Quilt Retreat!

I have finished stripping wallpaper.  I have washed down the walls, all but the four in the kitchen.  I am ready for someone to come texture the dry wall.  I may be waiting for a while.  The earliest I've been told is "end of November."  November looks to be a long month.

I finished the wallpaper work Wednesday night, and headed for the foothills on Thursday morning.  Valley Oak Quilt Guild had a retreat, and boy, was I ready to retreat!  I got more quilting/sewing done in those four days than I've done in the past ten months!

On Thursday, I pieced the bulk of a baby quilt for my new granddaughter.  I finished the top before breakfast on Friday.

 I spent Friday cutting and placing 1.5"x3.5" rectangles to make the frame for this 2016 quilt from the Katie Pasquini Masopust online class.  It looks so finished, I am ready to finish it!

 On Saturday, I pieced together some Grandmother's Flower Garden pieces.  I have a top that I began back in the late 80's, so the flowers were already assembled.  I added leaves and pieced them together.

 My plan is to add them to the bottom corner of a quilt that I have been working on for the past 3 years.  I started it in a David Taylor class.  I am excited that it is finally coming together.

 And finally, on Sunday, I finished quilting this Tartan landscape.  It was another project from the Katie Pasquini Masopust online class. 

I may end up adding a bit more quilting in the sky, with Sulky, to add some shine to the implied rain.  I've thought of adding the car and road sign from the original photo, but they might distract from the landscape.  This quilt is all about the landscape.

And there you go.  More quilting in four days than I've done in ten months.
I've been back since Sunday afternoon, and I've yet to get the urge to get back on that ladder and wash down the walls in the kitchen.  I will, eventually, but most certainly not today!

A Finish!

Did I set any goals for February?  I think the only goal I set was to get my quilts entered in Best of the Valley.  Past that?  ohmygoodness!  My days are too full to set goals!  In fact, I'm taking a break from quilt show tasks right now, to post.  shame on me!  ;)

I was very excited about the theme for this year's BOTV Challenge, i.e., "Colors of the Valley."  But make a quilt?  I didn't have time for that.  But when the deadline for the show challenge arrived and there weren't many entries?  The deadline was extended for 5 days, so that those who ran out of time could finish their submissions. 

I looked around at my UFO's, and spotted the top that I'd put together last May in the Jean Wells class up in Sisters, OR.  The challenge quilts were to measure 18 x 24", my top was 20 x 26".  With some heavy quilting, I thought it might just shrink up to 18x24, and surely enough, it did!  (I trimmed off less that 1/4" in each direction.)

Here is my final piece, finished in time for the extended deadline:

 "The Early and Late Rain"  by Suzanne Kistler, March 2017

 "The Early and Late Rain" - detail

I'd been thinking that during this wet wet year, this quilt is the color that rain brings.  I had a working title of "The Color of Rain" as I quilted, but once it was finished?  I tried to recall a Bible verse that mentioned both early and late rain.  I found it through a search on Bible Gateway. 

In trying to keep with the deadline, I decided to "save time" by printing my label, rather than stitching it out on my embroidery machine.  In doing so, I could increase the amount of text.  Here is my final label - I need to play around some more, to figure out how to "pop" the text better - I put the text on a background of a recent photo from my backyard.  I am very pleased with the results.

And that's it.  wow.  I actually quilted for more than 5 minutes in a month, AND I finished something.  Big things are afoot!  woohoo!

P.S.  In other quiltie news, my quilt By The Sea was accepted into the Sacred Threads exhibit this July.  Stay tuned for more details. 

And The Goals Are...

Happy New Year! There's always talk of "resolutions" when January 1 rolls around.  I've found that I can resolve to do all kinds of things, but they end up too nebulous to achieve.  This year I'm back to baby steps when it comes to quilting.  My overall dreams of achievement far surpass my capabilities.  Instead, 2017 is a year to be taken one day at a time.  I will confine myself to weekly goals, more or less.

So.  Here we are on Day 1 of Week 1.  I am working on my 2017 UFO List.  Last night, when I thought it was complete, it had 35 entries.  By noon this morning, I remembered 4 more.  I am hopeful that I will begin the year with a mere 39 UFO's.  That would be fantastic!  I don't think I've begun a year with fewer than 40 UFOs since we left the 80's!

I have a few general goals for the year.  The first is "Blog More."  That should be easy.  I fell off track this year when life interrupted.  I'm working on focus.

The second is "Finish A Show Quilt."  I have multiple pieces in process, that could be contenders, should I actually follow through and finish them.  I am hopeful that at least one of them will not only reach the finished stage, but also be finished in time to enter at least one major show in 2017.

The third is to "Have A Portable Handwork Project" ready to go.  I can't tell you how many times I have needed something small to work on, but had nothing at hand.  Instead, I've been reading my kindle.  I'd rather be quilting.

Finally, we reach my quilting goals for January:

1)  Before the end of the month, I'm committed to mail out 3 themes of postcards for Postmark'd Art.  I still need to make all of the postcards.
2) M-AQF entry deadline is January 24.
3) My first assignment for the KatiePM class is due January 16.
4) Sacred Threads entry deadline is January 4.

This week, I plan to take photos of my quilt(s)? and enter Sacred Threads; make a set of PMA postcards; finish a (small) UFO; and make my pattern for the Katie Class quilt.  I expect each project to take approximately 3 hours.  Give or take an hour.

Then again, my dad is here, and will be until at least January 9.  At that time, I will drive him back over the hill, for a week at home.  Whether he stays there or returns?  Remains to be seen.  His presence in my house reminds me:  Every Day Is A Gift.

And with that, I hope you, too, set some goals for 2017.  Big or small, size is not the point.  Goals set us moving on a course, and going forward is good.  Happy New Year!!