February Roundup and March Goals

February was another busy month . . . 

I finished the top and back for the kitchen table quilt named LAGOOON..

Younger son got his first and second doses of COVID vaccine.

DH and I got our first doses.

I finished leader-ender-ing the blocks for Namaste.

(photos pending)

I completed several utility mats.

We survived a week of below-freezing temperatures and record snowfall.

I managed to get the second round of Nubilous done.

(I've decided to make my 20 blocks larger than Julie K's

so that I won't have to worry with borders)

I also finished up another set of lined drawstring gift bags.

(several were tested and approved as we celebrated

DIL's milestone birthday and Little Man's Valentine's Day)

These are the January blocks for Hoppipolla - the color that month was PINK.

These are the February (YELLOW) blocks.

(Angela has called out GREEN for March with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge)

I started another project that I've named JAZZY for RSC21.

Jazzy is based on a pattern found in the current issue of

American Patchwork and Quilting

named Nine-Patch Square Dance by Sherri McConnell.

The color strips each month will come from the 1.5" DD bins.

(I've already pulled out two sets of green scraps)

Most of the low volumes will come from my stash

unless I happen to find what I need in the DD box.

(Jazzy will likely carry over into 2022 as my layout is still TBD)

I quilted and finished three quilts in February:

Someday is Now

Sea of HSTs

and

Heliophilia

As you can see above, I've pulled and prepared three more

to quilt during March:

Dumpster Diving 7 - Respite

Dumpster Diving 8 - Bella

and

Dumpster Diving 9 - Blue Springs Road

(and DH reinforced my extra-long (two taped together)

pool noodles used for quilt backs and oversized tops

using aluminum conduit instead of the less rigid PVC pipe -

so much straighter and easier to handle)

Finally, let me introduce you to SHOSHIN, 

another of the projects in my Etcetera series.

(I wasn't going to start this one until later in the year . . . 

but I spent most of the weekend making blocks)

I'll share a better introductory post for SHOSHIN on Wednesday.

Quiltdivajulie

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“See what you can do with your daring with color and your ignorance mixed with it.”

Charles Webster Hawthorne

 

January Wrap Up and Goals for February

I quilted and finished three quilts in January --

Haimish, Sukoon, and Winsome.

I have pulled and prepped three more long-waiting projects

for quilting during February --

Sea of HSTs, Heliophilia, and Someday is Now

have their tops and backs rolled onto pool noodles

ready for batting and pin basting.

(and for the record, that broken window shown in Heliophilia's post

was at long last replaced with a complete new installation just last week)

I moved one project to quilt top status in January --

Dumpster Diving 10 - Do Tell

And I finally settled on the design I want to use

for my twelfth and final Dumpster Diving quilt.

There's lots of prep work needed before

any stitches will be taken on DD 12 -  Journey's End

so please don't expect an update any time soon.

February's quilt top/back goal is Lagoon,

the kitchen table quilt planned for June.

The blocks are sewn and the borders are cut

making these one ready for layout and assembly.

(plus a pieced backing to design and sew)

I've chosen and started two longer-term projects that will help me 

use up many of the leftover Dumpster Diving strips and segments -- 

Nubilous and Hoppipolla

There are others still in the gestation phase.

I'll share more on those if and when they actually happen.

I finished at least one of each of the differently sized

lined drawstring gift bags.

These quickly became my "tomorrow" project

which needs to change if I'm going to have the stockpile

I've planned by year end.

(truly, they don't take that long once fabric choices are made

and the cutting out is done, especially since the biggest part 

of my learning curve has already happened,

so I"m not sure why they fell victim to such procrastination)

Beginning with February, I plan to choose fabrics and cut out 

all of the bags during the first week of the month

 AND I'll make all of the drawstring ties first 

so they're ready to insert as each bag is ready.

I also want to try some of the 

paracord for ties in the smaller bags.

The largest bag (upper right above) is huge.

In the photo it is filled with FOUR of our couch pillows.

The other bags in these photos are filled with an assortment

of Little Man's building blocks, hot wheels cars, and a couple of books

making those sizes more likely to be used more often.

I do think that some sort of assembly line process

will work better than this month's start-to-finish with each individual bag.

We'll see how things go with the next batch.

And unexpectedly, I completed a Do-Over

for Trick or Treat, October's kitchen table quilt top.

* * *

Away from the machines, I rearranged the closet where I keep my project boxes

so that the ones slated for attention in 2021 are front and center

with the others moved off to the side.

Here's to the month ahead . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

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“Listen to the colour of your dreams.”

The Beatles