This is the quilt that sparked my interest.....

Here is a link that might be useful: Film at Five

That's a nice quilt, Sharon. It looks a lot like Atkinson's film strip quilt.

I have 2 borders to quilt on this comfort quilt, so I should be able to do that and get the binding on it today. Other goals for Feb:

Finish Celtic Solstice top

Make 2 blocks for another comfort quilt

Start baby quilt for Mark's coworker.

That's probably enough...it's a short month! LOL

Donna

i really like the quilt, sharon. that might be just the ticket for a leader/ender quilt.

i;ll be playing with my stash until i can sew. my sister had given me a pile of tablecloths she had made for her dd's outdoor picnic type wedding reception, gingham, small prints etc. i pulled them out and 5 of them coordinate with the fabric i bought yesterday for the children's home. yeah. dh carried all the fabric upstairs so i can go through my stash. i'm not sure what patterns i'll use, but definitely at least one falling charms. however, once i'm sewing again, i have other ufo's to complete first.

I'm trying to like working on this blue denim and white muslin double four-patch. But I'm not wedded to it. If I finish it this month I finish it. Don't know what my problem is lately, can't get really excited about whatever I get into. Then, since I have this obsession about finishing things and not having a bunch of UFO's laying around, I'm stuck with it until it's done. Wish I could shake that. The weather has been awful here the past few weeks, can't imagine dealing with what some of you are dealing with up north. But I guess you come to expect it just like we do the hot sticky summers here.

No goals this month since I didn't get too much done last month. I did do Jan. to May Lotto blocks. I put the first sashing strip on 49 star blocks for GS. and the second strip with cornerstones as well. The I saw that at least 5 of the blocks needed their centres redone. So they are sitting next to the machine staring at me. And I have the same "disease" as Rita, just can ' t get excited about it.
I do hope spring comes soon. We are having another snow episode today and another forecast for the week . Enough already!
Theresa

I'm learning to keep my goals modest, so for February I hope to finish the top of garden fence. I picked up the fabric at a little shop that was enroute driving home from the retreat last fall...I love the coral/persimmiony color with the mustard/ black and taupe...found I had some grays in the stash that work with this as well. super easy to make. Will check back at month end and see how far I made it!

Well, I'm not likely to complete everything I list here, but it doesn't hurt to list it, I guess.

I have plans to take the bargello to our guild's Quilt In in March in order to have space to spread backing & batting out to baste and mark. So I'd like to get the last of the vertical strips completed, and then label and stack them for future sewing.

Then I might be able to:

~ read up on the class I'm taking in March, buy fabric for it, and get my strip sets completed.
~ might try the Feb. Lotto blocks
~ maybe do a Dear Jane block or two (just to get my feet wet)
~ order a roll of batting so I can get some quilting done on the 7 quilts waiting to be quilted
and/or
~stitch a binding down

DS would like some pajama bottoms too...

Like I said, we'll see...

Hi Sharon.
Glad to see that you are getting back to quilting.
My goal is to finish my Chimney and Cornerstones quilt...top is done and it didn`t turn out the way I had it imagined. I should have stuck with one value in the colors..think it`s called value.....you know...used either darks or lights or mediums but not a combination of the three.
But it is what it is and I`ll finish it and move on.

February
1. finish Chimneys and Cornerstones
2. make a few bags to sell
3. MAYBE make a fabric cover for my machine

All the best to everyone. Hope you all have a quilty February.

Geraldine

For February, hmmm, ...
1. trace/cut out more fabric for granny square blocks
LOL that is all I am obligating myself to do in February, ... if I get energetic and cut borders for my parents' quilt then that'll just be a bonus. :-)

Best to you,
Sandra

Well, February Day #1 is (almost) over and I've completed one thing on my list already! I was able to finish the stitching on my bargello and have carefully marked and put it away for March.

I now have to decide if I start a new project, or try to finish a UFO and feel more productive! lol I also have the book for my March class that I'm reading through.

Tomorrow is another day.

Well, let's see...

Bind my daughter's Blowing in the Wind quilt after I pick it up from the LAQ.

Finish sewing the strips for the second of the Marimekko Chinese Coin quilts for my great-nieces and get them to the LAQ.

Finish making the sea turtles for the Baby Honu quilt. I have all 16 shells and 11 turtle bodies so far.

Make the February lotto block.

Start piecing and appliqueing the monkey quilt for our newest grandson due in April.

That should keep me busy.

Wow, looks like you gals have things to do and are wanting to get them done!

Life is too short not to enjoy what you're making or doing so if you're struggling with something (and don't want a UFO), work on it for a few minutes every day but then, work on something you really enjoy. That way, you'll be getting through the struggle but also having fun with another project.

V, I like your color-way.....is Garden Fence the name of that pattern? Whenever I see it, I think about making one.

I have the mailing box plumb full so just need to address and tape it good. More scraps are trimmed and a little more sewing was done. Probably not today though.

Getting ready to make a big pan of mac and cheese for the Super Bowl get-together at DD's later on. We usually just stay for the first half, watch half-time and then go home. Not sure how things will pan out this time with DH still laid up.

Have a happy day, everyone.

SharonG/FL

RE: Valarie's Garden Fence quilt. Just yesterday, I found an Eleanor Burn's Webinar using this very pattern only she called it Hole in the Wall and her block ends up, I think, at 15". Just Google Hole in the Wall and you will find it. If you can get through the first few minutes of introduction and get to the actual quilt making, it is interesting. I do like her most of the time but occasionally, it gets a bit silly, at least I find it so.
I also found 2 or 3 other web sites using the name Garden Fence and there were 2 different sized blocks there. One finished at 10" and one at 12". It is a pretty quilt and it is added to the to-do list. That list gets longer every day. So I had better get over my "funk" and get sewing.
Theresa

Yup Sharon....the pattern is called garden fence... I think I found the directions for it on a quilt site called hyacinth quilts.
V.

Theresa, I found garden fence blocks in a number of sizes. Based on the fabric I hand on hand and the size I wanted I went with the 10" block.
My list is way too long as well, but I will finish at least one for me this year!
V.

Sharon, that quilt that you provided the link to is very similar to one I made last year using the 2 1/2 inch squares. I LOVE this quilt, it's on my favorites pile and I will never let it go. I used scraps from the scrap bag and it is so colorful. I also made a large throw pillow to go with it and I just love to gaze at all the different colorful squares in it. Some of the scraps go back to the very first quilt I made back in the 80's.

Like Jen, I got one of my goals done on Saturday! The blocks for the comfort quilt are going in the mail today. And the completed quilt will be on its way to Scotland today, too.

Now, back to Celtic Solstice!

Donna

I've got more lotto blocks to make and I may need a new large tote bag / beach bag for a family trip that's coming up in March. If I can find any spare time I want to work on a big quilt that's been on the shelf too long. I think about quilting it all the time but have to finish it first!

Sharon, I really like Film at Five!

I have done nothing on my list today except #5. Which is, for now, playing with the Film at 5....only mine will be Film at 3 (a 9 patch). :-) It didn't help I woke up so early (with a horrid headache) that I was ready for a nap at 9am and napped til 11! But, I woke up without the headache, so, who cares. Tomorrow? Maybe I'll work on Dustin's top and at least get it completed and ready to sandwich. Then I can do his and Summer's at the same time. Yeah, that's what I'll do.

Are you ready for the Olympics????!!!!!

SharonG/FL

Yeah, right, that's what I did.....said sarcastically. :-/ It seems like February is noted for being a downer, so apparently I'm accepting it as truth. Plus, it doesn't help that my baby sister's birthday is today and she's 60 years old!!! I have been sewing every day so it hasn't been a total bust! And, I bought another 3-drawer container to use in trying to get better organized. I'm still thinking on how best to utilize it........might just throw the scraps that need to be cut up in there for now.....separated by color of course.......sigh.

Anyone else wanna whine?

SharonG/FL

Well, I haven't done much on my list, but I have been sewing!

I did get the bargello to the point where I was able to pack it up for March (Thank God!!) And Saturday I was able to talk it through with my UFO friend so I have a better idea of what the next step is.

I was also able to get fabric from said UFO friend in order to work/finish her unfinished Bella bella quilt. Her's is a smaller version of mine. I now have the outer border on, and all four quadrants sewn into a circle. Tonight I pull paper off while watching tv. I was also able to design a center medallion, and I've started hand-turn applique on it. [Yes, Jen is applique-ing! The world has not come to an end!]

I also have cut fabric for a paper pieced mini fan quilt. It's travelled to Retreat 3 different times in kit form...This time it will travel as a completed quilt!!!

I've read the directions for my March workshop, have made a few fabric selections, and know what colors I need to purchase. I might try to make a sample in a smaller size before the workshop, just for fun. We'll see.

I've found the groove again....it kind of gets lost between Retreat & the New Year.

Little Helen, I am in love with your fabrics and the design in which you are using them. Very oriental. Beautiful.

I'm not inspired. I am down to the last block of the New Year's Day mystery quilt. It's not going to be large enough for anything I'd use, so that means I need to make at least ten more blocks and a border to get it large enough to use on my daybed. I won't start sewing it together until I get those blocks made, If it's just a stack of blocks I don't see them as UFOs. rofl.

I'm enjoying an hour or less most mornings in the sewing room, but really can't get into the quilting mood. I think I burnt myself out last year, and the six years previous to it. I can't seem to get committed to any long-term project and think it's just cabin fever. No, even in the East, this has been a miserable winter. It started in October and has lasted forever. Just trying to stay sane and enjoy the sunny days we do get, even if that means temps around zero. When it warms up to anywhere near seasonal weather, it dumps more snow. I actually could use a pair of snowshoes. It's been really difficult to make it out to the chickens to feed and water over the ice, over the snow, over the previous snow.

It's the 10th already and I haven't gotten anything done!

Val, I forgot to mention in my earlier post that I am so jealous of that fabric you bought for your garden wall quilt. I loved it when I saw it but now that you've put it together in such a pretty way I wish I had gotten some too. I need to retire so I can make more quilts, but if I retire I won't be able to afford the fabric.

Kate,

build the stash now, so that it's there when you retire!

Calliope, we seem to be suffering from the same ailment. Although I live in "sunny Florida" the weather has been often lousy and I also dread going out in the cold rain to let the chickens out of their coop at dawn. You'd think that after being gifted with tons of yardage a few months ago I would be feverishly trying to use it all up but I'm in a funk. I think my problem is I'd really like to find at least a part-time job, this early forced retirement is getting to me. Back when I was working all those years and hours, I used to dream of being able to do what I wanted when I wanted but it never occurred to me that unless you are independently wealthy, the fact that there is no paycheck kind of sours the fun. When you are working and you manage to grab some time to quilt, you feel like you have deserved it, now I just feel guilty that I have all this freedom to play while DH is still slugging it out in the real world to pay the bills.

Rita, don't be too hard on yourself. A forced early retirement is a big change in your life and your financial situation. I think a "funk" is a perfectly appropriate response. I think retirement can be a tough adjustment. It's like saying your worth in the marketplace has diminished, which is not a true measure of anything, but is a valid feeling.

I'm retiring this November at age 70 after having worked full time for 48 of the past 51 years. I'm a little concerned that I won't be disciplined enough to accomplish all that I'd like to do. Reduced income will also be a factor, as will being home with my husband full time. He's pretty regimented, and I am not. He retired 20 years ago for health reasons, so he is well-adjusted to being retired.

Maybe a part-time job would make you feel like a contributor again, although I'm sure you do much around the house. It would also give you a little "fun" money. Keep your chin up. I know this weather can give a person the "gloomies." Spring is on the horizon.

Our schools were closed Tuesday and today due to ice, and will be closed Thursday as well, many locally lost power, thankfully we did not, Thursday afternoon with 50*F temps can't get here fast enough. I briefly ventured outside a little after 1pm today it was 33*F and as I walked through the yard limbs and ice were crashing to the ground from the oak trees in our back yard - I took the path with no trees back to the house thankfully. I am done with winter and I am so ready for spring.

During the past 4 weeks I have gotten fabric traced and cut for 52 8" Granny Square blocks. I already had additionally cut fabric for 86 blocks and had hand-pieced 29 of those blocks. I am wanting to make a large queen-size quilt so I still need to cut fabric for 31 more blocks. As I get fabric cut I am bagging up all pieces for each 1 block in its own ziploc bag and storing those in a plastic tub. So yay! I feel like I am in the home stretch with just 31 block pieces left to cut and get kitted up. After I get this done I will be able to inventory my fabric stash to see what can get alotted to other future quilt projects, and am looking forward to doing this as well as reorganizing my sewing storage cabinets. I also am saving all my scrap fabric from cutting out Granny Square blocks and am going to use it to make Crazy Quilt blocks, so very little wasted fabric and am happy about that.

Rita and Lois, I retired early due to health reasons, and for the first year I did feel guilty about having so much free time as DH still works. Going from only having 2 or 3 hours of free time a week when I worked, to being at home full-time with all that free time was a little overwhelming at first. I keep a clean house, but lets face it that only takes about 2 days to thoroughly clean a house even with doing laundry twice a week and I refuse to spend my life as a couch potato watching tv that just would be boring, I like having my hands busy. After a year of being at home I decided I would enjoy my retirement years and not feel guilty about being happy, I had earned the right to be happy and not just value myself strictly as a monetary value to my family. We do have limited income, some months I have nothing to spend on my hobbies of quilting, reading, crocheting and knitting, but during good months DH gives me a very small amount of money to spend on my hobby stuff and yes even with just a small amount of money (and my Christmas and b-day gifts) and shopping very frugally with coupons, you can over time build up a good hobby stash to get you through the leaner times. I hope you both enjoy your retirement years as I have learned to do.

Best to you and hope everyone is safe and warm this week,
Sandra

This post was edited by quiltingfox on Thu, Feb 13, 14 at 17:14

This week has been productive. I finished the top for DGS. Put the borders on today. It is a super King and will measure 110x110. Tomorrow, I hope, I will piece the backing. Even though I have wide backing, it is still not wide enough.
And on Sunday and Monday, I made 120 blocks for a Falling Charms.
A visit to the eye specialist today means cataract surgery next month. Eyes have been really bothering me for the past two months or so. Looking forward to that.
Theresa

Hey Rita, retirement is a big adjustment, and when it's not really your choice it's a bitter pill. I feel your pain. Things happen, though, to everybody. I tend to get moody this time of year, and curse my disability and weak arms in particular. Then I think, yeah, Julie Andrews got scarring on her vocal cords and can't sing anymore. Billy Joel crushed his hands in a motorcycle wreck and can't play piano anymore.

Jay Leno didn't want to retire, either. You're not alone!

Oh my...I've read through the postings and it seems many are in a February funk...here's an idea...make a lotto block, send it in and perhaps you'll be the luck winner!!! ...just an idea.

I get how you feel, I've had the winter blues, but this year ole man winner won't give us a break...last week an ice storm with a tree on the house, last night into mid day today, 18" of snow...no time for blues...too busy cleaning up the winter!!! (to include cleaning an area for dog pooping activities at the crack of dawn...talk about fun times!) guess what, it's evening and it started snowing again...ugh...

On the plus side, I had another snow day from work, so I was able to finish the blocks for the garden fence ... and thank you all for your kind comments...all of the blocks are on the design wall while I pondered final placement.

While pondering, I started a paper piece starburst I've been wanting to make for the last year...I'm excited about it and hope to finish this weekend...It's a 3 day weekend ...yippee, so I should finish up...maybe it will snow enough tonight that tomorrow will be a snow day again...nah, wishful thinking...oh well, it was nice to have a break...

Hang in there ...spring is around the corner!!!...I hope

Happy Valentine Day Quilters!!

V.

We had a couple robins in our little watering hole last week, so that must mean you northerners will be having Spring soon. Regarding forced retirement: Shouldn't you girls have gotten some kind of disability if you were forced to retire for health reasons? I don't know how those things work, but when my sister got sick (she was 29) and couldn't work anymore, she got SS and also got something for the boys until they were 18.

I did get some fabric out for the lotto, Valerie, but that's as far as I got....so far. :-) I do want to make at least one. I have the blocks together for the Film at 3 quilt, and am now working on the film strip rows. Also, I was looking for something and came across some blocks that I forgot I had, put them up on the design board, DH liked 'em, so made a few more to make it bigger and am sewing those rows together. No rhyme or reason....just heading off here and there. I think it might have something to do with the fact that my daughter's MIL has been given about a month to live. Wendy takes her turn in spending nights with her. My son-in-law's family is like an extension of ours.

Happy Valentine's Day.....tomorrow. (DH brought me doughnuts in the shape of hearts)

SharonG/FL

I went back to the denim and white muslin double 4-patch, then realized that half of the blocks I made were pieced wrong and now I am ripping them out to re-piece. I could just make new ones but couldn't figure out what to do with the wrong ones and didn't want unfinished stuff sitting around - (you know, I have that obsession.)
As for early retirement, except for frequent episodes with my back, I wasn't disabled into retirement, I was forced out of a job of 12 1/2 years because the company decided to ship the work to India and close the local facility's doors. This happened just at the beginning of the economy collapse and since I live miles from anywhere that comes close to what I used to do and would still have to start at the bottom, the price of gas and the extra wear and tear on the car wouldn't make it feasible. The job situation is still very dire around here and quite frankly, even though there's supposed to be a law against it, companies do NOT want to hire women over the age of 50 if they can avoid it. Before I was 40, I never had a problem landing a job but it's a different world now.

I just finished cutting out and kitting up all the fabric for the last 31 blocks of my Granny Square quilt, ... so now I have completed hand piecing 29 blocks and have left to hand piece 140 kitted up blocks that gives me all the 169 blocks that I need to complete this quilt, over the past 3 months I have managed to finish tracing and cutting out fabric for a whole queensize quilt, should be about 110" x 110" (includes borders) when I am done. Yay! Yay! Yay! I am so happy about this!!!

Best to you,
Sandra

Um....has anyone checked the date on the calendar lately? It's the 23rd! I did finally get the box mailed to Indiana but that's about it......except for playing. I laid out Film at 3 and wondered what I was thinking making it 7 rows down and 14 rows across! So, fortunately the pattern is so it can be changed pretty easily making it 9 down and 11 across instead....which will end up 54X66. Hopefully, I can get the rest of the components together today and the top will be done. The UFO blocks are almost together, vertically, then I'll work on the horizontal rows. Also, ta da!!! I'm leadering/ending Bonnie Hunter's Blue Ridge Beauty pattern in turquoises and greens....hopefully giving it a watery appearance. :-)

As you can tell, my goals at the beginning of each month are usually the things I 'should' be working on but I get side-tracked.

SharonG/FL

Ooh, Sharon, the Blue Ridge Beauty sounds like it will be lovely!

I've reached all my goals for the month. CS top is folded neatly in the closet until I feel like tackling quilting it...blocks made and mailed...baby quilt started!

I have several full weekends coming up so I think my only March goal will be finishing the baby quilt.

Donna

I'm doing pretty well on my list. I finished the second one and got the two Marimekko Chinese Coins quilts to the LAQ. I finished the Peekaboo Monkeys top today. I did the February, March and Special lotto blocks. I've prepared the binding for my daughter's quilt, but I still don't have it back from the LAQ yet. And I'm putting the border on the Anvil Block quilt made from the January lotto blocks that I won. That was a totally unplanned quilt. It's really looking great. I can't wait to post a photo. Got to get busy with the turtles again.

Well, the only thing I've done on my list is pack up the bargello! ;(

However, I have almost completed a rainbow fan quilt, and I've bought fabric, made strip sets (some more than once), and started a small version of my class's project to 'try it out'.

I've also been doing some needle turn app. for my bella bella quilt.

Looks like this blue and white double four-patch ain't gonna be done this month. I decided to machine tack it using the eyelet decorative stitch on the machine. It's coming along but it won't be bound by the 28th. I'm going to blame it on the short month. LOL! I am having a problem with the eyelet stitch sometimes not being perfectly round on all of them, but I'm not going to obsess over it or do something insane like rip them out and do them over again. I've tried different things to make it stop doing that but it's intermittent. I thought at first that it was the quilt being too taught under the foot and bunched it up and pulled the quilt up around the machine but that wasn't it. I also increased the foot pressure but that didn't help. So I'm just dealing with it. I've decided to use a pillow ticking binding on it, (blue and white) to go with the blue denim and white muslin I've used in the quilt.

Rita, if you read my post under Question, I think maybe the trick is to loosen the presser foot tension. At least that seemed to work better for me yesterday .
Goals completed: DGS wedding quilt ready for the LAQ, Falling Charms quilt needs backing, Jan. 2013 Lotto block quilt finished and then the UFO from yesterday. I am on my way down now to trim the edges and attach binding. Hey, if I keep up this pace, I will get all those tops finished.
Theresa

Hi.

Hopefully,I will have my Chimneys and Cornerstones quilted by March 1. The binding may take a bit longer to do. I also got a few bags finished, ready to sell.

I started making some 25 patch blocks from scraps.
Sharon, guess what I plan to do with them.
Give up??? I am going to try the Film at Five quilt.

Hope everyone accomplished at least some of their February goals.

~Geraldine

Theresa, I'll give it a try, the reason why I did the opposite is because I figured the weight and bulk of the quilt was keeping the feed dogs from moving it properly while the needle was doing it's thing. I thought more pressure on the foot would be the answer - goes to show I'm not a mechanic engineer genius. That's why when DH tried to show me how to operate a walk behind bush hog, after the 4th time going back over explaining all the buttons, levers and gizmos, I told him just forget it after seeing that look of "you are so incredibly stupid" on his face. LOL!

Rita, I had done the same thing, thInking there had to be more pressure because of the thickness of the quilt but when I reduced the pressure the next day, I could not believe how smoothly everything went.
Men!! Put some of them behind our sewing machines and see what they do.
Good luck today
Theresa

Good for you, Geraldine. I thought it went together quickly and easily. Plus, it was fun. Mine is mostly browns and greens.....am thinking about giving it to my son-in-law who lost his mother on Valentine's Day.

SharonG/FL