilty 365 Project in November, where I make a circle a day. This project is a year-long project, and I have been making a circle a day most days. I've slowed somewhat on this, but hopefully I will get back in a routine for making these circles. These circles have gotten out of order as I was showing them off, but I will be putting them together soon.

 


 In November, I started the rail fence quilt from Sujata Shah's book, Cultural Fusion. All the blocks are now made, and I just need to put them together into a quilt.

This is the first time I have finished making blocks, and yet not taken it to the next level of making a quilt top, and yet I am at that stage for two and a half quilts.  I think it is just the excitement of making the next quilt that distracted me from finishing the quilts I started.  I enjoyed making the blocks, and I enjoy seeing completed quilts, so I am hopeful that all of these quilts will be shown as finishes for 2016.

In December, I made this little quilt out of the leftovers from the rail fence quilt. I even finished it so I could be sure to have another finish for the year.

As a bonus, I want to show you something I haven't shown before. My family came over and we had a craft day, making these cute little strawberries. It is a great way to round out the year with family, and crafting.

I wish all my readers a happy and healthy New Year.  I hope it is the best year ever for you and your family.

Five Best Posts of 2015

Welcome! Today, I am going to highlight this blog's 5 best posts of 2015. Here they are in chronological order.

1 Clarity

One of the first posts I made for 2015 was one of my best posts of the year.  In this post, I identified a word that was going to serve as my guiding post for the year. I chose clarity. Unlike new year's resolutions that get forgotten, this word has actually served as as my guide this year. I have made great strides in clearing the cobwebs in my life and my home this year, and hope to keep doing more in the years to come.

2 Calendar

 Also in January, I shared my quilt calendar. I was really happy at how this turned out, and this calendar has served as joy and inspiration throughout the year. I am going to make another calendar for 2016, but haven't decided whether to put quilts or recipes on it.

3. Generosity

4. Trunk Show

In May, I told you about the power of generosity. I found that the more I shared, the more I received.

5. I Love Quilting

 In November, I held a trunk show, and showed you some of my favorite quilts I've made. This one was my readers' favorite from that selection.

Also in November, I made a list of 10 reasons I love quilting. I'm sure I could come up with 10 more reasons if I made this list again today.

I wrote this post to participate in the best of 2015 linky party at Meadow Mist. Be sure to click on the link to see the best posts of 2015 on many other blogs.

That's it, the five best posts of 2015. You will notice that this list did not include any of the quilts I worked on this year.   Stay tuned for the 2015 recap of my quilting, which will show you the quilts, quilt blocks and quilt tops I finished this year.  I still have a few more days to finish a few more things!

Clouds and Circles

The clouds were really interesting the other day, and I took many photos of them, but the collage looked better with fewer images.

Since I was making collages anyway, I thought I would make one of the latest circles for you.

Circles Collage

My alma mater featured a circles collage in the latest magazine, and I thought I would do the same today.  Here are some circles I found in the neighborhood today. It is a beautiful, warm day.

They have inspired me to make a bunch of circles to catch up on days I have missed on my 365 calendar quilt.

Quilt Reveal: Leftover Rail Fence

I have completed the leftover rail fence quilt. As usual, the leftover quilt is finished before the original finish.  Here are some beauty shots.

The finished quilt is about 13" X 17".  It is made of rail fence strips that were left over after I made the blocks for the Cultural Fusion Railfence quilt.  Even though I had more leftovers to make this bigger, I decided it was just the right size as it was.  The blue border and the elephant keep it from looking too much like the original quilt.  I left the elephant mostly unquilted so it would stand out, and quilted everything around it every thoroughly.

It turns out that the quilt top was just the right size, because I found a scrap of polyester batting and a scrap for the backing that were both just the right size for this quilt.

 Here's the backing with the stowaway label. You can see that I tried a lot of different quilting designs on it.  It has been a long time since I free motion quilted, and the first time I did so on this machine.  Since this was a leftovers, improv quilt, I decided to do the quilting improv too.

Here's the whole thing.

In case you are missing seeing circles on this blog, here are a couple of circle for you. It's hard to make circles when the machine is set up for free motion quilting.

The one on the left is made with leftover scraps that had fusible on them.  That block represents Star Wars. You're just going to have to trust me on that one.

For the one on the right, I found the button on the ground during a walk and it just had to go into the quilt. If I have ever made a yo-yo before, it has been a long time, since I don't remember making one. I've always wanted to make one though, so  I can now check that off the list!

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Scrap Quilt Challenge