Thursday, November 30, 2017

December goals and ONE MONTHLY GOAL!

I have absolutely loved being back in the sewing room!  I am happy and excited about finishing old projects and starting new ones.  A long time friend and I have made some plans for the new year of things we want to accomplish.  We purchased new Buggy Barn patterns and are so excited to make the Santa quilt, the Bee quilt, and others.   It will be fun.

Now that I am a new grandma, I have decided to make little quilts for the grandkids for when they come to visit.  The quilts will stay at my house.  I absolutely must make the Disney Princess paper pieced patterns up into a small quilt.  Little girls will LOVE IT!  I also want to do a Buggy Barn dog one and also one with farm animals and barns.  Oh the plans for fun in 2018!

As for December,  this is what I hope to accomplish!

1.  Finish quilting Jodi's Lattice.  Her daughter is getting married in January and I would love for her to have it for the wedding.  This is also my ONE MONTHLY GOAL!




2. Finish piecing my Brights Mystery top. 


3.  Baste and quilt one of Felicity's.  I have three of hers that need quilted when I can get to them.


4.  Quilt and  bind Granny Went Star Crazy. 



I am also starting an interesting task of teaching my middle school students how to make a quilt.  Our school is very small which means there are almost no elective classes available to students.  We started  offering what we call "extensions" or "interventions" 8th period.  Students who need extra help will take intervention classes in math or English. The others can take a fun class.  Each teacher will take turns doing interventions but the other times we get to teach anything we want.  The classes last for only 4 weeks and then we change.  These class options have given our students opportunities in golf, dutch oven cooking, zumba, basketball skills, crochet, roping, theatre, robotics, engineering, broadcasting, western novels, and more.  

Call me crazy, but I plan to teach a Buggy Barn style barn/pine tree quilt.  The barn pieces are pretty big and there are no seams to really match.  You trim each round off to add another peice.  I feel that this will be one of the simplest projects for them to learn on.  The barn has a small star in the upper window which I plan to sew myself because it is small and may be hard for them.  I plan to teach them the importance of color and contrast as they layer the pieces, how to use a rotary cutter to trim each new piece up, how to sew 1/4 " seams, how to baste the quilt for quilting, and how to bind. I will quilt it but I have samples of fabric and small pieces of batting where they can each learn the basics of freemotion quilting.

 We will just make one quilt together and then raffle it off somewhere to pay for the cost.  My fabric store is having their annual Black Friday fabric sale of 50% off.  That will really save me some money on this project.  I have to buy 1 yard cuts, so I plan to use the excess for the back.  The kids will also need to assemble the quilt backing from the leftover pieces.  

I am excited to teach quilting again.  Although my students are younger,  I think they can do it. 

7 comments:

  1. Beautiful projects! I think I'll be a little less ambitious this month.

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  2. Good Morning!
    Fabulous goals for the month. I am fascinated by the middle schoolers learning to quilt. I really wish you well, and will look forward to hearing more as you progress. I have no doubt you will certainly make a huge impact on at least one student, and they will become hooked on quilting forever. Isn't that a wonderful thought for today?! ~smile~ Roseanne

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  3. It should be fun seeing what they come up with. I am sure they will have some creativity and excitement along the way.

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  4. They may surprise you with how good they are! I've done quilts with 2nd through 6th grade students. I'll tell you the boys were generally better at the actual quilting stitch, but you probably won't be doing that. I think they had more patience and listened better, too. I look forward to seeing what your students do with your pattern.

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  5. Oh wow. Good for you. I will be waiting to see how it goes.
    If you have faith and guidance it usually works out great. It is exciting to see someone happy to push the limits. Good luck...

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  6. Lovely quilt! Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and good luck with your project.

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  7. Hi,
    Love all your quilts, so beautiful. The project for the kids sounds like fun, I'm sure they will enjoy it. Have a great day!

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