Back to Square One

Uuuuuuuuugh. I have been making a lot of mistakes lately.

First there's the non-progress on my Anna Maria Horner Greatest Hits scrap quilt. Back in February I picked up some gray-ish/taupe-ish fabric for sashing. I cut it up and sashed the quilt. And then it sat. For months. (It is still sitting.) I never got around to adding the top and bottom sashing and finally realized why: because it is UGLY. Not only is the gray/taupe solid a bad color choice, the width of the sashing is all wrong -- way too wide. So now I need to rip it out and start over. This time I'm tempted to just sew the scrap columns together without sashing... Or, sash it with Kona Snow, 2 1/2 inches wide? Another color? I'm open to ideas; what do you think?

Before I ruined it with ugly sashing. 

OK, so then I managed to finish the Priory Square quilt top using the Boxed In pattern from the book Beyond Borders by Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts. It looks fantastic. However... there were a lot of piecing errors, and most of them due to my laziness with regards to a 1/4 inch seam. Amateur hour, I know. Fortunately, I was able to square the quilt up and the solid sashing throughout hides my mistakes.

All the pretty boxes!

I wish I could say I learned my lesson with that quilt. Nope. I moved on to expand the Cotton + Steel plus quilt I started many moons ago. I took the perfect square and added columns. And when I tried sewing the new columns to the old square, the seams didn't line up. Not even close. Yep. Now, I do use a guide and while my seams may not always be perfect scant 1/4 inches, usually things DO line up. However, in this case, I used my new machine (Kim Gordon) to piece the new columns... and I had used my old machine (Kitty) to piece the original square. Different machines, different guides. I just wasn't thinking.

The original baby-sized square with pretty seams.

I got verrrrrry familiar with my seam ripper this past week. I wanted to forge ahead with the project and disregard the mistakes. I tried to get comfortable with that path. But--and I think this is a sign of growth--I couldn't do it. So I ripped out the entire new section, but I kept the original square and will finish it off into a baby quilt. Which is what it was originally going to be anyway. And, because I can't get this color story out of my head and I don't want all of those squares to go to waste, I not only retrimmed the new section, I cut out the squares to remake the old section. Once I get it all stitched up I'll still only be halfway done with the new, larger quilt, but I think it'll be worth it in the end.

Whew. I wish I could say those were the only mistakes I've made, but there have been others. "Learning opportunities." Uh huh. I'm learning a lot. Hey, I'm happy to report that in between making errors learning opportunities I finally took the time to figure out the needle positions for a perfect 1/4 seam on Kim Gordon. (Side bar: isn't it annoying that a 1/4 inch foot doesn't make a 1/4 seam without some adjusting?!) SUCCESS!

On that note, here's my Quarter 3 Finish List. I've got the DCMQG sewing retreat in August and hope to get some quality stitching, so here's hoping there are a few finishes!

Priory Square quilt (above) -- piecing done; needs to be basted and quilted
Cotton + Steel (baby) plus quilt -- time to baste and quilt that baby!
Cotton + Steel plus quilt (the re-do) -- piecing in progress
AMH greatest hits scrap quilt -- let's not talk about it.

Project Piles:
Natural History twin quilt for M -- pattern picked
AMH mixed up king quilt
Doe strip quilt

Linking up to On the Windy Side for the 2015 Finish Along Q3!

She's here! It's a Janome Skyline!

She's here! Meet Kim Gordon, my new Janome Skyline S5!

Oh, she is such a dream. The 1/4 in piecing foot is accurate! She has auto tension control! There is an adorable bow stitch!

Look at all of those stitches! And the auto-thread cutter!

Just imagine the labels I could make!

I love Kitty, my Brother CS6000i. She is the machine who helped me learn and fall in love with sewing and quilting. She showed me how easy and satisfying it can be to make something beautiful. She has her own set of fancy stitches. And, perhaps her best feature, she is so lightweight! An excellent travel companion.

But Kitty has her flaws. She struggles with accuracy. Her throat space and lighting are lacking. I've fiddled with her thread tension endlessly, sometimes to no avail. She's kept pace with me as best as she can, but it's time to make room for a new family member.

Yes, it is a very good day to be snowed in. A VERY good day!

Okay, I've got to go now. Kim Gordon and I are still getting acquainted. But so far I can say this: her name suits her. She is BADASS.

#determination #2015

Hello, new year. This year I will celebrate my 40th birthday and 15th wedding anniversary. I have been looking forward to this year and to a big party and a big trip (Venice? Hawaii? Disney with the family?). And a fancy new sewing machine! Cruella's entrance in the final month of 2014 certainly put a damper on things. It has made 2015 seem less like a year for celebrating.  

That said, 2014 was mostly a good year for me. I stretched in my work and figured out what I DONT want to do, landed a fabulous new job that so far is what I DO want to do, made lots of time for sewing and sewed some pretty beautiful things, loved (and was loved by) my guys, and enjoyed being happy. I found peace and balance.

I want those celebrations this year. I want the peace and balance I just found. I will not let Cruella upend my world.

So: happy New Year! Let's do this.

2015 Goals:

1. Kick cruella's arse.

2. Celebrate the heck out of my birthday, anniversary, and achieving goal 1.

3. Live, love, laugh. 

2015 sewing to do list:

1. Tote bag for S's birthday (and a matching change purse?)

2. Finish the unicorn quilt for J

3. Finish the AMH scrap quilt

4. Priory Square quilt for K

5. Quilt for KK (Lizzy house cats? Cotton and Steel kitties?)

6. Baby quilt for B

7. Divided basket for B

8. Divided basket for me!

9. Try 6 new quilt blocks

10. Make a quilt for charity