The Progression of January

 Today I crossed off the last item from my January To Do List - cutting the strips for the Avalon Quilt binding - DONE!

This year I have decided to write directly into my visual diary... including the doodles and hand drawn designs to keep it interesting and leaving out the monthly diary.

I have also made a list of projects that I am attracted to... although there is no way I am going to start all of them.  Honest!  But I'm sure there will be some that get started... and also some that are NOT on this list either!

I have also made a list of Focus Projects... this is a bit of an evolving process - I haven't quite decided exactly which quilts to focus on... although I have got a sizeable list already.

And I've kept the progress sheets from last year - the pre 2020 progress was coloured in pink, then aqua for 2020... and now dark green for 2021.  The colouring process has been very satisfying.  And YES, there are THREE PAGES... and actually a spare page... because you know me... I WILL NEED IT!

I also printed off some Project planning sheets from Zen Chic but as yet haven't completed one.  I'll see how this goes.

I have already started a new scrap project.  Didn't mean to, but after collecting my various curated bundles of scraps last year I had earmarked this bundle for the Super Easy Jelly Roll quilt but when I saw the quilt along for the Scrappy Lines quilt by Side Lake Stitch, which needed 5" lengths I knew it was a perfect match for this bundle that had some leftover charm squares amongst it.  The blocks are set with sashing between - so it should turn out simple and sweet... and will be an awesome low commitment leader/ender project.

And onto the first finish of 2021.  My There's A Square in There quilt.  A bit of wind made taking photos a bit sketchy but this is probably the best image showing how I added the borders to keep some of the eclectic feel of the top.  I think it works really well.

We did have a few goofy photos too :o)

Finishing this quilt was delayed somewhat after waiting over 6 weeks for the labels I had ordered to arrive from Canada.  This was nothing to do with the supplier, their contact, production and posting out were quick and efficient - but Covid postage times are so erratic.  However - they did eventually turn up.

These are 1" x 1" double turned labels - designed so that I can fold them in half and sew them into the binding.

Because I had already sewn the binding on for this quilt I decided to hand stitch it over the binding, sewing first the turned under front and then the back.  It is very low key cute, there were heaps of different pre-made designs to choose from - or you could design your own.

And the quilt had its first turn on the bed...  I may go back and add some hand quilting to the large patterned sections as these have no quilting... and some of the larger areas are a bit puffy.  I'll see how it goes.

In other news I sewed another Sewcialites block - this one has the crappiest points and joins (and it's sewn mirror image to the instructions) but apart from that - it is a very dynamic block.

And because I had been so good this month I allowed myself to FINALLY start the Orbiter Quilt which I have been itching to start.  Libs Elliott ran this quilt as a sew along late last year and I kept the instructions to guide the creation.  There were 7 different units to sew this month, and of those two were just black squares - just need to remember that the instructions are for one quarter of the quilt - so everything needs to be repeated four times.  But still - that is only 28 units.

This is the four blocks that will make up the centre of the quilt.

I have a mix of solid and lightly patterned fabrics