DaGMT Update

Hi everyone:

Wow! February is now over and so is the Drop and Give me Twenty challenge. I wasn't sure if I could keep up with doing at least 20 minutes of quilting a day and hesitated to sign up for this, but decided to commit to doing 30 minutes of quilting per day during the month of February. I'm sure glad that I did! I've been able to work on many of my UFO's and also focus on new pattern ideas.

To give you an idea of what I've accomplished this month, here are a few photos.

I was able to finish and publish three patterns this month. Candy Hearts, a stuffed ornament/pincushion or shelf sitter, is a FREE pattern available on my website.

Candy Hearts by Chatterbox Quilts

Another pattern that was completed before Valentine's Day was Sweet Sayings, which combines easy hand embroidery stitches to create a lovely pillow.

Sweet Sayings by Chatterbox Quilts

I also completed Hearts Abloom, a fusible web appliqué wall hanging which features a bouquet of hearts.

Hearts Abloom by Chatterbox Quilts

Now, for the UFO's that I've been working on. I had this sweet cat embroidery completed, but hadn't yet added any borders to it. So, I added some borders. I believe that I was going to cut down the background fabric, but neglected to do this before adding the borders, so... I think I'll stitch these little mice on. This is a Darcy Ashton pattern from her Claire's Cats Volume 1 book.

"Caught You" from Claire's Cats Volume 1 by Darcy Ashton

This wall hanging has been (not) hanging around my quilt studio for several years. I loved the antique letter and stamp fabrics, but was stuck on how to finish quilting it. Since I've recently been watching Cindy Needhan's Craftsy class on free motion quilting, I thought that this would be the perfect project to try out some of her quilting designs. It's almost finished - I just need to quilt the outer border. May try to do some feathers here.

Okay, this is more a WIP than a UFO. I finished the hand embroidery on this pattern and will now need to finish off the appliqué pieces. Hopefully I'll have this pattern ready in time for Halloween!

Black Cat by Chatterbox Quilts

I've recently been experimenting with different uses for my appliqué templates. I traced the Large Peacock appliqué template onto some background fabric and then coloured it in with pencil crayons and then stitched around the individual areas with matching embroidery floss. A few borders and I can now finish quilt it for a small wall hanging - or maybe I'll add a few more blocks and make a larger project. Still thinking about this one.

Large Peacock appliqué template by Chatterbox Quilts

Our guild provides neonatal quilts to one of the local hospitals. I've completed one already, but here is a second one using the slab technique described in Sunday Morning Quilts by Cheryl Arkison and Amanda Jean Nyberg. Just need to quilt this baby up!

Neonatal quilt top

I've also been doing some stitching - I figure anything using a needle and thread can be lumped under "quilting" - and have started (yes, something new) a stitch sampler to try out various stitches, some familiar and some new. Will continue to add to this one and then decide what I want to do with it.

Hand embroidery stitch sampler

In addition to these projects I've been working on other quilty-related items, such as upcoming patterns and other projects. 

Now that February is at a close, I'm hoping to continue this trend through the rest of the year. It's really surprising what you can accomplish when you decide that you're going to do it!

Hope you had a great February too!

DaGMT 2013

Hi everyone:

I imagine that you're wondering what DaGMT 2013 means? No, it's not a dreaded disease, nor is it a secret society. It is an acronym (yes, another one in my life) that stands for "Drop and Give me Twenty" - minutes of quilting, that is. 

This idea, from Beth Helfter of Quilting Hottie Haven, is to do at least 20 minutes of quilting during each day in the month of February 2013. Hopefully it means that I'll be finishing up some of my UFO's WIP's during those 28 days and perhaps even tackling some of the projects/designs that I've been wanting needing to work on. If you know me, you know that I have just a few WIP's hanging out in my studio!

If you'd like to join me in this commitment, you can check it out on Beth's blog. 

To participate in this quilting work-out, I'm stating my formal commitment here, as follows:

I, Kim Jamieson-Hirst, a quilter who is drowning in UFO's WIP's, am joining Quilting Hottie Haven's second annual DaGMT event, and pledge to quilt for 20 minutes or more every day of the month of February 2013. In doing so I hope to finish at least one of my WIP's and tackle some pattern designs as well. Thanks for Beth Helfter for thinking up this challenge and I hope I can make it through to the end before being distracted by some other challenge, or exchange, or new pattern, or cute fabric, or ... Let's just say that I'm going to give it my best shot!

To keep me motivated, I'm going to post a calendar near my sewing area so I can note my minutes on it each day. Hopefully, with this physical reminder, I'll actually remember that I've made this commitment - and not get distracted with new projects, books, magazines or chocolate.

Must minimize chocolate distraction!

If you have a few UFO's WIP's in your quilting room, why not sign up too? Did I mention that there are prizes? Yup, in addition to actually finishing some projects and being able to brag about that accomplishment, you could win some lovely quilty prizes. Again, you can find out all about these on Beth's blog.

So, just a few more hours to go until I can use my time quilting to (maybe) win some prizes and finish up some outstanding projects. I'm threading up my machine and winding some bobbins in preparation. Wish me luck!