Sewing Recap of 2011

I think it's really good for me to see all the things I've made this year.

I often feel like I'm doing stuff, but not really getting anything done, you know? I mean, I know I've made stuff, but it's just nice to capture it all.

I suspect, however, (OH...I should totally have an ultrasound picture in there somewhere, eh?) (except I'm not quite finished crafting the baby, yet)

Sorry...I suspect, however, that I will have significantly fewer finishes in 2012. :)  The baby isn't due until mid-April, but I never have much energy in my past pregnancies (Nesting? What is THAT?), and I have 2 very active fibroids that, if I don't get enough rest each day, they make my life MISerable. SO...even though I've got a while till the baby comes, I don't envision myself spending tons of hours at my sewing machine. Maybe I'll actually get around to some hand-sewing... :)

Anyways, here's a recap of my 2011!

Here are all the blocks I made for the bees I'm in.

And here is a mosaic of all the crafty things I made (or finished) (or started, then never finished) over the course of the last year.These are in no particular order, by the way. :)

 

I do, of course, have some sewing goals, and some life goals, for the year ahead, but I'll put those in a different post.  I've got loads of WiPs, I've got loads of fabric set aside for specific projects, and loads of other fabric just waiting to be assigned to a project. 

I imagine that if fabric had feelings, that "waiting for a project" fabric might feel like the puppies at the pound when people come looking for a new pet. They are fondled, they are taken out of their spot, they are admired and told how pretty they are, but yet, they go back on the shelf. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

{WiP} Wednesday #12

(I've been doing this for 12 weeks? How is that even possible?!)

I'm here again, linking up with Lee, to report to y'all how I've done this week getting stuff OFF my to-do list.

Finishes this week:

I finished my quilt for Craft Hope (to be sent to Alabama) and sent it off. I miss it already. :) You can read about what that quilt taught me here.

I've finished prepping 2 more of my Birdie Stitches block-a-month blocks. I need to trace the embroidery on the center blocks, and then they're ready to be stitched. It'll be nice to only be 3 months behind instead of 4. :)

I also finished that ding-dang camera strap cover I promised my friend at Christmas. (Slacker!) I really hope she likes it. It's a bit scrappy, and I don't know if she'll like that part of it, but the other side is solid, so that's good. I like it, and if she doesn't, well, no harm done. (I used THIS tutorial again.)

In looking at my blog post when I made my own last year, I realized that I had fully intended to make another one for myself. Then when I took it off the camera strap to try Jamie's I realized that it's stained, and it shrank, and it's just...elementary. I totally need a new one! I can not, however, make a new one for myself right now. WAY too much to do. Maybe next week. :)

Still needing some lovin'

1. Robert Kaufman Solids Challenge -- (sigh). I still haven't started piecing it. I'm SUCH a bad role model. I hope to get piecing on it this week. I HAVE TO get piecing on it this week! Dang.
2. do. Good Stitches Bee {Faith Circle} -- lollipop blocks, still unstarted. I haven't even pulled fabrics. I will, though!
3. Katie's Bee Happy bee blocks -- Christmas tree and Rainbow tree. I had hoped to finish these Tuesday, but dadgum "life" just got the best of me. I hope to get to them today or tonight.
4. Birdie Stitches BOM blocks -- even though I got some prepped, I'm still shamefully behind. I hope to make some good progress this week as I will be away from my electric sewing machine and will have to rely solely on the sewing machine attached to the end of my wrist.
5. Jen's purse -- right. I need to start this one on the back burner so maybe it'll simmer enough to actually create an idea I can go on! :)
6. Bottled Rainbows QAL -- unstarted. I'm collecting scraps for it, though. Does that count? :)
7. Secretive Get Better Quilt -- unstarted, I could at least start it so when the time comes to need it, I won't have to panic. Hmmm....
8. Secretive P&P Quilt -- unstarted, must buy fabric and set this on the back burner as well.
9. Fabric Hutch-- the doors are open and airing out the cigar smell.
10. Mug Rugs -- I unearthed a couple of mug rugs I started in January, I think? I'm going to work on them this week. They're for a very sweet couple who could use some cheering up.

New This Week
 Hmmm...I don't think anything! I've certainly got enough on my plate! But I will add "camera strap cover" here, so that next week, when I look back and maybe have a bit of time (hahaha!), I'll remember that I wanted to make one. I'm thinking yellow and aqua this time. I'm SO loving that combination. :)  Or rainbow. Always love the rainbow.

Have a great week, and I hope you get a lot done! And if you've got some extra time, you should see what others are working on this week. Click here to go to Lee's link-up.

Right Where It Belongs

I finished my quilt for the Craft Hope // Security Blankets drive. Good thing, too, since it's due on Wednesday. It felt SO good to get it in the box (had to do the old sit-on-the-suitcase maneuver, though!), and take it to the post office and see it on its way.

I've been working on this quilt for about a month. Not a record time for anyone, but since I can only work on it, really, after the girls are in bed, it has taken me a while. I remember hearing about the Craft Hope drive the first week of May, buying my fat quarters around the 11th or 12th of May, and then really hitting it hard after that. I quilted it Memorial Day weekend, and bound it this last week. I washed it last night, took pictures this morning, and then took it to the post office.

It's gone. I don't know its future. I know it's going to New Jersey, and will then make it down to a charity in Alabama, but from there, I do not know.

I don't know anything about the family that will get it, what happened to their property when the tornado hit, or what devastation they have been through since that awful day in April. I don't know if they believe in God now, or whether the tornado had anything to do with that. I can imagine that for some, their faith was quite shaken after the dust settled. But I can only hope that more people came to know that God was with them as they huddled together as a family, unsure of the future.

So many people lost so much. So many lost everything. And even what was left had to be destroyed because it was so far beyond repair. And yet they have hope. Beautiful, enduring, peace-giving HOPE. And the knowledge that they are not alone, that they will be cared for, and their needs will be met. As I was working on this quilt, I prayed that the family receiving it will have all their needs me, and will know that God is with them.

And as I worked on this quilt, I knew I would have to send it off before our next Modern Quilt Guild meeting. Kristen stopped by the LQS as I finished quilting it, so she got to see it (sorta/kinda) as I was taking it off the long arm. My neighbor saw it when I brought it home that day. You've all seen it in pictures on the blog. But that's it. That's IT!! 

I've spent more than a little bit of time this last week wallowing in the fact that no one else (that I know) gets to see this quilt. No one else gets to appreciate it. No one else gets to tell me how beautiful it is, or how colorful, or how much they love how I quilted it, or how perfect my hand-binding and mitered corners are. No one.

But as I was finishing the binding, I felt God saying that this isn't about me. I didn't do this for the glory. I didn't do this so people would tell me wonderful things. I didn't do this to feed my pride.

I made this quilt for a family who lost everything. I made this quilt for a mother who doesn't have anything to wrap around herself as she thinks about how she will rebuild her life. I made this quilt for a young couple who don't have anything to cuddle under and remember that they can get through this together. I made it for a couple of kids who don't have a big enough blanket to make a fort. I made it so they would know they are not alone.

So, rather than have this quilt here where people can admire it, it is on its way to its new home...where people can admire it. Right where it belongs. And I've put my pride away. Right where it belongs.  :o)

My Kitty Cat Helper

Alley is helping me with my binding.
I wish I could be someone's helper by simply curling up on their work.

{WiP} Wednesday #11

Sadly, I didn't chew down my {WiP} list as much as I would have liked. Such is the life of a crafter, though, right? I wouldn't know what to do if I didn't have a ton of stuff on my to-do list!

Finishes

1. Kelly's Bee Happy Bee blocks -- Kelly asked for one door block and one window block. I made the door first, modeled after the front door of our house in England. The big tree on the right was a gangly bay tree. I maybe picked two bay leaves the entire time we lived there. :)  I modeled the window block after a circular window of an old building where I used to work. The windows had SO much character. Well, the whole building (and the entire campus!) had so much character.   The other Bee Happy bees are making some INCREDIBLE doors and windows. These ladies are seriously super creative.

2. Mystery mod mosaic block -- done. Kicked my butt, but it's done. That design? Wow. I've seen it done, and never realized how intense it was to make! Now I understand why I haven't seen a zillion of them! :)  Wonky log cabin? Zillions. Easy. Mod mosaic? Few. Challenging. And, of course, since it's a mystery, I can't show you pictures. :) 

Recap of WiPs:

1. Craft Hope/Alabama quilt -- stll binding. I had a bit of a disagreement with my sewing machine, and so I'm hand binding this. I am a hand-binder, mind you. I don't really like to machine bind, but I don't have much time left. However, if I were serious about machine binding this, I would have to rip out the stitches where I attached the binding to the front of the quilt and start over from scratch. And that would take MORE time than binding by hand. So bind I do.
   Plus, I tried my hand at making a continuous bias binding? Never again. That was such a pain in the neck. Preparing the binding takes enough time as it is. One does not need to increase the time spent by following an agonizing and not-that-worthwhile process to get the binding strip(s) cut.
2. Robert Kaufman Kona Solids Challenge - unfinished. I have my design (I chose RF3 since it's a little edgier and way more modern!) I have my background fabric (Kona Pacific, bought with a coupon at Fabric Bliss for $3.85/yd. Woot!), now I just need to do the math (EQ7 would be super handy right about now!), and start cutting. (it's due at our July meeting)

3. Camera Strap - unstarted, but I need to move this up on the must-do list! Seriously. I kinda need to finish this one this week. Gah!
4. Jen's Purse - unstarted.
5. Birdie Stitches - some unfinished, some unstarted. I'm going to a retreat in June, and I plan to take these along to work on there. I'll have lots of handwork time on my hands. :)
6. Bottled Rainbows Quilt-along - unstarted.
7. June do.Good Stitches bee - lollipop tree blocks. I need to move these up my list, too. I can't forget about them!
8. Secretive Get Better quilt - unstarted, but I'll put everything aside when the time comes to make this.
9. Secretive P-n-P quilt - unstarted, must buy the fabric and then figure out a pattern. (I actually love the pattern I used for my Alabama quilt, so I might just go with that again!)

New this week

1. June Bee Happy bee -- Katie is having us make 2 "tree" blocks, one Christmas and one rainbow. Sounds cool! I should get the fabric in the mail this week.
2. Fabric Hutch -- I found this hutch on CraigsList on Saturday, and spent the better part of the day (a) getting it into my SUV, (b) getting it out of my SUV, and (c) cleaning the film of ick off of it. I love the design, but not the wood finish. Or the handles. Or the permeating scent of cigar smoke.  I don't mind the smell of cigars, it reminds me of my great-grandpa, but I don't want my fabric smelling like Great-grandpa Williams! :)  So I will be sanding it down, temporarily removing the glass, repainting it black, and putting lots and lots of baking soda inside to try to draw out the smell in the wood. :)  

I feel like there must be more on my list! Am I forgetting something? This just can't be everything on my craft list! I've got a couple of baby blankets in mind...maybe by next week I'll have a plan for those. :)

Anyway, go to Lee's blog and see what my fellow crafters are up to their necks in this week! :) Me? I've got about 290" to go until that baby is bound.

Really? That's it?

You would think 492 feet of continuous bias binding would look more impressive than this!

(it's actually about 465" long)

Since my quilt for Alabama (Craft Hope) is so large, there is quite a bit of real estate to be bound. (sigh). I don't mind binding. Some people hate it. Tonight, however, I am hating the continuous bias binding process. I'm not convinced it was faster or better than simply cutting the strips and sewing them together.

If I never see a continuous bias binding again, I'll be a happy woman!