BluePip Designs

I'm shaking things up a little bit for 2020 and trying a new-to-me style of posts.  One of my favorite blog posts to read is the monthly report posted by In Color Order .  Since my 2020 quilt goals rely on me staying on top of them all year I thought I'd do something similar for this year and see how I like it.  This January was far more productive than a normal month for me - I quilted and bound three whole quilts!  If I can get one in February I'll be happy. Goal #1: Get my WIP List Under 10 WIP List at beginning of month: 17 WIP List at end of month: 16 Untouched in 2020: 10 Active QAL Projects: 3 (all are up-to-date!) Kid Projects: 2 Get Real Moment: I looked through my stack of Splendid Sampler blocks (started February 2016, untouched since 2016) and admitted to myself that I will not be making them into a quilt ever.  These blocks will be donated or repurposed as part of other projects; as such, they are demoted to the UFO category and free up a ...

My kids were off school yesterday and I had two flowery quilts to photograph, so we headed to the local public conservatory to take quilt photos (they were rewarded with lunch at IKEA and a trip through the car wash).  I thought it would be pretty deserted on a Monday morning, but I was wrong - it was full of people.  In fact, it was probably the busiest I've ever seen it!  I normally time my photos to when I know my favorite park will be empty, so I was a little self-conscious at first, but I got so many compliments from many different people that I felt comfortable fast.  It was a good reminder that I need to step out of my comfort zone sometimes! The majority of these blocks were pieced from charm squares - the only requirement was that they had to have flowers (the four text squares are flower names)!  I made most of the blocks at my first quilt retreat , but had to stop because I didn't bring enough fabric with me - rookie mistake!  It then sat f...

Introducing the Forgotten Fat Quarter quilt!  I am playing along with Irene from Sugaridoo on a monthly "row along" quilt hosted on the Bernina blog .  At the end of each month she releases a new row in a single rainbow color for us to make.  Her quilt is all solids but I decided that I am going to choose a "forgotten fat quarter" and a left-over piece of solid fabric from my stash to make each row.  We're not making the rows in order so I have no idea if the end result will be cohesive or not, but I'm having fun busting my stash and putting it together. Month one  (row 5) featured a medium orange and hashtag blocks, which reminded me of the hashtag fat quarters I had in two slightly different color ways.  I don't remember when I bought them or why, which gave me the idea for the "forgotten fat quarter" part of my quilt.  In each row I will take a fat quarter that's been sitting around forever and incorporate it into my quilt.  I don...

Welcome 2020!  A new year for me always starts with a little bit of decluttering as I pack the Christmas decorations away, so I'm started the year by hitting my 2020 goals hard.  I have two sub-goals for myself in January. The first is to mail two quilts out by the end of the month.  One just needs a label and the other is about 40% quilted (by me!).  I can't give any more details right now - neither recipient knows I have something for them so I don't want to ruin the surprise in case they are reading here. The second part of my goal is to finish my Scrappy Trip quilt top!  Originally I had hoped to finish the entire quilt by the end of the month, but I agreed to some secret sewing today so I think I'm better off aiming just a little bit lower.  For this quilt, the time-consuming part is picking the "right" scrappy fabrics to balance the whole thing out.  Sewing them together once the fabric is picked is the easy part! That's a picture of my...