Tuesday, January 31, 2012

A look into my sewing room...

I had posted on my first blog about my friend and I adding up our projects and challenging each other to get to work on those old projects.  I had counted 99 before I left for Houston in 2011.  Well you know you can't go all the way to Houston on a bus trip from Iowa and not buy anything!
I purchased 10 new projects while I was down there making my total 109 projects!  I am excited to say that I listed all my projects on the left side of blog and numbered them.  I now have 95 unfinished projects!  I finished a lot of projects in November, December and January and I am so proud of myself!  I am in a 12" block of the month program again this year and my next block is supposed to come in the mail tomorrow.  So...I will be back to 96 when that arrives.  Since I started the FMQ Challenge I haven't been working on my projects like I should...I have been practicing my FMQing.  Oh shoot, I just remembered that I am making a quilt as you go quilt from taking the 2012 FMQ Challenge so I guess that makes my number go up one more!
Like I said...It's a sickness!

Monday, January 30, 2012

January 2012 FMQ Challenge Entry

This is my entry in the 2012 Free Motion Quilt Challenge.  I will be one on many that has a chance to win a prize this month.  Pick Me!  Pick Me!  I am a beginner at free motion quilting and would really like to get better at it.  I plan on putting this together doing the Cotton Theory so I will keep posting my progress as I add blocks to this piece.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

First Blog Post Ever

I have been reading a lot of quilt blogs and I am taking the Free Motion Challenge 2012.  I decided to start a blog to track my progress and share with other quilters.  


Today my friend Vicki came over and we worked on some projects.  We challenged each other last fall to get some of our old projects done.  I counted all my kits that I have and I had 99!  I said to myself -- It's a Sickness!  
I have been trying to piece 3 old projects together a month and then my reward is go shopping at my favorite quilt shop.  I have been doing really well but not getting 3 projects done each month.  So I had to switch the reward to after I have 3 projects done then I can go shop.  Great incentive for me because going to a quilt shop is a "fix" for me.  If I can't go I get a little antsy!  Just to make sure I don't "cheat"...I told my hubby about my deal with myself.  First of all, he could not believe I had 99 projects that I had purchased in the last 4-5 years that were just sitting in my sewing room!  Of course, like any hubby would do, he started doing the mental math on how much $ that is.  Lucky for me, my hubby did not throw a fit.  He is a hunter and shoots trap so he can't say much about my hobby cost.  His is more!  But he did say he would help me get my projects under control by being my "Quilt Cop".  
Anyway, back to what I did today.  I agreed to teach a table runner at a local quilt shop in March so I have to get my sample done so they can display it at the shop.  The project is a table runner using the Cotton Theory.  I like this technique because you get to practice quilting on very small pieces and also you get to use the decorative stitches on your machine.  I was a member of Thimbleberries Club in 2004 and haven't done many of the monthly projects so this personal challenge has been good for me.  I am supposed to have February done before February gets here but I don't think I will make it by the 1st.  But I will get it done in February for sure!
Now that I added a blog, I will see how getting my projects done also will go!