350 Block Report- December

It is the last month of 2020. It has been a year to remember for all the wrong reasons. I have already reached the 350 block goal which feels good.

 This month we have 31 blocks.

Twinkle Star was my main project for December for a total of 20.

I made two more of my Honey blocks.

I start the Project Uninterrupted girls off on their Summer Project Challenge. Once again a simple one block project. So far I have made 45 blocks.

Plus  12 diamonds for my Lakeshore Sunrise Quilt. Here are 3 of them set to give you an idea of what they look like.

My total for this month is 79.  I am finishing the year off with a bang. I think this is my biggest monthly total for the year.

My total for the year is 489. I think that is a good total for this year. I know it could have been better but I could have done worse too. I am happy with what I managed to do in 2020. Looking forward to 2021.

Until Next Time

Keeping Stitching

Cynthia

Time to Review My Project list.

 Looking back on my Project Uninterrupted list  from January there was a number of completed projects but there are still some long term hangers on.

My Prismatic Star was finished off early in the year.

My Radaince Quilt only needed binding so it didn't take me long to complete it.

This table runner using the leftover grey fabric from the above quilt was finished, though I can't find a picture. You can see in the picture below the binding is on.

My dragon panel quilt is completed.

My Fractured Paintbox quilt found it's way to the completed pile.

Right at the end of the year I squeezed this one in for a finish. It was one of the long term projects on my list, only the blocks had been completed at the beginning of the year.

Six projects off the list is better than none and I did have my hands full with my Quiltworx projects.  Not a great cunning off the list but it could be worse. 

Until Next Time

Keeping Stitching

Cynthia

My Stitching Resolution for 2021

 

Welcome to the Stitching Resolution 2021 Challenge.

Thank you to Carla from Creatin' in the Sticks for coming up with this blog hop. This is everyone who is participating. So pop over and check out what they have set themselves.

Wednesday, December 30th

Just Let Me Quilt
MooseStashQuilting
Words & Stitches
 Sew Many Yarns
Websterquilt
Cocoa Quilts
QuiltFabrication
Stitchin At Home
Ms P Designs USA
Life in the Scrapatch
Kathy Kwilts and More
Karen's Korner
Quilt Schmilt
selina quilts
The Joyful Quilter
Becky’s adventures in quilting and travel 
Karrin's Crazy World
Quilting and Learning: What a Combo
VroomansQuilts
Cynthia's Creating Ark
PamelaQuilts
Quilting Patchwork & Appliqué
Kathleen McMusing
Quilting Gail
Homespun Hannah's Blog
appliqueand...
Songbird Designs
Storied Quilts
Susie’s World

She's Stitchin Again
Creatin' in the Sticks

My stitching resolution for 2021 is to make time to sew.

That should be simply right! Not in my world. During 2020 as I worked my way through a set program of projects to become a  Quiltworx certified shop I really struggled at times to find time at the machine.  Now I was hearing stories of how much time other people were having sewing up a storm and here I was really struggling.

I got there in the end but it was not the way I had planned to do it.  I had a plan for 2020 that fell apart about April. Yes I can blame Covid-19 for some of my failings.  Making everything harder and creating too many hoops for me to jump through behind the scenes  to keep the business open and running within the new regulations. Boy, did I have issues. There was plenty to deal with and I tried my hardest to battle on and not to let it show.  The rest of the issues were my own doing, I could have done something about them and didn't. Plus trying to keep everyone else happy was too much work and only pushed me to breaking point. 

Now how am I going to make time for me to sew.

For 2021 all workshops and classes will have the end of the the sessions announced, unless you are paying for an extended session. This should give me extra time to take care of business during shop hours rather than in the evening when I could be sewing. 

Next half of our Saturday sessions are  becoming  10 am-1pm sessions, which hopefully will give me 1-2 hours on some Saturday afternoon to sew. 

I have 3 big projects I need to find time to work on during 2021. One is the Glacier Star project the ladies are doing this year.  I need to be ahead of them so I am sure I know what I am doing during the workshops.

 I wish I could tell you about the other two, but at the time of posting this blog post I can't share the details. When I am able to, I will shout the details from the rooftop.  

When there is a fifth Saturday  or Sunday in the month they are mine to sew, no workshops will be scheduled, unless it is unavoidable.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Are you in?

What is your Sewing Goal for 2021?

 We are coming to the close of 2020. It's been a year like no other. So I was thinking is there something I really want to do in 2021 sewing wise. I have plenty of business goals I have already set myself but I haven't thought much about the sewing. This year I had the Quiltworx Certified Shop program to work through. Which now I look back on and think Wow did I learn a lot. I still need to do the new Technique of the month Coral Reef but I am just waiting on fabric to arrive.

Do you have any sewing goals for 2021? Have you a plan already? Maybe you don't want to set yourself a goal. Is there something that you really would like to learn? There are so many different thing we can learn/do and we just need to put it out in the universe and start thinking how we can acheive it. It may be as simple as learning a technique. 

An example for you. A few of the ladies in my classes want to learn how to the Quilt as you Go technique. It came up during a workshop, by talking about that day we will be have that workshop in the first half of the year.  So if there is something you are interested in learning let me know and I may be able to arrange a workshop.

For me I have had to put my rulerwork quilting aside which I want to go back to and work on some new designs and workshops to enhance my Freestyling Rulerwork workshop. During 2020 I basically was only doing the basics over and over again. It's great lots of ladies have had their Rulerwork journeys started because of that, but it has left me some what uninspired.  I have a number of small projects ready to go when I am ready.

A coulpe of my small projects ready for quilting.

So what are your sewing goals for 2021? Share them with everyone in the comments and let see if we can all acheive our goals together.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitchiing

Cynthia

One Monthly Goal- December's Goal Not Achieved.

 I set myself to finish these blocks. See my original post here.  8 blocks was my plan.

I started the month off great with two blocks completed in the first week of the month. Then things went down hill from there.   I am afraid 2 blocks is all I managed,

There is no way I am going to get 6 more blocks done in 3 days, so I am calling it a bust now and moving on to what I need to complete. No point beating myself up over it. It's not going to happen, don't waste anymore time on it.

At least there is only 6 more blocks to go, when I get there.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching Cynthia

Time to do some Sewing

 I think it is time to do some sewing. I spend most of Wednesday in the kitchen. I made the cake for my Hazelnut and Apricot Cake for Christmas Eve family dinner, Chocolate mousse, Cinnamon Scrolls, gingerbread men, stars and trees, and Spaghetti Bologne for our dinner. Thursday saw me filling and icing the cake and icing dozens of gingerbread. We enjoyed our Christmas Eve dinner with the family.

Christmas day I was back in the kitchen to do us a little Christmas dinner. A nice easy meal with left over Chocolate mousse for dessert. So with all that kitchen time there has been time to do too much else.  I did have a little time at the cutting table cutting out fabric for my Lakeshore Sunrise project. 

 Yes another Quiltworx pattern. This one is our January retreat project. I want this one to be partly done, so I have some samples of each section to show the ladies each step. I hope it's not going to be too hot for the retreat. If we do get the extreme heat while we are at Burra we will be fine to stay indoors in the air conditioning. It would be nice for the ladies to check out the town a little bit.

The weekend is here, the shop is closed until the 2nd January and I think it is time for me to have some time to myself at the sewing machine. We have dinner plans and we are doing the Roof climb at Adelaide Oval tonight. I can't wait to see the view from up there of the Oval and of Adelaide.  Hopefully I get some photos to share with everyone tomorrow.

Until Next Time 

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Merry Christmas

 Just wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Brillaint New Year.  Thank you for all your support during 2020. We look forward to a great 2021.

Enjoy the holiday break, enjoy the time with your family and friends. Don't forget to spoil yourself over the Christmas you deserve it. We have survive 2020 the best way we could. May 2021 be your year to shine. 

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

To Remove the Selvedge

 I was piecing a couple of quilt backs on the weekend, which all quilters do. Nothing new there or surprising in that. I was ready to trim my selvedge off after joining a couple pieces of fabric together and I was struck with a thought.

 Should I leave the selvedge on?  I was taught to remove it as the weave is often different to the main fabric.  Though there has been times I have left it there, for what ever the reason was at the time I did. I do tend to use quality quilting fabric on the backs of my quilts,  so if I was using something of lesser quality I wouldn't leave the selvedge on. 

Anyway. I was thinking along the lines- if my quilt survived a generation or two, it was well loved and started to wear out or ended up been sold or given away moving well away for me, By chance ended up in the hands of a quilter in the future would they be delighted to find out the fabrics details because I left the selvedges on the backing. In this case this quilt backing comes from the range I used in the quilt top. 

Even in my quilt top you can see my selvedge along the left side is still there. Though it will be trimmed off once I reach the binding stage. The other though I had if you have a fabric that tends to fray a bit too much leaving the selvedge on until the end would stop that from happening as much

Just like the quilts of the past where newspaper was used for foundations and left in for later generations to uncover when quilts finished and unfinished popped up.  An interesting thought isn't it. HAve you left the selvadge on or do you always remove it?

Until next time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Christmas is nearly here. Plans for 2021 Workshop season.

 Christmas is only a week away. It is the last weekend the shop is open until the 2nd January. Sunday will see the last session of Project Uninterrupted for the year. It will be the last time the Sunday session of Project Uninterrupted held on the third Sunday of the month. 

As of February 2021 it will be moved to the 1st Sunday of the month, joining the Friday and Saturday sessions. 10 am-2pm- Hopefully it will make it easier to keep track of the date. There are a few changes to next year's workshop calendar. Project Uniterrupted is our Sit and Sew sessions, no Teacher in the classroom. It is strictly sit, sew and chat. If you require teaching assistance in these sessions you will be charged accordingly- the Patchwork 101 price. That includes if someone in the group is doing the teaching. They are there to enjoy some sewing time themselves. It is not fair to them or me as the shop owner for this to be going on. It is why we have the Patchwork 101 sessions.

No workshops during January except for our Burra Retreat which I am hoping to make in to an annual event. The shop will be open during January for shopping, depending on the hot weather. I may close early or not open at all in the extreme temperatures. 

Patchwork 101 Saturday sessions goes from once a month to three times a month- second, third and fourth Saturday of the month, This replicates the Friday's program which we ran this year and it worked well. You can do nearly anything in this class as there is a teacher on hand for assistance.  10 am - 1pm. 

Also this year we launch our dedicated Quiltworx monthly  workshops including a Technique of the month program which this year will be Glacier Star.  At this stage I have 1 spot left for the Glacier Star workshops, Contact the shop for more details. There will be other Quiltworx patterns on offer.

Of course we will have a range of other workshops for you to do during the course of the year as part of our Expand your Knowledge series. Some featured on particular projects and others on techniques. 

Freestyling Rulerwork Workshops will continue, every 4-8 weeks depending on demand, but remember you can do rulerwork in our Patchwork 101 sessions. You just need to book into a session which I am running. So make sure you tell me you want to do rulerwork and I will make sure to book you in to the right session.

You can find the current Program here on the blog.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Under the Pressure Foot 2020 - #7

 What is by my sewing machine this weekend? Am I sewing or am I doing other stuff? Maybe I went down a rabbit hole and got lost. That happens more times than you think and before I know it I have lost hours.

I did get to the sewing machine Saturday afternoon for some foundation paper piecing and a little work on our Summer project  for the Project Uninterrupted Facebook group. I have set the group a summer project and challenged them to dig in to the stashes and use some of it up. Though they can go and buy new fabric if that what they want.

I did end up down a Covid Rabbit hole later in the day when I found out the goverment has changed the rules for retail shopping here in South Australia starting the 14th December. I had to drop what I was doing so I could find out and work out what hoops I had to jump through now. That saw me loose the last hour of my day where I could have been sewing. 

 It had to be done by Sunday and it is now sorted so I can get back to more interesting things.  Though I don't think there will be much sewing happening on Sunday but at least I will be cutting fabric in shop.  There is a kit I need to cut for January for me.

Until Next Time 

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Some Christmas Gift Ideas from Cynthia's Ark

 It's Christmas time and we all need a little help with our Christmas shopping. Here are some of the great gift ideas we have at Cynthia's Ark.

1. Our Fabric Lucky Dips are one of our most popular options this Christmas. They come wrapped in two ways, so you can get them for people who don't celebrate Christmas or for other occasions. At $4 each you can't go wrong. Don't forget to treat yourself. You are worth it.   There is a minimum of 25cm  fabric in each gift. It may be precuts or width of fabric. Lots of different combinations.

2, The Quilters Companion Diary 2021. 

3. Percy Purses Kits. Four different colour kits available. Kits have everything in them to complete the project.  These cute purses are great presents as is or make them up and gift them.

4. Petite Project Bag Kits  These kit have  everything you need to make the project. Thread colour may vary from samples. It has a bit of stitchery for you to complete. Available in three colour ways.

5. Wool Pressing Mats. These pressing mats are 20"x 20" in size and anre Australian made, They are great to use next to your sewing machine to keep you sewing, prefrect for retreats or sewing in a class if you have the space.

All these items are available in store or on line at Cynthia's Ark

Until Next Time 

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Under the Pressure Foot 2020 - 6

It's the first weekend of the month, which means it is our Project Uninterrupted Sessions were on in the shop. Plus we had a Zoom session within our Project Uninterrupted Facebook group. Member that don't live close enough to join us in person have the chance to meet, sew and chat with the group members that they may interact in the group but have not met in person. Next year all the Project Uninterrupted sessions will be moving to the first weekend of the month. This is to make it easier for me to keep track of the Sunday sessions. I have had some trouble keeping track of when the Sunday sessions were on this year.

The Zoom sessions also allow me to join in and sew with the group, which I can't always do in the store sessions as some sessions are full regularly. Plus under the Covid -19 restrictions numbers have had to be reduced numbers to allow for social distancing. 

No sewing for me Friday or Saturday so Saturday night I set myself up for an evening of sewing on Zoom with the group and a bonus this weekend no workshop on Sunday. That means I can left my sewing stuff out and do some sewing on Sunday after I finish the orders and inbetween the customer,

I have eight more of these blocks to make, plus they are cut ready to sew made they the perfect options for our Zoom session,

I completed this block and got halfway through a second block in the session, which has ended up finished.

 

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

One Monthly Goal- December's Goal

Last month of the year, it could be a tricky month. Will I have time to do much sewing or will everything use up my time keeping me away from the sewing machine,

This month I have looked back on my project list I review at the back in January. I want this month project to be one that has been hanging around a while and I want to see some progress on it.

Shuffling through the crate of unfinished projects I couldn't find the one I was looking for. Where is it? or Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough. No matter. I have pick something else out instead.

My American Honey blocks. 12 blocks are completed. 

Still a few more to go looking in the box. At least they are all cut out ready to sew.

To finish all my  remaining blocks is the goal for December.

I have link my post with Elm Street Quilts Post, so pop over there and check out what everyone is work on this month.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Virtual Cookie Exchange 2020

 

Every year I look forward to this Blog hop. The Virtual Cookie Exchange has provide us with many tasty treats to share with our family and friends. A big thank you to Carol  from Just Let Me Quilt for hosting us and rounding us up to put on this event.

This is Day 1 so you are in for a treat, just visit everyone to collect their recipes abd your kitchen will smell just as delicious as our own kitchen, It is especially nice at this time of the year to have those wonderful Christmas baking scent floating through the house. Sometimes I wish they would create that scent for the air freshers.

December 1

Creatin' in the Sticks 

Doreen – Just Let Me Quilt Guest

Bumbleberry Stitches

Home Sewn By Us

Quilt Schmilt

Food for Thought

Life in the Scrapatch

Ms P Designs USA

Just Sew Quilter

Cathie's Craftworks

Cynthia's Creating Ark - You are Here-

 December 2

MooseStashQuilting

Karen's Korner

Sew Many Yarns

Selina Quilts

Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life

Days Filled With Joy

Words & Stitches

Just Because Quilts

Beaquilter

December 3

Quiltscapes

Websterquilt

DayBrook Designs

Karrin’s Crazy World

Samelia's Mum

Songbird Designs

For The Love Of Geese

Stitchin At Home

Dreamworthy Quilts

That Fabric Feeling

 December 4

Just Let Me Quilt

Quilt Fabrication

DesertSky Quilting

Seams To Be Sew

Happy Cottage Quilter

Pumpkin Patch Patterns & Quilting

The Darling Dogwood

Kathleen McMusing

Scrapdash

This year I have been treating my family and friends with this recipe. Let's just say we have tested this recipe a number of times leading up to this event. 

Ice Box Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup Butter, softened

1 cup Icing Sugar, sifted

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups plain flour, sifted

1/2 tsp salt. 

Nuts/ chocolate to top cookies (optional)

Method:

In a mixing bowl cream butter and both sugars. Add egg and vanilla and mix together. Add flour and salt and mix together. Split the mixture into half and roll each half in to a log and wrap in cling film. Repeat with the other half.

Chill logs for at least 2 hours but you can make the dough the day before and chill overnight. 

Preheat your oven to  170 degrees C (350 degrees F) while you prepare the cookies.  

Remove logs from the fridge and slice in to disks ( about 5mm / 1/8") It's is up to you . Just remind if you cut them thicker they will need a little longer in the oven.  Arrange on baking trays leaving space around them. They spread a little bit but not too much.

Once they are on the trays you can top each cookie with nuts or chocolate for a bit of Christmas Bling or leave them plain. Bake for 10- 12 minutes or until lightly brown around the edges. Keep an eye on them as I found the 2-3 batches many only need 8- 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on the trays. Store in an airtight container if they last that long.  Makes 30 cookies approx.

They will make great gifts wrapped sipmply in cellophane with a nice ribbon or a nice container. A tin filled with a cookie selection wrapped in a Christmas tea towel, would be a lovely gift idea.

Make sure you visit everyone on the list collect their recipes, don't forget to leave a little love in their comments boxes.

Here is the printer Friendly version 

Until Next Time

Keep Baking

Cynthia

350 Block Report - November's Report

We are coming to the end of this year.  This month's total is 30 blocks.

 What have I been sewing this month. I have made 2 Pscyadelia blocks

5 to my total for putting my Wedding Star Table topper together,

Remaining 12 blocks completed for my Clockworx quilt Then pieced the 7 sashing strips and joining the blocks together with borders for a total of 20.

One block that I turned into a basket. I can see me doing more of these.

This month's total is 28.

This year's total is 418.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia