2012 Projects

ONLINE PROJECTS
New (to me) Trying Out in 2012


The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI)
Raising Awareness & Funding Research Through Art - Donations are accepted on on-going basis.  Later on this year I'll be good enough to make a quilted donation.
Liberated Quilting Challenge



The Free Motion Quilting Project - New for 2012
Leah is changing up her blog and will be focusing on exactly what I'm interested in for expanding my FMQ skills.  this will be a weekly quilt-a-long with new information posted to do on Wednesdays.  On the Thursdays she will respond to questions she gets about the Wednesday post. It will be super to start the morning with Leah!
Weekly New Project - QAL Wednesdays ******
January 1 - Intro - Leah - 


SewCalGal's - Free-Motion Quilt Challenge
She has arranged for 12 different FMQ experts to post a monthly challenge to show off their way of doing and teaching FMQing.  There are lots of giveaways too being set up for participants to the FMQ Challenge.  I was happy to see that Leah Day is one of the experts - her style of teaching has helped me so much - will be interesting to see if I am able to be flexible and follow instructions give by a different FMQ expert.  What attracts me to this challenge is:  once a month, no assigned setting or fabric, different experts to learn about and from.  She has posted a list of suggested supplies - but without links to sources for the materials. ( I think because they have not sponsored her event.)  I thought SewCalGal was the instructor for adult education in Orange County and that she had posted tips and patterns on her blog  - but I realize now she is not the person I thought she was!  I bookmarked her webpage a while back as she was organizing blocks to be made for various charities.  In reading over her webpage it appears she organizes events and sponsors on her website and gets companies to give her things to evaluate.  I can't even find ay quilts she has made although she makes reference to being new to FMQ which sort of implies she quilts herself.
Added 1-3-12:  I've got emails coming from Facebook all the time - I'll need to figure out how to turn that option off.  Have to go to the SewCalGal site to find the video for January - had to click on the home page and scroll down to find it!
January - Francis Moore - Leaves Video

Quokkaquilts - Choose Your Own Free Motion Adventure QAL
Laura seems to be piggy backing on the SewCalGal project by guiding people to do FMQ on sampler blocks that are all the same size.  She then is going to give instructions on how to QAYG the blocks together.  I'm not sure what her guidance for FMQing will be.  She has links to other people's tutorials but does have photos of her quilts.  Her profile makes mention on other crafts but I did not see links to them. Only since I'm working on a couple of QAYG projects now - and haven't finish either of them I thought I'd 'join' her project so I would remember to check in on a regular basis.
Make blocks to use for practice
January - Cindy - FMQing Tips

Just Takes 2 Quilt
A mystery quilt that will last all year - twice a month new block(s) will be posted.
January - Sentimental Stitches - 6 blocks!!  (I didn't read the fine print about sometimes getting so many new blocks to prepare - this might be more than I bargained for to do twice a month!)  Units are freely available online for one month - after that there is a $3 charge to download each one.


Ideas of Inspiration
Not a quilting site, but a photography prompt to encourage creativity.  I only submitted one photo last year as I wanted just the perfect ones to submit - I was letting perfection block my partcipation - this year it will be different (although I'll send my best).
Jan - Dimension - Time

For Sure Continuing
Liberated Quilters Yahoo Group
A wonderful online group of quilters who mostly can do traditional quilting, but choose to be more liberated in their projects.  I enjoy the days I can read all their posts and click to see their photos. Last year we did a fabric/parts swap.  It was very sucessful - we will be doing it again during 2012.

Liberated Round Robin
This was a project I started and had help with doing last summer.  I wanted a project that ended with a completed quilt - but got (happily) distracted with summer-time quests and projects and then having housework done so I can't even find my fabric to finish the project now!  So I'm bummed about that.  There were wonderful projects - completed or in still in progress and about 30 people who were interested so I think that is something to repeat - in the spring or summer - it took most people more time than what we had originally thought it would....

Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project
Even though she has made 365 videos with information on how to create a different FMQ fillers, she is continuing to have the site up and to post new entries too! I first noticed her on Day 145 - Knit Stitch (March 18, 2010) but it took awhile for me to actually start to try things out.  Now I have purchased several items from her webstore and have two projects I'm working on now using her tips and information.  The first two projects I sent off to Quilts for Kids - but I have photos on my blog to remember them.  I can't remember how I found out about their project but it was wonderful for me to let go and really try out FMQing.  They send a set of pre-cut fabric and pattern to make a quilt - was very quick to sew up.  So then my charity work was to get the batting and to quilt and bind the quilt.  They encourage you to make up a second (or third) quilt and send that along too so I did that.  I sort of picked FMQ patterns from Leah's site that I thought I could do - and did them!  It was very freeing to know that my quilts would be appreciated and used and even though I was trying my best - the child receiving it was very ill so wouldn't be looking at the details in the quilt.  Now I have gotten organized and am doing the patterns she has labels as being for beginners - I won some Block Lotto blocks and added lots of plain blocks so that would be big enough for our bed so I have lots of sampler blocks to work on, and will result in a quilt that I use!  (I have just emailed the new San Diego contact for QFK to see how I can help.)
Weekly New Project - QAL Wednesdays ******
Intro - Leah - 

Perhaps Continuing
Sophie's  - Block Lotto
This was the site that really got me back into this hobby.  During 2010 she switched from traditional blocks to liberated blocks which were just perfect for me!  Many of the challenges really stretched me so I was so glad to have an excuse to make between one and nine blocks each month.  During 2011 she started switching back to more traditional blocks so actually it wasn't as fun.  A ton of people signed on to be in the lotto as it is such a grand idea - but it seems between not feeling well, changing jobs, and not liking all the extra overhead caused by having so many more people in the group I'm not even sure she will continue hosting the event.  She seems to really like (and excels at) finding and writing up the directions.  Even when she wasn't designing her own blocks or giving out liberated blocks I was learning a lot by reading her notes about color and placement.  However, she doesn't have the time to do the follow-up and extra work sometimes needed when having such a large group to organize and gets frustrated (when she is ill or moving herself or job, etc.) It was a little disappointing the way some of the people would submit blocks that did not follow the color or fabric suggestions but they were just accepted and even used as examples.  I know from the month I won how those blocks with different colors really can throw the whole look of the quilt off.  To be really successful need to stick exactly to the guidelines.  She has taken the month off to think about things herself.
January - Eclipse Blocks - Directions - Examples

Not continuing
Hetty's - Friday's Block Party
This is a good project - to challenge folks to do a different block each Friday in what ever fabric they want to.  There aren't a lot of people doing the blocks so it's not as much fun as it could be.  For part of the year I helped Hetty by posting an alternative block - animal blocks made with squares and triangles - and a few with paper piecing.  I did her blocks for the inbetween weeks.  I used the same colors for all the blocks and now have a huge (for me) stack of blocks now waiting to be joined so they can become a quilt.  The traditional blocks are good practice, but I really prefer the freedom of liberated piecing.

Never started
There are several projects I thought I would start, then after the directions came out realized they were not a match for me.  I didn't have as much striped material as I thought, I didn't like the way someone else gave directions, or I just wanted to work on something else....

QUILTS TO FINISH
1.  Liberated Round Robin - do the remaining rounds (including quilting and binding).
2.  Wonky Shoo Fly - finish basting and quilting the plain blocks following Leah Day's beginner FMQ designs.
3.  Tumbler - added 1-3-11 can't believe I forgot this one!  it's on my 'designer dining room table' right now!

QUILTS TO FIND and FINISH
1.  Black star quilt - add to make it for full size instead of twin
2.  Half Log Cabin

QUILTS TO START from SCRATCH
1.  H&K wedding quilt gift (lime - have fabric)
2.  H&K baby quilt gift (boy)

I'll add more this list later!