Dog Gone Cute

When Wanda suggested using the end of the month as my deadline for the Moldy Cheese and Crackers quilt, I thought that would be fantastic.  I would be done early, and I would get a gold star!  Then I started quilting it and realized why this is a slow quilt.  My wrists hurt if I do a lot of handwork, so I can only do a few minutes a day.  This means I won't get done early and won't get my gold star.  I may not even be able to get the whole thing done by the end of the month. I will be happy if I can at least get the quilting done and the binding machine sewn down.  Then hand sewing the binding down can be done early in February.

But what this means is that I have quilting time that is not used on the Cheese and Crackers quilt.  Free time in which I can do anything my little heart desires.  So let me tell you about the Dog Gone Cute quilt.  This is a quilt that Lorna from Sew Fresh Quilts offered as a quilt-along. (It's still available if you are interested.) I told myself that since I was still working on Elephant Parade, I should wait to start it.  I printed out the patterns (all of them even though my plan all along has been to just make one dog.

This is a big deal for me, since I don't like to waste paper and ink and especially storage space on patterns, but I really like this quilt.  Then my mother needed a ride to Walmart, and this fat quarter pack just jumped into the cart as we were walking by to get the groceries. Those little puppy dog eyes were just begging to be in a Dog Gone Cute quilt! And now the pattern and the fabric has been united.

My original plan was to use the two browns -the regular brown as the main part of the face and the reddish brown as the accent.  I considered the gray for the accent, but I decided against it.  I cut the parts of the fabric as I work the steps to make sure I don't use the wrong size shapes and don't lose any pieces.  As I was putting the block together, it was getting darker outside and the two browns were barely distinguishable from each other.  I decided then to use the gray instead of the brown so there would be more contrast.

I liked playing with the pieces to see the different animal shapes I could make, as you can see in these pictures. Looks like a bear here.


I adapted the pattern to make his snout a little bit longer.  I have to decide whether to add a border.

All last year, I wanted to make these one block quilts - the Farm Girl Vintage, the Snapshots, even this Dog Gone Cute. And now I have been able to make one of these.  I just have to quilt and bind it and I will have a start to a new collection!

Linked to:
Linky Tuesday

Next Item to Finish

The next item I have decided to work on is this quilt. It is already sandwiched and I've hand quilted about 3/4ths of it. I've even made the binding, so finishing it up shouldn't take too long.  Wanda says I have until the end of the month to get it done. 

It is Moldy Cheese and Crackers. I'm not going to show you the front now so there will be a little bit of suspense at the finish, but if you look back on my blog, I'm sure you will be able to see what it looks like.

I have decided I am not going to over-analyze which quilt I will work on next. Just grab the first one and get it done.  I like doing the ones that are already sandwiched though, because they will make a bigger impact in clearing the space and because I have run out of usable safety pins, and if I work on quilts that are using them, I will be able to finally get them back. I have plenty of safety pins, so I'm not buying any new ones!

Quilt Reveal: Awards Banquet

Hello all!

I have a finished quilt to show you!  Awards Banquet.

Here is the story. This quilt started out as a leftovers quilt, as do many of the small quilts I make. Here is the original quilt which used free pieced rails.  To make this one different, I used only the black and white fabric and cut the rails with a ruler.

4 Improv Quilt

©Shasta Matova

After I made the triangle blocks and decided to set them on point. I auditioned several fabrics and decided to use red for the setting squares and the center squares.  I pulled out this red which feels more city and made the quilt more elegant than the improv origins would show. I added it despite the fact that the red fabric felt more city-like as compared to the black and white chickens which felt more country.  We are allowed to have chickens in the city.

When it came time to choose a border, I was a little bit conflicted. I wanted to use up the black and white fabric I had, but I read the words as 2000 at first glance.  If I wasn't willing to use 2000 fabric in 2014, when was I going to?  So I decided to use it.  As I cut it up, I realized that it didn't say 2000 at all. It said "moo" and there were cows on it. How could I have missed them? My favorite fancy red fabric was going into a quilt with chickens and cows on it. I don't think we are allowed to keep cows in the city. Most of my black and white fabric came from a fat quarter swap.

My realization came at just about the time I received an invitation to attend an awards banquet.  It is an annual banquet to thank the employees for the hard work they have done during the year.  Usually when I am invited to this banquet, I am asked whether I want beef or chicken.  I didn't get to choose that year, because the person inviting me chose for me. It's probably because he didn't think to ask me until it was too late and had to make a choice right away, but I will believe that it is because he loves me and wants me to eat healthier that he chooses chicken.

Anyway, these two things mixed in my head and this quilt became to be known as Awards Banquet. After all, the name "Leftovers Quilt" has already been taken, and this quilt is far too nice to be a leftover.

I cut the setting triangles the wrong size, and instead of scrapping them, I turned them into three-dimensional prairie points in the border. I really like how they extend the setting triangles make the top float.  I was going to leave them loose, but it was easier to quilt them down. I free motion quilted awards ribbons in the center squares to fit the name. #1 of course.

This is a small quilt measuring 19 1/2" X 24". It was started in April 2014 and finished today.  It snowed yesterday, so I rushed to finish it today while there was still daylight outside.  I was able to photograph it outside in the snow. Even though it isn't an unusual design, it is my own design. It is my first Finish for 2016.

For finishing, I received this Certificate of Completion. But no beef or chicken, unfortunately, as I am trying to eat vegetarian, and I don't have either of those in the house.

Linked to:
Let's be Social #107.
Needle and Thread Thursday

The Problem with Being Finished

If you recall, my word for this year is Finish.

NCDOTcommunications CCBY2.0 via Flickr

I have to admit to you that this word makes me anxious.  I thought about just letting it slide into oblivion by not talking about it again or changing it to another word that feels more positive to me.

Instead, I decided to stick with it a little longer and analyze why this word makes me anxious.  After all, finishing something, particularly a quilt is a good thing.  Why does this word make me nervous?  Here's where I lay down on the counseling couch and turn all of you into therapists. 

First of all, it feels like a drastic change from last year, and I thoroughly enjoyed quilting last year. Last year, my Clarity goal seemed like a refinement of things I was already doing instead of a drastic change.  I didn't even make real goals about quilting, so I went back to an older word of Start.  The quote with the word Start had to do with taking the first step to climbing the mountain, which was something as simple as buying the gear.  So even though it wasn't actually said, it was something about just taking the next step.  And I had just read the book Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up.  My house isn't any tidier since I've read that book, but I have made sure there was more joy in my life.  So the undefined rule for quilting was, "if it brings you joy, take another step to bring it forward."

This year, since so many quilts had so much progress on them, I could just take a few more steps to bring them down the finish line.  I thought I was gently saying, just keep going.  But it feels authoritarian, like I MUST finish what I start. This is strange, because I didn't come up with any rules like I had in the past, such as finishing one or two quilts before starting a new one, or not starting any new ones at all.

NCDOTcommunications CCBY2.0 via Flickr

Second is the negativity of the word.  Finishing someone off isn't a good thing nor is it good to be done with someone.  Even the good connotations of the word are somewhat negative.  When you finish a good book, you don't have any more to read. When you are done cleaning, you don't want to start doing anything else, because you will mess up the cleanliness. When a party is over, there is the loneliness of an empty house.  I know that finishing something leaves you open to start something else, but when I made the rule that I could start something new for everything I finished, it felt more punitive than rewarding.

I'm also having a hard time finding a quote and a picture that provides the positive encouragement I need. Going down the finish line at a race isn't a good analogy, since I am not going to be the first one to finish, as slow as I quilt. And if  I am first, because I am the only one racing, then going down the finish line isn't all that rewarding.  Besides, just finishing isn't all that big a deal. It is more an avoidance of humiliation than a real accomplishment. That finish/start picture is the closest I got, to show that once you finish something, you get to start something else.

I obviously have more work to do to relieve this anxiety.

Thank you for listening to my rambling. The check is in the mail. Don't worry, I don't need your address.

2 Rows of Circles Done

To reward myself for finishing my Awards Banquet quilt (nope it isn't done yet), I made an award circle.The background is leftover from the backing of Awards Banquet.

And this panda showed up. It is the 42th circle, which means that I have finished six weeks worth of circles.

I plan to sew them together in rows of 21.But because of my larger embroidery circle, I decided to sew two sets. I didn't want to add an extension all the way down the left circles just to make these circles fit with the right side, knowing that there will be other larger blocks added along the way. This is the left side.

This is the right side which will be added once I add a large circle or two to the left side. Of course, it is easier to photograph when the rows aren't so long.

Two rows finished!

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.