sugar skulls | Grey Cat Quilts

New Year, New Lists

1 01 2015

With the New Year off to a reasonable start – I’ve finally kicked the series of diseases’ that have plagued me all through December – it was time to set myself up for a reasonably well planned year:

I’m not super fancy. Instead of using a moleskin, I’m just using a cheapie Composition notebook, with graph paper inside, instead of impossibly wide lines. Still, it’s a start, and a way to organize the jumble in my head.

Once I’d gotten January started in my Bullet Journal, I felt a little less heavy, and a lot more creative. I’m in the process of working out designs for some really large blocks, finally paying homage to my obsession with sugar skulls. I’m also acknowledging the geek in me – these are working out to be pixelated designs, just because.

Still, it’s time for me to be accountable and look at what I’ve got in the queue, which is quite a lot, at 20 WIPs. Mind you, I’m counting all completed tops in the list, because they’re not done until they’re actually quilts.

#	Name	Started	Description	Stage
1	3xS	17 November 2014	Scrap project using blocks seen around the internet.	Quilt top completed.
2	Night Sky	01 November 2014	From the pattern by Camille Roskelley.	Quilt top completed.
3	Technicolor Fields	June 2011	Farmer’s Wife Sampler, by Laurie Aaron Hird	Quilt top completed.
4	Garden Party’s Quadrille	Mid-2012	Botanical BOM 2012	Quilt top completed.
5	High Tea	11 October 2014	Pattern testing for Adrianne. Pattern now available here.	Quilt top completed.
6	Charmed, I’m Sure	30 July 2013	From Sarah Fielke’s Made in Cherry pattern.	Quilt top completed.
7	Embers	08 August 2013	From the Swoon pattern by Camille Roskelley. Block resized to suit my intended finished quilt size.	Quilt top completed.
8	Sunsets and White Beaches	20 July 2013	More Granny blocks.	Top basted. About 30% hand-quilted.
9	Swirling Sea of Stars	13 March 2013	Scrappy string blocks. A riff on the Spiderweb block.	Top half pieced. Need several more blocks.
10	Winged Square	11 June 2014	Winged Square blocks, done in rounds of yellow, aqua, pink and green.	All subunits pieced. Top 25% completed.
11	Test Your Skills Sampler	11 Sept 2011	Project designed by Sandi of Piecemeal Quilts, to go with our Skill Builder Series. Instructions available here.	Need to establish where I am, and pick up where I left off.
12	Double Wedding Ring	Mid-2011	Double wedding ring quilt, done in orange and lime green for the arcs. Melons and centers in Kona Berry.	Two rows done; all subunits pieced.
13	From an Unquiet Mind I	08 July 2014	Piecing with scrap solids left over from Technicolor Fields.	Attempted to machine quilt this. Need to rip all stitching out.
14	From an Unquiet Mind II	08 July 2014	Piecing with scrap solids left over from Technicolor Fields.	Several subunits pieced. Need to determine setting.
15	Windblown Feathers	N/A	From Anna Maria Horner’s pattern.	Fabrics purchased. Waiting for templates to arrive.
16	Swap Granny Blocks	17 November 2014	Blocks sent to me from participation in a swap. My month was December 2013.	Blocks trimmed. Need to sew them into setting triangles.
17	Sugar Skulls	N/A	Pixelated sugar skulls.	Design in progress.
18	Ode to Taupe	16 August 2012	Modern, zen garden inspired.	Blocks in progress.
19	Scrappy Placemats	06 April 2014	Placemats made from incy wincy scraps.	4 of 6 placemats pieced
20	Scrappy Project II	N/A	Scrap project born out of scrap management. Fabrics will be pulled from scraps.	Design completed.

Yup, that’s right. I’ve got SEVEN tops waiting to be quilted. I’ve been fighting the thread on the Janome set up with my frame. I think I might have just figured out why the top thread keeps breaking, but my god, I hate this machine so very, very much. Why its designers felt the need to have the thread pass through half a dozen points, I just don’t know. As soon as I can, I’ll be trading the Janome in toward something else.

Even with those seven, that’s thirteen projects in need of attention. Knowing me, I’ll be tempted into several more projects before long.

I need to practice some project monogamy, establish ‘due dates’ for myself, and hold myself to a schedule. Thankfully, sign-ups for the 2015 Finish-Along will be starting soon. In the meantime… I’ve got some hand-quilting to do.