Sunday, January 27, 2013

FNSI / Think Pink!

Decided to knock off two birds on Friday--1 for just doing Friday Night Sew In, and 1 for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge's final pink Saturday.

Before I could do anything, though, I had to clean up the pile of miscellaneous junk that had accumulated by my sewing area (right by the front door, unfortunately):

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I didn't get an "after" photo, so you'll just have to trust that it was improved enough for me to actually work there.

First up was a partially done Farmer's Wife block, #50 Honey's Choice.  I'd gotten the sub-units done (with some wrassling), but hadn't put them all together yet.  This was also the first 5-patch block that I made using my new Marti Michell templates, which worked pretty well.

IMG_2284  FWQAL #050 Farmer's Wife

I'm not entirely crazy about the block--not enough contrast, and the colors aren't my favorites, but hey, it's done!

Next up: Disappearing 16 Patch in pink.  This month's challenge had suggested sticking to hot pinks, but I didn't have that much selection, so I went with the pinks I had.

First I laid them out:
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Then I moved them around:
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Then I told my inner perfectionist that it's a scrap block, so quit fussing & start sewing!  First rows of 4, then all together into a 16-patch, and then cut on the diagonal.

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Walla!  Tucked them into the folder with the previously made orange, purple, and blue triangles and patted myself on the back.

I then spent about 15 minutes practicing free-motion quilting--just parallel-ish straight lines, noodled around with an idea for an AAQI quilt, and called it a night.

So that's my first sewing of 2013, and I say yay! In celebration, allow me to share the "Think Pink!" number from Funny Face:

Thursday, January 17, 2013

DaGMT 2013 Pledge

Happy 2013, everyone!

I haven't been doing much sewing lately, so my UFO Brain Dump is pretty much unchanged.  In an effort to continue making progress on this, I'm eschewing all swaps, bees, and lottos for the time being, but I am joining Quilting Hottie Haven's Drop and Give Me Twenty! challenge.

No, I will NOT be doing any pushups!  Rather, for the month of February, I'm committing to quilt at least 20 minutes a day, every day.   This is organized by Beth, on her "fun" blog, and there are link-ups and prizes and a flickr group and whatnot and it's open to all, so join in! 

Herein is my DaGMT1 Commitment:

I, Recovering Perfectionist (aka Funky2's Mama, aka Jennifer), being of iffy mind and don't-even-ask! body, do solemnly vow to sew (or quilt or iron or cut) for at least twenty (20) minutes each day in the month of February 2013.  I do not set any specific goals3, but my hope is to make noticeable progress on one or more of my many UFOs, with preference given to finishing existing projects.  (I also vow that Beth Helfter is brilliant for coming up with this concept and inspiring me to join.) 

This may (or may not) also mean that I'll be posting more on this here blog.  I also may be doing a 2012 wrap-up post and some more detailed descriptions of the UFOs, but we'll have to see.

1 Is anyone else hearing "Dang Gummit" when they read the acronym, like we've fallen into a Li'l Abner comic strip?
2 Rest her furry little soul!
3 I have enough of those at work.