Happy New Year! Some goals, and introducing the Ruler Pegboard of Shame

Happy 2024 to you!  Today I celebrate 31 wonderful years of quilting.  Onward and upward!

I have a confession about rulers—I buy them and then never use them.  Maybe I’m just a collector.  

I always have the best intentions when I buy a ruler or a template set.  I find I buy most of them when I go to a quilt show.  I see what I can do with them, excitedly buy them, encourage my companions to buy them so we can do it together, get home and hang them on the Ruler Pegboard of Shame where they stay collecting dust.  I guess it’s a good thing that I haven’t been to a quilt show in 7 years. 

In November 2016, Cindy, LeiLani and I went to the Houston quilt show.  I remember at least 2 major ruler investments.  LeiLani had not yet made it to Houston when Cindy and I bought the Robin Ruth Design mariner’s compass rulers.  We made a pact to work together on a project to help each other through any learning curves.  That didn’t go as planned… 

We also bought the La Passacaglia templates because I went ape over the quilt from Millefiore Quilts and Cindy and LeiLani and I were going to use them for our 2017 challenge.  That did not pan out.  I wanted to hand piece (not EPP) the quilt.  This is as far as I got and when I fished this out of a bag during the grand studio organization weekend I thought, “Maybe I need to give English paper piecing another try…”. I still want to make the quilt. 

Late last year when we set up Cindy’s new Bernina Q20, she handed me a set of acrylic templates that she found on a road trip that were 50% off and that I told her to buy when she called me from the store in Virginia.  They’re for a quilt designed by Tula Pink.  And then I bought the paper pieces and pattern—Tula Nova.  So I will attempt EPP on this one before I try La Passa again:

The Hubs and I spent a weekend at Katrina’s when we delivered and set up her longarm last year.  When we were done, we went antiquing and found a cute little quilt shop that was closing.  I bought a large 60 degree diamond ruler—and left it with Katrina because she wanted to use it.  I’m going to check on that ruler when we go back for a visit.  

Right after the trip to Katrina’s, I purchased a set of templates for a pattern called "Wild Sage" from Tales of Cloth.  Then I saw a cool kaleidoscope quilt in a sew-along group and purchased the ruler that, while not required, would certainly make the project run more smoothly, right? 

So I had an idea; why not take time to do a project with every ruler I have to see if they’re worthy of that spot on the RPOS or if I need to re-home some of them?  It could help me use up my stash.  As I packed up the studio in anticipation of the move to our new home I thought, “Gee, I need to take inventory of these…”, and now that’s done (and there are 63). 

Ah, dear readers, I’m making a plan.  While I initially thought this would wait until I retired, getting the studios organized with the assistance of The Girlfriends allows me to start this now!  In some instances, I may make some videos to help explain the technique (if the detail warrants it).  And while The Girlfriends were here, the Hubs made THREE new pegboard units for my studios and two of them are covered completely with rulers!

Here’s hoping it will be a fun romp through the realm of rulers (misfits and otherwise).  It won't necessarily be all-encompassing because I'm only using the rulers that I own--but by the time I do this, I'll probably have purchased more...😉

I’ve already posted my first ruler review for the Missouri Star Half-Hexagon template.  Last August, Cindy and I took a class at a LQS for another specific ruler technique and you will see that post very soon. 

Other goals in quilting include making my mind up of what I hope to complete this year—vague, right?  I want to complete at least two UFOs and two start-to-finish quilts.  The UFOs are the Sharing the Process quilt (the Stitch & B!tch Sampler) and another as yet to be determined project.  The start-to-finish quilts include a paper-piecing project, the Tattoo quilt designed by Berene Campbell of Happy Sew Lucky Designs, and the Woodland Wander quilt by Robin Ruth Design.  Both of these projects will be huge time-sucks (and so is Sharing the Process) which is why I’m limiting my goals this year.  And always, there are baby quilts.  I hope to quilt one today and get a head-start on another next weekend.  

One challenge this year is to purchase as little fabric as possible—I bought a huge amount of fabric last year and I need to use it.  I didn’t purchase any fabric in December and I’m trying to keep that rolling along.  I will purchase fabric necessary to finish a quilt, but hope I can use as much as I can from the stash; that worked well for me in 2023. 

You will see two more posts about 2023 finishes soon.  All said, I thought it was a great quilting year for me.  If you’ve read this far, thanks for humoring me and for joining me on my ride.  

In the meantime, go make!