Starting New Projects

While I have been doing fairly well at avoiding starting new projects this year, in spite of  accumulating them (patterns and fabric) at a fairly rapid rate, I can no longer resist temptation.  A couple of new challenges/stitch-alongs have recently started and I am excited to play along, so my goal this month is  to develop plans and get started on both.  

The first is a challenge for my local TAS chapter. I was originally planning to look for an orphaned workshop project to use as my center/theme block and spent an afternoon digging through a drawer of workshop projects.  I had narrowed it down to a couple of options, but upon further consideration decided to go a different direction and instead design this project from quilts in my collection.  Here's the suggested layout:

My goal for this weekend is to figure out my center block.  I have acquired a couple of new quilts in the past week that definitely have to be included.  One of them arrived yesterday and it is absolutely gorgeous!

The other group project/stitch-along I am planning to get involved in is based on the alphabet.  The guidelines are fairly open, and I think many will likely be stitching actual letters, but I am leaning toward a floral theme.  The goal is one letter per month - I can keep up with that, right? So my goal for this month is to design my "A" block - I'm thinking an amaryllis, anemone, aster or azalea.  

I missed my opportunity to link up with Elm Street Quilts OMG this month, so my one monthly goal for March will be to remember to post in time to link up in April! 

OMG Fail & Zooming Away the Weekends

I was determined not to miss the February OMG link-up even though I didn't have much progress to report, but the end of the month managed to sneak up on me!  I didn't remember it was the end of the month until I was getting into bed last night and thinking about work...too late to get a post together.  I will have to double my efforts to remember this month!  

I did not make nearly as much progress as I had hoped on my Grassy Creek Mystery this month. I did manage to finish the hourglass units and get the remainder of the flying geese un-sewn, trimmed and re-sewn, and I have pieced all but three of the center stars. The next step is to assemble the center, and then I will have to face the dreaded string units. 

Part of the reason I didn't get much finished is that I have a bad habit of signing up for Zoom sessions, and an even worse habit of volunteering to lead them. It's all good - I love that there are so many new opportunities to participate in events I never would have been able to attend in person - but I can't resist trying to do them all!  At one point I even found myself attending two meetings simultaneously!

My Zoom time this past weekend included participation in the second round of virtual AQSG Study Centers. I attended five sessions and all were fantastic!  

I did make some progress on my Huguenot Friendship quilt.  This block wasn't too bad:

But then I started working on the Pokeberry block and needed to determine the best way to make a bunch of itty bitty 1/4" berries. I decided that the rubber band method would be easiest, but then had to make my own mylar templates because I didn't have any that small.  I used a sheet of Karen Kay Buckley's template plastic and a hole punch to make the templates.

I tried to waste as little fabric as possible when wrapping the templates.  The trick was cutting off the extra when they dried, trying to remove enough fabric to try to keep the berry relatively flat while leaving enough to have a seam allowance.

The berries aren't perfect, but the block is finished.  It certainly isn't the most attractive of designs - a little wonky.  


I think I need a change of pace for my March OMG project.  I will continue to work on my mystery quilt but I feel the need to choose something more exciting this time around. I will have to give it a bit of thought - I am thinking perhaps it might be time to start something new?  I will be back in a couple days with a plan....