A Year To Inspire 2019 Edition : Quilting and Crochet

A Year to Inspire - 2019

What is our project for 2019?

Annetta | Eeep! Our official post people and many years later after our last project, but here we are!

We always have several options for A Year To Inspire when it comes to what we will be doing. Usually, Stephanie and I would focus on the same exact theme, but not this year! Since we are in different countries and our lives have shifted by a lot we decided to focus on different crafts. This year I will be learning to crochet and I will be working on an Intermediate crochet blanket. As a beginner, this will be an adventurous project I am taking on. The blanket is rather large with 35 squares altogether. I believe that if you are going to learn something new then you start with the hardest because, after that, everything will be on the easier side after that. It worked for me when it came to learning to knit and I hope that it works for me again with crochet. I have always LOVED how crochet lets you add so many beautiful colours into a single project. My love for colour really comes out when I see crochet granny squares. The colour options are endless, which takes you on a beautiful journey of discovering the joys of colour.  I will be using 6 different colours for each square. This blanket was originally a CAL (crochet-a-long) and came with colour kits. I wanted to make things single and go with the already selected colours through the kits, but last minute changed my mind and picked colours that matched my colour scheme for our new home in Bratislava. The project itself is called Nuts about Squares and was designed by 11 different crochet designers. If you want to join me in my crochet adventure and crochet-a-long you can take a look at the kits available through Wool Warehouse. The yarn I will be using is from Drops and it's their Cotton Light yarn.

Like stated before, the blanket is 35 squares and there will be some weeks where I will crochet more than one square. Once all the square are all made up I will have to join them all together and crochet a rather large border around it all. As this particular project comes to a close I plan to start another crochet blanket, but I much simpler design and colour scheme. The blanket I am currently planning on crocheting is called the Painted Roses Blanket as roses are by far my favourite flower there is.

On top of our personal projects, we will also post a few images of our favourite moment throughout the week that happened as a 'something extra'. We are still working out the details of how that will look like, but I am sure it will be worth the mention. Also, please feel free to ask us any questions in the comments below. We would love to hear from you!

Stephanie | Welcome to 2019! I am really excited to start this project. I plan on doing a quilting project this year. I have wanted to sew since a young age, but never really had the opportunity to get into it. I had my first attempt at sewing a quilt for my senior project in High School. I didn't know what I was doing, and I didn't have any guidance, so it didn't turn out that great. I got a sewing machine many years ago as a gift, but was never able to get it to work correctly, I always had issues with it. After Annetta moved away, I was forced to make new friends, luckily I didn't have to look very far. My next door neighbor Amber and I finally began to talk and we hit it off right away, we are both crafty, love coffee, and have kids the same ages- it was destiny! She was really getting into quilting, which made me want to also, she discovered my sewing machine had some flaw to it, that's why it wasn't working for me!! My hubby let me buy a new machine, just days before we moved to CA, and I have been making some little blankets since being here. I am SO excited to FINALLY be able to sew. With that being said, I am a beginner, I will most likely be consulting Amber, my quilting expert friend at some point during this project.

My plan for 2019 is to make 1 different quilt block pattern each week for the year. At the end of the year, they will all be sewn together into 1 quilt top. This technique is called a Sampler Quilt. As you use many different patterns throughout the quilt. I am looking forward to using the Smitten fabric collection by Bonnie & Camille. I selected this fat quarter bundle as its the entire collection of fabric, so everything is coordinated together. There are so many different prints/colors but they all mesh together beautifully. I selected the fat quarter bundle because they are already cut down into smaller sizes- rather that buying an entire yard. Fat Quarters are quarter-yard cuts of fabric cut wide (hence the name fat). Their approximate size is 18" x 21".

Items I will be using:
Smitten Fat Quarter Bundle Fabric by Bonnie & Camille
Bella Solids Fat Quarter Bundle by Bonnie & Camille
3 Yards Solid White Fabric
Block A Day: 365 Quilting Squares for Patchwork Inspiration!
basic sewing items such as, sewing machine, scissors, needle/thread, pins, cutting mat and rotary cutter, iron.