I'm taking the Make Nine Challenge in 2022

I scored 100% on Make Nine 2021 and am looking forward to a productive Make Nine 2022! This will be my fourth year participating in this "gentle" Challenge.

My Make Nine 2022 worksheet.

What's new for 2022? 

I’m keeping several of 2021’s prompts because they worked well, but will interpret them with new projects and possibly different techniques—especially the “Something New in '22” prompt (formerly the "New to Me" prompt). Make it Again is a new prompt and I'll likely make a new garment from a "tried and true" pattern that I love. 

I’m including two UFO Finishes in 2022 as I’ve amassed too-many-to-count projects in addition to those that were started during the 2020 lockdown. 

A Wild Card keeps the door open for the unexpected, and I hope to do more hand (slow) stitching with a goal to learn a few new stitches or techniques through an online workshop or class. 

Scraps and Crumbs is a great stash buster and also lends itself to kitty quilts and charity projects. Mending and Upcycling is prevalent these days and I'm all for elevating textiles to new creations or extending the lifetime of a something well-loved. The Fast and Fun prompt (another favorite) offers instant gratification and a well-deserved feeling of accomplishment. 

My Make Nine 2022 prompts

• UFO finish x 2 
• Wild Card 
• Fast and Fun
• Something New in '22—a new-to-me pattern, technique, supply or tool
• Mend / Upcycle
• Slow Stitching 
• Scraps and Crumbs 
• Make it Again 

Worksheets from my three previous years are at Make Nine 2021, Make Nine 2020 and Make Nine 2019.

Join the Make Nine Challenge

Make Nine Challenge

If you'd like to join me in Make Nine for 2022, here are some tips and pointers and a link to the Make Nine grid from Rochelle, the creator of this Challenge. You can join any time and it's meant to be a "gentle" Challenge... so set yourself up for success—which is why I've been using "prompts" the last two years rather than identifying specific projects. I learned this after reviewing my results from participation in 2019.

I’ll also be using a Stitching Success Tracker in 2022. I color-code activities and choose a contrast color for finishes—including Make Nine finishes. My tracker is an ideal motivator and it's interesting to see activities over the course of a year.

Wishing us all a creative and fulfilling new year!

2021 Stitching Success Tracker and My Year in Review

2021 has come to an end and my Stitching Success Tracker was 100% colored in—meaning I did some kind of stitching, patchwork, quilting or related fiber art each and every day in 2021. Some days could be as little as a few embroidery stitches on a sampler or basting one 3/4" hexagon to the free-motion quilting marathon for this year's guild Challenge entry. 

December 31, 2021: Stitching Success Tracker.

I'm feeling good about the projects that were completed this year—some new, some unexpected and a few that were languishing in the UFO pile for quite some time (4 decades for one of them). The photo montages below tell about my year in fabrics and stitching.

Online Challenges keep me motivated

Motivation throughout the year was provided by several online Challenges I participated in. The 100 Day Project (I did two different practices), September Textile Love, 100 Days 100 Blocks, the Dropcloth Picnic Sampler stitch-along, Make Nine 2021 and a Quilting Success Bingo game issued by my local quilt guild.

Online Challenges: The 100 Day Project, Picnic Sampler stitch along, 100 Days 100 Blocks,
September Textile Love and Quilting Bingo

One of the successes from the September Textile Love Challenge was documenting a garment I'd made in 2015. The prompt was "repurpose" and my Tablecloth Jacket was the epitome of upcycling and repurposing. I'm glad to have this special garment documented.

Useful items for family, friends and community

The practical side of me likes to make things that someone not only appreciates, but uses. I made several sets of pillowcases for family and friends, charity quilts and kitty quilts for our pack of tuxedo kitties.

Pillow cases and charity quilts.

Shop samples serve as inspiration to others

For my job as a fabric strategist and sales representative, I support my clients by providing ideas, projects and patterns that can be made with the fabrics I rep. Surprisingly, I made six quilts showcasing one of my favorite fabric lines, M&S Textiles Australia. 

Quilts and projects made with fabrics from M&S Textiles Australia.

I collaborated with a few longarm quilters to get some of these finishind and they are traveling around to quilt shops and independent sewing centers helping to inspire quilters, sewers and makers.

My Guild Challenge entry

A two-year project that I'm quite proud of is my entry for the 2020-21 Choo Choo Quilters Guild Challenge. The turn-out for the Challenge was exceptional and my quilt, "Alone Together," got the first place ribbon. One of the principles of a guild Challenge is to push oneself and try new things. I did and was very pleased with the results. My experiments and discoveries are documented here.

"Alone Together"
My entry in the 2020-21 Choo Choo Quilters Guild Challenge.

I was also on the hosting committee for the Challenge and made the four award ribbons for the winning entries.

Guild Challenge ribbons.

Guild Challenge ribbons (backs).

Garments

It must have been the year for my Australia fabrics because two of my makes—my Kangaroo Nine Lives top and my new Berwick St. tunic—were made from this fabric line (top photos).

Garment highlights from 2021.

The bottom two garments were both made during a Shakerag workshop. The Porcupine shirt was shibori dyed this year (a Make Nine project) and the Tablecloth Jacket was made in 2015 (a response to one of the prompts of the September Textile Love challenge this year).

A UFO quilt was finished!

My final Make Nine finish for the year was a UFO [unfinishing object] string quilt than spanned two centuries. It was happily gifted for Christmas.

"All Together Now" completed December 2021.

Small projects are big successes

Small projects are very satisfying to me. The time investment can be less or more than a bigger project. You never know. Three of these were made in response to the Make Nine challenge, the zipper pouch was a gift for a friend who retired, and the exposed spine artist book was from a workshop I took this year with Doug Baulos. The fabric twine was a new technique I learned and it was rewarding to find a use for skinny fabric scraps and trimmings.

Top row: needle book, fabric twine, crochet cat bed.
Bottom row: boro and rag drawstring bag, artist book, zipper pouch.

All and all, I think 2021 was a productive and well-documented year.

Good night, and Happy New Year.

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For those that asked about the Stitching Success Tracker and where to get this cool, creative project management tool, here is my original blog post and where I found this calendar.

Make Nine 2021 photo recap

One never knows what a year will bring. After taking the Make Nine Challenge for three years, it's interesting to see where the focus was each year and what got completed. My Make Nine 2021 had a more diverse mix than my 2020 projects with five quilts, only two garments, pillow cases, a yarn project, a needle book and a boro stitched bag. (In comparison, 2020 had 5 wearables; 2019 had 10 wearables.) Here is a photo summary of 2021.

Completed projects for Make Nine 2021.
Top row: Crumbs kitty quilt; Upcycled and repurposed linen top; Easy & Fun pillowcases.
Middle: Crochet Yarn cat bed; Mindful stitching drawstring bag; tried a New sewing pattern.
Bottom: Charity quilts; Wild Card needle book; UFO quilt.

Make Nine 2021 worksheet

This year, I remembered to include completion dates on the worksheet. In reviewing the completion dates, I think the year shows to be balanced: January, March, April, June, July, August, October, December. I also realize that the more complex projects will span several months. A diversity of easy/quick makes and more involved projects offers a nice variety of tasks available at any given time.

Here is the worksheet of prompts that corresponds to the 2021 Make Nine photos (above). 

Make Nine 2021 completed worksheet.

Stories and processes

The details and the processes for my Make Nine 2021 projects can be found in these blog posts:

• Crumbs: The year started off with a kitty quilt made with fabric crumbs and patchwork bits. (completed January 9)
• Upcycle/Repurpose/Mend: my upcycled porcupine shibori linen shirt was dyed in a Shakerag workshop with Doug Bolous. It was a serendipitous project. (completed June 20)
• Fast and Easy: pillowcases were made for the camper using two fabric panels and a glow-in-the-dark pillow cuff. (completed March 14)
• Yarn: I crocheted a cat bed from leftover yarns. Unfortunately, the kitties didn't care for it and don't use it. (completed October 17)
• Mindfulness: Another serendipitous project from the Doug Bolous workshop was a reliquary or rag assignment. An overdyed rag was boro stitched and transformed into a drawstring bag. (completed July 7)
• New to Me: I made the Berwick St. Tunic with a lovely red fabric print from M&S Textiles Australia. This has become a favorite shirt of mine. (completed April 14)
• Charity: I finished three cuddle quilts to support my guild's community service project. (completed March 27 and August 15)
• Wild Card: EPP hexagons made during 2020 lockdown were made into a new needle book. I use the book quite often now that I am enjoying handwork. It takes up little space in the overnight bag. (completed June 22)
• UFO Finish: The year-end project was a scrappy string quilt that spanned two centuries. Finished at last! (completed December 19)

For comparison, my 2020 Make Nine accomplishments included 4 garments, a knit shawl, pillow cases, a knit dish towel, a kantha zipper pouch and 12 charity kitty quilts. In 2019, I completed the Challenge (with substitutions) and made 10 wearables, a zipper pouch and pillowcases. 

The 2020 recap is in this post. The 2019 recap is at the bottom of this post.

Planning for next year

I do intend to participate in Make Nine again next year.

• Again I'll list "general prompts" on my worksheet rather than identifying specific projects. This allows for flexibility as unexpected projects present themselves through the year. 
• My sketchbook has a loose Wish List of things that could fulfill a few of the prompts. I'll add notes as ideas arise. 
• Dating each project's completion is a good documentation practice I plan to continue.

Make Nine 2021 is a wrap! I'm looking forward to a creative and fruitful new Make Nine in 2022.

Filling the Bingo card with a Bear Paw block variation

One of the last open squares on my quilt guild Quilting Bingo card was, “Try a new project or technique from a quilting book.” I'm usually winging it—sans instructions—when making quilt blocks, but thought I'd flip through the pages of a Missouri Star Block magazine to see what it had to offer. 

Quilting Bingo card and Block magazine, Vol.7, Issue 6, 2020.

One of the first articles was an assembly variation of the classic Bear Paw block. Let's try it!

Bear Paw article in the Block magazine.

Methods for creating the sawtooth edge

As seen in the photo, the Bear Paw block has a sawtooth edge. Following the instructions in the article, I cut fabric for 4 blocks. The batiks are for the Bear Paw (foreground) and light fabrics are for the background. The block finishes at 6" (6.5" unfinished).

Cutting units for the Bear Paw block.

Instead of making four HST [half square triangle] units for the "claws" of the paw, the Block magazine assembly variation uses the "snowball" or "flippy corner" technique for making the sawtooth edge. Here is the Missouri Star Bear Paw video with Jenny Doan. For comparison, here is the traditional block assembly using HST units with Eleanor Burns from Quilt in a Day.

In the Missouri Star video, Jenny also offers an efficient, assembly line sewing process for making multiples of this block. 

Using the snowball corner technique to achieve a sawtooth edge.

The Jenny Doan method with the snowball corner technique is quite simple and eliminates the fussier patchwork assembly process of piecing HST units side by side (for which I usually use pins so I don't knock off any points). There seems to be fewer seams and less fabric bulk at seam intersections (or is this my imagination??). However, there is more fabric waste with the snowball corner method because of the extra fabric layers that are trimmed away. 

Of course, you can always follow quilting legend, Mary Ellen Hopkins' suggestion and just leave these extra layers in... especially if you're not going to hand quilt the piece.

Four Bear Paw blocks with extra half square triangles.

I trim away the extra fabric layers and just add the extra HSTs to my pile of patchwork crumbs... for use in future projects.

A new look at a classic quilt block

So, this was a new look at a classic quilt block! What do you think? I like it... and as I take the time to compose this post and upload my photos, it's growing on me even more.

I learned a new patchwork method which could actually be faster than the traditional method (if you don't take time to sew the trimmed triangles), and it was easy and fun. 

Four Bear Paw blocks using the snowball corners technique.

This quilting dog learned a new trick!

And, I'm marking this square on the Bingo card.