BluePip Designs

January was cold and snowy, and the Rainbow Blossom quilt took up almost all of my time.  I did custom quilting in matching colors on it (using my domestic machine) so there was a lot of thread burying to be done.  I'm very happy with how it turned out and to be done with it! Quilt Tally WIP List at beginning of month: 11 WIP List at end of month: 12 Untouched in 2023: 5 Active QAL Projects: 1 Quilts Finished Rainbow Blossom (January 2019) Quilts Started Test Block Sampler - One of my goals this year is to publish at least three patterns.  While I was deciding what fabric to use for my first test block, my bin of Lori Holt fabric caught my eye and I decided that all of my test blocks this year will be from that fabric.  At the end of the year, I should have a scrappy sampler that showcases all my pattern design efforts! Bright Day - After tweaking the test block, I went ahead and made an entire test top for the same p...

  This corner flip was a beautiful accident.  I wanted to show how close I was to finishing the binding, so I flipped the corner back and it landed exactly like this.  For once, no further fussing was necessary. My January OMG was to finish the top of my Rainbow Blossom quilt , baste it, quilt the background, and get the binding on.  I went above and beyond and the whole quilt will be finished by the end of the month!  I could have finished the binding before I took this photo, but I like having handwork to do in the evening while watching television so I am going to save that for tonight. My original plan was the quilt the background around the pieced elements, put on the binding, and then come back to finish quilting the colorful bits when they were stabilized by the background quilting, but after the top was basted, I couldn't resist starting with that pink seashell - I could see how I wanted it quilted in my mind and it seemed silly to wait. I like to take ...

Our snowy January weather (including an e-learning day) has been the perfect excuse to stay inside and sew.  I'm enjoying the quieter days and getting a lot done!  I wish I could have taken my finished quilt top photos outside, but with roughly 18" of snow on my deck it's just not possible right now. My postage stamp quilt !  This quilt top is huge and turned out exactly as I envisioned it.  My 5'9" son is standing on the left and the bottom is still dragging on the floor (his little brothers are standing on the couch to hold their parts up).  I've ordered some flannel to go on the back and when it gets here my longer quilter is going to baste it for me. I'm planning on straight-line quilting it myself, but I don't have the pins or space to do the basting.  My son has already claimed this for his bed! I had all the blocks for my Rainbow Blossom top finished in December, so all that was left was to sew them together.  This one is a more manageable size...

My final recap post of 2022!  December is traditionally a slow sewing month for me, and this year was no different.  I have no regrets, except for maybe the quantity of homemade cookies that I ate!  I did make good progress on three different projects and I'm looking forward to spending more time in my sewing room during January. Quilt Tally WIP List at beginning of month: 11 WIP List at end of month: 11 Untouched in 2022: 1 Active QAL Projects: 1 Quilts Finished None. Quilts Started None! Quilt Progress (4 WIPs touched) Postage Stamp Quilt - December is the month when my year-long personal project was supposed to end and I am very close - only seven blocks to go!  Everyone knows that the year doesn't really end until winter break is over so I'm giving myself two bonus days to finish this "in 2022". Rainbow Blossom Quilt - The last two blocks for this quilt (a pink seashell and the wo...

Another fun quilting year is over!  Almost all of my sewing this year was from quilt-alongs old and new or my own patterns.  My list of finishes is smaller due to real life being bigger, but I did so something crafty every day this year (quilting, cross-stitching, baking, and/or drawing), even if it was only for five minutes on the couch at the end of the night. 2022 Goal Recap 1. Be mindful in what I start.  I'm giving myself a passing grade on this one!  Only three of the quilts I started this year aren't done and all of them are in good shape to be finished quickly.  Two should be done in January and the third is a monthly quilt-along that's up-to-date! 2. Three pattern releases.  A big fail!  I only released one pattern ( Meeple ) and it was more of a niche personal project (limited audience appeal).  On the plus side, I love the quilts and projects I've made with it! 3. Harry Potter Quilt of Doom .  I started off strong o...

I'm a sucker for anything "old" - I loved hanging out at our local museum when I was a kid and I drag my kids to our local history museums as often as they'll let me.  I recently listened to a podcast about harvesting ice in the 1880s and none of it was new to me because I watched the ice harvesting video (with actual footage!) so many times as a kid that I practically had it memorized.  Needless to say, when Lindsay at Pen+Paper Patterns released her Just My Type pattern , I knew instantly that I was going to make it! All of the letters are traditionally pieced, and the background of each is a different low-volume print, alternating between black and white and colorful.  The "j" looks overwhelmingly red in this photo, but it's more subtle in person.  I really wanted to make the typewriter a fun aqua color, but I also didn't want it to steal the show, so a light gray it is.  The background is a stashed out-of-print Tula Pink fabric (Seed Stitch) tha...

November was all about small progress on lots of projects.  I took a good look at everything on my WIP list as I determined what I'm going to try and finish in 2022 and what goals I want to make for 2023.  I like to keep December open for fun sewing only - there's too much going on for tight sewing deadlines! Quilt Tally WIP List at beginning of month: 12 WIP List at end of month: 11 Untouched in 2022: 1 Active QAL Projects: 1 Quilts Finished Just My Type (May 2022) Meeple Pumpkin Quilt (Halloween) Quilts Started None! Quilt Progress (10 WIPs touched) Sew Place Like Home - The sweetest little Tin Man and his eight matching poppy blocks are done.  I used seven different gray solids to sew him together and had tons more that didn't make the cut, but his heart patterned with tiny numbers is my favorite part! Black and White Kinship  - Eight more blocks made this month, and all 100 are done!  Sewing these toge...

One of my 2022 goals was to touch every single one of my WIPs*.  The year is almost over and I was five projects away from this goal at the beginning of the month.  Some of them had been untouched for so long, they were practically at UFO status!  My November mission was to look at each of them at least once.  I'm going to go through them in the order I pulled them out. Rainbow Blossom (January 2019) My first untouched project was practically finished. It only needed two more text blocks, maybe a filler block, and a little bit of assembly. I already had the fabric picked out for the next block, so starting here was an easy decision.  I made my "twinkle" block and did a little assembly to set it in where the yellow fabric is laying in the photo above. I still need to make the "create" block and I'm stumped on which fabric to use.  Kristy also posted a teaser picture of one of her new patterns for the nex...