2019 Finish-A-Long Q1

 I tried this whole Finish-A-Long thing in 2017 and 2018 a couple times, and had 0 finishes both times. But I'm trying again this year.
FOCUS and all that, right?

Well, to be more accurate, I did indeed have 2 finishes, just not in the quarters that I'd signed up for.  Last time I had a huge amount of projects on the list, in the hopes of maybe at some point...I'd hopefully be getting *something* done. This time I'm going to actually prioritize my projects a bit more and list what I actually want to get done.

So here goes, my Finish-a-Long list for the first quarter of 2019:

1. Triangle Study - finish piecing, quilt, bind, sleeve, label.

2. Challenge Blue - finish quilting, add sleeve, label.

3. Color Collusion - Finish quilting, bind, sleeve, label.

4. Technology's Spine - Finish quilting, embellish, bind, hanging sleeve, label.

5.  Between the Cypress - Design on remaining appliqué, finish quilting, embellish, bind hanging sleeve, label.

6. Shenzhen Skies - Finish quilting, binding, hanging sleeve, label.

7. Stripes - finish top, quilt, bind, sleeve, label.

8. Body Double - finish quilting, bind?, sleeve, label.

If you've got some stuff to finish in the next three months, here's where to go link up too!

This Might Work

Carrying on thinking about my word of the year: FOCUS.
What are the physical things I can do to help that happen this year?

One of the things that I know I need help with is keeping track of what I do, every single day. Otherwise I lose track of time and kind of drift off into the fog.

I found that having a calendar in the studio where I write down what the heck I accomplish, *however small* is essential to me to keep up the momentum, remember what I'm working on, feel like I'm getting somewhere, etc. I don't spend a lot of time writing it down, just a few words or sentences, but it's enough for me. It makes it more real and concrete if I physically write it down somewhere, cements it in my mind somehow.

This is the second year I'm using a 17 month weekly calendar/planner from Paper Source, it's sturdily bound, and has an elastic that goes around it to keep it closed. Not sure why, but I really love that one detail for some reason. Again I've chosen a calendar that is likely a school year planner, as it starts in August 2018 and goes through the end of 2019. So I use those months' worth of pages as places to glue stick in postcards and business cards and magazine clippings, and jot down the ideas they sparked or why I'm keeping them.

Stacks and Stacks

Spent a long time cutting out all the rectangles and squares for the sweatshirt jacket I'm working on for my aunt. The pattern calls for 8 FQ's but I used a few more than that and just adjusted. And yes there will likely be left-overs. Maybe I can make her a matching bag or something with them?

It's going to be one of the projects I work on at the CQFA retreat at Asilomar in 8 days (count down has begun). It takes some table space when you lay it out and pin it so that'll be good.

I'm way too pleased with myself for A) Planning Ahead For Once and B) Choosing Good Fabrics
I think the selection of blues along with other colors will make for a lovely jacket once it's done.

Wandering Wednesday - Stevens Creek Canyon

 Our tradition on New Year's Day is to go on some sort of hike. This year we chose to meet up with family at Rancho San Antonio in Cupertino.

 But on the way there, we got a flat tire.  I took the previous two pictures as the pit crew changed the ripped up tire out for the spare.

They were Very Fast, I timed them and it was all of 8 minutes, whew!
Then once we got back into cell phone range, we got a call from my parents that there was no parking. Alternative plans were made and we drove over to Vasona Park.
Had a lovely walk, but while we were sitting on the top of the dam, eating oranges, my cellphone decided to take a swim, so I have no pictures from that point on the hike. Alex was quick-thinking and ran down the steep concrete dam to retrieve it from the water.
It luckily mostly survived after spending a couple of days in a bag of rice.

The weather was beautiful, cool and clear, all the dogs being walked looked very happy, the one that was in the stroller...not so much, he just looked confused.
We finished up with some great pizza at a place open on New Year's Day, a good way to begin the new year. (Except for the flat tire and the wet cell phone.)

Another Jacket

I'm starting in on making a new sweatshirt jacket. This time it's for my aunt, who has been coveting the one I made my mom a few years ago:

My aunt asked for mostly blues, royal and midnight blues. So she's going to be getting a whole lot of those blues. I actually went and bought these FQ's, since I used so much of the selection of my stash of blue batiks on the solstice quilt. The first step is cutting it all up into squares and rectangles of various sizes. As in the previous three sweatshirt jackets, I'm using the Gail Abeloe pattern "I Can't Believe It's A Sweatshirt" pattern from Back Porch Press.

Lucky Lucky

Feel like I lucked out at the holiday gift exchange for the December meeting of the South Bay Modern Quilt Guild. Great Kaffe fabrics and a cool book I hadn't seen before, Modern Applique Illusions by Casey York. 

I'm looking forward to using the fabric in my Gypsy Wife quilt this year. And after I read the book, maybe trying out some of the techniques, always loved the topic of creating perspective and depth. 

Pumpkin Blocks

Tried out a new ruler, the Quick Curve mini, which I purchased at PIQF because of the pumpkin blocks that were on display.  I love doing curves, but have varying degrees of success with it, depends a lot on how often I'm sewing them.
These blocks really do go together very easily using this thing, once you figure out the lines you're supposed to actually use. I thought it might be hard to rotary cut in the slot, but it's not really a problem at all.
Obviously some of these blocks are more successful than others, I need to pay more attention to the grey vs. grey background. Now to make some with oranges. Who knows, it might come together by this Halloween?

Word of the year

I've chosen a word of the year for many years now (about fifteen or so I think), and there's something about this intentional process I keep coming back to. It's not a resolution making thing, it's more about setting your intentions so it's not bad/good/whatever if you don't "succeed" at it over the course of the new year, but instead a more gentle nudge to alter your approach to things in the new year.

Anyways, this year I chose the word at random (as usual) and came up with FOCUS.
Whew, is this ever the word for me this year. I've struggled with this a lot recently, and not just n regards to being creative, so it's going to be a challenge. But it's such an obvious place to start for me. I have all the tools, the time, the physical ability (mostly) and even some energy (sometimes), all I need is the FOCUS to actually get something done.

 I just ordered this print from society6 all about FOCUS.

2018 In Review

Well, 2018 is done and dusted, but I wanted to review a bit. Since it was a recovery year for me, I'm giving myself a big pass on not being terribly creative or finishing much. I started a few things, finished a few things, got rid of a few things and went some great quilt/art related places.

Finishes:

Solstice Quilt

Uncountable Arils

Embroidery Stitching on blocks for SJSA

Starts:

A small bit that's in the quilt I started in the Rosalie Dace class, Word for Word

 Began a new quilt using recent purchases of new fabric using the sizzle die for Square Dance.

Also started a stripe-based quilt in the great Libs Elliot class I was lucky enough to take at QuiltCon.

Trips:

Went to QuiltCon in Pasadena

Went to Sisters in Oregon

Museums and Japanese Garden in San Diego

Other:

Best of all, I started going to quilt meetings more regularly again. CQFA and South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild, and even an occasional Bay Area Modern meeting when friend Jaye invites me. It's so important for me to get out of my head, out of my house and in the mix with other quilters/makers. I'm going to be attending the SAQA conference this year in April, can't wait!

Happy 2019!

Looking forward to 2019! Don't these teen years sound so futuristic, or is that just me?
This is not my picture, but this is the sort of energy I want to bring to experiencing the year ahead. Surround myself with light, get comfortable, observe and enjoy.

Back From The Porch

Here's what I purchased last week at Back Porch Fabrics with the assist of my rewards certificate. First up, eight Fat Quarters of greens in Peppered Cotton. As well as eight Fat Quarters of brightly colored cotton woven plaids.
They're sitting on top of a white pucker stitched cotton which will likely end up dyed. The texture of it is fantastic and I want to make some sort of shirt out of it.

Late Summer Into Early Fall

 It's been a struggle this year to keep everything watered, but the cosmos finally bloomed, but not bright pink, instead an almost white palest pink. Which is lovely.

 Actually got some peaches off our new tree.

 You know it's fall when the Poison Oak is turning lovely shades of red.

 And it's also fall when the sedum is blooming.

The Best Mail is Fabric Mail

 Colors right up my alley this month from Darn Good Yarn. Background is one of the Fabmo upholstery fabrics I recently snagged.

And wow, the Culcita box was gorgeous this time around. They're all from a really well-done collection, Road Trip by Alison Glass.

Wandering Wednesday - Pacific Grove

 It was a beautiful day for a day trip to Pacific Grove. I had a gift certificate for Back Porch Fabrics that was in danger of being forgotten, and so it got used! Then we had a stroll down to Lover's Point.

 DH was having a lot of fun rock hopping.

 Weird weird weird, an almost perfectly round rock. Maybe shaped by the waves over the years?

 It's such a cute little beach cove.

 And the water is so clear in the shallows.

 The whole time we were out there, this one seagull was up on the highest point. King of all he surveys.

There was a swarm of ground squirrels wait that's not right, nope I looked it up. The correct collective noun for a group of squirrels is either a Dray or a Scurry. Got it.

Fabmo Favorites

Had another great day volunteering at FabMo's distribution in Santa Cruz.
Snagged some more greens for my couch pillow replacement plan.
As well as a few yards of that white sheer with the black lines up at the top. It has a cording along one edge and is finished on the other, I think it'll make a nice over-skirt.

Square Dance Start

 So far so good on the Square Dance quilt. I'm starting out with really really random not particular favorite fabrics to practice.

I like these blocks, you can do a lot of variations of them with the pieces you cut out with the Sizzix die. And if you use batiks, then you don't have to worry about right side up or down when you cut to get the left or right-hand triangles.

Here's the blocks I've made so far. There's a lot of energy in the secondary patterns.

 And here's how the scraps from the die-cutting have sewn together so far.