Starting Fresh!

Don't you just love the New Year and being able to put aside the "to do" list from the previous year and start fresh?  So, I didn't get my first Turning Twenty quilt top put together (already cut) and the homespun tumbler top still doesn't have borders -- and they have both been on the list for two years.  They are both back on the 2013 year, as well!

I don't know about you but I got about 60% of my goals accomplished and did a boatload of other things that didn't start out the year on the list -- but were finished and distributed by the end of 2013.  Once the Christmas quilts were completed and bound, I was free to do what I wanted.  But what was that?  As it turns out, I was a bit aimless in my sewing room for a few days.  I was like a moth bouncing from flame to flame -- or project to project.

Remember these precut scrap strips for my ongoing log cabin quilt blocks?  One of the things I did manage to do before heading to Toronto was sort them and put them in a tote.  How long they will be this organized remains to be seen but they are set up to be used counter clockwise.

You may have seen this link on other blogs -- but if you are a log cabin quilt lover as I am (as noted in this post), there is a great free log cabin booklet from Fons and Porter that you may want to download.  It's worth it for the easy-to-read charts on what the cutting requirements are for the various patterns.  Take a look and see what you think.  Free is good.  And "free and good at the same time" is even better.  I am in love with the Ricky Tims block that starts with a 7/8" strip.  I so want to do that in Cherrywoods -- but am not willing to put that much yummy fabric in the seam allowances.  Bigger is better with them, I think (and I forgot to put that on my 2013 goals -- but I must finally do something with my "scrap bags" that I have).  How nice to have the strips already calculated for me.

All in all -- I am a Fons and Porter fan.  They are generous with material on the internet (vs some sites that charge for almost everything and do so much self-promotion that it gets tiresome quickly).  I have bought lots of their fabric in the past, subscribed to their magazine for years before we moved, and believe they make one of the best seam rippers on the market.  I don't mind ripping -- I DO mind having sloppy work in my finished quilts -- so I use a seam ripper pretty often and can certainly dull one over a few years.  I am down to one F&P seam ripper after dulling one and then breaking the point off another (I have no idea how that happened).  In a perfect world, I'd have one on both floors of the house and in every project that I take when I travel.  I feel the same way about a few of their other tools and their 8" x 14" ruler is my favorite ruler when cutting strips.

I have a lot of seam rippers -- some were my mother's and are probably antiques!  Some are cheap ones that I picked up hoping they would do the trick.  They don't.  One is this incredibly generous gift from a friend. I'm pretty sure this Gingher seam ripper could be used for surgery. It's a little scary and stays in its case unless I have serious ripping to do.

Look at this thing!  I could defend myself with it -- successfully!

I will not be making one of my 2013 goals to rip less!  But maybe, I should have a January goal of getting another seam ripper! I hope you are making plans for 2013 and then letting inspiration lead you!

Jan