2020 Mid-Year Check-in

Yvonne @Quiltingjetgirl is hosting a mid-year checkpoint for 2020.  Such a strange year it has been - a year where each day seems like the one before and much of what I (and everyone else) planned to do has been cancelled.

So what has been accomplished in 2020 so far?

Before the pandemic was truly upon us, I enjoyed a wonderful trip to QuiltCon in Ashville.

There are also over 100 masks I never expected to make.  I've lost count on the actual number and stopped taking photos of them long ago.  My extended family prefers this style and I make them to allow for a filter pocket.  I've made several of the more fitted style but apparently haven't taken any photos.

A number of finishes - two of these are laps sized while the rest are baby sized or smaller.  I just love the explosion of color in the this photo!

Kristin and I ran a successful QAL focus on hand piecing.  We called the pattern Book Club and named the blocks after characters in our favorite novels.

My quilt Astro was a Modern Quilt Guild quilt of the month.

Image credit: Modern Quilt Guild

I've played with scraps to make this Ombre pillow, this table runner, and these bags plus I've played with cork - so fun -  and made these zip bags.

I've also got some other projects underway that are designed to take awhile - my 2020 temperature quilt, my hand pieced stretched hexies, and my (now completed) 100 day project.

Reflecting back has turned out to be a positive exercise - I've got more to show for the year than I expected.  When the year began, I gave myself a set of goals.  How am I doing?

Create

• Participate in a group quilt for submission to QuiltCon 2021- Nothing on this one yet besides making blocks for our guilds submission to the charity challenge
• Submit new quilt design for publish - have a second quilt publish coming out soon, nothing yet submitted for 2021
• Improve my design skills through weekly challenges - some progress on this
• Keep pushing my boundaries on color  - some progress on this

Motivation and Inspiration (my blog tag line)

• Collaborate with other quilters/bloggers on a project  - Book Club QAL for the win!
• Encourage participation in One Monthly Goal - some progress
• Figure out how the purpose of the ESQ Facebook group - No action
• Publish tutorials at least quarterly - On target for this - there were several tutorials with the QAL and I've another one planned for the summer.

Improve my skills

• Practice and perfect a new FMQ design - no progress on this
• Practice my photography flat shot - no progress on this
• Do more with the fabric I already own - oddly enough, the pandemic is helping me attain this goal as I am just using stash
• Improve my technique in quilting - it's all about the curve!

I'll be linking up here.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Marathon Quilt

The Grandfather Mountain Marathon takes place each July, starting in Boone, NC and running up the mountain.   My husband ran this race quite a few times.  The race was cancelled this year just like everything else.

The design does not represent the 26.2 miles to scale (clearly!) but the ups and downs represent the various changes in elevation across the course.  The 3 black lines are at 3500 feet, 4000 feet, and 4500 feet.

This quilt was made as a gift to thank someone associated with running of the race.  The design was lifted right from a race shirt.   I first traced the design and then scaled it up.

The quilting lines are on the diagonal to further emphasize the changes in elevation.

This quilt was a fun quilt project.  I enjoyed the chance to do some applique and play with the basic alphabet on my machine.

Quilt finishes 11'' x 16''.

Hope they like it!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

One Monthly Goal July Finish Link-up

Ready to link up your July finishes?

Don't panic - this link-up is open until July 31 at 11:55 pm ET.

My goal for July was to finish the hand quilting on my Carnival quilt.  Quilt is done and I love it!  You can see more photos here.

Now it is your turn to link-up!

There will be three winners this month - Fat Quarter Shop is offering a $25 gift certificate, Aurifil will be sending a thread pack to one lucky winner, and Quiltfolk  is offering a one year subscription to their magazine!

Congratulations to Edith, Rose, and Karen - our lucky winners for July! (updated 8/4)

Visit the One Monthly Goal event page for the specific requirements for links and social tags. 

And remember, to be eligible for the prize(s) by random drawing you must linkup at both the goal setting and the accomplishment linkup in a given month. (July Goal Setting Link-up.)

Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can follow where you are linking.   Let's make that easy -  just paste this into your post:  

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - July Finish Link-up

Sign up to receive email notifications when the One Monthly Goal linkup is open.  Think of it as a helpful reminder!  Joining the link-up from Instagram -see the tutorial.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thanks for linking up!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Carnival

Is your latest finish typically bump to the top of your favorite list?  That isn't always true for me but it is true this time.

I love my quilt which I've names Carnival.  Aren't these colors fun?

At QuiltCon 2019, I was lucky enough to win a thread set from Aurifil and these delicious FQ stack of fabric from Michel Miller.  (All I had to do was post a photo of myself in front of the Aurifil banner and hope to be randomly chosen.)

After QuiltCon 2020 and an amazing class on cicles from Jen Carlton-Baily, I decided to play with my new templates and the yummy stack of fabrics.  These are not colors I would typically have put together but thankfully someone much more color smart then me did so!

The quilt top was assembled in an improv fashion - there was no plan other than to use the templates. Once pieced, I basted really carefully with pins working hard to make all the rows and colors were squared up.

Then before intensively quilting every bit of the quilt, I outlined every shape hoping to keep the quilt from getting all wonky during the quilting process.   I pulled thread from my stash - mostly Aurifil - that complimented each color.

The quilting itself was done with my regular foot - not my walking foot.  It gave me better control and visibility.  Distance between quilted lines varied but was often less than 1/4''.

Then the fun kicked in.  I pulled 12 wt thread and proceeded to add some hand quilting.  It was really hard to decide when I was 'done' because I kept seeing spots to add a little more 'something'!!

Facing (my tutorial) seemed like the right edge treatment for the quilt.

The quilt finishes 30'' x 30''.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Book Club Parade of Quilts

Needles down!  Our second Hand Pieced QAL Book club has ended and we are just thrilled with all the finished quilt tops and quilted quilts!

Today, I'm thrilled to be sharing some of the finished quilt tops and quilts.  Please also visit Kristin's blog to see the other half of the parade.

Although the QAL has ended, you can still purchase the pattern for Book Club!   Pattern includes templates for 9 blocks each of which finish at 9".   Instructions for two setting are provided - a wall hanging which finishes 37'' x 37'' or a throw sized quilt which finishes at 52'' x 52''.

And now for the parade!

Our first group of 4 quilts chose to make a wall hanging size.  I love seeing the different fabric and color choices as well as the addition of cornerstones!

Top Row: Nancy & Deb; Bottom Row: Joan and Janis

Our next 3 finishes choose to make a throw sized quilt.  I just love the fabric combinations in each of these!

Susan, Catherine, and Tiffany

Several quilters went the extra mile and added additional blocks to make larger quilts by making two of each block or mixing in up-sized blocks from our 2019 hand pieced QAL.

We've got 16 block versions....

Becky and Lindsey

And those that used 18 to 20 blocks!

Pat, Robin V.  and Robin

Finally, 2 quilters not only finished their quilt tops but also finished their quilting!

Diann and Harriet

Thank you to everyone who participated.  We loved that you sewed along with us!

Finally, thank you to our wonderful sponsors who provided some extra incentive to keep stitching!  Congratulations to Cynthia, Hilary, Lindsey, and Joan - our lucky grand prize winners!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Book Club QAL - last day to link-up!

When Kristin and I announced the Book Club QAL earlier this year, life was still normal. 

Then, suddenly lock down happens and everything changes!   For some, this meant less time for 'fun' sewing.  For those who were able to participate, they commented how much joy hand piecing and the QAL brought to them during these difficult times.

The Grand Prize link-up has been open for about a month.  It closes today.  It's been exciting to see all the hand pieced finishes popping up in the link-up and email entries.

I absolutely loved  interacting with everyone via email and the Facebook group.  I'm also thrilled that we've converted a few people over to the pleasures of hand piecing!

Now today is the last day to enter into the Grand Prize draw.  Tomorrow we get to choose the lucky winners.

And there will be 4 of them because we've got 4 grand prizes - (1) Pressing Paradise (2) Perfect Piecing Package (3) Quilt Designers Dream and (4) Lighten Up your Room!  (Read more about the Grand Prizes on this post.)

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

To be eligible for a Grand Prize, you must:

• Share a photo of a completed quilt top (i.e. the flimsy) or a completed quilt in the link-up below or via email. All entries must be submitted by midnight July 15 ET / 9 pm July 14 PT.

• The quilt top (blocks, sashing and borders) must be entirely hand pieced.

• Quilt tops must use at least five unique blocks from the Book Club QAL.  You can use any layout that you chose for your quilt top.

• Block must visually match a block to the Book Club - A Hand Pieced QAL pattern.    Blocks can be made a different size.

Winners will be chosen randomly and notified via email.  Winners have 72 hours to claim their prize - if we don't hear back, we will draw another name.  Once winners have claimed their prize, this post will be updated with the names of the winners.

Photos can be shared from a blog, Flickr, or Pinterest and must include a  link to Elm Street Quilts or Simple Handmade Everyday.  Photos can also be shared via a public Instagram and must contain the tag #handpiecedqal and/or #bookclubqal 

Don't have a way to share?  You can also email them to handpiecedqal at gmail dot com.  Need instructions on how to link-up?  See the tutorial!

Quilts shared must follow the guidelines below to be eligible to win a prize.

We hope you take a few minutes to visit others and make new friends!

Please note - sharing a photo in the link-up gives Elm Street Quilts and Simple Handmade Everyday permission to feature a photo of your block on their sites.  Full attribution will be given.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

100 Day Finish (the 2019 version)

Last year, I set out to hand piece 100 drunkards path blocks as part of the 100 day project.  (I'm doing 100 days of hand quilting this year.)

Once the blocks were set, I started hand quilting using 12 wt thread choosing colors that matched the fabric.  I worked on this for awhile and then put it aside because  I wasn't enjoying the process.

I also wasn't happy with the texture.

So I ripped out the hand quilting and decided to quilt using the walking foot on my machine.  I love the results!

As you might remember, I also ripped out the hand quilting on my table runner and replaced it with walking foot quilting.

For what its worth, I do like do do some hand quilting  - see a photo of my hand pieced and hand quilted Perfectly Imperfect quilt  or on this year's 100 day project

This quilt finishes at 38'' x 38''.  It will hang in my sewing space.


Have a wonderful day! Patty

June Temperatures

Summer heat is finally here in North Carolina - arriving much later than it did last year.  All those oranges and reds make me thankful that the pool opened so I can still swim daily.

I am so happy I chose to record the high and low temperatures and am loving the way this quilt looks.  Each month is represented by two columns - 1 to the 15 and then the 16 to the 29, 30, or 31.  I am using a gray rectangle to finish off the shorter columns.

The quilt currently measures 24 1/2 x 48 1/2 ''.

My temperature quilt for 2019 only recorded the high temperatures.  Quite the difference between the two years - many more days of temps in the 80s and 90s last year. 

After making wall hanging sized quilts to record the daily high temperatures for the last 2 years, I knew that for 2020 I wanted a larger functional size quilt and one that recorded both high and low temperatures for each day.   When finished, the 2020 quilt will measure 48'' x 48''. 

In the 2020 quilt, the low temperature is the smaller rectangle - vertical for odd numbered days and horizontal for even numbered.  The fabrics are all Painters Palette solids and I keep the color gradient at the top of my design wall so it is always available to reference.  

I've made temperature quilts for 2018 and 2019.  Want to make your own temperature quilt - check out my tutorial!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Cork Wallet

Once upon a time, right as the world turned upside down because of Covid19, I was scheduled to attend a guild retreat and our group project was to make a cork wallet.  Retreat was cancelled and finally a bunch of us gathered last Sunday via Zoom to make our wallets.

The pattern is the Lucky Penny Wallet from Sallie Tomato.  It is a great pattern and we all finished out wallets in 2 hours thanks to our awesome instructor Sara.

I am very happy I choose the blue zipper for a bit of color pop plus very, very, very happy I went with a coordinating thread color so my top stitching bobbles are hard to find even if you know where to look.  I had a leftover cork scrap from the bag I made my sister (see it here) which brought a fun accent to the inside and outside of the wallet.

Now I've got my wallet filled with my cash and my cards.  If only I had somewhere to go!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

One Monthly Goal July Link-up

Welcome to July!  There were 90 people who joined the link up last month - let's see what this month brings.

New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  To join, share a photo of your project, some words about what you want to accomplish in a blog post, an Instagram post (tutorial) or a post on Flickr and add that photo to the link-up.  Return at the end of the month and share your results.  You can read about the event and the rules on the main event page.

We have wonderful sponsors this month - three (3) winners will be randomly chosen from those that link up in both the goal and the finish event! 

Fat Quarter Shop offers a tremendous selection of fabric, notions, books and just about anything you will need for your project. Consider their Sew Sampler box to receive a monthly surprise delivery of fabric and fun.  Fat Quarter Shop is offering a $25 gift certificate to one lucky participant.

Aurifil is home to a beautiful rainbow of thread in all weights, perfect for any of your sewing and quilting needs.  My favorite product is the designer collection boxes which coordinate with various fabric lines!  Aurifil will be mailing a thread pack to one lucky winner!

Quiltfolk is the magazine for quilters, by quilters, with about 180 pages of inspirational stories and stunning photography. Featuring four new locations each year, it’s like taking a vacation with your favorite quilt friends without ever leaving home!  One lucky winner will win a years subscription! 

My goal for July is to finish adding the hand quilting highlights to my Carnival quilt and add a faced binding.  I've had this quilt in the 'almost finished' stage for months and it is time to get it done!

Now it's your turn to link up!

Make sure you visit the One Monthly Goal event page for the specific requirements for links and social tags.  Your blog post (or Flickr post) must contain a photo of your project, a clearly stated goal and a link back to Elm Street Quilts.  Your Instagram post must include a photo of your project, a clearly stated goal and the tag #onemonthlygoal.  (Entries which don't contain the required information may be disqualified.)

And remember, to be eligible for the prize(s) by random drawing you must linkup at both the goal setting and the accomplishment linkup in a given month.   (The One Monthly Goal accomplishment linkup will be available on July 25.)

Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can find the OMG link-up from your blog.  Let's make that easy -  just paste this into your post:  

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal July Link-up

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thanks for linking up!

Have a wonderful day! Patty