This week I have been concentrating on the Swordfish quilt top. I think the title refers to the coloration being similar to that of the giant game fish. None of the fabrics have fish or ocean related themes, although there are lots of pointy parts. It is a pattern by Judy Niemeyer, paper piecing to the extreme. As I said last week, it is an all encompassing project, forget about doing any side projects or leader-enders. This is one of those that requires immersive concentration. This is my third Quiltworx quilt, my first was Fire Island Hosta, and the second was a Christmas tree skirt. The written instruction are very thorough, each step is illustrated and written out in a descriptive way. Once you get the “rhythm” of it, it makes sense and is relatively pain free to process. I am trying to sew together one set a day, each set is eight pieces, each piece has many pieces to it. I start off each day by getting the fabrics cut and organized, then sewing them together. Here’s what I have so far.

Todays pieces are a bit larger, chunks instead of strips. I did make a cutting error, and had to order another yard of the dark blue spotty fabric just in case. I was lucky to find some at a shop in Michigan, a few other yards jumped in my cart as well, gotta justify the shipping.

I’m making progress on the first Fabulous House, Santas house. The snowflakes are a bear, I am so happy that I chose Aida cloth for this project. I would be pulling my hair out counting them and spacing them on linen. I’d like to finish this by the end of the month, and start the next one, the Castle. I saw the third one, and its a greenhouse, thankfully a bit less fill work. I still want to work on the Consider the Lillies piece, so I may devote a few sessions to it before starting the castle.

I am a fan of Crabapple hill Studio, having made a few of their quilts and purchased a few patterns for the someday pile. Meg Hawley is doing a daily stitch-a-long for February, which is also International Embroidery Month. You can download the free pattern at her website, and each day she’ll post a stitch pattern/prompt on Instagram @meghawkey1 . I’d like to try to keep up with the 29 daily prompts, as the hearts are small and it looks like a fun and doable project. I got my pattern ready, and I think I’m going to do it multi-colored and maybe add a little colored pencil shading to each heart.

The rain is pouring down this morning, so it may be a stay in and sew day. There are a few things I need to do around the house, we’ll see.  

Be Kind.

The Indigo Way top is progressing nicely. As I was laying out all the blocks, on point, I realized I was one short. I had a few extra pieces in my project box, but I sometimes make a few more, to switch out pieces that are a bit off. There were just enough to make the missing block. All the blocks are sewn together, I need to trim all the points off and add two inner solid borders (finished this faster than I did this post). Then the pieced outer border, light blue and red triangles, goes on. 

On to the Sommerville Circle quilt top. I got it together too, just measured the borders and applied them. I am really impressed with this quilt, it was a bit intense in regards to cutting, but it went together easily. I am hoping to have it quilted and bound before the QAL finish date of 3/5/24. I am thinking of quilting some sort of circular design in the white spaces, maybe a Dresden plate or sunflower. I would like to try a rainbow colored one, or a one color family one. Scrappy is fun too, although it doesn’t use up much yardage.

Once these two are finished, I will start on another project that has been languishing, either the Tessa quilt, or the Swordfish one. Easy or intense, the Swordfish pattern is all sorted, but not cut, Judy Niemeyer quilts are an “all in” type of project. The kind that takes over your work area in an organized way. The Tessa quilt is just large pieces, but still needs to be laid out for piecing and stripe continuity.

Another block was finished for the Simple Days quilt. Block seven, which is in the sixth space on the quilt, which is set up like a nine patch. It was very satisfying to cross that number off the white board list. I also finished a block (12) of the Message in a Bottle quilt too. These are numbered up to 26, but not all are appliqué blocks. I figured out where I was in the grand scheme of the pattern. This current one (left side of picture) is one of the larger appliquéd pieces. 

Yesterday I spent a few hours on the Hawaiian quilt. I am becoming a stipple master, it’s mesmerizing at times. Lots of texture is being developed here. I really want to finish this and get it off my frame, lots of other projects are calling to me. Sometimes the ease of a simple digital panto graph can be equally satisfying. 

The mailman brought me the new piece of Aida cloth I ordered. The color is Cashmere, it reminds me of a wintery blue sky, a bit gray and cold. I started on the December house, in the upper left hand corner. There is a lot of extra stiff fabric to deal with. I am hoping that once I get the top three houses borders stitched I can cut the width to a more manageable size. I like the 20 count fabric, it is easier to stitch on and count than the linen. Seems dense enough, the unstitched areas won’t be too distracting. I find larger count Aida isn’t as finished looking as linen and even weaves like Laguna. Personal preference, although I will use it for smalls and such.

Be Kind.

This week is an impromptu retreat for me. My DH is out of town, so I have no one to care for but my animals and me. I really enjoy a little time off, I do what I want, when I want and how I want to. It’s not that I’m unusually restricted at other times, it’s just my “obligations” that I get a break from. I admit that I don’t have many either, but the structure is there. I like a more fluid schedule, if I’m hungry – I’ll eat, if I’m tired – I’ll sleep, if there’s a chore to be done, I’ll get to it. After raising children and all their schedules and appointments, I really enjoy not having to constantly watch a clock or calendar. Life has gotten a lot easier with the nest being empty, but DH works from home and although he has his own space/office here, he’s “in the house”.  I like that he checks in on me, “whatcha doing?” “what’s for dinner?”, but sometimes I don’t have an answer, “stuff” is pretty vague. It may be that that is the reason I’m happy to be alone for a bit, no upper management staff – LOL. Or it could be that I need to recharge myself after the holidays. This time of year is tough on an introvert, add in the cold, rain and short days, all I want to do is stay in, listen to a book and sew.

I have been sewing a lot this week. I got all the blocks together for Indigo way, it is a very pretty quilt, the reveal was last Friday. It reminds me of the Orca Bay (2012) mystery quilt and the Provence (2017) mystery quilts. 

Has it really been 12 years since I made the Orca Bay quilt? I remember I started following Bonnie Hunter about a year before, she was hosting the Carolina Christmas Mystery then. I thought it was pretty, but didn’t participate, I got sucked in to the mystery quilt the next year though, with Orca Bay. What an initiation that was, string piecing and lots of pieces. The experience was good, and I was hooked, I liked the comrades and the link ups and seeing all the other quilters work. The Mystery quilts have been streamlined a bit now, and most of the sharing takes place on Facebook. I still like the challenge, sometimes it’s the color way, sometimes the piecing, or even the sheer number of pieces that hooks me in. This assembly-line style has changed the way I approach quilting too. I will look at a pattern and break it down to the essentials and then how to make the most of my time and energy to create it. 

The Meadow Mist QAL quilt, Sommerville Circle is also getting put together. There are lots of little squares and rectangles, and I am happy with the variety of scraps that can be used in these blocks. Although it has hardly made a dent in the 1930’s reproduction scraps. I’m a bit ahead of the quilt-a-long, as there are 2 weeks to get each part done. I’m at the 1/30/24 point, getting the units together, I want to get the 18 half units together today. Then I’ll start on the blocks after Indigo way is put together.

Consider the Lillies is also a work in progress, I stitched the tree branches and the people, note Eves fancy green dress. I was all set to start stitching the Fabulous Houses this past week, I got all the thread sorted out and the fabric hooped. I started stitching the border for the December block – Santa house, it’s white, and my Aida cloth is/was white, oh! no… I ended up ordering a new piece of Aida, in a light blue/gray color. The model is stitched on a beige-gray cloth, I don’t know what I was thinking when I got the white. Possible that I ordered white because it has the wash out alignment lines printed on it, and I figured it would be a little easier to line every thing up on. Once the fabric gets here I am ready to start, the second house pattern got here yesterday, I am a month behind already. Sigh.

Speaking of catching up, I finally got the yarn I ordered for two hats I was going to make for Christmas gifts. It was back ordered and coming from Italy. Not as backlogged as the three linen aprons I ordered in November. I did receive one of them, and the other two are slated to arrive in a week or two. I wish I had taken a picture of the embroidery (picture below left) I did on the olive green apron. I was in such a hurry to get it packed up and sent out, I forgot. I used another one of the Embroidery library color-theory designs. These designs are lightly stitched and only use four colors, the effects are achieved through the blending and shading. I stitched one a few weeks ago on a horse pad. 

Be Kind.     

I guess this decision is sort of a resolution, as this is the season for them. I have decided to continue with this blog on WordPress. I figured out how to mass delete my media files, which made a lot more storage space available, and more importantly, the cost will not increase.  I kept last years media(photos) and I am slowly deleting all posts prior to 2023. These go a bit more slowly, one at a time. I will miss being able to use the computer to look back in on them, but every year I have them printed into a book with Blog2Print, so the books will become my old school reference. 

I got my white board set up, all I could find was an orange dry erase marker, not the most attractive color pen, but it’s a start. I know I have some more around here somewhere, I didn’t want to spoil the momentum. I got a few things listed, so it is sort of a to-do list, with a nod to a memory enhancer, as in “Remember this project?” I have to figure out which blocks are done in the Message in a Bottle BOM. I counted the finished ones for Simple Days, and sadly I have six of nine put together and four finished. I’m not really sad, kinda deflated, that there weren’t nine ready to embellish. I still want to finish this project.

The Indigo Way blocks are coming together, 1/1/24 there was surprise step released. I was able to get those parts finished up. I think it’s an alternate block, as there are still a bunch of pieces and sets yet to be used.  I am enjoying working with all batiks for this quilt, they are so crisp and easy to work with. Many of the block pieces in this mystery are triangular, and the bias edges with batiks aren’t as much of a problem. The fact that I didn’t have to purchase any more fabric also makes me happy. Oh wait, I did buy the red focus fabric, it was on sale though :).

I am contemplating starting a quilt with Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs , she is doing a QAL with her book “Just two Charm Pack Quilts Book”. You have to choose one of the sixteen from the book to make. I have the PDF book and I got it to do the quilt called Sommerville Circle. The QAL is 1/2/24 through 3/5/24, with cutting this week. I need to look and see what’s in my stash to make this work. It calls for 2 – 3/8s yards background (white) and 1- 7/8 yards background (pink) and of course two charm packs. I could very well just use scraps for the charms, I know I have white yardage. I pulled out my box of 30’s retro prints for the Simple Days, they would be nice as the scraps/charms maybe with a light green background. I doubt I will do all the postings and -graming that one is supposed to do with this QAL. It will give me an agenda/plan though, and I am good at sticking to them.

I haven’t posted a photo of my current cross stitching project lately, Consider the Lillies. I am on page eight, the center section. It’s got a symbolic Adam and Eve with the serpent, although they both have apples (?). Trying to decide if Eve will have a bra for her body, the pattern gives a hint of breasts, but it’s all in the tan color. I could just stitch the body in green, extend the skirt up into a sheath dress. It just looks weird to me that she is half dressed, fig leaves would have been more in line here. May be that they were too difficult to chart. 

It’s a rainy day today, good for staying in and sewing. I may dismantle the Christmas tree, and do a bit of cleaning. I am finally caught up on the laundry that amassed after our visitors left. I have been wanting to make some cinnamon buns too. Time to get moving.

Be Kind. 

Looking back at 2023 I made a lot of things, but I feel like I hardly made a dent in my UFO list that I have been dragging up every year. It maybe time to move on from these projects, it’s time to assess them and finish them or end them and move on. To be fair, I did have a lot of custom quilts this year and I made some progress.

This is the tired ol’ list from 2021

List of UFO’s to finish in the next 365 days: 

• Simple things 1930’s embroidery/appliqué 
• Teal, black and white maze quilt
• Love Entwined Quilt – appliqué 
• 365 Batik block quilt 270 blocks to go
• Dragon quilt finish quilting embellishing etc (oldest circa late 1900’s)
• Holiday Snow Village 2021 BOM
• Needing quilting/binding Berties year, Growing up odd, Misses Miller, Christmas Figs, Halloween Figs, Botanica Park, Washboard, Red and white quilt, Paper pieced ice quilt, Autumn leaves, Quick curve quilt.

I did work on Simple Things a bit. I got another block done, three totally, and since there are only 9 blocks, I should be able to finish this in 2024. If I get it all out and assemble it, then all that’s left is the embroidery. 

The Teal, black and white quilt should just be scrapped at this point. I don’t want to fix it, and I ‘m not really sure I like the color combo any more. Plus, I have used a lot of the teal fabric for other projects. Seriously thinking of pitching it, after salvaging for scraps.

Love Entwined and Holiday Snow Village are both appliqué quilts and like Message in a Bottle, they have not been on the hand work to-do list. Part of the impasse is that cross stitch is now my hand stitching preference. I did pull the MinaB blocks out and worked on one, this quilt isn’t that big, 12 blocks. However each one has to be pieced and then appliquéd. A little less than Simple Things, as there is little to no embroidery. Love Entwined is, hmm, I may have to dig that out, and see what it needs, I sort of remember that its mostly done.

365 quilt, yeah, a block a day. I could re-start that, do a leader ender. I should see how many blocks I have made. Perhaps I can do half, and still make a decent sized quilt. Although it is medallion style, so thought/math maybe involved there.

The Dragon quilt, this is an embellishment thing. It just needs a lot more beading and stuff added to it. Hand work again, but in reality, I feel like it is too far finished to chuck, but I don’t want to invest more time into it either. 

On the quilting of TBQ tops I did finish a few, all that’s left for that list are Growing up Odd, Washboard, and the paper foundation quilt “Ice”. This year I have added to the pile, the Reunion quilt still needs quilting and then there are a few whole quilts (Big Dream flowers) and a few small baby quilts. I put the top I made at the Asilomar retreat in that pile too. I really want to do some graffiti style quilting on it. 

Looking ahead, eyes on the road, I want to get a white board list up in the sewing studio. Listing current projects and UFOs. I think if I have the list in sight, I will finish one, rather than start a new project.  I also have kits I have bought to do. I did start the Swordfish one, but just sorted out all the pieces of paper foundation, no sewing. I bought two more kits on sale yesterday, and I know for sure that there are three more in my closet. Those need to get WB listed too. 

On the plus side, I am caught up with Indigo Way, I finished part five yesterday. There were a bunch of half blocks to do, so I think this one will be set on point in the final mock up. I should get some time in on Morning Glories too. 

My finished in 2023 list:

• 20 quilts sold
• knitted 5 hats
• finished 6 cross stitch projects
• made two waxed canvas bags
• quilted 4 quilts for other people
• Finished 29 quilts
• made 17 bity boxy bags for gifts

Finally, in looking back mode, I have been blogging here for about ten years. I mostly do it for myself to keep a record of my projects and doings. Lately it’s become a bit of a chore, I still have things to say, but getting photos and content to post is not my favorite part. My bill for WordPress is coming up at the end of January. I’m not sure if I’ll renew. I have used up 98% of my 6GB for media storage, which means if I want to keep blogging here, I have to move up to the next level (more$$). Over the tenure of Touch of Grey, I have followed and read lots of other blogs, linked up with many design walls, finished lists, quilt-a-longs and such. I have noticed that many have switched to instagram, Pinterest and Facebook, which is fine for them. I miss reading the thoughts and inspirations that are absent from instagrams, yeah, pictures are pretty and all, but I feel like it’s more of a sales pitch. Tag me, # blah blah, @someone, all so easy to copy/paste and not think.  I’m not here to make money, just organize my thoughts and ideas. These first few weeks of 2024, I’m going to be thinking if I want to continue posting here, or end it. My other idea is to start a new blog, a free one, it would be bare bones, no photos, or maybe just one or two.  Or I could go old school with a journal and white board, we’ll see.

Be Kind.