Thursday, December 31, 2020

Announcing One Monthly Goal 2021 Sponsors!!

Just a few hours until we ring in the new year and I'm very pleased to announce that One Monthly Goal will return with another amazing group of sponsors!



The basics for One Monthly Goal remain the same - share your goal for the month then visit Elm Street Quilts to link-up your goal share.  Return at the end of the month to share your achievement.  (Need more information?  Read all about it on the One Monthly Goal page.)

The goal can be whatever you want - any step of the process in making something with fabric, thread or yarn.

Each month, there will be a random drawing to select a few participants who will win a prize from our sponsors.  Winners are selected from those who joined both the finish link-up and the goal link-up!

Fat Quarter Shop,  
QuiltfolkAurifilMake Modernand  Paper Pieces are returning again this year as sponsors.  I truly appreciate their continued strong support of our link-up event!  

New this year, join me in welcome Oliso with a quarterly prize of a Oliso M2 Pro Mini Project Iron!



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. 

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!  

Make Modern is a digital magazine launched by a collaboration of quilters based in Australia. Their magazine is filled with modern quilt designs and a wonderful source of inspiration. 

Oliso's goal is to design products that simplify everyday life. The Oliso M2 Pro Mini Project Iron  was designed just for sewing, quilting, and crafting and delivers the power of a full sized iron in a compact and lightweight design.

Paper Pieces has provided pre-cut paper shapes for English Paper Piecing using quality card stock and exact point-to-point measurements for over 20 years. They strive to provide excellent customer service and sewing to support to our customers and community.  

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!  Each issue of Quiltfolk is completely free of advertisements and their pages will showcase all of  beautiful quilts uncovered during their travels. Whether you’re looking for traditional, modern, antique, or art quilts – Quiltfolk‘s got you covered. 

Aurifil   

Fat Quarter Shop 

Make Modern Magazine

OLISO
 (Website   | Facebook  |  |Instagram)

Paper Pieces  

Quiltfolk  
(Website  |  Facebook  |  Instagram)

In the days remaining of 2019, take a few minutes and think about your creative goals for the new year and how One Monthly Goal can provide an extra bit of incentive.  I can't wait to see what you make!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Reflecting on 2020 and Welcoming 2021

The end of one year and the beginning of the next is a wonderful time to reflect on goals accomplished and to set new ones for the upcoming year.  I'll be linking up to the #2021PlanningParty!

And this year was clearly like no other we have every experienced!  I shared my Best 5 (well actually 6) of 2020 in this post along with some quilting eye candy so take a peak.)  In today's post, I'm including some more photos of quilts from 2020.

My Happy Pineapple Quilt

In December of 2019, I set my goals for 2020 (see that post) and I feel good about the results.  My word for 2020 was boundaries - as in set them to find balance in my day AND break through them to push myself to use try different colors in my quilts and work hard to improve my skills in my quilting, in my writing, and in my daily exercise.   (My words for the year have been balance (2019), bold (2018) and brave (2017).)

From a quilting perspectives, I burst through my own creative boundaries as worked on techniques and color combinations that were new to me and stretched me out of my comfort zone.  The pandemic created an interesting world for all of us and as a result, I found plenty of time to quilt and enjoyed some respite from the stress of the day as I did so.

For 2021, I choose the word seek - as in seek new challenges in quilting and seek opportunities to connect and collaborate with others.

My specific goals are simplified for 2021. (The status of my 2020 goals are below.)  Basically, 

  • Experiment with color and design and play outside my comfort zone  
  • Seek inspiration everywhere and work to provide through my blog posts (tutorials, OMG etc.)
  • Establish a social media plan - when and what to post
  • Collaborate with another quilter(s) on a QuiltCon submission
In addition, I intend to stay focused on fabric purchases specific to projects and to make an effort to use up my stash.

As I did in prior years, I had very specific goals for 2020, some were achieved and some not so much!

Create
  • Participate in a group quilt for submission to QuiltCon 2021- this didn't happen (other than my guilds submission) and is something I'd like to strive for in 2021
  • Submit new quilt design for publish - Accomplished!  The quilt will be revealed in February and I can't wait to share
  • Improve my design skills through weekly challenges - did nothing with this goal
  • Keep pushing my boundaries on color - my quilt Carnival and my improv Curves WIP fit this goal as will the quilt to be revealed in February.   That said, I still tend to gravitate to the same shades of blues, aqua, green with plenty of gray!
Motivation and Inspiration (my blog tag line)
  • Collaborate with other quilters/bloggers on a project - Kristin and I held a successful hand pieced QAL called Book Club.  We are planning another for 2021, details to be released soon!
  • Encourage participation in One Monthly Goal - Overall the number of participants stays about the same; some people have stuck with it for years and others drop off as yet others discover the link-up.  Still more to be done there.
  • Figure out how the purpose of the ESQ Facebook group - Did nothing on this one.  I've ignored it completely, sadly.
  • Publish tutorials at least quarterly - While there were several posts ( stacked improv curves, left-right geese quilt block, and two from our hand-piecing QAL on partial seams and templates), I really did not focus on this goal
Improve my skills
  • Practice and perfect a new FMQ design - Did not focus on this at all - I was having too much fun hand-quilting.  Perhaps with this new book, I will give it a try in 2021.
  • Practice my photography flat shot - Nothing on this
  • Do more with the fabric I already own - Definitely - the pandemic gave me time and motivation to sew with my stash
  • Improve my technique in quilting and in my exercise - Most definitely - this year it was all about the curve!
It's Circle Time!


Happy New Year!  All the best to you and your family for a wonderful year!


Have a wonderful day! Patty

Monday, December 28, 2020

100 Day Project Update - 53 Days to Quiltcon Together

Back on Tuesday, November 10, Cassandra kicked off the 100 days to QuiltCon countdown.


I decided to join in and make as many 4-patches as I can with the goal of having enough to make a 60'' x 60'' quilt.  Into my bottom-less bin of solid scraps I went and started trimming down to 1 1/2 '' strips and then sewing things together.

I'm sewing the 4 patches into 6'' blocks with the secondary goal of having 100 of these pieced together.



How am I doing so far?  I've got 36!   With 53 days to go, I should have 47 of these altogether.  I've likely got enough 4 patches to make 11 more blocks so I think I am in ok shape although I am falling behind every day!

Probably no surprise to anyone who has made one of these quilts in the past, they take a lot of time.... probably more than I anticipated.


The project is very satisfying though so I'm off to make some more blocks!

Have a wonderful day! Patty