TEN Down!! - Ninety-ish To Go . . . . .

Do you have stitching goals for 2018?

Are you making progress?

 January is always the easiest month to stay focused on new goals -- at least here in Northeast Ohio.  The weather is a huge help -- we've had some extremely cold days and quite a bit of snow -- so it's easy to stay home and keep at it. 

I've made good progress on my first goal of "executing 10% of my UFO's" in January!! 

I finished the little cherry block into a small wallhanging.

Hard to see the dozens and dozens of bubbles -- what a lot of work!!

And I finished a needlepoint given to me (because you love birds) by a lovely woman many years ago.  For some reason, I don't enjoy making pillow covers but since I couldn't bear to look at it and feel guilty, I bit the bullet and finished it for my couch.

Of course, it didn't take any time at all when I got to it.

Everything I needed -- perfect back fabric, cording, pillow form -- were right there in my studio.

The stripe was left over from a past something and it is uncanny how perfect the colors are with the needlepoint and the vintage fabric bordering it.

How when I see it, I can smile and remember her instead of feeling guilty!

The quilting of the blue and yellow quilt is temporarily stalled.  The center blocks are finished and I'm experimenting with designs for the setting triangles and the border.  I'm confident that I'll figure it out soon and be back at it next week!

I believe this was the last mystery quilt I designed for my local followers -- it brought all of us to our knees.  The cutting and sewing was straightforward -- but the color placement was ridiculous.  I have always intended to quilt it in sections myself but I've decided to hand it off to be long-armed. since I want pretty quilting designs and I'm not confident about my ability to do that.

I'll get the borders onto it and organize the backing this week!

So that's four UFO's sorted!

As I was sorting stacks in the studio earlier this month, I put projects I felt ready to let go into this tub!

Tomorrow, six of them are headed with me for the first sewing get together of my gang

There that's ten projects -- 10% executed!

And since I made such good progress on the UFO assault, I allowed myself to take on two (small) challenges!!

I made this 13" square piece for Curated Quilts minimalist themed challenge.  I won a copy of the current issue of this new publication so I was inspired to participate in the challenge for the next issue. They set up the colors and I applied the Set-In Piecing Simplified technique and lots of matchstick quilting.

Haven't heard about Curated Quilts?  You can check it out HERE.

There were 65 submissions for the challenge and they are all on display at this LINKY.

UPDATE - 1/17/2018 

 I've just learned that the piece has been selected for the next issue of Curated Quilts -- very exciting!!

How about Project Quilting, now in it's 9th "season"? 

I stumbled across it last winter -- it's the brain child of Kim Lapacek.

The first challenge theme was "hometown proud" and my initial reaction was a blank stare.

When I finally left the house last week for a long walk at the closest park, I came home inspired to share this iconic tree. 

It stands along the trail head overlooking the creek and one of my naturalist friends estimates that the tree is between 200 and 250 years old.  In spite of that massive hole (small children fit inside of it), this red oak is still living. 

The valley has a rich natural and local history and the fact that this tree was already growing when white settlement began evokes all sorts of questions about how it has survived.  

It is so much larger that all the other trees, it seems likely that it lived in a meadow for a while and then as people lost interest in farming the valley, it re-planted the forest around it.

Anyone who has ever visited the park has stopped to look at this tree!

While it is not my typical work it is a hybrid of techniques I've learned over the years -- free form cutting to create the landscape, slashing and inserting strips to create the ghost tree in the background, free motion stitching to highlight the trees in the prints, and fusible applique to create the oak itself.

(Don't I have an impressive hoard of "landscape" fabrics?)

There were an impressive 113 submissions for the challenge and you can look them over and vote for your favorites -- up to 10!!  Click HERE to visit the link-up.

The next challenge theme will be revealed on Sunday, January 21 -- you should at least read it -- who knows there might be an inspiration lurking just around the corner for you?!?

 I'm loving all this energy and hope it stays with me all year!!

Mary