To-Do Tuesday 1-5-16 | Happy New Year!

2016 is here and I. Am. Ready! I have been having a blast making plans with my Quilter’s Planner and figuring out how and when to accomplish my sewing goals for this year. I filled out the Projects At-A-Glance page with all of my intended projects for the year. With the exception of June and July, I have one quilt to finish and two bags to make each month. I modifed May so that I only have one bag to finish in that month. During the summer I plan on piecing four quilts that I’ve had on my Want-To-Do list for a while, so I’ll have those tops done and ready to quilt after summer. I will be busy this year, but I’m confident that I have not set unrealistic goals.

Since last week’s post I’ve accomplished two big things. The first was to make a cover for my Quilter’s Planner. It’s a free pattern designed by Amanda K of What The Bobbin, modified by Stephanie of Late Night Quilter (developer of the planner) and given to those who have ordered the planner.

I chose to use Essex Linen as the “binding” of the cover, and Maker by Art Gallery Fabrics as the main exterior and lining print. The exterior zipper pocket lining and the interior sleeves are made from the Multi Plaid print in Carnelian from Denyse Schmidt’s Florence line. The pockets on the sleeves are Essex Linen. The pattern was very easy to make. I decided to go the extra mile and top stitch all the way around the edge of the cover, rather than just the top and bottom center like the pattern instructed. I figured my new industrial machine could handle it. Wrong. I am not sure if my stitch length was set too small or if my expectation of what this machine can power through was a little too high. Maybe both. But expecting it to stitch easily through zipper ends that have been doubled over in the seam edge of the cover may have been too much. I played with my machine the next day and put it through some paces and it sewed fine. So I’m thinking I pushed it a little too hard. Oops!

My second accomplishment for the week was to finish my Grungy Windows quilt backing! I am so thrilled to have that done! It is much bolder than I envisioned, but I think once the quilt is finished the boldness of the back and all of the white on the front will help balance the quilt out. That’s what I’m telling myself anyway. (Right now it looks like I did a patchwork of polyester clothes from 1976…)

I should admit that I had decided (notice the past tense there??!) against participating in any Block Of The Months or Quilt-Alongs this year. And then I found an email in my inbox from Amy of Stitchery Dickory Dock where she announced her FREE Sugar Block Club 3.0. So… yeah. I’ll be doing that this year. I love Amy’s BOM’s and I’ve done the previous two Sugar Block Clubs. I didn’t want to miss this one! To make it easy on myself, I’ve chosen to use my half yard Cotton + Steel Mochi collection by Rashida Coleman-Hale for this quilt. It’s going to be fantastic!

Have you thought about what you want to accomplish in 2016?
Are you joining any Block Of The Month, Quilt Along or Sew Alongs this year?

This week’s To-Do list:

• Baste Grungy Windows
• Quilt Grungy Windows and sew binding to front; start handstitching to back

Now it’s your turn! Write up your post and link up using the InLinkz linky below.

Rules:

1. Link up to this To-Do Tuesday blog post using the InLinkz linky below. Don’t forget: you can link up Instagram photos! The link up is open all week, and you can link any post for the week even if it’s written on the prior Sunday or Monday. It simply needs to be related to setting, working on, and/or completing your weekly goal(s).
2. Try to visit at least one or two other blogs and leave a nice comment.
3. Include a link back to my blog. Feel free to grab the blog button from the sidebar to show that you’re participating in To-Do Tuesday.
4. You do not have to follow my blog to participate, but if you do decide to follow me… thank you! I appreciate it!

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