Goal Reached

Well it's been quite a month. I set my OMG for February on the 3rd and by that date already had 10 blocks for the project done. I heard from my friend Laura Cootsona, director of the Jesus Center in Chico, CA about the need for hand made quilts for the expansion of the Jesus Center on January 23rd.  On January 25th we had a zoom meeting to discuss the project. I believe I started the quilt on February 2nd. I finished it today. That's record time for me! A twin size quilt from start to finish in less than one month. Of course that also meant that was all I worked on during that time, with one exception which I will discuss below. 

The pattern I used was Lauri Simpson's 9-Patch Block, which was #8 for Moda's Block Head's 3 for 2020. I used mostly scraps and stash fabric, but did have to make a few fabric purchases to complete the blocks. I chose teal, pink, blue, and purple, and made 10 - 12" blocks of each color. I began with the teal blocks. One of the purchased fabrics was for the center of each block. I found a fabric that had each of the four colors I had chosen in a little floral pattern on a white ground, to pull them all together. 

The next set of blocks were the pinks. Getting 10 blocks done went rather quickly because I was chain piecing. It actually took far more time to find enough fabric from my stash and scraps of the right value in the chosen color. I had to purchase a dark pink for the four square units in the pink blocks. I also needed a light blue and a dark purple to complete the various sections. What was interesting to me was how different the blocks of two different colors looked when lined up next to each other on the design wall. The teal and pink blocks looked like I had used different patterns. I wondered at this point in the process if I had made a mistake in choosing to use only a single block pattern. 

I made the blue blocks next, and then the purple ones - they didn't look so different from each other as the teal and pink had. But I knew they were not going to look very good if I kept them in single color sections and just lined them up across the quilt.  So it was off to the bedroom floor since the design wall was taken up with another project. 

So I chose a pretty simple layout and am quite happy with it. Five blocks across and eight rows down made a 60" by 96" top. It's for a twin bed, I didn't add a border. Once the layout was decided on connecting the blocks and sewing the rows together went pretty quickly. I wished however that I had a leader/ender project ready to go when I made this since it was all chain piecing and I could have gotten a long way on another project if I'd had one ready. 

I had decided against doing more large quilts but this was a special project so I went ahead with it anyway. It wasn't as large as the queen size Magic Stars quilt I did last year, so was a little more manageable. However I knew that the layout of my sewing room would make the marking, layering, and quilting difficult. So last Saturday I did a major room rearrangement. This photo shows the original arrangement. The table with the quilting machine facing the window but on the far side of the room with very little room between my chair and the closet doors behind me. Tables had to be moved to support the quilt and all the stuff kept on the cutting tables and the pressing mat on the pressing tables had to be moved. It was a big chore every time I needed to do marking, basting, and quilting. 

I kept seeing on Pinterest craft rooms and quilting studios that had large square tables in the center of the room with lots of space around them and wondered if I could make that kind of arrangement work. It would mean moving my quilting machine to the table in front of the window and moving the large shelf unit to the far side of the room. You can see I made quite a mess getting the shelf and cabinet emptied so they could be moved. It took pretty much all day. Dan helped with the movement of large pieces and I did the rest. I knew right away that the four tables in the middle of the room would be far more functional for me in that arrangement but wondered how the quilting was going to work with the machine against the wall in front of the window. 

The tables I have are from Dan's mom's art studio. I knew when we had the estate sale of her things that many people would be interested in her tables, because she taught art classes on them for many years and her students were the people who came to the sale. But, I also knew that they would work perfectly for my sewing room so I kept them all. I have six of them in the sewing room. They are the perfect height and their size means they can be easily rearranged as needed. I have just enough room in the sewing room to line four of them up in a row if I need to baste a large quilt, and did that for the Magic Stars quilt. I'm so thankful to have them. The new layout is to have four in the center of the room, two for my cutting mats and two for my pressing table. There is plenty of room all the way around the tables so movement around the room is much simpler than it was in the original layout. Also all my cutting tools are right there on the shelf behind the tables so I don't have to keep those things on the tables anymore. They are always within easy reach.

The other two tables are now up against the outer wall facing the canyon, with the quilting machine in front of the window. It works so much better than the former arrangement! The quilt can't fall off the end of the table because it runs up against the wall and the window. It's made doing the quilting so much easier. I didn't need to move my sewing desk where I do my piecing on my Bernina, it's been in the perfect spot all along. I can see right along the canyon and down into the valley right from my sewing chair. It's such a lovely sight every time I look up from my sewing. 

Well, my rearrangement took a whole day and nothing got done on the quilt that day, but I'm sure the improvement in the layout saved me at least that much time during marking, basting, and quilting.  Anyway, the quilt got done and my One Monthly Goal for February was reached. 

I am linking up with:

Patty of Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal

Beth at Love, Laugh, Quilt for Monday Making

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap

Judy of Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday

Thanks for stopping by and reading. Have a lovely week! 

February One Monthly Goal

I love to read and for many years would read four or five books at a time. I don't read nearly as often or as much these days but have numerous quilting projects going at one time in place of the books. One book I did read recently is Confessions of X by Suzanne M. Wolfe. If you are familiar at all with the life of St. Augustine this may be of interest. It's a novel, not about Augustine but about the life of his Concubine, so of course Augustine is present almost throughout. It's fiction of course, and a great story beautifully written. I'm going to be reading more of the author's work soon. 

Now on to the numerous projects in the sewing room. There is the making of Peppermint Patty quilt blocks, the string quilt applique project, the Charm Square Heart quilt, and beginning experiments with foundation paper piecing a Storm at Sea quilt. There are more waiting in project boxes to be cut and pieced and a few hanging in the closet waiting to be layered and quilted. So many options to choose from when I go to the sewing room to work. 

However, they are all on hold now. My One Monthly goal for February is to get a new project done - all the way done, complete. I'm using Alternate Block 8 from Moda Block Heads 3 by Laurie Simpson for my pattern and making 12" blocks. The blocks on the design wall are the beginning of the first section of the quilt. I have three sections to go and want to have the blocks completed before I make the final design decision. The other three sections will be one each of pink, blue, and purple. This is a donation quilt. I've given away many quilts in my time, though to this point all to family members. This is my first donation quilt. If you are interested the information about the local non-profit I'm donating to is below. 

I received a request last week from my dear friend Laura for help with getting quilts made for the expansion of the Jesus Center in Chico, CA. Laura is the director of this local non-profit that helps the underserved and homeless of our community. The Jesus Center has long had a shelter for women called the Sabbath House. They are now in the process of moving and expanding their facility to include shelter space for men as well. There will soon be 35 beds for women and 25 beds for men. The projected date for opening the new faciltiy is April 1st. Laura is hoping for at least 20 new quilts by the opening. I can make one, maybe two. If you are interested in finding out more about the Jesus Center click here to go to their web site. They serve our community in so many ways beyond offering meals and shelter. If you are interested in helping Laura get quilts for the shelter beds please let me know in the comment section below and I will contact you with details about the project. 

I'm linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal