Life is Suite Again!

It's officially been exactly three months to the day since I blogged. Many of you have given up on me, I am sure, and I do apologize for the long delay. Here are my reasons, in no particular order:

1. The holidays kill me yearly.
2. Got new computer, which is always a fun learning curve for me.
3. Literally took me six weeks, working on trouble shooting for at least a few minutes almost daily, to sign into this blog again on new computer. I was minutes away from calling Blogger and freaking out on them.
4. Yes, I am a computer disaster, still.

Okay, so that's actually all perfectly in the right order, from holidays to computer horror. But this morning it all, for no reason I can figure, ACTUALLY WORKED WHEN I TRIED TO SIGN IN! So while I should be organizing the rest of my taxes, I'm seizing the moment!

So here's what I can't believe - I haven't even told you all about my Suite Life pattern here! Based on the popularity of when I ran it as a Mystery in the fall, I am thinking many of you know about it already. But in case you missed it, it's my first pattern finish of 2017!

I know, I know, you are all thinking you are over Christmas and who wants a Christmas pattern now? Maybe true. But I'm a rebel. And I'd rather get this one done now and photographed with snow on the ground (see that snow?) than wait until August. Plus here's hoping Checker can sell a few at Spring Market, when believe it or not, the Christmas stuff is everywhere you turn.

In any case, I'm not totally wrong. And how can I be wrong when this is SO DARN CUTE??? Slight bias showing.

The pattern started life as my Jingle Jumble Mini Mystery last fall, with five clues released over five weeks, plus a bonus clue on finishing ideas. Everyone who participated ended up with a cute table runner, and believe it or not I know of at least five that were given as Christmas gifts! That's how quick and finish-able the runner version is!

Maybe you find the fact that three of my soldiers are upside down in this photo offensive. Or maybe you find it simply curious, but figure I'm weird and somehow that makes it make sense. Or maybe you instantly get exactly why I did that, which was because when this is on a table, I can either choose to include both sides of the table in the joy of the cuteness, or I can have all the soldier guys facing only one side of the table. Which to me seems a bit unnecessarily rude. So there you go. Don't like the upside down effect? Just turn the blocks around. As with everything, the end product is YOUR quilt. I want you to be happy. I want me to be happy. Answering emails from customers upset that their soldiers are upside down and their dinner party was ruined because of it (hasn't happened, thankfully) would not make me happy.

A little photo session halfie. It was a little windy.

Currently the "Suite Life" pattern is available as a pdf only, and can be found either on Craftsy or my website.
So what else have I been up to in three months? Well, here's a quick pictorial rundown to get you back up to date and me totally fluent in posting photos from this new computer.

1 - 

Like the photo says, I'm an Instructor at AQS QuiltWeek Lancaster! HOW CRAZY IS THAT? I'm so excited to bring my "Now YOU Give it a Scrap Slap" color and design class to the national (ack!) stage on the afternoon of March 30. You'll find it listed in the catalog for the show as "Hands On Scrap Slapping," but same thing; AQS had a five word maximum for class title, thus the change of name just for this event. Heading to the show? Dying to meet me? I'm dying to meet you, too! So sign up! http://www.quiltweek.com/workshops/25504-hands-on-scrap-slapping/

2 

It's time again for Drop and Give Me Twenty! In fact, it started last week, but it's truly not too late to join in at any point in February. Well, maybe the last day or two, because by then what's the point, but now is still plenty of time to join in, get in the habit of sewing 20 minutes a day, and amazing yourself and all the rest of us with all that you can accomplish this month! Come on over and join us at Drop and Give Me Twenty 2017 on Facebook.

3. Other people's patterns

Sometimes you just need or want to have fun with another designer's ideas. I had such fun "VFW-ing" my orphan blocks into a Victoria Findlay Wolfe inspired "15 Minutes of Play" type quilt. It was a study in partial seaming and more than once had me tearing my hair out for lack of another 1/2" on a block, but in the end it's for sure a totally unique quilt no one else could claim as their own.

I finished Blue Nickel Studios's "Painted Forest" pattern last week, and I cannot tell you how in love with it I am. The colors and fabrics were WAY too much fun to put together and I cannot wait to quilt it. What shocks me the most is how close to Scott Hansen's original colors I stayed. That is testament to his awesomeness for sure; I NEVER seem to go with what has been presented to me, but this time I did. And made a complete disastrous upheaval of my entire studio in the process; why is it that no matter what scrap I'm working with, I know I have another one somewhere that could be even better.

That should catch you up on a few highlights. Here's hoping next time I try to blog in a week or so I can get back in here to do it!

DAGMT 2015 wrap up and prize patrol

Did you DAGMT? If so, you know this was a year in which adding the facebook page element for sharing made the event cohesive and crazy and insanely productive and put the social in social media. I am just beside myself over how adding that element literally made it run itself, and in a year in which I wasn't sure which end was up, that was definitely a welcome surprise. It also allowed for more participants, since not every quilter has a blog. I love that several bloggers still used that format and I only wish February in New England had not been out to kill me and everyone else or I would have used it more myself.

What I'm most proud of for my own personal DAGMT experience is that despite 6 feet of snow falling in the first two weeks of February, my children having exactly 5.5 days of school from February 1 to February 23, and my new job as Chief Snow Removal Technician and Ice Dam Watchperson (Hours: round the clock. Salary: 0 dollars ever. Benefits: Joy of running a snowblower in driving snow.), I was still able to fulfill this portion of my pledge:

"I pledge to quilt for at least 90 minutes while the children are at school, and if they are home for vacation, snowday, or weekend because really, let's be honest, they are never in school, to quilt for 95 minutes just to prove I can."

And I did. So there, February. Suck it.


A selection of the projects I worked on, just because everyone loves a show off:

Zippy pouch from scraps on the floor. It was a whole blog post of its own.

Got these babies made up into "Harlequin Shake"

The project I started at age 12 got some new color

Kickin' Stash sample from a jelly roll for my "Give it a Scrap Slap" lecture. It may be no surprise I don't love this quilt, but that's the whole point of my lecture.

 And in my favorite finish of the month, which didn't actually happen until March 2 but I do not care, I pulled out this top, which had been languishing due to me not thinking it was all that great, and decided to finish it. To my surprise, I absolutely love it. Really, truly, and forever and ever love it. Enough to tromp through the snow to get this cool photo.

Snow only about 30" deep here. I only had to sink in up to my nether regions rather than to my neck. Yay February!

I know there is a huge debate/disparity/discontent/probably other words that start with d in the quilt world about photos like this being used as pattern cover shots. There are those who feel a flat photo is the only way to go, ever, as it is the only way to see the whole pattern and know exactly what you are getting into. I tend to agree with that. But there are also those who feel a photo like this, one showing the definite feel of the pattern in a more artsy form, draws the eye more when it is on the pattern wall at the quilt store, and calls "Look at me! Grab me! Check me out!" a little bit more. I tend to agree with that as well. I'm considering giving this photo a go as a pattern cover (after editing out some of the snow) because I really really love it. I really love the snow, the sky, and that tree.  I feel like the pattern is pretty obvious in this photo; it isn't a complex quilt, and what you see here is what you get, and it is draping in a way that shows the pattern, not hides it. 


But what do you think? I'd really love to know your overall opinion. 


Whatever is decided, a photo of the baby size, in flat form, will be on the back cover. 

Oh, and I'm calling the pattern "Crystallize," mainly because "Suck it, February" might be considered offensive or inflammatory if you aren't a New Englander this year.

So overall, did I accomplish everything I wanted to? No. Do I ever? No. So we sigh and move on. But I did get more done on some things than I expected to, AND I got my business taxes ready for the accountant, AND I did not sell the children, so overall it was a successful month.


On to everyone's favorite part of the DAGMT wrap up - the Prize Patrol!

Thank you again to all of my amazing sponsors. You've all made my life so happy with your prize donations and you are about to make our winners even more happy.

• $25 Gift Certificates from Fat Quarter Shop: Beth Dorfman and Lisa Carnahan!
•  $35 Gift Certificate from Follow That Thread: Joyce Goldthwaite!
•  $20 Gift Certificates from Purple Moose Designs: Helen Short and Meg Murray! 
• $25 Gift Certificate from Gotcha Covered Quilting: Suzanne Knight!
• Island Batik fabric pack from The Patchwork Pearl: Gail Barker!
• $20 Gift Certificates from Sue Pelland Designs: Kate Conroy and Gay Deats!
• Bag kit from Poorhouse Quilt Designs: Peg Holloran!

And my PR angel, who wins a table runner kit donated by Quiltmaker magazine: Marlene Collella!

Congratulations all!

It's in the bag for this year. May next year be even more exciting. You know it will be.

Drop and Give Me Twenty, 1980s Style

It's mid month, which means Drop and Give Me Twenty 2015 is halfway over already, and this is only my second blog update. We can all gnash our teeth and wring our hands and call me lazy, but besides my 2-3 hours of sewing every day, I've also kept from throwing my children in the snow and leaving them there during the umpteen snowdays, snow storms, nor'easters (for those of you not in a coastal New England state, that's Yankee for "redheaded stepchild of a blizzard" big ass storm) and blizzards (yes, plural) as well as cancellations of all sorts of activities brought on by said weather leaving me scrambling to make our lives work in a vaguely smooth manner.  But 2-3 hours a day DESPITE ALL OF THAT, people. Which just goes to show you, there are no challenges that cannot be overcome if one has hands, the will to live, and the ability to feel no guilt as one tells one's children they will be in the studio and not to come looking unless someone is actively losing a limb. In which case, also, just call me from the kitchen so you don't bleed all over my carpet.

Much of my sewing this month has been of the variety my friend Kelli refers to as "secret sewing," a moniker I have adopted as it fits perfectly. Two of the projects I can't show in their full unfurled delight as they are patterns in progress, but I am thrilled with the progress as both tops are done and the patterns themselves are cruising along.

Pattern one, no name finalized as most of my testers hated the one I picked. I'm trying not to be insulted.

Pattern two, to be called "Harlequin Shake"

It only just occurred to me upon posting those that I'm into the hexi shape as a block right now. Next thing you know I'll be EPPing.

Oh I know. That was hilarious.

I'm also thrilled to be included in Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 11, hitting shelves in May, and not only does this mean you'll get me in another blog tour singing the praises of being an "And More!" but it also means I get the opportunity to create a project out of my block and submit it for the gallery pages of the issue. So in more secret sewing, this week I made a really cute little project using my block and these super springy and cute fabrics.

As many of you may have heard, 2015 is The Year of the EPQD/Polka Dot Mash Up.

 What I love most about this secret project that you all can't even see, is that it already had an owner even at this "pile of fabric folded with great whimsy" stage. When I posted this photo on my FB page a friend of mine, who is celebrating a big birthday this summer, mentioned casually (eg hinted strongly that her birthday is to be celebrated worldwide) that this would make a great gift, and you know what? I'm at the point where I am drowning in quilts around here, quilts that I have made for reasons such as inclusion in the QM 100 Blocks gallery, that then don't really get used or fit in my lectures and they just end up languishing. I want them to have love, but I don't always know who would love them for me. This one, because Jeanne was bold enough to claim it right away, will have love. Granted she hasn't seen it yet and maybe she will hate it, but there is potential, and at least we know she likes the fabrics. She may even get to brag to anyone who will listen that it was pictured in a national magazine, but here's hoping that won't make her feel like it needs to be displayed in a glass case. Quilty things are made to be enjoyed. So I am thrilled to know this one will be. Sometimes it pays to just ask.

But all of this does not lead us to the 1980s portion of this post, with the possible exception of the tealish Oval Element fabric in that last photo that smacks of sunken living rooms circa 1985. So without further ado, anyone remember this gorgeous treasure I vowed to make more interesting as part of my DAGMT commitment?
No? I'd be hurt, but let's be honest. This is about the most forgettable item in the UFO bin of ANYONE who is participating, I am sure. I mean look at it. First of all, we have 1982's Pantone color of the year, Half Dead Seagull Blue, as the background. (Actually, I tried to find out what Pantone's color of the year actually WAS in 1982 so that they wouldn't sue me for defamation of character. You'd think there would be a chart somewhere on line. In any case, I'm sure it was something similar to this, but with a much catchier name.) Then we have ivory thread being used to candlewick the top. For those who do not have the honor of being a mother to an eight year old history prodogy, candlewicking is a fancy, 1980s name for French knots referring to the actual candlewicks colonial women used to use to make these types of projects.

A couple of important things to remember about this project:

 - Back in 1735, this might have been the height of fashion. That makes me sad.
 - Back in 1982, when I was 12 years old and sitting on my Ocean Blue comforter in my bedroom with Peony Pink carpet and Dove Grey accents, I spent actual time candlewicking this thing. That almost makes me sadder, and some of that sadness is directed at my own 12 year old girls who live in such a different world when it comes to leisure time than we did.
 - I've moved about eight times since then, and somehow never got rid of this thing. Nostalgia? Maybe. Horror over the geeky child I was? Oh, definitely. Thoughts that I would someday turn it into something? Of course.

So this was to be the year. And inspiration struck me last week, and just last night I was able to initiate Phase One of "Playing With Fire" as I am going to call this thing. Get it? Candle wicks.

So this pile of scraps, trimmings from the Harlequin Shake quilt I was putting together, inspired me to VFW myself some new made fabric.(Victoria Findlay Wolfe. I've made her into a verb. I'm sure she doesn't mind.) However I didn't want to sew them all together. That would take forever and I wanted them to look like the crazy mess my life is this month, rather than all neat and tidy.

How was I to do this? Enter Mistyfuse. Enter a bit of a fight between myself, the iron, and what my daughter called "spider web stuff"; the next step was to lay out a bunch of trimmings on a sheet of Mistyfuse, throw another layer of MF on top, and fuse it all together. Randomness was my goal for the look of this made fabric, and I think I accomplished it.

 Once the fabric was all fused together, it should be noted that due to the haphazard way I created it, it was pretty unstable. Yet I cut out a bunch of petal shapes from it anyway. There may have been some swearing, but I was determined. I knew this would be cool and I would make this work.

I started laying out the petals inside of the French knot petal shapes, and of course all of them were way too big so I had to trim down even further. But it was starting too look pretty cool, honestly. It reminds me a lot of that Pinterest project where you take all your broken crayons and stick them inside a cookie cutter and melt them all together in the oven and make really cool new crayons. You do this on Snowday #1. By Snowday #4 you don't care if the children are shaving crayon ends into their lunches.

Eventually all of the petals were filled and I was oh so impressed with myself. I mean, come on. How much more amazing is this now?

And I'm only getting started! Now I have visions of bobbin work, not that I've ever done it before, and some crystals and OMG I need to finish this post so I can get back at it.

1980s - OUT, something I can see finishing - Definitely IN! Yay DAGMT!

(sarcasm font) Yay! Another Snow Day! (/sarcasm font)

That sound you heard yesterday? The one that sounded like we were under seige by a ginormous swarm of grasshoppers a la Laura Ingalls on the prairie? No need to duck and cover; that was just all 100+ of my Drop and Give Me Twenty participants firing up their machines at the same time.

The facebook page was ablaze all day long. I just can't keep up and like and comment on every post or I would never get any of my own stuff done. I was inspired at day's end, though, to create a poll, and check out these results.

Are we awesome or what?

Granted, it was a Sunday. Most people likely didn't have to work and therefore could spend blissful hours becoming one with their machines. Now that it is Monday we enter the real test period. Here's hoping they don't fall off the wagon that quickly. Also this is a fairly small representation of the group, and it is possible all the "Did Not Sews" just didn't want to embarrass themselves. But I'm still blown away. For my part I promise not to do a poll every day, but I think it was important to get them all hopped up, and also to give me a little ego trip. I mean really. Why not.

I pledged 90 minutes a day, one because I really need at least that long to roll all over my to do list, and two because I love to make myself crazy. February may be the shortest month, but it's also consistently one of the months wherein my daughters are in school on average two and a half days a week. If we are lucky. The other such months would be November, January, and June. Do they ever go to school, one may ask? The answer is me lying in a fetal position on the kitchen floor.

AND YET sew I must. EPQD will not run itself whether I am overrun by short people or not. I'm neck deep in two very active patterns in production and another is nipping at my knees. My amazing design wall is on overtime and the new shelving I bought may have changed my life. Three weeks in, and it still looks neat, tidy, and if I do say, quite pretty. There's really something to the idea of getting your stash up out of bins and off the stupid floor.

In the "Keeping it Real" category, I didn't vacuum for you before taking this photo.

I'm so excited about both neck-deep projects right now. The group project I start each January and use to develop a new pattern is probably my most favorite I've ever done, and I really cannot wait to show it off. The layout is just my favorite thing ever and that is saying something, because the layout possibilities are practically endless. Every tester/participant who has sent blocks has made me drool with their gorgeousness. I believe there were 45 testers, so that's a whole lot of drool. I may need to mop the floor before resuming my fetal position later today, Snow Day #5 for those who are counting.

Aren't they cool? And oh so colorful! I'm just in love.

It's like a crayon box exploded on my design wall.

I asked testers to make me four blocks, at least one of which needed to be solids, as that is what I plan to use in the cover quilt. Most testers sent me four solid blocks, but a few went crazy and made me all tingly with the gorgeousness of these blocks on prints.

 

Nom nom

 The solids layout will be up on the design wall just as soon as I get this other project off of it, which is scheduled for as soon as this afternoon. I love this project almost as much; it's currently unnamed but I'm leaning toward Grandma Dot. It's kind of a funky take on a Grandma's Flower Garden designed for my new lecture, "Give it A Scrap Slap."

It combines several of my favorite things - a block with a little personality, putting batiks with cottons in order to blow. the. minds. of the purists, and teal and purple. Obviously fabric choices will vary with the pattern user, but I'm loving my own version thus far.

This reminds me I need to find more of that background fabric, if only to hoard it forever.

My 90 minutes for today won't sew themselves, so I must get to it. I hope you'll all join me in your studios as soon as you are done reading this!

Another Quilting Mecca Discovered

Here in New England, we used to have a wondrous semi-big box store called Fabric Place. It had everything you could possibly want for fabric for any kind of project you could ever dream up, from bridal dresses to custom upholstery to swimming pool covers to quilting. It was insane. It was awesome. It was 3 miles from my first home.

I spent much time and money there, but did Fabric Place care? Apparently not. They closed down their 4 or so stores about 6 years ago, rather suddenly as I recall, and left the quilters and sewists of New England lying on the floor doing a collective Nancy Kerrigan.

It was a dark day in history indeed.

Fabric Place Basement was a mythical creature I had heard tell of, had even seen from the outside when bringing my daughters to their own personal mecca, American Girl, which as my friend Renae put it "is so alarmingly close to (Fabric Place Basement) so as to render any savings null and void", but had never actually experienced it. Until last Friday, which was the last and final official day of the most useless week of the year February vacation week, a day upon which I greeted my waking children with the announcement: "Today is Mom Day. I have spent all week and part of last week entertaining the crap out of you people and many of your friends, and today is all about me. We are going to Fabric Place Basement to use my Groupon which expires on Tuesday and we are all going to like it. Might I remind you we used a Groupon at the roller rink two days ago? No complaints. Up and at 'em. The bargains won't wait."

As you might imagine, there were complaints anyway, most along the lines of why couldn't we at least go to American Girl too, to which the answer was a big fat no because I am mean and didn't want to go there on Mom Day, but I somehow managed to wrestle them into the car and get them there without too much incident.

Hands down to FPB. They won my children over the second we walked in the door, because A. There was a ladies room right there, thank God, and B. this was hanging on the wall.

If you can't tell, it is a bicycle which has been wrapped in fabric and trimmings and for whatever reason Greta was completely taken with it. The other two thought it was pretty cool too, but were not begging me to buy it so they could ride it in the 4th of July parade like G was doing. A reminder that she still can't ride without training wheels brought her back to reality. But it was a cool welcome.

Then it was down the stairs - it is FP BASEMENT after all, so it wouldn't do to have it on the first floor - and the vastness of the awesome fabulosity began to envelop me. In other words, I drooled.

This is the best photo I could get, which makes me sad because it seems to be of a yarn shop. The quilting fabrics start at the pinks you can see and go all the way back to the far shelves, and behind that wall on the left of the photo is another whole set of shelves of quilting fabrics. It was so much more than I ever thought possible.

FPB specializes in current fabrics (and apparently yarn), notions, and gadgets at cut rate prices. I was there to gather some fabrics for a few more "Quite Contrary" kits; when I buy kit fabric, I need to have the prices be as close to wholesale as possible to make it worth my while to cut kits and price them fairly, and between the yardage here all being between $5-$7/yard plus my Groupon, I came pretty close.

So the fun began, and believe it or not, the girls actually enjoyed helping pick out fourteen fabrics for the kits. How do I know? Because in a moment nothing short of a miracle, all three of them grabbed bolts that all looked awesome together and collectively announced that "This place is FUN!" I had to sit down and collect myself to get over the shock. It also helped that I didn't say no when Eva found this kitty fabric and had to have it to make a quilt for her American Girls. We call her Kitty, so it felt like it would be mean to leave it there, plus it only seemed fair since we weren't going to AG.

Plus it really is just cute.

But back to the kit fabrics. So how many of you have ever stacked bolts up leaning against the shelves to audition them to see if the fabrics blend? We all do this, right? The girls and I were up to about 8 bolts in a neat little row against the shelves, and I was trying to locate a cart as there were going to be more. Around the corner came two customers, who looked at my stack, and I kid you not GAVE ME THE STINK EYE, and asked "Are you really going to buy ALL of those?" It was 8 fabrics. Eight. 0-8. Not 80. And if it had been 80, who cares? But 8? I was rather entertained but yet confused. I told them I was a designer looking for kit fabrics, so yes, I would be buying some of each but not too much from any one bolt, and offered to leave them at the counter for them if they wanted some of any of the bolts. I was proud of myself for being so polite, honestly, as they kept staring at me. Then one of them stink eyed me AGAIN and said "That just really seems like a lot of fabrics to put in your cart."

I was more than happy to make sure I passed them again when I had 18 bolts in my cart. I'm still terribly confused by this reaction to my fabric shopping, but whatever. The cutting counter lady, who had seen the exchange and also thought it odd, wondered if they were just really impressed with/jealous of my color sense because these are the fabrics I chose for the kits.

Close up below.

I really really love them, and I really hope everyone can someday know the joy of buying 14 coordinating fabrics. I begin to think it doesn't happen as often as I thought.

In final news on my DaGMT minutes, I worked a bit today on a quilt which is a surprise but I can show you soon, and another which I am throwing together from some orphan blocks which I will be donating for a raffle. Once I finish it I will tell you more about that, but for today I put together four big blocks and decided to go rogue on one of the border fabrics and I am kind of loving it.

Four more days to finish all your entries for the DaGMT prizes! Don't forget to comment on blogs, throw some photos on the flickr, and finish a few more UFOs. Critiquing fabric buying habits of strangers does not count, though.

The big reveal....of the couch

Day 21, and I must admit to making some progress. Remember this photo? It is my studio couch, covered in all of the UFOs I planned to finish during DaGMT.

This is the same couch, taken 10 minutes ago.

 

You know you are impressed by my UFO killing skills, if not by my ability to straighten the slipcover before taking a photo. 

I will take this opportunity to admit that the blue scrappy quilt (Kickin' Stash for those in the know) in the bottom center of the first photo actually isn't done. It is packed away for a lecture this evening, wherein I will unfurl it and proclaim it to be "summerweight" so as to avoid apologizing for showing  an unfinished top. But it is next on the UFO pile to be finished, as it is to be a wedding gift for a late summer wedding from 2012 and my year grace period is running out.

I finished this cute bedrunner sort of thing yesterday, while supervising five girls at the roller rink. My three will never be able to be seen in public again, as I was the mom SEWING at the roller rink. The horror.

 

I will give one million dollars to anyone who can give me a valid reason for the existence February break with which I can wholeheartedly agree. Good luck with that.

I honestly don't know what ever possessed me to make this little quilt. It is fairly cute, but it is such an odd size. Too wide for a table runner, too short for a real bedrunner, and no way can it be used for a lap quilt; unless one was to just wrap it around their waist and wear it as a jaunty skirt, I truly am not sure what I was thinking beyond "Here is a piece of white fabric. Perhaps I will make something out of it."

I do have to say the little flowers, while a bit pale on the white background, are so cute and modernesque. I may end up doing something better with them soon.

 

And remember the little tupperware bucket of entries into the DaGMT prize drawings? We're almost outgrowing our second bin, the meat marinating tub. I hate to have to change it up to an even bigger bin, only because I love how this looks like a little litter box under my desk.

Be sure to keep commenting on blogs, uploading your photos to the flickr, and finishing projects! All of those things will get you more entries for the fabulous prizes.

Why are you reading this?....Shouldn't you be sewing?

It's finally here! February 1, 2013, the day that will live in infamy as the day I metaphorically kicked over 50 quilters in the butt and chained them to their machines for at least 20 minutes a day for the entire month. Lucky none of you live in my house or I could totally take out the metaphorically and really get you going.

I am beside myself at the response I have gotten to this thing this year. As of this moment, I have 29 bloggers who have officially "linky-ed up" with hotlinks to their own blogs, where they will keep us apprised of their progress. I have over 20 others who have committed their minutes in the comments section of the DaGMT page. I already have 8 of you members of the flickr group even if you haven't posted too much yet. All of the entries from the various ways one can earn points have already overflown my Tupperware bucket from 1974 and are now in my meat marinating container my mom got me in 1999; plenty more room for them and now the slips of paper are all zesty with a hint of garlic. 

Last year I pledged to not only sew for 90 minutes a day, which is my pledge again this year, but also to blog about my progress every day of the month. That is because I was completely insane. This year I'm going to do the sewing part, but forget hearing about my progress every day. It's just not going to happen. I will try to remember to post to the flickr each time I have a photo of something worthy of sharing, and I will certainly blog as much as I usually do, which is to say whenever I feel like it.

To keep me honest, here is my staggering, blinding, and cow-choking list of projects I need to complete this month:

1. Get this tree skirt/topper pattern done before I throw it out the window. It currently needs one more binding, photos inserted, a final run through with my red pen, and a name. Seriously, like two hours of work and it's done. Someone metaphorically kick me!

2. Blocks for all eight members of Taking Names group

3. Write Taking Names pattern

4. Border, quilting, binding on two small wall hangings

5. Border, quilting, binding on a wedding gift from an August wedding

6. Use EPP stuff with some scraps when I am on vacation in FL so I don't fall too behind in my 90 minutes.

6. Quilt and bind a carpenters star that I made in 2007 and have wanted to hang in my family room since that time.

7. Transfer "Rapunzel's Hideaway" from my book to a stand alone pattern.

8. 2012 bookkeeping finalized so husband does not freak that we won't be first in line for the tax guy.

I think we are all justified in laughing hysterically at that list. But we will see what I can do.

I've already got three of the eight packets of group quilt dealt with, so I'm actually making some headway. Today I worked on Meg's. Love them!

Now really, get back to sewing!

A Little DaGMT Jump Start

Three days to go before the official start of DaGMT, but I know I am not alone in jump starting my sewing because I see so many of you out there already bragging about finishing a project or two. Well then. La de da. I can do that, too. So there. And because I signed up for 90 minutes a day again this year prior to realizing that I was going away for five days in the middle of the month and that is a LOT of time to make up later, I'm making it up now. Two days down, three hours sewn. I'm feeling the thrill!

I personally have finished only one thing, the cover quilt for my newest pattern, which I will show you at some point when I get the photo fixed by my photo fixer woman. Yes, I have a photo fixer woman. It is amazing the leagues of minions one designer can amass, mostly out of necessity when one is as inept on the computer as I tend to prove myself.

But as many of this year's DaGMT participants have picked up on in their mission statements, the point of DaGMT is not necessarily to finish every UFO in your basket, but to make sewing part of your everyday life, and to celebrate the small accomplishments that bring your projects one step further along. So this morning I embarked on a "UFO Sandwiching" journey. You know, when you have a top, maybe a big enough piece of batting but probably not, and random bits of fabric that need to be pieced together for a backing, which if everything was the right size this would take you 10 minutes, but because nothing is the right size, it is going to take you an hour.

I love those journeys. They are kind of like a real life version of those dreams where you can't find your shoes and you have to be somewhere 20 minutes ago.

You know I am cheap, but I am about to prove it in a new and exciting way with this confession: Almost all of my smaller quilts contain pieced battings. By now my creations know it going in - if they aren't lap size or larger, they aren't going to get a solid piece of batting, and they are going to have to deal with it. Most don't complain too much, although now and then I get a primadona top that gives me a hard time.

For those of you who don't piece your battings and have never considered doing so but may be slightly intrigued, or for you newbies who have never even heard of such cheapness a thing, behold.

All you have to do is butt two straight edges of the batting up against each other and feed it through your machine using a blind hem stitch. I usually set my stitch width to about 4 and my stitch length to about 2 (I have a Janome something something - a mid range mid cost machine). Look how flat and smooth it is! And I haven't wasted any ends of batting!

If you need to, and I usually do, you can even trim off some from the end of your newly sewn piece and add it to the side if you made it too long but not wide enough.

 See? Still flat, still lovely. And remember - seriously, WHO CARES what the batting looks like???? If you have any skill as a quilter at all, you will not have ANY of it showing in the end.

So then it was time to move on to the backing. I had enough of my selected fabric to make a proper sized back, but it was in five pieces. Sigh. Some days you just don't set any speed records. Eventually, though, I was able to sandwich the three layers.

Note how I was able to sew the batting together in such a way that I made it fit perfectly even though it isn't quite square in that lower right corner. Or maybe that was a total streak of luck. I'll never tell.

Here I would like to give a shout out to spray baste. Believe me, it is not without a small amount of guilt for the state of the ozone layer that I proudly salute 505 basting spray, but man alive, the fact that I had forgotten I ran out of it last week almost reduced me to tears today as it meant I had to pin baste. I have not pin basted in about 8 years. I hope never to do it again after today, even if this was a small project. Just when my nails were looking pretty good, too.

The "Taking Names" group project is underway, which means that I have a stack of projects in my studio that need to be sorted out to all the participants who will be working on other quilters' projects. But since I have all the projects in house and have to work on eight of them myself, I felt it would be okay to get started. So I made some for Angie using her red background and my b/w scraps.

I think they came out pretty cute.

Glen, who will be joining us in this endeavor, seems to have gotten all hopped up about the project too, because she sent me a photo of the blocks she made for her own quilt while waiting for her packet of other people's blocks.

I'm definitely sensing a b/w sort of theme going on here. Although Glen wanted greys as well. Very cool!

In honor of so many people starting their DaGMT-ing early, including myself, I have the 2013 flickr group open for business. So go ahead and start posting your photos of projects you are hoping to accomplish in February as well as any you may have started already.

Are we all just tingling with excitement?

DaGMT Day 29 - Phew

Machine quilted my lazy daisy project today.

And I'm done, spent, kaput, and finito.

I can't say I actually was able to pound out 90 minutes of sheer sewing every single day, but I did it more days than I didn't, and I think I averaged well over an hour a day for the month, so I am calling DaGMT a success, at least as far as my commitment was concerned. Two UFOs were totally finished, one other quilt was started from scratch and completely finished, another awaits quilting, and two just need bindings. That seems pretty good for 29 days to me. All while running out of piecing thread, exploding one bobbin into several pieces, and taking a machine to the shop for a spa day. If that doesn't say commitment I don't know what does.

I loved being joined in this little experiment by so many of you. Even if you didn't post daily, I knew you were out there sewing your little faces off and can honestly say that there is nothing like that to keep me honest.

If you haven't checked out the flickr account lately, please do. Just click on the button at the top of the left column over there <------. There were lots of photos of lots of projects that were worked on during DaGMT submitted, and those projects definitely will inspire you. One such project has already made it onto one of my pinboards on pinterest, and is definitely going to be my next scrap project. Thank you Laurie Thompson for your inspiration.

I also plan to attempt a Jelly Roll Race at my guild's retreat this month, assuming anyone wants to race me, after seeing Judy Damon's 1600 quilt, which is quite honestly the most fabulous one of these I have ever seen.

See? You never know what participating in these things will do for you, do you?

If you participated, I'd love a final comment from you totaling what you got done in your alloted time in the comment section. I think we don't appreciate exactly how much those 20 minute slots add up unless we share!

Thank you for reading, commenting, and generally putting up with me during this month. I promise I am now going back to only two or three posts a week, and that is plenty! There is only so much of me that even I can stand.

DaGMT Day 28 "Things I made today"

A short list of things I made today.

1. Two more blocks for a fallish twin sized version of Kickin' Stash. (see above)
2. A kickass chart for cutting border strips for all four layouts in the pattern.
3. A grocery list.
4. Some fabulous salmon for dinner.
5. A widower out of a male deer.
6. A call to 911 to report my crime.

Wasn't I impressive? How did you do?

DaGMT Day 27 - "Are we there yet?"

By now either you have religously been sewing along with me and hitting refresh for the latest blog installment every three minutes, or you are so over me it's embarassing for both of us. Two more days and my experimental quilt a long will be over and we can all go back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Except me. I have 6 more days of February break. Have I mentioned my joy?

Anyhoo....I really am thrilled by the participation and I thank you for sticking it out with me so far. If you've enjoyed it, please let me know. If not, my name is Eugenia Rodemacker.

Promised photos of my quilted, and as of two hours ago when I flipped the last side of the binding while instructing my children to please for the love of God play together nicely for 20 minutes and let me watch the news and accomplish something completely bound quilt. I hope you can see in these photos the detail of the quilting. Sue Fors, who has been a ridiculously prolific DaGMT participant, did the quilting and I just am amazed by how perfect this machine quilting design is for the quilt design itself.



If you look right in the center of this photo you might see the cool "cosmos" flower that repeats a bit in this quilting pattern and was the reason I chose the pattern. Very cool and very pretty in person.


So that was twenty minutes. What will I do with my remaining 70 for today, you ask? I plan to spend the evening cutting out about 8 more blocks-worth of patches for several more Kickin' Stash blocks to add to my second group quilt, since I need more fallish colored blocks.

"But Beth," you say. "Won't sitting around cutting out those patches be terribly boring? I mean, after all, you just spent two days binding. Your brain may turn to mush."

Yes, I assure you. Yes it will. Because I will be cutting these out while watching The Bachelor, the one trainwreck show I admit to being unable to resist, even though I am a modern, educated woman with three daughters whom I will murder if they attempt to degrade themselves by going on such a show. It's terribly embarassing, but there it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ThCjgaGkV4&list=UUp0hYYBW6IMayGgR-WeoCvQ&index=1&feature=plcp

Today, however, I found this clip from Ellen, probably from yesterday, and I watched it and was immediately reassured that I am not completely crazy, perhaps, because Meredith Vieira apparently cannot look away either, and she is way smarter than I am, even.

While watching, I came to several conclusions, all of which stem from the fact that she is ME, just like the narrator in "Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society" is ME.

1. She apparently finds all thing to be better with wine.
2. She knew how to open a box of wine and was not ashamed of her skill.
3. She drank Franzia knowing she would find it appalling, and then told Ellen it was straight up awful. (I was screaming "OMG THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I WOULD HAVE DONE!" I mean really, you want to be polite, but it's Ellen. You know you don't have to be totally polite.)
4. She can't resist watching this trainwreck, although she did say she watched this season because she liked Ben. FTR, I never liked him. I am just too weak to look away.
5. She called him annoying more than once and made me laugh because she said it in the exact same way I would have. No excuses. No benefits of the doubt. Just flat out proclaimed him annoying and I was bowing down to her fabulousness.

So I'm off to watch while cutting, knowing in my heart that Meredith and I will be saying all the same things at all the same moments, hating ourselves for being so weak, and yet unable to gain strength.

DaGMT Day 26 - "Woo hoo!"

Woo hoo! Three hours of sewing today!

Not so big woo hoo - all three hours spent in some form of binding creation or flipping. If you are keeping up, I believe you may know by now that I am not a huge fan, but the good news is for every binding finished, that's another UFO biting the dust.

Which was my whole point in this challenge anyway. So another Woo Hoo just for fun. Woo Hoo!

No photos today because once again the camera has up and hidden itself in a secret location, but finding it is a big fat priority for tomorrow as I love this quilt and need to share Sue Fors' fab quilting on it.

Can you believe she actually had time to work on one of MY things this month?

DaGMT Day 23 - "Lazy Daisy"

I was reminded today of why I don't do BOMs very often.

As you may recall, if you have been reading regularly and have a short term memory larger than an ant, that yesterday I pulled some old orphan blocks I'd found at my guild meeting a few years ago out of my UFO pile, and made a third to go with them. Today I tried, using my silly little Elna machine, to put them all together in a runner.


Cute, huh? But not without frustration.

First problem: The blocks which I assumed were 12 1/2" square in fact were 11" and 11 1/2" square. Mine, I would like to point out, was perfectly 12 1/2" square.

I'm perfect so rarely that when it happens now and then I feel a shout out to myself is in order. I appreciate any humoring of me you can muster.

Second problem: I don't own a lot of pink fabrics. So what was I going to do for borders/bindings/etc?

I decided to use a fabric I love but that had a bit of yellow and green in it along with the pink to make the blocks kind of tilty, then I cut all the blocks down to 14 1/2". Weird size, but hey, now they are all the same.

Then I made some cute candy striped sashings. Tomorrow I'll get to the top and bottom borders, which will also be the cute candy stripes. It was all I could do to get these suckers on without throwing the Elna across the room.

I also made a trip to Wegmans, visited a friend, joined Pinterest, celebrated our three new goldfish surviving the night, and worked a bit on the directions to KS. Come on now, you know you are impressed with my productivity during vacation week numero uno.

Just a few more days til DaGMT is over. Here's hoping you are on the road to accomplishing all you wanted to and more!