Wrap up 2018, goals for 2019

At the beginning if the new year it is good to look back and see how many things I did accomplish, and I am using my last year closing post to see how this year differed from last. Work was easier this year, but in the summer we renovated our flat - everything was painted, and since everything had to be moved for the workmen, I also made a huge decluttering. It took almost 2 months, but definitely  did worth the effort! I feel much better, but the time spent on renovation was not spent on stitching. However there was also a 100 days challange for cross stitching, which brought back a lot. The net result is still unclear also for me, but by the end of the post I will be also cleverer :).

6 Quilts (last year 9):

• Wallhanging for my niece
• Recliner cover
• I spyfor my nephew
• Universe is yours - baby quilt for my colleague's baby boy
• Storm at Sea for my godmother
• Little Fish - scrappy quilt for the living room

Bags&purses (last year none):

• a tote to try
• 2 purses for the teachers at yearend

2 major cross stitch finish (last year 2 smalls):

• Chatelaine Winter Watergarden
• Chatelaine Octopus Treasure Cave 

Almost finishes

• Around the World in 80 stitches - I call it done, and I will make a box cover
• Yoko Saito Strolling Along Path of Green - quilt top done

Seeing the list it is quite impressive for me, lightly less quilts but significantly more cross stitch, and bags are my new feature :)

WIP

• Round the Year by betukbandi - WIP
• Pomarium by Chatelaine: I have started at the end of 2016, moving along in the 2nd half during the year
• Heirloom Nativity Sampler by Victoria Sampler

What did I planned last year? nothing major, therefore I mostly managed them all :)

In 2018 I would like to finish Winter Watergarden - done
start one or two Chatelaines, depending on my stitching bug's behaviour - none

sew a bedcover for my godmother -done
some smaller ones for friends and family - done

What do I plan for this year? 
Nothing stressful, having fun is the key, but I would like to improve as well in bagmaking. I am contemplating doing a sewing course in the summer, but it takes 4-6 weeks, and I am not sure I am willing to invest so much time

• Cross stitch:
• Work on Pomarium by Chatelaine
• Start Mushroom Fern or Autumn Watergarden (or both) by Chatelaine
• Finish Heirloom Nativity Sampler by Victoria Sampler
• Quilt:
• Round the Year by betukbandi 
• quilt Yoko Saito Strolling Along Path of Green
• try to use all of my quilting supplies (special feet and all the fancy stuff I bought)
• Other sewing
• finish Around the World in 80 stitches box
• totes: some nice totes for myself and the family, which also serves as a stash buster of my non-quilting fabric. I have bought some fun prints in IKEA with totes in my mind, and I would like to try at least 3 types to find the perfect one
• miscellaneous sewing thingie holder
• a standing one for my cutting mat
• one next to the sewing machine

Tote Bag Making - version 1

I made a promise to myself to learn to make nice totes, because I cannot fine any I really like. 

I do not want anything fancy, just some simple big bag which stands on its own. I have selected a few patterns a few weeks back, and the first is ready. I am partially content - proud for me that I can sew such a bag, but the result is far from perfect. I want a significantly bigger and sturdier one, but for a first try it passes. The pattern was created by the renegade seamstress, and was a little confusing for me, but it could be that it is my fault since it is my first attempt of making a bag alone. A few years back I attended a bag making workshop, but that was a long time ago...

renegade-tote-bag-tutorial

Octopus framed

I realised that I did not posted a finish on the Octopus Treasure Cave. It is extremely hard to make a photo which gives back the beautiful colors in the finish, but I tried my best. The second photo is more realistic in the fabric an for the greens.

Chatelaine: Octopus Tresure Cave

Fonal/Floss: DMC + many silks as suggested in the kit

Anyag/Fabric: Zweigart hand dyed 32 ct Belfast by Barbaral

Missing posts from 2018 - little present for the teachers

In June I helped my son to sew year closing gift for his teachers. Both got a similar purse, where I cut the fabric and added the zip, and my son did the finishing. The little boy bird had a strange eyes, I changed that to a nicer one, but forgot to take photos. The teacher really liked the gift, I suppose there are not too many 8 year old boys who are making such presents for them :)

Wallhanging for my niece

I was working on a wallhangigng for my niece. She is turning 17 and in between a girl and a woman, so I wanted something which is not too serious but has a twist. She wanted flying geese and some natural colors, and I added some windmills - not to waste fabric from the geese and also to link it to the bedcover she had received a few years ago, and which is made of colorful windmills. It was quite quick and I like it a lot -I hope she will like it too!

Recliner cover

This is the cover I have made for our recliner. First I was planning to sew one long row to cover the sitting part and the arms, but after finishing I realised that with recliners arms are moving separately from the sitting part, so it will not work. But the long row became a perfect middle cover and I saw 2 smaller ones for the arms. I only have to figure out what to do to have a nicer coverage, because I put a double extremely puffy batting to have comfortable softness under our palms.
I really like the result, and I also realised how much better is to have a scrappy one instead of the same materials - arms are from 2 different fabric, middle part extrascrappy. I used up all my 5x5 squares I cut from my brow-creme-white scraps, therefore no scrappyness for the armrest. I like those pieces most what I thought originally too ugly to include, the yellowish roses. It is really true that you cannot judge on standalone fabric...

I-spy (almost) in a day

It turned out my nephew's birthday party going to be this Saturday, therefore My I-spy-quilt got a big push. I checked my colorful fabric box, I did some fussy cutting, and even some applique, because my son said our nephew loves cars so he MUST have cars on the quilt. So cars he got, and since I do not have  any fabric with cars I did some appliqued ones, and I added even a train. I really enjoyed this supersimple piecing of good quality materials. Recently I either did some skill building or used home decor fabric, so this simple quilt squares were flying through my machine. The top was ready in a day including several rounds of rearranging the pieces, and today I put on the backing and a simple stitch in the finished it in no time.
One more tick for my goals!

A finish and a new WIP

I have finished my second scrappy blue, and I will call it Little Fish. Among my blue green scraps I have found one with a tiny orange fish, and I added it tp bring some extra color into the picture. I binded it on Saturday morning, and it was already claimed and taken to good use. 

     
 

I am also moving ahead with my flat organising goals. The worst areas are our writing desk and entrance. There id always a huge amount of clutter and in case I clean it up it always comes back in a minute...

However, I did clean them up, and in the mess I have found another stitchy project. A Riolis piece given my sister-in-law and her husband. It is nice, but quite hard to stitch because the material is woolen with acrylic, moreover, I started in a wrong place and most probably it will not fit. Since it is a landscape it is not a big problem, some part of the forest will be smaller, but still, I have to think does it worth the time...

The Universe is yours

One of my colleagues is expecting a baby boy and she had chosen the Universe as the theme. I made a little twist on my last universe quilt, I hope (and the baby to be) will like it!

Winter Watergarden - a finish!

I have finished Winter Watergarden today, all sparklies added. Hoever since it is a winter scene many of the beads are clear, so no major change. But it is still beautiful! This is teh 39th day of the 100 days cahllenge to stitch something each day. I did not manage to do it on all days, but still a finish after 2 years in less than 40 days is something I am proud of. 

I am contemplating what to take for tomorrow...

Chatelaine: Winter Watergarden

Fonal/Floss: DMC + many silks as suggested in the kit

Anyag/Fabric: Zweigart antique white 32 ct Belfast

Storm at Sea for my Godmother

I have disappeared for a while, but my hands were not idle.

I whipped up a long waited quilt for my godmother. Actually it is me who is thinking to give her something, she was not expecting anything at all - she is too modest to wait such things from anyone. Last time we met I asked her to check out my pinterest and choose something from my pins to see her preference. She said something simple and not too white and opted for a storm-at-sea in blues greens grays. I did not want to discourage her and explain that it may look simple, but in practice it is far from an easy one - so I went through my stash, did the math, and I finished the top in a week. 

The original:

My version, no batting/binding/quilting yet. In reality it is much greener and a lot less grey, but my photos are a washed out. Maybe it is time for a new phone having a better camera?

Closing the old, starting the new

At the beginning if the new year it is good to look back and see how many things I did accomplish. It was quite a tough year in my professional life (I was promoted to a new position, there was a mass reduction in my workplace, not affecting me, but definitely affecting my mood, and my boss, whom I really liked left during the year) to let out the extra stress. So the net result is the abundance of quilts and some moderate progress on the stitching side.

9 Quilts:

• Christmas birdies
• Falling leaves
• Simplified Love Entwined
• Grandpa's scrappy quilt
• Skill Builder
• Scrappy Blue and Scrappy Red
• 2 Baby Quilts: Owls for Berci and the Universe for Elza

I had 2 little cross stitch finishes with herbs, thyme and oregano. 

I was working on 2 major Chatelaines:

I have started Pomarium at the end of 2016, and I almost managed to finish the 1st quarter by yearend 2017.  The other was Winter Watergarden, what I started to stitch in 2016 March, and I finished 3/4 until September.

There are 2 other WIP in my basket, the holiday piece from Victoria Sampler (Heirloom Nativity Sampler), which is almost ready, and the Stitches around the World, which will be a forever UFO most probably.

In 2018 I would like to finish Winter Watergarden, and start one or two Chatelaines, depending on my stitching bug's behaviour. The sad news of the yearend that Martina Weber, owner and designer of Chatelaine passed away, so there will be no new such beauties what she created. She was an extraordinary designer, it is such a loss that she is not with us anymore.

Quiltingwise I would like to sew a bedcover for my godmother, and some smaller ones for friends and family. I do not have any specific thing on my mind, I will see what grabs my attention. I already put together a yellow-green scrappy one.