circuit board quilt - 26 in 21 quilt 1

 the first final project from the 26 in 21 adventure is here!

for being such a big project, it actually wasn't too hard to get going and keep going throughout.
i think having the fabric purchased already was absolutely helpful to make that happen, which was kind of my hope for this first quilt.

the circuit board quilt was one that i saw at some point last year, and knew instantly it would be the perfect quilt for my older brother.
in contrast to the 4732 quilts i've made my sister (okay... like, 3...) i haven't made a single one for either of my brothers.  with markham's birthday being january 12, this was the perfect reasoning to kick off 26 in 21 with this beast.after purchasing the pattern, i had collected the various black on blacks from two places in town.  swifty stitches and cali quilt co.  the green, which is i believe "kelly" in the grunge family, also came from cali quilt co, as it was my final piece to pick up after leaving work one day in december.  i had all my fabric pulled and ready, and things were set to kick off on january 1st!while it felt like a dozen other things were happening at the same time, i still managed to set aside time to work on this quilt most nights.  i started with the traditionally pieced blocks (the straight line ones were first) and then once i moved my way through everything (even while hunkering down at my parent's for an over night car repair) and on to the paper pieced blocks.  for being straight diagonal lines, i sure found that they had their tricky moments!it was pretty fun getting all these black on blacks to look as scrappy as possible.  it turns out i had a lot of different star prints as well as polka dot prints.  keeping them from clumping sure was a challenge!  but i think i did a pretty fair job of it, even with this beast not being able to fit on my design wall.  i seriously underestimate how big 76 inches is ALL THE TIME even though i'm fully aware 72 inches is 6 feet... someday it might sink in....
someday...i quilted it after work one day on the q'nique 21 that we have at the shop, which is fully computerize and AWESOME.  i had purchased a cat themed pantograph that i felt would be perfect for this project (and let's be real... probably many more to come) and it totally was.  i also backed this quilt in shannon cuddle for the first time, and i pretty much love how it turned out.  i love the feel of a weighted blanket (hence that i currently have 5 quilts on my bed right now) and this cuddle backing adds a little extra weight to it.  plus, the pricing wasn't far off from the 108" wide backing i would have used anyways.  
i had enough of my black on black fabrics initially that i was able to do a black scrappy binding on the quilt to frame it all up without having to purchase anything additional.  which was extra nice, since i'm trying to track my fabric intake and outtake this year.  go me!
here's a peek at how the cuddle quilted up on the back.  perfect and fuzzy to replicate those black cats that always seem to reside in markham's room.

speaking of black cats...

apparently veruca has already tested out the quilt and made sure it was up to her standards.

this circuit board quilt was a fun new challenge to take on, and i totally enjoyed it being something new and exciting to kick off 2021 and my crazy plans.  don't forget, the whole journey is on my youtube channel, which you can find here:  emily's 26 in 21

pattern information: circuit board by flying parrot quilts
quilt count: 148

emily loves dinosaurs - teal dinosaur baby quilt

last quilt of 2020, first quilt post of 2021!

the moment this quilt pattern was announced, i think i was tagged at least three different times per post.  and so i instantly bought it the day it was released.  the pattern sat for awhile, waiting to become reality.  then, tayva asked me if i would make a sample for the shop, and of course i gave it a big fat YES.
picking the colors was the HARDEST part.

every sample i had seen was in rainbow, which was super cute and all... but i wanted to be different! i played with so many different grunge color ways, and ended up setting on this delightful teal/aqua combo.  gah.  so cute.
instead of having my plants different colors as well, i kept them to be just two shades of green grunge so they'd stand free of the dinosaurs as well.  the plants were the first things i pieced at a sew day way back when... and they went together so quickly!having the balance of regular grunge mixed in with printed grunges made the dinosaurs a lot more fun too.  i tried to keep one of each per dino, but you'll see in one of the stegosaurus blocks, one of them is SUPER printy.  he's still so cute though!  the blue t rex cracks me up a lot, because how his print ended up, it looks like he's got polka dot socks on.i ended up not using the solid turquoise grunge in the dinosaurs themselves, so i couldn't help but bring it in as the perfect bright binding.  and can we talk about this pantograph??
since i now have access to a computerized long arm machine at work, i HAD to make this pantograph happen on this quilt.  from far away, it looks like a stipple, but when you look closer, there are tiny little dinosaurs in there.  gah.  i love it so much.
i had a real good time piecing the back, and have no regrets at all.

the grunge stars are the same color as one of the plant colors, and i used a chunk of scraps to piece in some turquoise as well to get the right size.it was so much fun to do this little version of the quilt, that i cannot WAIT to do a larger version for myself.  yep, you heard it here.  i absolutely plan to do the lap size quilt in this same color scheme so i can have one all to my very own.

all the small pieces went together well, it was just super helpful to keep them labeled and in order (garage sale stickers are the best tip i've ever heard for that with elizabeth hartman patterns)

plus, i've got to get another use (or ten) out of that pantograph! 

pattern information: dinosaurs by elizabeth hartman
quilt count: 147

26 in 21 - an introduction

 well here we are, in 2021.
yeah, i know i mentioned a quilt post after the 2020 round up, but new years day on a friday really threw me for a loop...
but it's coming tomorrow!

in the meantime, i'm here to share with you my newest crazy venture as a result of what 2020 put us all through.
through the 15 minute a day challenges, to the bullet journal trackers, 2020 left me with needing something big and bold to really push me out of my comfort zone.  block party with emily was doing that to an extent with cali quilt co, but i was really needing a personal challenge that would be all my own.
whelp.  here it is.

26 in 21 has become the reality of what my comfort zone pushing needed.
the plan:  26 quilts made from start to finish every 2 weeks in 2021.
you read that correctly.
one quilt, two weeks, start to finish.
from fabric pull & cutting to quilting and binding.
yes, my brain is about to explode on it's own, so you're in good company!

i created my intro video last week, so you can take a look at that here:

so now the plan is that on tuesdays, the videos will drop regularly.  each quilt should end up with three videos, that is only if i mapped it out correctly.  video one will be an intro video, video two will be an in progress update, and video three will be the quilting, binding and final reveal.

some of my projects i've already got planned ahead, and others might end up flying by the seat of my pajama pants when they roll around.  the good news is, that january is planned in it's entirety.  so that's 3 down, 23 to go!

oh, did you notice i said videos would drop on tuesdays?  did you also notice that today was tuesday?

well, here you go!

in reality, my plan is that this will keep me finishing projects all at once, instead of having a quilt top linger forever... such an example would be the great juniper berry quilt of 2020.  top was done in march, but for some reason, i didn't get it finished until DAYS before christmas.

and i have nobody to blame but myself.

so here's to a new adventure in 2021, unlike any i've done before.

i'll be making these 26 projects, block party projects, and even more exciting (and possibly even non-quilty) things to come!

i'm also trying to track my fabric intake vs. outgoing this year... 

so wish me luck on THAT reality check!