Five's the Limit, Hotties. Hold Me to it!

So now that the festivities are over, and in this house the festivities of Christmas and the new year also include three of five of our family birthdays within the last 9 days of December, and NO we were not smart for having twins on December 30 but we enjoyed the tax deduction immensely, it's time to refocus. Reset. Reprioritize. And apparently set aside a little time to ponder why one cannot reproritize since it appears not to be a word.

In a consortium of creative professionals I belong to (you didn't think all this awesomeness happened without being vetted and discussed sometimes, did you?), the idea of a focus word for 2016 has been bandied about with great passion over the last few weeks. I resisted for a while, because my modus operandi is generally to wake up and figure out what I feel like doing creativity wise on any given day, and who wants to be tied down to a word to make me focus amongst my fabric? But eventually I caved, and I think it will be good for me.
 
Because let's face it, the current modus may be freeing, but sometimes it can be a little overwhelming to let the creative side of my business get too out of hand. As much as I love that I work so far outside of my box that I can't see the box most of the time, will try anything once (and probably fall in love with it and do over and again), and my design wall has to be huge because it's a rare day when it sees only one project on it at a time, I must admit that this whole "Squirrel!" fabric play mentality has become at times rather detrimental, as this past year I was probably more creative than ever but suffered by far the most episodes of burnout when it came to pattern completion of my ten year career. So it's time to change a thing or two.

My word of the year is FIVE. As in "I will not allow myself to be actively working on more than five projects at one time." Should a new project come along that I simply must start, then by my own new rules I simply must set a current one aside, and by set aside I mean actively put it in the UFO pile, not just shove it off to a far corner of the design wall stacked up with pins, where I can still see it and can still tell myself it's a project I'm working on. If I truly believe a design has potential, I should finish it rather than UFO it. If I truly believe a new idea has potential, it should be able to wait til one of the other five potentials is out of the queue.

I'm also actively considering using the word queue in public this year because my Anglophile daughter will go nuts with joy. But back to five.

 As of today, these three projects are on my design wall. All of them I believe in and will be completing, she said with conviction:

#1 -  Remember that free block pattern I had for a limited time early last fall? It's almost a top and WILL be a real pattern, because I believe in this project and will complete it, hopefully during DAGMT this February.

Missed the free block? I'm sorry. It was a limited time  thank you to my facebook followers. It's one of those you snooze you lose situations, and therefore I am not even showing it in full here so that you don't have to be all upset that you missed it. I'm always looking out for you, you know. The pattern will be even more fun than the block alone, of course. And it will be done because it is my top #1.

#2 -  Then there is the annual January Jumpstart group project. More details will be announced this week, and my sample block is done. In the "two birds" category, I'm also going to be using this block for my guild's Feb BOM. But as yours come in, this project will be a huge priority for me. If you've taken part in my scrappy group projects in January before, you know they are usually pretty quick and fun and you get your block on a pattern cover just for testing for me. I'm so thankful you all work so cheap.

There will be a blog post, a newsletter, and a FB announcement to join this group project, test, and swap on January 6. I expect to fill all 40 slots quickly. If you are interested, make sure you read one or all of those sources on Wednesday and let me know ASAP if you are in.

 #3 - Blue Nickel Studios "Painted Trees" pattern won me over. It's rare these days that I work on someone else's pattern, but I think it's important to do it now and then. Following another designer's instructions is pretty enlightening, both about what I could do better and where I rock it big time, thankyouverymuch. I'm thoroughly enjoying this fun scrappy pattern, and the color scheme definitely was an influence on the January Jumpstart block. This one will likely end up in the UFO bin now and again if I have to make way for other projects, but I do hope it will be on the wall more than it is off. Plus in the discovering of it I got to know the designer, Scott Hansen, a little better and he is a riot. Branching out (ha ha, pun with the trees) is always awesome.

So that's three, and that covers my design wall. #4 - is a free block I am designing so I can take part in Block Stock, and #5 is by far the most craziest piece of insanity I've ever decided to take on, but I'll be attempting a Millefiori EPP project using "The New Hexagon - 52 Blocks to Paper Piece" by Katja Marek. I've joined a FB group dedicated to the project, bought the book, and the end product should look something like this one, except with my fabric choices.

By Katja Marek

Because I'm crazy.

I'm not going to kid myself, this one will end up in the UFO bin now and again too. But I'm choosing to give it a go this year and am giving it a slot in my top five right now because I think it's going to be a great lesson and good practice in tone, value, fabric choice, fussy cutting, patience, and seeing just how many tiny scraps of fabric Mr Quilting Hottie can handle on the floor of the living room at any given time. My over/under is about 13.

So FIVE. Cinco. Cinque. It's my word of the year, and by limiting myself I hope to smash my own creative boundaries.

I'm so poetic, right?

C'Mon Get Scrappy! 2014 Group Quilt and Block Swap now accepting participants!

I'm not really sure why, but lately I've been all about the flying goose. Not the type where you unexpectedly sneak up behind your daughter and gently pinch her butt to see her scream with delight and jump in the air, although those are fun too, but the quilting flying goose. There are just so many ways to arrange them, and for a traditional block, they can look pretty modern.

You may be thinking, and rightly so, that with their points and precision they don't quite fit in my "Fun Over Fuss" motto. To you I say - I could not care less if your points are perfect. Just make some geese already.

Copyright 2014, EvaPaige Quilt Designs

I always think it is going to be just so darn easy to come up with a block I like for the annual scrappy group quilt, but in looking back at all the drawings I have in EQ each year prior to deciding on a block to use, that is definitely not the case. This year was particularly entertaining, with 32 blocks in the sketchbook not making the cut. Apparently number 33 is the charm.

But 32 rejects just for one project. That is definitely a record for me. And a whole lot of unreached potential for goose pate, in this case. I was starting to feel the mojo was gone forever. Never fear! We're on track to creating a stunning new group quilt, and I hope you'll all consider joining the fun.

For those unfamiliar, each year I host a block swap that results in my being able to make a cover quilt for a new scrappy pattern. I will be honest in saying that I am totally using you: for your scraps, for your testing abilities, for the fact that every quilter makes a resolution in January to use up their scraps, and so I don't have to make as many blocks and get a cool new quilt out of the deal. But I do try to be a giver as well as a user, and that's where the block swap part comes in. Each year it is a little different than the last as far as how many blocks you make and get back, but I have yet to hear a complaint from any participants. Seriously. I've just sat here and tried to think of someone being unhappy that they participated and/or felt used and slighted and I can't do it.

Feeling the love.

So, you want to make me some blocks and get enough back to make the baby version of this pattern-in-development? Read on for the basic details:

In this swap, you will make five 12 ½” (unfinished size) blocks. More details on how the block is made, what colors to use, etc, is available and will be sent to participants individually once they sign up.

Swap rules and guidelines:

•   Make five blocks and six border geese using the directions provided.  Use white solid or white tone on tone (no cream please) for the background fabric.
• Place all five blocks into a ziplock bag which has been labeled with your name and address.
• Procure two large mailing envelopes – the kraft paper kind is fine, no need for USPS flat rate or priority. Self address one of them. Place the SA envelope, the directions whether or not you have made notes on them, and your ziplock bag into the other envelope, and mail it all to me by 2/10.  
• One block made by each person will be kept by me to use in the cover quilt for the pattern. The other four will be swapped about by me and each participant will receive four blocks back made by other quilters, which will be enough for you to complete a baby quilt in the layout I have determined for the pattern just by adding a border and some setting blocks. Coolness.  

 If you are interested in participating in my 2014 Scrappy Group Quilt, email me at evapaigequilts@charter.net right now! Operators are standing by! Or they might be sewing! Or doing laundry! But in any case, they will get back to you with directions and all the extra details as soon as possible. I will take signups from the moment I hit Publish until Monday, January 13.

 So, who's in?
 

Scrappy New Year! New Group Quilt needs you!

*********UPDATE 3/3/15**********

WELCOME TO ALL PINTEREST PEEPS! It has come to my attention that this block is all of a sudden very popular over there - which I LOVE! I've received a lot of requests for the pdf and I've finally figured out where it was coming from. Sometimes it takes me a day or two. Anyway, please note that while you are welcome to read all about this block and how it started life as one of my group projects, the project ended three years ago and resulted in "Kickin' Stash," my most popular pattern ever designed and still going strong - in fact, it was recently picked up by Checker. If you'd like the pdf of the pattern, it can be found for instant download on Craftsy and Patternspot.  However I am no longer giving away pdfs of the block as that was just for the group project and testing period in early 2012. Thank you so much for your interest and while this has been a bit of a crazy mystery for me over the last few days, it's been kind of awesome too! I hope you'll check it out!

Original post:

It's that time of year again. The time when I look at my overflowing boxes of scraps and think "Really, I need to get a handle on this situation, and while I'm at it I probably should make a new scrap quilt" and then seven minutes later I see something shiny on the other side of the room and thoughts of a new scrap quilt have vanished for another year. Granted, I know you are looking at that photo and saying "She calls THAT a scrap problem??? I can't even shut the door of my studio closet because I have 16 trash bags full of them/My husband has threatened to start using my scraps as oil rags because they have taken over the half bath/The Red Cross called me last week because they heard I could supply them with bandage rolls until 2037/What-evah, girl!", but yeah, I call it a scrap problem. Don't judge my scraps, I won't judge yours. I admit I don't tend to save pieces that other people consider scraps, say anything under 8" square, and have been known to stand idly by watch my friend Angie Callbeck trash barrel dive for my discards at quilt retreats and then pretend to be properly remorseful while she and others to chide me about throwing away perfectly good 4" pieces of fabric, promising never to do it again while crossing my fingers behind my back. Maybe this will be the year I finally do the kind thing and just hand them over to her rather than make her go into the trash for them. But I digress. Yes, I do find these scraps to be a problem, few as they may seem.

But hotties, let us mark 2012 on the calendar as The Year I Finally Did Something About My Scraps. And you get to help me.

I've played around with EQ and drawn a block that I really sort of like for numerous reasons, but the main ones are thus:

• It is pretty simple
• It doesn't have matching points
• It looks cool in a lot of different settings
• and most importantly, I have a prayer of getting rid of at least a few scraps

So in the interest of combining my scrap reduction with a new group quilt, let this serve as the official announcement - Scrappy New Year Group Project is ON!
Some of you may have participated in my group projects before, so you know I'm pretty easy going when it comes to running them. In 2008 I did a version of Syncopated Ribbons with 16 people participating, including an 8 year old boy and 10 year old girl, and it went on to become my cover photo for that particular pattern and is a stunner wherever it goes.

Last winter I ran my infamous Diamond Dazzle group project, wherein I almost lost my mind trying to reason with computerized design, but the actual group project part was great fun. Over 20 quilters participated in that group quilt, and while I got to use the prototype as my cover quilt for the pattern again, everyone who participated received enough blocks in return to make a table runner or baby quilt.
SNY will be the third group project of this type I have run, and I'm happy to say I've already got several people signed on who are threepeats themselves, so it must be at least a little bit fun, right? Are you chomping at the bit to get started yet? Let's get back to that block I showed earlier and tell you what we're going to do with it.
Here's the actual, real, fabric block I made.

It took me about 40 minutes start to finish, including time to locate proper fabrics, becoming distracted by many other pretty ones, cutting the pieces, winding a bobbin, breaking a thread, and an iron that I forgot to plug in. So in a perfect world, it would take 22 minutes or so.
Note that like the drawn block above, it has a white background and four fabrics from the same color family, in my case lime green. That's what we're going for this time. White background, four fabrics from the same color family. It's that simple. I am not going to tell you what color family to choose - that is up to you, and how you choose it can be as simple and scientific as seeing which of your bins is most overflowing (my method of choice), or asking everyone you know what their favorite color is, charting all the answers on a bar graph, and then throwing the bar graph out and choosing your own favorite color. Any color family will do. Really, I cannot stress enough how little I care which color family you choose.
You will make four blocks using directions I will provide to you. All four blocks can be made of the same fabrics and/or be from the same color family, or you can make four completely different blocks. Again, my apathy on how you choose to proceed with that is stunning. One of these blocks I will keep to include in the group quilt I will put together, the other three will be shuffled about and you will receive three blocks back, all made by other quilters. Kind of like a mini BOM. You can either make a few more blocks and whip up a baby quilt with a group flair, or make them into pillows, or use them as handkerchiefs or dishrags - again, I cannot stress how little I care what you actually do with them when you get them back - they are YOUR blocks, so YOUR choice! Each participant will also receive a Quilting Hottie button to prove to the world that they are awesome, and, if they so choose, will be allowed to borrow both the finished group quilt and myself for a half price "Plays Well With Others" group quiltmaking lecture for their guild anytime in the next few years, but is under no obligation whatsoever to do so. Just an offer I'm putting out there because I know this quilt will be beautiful and will want to be seen.
I anticipate wanting all the blocks in the mail to me postmarked by 2/8/12. If this is a good time frame for you and you are at all intrigued, I hope to hear from you!
Potential participants, please contact me directly at evapaigequilts@charter.net and I will email you the pdf of directions. Like all my group projects, I know this one will be a blast.