Conquering FEAR one quilt at a time

I have a finish to share!!!  Last week I took a few days off to complete some Christmas presents for the g-kids...I'll share them soon... and got on a roll and even finished a project for me!!!  The Portland Modern Quilt Guild had all its members working on a medallion along and I pretty much kept up all year.  Then in October, after we had completed the top we were instructed to get the top quilted and bound and bring them to the Christmas party in December to show them all off.  Sounded easy but not so for me.

I was pretty sure the only way I was getting it done was to take it to a longarmer to complete.  I hate working on a quilt on the domestic and since it is my only option, having it professionally finished seemed the smartest choice.  Then for some reason I dragged my feet and started thinking it would feel great to finish this thing all by myself...what a sense of accomplishment that would be.  Then I did the only sensible thing and hung it on a hanger in the UFO closet with plenty of company and left it there.  The week before the Christmas party, I started thinking I should take some time during my vacation to work on it....dare I try to even finish it???

Crazy, but I quilted all 72 x72 inches of this monster in the final two days before the party.  Actually the day before and day OF the party.  I spent 10 hours on Wednesday and another 5 on Thursday, the day of the party, getting this project to completion and it felt really good and really exhausting!!!  Wow, did my shoulders and arms ever feel so tired after fighting that weight thru the machine for two days.

I started by doing something different basting it this time.  Usually I struggle with it on the floor and I saw this idea on Pinterest years ago and decided to finally give it a go.  After basting the back with spray adhesive to the batting I took the top and wrapped in around a clean 2x2 piece of wood.  I started by taping it to the length of the 2x2 with blue painters tape and just wound it around the wood until it was all on it.

Then, I was able to just pin baste it on the table, which was much better than the usual strain on the back and knees on the floor routine.  It was also great to only spray the adhesive on the 10 inches ahead of the section I had just finished and just roll out the quilt onto it each time.  This really revolutionized this part of the process for me...Yeah!! 

A few weeks before the Christmas party, Alyssa Lichner from Pile 'o Fabric presented her 2015 Skillbuilder BOM quilt, Technicolor Galaxy.  You can check it out by clicking on the link if you haven't seen it already, and I was thinking it really would be a fabulous quilt but I wasn't sure if I would want to change up the colors or how I would attack doing that plus did I have the time to commit to it???  Then on December 6th, just when I needed to hear this message the most, she posted talking about the Purpose of Skillbuilding you may want to check it out.  She reiterated that the learning is done thru doing , doing, doing.  Essentially the old practice makes perfect speech we all know so well. Problem is she was right about what stops us from delving forward into the doing, doing, doing, at least for me, and that is the fear.  She says fear will hault your learning and for me that certainly rings true.  I don't finish quilts because my FEAR holds me back.  I feel I have spent all these many hours creating a really beautiful and unique quilt top and I don't want to ruin it's perfection with my free motion quilting skills.  My fear paralyzes me from even attempting to do the next steps to finish the quilt.  I have spent a little time lately getting more comfortable with my walking foot but even then, I could do it more and do and do and do until I am more proficient and certainly not scared of doing it, but I rarely do.  How am I to acquire the necessary skills if I am too afraid of failure to try?

Therefore, two things went through my mind when I read and saw my fear head on in her post.  I was going to finish this quilt and I was going to finish my other UFO's in 2015!!!  Alyssa was so right in pointing out that to grow and succeed I needed to challenge myself to do it!!!  If I didn't try new things I would never realize my potential.  I needed to take her advice and approach this craft with NO FEAR!!!  So I used that as my mantra...no fear...no fear...no fear!!!  Although I felt completely vulnerable taking the quilt top little ol' me had fmq'd to the PMQG Christmas party and hanging it up for all to see, I did it and can you believe I didn't hear one person gasp or belittle my skills.  By the way, thank you for that...seriously :) to all the PMQG members!!! I can chuckle about it now but it is scary putting it out there for such a group to see.

Despite the fact that 75 to 80 percent of the medallions that were finished in time for the Christmas party were probably longarmed and the fact that I felt completely out of my element hanging up my very amateurish in not juvenile skilled fmq'd quilt at the meeting/party,  I am going to  stay strong and fearless and committed to learning this craft.  I kept telling myself, Angela Walters would be proud of me...be fearless... and you know what 15 hours later I had a completed top and it felt amazing!!!


Oh and guess what... that Alyssa Lichner--Pile O' Fabric--2015 Skillbuilder quilt, Technicolor Galaxy, well the PMQG took advantage of a group discount program Alyssa threw our way and a large group of us are all doing it next year together!!!  Talk about Kismet...only fitting I give it a go.
I hope I can stay fearless and motivated in 2015 because I need to grow and succeed in this manner if I am ever going to become the quilter I know I have living in me somewhere.  Just one more reason to say...
Keep Stitchin'

PMQG Medallion Is an official Flimsy

My medallion quilt top is officially done.  Now the goal is suppose to be to get it quilted and bound by the Christmas party of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild.  Tall order for this girl as I don't like the finishing process.  I wish I could say I'll just get someone else to quilt it for me but am going to assume shops might be busy this time of year getting everyone's Christmas gift projects done.  Still I should aim at getting it in the queue soon if it is to have a chance at getting done. 

The final border was one I didn't think I was even going to like on it but I have to say overall I am very pleased with the final result!  All too often when I see a medallion quilt my first impression is 'my how busy is that'---too many things going on in such a confined space.  I was very careful with color placement and used a lot of white to make sure not to feel overwhelmed by the design.  I really like how the black helped break up the rounds also.

It finished off around 70 to 71 inches square.  Seems like it would be easier to quilt if it had a border around it to stop the bias stretch from the last border but hate the thought of buying additional fabric to border it.  Is it supposed to finish off with just the braided border or is it important to add another round.  It would look nice with a white 3 inches around it and a black binding but do I really want this to finish off at around 76 inches square?  What do you think??  What would you do...inquiring minds really do want to know.  Any advice anyone?

I've been busy putting together my Quilt Doodles last round, too.  I hope to have it together soon to show also.  I usually jump right in on my Quilt Art Design BOM but it has been fun seeing these come all together. 

PMQG Medallion Progress

Wowwza this thing is getting big.  It is now 60 1/2 inches by 60 1/2 inches square.  I have always thought square quilts are a duck of a different color.  I wonder what the point of a large square quilt is???  It would be odd to turn this square medallion into a rectangle at the last minute so it will remain square.  It has such symmetry it will need to be square but it still seems a bit odd to me.  Have you ever made a large square quilt before?  This is a first for me but as it is something that the whole group of modern quilters at Portland Modern Quilt Guild are doing, I am going to assume it is going to be okay and not just plain weird having such a large square quilt.  I guess it will make a great picnic blanket, right???

Better start planning a darker background for the back of this quilt if that is it's future.

Anyhoo now that I have that off my chest here is a peak at my top as of today.  I am finally caught up on it.  Really like how it is coming together.  I think it certainly does have a bit of the modern look in it.  Loving the black and white.  Heck loving it all!!!

My quilt model was a little too short and her arms just way too short but you get the gist of it and I am lucky to have gotten a clear picture at all since she couldn't stop laughing.

Keep Stitchin'

June Progress

May seemed like such a long month and already June is flying by.  June is only one day shorter but it seems so much shorter as the month is quickly flying by.  Actually I am farther ahead on my BOM progress than other month's but have so many additional side projects that I just don't seem to ever get around to, that it is starting to be stifling.

A lot of that is because my co-worker retired a month ago and as her replacement is yet to be announced it has left me very busy and working longer hours.  In the meantime, I savor any time I can get to the sewing studio and strive for some sort of balance between creating and family time.
Really what is so different about that...it seems to be the norm.... Ok enough sobbing from me.
Here is a little of what I've accomplished.

 

This month's Sew Kitschy block from Quiet Play

 

This was a nice little block to put together and is looking so good next to all the others.  Nice pitcher of lemonade in the garden anyone?  Or is that possibly a cold pitcher of beer!!!

 

 

I also have been having fun making Kristy's Happily Ever After set of Fairy tale blocks.  I hope to put them all together for a baby quilt this fall.  I just completed the Little Red Riding Hood block.

 

 

Yep, Brave Little Red Riding Hood is walking past a field of frogs.  I figured a little whimsy was all right seeing that the recipient is going to be a little wee one.

 

 

 

I started work on Cinderella this evening but Monday's are our favorite TV show's night so it is far from finished but Red Riding Hood is number five of eight patterns and Cinderella will be number six, so I am pleased with the progress that is being made on this set.  You can find Kristy's set of Happily Ever After Bundle patterns here for $10.00 or individually priced at $2.95 each. 

 

My Medallion Along Quilt top is current with the addition of May's flying geese around her.  I will find out Thursday at the PMGQ meeting what will be adding to it in the upcoming month. 

 

I also pulled off one of the few surprises in my marriage to this great guy by gifting him a Seahawks Super Bowl Jersey.  He was thrilled and looks great in it if I say so myself.  I also tricked him into cooking us breakfast over the campfire but NOT in his new shirt.

 

 

 

 

Hope your day was extra special, too!

 

And GO HAWKS!!!

 

More progress in May

I've been busy making the most of what seems like a very long month of May to good use catching up on blocks and starting new ones.  I added the Jack in the Beanstalk block to the completed blocks in the Happily Ever After series from Quiet Play's pattern collection I bought a few months back.

Then...
I am finally trying to catch up on the Portland Modern Quilt Guild's 2014 Medallion Along quilt.  I kind of got two months behind --- at least that is what it feels like when I still hadn't gotten last month's addition on and then had this month's to do.  I dragged my feet with last month's because it included a little re-figuring the pattern so I could sneak in the bottom of my heart into the top.  I attacked it today and found it wasn't too bad getting the bottom of the heart done but then the circles were the next challenge.

So far I am really happy with how this is turning out.   As soon as I got the bottom of the heart in place I could see how I could have made the top of the heart bigger.  Indeed, I could have increased the top of the heart but at the time I was making all the X's I just couldn't see it.  Oh well, hindsight is always 20-20.  If I could only find time to learn to use the EQ7 I bought last year maybe I could have colored it in and seen it better.  I tried to color it in on just the printed paper copies of the pattern but just didn't find that process to be effective this time.

The inset circles were a little bit of a pain but I am just happy they are done.  The pattern and instructions to make them can be found here.  I do love how the black of both the thin line and circles help to frame the center of this quilt top.

Keep Stitchin'

Easter Blessings to you

Wishing all my peeps a very Blessed Easter full of all the love and hope

and peace offered to us from our Risen Savior 

 

Hope your Easter was full of blessings!!!

 

We spent the afternoon with the grandchildren.  Always feel so blessed and loved when they are near.

Last night while the DH was watching the Ten Commandments as is his Easter tradition , I got the PMQG medallion April addition done.  It continued to be a struggle envisioning the right placement of colors but I like the result.

The idea is to make the center look like a heart.  Next month hopefully I will find a way to make the bottom of the heart come to a point.  Can you see where I am working the pink in the center into a heart?  The only thing I wish I had done differently is to make the one light X a darker value.  It seems to be calling out to be a yellow instead of pale violet.  It was one of the earlier ones I made and thought to make more lighter ones but the darker ones really were more eye catching so I kept working with the darker values.  I should have tossed it out but with so many flubs of color and re-dos I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  I should have taken a picture of it before I sewed it all together because the instant I viewed the picture I knew the light X was a total mistake...to redo it would be a huge undertaking. Yikes what to do.  At this point I am making a pincushion for the swap at the meeting on Thursday and don't really want to rip this thing apart.  Maybe it is something I will decide to do next month.

One way or the other I will just Keep Stitchin' 

March goes out like a Lion

March has come in like a lamb and seems to be going out like a lion.  That is not even a reference to the weather but the busy-ness that is surrounding me at the moment.  It all started out like a normal month but my dad's health has taken another turn for the worse and after some time in the hospital recently it has been decided he needs more help than his wife is able to give and a foster home has been found and he is getting settled in.  Not exactly by choice but definitely a necessity.  Still busy getting his home on the market and getting his wife settled into their new home also.

At the same time we spent a rushed and busy week squeezing in time with our daughter while she was home from WSU for Spring break and took her back this last weekend.  We did get to a local quilt show on Friday and is was so nice to spend some quality time together during what has been a month of turmoil.

My oldest grand-daughter has just been diagnosed with pediatric migraines and that has been waying heavy on our hearts too this month.  So I haven't spent as much time blogging but have sneaked in a little time in the studio.  Here is what I have been up to.

After I finished my medallion for the Portland Modern Quilt Guild medallion-along,   I set to work making one for Karen who blogs at The Recipe Bunny.  She had said she didn't have time and believe me...I understand.  I have been wanting to make a New York Beauty block for some time and decided to make one for her medallion.  I also knew that she may not have time to complete the rows we have to add to it each month but if she should choose to it would be interesting to see it come to life thru her eyes.  If it becomes a pillow or tote bag I am fine with that too.  I was interested in working through the process and it was challenging.  The color choices alone were very important and had to be penciled in on paper several times to get it so I liked them.  

Piecing the outer curves are so much easier than the inner curves.  But all in all, they came together much smoother than expected.   I asked her what colors she would someday like to make a quilt top in and she responded lime green, navy blue and gray and white.  Her choices made for a great combo for the New York Beauty.  Karen is currently working on a quilt for the 2014 Hands 2 Help Charity quilt challenge and I would love to commit to making one for one of the charities myself this year but with all that is going on with my family I feel the need to not over commit right now.  Therefore, I totally get if she doesn't have time for an extra thing on her plate right now...I get it :)

Karen and I attend the PMQG meeting each month and I so loved the February meeting I was totally stoked for the March meeting.  The March meeting also focused on a charity project.  Camp Erin representatives explained that they are looking for donations of quilts for the camp that reaches out to kids who are grieving for the loss of a family member that they experienced at a young age.  The kids attending are in the age groups of 6-18 years of age and have lost someone dear to them.  I think both of these are very worthy charity organizations and because I just don't have the time right now, I hope to put together a couple of quilts this year and set them aside for next years charities that will pull my heartstrings.

I have also spent a little time doing a little spring cleaning.  A few short weeks ago all of these fabrics were on the floor in baskets with no room to walk around.  It was good to get them somewhat organized and more accessible.  I thought about showing the before picture but it was not pretty.  In fact just to the left of this picture it is still a mess.

The quilt show I mentioned that took place this last weekend was one I enjoy going to each year because of its garage sale.  At least that is what I call it. Bargain prices on unwanted fabrics.  Here is what I dragged home with me this year.  Not quite as much as last year but a substantial amount to play with:)

Keep Stitchin'

Cupid Gotcha Good

When I joined the Portland Modern Quilt Guild last month,  one of the first things I wanted to get started on was their 2104 PMQG Medallion Along.  I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted it to first be modern and second to 'own' it.  By that I mean, I wanted it to be unique and for me to feel a deep connection to it.

I love what I came up with.  It's been a while since I challenged myself to create a new pattern.  Maybe too long...I have been longing to do something more qreative but have been engrossed in quite a few BOMs and they keep me busy in my spare time.  Designing can be time consuming, but I quickly found that in surfing for ideas, I was inspired by all the modern arrows and feathers showing up in quilt tops.  Plus you can create them fairly easily with paper piecing, so I spent a couple nights drawing up a pattern.  Now I want to figure out how to create a PDF of it so I can share it on my blog.  I hope to be able to figure that out this month.  But since I don't think learning to create downloadable files is what A Lovely Year of Finishes is about, I think I will be sitting this month out as this is the goal I am hoping to achieve this month. 

Here is my medallion center:

                     I love how the six arrows come together in the center to create a hexagon. 

The medallion center is 16 1/2 inches and the next border is suppose to be 2 1/2 inches wide around it.  The example showed either a plain border around it or a border with cornerstones set in each of the four corners.  I changed mine up a little bit as I want to try to incorporate a heart in the top.  Not knowing what is coming next but hoping I can tweak it to suit my needs here is what I did with my
2 1/2 inch border.

Keep Stitchin' and reaching for remarkable goals...