2020 Planning Party: First Quarter Update

If I went through the trouble of doing some planning for 2020, maybe I should go through the effort of some updates too! (For the original list, see this post.)

After the first quarter of the year, here are status updates for the projects I listed:

1. Quilting my Nocturne Star: no progress. The top, back, binding, and thread are all still hanging out in the same box. I haven't used the batting intended for this quilt, so I still have all of the necessary pieces.

2. A wall hanging from an orphan block. At the retreat in February, I sorted through my blues and yellows to see what I had from the first wall hanging and what else may work

and then cut up a lot of little squares.

Not long after getting home, I sewed the first border of rectangles together and attached them to the center block.

I couldn't find enough of the fabric I wanted to use for the next border. It was a light orange with blue flowers that was perfect in the first block. I did some more looking but never did find any. (Except for the squares of this fabric in my plaidish quilt. I was giving them the side eye for sure.)

When I finally decided I couldn't wait any longer for some to magically appear and wanted to move forward, I worked with what I had. I had enough for 10" of the 12" border. So I grabbed another fabric that isn't the same but I kept mixing them up in my mind, so I figured they were close enough to the same. I put the new fabric in just the corners, leaving the center for the orange fabric.

Not terrible.

Then I decided to press on and sew on the next border, which was also a set of squares. It would have been smarter to strip piece this--make one set 6" wide and then cut them into 1.5" strips--but I didn't think of this on time. So I sewed little 1.5" square together, one by one.

And then they were too long. By a good amount:

I think I can make each seam a smidge bigger and make it fit, but for now the whole thing is in time-out.

3. Sashing Lucy Boston blocks
This got seriously derailed by the Third Block contest in February, but I was able to finished 4 so far this year

and am working on the fifth:

This last one will be block #28 to be sashed, which means...I'm half way! Wow, imagine that!

4. Joy to the World quilt bottom (back)
Good news here, I got the back done!

This got a big push by the #sewthescrapoutofMarch sew along on Instagram (and being home all day every day) and I definitely wanted it off of the design wall.

Here's a close up of the border print:

Carefully chosen by the fact that it was the only red fabric I had enough of to do the borders.

5. Antique red fabric quilt
I bought more fabric for this quilt, bringing in some teals that I think will really help, but nothing else done. If I do the Boston Common pattern I'm looking at I really will need that design board the Joy to the World quilt just vacated.

6. Cashmere "memory" blanket
I got a good start on this one at the retreat in February. The blocks were cut and sewn into rows. Soon after getting back, I sewed the rows together.

I started the hand embroidery to sew down the seam allowances on March 3 and finished in about two weeks. (Another reason my Lucy Boston blocks were slowed down.)

I finished the label just in time to say I did it on this post. I hope to deliver it on Thursday.

Although intended for a couch, here it is
laying on my queen sized bed.

7. Calligraphy
I completed the online "drills" course I started. That was a great start. I did not sign up for any of the following (not free) courses that actually teach letters. I just looked at examples and started. I made these 4x6" cards to hang on the prayer board at church.

I am interested in hand lettering, which is a great thing to combine with calligraphy. Here's the design I put on the postcard I swapped at the retreat.

I'm learning that calligraphy and hand lettering are more about the layout than how well you can make letters. (Although of course you need both.) I took a class on hand lettering at Make South Bend a couple years ago, and both of these experiences have taught me that it's more like drafting than writing.

Here's a fun habit I picked up from the calligraphy drills instructor:

She loves to decorate her envelopes, and apparently I do too. It takes a long time though, so please don't be offended if any mail you get doesn't look like this! :)

I am not keeping up with regular drills so I'll have to "get in shape" before I do any serious calligraphy projects. I also haven't experimented with the "big" brush pen. I could do the same drills with the big tip pen and see how that goes.

8. Skate more
I managed to skate twice in January at the new local skate park:

And a picture to prove I was there:

It was nice. I think after that the weather was iffy and I had things that filled the time gap where I would have went skating. Apparently it is a good thing I didn't get the season pass.

9. Take a trip with Troy: no progress
And now that we are self-isolating (self-isewlating in my case), getting to the grocery store is considered a major trip.

10. Pray more.
I'm definitely doing this, and with all the time at home that I could want, I have lots of opportunities for it. I have kept up a daily practice of Lectio Divina each morning, and small groups that I was getting together to pray with are trying it on Zoom. It's not great, but it's not horrible either.

Well, all in all, not bad I'd say. This might have been a better goal list for the first quarter of 2020, than for the whole year! But then again, I do have that whole quilt to quilt (#1).

A Hat for Skating

Skating? Check. Whistler sweater? Check. Matching hat? Check!

Here are my hat and I enjoying the Rideau Canal.

After a mid-week warm up scare, the temperature conveniently dropped about 20 degrees on Friday night so I could go skating with my sister, BIL, niece and nephew. I think we all had a wonderful time. I certainly did!

The sweater and hat are quite matchy matchy but notice how the cowl breaks it up. I'm kidding. Despite how the reds completely clash, and that I could risk taking off the coat for a couple pictures, there was no way I was taking off that cowl. It was cold! (But I loved it.)

Back to the hat, I went so far as to make the tassels called for in the pattern:

I just pinned them on, however, so I can remove them whenever I want. I think they're a little dorky but they're traditional to the style. I have a hard time fighting that.

The hat came out a little long. If I made it again, I'd consider skipping the first band of black with gold "arrows." As it was, I had to skip the last little bit of colourwork which was some natural dots and then some red dots. In this way, Project Stats
Started: 19 Jan '11
Finished: 28 Jan '11
Pattern: Whistler 2005 by
Dale of Norway
Materials: Leftovers of Dalegarn Falk in Grey, Goldenrod, Barn Red, Natural
I started the shaping at the right measurement, but I still think the hat is a little long. I generally prefer them fitted and not standing up on top of my head. But like the tassels, I think this shape is traditional to the style, so I'm not fighting it either.

The day before skating, my sister and I walked [quite a ways] to the movie store and it was much windier. The wind was cutting right through the hat, which strengthened my idea to line it. I originally thought to do it because I have some nice yellow/gold alpaca lying around waiting to be used and a lining would hide and protect all the long strands inside the hat from the colourwork. Another part of me asks, "Just how often do you need a hat to protect you from strong frigid winds?" I don't know. I'm still not sure if I will do it, but if I do you know I'll let you know!

One more superfluous shot:

I love the Rideau Canal. And hot chocolate at Tim's afterwards was perfect too, even if they were out of Boston Cremes.