Monday, November 30, 2020

WOOFA 9 Month Update

I joined the WOOFA challenge in late February when I cleaned up my sewing room and realized how many unfinished projects I had. Since joining, I've made good progress on my list, but I will admit I've gotten a little bored recently. I want to work on new projects! =)

I reworked my list by removing several projects that I've decided to delay until next year. Now that I've made so much progress on old projects, I'd like to focus on just a few remaining projects to finish/start this year.

I finished the pieced panel for the harvest quilt. And I finally found a new long-arm quilter and dropped off all of my outstanding quilts to have them machine quilted. There were three of them. With any luck, I will get them back in time to finish them all before the end of the year.

Along with my quilts, I dropped off my Pfaff sewing machine at the spa for some rest and relaxation (and some cleaning). I am fortunate to have a wonderful Bernina I inherited from Jeff's aunt as a backup machine.

9 Month Update:
Harvest Placemats
Jeff’s Georgian Coat
Stenciled Pillow (panel stenciled already)

I also started some brand new projects. Since the last WOOFA update, I added the train quilt project and it was dropped off with the other two quilts for machine quilting.

I also got distracted by a new project. I am making three new denim tote bags. I had way too many pairs of old jeans so I spent an afternoon cutting out circles.
These two and a third. I have chosen the fabric for the third, but not cut it out yet. I often find it faster to make projects like this using an assembly line technique. 

Finished:
Bind Dinosaur Lap Quilt
Canvas Bag Repair (replace handles)
Denim Circle Quilt
Denim Circle Tote Bag
Louisa’s Batik Dress
Rag Quilt Grey: I've made too many rag quilts recently. We don't need more now.
Rag Quilt Solar System
Rag Quilt Xmas
Sea Swept Quilt
Square Dance Skirt (elastic, eyelet): Since I'm not currently dancing, I may as well wait until I reach my goal weight.
Stack & Whack Quilt
Tie Large Disaster Quilt (or just ditch it): Postponing it for now. I'm hoping to take a long arm machine quilting class and this would be a good practice quilt that I won't be devastated about ruining.

Saturday, November 21, 2020

Random Projects

We have been on random the past couple of weeks. 

Jeff and I went to Prineville last week and brought home the last of our stuff so that saga is over, for now. Many of the reasons we wanted to move out of Portland are still present, but that decision has been put on the back burner, at least until after the pandemic.

I finished the complicated part of the border on my harvest quilt.


I goofed up when I chose the green for the border and forgot to account for how many total yards I would need, and probably don't have enough for the second border. I may change colors, but I haven't decided yet.

Jeff and I decided to play with learning some French during this new coronavirus lockdown so we've been spending at least an hour a day working on lessons in Duolingo. We don't expect to get fluent in it, but it probably does our old brains some good trying to learn something new.

I've also been working on downsizing again. We sold the couches from Prineville and a lateral file cabinet from the basement. I still have a bed and a futon I'd like to sell, but we need to get them set up and take photos before I can list them on craigslist. 

I'm trying to clear furniture out of the basement that we don't plan to keep long-term because I'm hoping we'll work on the basement next year. It would really be nice to replace the ceiling in the family room area because we had to run new pipes and ducting through the sheetrock during our big remodel in 2011/12 and we've never repaired it. I would also like to install some better lighting. Right now it feels too much like a cave.

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Harvest Quilt Progress

This is how I spent my election day. Although I am stressed about the result, I don't figure me sitting around worrying about it will help anyone, so I have been spending most of my time working on this project.

I don't have any large space to lay it all out, so I've had to build it like a log cabin block, one edge at a time. I'm not 100% happy with the overall color layout, but I'll live with it, obviously. 

I haven't finished it yet, I have one more row all the way around and then three borders. The first two borders are a little more complicated than usual because the blocks extend into the border.
After four full days of sewing, I got a little tired and so today I took a break to work on another project. I'll probably finish it by the weekend.