How to finish those Works In Progress

It seems that at the beginning of a new year we all tell ourselves that this is the year we are going to finish all our old projects before starting anything new. Now this sounds good but it can also be intimidating. Where to start, which project to work on  than it can be almost depressing as you start going through and seeing what is all left to finish.
There a few different ways to get some projects finished, and still enjoy the process.
I like to focus on a few select projects rather than all of them. It is a little less daunting, and feels doable. Than I write down what each project is as well as how far I currently am on the project. I must at this time admit that I have an addiction to fun and pretty notebooks, and so I will set a new one aside for this.
I will also shop for a new project that I can look forward to and use as motivation to finish the others.
Than I tidy up my sewing area so that I can focus solely on my project and not spend time searching for tools or moving other projects out of the way.
I always choose the project that is furthest along to finish first. That may sound like cheating but it gets me on a role to finish the next one, I'm sure I am not the only one who loves the "this project is done!" feeling.
Once I have finished a couple projects I can open the new one with no regrets and simply enjoy it rather than trying to ignore the niggling voice in my head telling me I have too many other projects to work on first.
I normally will do this a couple times a year, and dedicate a full week to sewing on unfinished projects. Don't laugh when I say a week, I sew a lot, usually a full two hours every night, so I can get a lot done in one week.
Another option is to choose 12 projects, write them down and complete one each month. If you have many projects to complete this may be a good route to take. All People Quilt is doing a fun challenge based on this. You make a list of 12 projects and at the beginning of each month they choose a number, and that is which project you work on. Click here for more information on that as well as a printable sheet to fill in.
For those who are thinking that's all fine and dandy, but what about my Block of the Month and Quilt Alongs that I am participating in, I don't want to fall behind on those while finishing other projects.
I have several of these as well, and I dedicate Wednesday's to working on my Quilt Along and BOM projects. If I am all caught up, I can work on something else, but it is the day of the week that works for me to focus on getting caught up each week.
A great way, however you choose to go about finishing, is to set time aside, or get together with friends to work on old projects. You can get a lot done when you have a dedicated time period allotted for it. We have open sew days at the shop, which allows for you to come and use our classroom to sew for the day. We have pressing stations with iron set up for you to use.
I have 3 projects that have been works in progress for at least a year now and by the end of the year I would really like to say that they are all finished, they are all large projects and will take some dedication to finish. I also have a few other projects that are a lot closer to completions that I will work on getting off my table in the next few weeks as well.
My 3 major projects to completer are the Awesome Ocean Quilt, a pattern by Elizabeth Hartman, Elephant Abstractions, a paper pieced quilt by Violet Craft, and Garden Party, a collage quilt from Laura Heine.

I have 16 of the 72 blocks from my Awesome Ocean Quilt finished, this is a time consuming project and it may get pushed to the end of my list.
For my Elephant Abstractions Quilt, I have 60 of the 97 sections complete. I think I will do this one first, it will just take a couple days or evenings of dedicated work and than I should have the sections finished and ready to put together.
On Garden Party I have 5 blocks done, 1 block just needs the small fiddly pieces added, and than I have 6 more to make.
Just writing about these projects is making me want to go work on them and be able to move them from the in progress section of my sewing room to the walls of the quilt shop.
My motivation project is the Sunnyside Sampler Quilt by Coriander Quilts. This one came to Chicken Feed as a Moda Kit, and I really want to get started it but need to finish at least one of my big projects first. If you like this project, (pictured at the top) we still have some kits available in store.
Did you make some finishing goals for yourself this year, or are you not even going to go there?
Kayla

New Fabric

There have been a lot of boxes delivered since the start of the New Year. And I must say they have been opened to reveal some gorgeous new fabrics.
We have 5 new collections from Art Gallery, a new Moda line, one from RJR, another from Studio E, and a collection from Benartex as well. Some of these companies are not super well know names, but we have carried there fabrics in our shop for quite some time now.
From Art Gallery we have Sun Kissed designed by Maureen Cracknell, this collection brings back all the perfect summer memories. The bright blue pool water, tiled pool decks, blooming flowers, and the perfect floral sundress.

Pat Bravo has designed 40 fabric lines in the past 14 years, and her latest brings all her favorites and best sellers into one gorgeous collections that is Legendary. The bold fuschia pink, emerald green and mustard yellow mix beautifully together, in large and small print florals and various geometric designs. 

Aura was designed by Matthew Bordeaux after his recent trip to Hawaii with his daughter. Everything from the colors to the prints bring you away on an Island adventure. I personally have fallen in love with the turtle print on the purple background. It is so perfect.


Art Gallery will often take prints from their various designers and combine them together into mini themed collections. Silk Road and Art District are two of these Fusion Collections.

Silk Road is a collection centered around the ancient asian arts of brushwork, ink and fiberworks. The prints as well the red, black and white coloring make this an elegant fusion.
Art District is just what it sounds like, a collection themed around every cities bright and colorful Art District with the occasional cat and ice cream cone thrown into the mix.

Gingiber has developed a new line for Moda. This one is called Farm Fresh. It has panels of farm animals, and a variety of prints in red, teal, white, grey and black. We also have 3 different patterns available for this fabric and they are all really fun. Esther is hoping to refresh her kitchen for spring with this line.




From RJR we have a new line called Retro Road Trip by Sue Marsh. This collection looks pretty much exactly as how I pictured it when I heard the name. The retro camping trailers, the fun Diner Road signs and the colors all work together to create this fun line! I am contemplating making new valences for my kitchen windows with the Diner Signs Print.

Into the Woods is a new collection from Studio E. It is a new take on the popular Wood Land Theme, combining bright colors with modern black and white prints. The panel in this line is very cool, and needs only a border or two to make a nice quilt.

From Benartex we have a line called My Happy Place, and brings together our favourite items from our sewing rooms. Prints with sewing machines, buttons and words of wisdom in pinks blues, yellow and greens bring a smile to your face.
As a bonus I have one more collection to share, this one is called Whisper, and features gold, black and white prints that are all quite soft.
As always there are even more new collections in store and on their way.
Carrie and Taylor spent the majority of their Christmas Break from school changing up the location of almost every single bolt of fabric in our shop, so make sure you come in to see all the changes that have happened as well.
I wish you a great weekend, we are going to spend ours trying to get rid of the Flu Bug that is slowly making its way through each member of our house,
Kayla

Gypsy Wife: Section 1

It's the first day of our Gypsy Wife Quilt Along! I am so excited to make this quilt as it has been on my bucket list for some quite time.
It looks daunting, especially when looking at the cover photo and flipping through the book. However we are going to tackle it in sections making it a loss less scary.
A couple tips before we even get into today's section. A lot of the pieces in these blocks are small and a smaller ruler will be easier to handle and cut with than the 24" ruler many of us have in our sewing areas. I like using my 8.5"x4.5" Creative Grids ruler as well as my 3.5"x12.5". Also it is a great idea to change your rotary blade, you will get nice clean cuts. While your at it change out your sewing needle. Because these are smaller blocks that are going to be sitting for some time before being put into the final project, I shortened my stitch length to about 2.0. All the block sizes listed in the quilt are finished sizes, which means they will be that size when your quilt top is complete, do not trim them to this size now. They all need to be a half inch larger.
First up is Section 1. On page 32 of the book there is a picture that shows the 10 sections of the quilt, some of the sections are quite small with only 2 blocks, and some are going to be a little more work. The pages previous to this outline which pieced block goes where in each section. The visual for Section 1 is on page 26.
For Section 1 we will need to make a total of 5 blocks.
 Puss in the Corner on page 13 is the main block, we will be making the first block on that page, the one without the border.
This is a good block to test your seam allowances for the project. by stitching your 5 squares together in a row and measuring the end result (which should be 5.5") you will discover if you need to adjust your seam allowance at all. I did not cut my larger squares at the 2 7/8", I just bumped it up to a nice 3" which gave me a little room to trim those Half Square Triangles before I assembled the block. I also did not cut them on the diagonal but rather marked the diagonal, stitched a 1/4" away from the line on each side and than cut on the line. This helps avoid some stretching on this bias edge.
We also have 4 filler blocks, which I find is where the pattern book gets quite confusing, but I have put several hours into marking where each blocks goes to save you some grief.
The first filler for Section 1 is a Pin Wheel block from page 19, it has no borders and should measure 4.5". I did the same here as in the previous block, cutting my squares the 3" and leaving them as squares.
On page 21 we have to make a hourglass block and add the two borders to make a 6.5" unfinished block. (follow the instructions in the first column to make the hourglass block, and than add the round 1 and 2 borders as listed in the second column.) I have included a picture of how to stack your fabrics for the second step, it sounds a little confusing just reading it straight from the book, the pink lines on my block would be your stitching lines. Notice that the fabrics are right sides together, and I have the blue pieces touching the white. The seams should nest nicely together, stitch on the unsewn diagonal.
On Page 22 we need to make 2---3" finished square in square blocks. 1 we will leave as is, the second we will add a border as per instructions on the next page to make it finish at 5" (5.5" unfinished.) I used the Simple Folded Corners Ruler from Creative Grids for this block. It is a new ruler that allows you to eliminate the need for drawing the diagonal line on your squares. Simply line up the edges of the ruler with your square and trim off the extra and than sew. You do need to be careful not to stretch here though as these are now bias edges.
Once you have finished up all your blocks, place them in a bag labelled section 1. This will keep this section altogether and will take the guesswork out of which block belongs where later on when we assemble the quilt.
 Please share your blocks on our Gypsy Wife QAL page, and if you have any other tips mention them there as well.
 I am excited to see your fabric selections for these blocks.

Kayla

 You will need the Gypsy Wife Book by Jen Kingwell to make these blocks. If you do not have your book yet, we have some more on order and they should be here in the next week or so.

Sew Hometown: January

The first blocks we are making for the Sew Hometown Quilt are the Cabin blocks. These blocks finish at 12" and we need to make 4 of them in total.
I chose the fabrics for all 4 blocks, took a quick photo and than stacked all the roof fabrics together and cut them all at the same time, repeating for all the pieces. This made cutting go quick, and I had a picture to look back at if I forgot which house fabric went with each roof. I also just chose 4 greens and cut one of each size strip from each to make the 4 blocks.
Creative Grids recently produced a ruler that is called Simple Folded Corners. It is great for stitch and flip blocks, like we do here on the roof. To use just put the two pieces right sides together, and than instead of drawing a line on the diagonal and stitching and than trimming, just align the ruler on the fabric, use your rotary cutter to trim the excess and than stitch. It includes the 1/4" seam allowance for you.
Rather than throwing the scraps from these corners into a scrap bin or the garbage, I like to stitch them into half square triangles. I just chain stitch them quick, give them a press and set them aside. I will keep all the ones from this quilt together and in the end I should have enough to make a small project, with the bonus of all the HSTs being premade.
The pattern gives the option to make the blocks with the house on the right side or to switch it up and place it on the left side. I ended up making them all with the house on the right side (mostly because I was chain piecing and not really paying that much attention). If you want the house on the left simply add the background on the other side, this is such a simple way to change up a block, without .
changing any measurements.
The gals from Inspiring Stitches have not yet published their post for this month's blog, but as soon as they do I will publish the link to it on our Facebook Page.
Have fun making your blocks and tag Chicken Feed Quilts in your pictures so we can see them too.

Kayla

Block instructions can be found in the Inspiring Stitches 2019 Calendar: Sew Hometown

January Classes

January is right around the corner, and with it a new class list. Many of these classes we have held before, but there have been several requests to run them again.

On Saturday January 12, Esther will be teaching a Tuffet class, we have not done this class in quite some time, but several people have asked u to teach it again. The Tuffet is a cute little stool, and we use a 15 degree ruler to cut the wedges. Layout of color and the fabrics chosen make each tuffet truly unique. The class will run from 10am-2pm. The fee is $125, which also includes the hardware kit (foam, legs, wood base). The fabric, ruler and pattern are an additional cost. 

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We are also doing the Jelly Roll Rug Class again. This time around we will do it over two evenings with some homework in between, rather than one long day of sewing. The dates are January 15 and 29 from 7-9pm. The class fee is $40, and the pattern, fabric and batting are extra. We just received the Colossal Round Rug Pattern which uses two jelly rolls, and measures 54" in diameter. You may use this pattern instead of the Original Jelly Roll Rug, but you may not finish it in the allotted class time. 

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Laura has fallen in love with English Paper Piecing (EPP) and will be teaching a class so you cn learn to love it as well. She will be teaching the Sunflower Pattern by Violet Craft. The project finishes at 40" square, and would be a great for the coming spring. The class fee is $60 an we will have kits available for $115. The class will include 3 sessions of instruction and sewing which will take place from 7-9pm on January 22, February 5, and February 19.

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Esther will also be teaching two Foundation Paper Piecing (FPP) classes. The class fee of $50 includes the pattern and fabrics to make either a Valentine or Spring Table Topper. This is a great beginner class for those that have never done FPP but would like to give it a try, or a great refresher course for those wanting to get back into it. She will teach one evening class, which will take place over two sessions, January 17 and 24 from 7-9pm, and a day course that runs 10am-2pm on January 24. 

If any of these classes interest you, sign up in store, or by email or phone. 

Our Holiday Hours for the next two weeks are listed below:

December 24: 10am-1pm

December 25 and 26: Closed

December 27 and 28: 10am-5pm

December 29: 10am-4pm

December 30: Closed

December 31: 10am-1pm

January 1 and 2: Closed

January 3: Regular Hours Resume

This will be the last blog post until January 4th as my family will be going to Mexico for a Christmas Vacation.

On the behalf of all the Chicken Feed Quilts Staff I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year.

Thank you again for your continued support in all our endeavors and I look forward to seeing you all again in 2019.

Kayla

Sew Hometown: Introduction

Sew Hometown is the 2019 Block Of The Month put together by Amy Ellis and Heather Valentine from Inspiring Stitches. It is a fun quilt made up of whimsical blocks. I will be doing this quilt through the bog, posting tips or motivation each month as will as a link to the blog posts by Amy and Heather who will also be doing some videos for instruction as well.

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During this BOM we will be making a new block each month, each block occurs 3-6 times in the quilt so some months will be busier than others. This quilt also features some improv piecing which is great for those small scraps, and a fun way to learn some new skills. 

The designers suggest choosing either one favorite print and using that as a starting point to choosing fabrics or to pick 3 focal colors that work well together and choosing colors that will coordinate well thinking about the size of print, the color saturation (deep jewel tones versus pastels) and color family. They also suggest sorting the fabric choices into like colors to make them easy to select while piecing. They did a great little write up in the beginning of the pattern to help you out in your choices whether you are shopping from our store or from your stash. 

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I have decided to use a fat quarter bundle that was designed by Amy Ellis. It is called Wanderlust and is mainly green, yellow and a fun coral color, with some dark brown, and lots of white prints. Because the white prints make up a large portion of the bundle and there is only a little of the brown, I am going to use the brown as my background. Now if you know me, you will know that I almost never use brown or green, so I am going to be stepping out of my box on this project.

There is no real fabric requirement for the main fabrics as it is written for scraps but you will need at least 25 fat quarters though fat eighths will also work well. You do need a total of 4.5 yards of background fabric which can be all one fabric or several. This measurement also includes the border. 

The quilt finishes at 67"x79", which is a great size.

This Block of the Month will begin on January 4th which is 3 weeks away. We have the pattern available in store. The pattern is actually put together in the form of a desk calendar so it would also make a great gift. 

Speaking of gifts and January being only 3 weeks away, do you have many Christmas and yer end parties to attend this year? Have they already started? We have our first one tomorrow evening at Esther's house. 

Kayla;

Be My Neighbor: Reveal Party

Tonight we hosted the long awaited reveal party for our Be My Neighbor Quilt Along. We started our first block on March 13, the final block was posted on October 16, with some finishing instructions posted two weeks later, and tonight 6 weeks later we got together and showed the results of 9 months of work.SXLLM​​

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We seen 10 finished quilts this evening and two that are works in progress, but they have challenged themselves to get them finished and not leave them in a box hiding away. (Next time you see Carrie, ask how her Be My Neighbor Quilt is coming along, because she is one of the ones not yet finished)

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Many of the ladies were able to make the quilt from their scrap bins, buying a small piece here or there to add a color, or to do the borders. 

Every quilt looked so different, even though they are all the same patterns, but they all are absolutely beautiful!

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Aside from doing a show and share of our quilts and handing out some prizes, we played a few games, and had some snacks, and those that attended got some sneak peaks of what was inside the 30 boxes that were delivered over the past few days. The rest of you will have to wait until Carrie sorts through the boxes to see what came. SXLLM​​

I would like to thank everyone that participated in this quilt along, I had so much fun, learned a lot, and it was great to make a quilt with a group of others and the encouragement along the way was amazing.

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Kayla