PHD 2020 list

As part of my planning for this year, I committed to Gail's PHD in 2020..

Yes, I'd like to get 12 Projects Half Done finished this year and Yes, I'd like to finish everything I start this year!
Tall orders.
Here is the list of 12 UFOs I would like to finish. Some are old and some are relatively new, all in varying stages of completion.

Without further ado —
Hannah and Harrington - I completed the top in 2013 and this is what I said back then....I'm very much in love with this project and I'm hoping it won't be long until it's quilted and turned into a real quilt!  HAHA!  (Forever the optimist.)
This was a quiltalong by Michelle of The Raspberry Rabbits.

This will be its year (it's actually already basted, ready to quilt) —

The MOML's jelly roll quilt - another one dating back a few years. I finished this top in 2014. It is actually partially quilted but I got stuck with what to do next —

This Mystery Stitchery quilt came back onto my radar recently when it was being used for a spot of hunt making, and I realised that it needed more quilting. It has some very basic ditch quilting and I think it will be more robust if I re-visit it - even if it's only with some more ditch stitching! Oh and it needs a label :-) Originally finished in 2010!

Friday's Garden  - this is another partially quilted one. Once again I stumbled with the quilting.... I'm doing a fill I'm not happy with and I need to decide whether to rip it out or continue on. I know what my heart wants me to do but I have yet to decide if I can be bothered!! I last worked on this quite recently - back in 2018 and I do love this quilt so I must get it finished —

So that's four that I just have to finish the quilting on. 

The Mod Bear's Paw needs an outer border (some piecing involved) then it too will need quilting. This was a sewalong on Lorna's Sew Fresh Quilts blog back in 2016. This is another quilt that I absolutely love —

International Sisters. I put a lot of energy into this last year but regrettably put it away in preparation for my USA trip in November. I'm really keen to get it sashed and finished as I love it so much (haha it seems I love all my projects!). This project started with a block shared by Preeti of Sew Preeti which a few of us have taken off with —

Birds on a Wire is a project which needs a lot more work on it. These are blocks that I made when pattern testing for Juliet of Tartankiwi in 2018. I have a plan of what I'm dong with them... I just need to execute that plan!

One of my goals for the year is to use more of my scraps. Accordingly, my Great Granny squares will be pulled out again. I have 9 blocks made, and had decided to continue on and make another 7 for a 4x4 grid. We'll see. (I used the tutorial from Lori Holt's blog *here*.) 

 And the other scrap quilt I want to finish up is my Scrappy Sprouts. I have a pile of these but I do need to sort through them and decide what colours, etc, I need to use for balance. I think I may be about halfway through this project.

I have a wee pile of Christmas quilts I'd love to make but as I'm partway through this one, I won't let myself start anything new. This is Snowflake Land from Quiltmania#80. I haven't worked on this since 2016. Not a big project and I think I have only two more blocks to do. No excuses really.

Numbers 11 and 12 on my PHD list are a bit wishy-washy. Inspired by Janice's recent post *here*, I aim to take two orphan blocks and finish them off. I don't have many projects that I've mentally abandoned, (I still love them all!) but there is the odd block that can do with attention. 

Below are some possible candidates for this —

So there we have it, my list of 12 projects that I am wanting to completely finish this year. Wow, it's a little daunting but like the elephant, I will break it down into small pieces and work my way through them. 

The next step is to actually pull out all these items (rather than finding previously taken photos on my blog!) and store them in sight. 

Thank you Gail of the Quilting Gail blog for motivating and pushing me to do this thinking and planning. Hopefully what follows is a year of finishing!

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Looking ahead to 2020

Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl is hosting a 2020 Planning Party.
I thought I'd join in, and then I thought I wouldn't but now I've decided I will!
Planning for the new year is something that I've done in the past with limited success. One thing I do quite well is write a post in January and then never really thought about it again!!
But I'm thinking that, at least if I join the planning party, it's a start with trying to focus, prioritise and putting ideas into words.
It's a springboard for further thought, a little more accountability than if I do nothing!

At the start of 2019 I drew up a simple mind map that included the important things I wanted or needed to work on. It included things I'd committed to financially (particularly those things that have a bigger outlay) as well as other wants and needs for the year. Being a good size, visual and right next to my desk, I found it a useful piece of paper. I did actually refer to it often and I did actually double check it when I was finishing a project or starting something new.
It wasn't necessarily something I stuck to, and everything on it wasn't necessarily made/finished/etc but it was a useful tool.

So I'm going to do that again - I've got the start of a chart and will add to it as I get myself sorted.

Gosh my planning has barely started but it's getting full already!

I'm very good at getting my projects to a certain stage, putting them aside to come back to but not doing so. With that in mind I've signed up to two year-long parties for finishing projects. By doing this I hope to have some extra motivation and answerability which may help me meet some of my goals. A bit of cheering on from the sidelines never goes amiss either :-)
The first sign up —

Cheryll of Stitching Cubbyhole has issued a WOOFA challenge (Working On or Finishing A UFO).
For this, Cheryll is making a -list of projects to work on ... or even better... finish during 2020 (to quote her words).
So I'll be adding her WOOFA button and a list of projects/ufos to my sidebar when I get a chance.

And the second sign up —

Quilting Gail is running the PHD project in 2020.
I'm going to accept this challenge as well. It would be amazing to achieve my PHD in 2020!
(Where PHD stands for Projects Half Done.)
How does this one work?
To quote Gail -

We finish UFOs and we FINISH all projects that we start in 2020. We finish what we start so that the UFO list does not increase! (And, gulp, we have to list at least 12 of those projects.)So this is a pretty tough challenge but, if I can pull it off,  it will be most beneficial!

Plenty to think about, and to add to this year's mindmap.Scrap Invasion —I sewed a lot of small scraps this year and made more blocks for my Omigosh quilt. Because it takes 1" strips/squares, it doesn't use up a lot of scraps.

I love making these but they don't use enough scraps fast enough!

And my scrap bins are overflowing, I cant walk past a lonely scrap without scooping it up and putting it in a (scrap) bin. This coming year I need to re-join Angela and the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I love some of the quilts made where participants have sewn the same block all year e.g check out Sally of Objects of Design and her Piglet Mayhem quilt. Preeti did the same with her International Sisters quilt blocks. So I'm thinking I'd like to do something like this with my scraps in 2020. Watch this space :-)
The above plans make me seem very virtuous. While I will be busy meeting my goals (I hope!), I do know there will be the odd DREAMi and Squirrel moment. I love the regular linky Sandra of mmmquilts does.

This celebrates those - ahem - moments we have where we have to drop everything and start something new. As this happens to me, I'm sure I'll be linking up too. 

I think this is enough thinking for now. I need to make my lists for the WOOFA challenge and PHD work.

Just to finish, I looked after two small children today. I was very happy to see the beanbags I made them for Christmas in use!

'til next time (on this 30th day of continuous blogging!),

happy stitches,

A Scrappy Project

(A post where I use a (small) ufo, sew some scraps AND make a Christmas gift!)

We all know Raewyn likes a challenge, so when SewCalGal announced she had some for us this year I was keen to learn more :-)

[You may remember the Free Motion Quilting challenges she has run the past 2 years, I had a lot of fun with them].

One of her 2014 challenges is the  "Handmade Christmas Challenge" which really appealed to me - oh to be more organised for Christmas time! As I was already hoping for more of a Handmade Christmas this year, I was sold! 

We are asked to make a Christmas gift or Christmas decorating item, to share it, and some tips, hints or even a tutorial to inspire others. 

Easy enough, you may think, but where to start?!!

Blocks from Flirting with Flowers by Vicki Tucek, now called the
Pickledish Patch.

These little blocks were part of a free block of the month project which Vicki Tucek (The Pickledish Patch) offered during 2010. (They are still available, for a small charge, on her site). It was one of my first forays into needleturn applique and I really enjoyed making them. As is often the way, I never quite finished the project and the blocks have sat forgotten, but not unloved, waiting for attention for a while now.
I pulled one block out recently and have given it a new life. I decided it was the perfect size for a book cover.
I have a formula I use when making book covers. Close the book and measure the full size of it; that is, run the tape measure across the front, around the spine and then across the back. Add 9" to this measurement. Then measure the height of the book and add 1" to that.

Then it is a matter of joining your fabric pieces until you get to this size. Approx. 4 1/2" at each end will be inside flaps so I usually keep those unpieced, but for the rest of the cover I play around until the fabrics that I want to use all fit together.
Then I back it with a light iron-on pellon, or similar, and lightly quilt it. The quilting may not be necessary but I like the finish it gives. For this one, I stitched in all the ditches and then free motioned around the applique pieces.
Once I've joined the lining to the front at each end only, I make the flaps by tucking the side seam in. [If you don't know this method, let me know and I will share that, I didn't take a photo at the time and it is easiest to illustrate by a photo]. [Explanantion for lack of detail further on in post].

The ladybird is too cute!

Quite by accident I discovered a good way to do the lining; rather than starting with one large piece the size of my cover, I join two pieces together so there is a seam down the centre. Leave an opening in that join - you can pull the cover through it to turn it right side out...I find it a lot neater than leaving an opening in one of the outside edges.

Finished cover 

Internal shot!

Without too much fuss, we have a book cover!!
I hope you've found these points useful and maybe they will inspire you to pull out a lonely block and turn it into something new.

Apologies for the lack of photos for this tutorial/post. While I was finishing it off yesterday afternoon I was mentally distracted by a bushfire raging across the road. Devastating and heartbreaking. Some of our beautiful bush across the road has gone, as well as some Reserve Land and the neighbour's bush and pines. Apparently the gulleys of big trees are still intact but the ridges are burnt out. There were some huge flames. Helicopters were working into the night and are back there this morning. I'm not looking forward to having to face facts and actually see the damage myself.
No-one was hurt, no stock were harmed, no buildings or vehicles were 'in the way' and rain is forecast so I guess we have plenty to feel thankful for.

To see more Christmas sewing projects click *here*
To go to Scrap Basket Sunday, hosted by Kim's Big Quilting Adventures, click *here*
Thank you to both lovely ladies for inspiring and motivating us yet again :-)
Happy stitching everyone,
Have a great day,