Tuesday, January 9, 2018

welcome to 2018

2017 was a very successful year when it came to reaching my goals for the year!
i took a lot of classes at meissners with angelina mckenna, jenny lyon, and natalia bonner about different quilting techniques on my janome as well as the long arm machine.
i've been a certified long arm quilter for just over a year now, as well as a member of the sacramento modern quilt guild since last january!  it has been great taking these first few steps in to the local quilting "scene" and i hope to continue that more this year.  with no plans to go to quiltcon this year, i do have a few plans for how i'll be involved in the local quilting community.
smqg-
in order to get more involved this year, i've accepted the position of vp of communications for the sacramento modern quilt guild!  i'm really excited to get to know more of those that have been involved with the board in previous years and really learn more about it all.
maker monday-
every third monday of the month, i've been attending "maker monday" at meissners, which was something i stumbled across after hearing a few talk about it.  generally, it is the same group of ladies, coming together to hang out, snack & sew for a few hours.  last month, we had an extra long holiday sew day, complete with a full meal of grilled meat, veggies, potatoes and cornbread.  even though we work on our own projects with the occasional sew along, its fun to just hang out, chat and sew with others and inspire each other.
fussy cut block of the month-
this year i'll be participating in a block of the month class that will be a new experience for me.  fussy cutting hasn't really been something that i'd thought to do, but once angelina completed her own fussy cut sampler quilt last year and lisa having done her english paper piecing la passacalia quilt parts, i was intrigued.  then, it became part of the calendar of classes and i was on board.  i attended the info session and then january kicked off the first class, and i've currently got 2 of the 4 blocks done!  a gal named ashley, who is in smqg with me, is also in the class, and i felt like we had a good time chatting and helping each other out with our first few blocks.  i'm looking forward to this adventure, and seeing how the end result comes out.  the photo on top is a peek at the blocks so far!
block party-
the current vp of our quilt guild sent out an invite for a monthly "block party" at his home once a month to get together, chat and sew.  i'm not one to gather people i don't really know, so being invited to this was a great ice breaker for me.  each month, one of us gets to pick the block and color scheme for what is being made.  i haven't quite decided what to do for my month yet, but i'm looking forward to trying something new.

other things this year
stash busting-
i mean, for real... i need to make this a thing!
over winter break, i made 25 pillowcases and donated them to uc davis children's hospital for the children's surgery center.  it felt great to do something good for kids in need as well as free up some space in my fabric storage.  i found i had some very random things in there, and while i did have to purchase a few "filler" fabrics, i was able to free up about 15 of the comic book boards i had in my cabinet.  i spent new year's eve putting together a quilt top i had in block form and donated it already to my parent's church, so here's to hoping i can get a one or two done a month!  it will definitely help my spending (and helping my rent payments!)
vlogs-
i've tried a few so far with my month of me projects, and had a good time chatting about what i was doing.  it is weird to watch and hear myself, that's for sure!  either way, i'm hoping to try a few more about what i'm doing, and maybe even talk about some specific topics.  this could just be a phase, but i won't know until i give it a good go!
sew alongs-
i do enjoy the occasional sew along, and hope to participate in a few this year.  i saw that gnome angel is hosting the "elizabeth hartman all the animals" sew along, and it seems like the perfect one to join in on at first.  i still have plans to make one of the kittens quilt, and possibly even another fancy foxes quilt!

a little bit of rambling, but here's to another eventful year of quilts, sewing and all around socializing!

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