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4x7 Sewing Challenge - COMPLETE!

2/28/2015

 
4x7 Sewing Challenge at Berry Barn Designs
I know February is a short, but still - wow, did these four weeks fly! The 4x7 Sewing Challenge is done! Though hopefully many of you will use the month's worth of practice setting aside time for your sewing as a jumping off point to carve out more time for it all year long. So how'd you do with your goals? Was it easier or harder than you expected to commit to a daily sewing practice?
This month started off strong for me as I worked on my quilting motif sampler book, but as soon as I removed my practice fabric from the longarm to finish an actual quilt, I started to drift off task and never did get back to it. I still did selfish sewing daily, with a few 2 hours one day, none the next thanks to school vacation in there ; ) But I also surprised myself with two finished mini quilts, some pattern and fabric shopping and PDF pattern preparation, as well as the fifteen sampler pages that I did get done early on. If March is as productive, hopefully I'll have a new shirt or two and a new dress made! Assuming I can just get over my initial hesitation to cut into the fabric... going to double (and triple!) check my measurements and then get started. 
This final week's finish was this adorable pattern from Juliet at The Tartan Kiwi. It really thoroughly chewed up my sewing time each day because of trying so hard to match the "rain" patterned fabric in the paper pieced block. The block itself was easy, but I added to the difficulty going with such a directional fabric. I think the effort was worth it for the finished result! 
I quilted straight lines at varying spacing and stitch lengths up and down the quilt to look like lines of rain. I skipped the areas that were under the umbrella, though, which you can see better from the back. I'm calling the piece "Oh, to Be Six Again!" since it reminds me of splashing in puddles as a kid. Back then I had a polka dot umbrella and - fun fact - actually hated the color pink! You'd probably never guess that since it's now an obvious favorite ; )
So all in all, a good month for me even if I didn't finish what I initially set out to. I'm taking away a renewed commitment to sew every day (or as close to as possible), and also a hope that I'll keep up the selfish sewing here and there all year long. Interspersing sewing for me among the projects I make for others really is rejuvenating. I need to stop feeling guilty about that and take a little break here and there even when I have some other big deadline going on. A few minutes here and there really adds up to great finishes!
Ok, here you go - time to link up your progress for the MONTH and let us know how you did! I'm going to run the completion prize giveaway a little differently than the participation prizes the last few weeks, though. I know some of us did a better job than others being faithful to our goals (no shame - I didn't stick with my initial plan after all! lol), so I'm going to start by looking to see whether or not someone truly stuck to the plan to sew every day (or make up for it during the week) and/or finished every one of her goals set forth. If more than one of you did, I'll draw randomly between you. If no one did, then I'll broaden the parameters. I'm going to read everyone's posts and see how everyone did first - some of you have been crazy productive and I'm excited to see what the last surge this week brought for your success!   
4x7 Sewing Challenge at Berry Barn Designs
Last week's winner was JoAnna at Lia Sophia Tomboy! I think that's the first time ever RNG has given me a 1 in the results box. Early bird got the worm this round : )

Can't wait to see who wins the big completion prize! So much Tula Pink goodness! 

~ Sarah
Anne link
2/28/2015 05:41:43

:O


That is so incredibly wonderful! I love the feeling you've managed to capture and holy COW matching up all those directional prints!! It's not often that a quilt is both technically excellent and also so evocative. So so good.

Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl link
2/28/2015 06:05:00

Your matching of the directional fabric in the mini is beautifully done and between the dots and the quilting, I am completely in love with this finish! I hope you can keep the momentum going all year!

JoAnna link
2/28/2015 06:51:57

I'm number 1??? That's hysterical. Maybe I should get a lottery ticket.... I'm so excited that I won!

I loved doing this sewing challenge and it reawakened my interest in sewing. I definitely want to make time for sewing more often, especially since I have so many things running around in my head that I want to try. Time to my nose to the grindstone and get on it!!

Anja
2/28/2015 09:21:14

I love it! Although I'm sure it was a lot of work, good call on matching the "raindrops." I'm not a fan of paper piecing, but could easily sway me. I succeeded with the challenge. I think I only had three days that I didn't actually sew, but rather did other quilty related items, one of which was our quilt guild meeting. Thanks so much for hosting. This was awesome!!!

Kathy link
3/1/2015 03:25:48

"Oh, to Be Six Again!" is sweet! Way to go with your February challenge. It's been a fun 4 weeks, thanks for hosting a great winter break up :)

Sarah N link
3/1/2015 10:57:25

This is soooo pretty! Congrats on a beautiful finish and way to go on the raindrops. I admire your patience. :)

Jenn @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge link
3/5/2015 07:35:34

Those raindrops are perfection! Kudos to you for taking the time to get them just right... all that fiddly-ness paid off in spades!


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    Sarah Nunes @BerryBarnDesigns
    Welcome! I'm Sarah. As a milmompreneur maker, wherever I go, I quilt, teach & sew! ​{Bio}  
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