Binding is Finished

 I was able to get the binding sewn down after a couple of delays. It is not a big quilt. It finished at 53x57". It's nice though.

I had to finally bite the bullet and get a new phone. I have had to spend some time to get it set up where I can find everything. In other words, I am trying to make it look as much like my old one as possible. One thing I am excited about is the camera. I read a lot of reviews and decided on the Samsung 21 because of the high ratings on the camera. Here's the first picture I took with it:

It's pretty clear considering this is a dog who never holds still. I will need to do some reading to see how to use the full functionality. 

2022 UFO Challenge

The January number for the APQS UFO challenge is

I have to admit I didn’t finish my 2022 list until after I had seen the January number, so it was an easy choice for me. I finished the quilting and hurried up and got the binding done. 

The ideal plan was to use the border fabric for the binding; unfortunately the new die lot didn’t match the old one. 🙄 I shopped around and finally found a dark red print that matches the red in the border. It’s not what I would normally have picked, but at least the colors match. 

The backing was from a bolt I bought several years ago. I think it works well.

Binding and More Binding

I brought this one back with me as well as the fabric I had left over from the border:

I figured I could get the binding cut from the extra fabric and hopefully get it sewn on.

I found this in the sewing room while I was ironing the extra fabric:

Score! It looks like I had already made the binding, although I don't remember doing it. Now I only had to sew it on.

It turns out it must have not been for this quilt.

Or, if it was, I mis-measured. I am several inches short. The good new is that I still have plenty of the fabric, I know where it is, and it won't be difficult to add a piece onto this. I should have it finished tonight. I want to get it finished as I have an idea of who to gift it to.

Another Finish

I put my unexpected day off to good use and got the binding finished on a table runner I started last year.

The binding is not really rippled--I didn't lay it very flat for the picture.

It's a Villa Rosa pattern called Penny Candy, and it takes about half of a charm pack plus some background fabric. Binding is my least favorite part of the entire process, and I have quilts here from 10 years ago that have no binding. I am really making a big effort to rectify that. Even if my resolve only lasts a few months, at least I will have that many more done. 

I have gotten lax about labeling my quilts.....I used to be good about it, but in my new rush to get things completed, it is not being done. I think I will order some pre-printed ones from Etsy. If anyone has a good source, please let me know.

Cross Stitch Update

I felt cruddy all weekend and was not terribly productive. I mostly sat on the couch and did this:

I only have two more colors left to complete, and I’m almost finished with one of them. All of that dark blue stamped color is the last one I need to complete, so there is a lot of it. I am pretty confident about getting this knocked out pretty soon.

Sunday I drove back to Lake Jackson so I could get back to the office on Monday morning. By the time I got back to town, I had a text from my boss saying due to Covid spikes, we will once again be working from home until further notice. Okay, no problem, I got out of bed Monday morning and was on the computer by 6am. I worked for about an hour before I realized it was a holiday! Since New Year’s Day was a Saturday, we had Monday off. I felt like a goof. It was too cold to walk the dogs, so I just went back to bed. I slept for a few hours which almost never happens. I must have been tired. 

Scrap Busters

I have been searching for a project or two or three that will consume some of my scraps and offcuts. I have looked on Pinterest and done Google searches. I have come to the conclusion that I probably need to do another string quilt, and I need to continue working on the quarter log cabin blocks I started in 2021. 

I did find a few patterns I want to start this year.

(Not my pictures—I don’t know where they originated….)

I know I said I didn’t want to do another scrappy trips, but I might do one just to use up the strips. The third picture is a pattern from American Patchwork and Quilting. I bought the pattern and will start it soon. It uses small pieces—lots of them! 

It’s not too much of a plan, but I think I am getting there.

Scrap busting suggestions are welcome!

Happy New Year

2022- A new year with new opportunities. I am a goal setter. I am so easily distracted, if I don’t make something a goal, there is little chance it will happen. I set different kinds of goals depending on the purpose; for instance, financial goals, personal improvement goals, quilting goals, etc. 

For quilting goals, I use the UFO list published by APQS. 

Each month, they select a number, and you work on that number. I have a couple of the lists this year—one is tops to be quilted as I did almost no quilting last year, only piecing. Another is UFO’s started and not a finished top yet. The third one I am still thinking about. I have quite a few unstarted quilts that I kitted up.

Most of these aren’t started yet, or just have the fabric cut. I can’t decide if I want to commit to these, or just leave the list blank for now, and write down projects that inspire me during the year. I don’t know, maybe it will be a combination of the two.

Many people choose a focus word for the year. I have done this in the past, but not recently. This will be a year of changes for me since I retire from my job of almost 30 years at the end of the month. I thought about the word Adapt since I will certainly have some changes to adapt to, but it didn’t quite have a positive connotation for me. I could picture myself adapting against my will, kicking and screaming the whole way. LOL. Not what I want my focus to be. I ended up choosing Embrace. I want to embrace the changes as new opportunities to be enjoyed and embrace the growth that comes with change.

Do you chose a focus word for the year.? Here is a word generator for 2022 that I found if you need help picking a word.