Square In Squares Done

 And now for some actual I-sewed-something-content!

I was really pleased with how easy it was to make all the square in a square blocks for the Old Town mystery quilt with the new method of paper piecing I've been using lately. Here's some process pictures to somewhat explain.

When you're done, you won't have sewn through your paper at all. I did just a teeny tiny bit, you can see where I repaired the paper at the bottom.

When you're all done sewing, you just peel that finished block off of the paper. Easy peasy, no picking out all the paper bits in the seam lines!

So far this method works best for me on fairly simple paper piecing blocks.  To break down the steps:

Your first step is to fold the paper back exactly on the line, like in the picture above. 

Second, you lightly glue stick the paper pattern to the wrong side of the fabric so it won't shift around.

Third, sew right up against the folded paper edge. But try your best not to sew into the paper. You can see a bit of perforation where I did a little of that, but it's okay. 

Fourth, unstick the paper when done, and re-use your pattern for the next block.

This method is just a teensy bit less accurate than normal paper piecing where you're sewing directly on the seam line. Thus, it doesn't work quite as well when you're assembling a bunch of small sections together. But in this case it worked out just fine. Also, I printed out and used just two paper patterns to make 25 blocks.

Almost done, 18 out of 25 completed.

This one is probably my favorite fabric/color combination.

That's it! They're all done now.

Summed-Up 2024

The year 2024 is now"in the books" as you know, and before I shelve mine completely away, it's time for a summing up.

The 1SE video for 2024, all six minutes of it, shows a little slice of how I spent my time, one second per day. It's pretty representative, showing the daily studio work, family/pets, garden, and traveling.

Finishes

The Four I's - a BAMQG challenge, exhibited at the San Mateo County Fair.

5-4-5-7 - made for Stretching Art & Tradition exhibit.

First Project Quilting challenge - Un-nested

Second Project Quilting challenge - Sky Color

Third Project Quilting challenge - Edges Out

Fourth Project Quilting challenge - Muddy Hours

Japanese Houses  finished and gifted.

Blue Squares - this was a long time coming, but it finally got done and gifted.

I finished this year's ICAD.

I finished the 100 Days project

Big Steps Completed

City Sampler top finished

Bohemian Wife top finished

All twelve columns done of the 2023 Temperature Quilt

Finished making all the blocks for the Pantone Project

Community Giving

Did the binding on this beauty.

Made two sunflowers blocks

Friendship stars for a friend's quilt

Four Orla blocks

Quilted and bound this quilt

 One big Inspo block

Two Big Blocks

My goodness, that's quite a lot really! I was feeling a little poky and a bit down about my production for the year, but it really comes in fits and starts throughout the whole twelve months. Not a surprise as a lot of this is dependent on how I'm physically doing which changes a lot from month to month (and day to day!). A very good exercise to go through every year here on ye olde blougue as I also discovered last year.

January To-Do

 

Here's how my design wall looked on the first day of the new month and new year. Not so very different from how it looked last month. Metro Twist is pinned up with its backing on the left, but it's doubled over to make room for some of the Old Town square in square blocks. Running Out of Raincloud is still pinned in the very same place, waiting for squaring up and facings to be applied. The Stamp Quilt blocks are over on the far right. In front of the design wall is the City Sampler and Bohemian Wife. The pile to the right is finished quilts that need to either be hung up or put in the storage closet.

I got inspired for finishing some of my UFO's this year from an Instagram post from Sarah Goer for JandiDean's 2025 challenge. I have to admit part of the reason for joining is that I liked the little ufo logo.

I had to pick out 6 UFO's (out of my very long list) to commit to finishing this year for this challenge. Those choices will have a UFO symbol 🥏👽 next to them on this list.

I've rearranged the list into two sections Quilts and Other. Within the Quilts category, there are three stages: Continue Assembly - for quilts I've already started making, Quilting- for quilts that have a top and backing made, and Finishing- for quilts that have been quilted but need binding/facing, labels and sleeves.

QUILTS

Continue Assembly

AG Stamp Quilt - continue to make more blocks using the cut-out stamp block borders and centers from Tula Pink fabrics.

Design and make a quilt for the Sister Artists 3 embroideries - Due in February. 

Old Town Mystery Quilt - keep working on the weekly clues.

🥏👽 Trim to size and then sew the 12 columns of the Temperature Quilt together.

🥏👽 Bohemian Wife -finish assembling the quilt back, sandwich and make the binding

Pantone Project - work on a overall design, either in EQ8 or up on the design wall.

City Sampler put together a backing, make binding, take to a long-armer to be quilted.

Quilting

🥏👽 Trinket

🥏👽 Metro Twist - sandwich and quilt.

🥏👽 Slopes

Final Steps

🥏👽 Running Out of Raincloud -  add facing, sleeve and label.

HANDWORK/BAG/CLOTHING PROJECTS 

Make a Cotton Candy pouch for myself.

Oxbow Tote - cut out and begin the assembly.

Toned-Down Circle Sampler - arrange and appliqué the circles, start embroidering.

Y.E.S. Coat - continue making pieces/blocks. assemble on foundation, cut out lining pieces from the fabric that I dyed.

Snake In The Garden - Finish hand stitching

Kawandii - Finish hand stitching/assembly

More categories and moving things around on a list is of course not terribly productive, but if it helps organize my mind's to-do list, perhaps it will result in more actually getting done during January.

December Summed Up

Now for looking back on the month of December.  

Here's the one second every day video for December 2024. 

The monthly I-Did List for December is as follows:

1. I worked on the Bonnie J. Hunter mystery quilt, Old Town and finished the units for Clue 1.
2. I worked on several more of the clues for the Old Town quilt.
3. I reviewed the new ruler stand that my DH 3-D printed for me.

Woof, that's a very short I-Did list, but I really was just sewing on the Old Town mystery quilt whenever I had time this month. A whole lot better than nothing. Several times I almost veered off to work on something else that was on my to-do list, but I really tried to keep myself on track with working on all those mystery quilt clues as they came.

I also posted blog posts on here 20/31 days, I posted on Instagram 5 times, on Threads 0 times, on Facebook 0 times, and on BlueSky 33 times. Guess I'm really sticking with BlueSky for most of my social media posting from me, it's a good mix of the former vibe of olden days Twitter and also something new. Worth sticking around for at least for a while.

In real life, I went to Sew Day which was also the December meeting for BAMQ, celebrated my birthday with family and friends, visited with family and hiked, did Christmas dinner with my folks, and went on a two-night getaway with friends for NYE.

Happy New Year and Month

Happy New Year! Can you believe it's now been 25 years since we survived Y2K?

The above monthly marker picture is made in a new way for a new year with KaleidaCam and Snapseed photo editing apps.

It's from a picture I took of an American Coot (a chicken-like bird that acts like a duck) in Lake Tahoe on New Year's Eve just a couple days ago.

The word of the year that I've picked for myself is: THRIVE

The world may be seeming like it is bending all around us in new and unexpected ways (like in the edited photo up above), but the theme or goal for the year is to thrive in spite of, because of, assisted by or all of the above that transpires this year. It seems like it could be a hinge of history sort of year, but maybe it will be somewhat less dramatic. Thriving in chaos vs. thriving in relative calm are of course two very different things, but the overall goal for the year is to thrive no matter what.

I'll do summing up last year and looking forward to this year posts sometime in the next week. But for now, I'm just enjoying putting up my new calendars, starting off writing in my new daily desk journal/planner and so on.