Word of the Year for 2014

Do you plan your year in advance??? I jumped on that bandwagon a couple of year's ago -- in 2012 it was all about Adventure, 2013 was all about Focus, and next year --- BUILD! I have been debating the word for a couple of weeks now. I usually start the planning for the following year in mid-November, as we start pulling out the holiday things, I always find myself nostalgic for years past, and excited for the future....and I start the debate. I like my word to be a verb (though not always a traditional verb). I like it to be forward looking, and like it to encompass all aspects of my life. not just home, and not just work, not personal or professional....but a word that has a commonality for the days and weeks ahead. I like a word that will inspire me, and be a secret reminder of the goals for the year. A word that can guide me through the year. I had a couple of options for this year -- I considered CREATE (and then American Patchwork and Quilting chose that one, and ruined it for me), I considered GUIDE, I considered MOVE, I considered BALANCE. These are all things I need in my life, but they weren't quite right....in the end BUILD was the one that most fit.

• Building a business
• Building a new home life -- including an imminent move
• Building a better body
• Building a teaching reputation

Needless to say, it fit for me, and with this post I am officially committed to it. I'll give you more info later this week on the goals that fit with each one of these building blocks.

Now I just want to go play with some of those sunflower building blocks.....why didn't they have cool toys like that when I was a kid???


Happy New Year!!! May you have a blessed year!

Happy Quilting!
Catherine

Captain's Wheel Work-A-Long Week #7

The New Year is officially on it's way!!! Just a few more days and we will all be mis-writing our checks and mis-dating correspondence, at least for a couple of days...and then we will all adjust to it being 2014!!! Are you one of those that re-organizes, and resets the house each new year's?  I am not, at least generally. I tend to do those "organization preparation" activities at the start of the school year, in late August and early September. But this year is a huge exception. The start of the school year was crazy, and I simply didn't get to all of the things that I "planned" done, so I left it to now. I spent a large part of Saturday purging closets of clothes and shoes and various other "collections".

I managed to get an entire car full of stuff for the amvets....the trunk and the back seat were both full of non-essentials, duplicates, and don't really wears...and it was fun to get them out of the house. I vacuumed and shampooed the carpets in all of the closets, and got some new containers to better corral the things that I kept. I haven't done the sewing room yet, I will leave that to Wednesday, hopefully I will get all of the projects sorted out for the year and be ready to get back to work.

But for now, let's get back to the Captain's Wheel :  here's where we are :

Week 1 - November 18- November 24 - Paper Preparation,  Bags and playtime *complete

Week 2 - November 25 - December 1 - Fabric Selection *complete
Week 3 - December 2 - December 8 - Cutting out your fabrics. *complete

Week 4 - December 9 - December 15 - Bag #1 - Compass Rose Units *complete
Week 5 - December 16 - December 22 - Bag #2 - Compass Rose Alternate Units - Rights - *complete
Week 6 - December 23 - December 29 - Bag #3 - Compass Rose Alternate Units - Lefts - *Delinquent (see below for my explanation)....

And here is this week's assignment/plan :

Week 7 - December 30 - January 5 - Sewing Bag #4 - Border Units Right

Here's my plan (since I have some catching up to do, I have included those) :

Monday - Week #6 Homework - Bag #3 - Sections 1 & 2
Tuesday - Week #6 Homework - Bag #3 - Sections 3 & 4
Wednesday - Week #6 Homework - Bag #3 - Sections 5 & 6 and Week #7 Homework - Bag #4
Thursday - Week #7 Homework  - Bag #4 - last finish ups
Friday - teaching in Thousand Oaks - no sewing
Saturday - teaching in Thousand Oaks - no sewing
Sunday - teaching in Thousand Oaks - no sewing

What about you??? Have you managed to get all of your homework done???

I have obviously not kept up with this week, and I would like to say that I have a great reason, but the only real reason is that I was bored --- bored of the units from last week, and facing another 48 of them just didn't seem like any fun, so instead, I jumped ahead and did Bag #5, so I have the left hand units for the border done (which is nice). Also nice, is that I am at that point that if I catch up last week's homework and finish this week's homework this week, I will have ALL of the piecing done. Which is probably a good plan, given the calendar for January, which is actually fuller than it was for December!!! It will give me more time to actually work on assembly, since I only scheduled a week for assembly (which looking at that now, seems ridiculous).....

Next up we have....
 

Week 8 -Jan 6 - Jan 12 - Sewing Bag 5 *complete

Week 9 - Jan 13 - Jan 19 - Sewing Bag 6 *complete

Week 10 - Jan 20 - 27 - Putting it all together

Happy Quilting, see you later this week!!!!

Captain's Wheel Work-A-Long Week 6 update

So, this is just a quick update on the status of my Captain's Wheel for the week. I must admit that I did not get the things I had planned to do done....though I did make progress....

When I got to work on Saturday morning, I couldn't face bag #3.....it was more of Bag#2......so I jumped over and worked on Bag #5.....getting all 12 of the left border units done.....

Here they are in all their glory...

And here's some miscellaneous pics to go with....

Just a few weeks and all the units will be done and ready to assemble!

So, I was a little distracted, and forgot to post my update.....

I am embarrassed to say that I wrote this post last Sunday night, and then promptly forgot about it amid the craziness that is Christmas.....sorry guys, I totally forgot!!!!

Week #6 - Christmas Week.....also know as - What was I thinking????

Are you ready yet??? I am not. I keep thinking I am, but then I realize that I am not, in fact I am not even close.....not that there is anything big to do, but there are a billion little things, and a lot of traffic out there (seriously, it was a two hour adventure at the grocery store for $56.23 in weekly groceries.

Were you able to keep up with us last week??? Have you done your Bag #2 blocks??? Are you ready for this week's challenge. I admit it is going to be a tough one for me.....between the Christmas parties, Christmas activities, and the prep, it may be a tough week to get things done, but I am going to try....though I will admit I expect that I will do most of my trying in the weekend after the big day. And if all else fails, I did Bag #6 already, right???

So, here's where we are :

Week 1 - November 18- November 24 - Paper Preparation,  Bags and playtime *complete

Week 2 - November 25 - December 1 - Fabric Selection *complete
Week 3 - December 2 - December 8 - Cutting out your fabrics. *complete

Week 4 - December 9 - December 15 - Bag #1 - Compass Rose Units *complete
Week 5 - December 16 - December 22 - Sewing Bag #2 - Compass Alternate Blocks *complete

And here is this week's assignment/plan :

Week 6 - December 23 - December 29 - Sewing Bag #3 - More Compass Alternate Blocks

Here's my plan  :

Monday - mad wrapping of Christmas Presents
Tuesday - mad rush filling of Christmas Stockings
Wednesday - CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS
Thursday - post Christmas back to work day -- .
Friday - clean the house -
Saturday - Bag #3 (and a little QuiltCam Live with Bonnie Hunter)

Hoping you all had a Merry Christmas, and got lots of fun quilty stuff for Christmas, and are ready to get back to work.....since we are half way through now, I will be posting more pics as I start the design wall layouts and positioning of all of the blocks....super excited to see this one come together!!!

Next up we have....
 

Week 7 - Dec 30 - Jan 5 - Sewing Bag 4

Week 8 -Jan 6 - Jan 12 - Sewing Bag 5

Week 9 - Jan 13 - Jan 19 - Sewing Bag 6 *complete

Week 10 - Jan 20 - 27 - Putting it all together

Happy Quilting, see you later this week!!!!


Catherine

Distractions, Distractions

It has been a week full of distractions. Some expected, and some completely unexpected, some happy, some sad, and some simply weird.....

The biggest by far was the arrival of these.....about 6 weeks early.....not that I am complaining! They are lovely, and wonderful but distracting....I wasn't expecting them until February, so while it is nice to have them here, I want to pet them, and play with them, but right now, is not the time for that. Next week isn't looking good either!

These are the new Quiltworx Bali Pops from Hoffman. Specially selected to be used in the wedding ring series quilts.....they are slightly different than regular pops, as they have 48 strips, which is equivalent to 6 ring color sets.....and they are pre gradiated for you. So you are literally ready to sit and sew ring sets as soon as you get them.

There are 2 groupings, color group 1 is mainly cool colors, blues, greens, a bit of purple, while group 2 is more red, rust, brown. I can't decide which ones I am going to keep......they are both so yummy, and i can see so many options. So, now I have decisions to make.....how many to keep for me!!!!

I'll have these up on line just after New Years, but if you would like them before then, please email me or leave me comment, and I wwill paypal you and get them in the mail.

Happy Quilting!

Catherine

Captain's Wheel Work-A-Long Bag #1 Update

Bag #1 is officially complete......now back to this week's homework!

Captain's Wheel Work-A-Long Week #5

I can't believe we are just a little over a week away from Christmas....I swear yesterday was Thanksgiving!!! As you know by now, I am delinquent on my week #4 blocks, I got a little behind last week between my birthday celebration (thanks Shawn, Kelly and Brooke, and a special shout out to Trish) and a quilty Christmas Party on Saturday evening! We had a great time at a Holiday Bazaar (which happened to have free booze and food) on Friday. It was a great night, even if I paid for it the next morning!!! Saturday was full of errands and laundry, before the Christmas Party, and Sunday disappeared before my very eyes!

This week in the lead up to Christmas, promises to be no kinder on the finding time thing, but we have a saving grace....a much easier block. Bag #2 has fewer pieces and bigger pieces, so hopefully we should get it done lickety split, so that we can spend the rest of the week prepping houses and filling refrigerators for the festivities of next week.

So, here's where we are :

Week 1 - November 18- November 24 - Paper Preparation,  Bags and playtime *complete

Week 2 - November 25 - December 1 - Fabric Selection *complete
Week 3 - December 2 - December 8 - Cutting out your fabrics. *complete

Week 4 - December 9 - December 15 - Bag #1 - Compass Rose Units *delinquent, 76% complete

And here is this week's assignment/plan :

Week 5 - December 16 - December 22 - Sewing Bag #2 - These are the Compass Alternate Blocks

Here's my plan (since I have some catching up to do, I have included those) :

Monday - Finish Section 8 of Compass Rose Blocks
Tuesday - Finish Section 9 and 10 of Compass Rose Blocks
Wednesday - Bag #2 - Glue Section 1
Thursday - Bag #2 - Sections 2 and 3
Friday - Bag #2 - Sections 4 and 5
Saturday - Bag #2 - the rest of the sections

What about you??? Have you managed to get all of your homework done???

How are you doing on your Captain's Wheel? Are you on track?? Ahead??? I know a couple people had asked about working ahead, and whether that was okay, and it absolutely is. Work on it when you can, if you have more hours this week or next week, and less the week of Christmas or New Year's, then map it out to fit your schedule. This is just for my schedule, work at whatever pace works for you. In the same way, if you get behind, don't worry, just keep working on it.....If you get behind but want to stay on the same step, that is fine, just make sure that you put all of each step away into their Ziploc baggies so that you know where you were and can pick it up quickly.


Next up we have....
 

Week 6 - Dec 23 - Dec 29 - Sewing Bag 3

Week 7 - Dec 30 - Jan 5 - Sewing Bag 4

Week 8 -Jan 6 - Jan 12 - Sewing Bag 5

Week 9 - Jan 13 - Jan 19 - Sewing Bag 6 *complete

Week 10 - Jan 20 - 27 - Putting it all together

Happy Quilting, see you later this week!!!!


Catherine

P.S. I am putting the finishing touches on a couple of new programs for next year (including a new BOM)...more about those later this week.

Captain's Wheel Work-A-Long update

We'll, it's Sunday, and all of Bag #1 should be sewn.....I hope you all made better progress than I did! I got all 72 to this state.....

Which means they are all 70% complete......

When I realized that I wouldn't get them finished in time for this post, I cheated.....I really wanted to see what they were going to look like, so I pulled 8, and added sections 8,9, and 10. Just so I could see....

I love the way they look.....nice and crisp, just like I wanted!

So, they are all 70% and these 8 are 100% complete.....how close was I really?

Total pieces = 72*10 = 720

Pieces completed = 8*10 + 7*64 =80 + 468 =548

Total completed/total pieces = 548/720= 76%

Hopefully I can catch up this week......wish me luck!

See you tomorrow for the next installment!

Happy Quilting!

Catherine

Mid Week Update : Captain's Wheel Work-A-Long

It's Tuesday, and not really mid-week yet, but evenings are scarcer than I thought this week.....so I had to alter my schedule and do some pacing....

The 72 units in Bag#1 take me about an hour to process....trim, glue, sew, press style, and there are 10 units in this block, so about 10 hours or so of sewing required. So, I did 2 hours last night, and an hour tonight, and I am up through the gluing of section 4. So slightly ahead of my projected calculated schedule, as well as a bit above my goal for today.....but it's early in the week!

I've been listening to Bonnie Hunter's Quilt-Cam while sewing.....have you ever watched it on YouTube? I've never done one live, but I watch the archives all the time. I sew, while she talks about quilting. Sort of like Craftsy without a project and free!

How do you make it through marathon sewing sessions? Netflix? DVDs? TV? Books on tape?

Happy Quilting

Catherine

Captain's Wheel Work-A-Long

I can't believe it is week #4 already. I swear I said that last week. I did say that last week (how uninteresting are these posts going to be if I say that every week?). Reminder to self, write a new intro for next week!

Here's where we have been :

Week 1 - November 18- November 24 - Paper Preparation,  Bags and playtime *complete

Week 2 - November 25 - December 1 - Fabric Selection *complete
Week 3 - December 2 - December 8 - Cutting out your fabrics. *complete

Just a quick word of warning in the event you are just starting on Week 3 -- there are a couple of extra templates. These are duplicates of existing templates, that because of the number of units cut you have extras of. Don't worry, just put them in your extras bag, so that if you have any miscuts or issues you can pull them out and not have to make any templates! Once your quilt is complete you can just throw these away.

And here is this week's assignment/plan :

Week 4 - Dec 9 - Dec 15 - Sewing Bag 1 - These are the Compass Rose units -- the same ones as the Mariner's Compass center, and the Compass Rose Tablerunner. There are lots of them -- 72 to be exact. I anticipate that I will need every minute of sewing time this week to get these finished. My time this week will be a little tricky, since it's my birthday on Friday, and a quilty Christmas Party on Saturday, my sewing time will be really tight, but I am determined to keep up with these (I can't be falling behind when we really just got started!!!!)

Here's my plan :
Monday - Glueing (is that a word? Gluing looks totally wrong) all of section 1
Tuesday - Section 2 and 3
Wednesday - Section 4 and 5
Thursday - Section 6
Sunday - the rest of the sections

How are you doing on your Captain's Wheel? Are you on track?? Ahead??? I know a couple people had asked about working ahead, and whether that was okay, and it absolutely is. Work on it when you can, if you have more hours this week or next week, and less the week of Christmas, then map it out to fit your schedule. This is just for my schedule, work at whatever pace works for you.

For example -- I had a few extra sewing hours this week that were not anticipated, so I picked up Bag 6, which is the corner units, and worked on it. I knew they would be quick since there only 4 units, with 19 sections each. I got them finished in a little more than 2 hours, and I can mark that off of my list!!!! Now I have a little more play in the schedule if I get behind somewhere in the process.

If you are wondering why I chose to start with those, and not just work on Bag 1 (This week's homework), it was more of a convenience factor that anything. I wanted to sew in the living room, and the more units I have, the more room I need to spread out, and that kind of space doesn't exist in my living room. So, bag 6 was the chosen victim....

Next up we have....
 

Week 5 - Dec 16 - Dec 22 - Sewing Bag 2

Week 6 - Dec 23 - Dec 29 - Sewing Bag 3

Week 7 - Dec 30 - Jan 5 - Sewing Bag 4

Week 8 -Jan 6 - Jan 12 - Sewing Bag 5

Week 9 - Jan 13 - Jan 19 - Sewing Bag 6 *complete

Week 10 - Jan 20 - 27 - Putting it all together

Happy Quilting, see you later this week!!!!


Catherine

Super Sunday

It's been a weird weekend around here.....great, but weird. I had a family Christmas party to attend on Saturday, and the weekly errands, running around, and bill paying. It was cold and rainy on Friday and Saturday and I found myself in need of a down day. A do nothing day. A movies on the couch kind of day. Amazingly, after a few couch hours and a few hours of Reese Witherspoon, I found myself inspired to get to sewing. Mind you, I didn't feel inspired to get dressed or do laundry to any of the other chores, just sewing.

So I finished up the borders on my Winter Wonderland Snowflake Tablerunner.

I really like this one, and so appropriate for this time of year!

It was actually pretty quick and easy to sew up, which is even more fun. I'll be teaching this one at Cozy Quilt Shop in Rancho San Diego at the end of January. 

I also got a head start on my Captain's Wheel. I knew I wouldn't have enough time to finish bag 1 (Compass Rose Blocks), so I pulled out bag #6 and worked on corner units.....they came out really cute, and I am pleased with them.

And now, it's time for bed.

Happy Quilting! 

Catherine

Captain's Wheel Work-a-Long

All 6 bags finished and ready to go!!!!!!

How are yours coming along?

Captain's Wheel Work-a-Long : Cutting Update

Bag 1 cutting is done......now, should I move onto 2 or pace myself.....

Decisions, decisions, decisions......

Captain's Wheel Work-a-Long Week #3

I can't believe it is week #3 already. The year is moving so fast. Have you been keeping up with us? Here's the status on my project, and the instructions for this week.

Week 1 - November 18- November 24 - Paper Preparation,  Bags and playtime *complete

Week 2 - November 25 - December 1 - Fabric Selection *complete
 

Week 3 - December 2 - December 8 - Cutting out your fabrics. This week we are going to cut out all of the fabrics. I have to admit this may actually be the week with the most homework. My goal is to cut out a bag a day, with the exception of Tuesday, since I have meetings all evening on Tuesday, there will be no sewing activities. So, I will try to update every day just to keep everything on track.

Here's my plan :
Monday - Bag 1 
Wednesday - Bag 2
Thursday - Bag 3
Friday - Bag 4
Saturday - Bag 5
Sunday - Bag 6

Based upon my cursory review, it looks like most of the detailed cutting is in Bag 1 and Bag 5.

How are you doing on your Captain's Wheel? Are you on track?? Ahead??? I know a couple people had asked about working ahead, and whether that was okay, and it absolutely is. Work on it when you can, if you have more hours this week or next week, and less the week of Christmas, then map it out to fit your schedule. This is just for my schedule, work at whatever pace works for you.

Next up we have....
 

Week 4 - Dec 9 - Dec 15 - Sewing Bag 1

Week 5 - Dec 16 - Dec 22 - Sewing Bag 2

Week 6 - Dec 23 - Dec 29 - Sewing Bag 3

Week 7 - Dec 30 - Jan 5 - Sewing Bag 4

Week 8 -Jan 6 - Jan 12 - Sewing Bag 5

Week 9 - Jan 13 - Jan 19 - Sewing Bag 6

Week 10 - Jan 20 - 27 - Putting it all together

Happy Quilting, see you later this week!!!!


Catherine

Captain's Wheel Work-a-Long Week #2 Wrap Up

This week's task was to sort out fabrics and get everything ready to cut....I managed to find everything I needed, and my background came in! I did make a small change to the dark green for the compasses because I was afraid they might be a little flat, but other than that, everything is the same....

Here's my layouts....you can see I tried a couple of versions, and eventually decided on one....

 The options to choose from.

My final decision.

I am still a bit undecided about the bias band, but I am sure that I will figure it out by the time we get there.

Here's the fabrics I chose....

The yellows and oranges....you can't tell in this pic, but the yellow on the left is actually a print. Both the first and last are Hoffman 1895s.

Here are the greens. The middle yellow (picture above) and the lightest green are the same print....but the green on green photographs much better than the yellow on yellow. Again, there are two of the Hoffman 1895s in this group.

The darks....1895 in skipper....it's really a dark blue, rather than black. I originally had an 1895 Dublin Green, but it looked too flat, so I replaced it. I still have the fabric if I change my mind, but for now, I am liking the hunter dot.

That's it for this week's homework, stay tuned tomorrow for the next set of instructions....

How is your Work-a-Long going? Did you pick your fabrics? What color story will you be telling?