Ready for the New Year?

A new year always bring a renewal of energy, of changes (real or imaginary), of planning, of aspirations, and of self meditation. What am I planning to do during the new year? SEW! What else? Oh, I also plan on blogging too. 😊

The Plan
My plan is more about when will I sew instead of what will I sew. Some of you report a 15 minutes sewing to a party link hostess by Life in Pieces. I like the idea but not so much the rigidity of it. So, I'll say that instead of playing Volleyball on Tuesdays this first semester, I will sew. How's that? Sounds like me. 

UFO

The list of UFOs isn't any shorter than any previous years. Should I say I will tackle that? Nope. I'll say that I will look at it and IF I accomplish something then I will feel good about myself. How's that? Too easy; no effort put in = no reward. Okay, then, how about: I will work on two UFOs this year. 

Name them. Now that's easy. Hole in the Barn Door because I want to use this one so much and Spinner which is hiding somewhere. ?? Then  maybe Flannel Crumb quilt. But first, I want to finish the quilting on Ohio Star Shadow. Okay, so four. 👍

Blog

I will continue with Rainbow Scrap Challenge, hosted by Angela and also Table Scrap Challenge hosted by Joy. 

For January, Angela has called the colour Pink. So, Pink came out to play. 

That's all I could find in the scrap mess. So I browsed my stash and came up with these 

which are bigger than a fat quarter but will be sacrificed for the cause. So now the bag looks like this:

Okay. Let's play! 

You might remember that at the end of last year I played with a block that Cathy at Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting had made a lovely quilt with and I wanted one too. Now, I can't locate the specific post but trust me it was wonderful. So, this is my first RSC2025 block. I call my quilt Flying Home. Sorry for the dark photo. 

During my holidays, I also cut and assembled two pajamas in flannelette for my youngest one. One is size medium and the other one size large. He asked me to always make them large now because they are more comfy. 

Gosh! They grow up so big! 

Then, guess what? 

I found the pink scrap bags. Lol. 

Now there are more scrap to play with. Whoohoo!

I have more RSC blocks to show you but that's for another post as this one is long enough as it is. 

On January first, we had snow. 

What we had before had mostly melted and whatever we received on that day has basically all disappeared too. That's fine by me. Less time shoveling means more time sewing. 😉

Stay well, take care, and have a wonderful week. 

;^)

I will visit these talented ladies over the weekend. Hope to catch you there too. 

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

Nina Marie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever

The End of 2024

What have I done in 2024 beside finding a job?

Well, it all started with 2 cups of good intentions. Add to this 7 baskets of Colourful Fabrics and 4.5 bags of Neutral Fabrics. Follow these with 2 new Rotary Blades. You can add Thread by feet or meter, it's up to you but add enough to make the job enjoyable. Once all is neatly attached together, add a good dollop of sewing/quilting machine shenanigans. 

That sums up my year 😄 and it's not even over yet! 

For a few years now, I chose some quilts and tag each one to a colour. When Angela calls a certain colour that's the quilt I'm to work on but ... 

These were the quilts for 2024: 

Hole in the Barn Door - green

Spinner - yellow 

Framed 9 Patch - orange - Flimsy

Dreaming in Dutch - pink 

Shoreline - red - more blocks done

Broken Dish Swap - purple 

Westering Woman - blue 

Star Bloom - aqua 

Crumb Quilt in flannel - dark blue 

HST something for whatever colour I didn't already mention 

I totally fell off that wagon. 😞 Only two quilts got some attention this year. 

Table Scrap Challenge: Snowflake. Thanks, Joy! This was fun!

I also did the Heart and the Bird Challenges. It is my intention to participate again in 2025, but good intentions without a plan will go nowhere. So, follow The Joyful Quilter for the new plans. 

Hole in the Barn Door got a white border and part of the pieced border. Still a UFO. Sigh! 

At the end of each month, I enjoyed comparing the scrap bags pictures. Sometimes the difference was easy to see; other times, not so much. 

 

I sold the "I Spy Stars" quilt to a lawyer. First sale. WhooHoo! Very slowly working on another "I Spy" quilt. 

Double Halo was a RSC2024 project. Started in January and it turned into a flimsy the same year. Wow! That's a rare occurrence around here. A large piece of flannelette was set aside for its backing. Only need to find the time to quilt it. 

Framed 9-Patch started back in October 2016 is now a flimsy too. Yay! How many years will it take me to quilt it? Haha!

I learned how to do Pergamano or Parchment Paper Craft. It's not the same as the baking parchment. This one is thicker than poster board. 

Did a lot of mending, as always. This is Raven's blanket. It was in desperate need of some repairs. I was just PURR-crastinating.

Two baby quilts in flannelette started at the October retreat and finished in December. Francine is organizing another retreat in February or March. My name is on the list as I love sewing with this group of ladies. 

My second RSC2024 project: Stained Glass. It will continue in 2025 as more blocks are needed. Lately, I've been sewing up scrappy white/neutral triangles to finish off the blocks. 

Friends' Favourite got neglected for a while. I have sketched a layout and it will now be easier to move it forward. 

Also done: 

9 Patch blocks: 139 blocks were added to the collection. The grand total is now 470 blocks!

Knitted 5 dishcloths 

Started : Shallow Pond (Bonnie's County Clare) 10 blocks 

Added 46 more blocks to Shoreline. 

(Eight more on December 24th along with ... 

a good six inches of fresh snow. I shoveled some in the morning and during the day the sun melted the little bit that was left behind by the shovel.)

For now, I am cutting, cutting away some scraps, in a futile attempt to turn the mess into order. 

 

This picture showing the mess that was supposed to be "tamed" by year end. Well, it has changed but not exactly the way I had planned. 

The year started well enough with lots of decluttering thanks to The Joyful Quilter. She was my inspiration and my reminder. I kind of fell off the wagon since then. 

On the other hand, I received more scrap bags then ever before. I tried hard to dwindle the scraps every month in their respective colour, but my friends brought me more scrap bags to "fluff" up the lessened bags. It felt like shoveling during a snow storm. I will continue to search for a system that works for me. 

I have just noticed that this is my 600th post. Wow! I had no idea I would go this far. I who is usually shy talking about me, my quirky self, and I. I want to thank all of you for making the journey enjoyable with your comments, suggestions, feedbacks, solutions, and most of all, your friendship. 💖💙💚💛💖

Have you noticed that the new year starts with WTF? 

Let's not forget that it is followed by a "S"!! 🤨

No matter what the new year pretends to be saying, I wish 2025 exceeds your expectations. All the best to you and yours. May your cutting table stays clean and your rotary cutter stays sharp! 

Enjoy!

;^)

xox

Planning on joining these talented ladies this week;

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

Nina Marie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever

It's Glitter Season!

 

The office is all decorated for the Holidays. It is my first year with this company and I find it funny that their Christmas tree sports the logo's colours. White, black and lime green. 

This one stands in the lunchroom and 

this one is in the employees space. I forgot to take a picture of the one at the front desk where I work. Next time. 

My backyard was also in glitter this morning but it doesn't show well in the photo. 

In the sewing room ... no glitters but some finishes. Yay! 

Back in October, during a quilting retreat, I assembled two little baby quilts from flannelette scraps. 

The first one is sunny, happy and Spring calling... and done! 

Stitch in the ditch in both direction. The backing is another piece of flannelette that has the same print as one of the patch on the front. I found this cute orange floral on yellow for the binding. Just what this quilt needed; more flowers. Finish at 28 X 34

The second one was quite small and needed a larger border. 

This one is 5" wide. I decided to use up all of the red fabric. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough to make 4 9-patch blocks so I did this. It stayed on the design wall for a few evenings before I was convinced that, yep, I hate it. So I changed it. 

Much happier with this. It's not because you have little bits left, it means you have to find a place for them in this quilt. They can got in the next one. So, now, it is quilted. I don't have any red flannelette that looked good with the snowflake one. Dark blue would have been nice but not one of those on hands played well with this quilt. I have two huge bins (and then some) of flannelette and I can't find a suitable binding for this quilt. Really? Hmm. Go look again. 

What I found is not exactly flannelette. It's more of a brush cotton but not the bottom weight kind. 

Hey, it works so go for it. I like stripes for bindings. It measures 28.5" square. 

In this picture, you can see the soft blue print on the large border. The backing is an old flannelette piece left over from a pajamas I did when DS1 was 2yo. When I finished sewing the binding, I noticed that my machine had a heartburn and just spit all over the corner. Argh!! 

It just came back from a spa day! What else does it want? A Christmas present? Sheesh!! Sigh! 

I have one more little flannel quilt to finish. Last week, I received a large bag of scraps .. and some more flannel. There might be another baby quilt in there. These are fun to do and fast too. Eventually, this blog will be back to its regular programming. 

That's all for this week. 

Stay warm, drive safely. 

Take care, everyone. 

;^)

Planning on joining these talented ladies this week;

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

Nina Marie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever

County Clare on a Slow Week

Bonnie's County Clare leader-ender project is my L-E too. I called mine Shallow Pond. I got questions regarding how to spin those pieces so the unit lays flat. Not saying this is THE way to do it (as Bonnie does it differently) but it is how I do it.

Like Bonnie, I keep the "long" white piece vertical and sew a green piece on top. I sew the green piece first, on top, when I sew it to the middle part of that unit. For each side. 

The seams of the middle part (white green white) are folded towards the green bit. 

Twist the two seams.

I didn't take a picture of the blue section by itself but you can see here that the seams are also folded towards the dark (blue). When the two section join, the seam in the middle can easily twist. 

The same goes for the last seam. The three seams spin easily and the block is flat. The picture is not on its side. It's just the photographer inability to take a straight photo, haha. 

Ta-Dah! 

My sewing machine had a rendezvous with the Doctor this week. I busy myself with other things. 

Stained Glass blocks await their white triangles. I needed more white bits. 

This drawer is full of "neutral" strings. The pile on top of the drawer was in the drawer too. Yes, it was very squished. I removed only the strips that were approved to join the Stained Glass blocks. After a good 30 minutes, the drawer's load had diminished considerably. 

The white strings on the right side were set apart. They are very long and will be used as the middle strips in a string quilt I want to do. Eventually! (Don't we all know that song?) Now, the table is full of white bits and no machine to sew them, lol. 

Ohio Star Shadow got some attention too. One block is quilted and started the next one on the left. Slow and steady, it is moving along. 

The machine came back home(finally!). It sounds like a brand new one! I'm so happy. I will quilt those little baby quilts in an effort to get some projects out of here. I might sew all through the night. Lol. 

In case you are wondering, the answer is no. I am not doing Bonnie's mystery quilt but I sure am keeping the instructions. You know, in case someday I run out of quilts to do. 🤣 

Enjoy your week. 

;^)

Planning on joining these talented ladies this week;

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

NinaMarie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever

You Won't Believe This One

Most of us, Blogger users, had a problem with our readers comments not coming into our email's inbox. Well, the comments do reach your email's but not the inbox. I found lots of the comments in my trash box! Yes, the trash!

Believe me, it is the last place I would put your precious comments to me. So, if you can't find the comments, go check the trash.

All the comments come in as no-reply; even those that I know were never set as no-reply before. Shit-tuation continues. 

On this, I wish you all a very lovely and productive week.

Enjoy! ;^)