12

Well, well, well.  Neither 6 nor 12 have been pulled so far this year, so this is a new box to delve into.  What do we have?

Box 6

6a         Bird Crewel – A piece of needlepoint needing some finishing.  Status:  In pieces.

6b         Beau’s – I swapped with Nancy , Near Philadelphia for the Miss Mellie quilt and Ashley’s quilt.  It only makes sense that I bring everything together for a huge quilt called Beau’s quilt.  Status:  Most blocks completed.

6c         Dog Bandannas – I have many bandannas from my dog and a friend’s.  Status:  In pieces.

6d         Black & White BOM – The BOM won’t finish until July, but when it’s done it will be finished in blue and hopefully go to DD.  Status:  Some blocks completed.

The obvious way to go is 6a the Bird Crewel.  I may just do that. 

6b is a ginormous project, so I hope to make some progress on it this month.  I want to lay everything out and see if I can get a pleasing design.  By rights, there are no more blocks to do; we’re down to making the top and quilting the danged thing.  Let’s aim to get the top figured out by June 16 so that I can buy backing when I go to get the last BOM blocks for 6d.

6c would be fun to get done, so let’s see how that one comes together when I take it out.  While I may not finish it this month, this may be one that just sort of stays out and it gets moved forward bit by bit.  No crime in that.

6d is well-timed.  June is the last pick-up of blocks, so I am good to go.  I have been sashing the blocks for finishing as I have been doing BOM blocks.  In April, I sashed months 1 through 4, and in May I did months 5 through 8.  This month, I think the goal will be to finish block 12 and get months 9 through 12 sashed.  Also Renee has to pick her room color by then, so then I can go any buy backing, border fabrics and the like.  She says that she most likely wants both colors in her room.  She picked a lovely blue and a lovely yellow and so she will get a quilt in black, white and the room color.  These 2 quilts need to be done by the time school starts back up, so while they will not finish in June, they have to finish soon.

A few updates on what is out and lying around.

1b         Christmas 2 BOM – This one is out and half the blocks have had their coping borders added.  I really want to just get the top done.  But I will not put it away; I will figure out a back and get it sandwiched and quilted and all of that.  Goal is done by my birthday!

1d         Red Strings – This project has evolved over time.  The 2 packages of die-cut hearts do not go together at all.  I am going through and making a quilt now for my Relay For Life team, so something will be done by June 22! 

2b         Huge Fence Rail – There’s a huge tuck in the front of the quilt (it was quilted backing-side up) and so I am ripping a lot to smooth that out.  Slowly but surely.  My goal is by the end of the summer.  Ripping is a fine car trip project.

2d         Yellow LCRR – This one is in progress.  I am quilting each block and then I will join them, using techniques from Marti Mitchell’s book.  Aiming for July.

4d         St. Pat’s LCRR – The top is done and I am dragging my feet on the pieced back.  And then I will drag my feet with sandwiching.  Goal is July.  This one is my April finish.

5b         Australia FQs – Sitting in the car waiting to have the binding hand-stitched down.  Will be done this weekend I hope!

Post script - Now that I have seen the quilts in the new Bonnie Hunter book, I'm so glad I never used the 33 hearts package!!! I have a new idea!

Suspense

I am leaving you all in suspense.  I did indeed finish the 16 string blocks quilt.  The binding was completed while driving 3 hours (each way) to a family event.

I need to take a pic of it and submit it to the UFO challenge to move down the list.  I'm #33 right now.  It's also my May finish.

I have lots of thoughts swirling around my mind right now.  I need to attend a sprinkle soon.  That's a baby shower for the second baby.  So I need to figure that out too.  Whee.

Friday progress

Hey remember that quilt I quilted last Friday?  Well, hey, guess what?  The binding is now attached and now it's ready for the handwork.  

Progress.  Yay!

I've also cut half of the strips needed for the Weed Whacker quilt.  I'm alternating tasks so I can keep working on stuff.  The Weed Whacker is the reward.

I of course have triple-planned the weekend with what I want to get done, but whatever gets done will still be progress.

Garden Progress and a BOM

Today I left work a bit on the early side.  Tomorrow I plan on leaving at noon.  Anyway, back to today.

I got home and relaxed, etc.  At 5 I decided to go make up my Buck a Block BOM blocks.  You get 2 blocks (one positive, one negative) per kit and I buy 2 kits per month.  So I had 4 blocks to make.  I got that done about 6.15 and I also realized I had NO leaders or enders ready and I am now officially dependent on them.  I swore I would never....never mind.

So I went upstairs and started dinner.  I decided at 7 that I would go out and garden and told everyone.  I did go out at 7.  The sun was blocked and the wind was really blowing, but it was not as hot as it could have been.  Renee and I worked on weeding while Ted worked on edging.  After about 15 minutes Renee bailed on us.  I continued to weed out the square foot bed.  The tomatoes were transplanted (not all of my transplants from the week before made it), and the weeds are gone.  I added plant food to the bed and Ted dumped in a 2 cubic foot bag of garden soil in there.  I raked it all up, leveled it out and called it a day.

So right now we have the tomato bed on the south side of the deck, 2 window boxes off the south deck railing which hold lettuce, 1 pot of mesclun lettuce, 1 pot of lemon verbena and basil, 1 pot of thyme and basil, 1 pot of spearmint, and a square foot bed ready to go.

So this weekend, I will see if there are any onion sets at Home Depot and plant my bell peppers and kale and sow some seeds.

I also decided on a quilty note (since this is a retreat weekend) that I am going to allow myself a mini-challenge of starting a new quilt while I work on my UFOs, which are all in a low point for me.  I will start the Weed Whacker quilt by Bonnie Hunter.  This is one of my pay it forward 2012 quilts and I have already set aside the fabrics.  So I guess my MAYDAY call is for my mojo.

Weekend Update

While I did a lot of gardening last week, the weekend proved a bit more balanced.

On Friday night, I got the purple strings quilted.  This was a huge achievement. 

Saturday was a run to the LQS and a break to go see the Avengers movie, which was a lot of campy fun.  I also iworked on months 5 – 8 on the BOM blocks, finishing them all with sashing.  I also dud 5 more yellow LCRR blocks, which take a long time to prep.  Man, a long time.

Anyway, Sunday was my GS meeting, so a lot of time went into that prep.  After we got home, we were under a thunderstorm warning so we went and hid out the in basement.  I went ahead and finished up the BOM blocks, trimmed the Austr quilt, prepped its binding and even attached it.  Wow!  And then I was super-tired and I went to bed.

On the gardening front, the tomato bed looks pretty pathetic.  I have no idea if anything will survive the transplanting.  After last night’s rain, we are in for a week of hot sun, which is arriving according to the farmers a month early.  So now it’s time to water twice a day.  I also still haven’t transplanted the last 3 things, but hopefully this week.

My goals by EOB Thursday:

Trim, prep and attach purple strings binding

BOM blocks

Some yellow LCRR blocks

And now I"m #35 on the list. Slow down, people!

UFO 2c - 16 string blocks

I took those 16 blocks, sliced them in half, put dark purple as the other half, made some HUGE HSTs with them and set 30 of them 5 x 6 for the quilt.  Took at last block and cut the triangles in half again and made those the corners of the borders, which were more of the purple fabric.

Then I sandwiched it and it sat in my living room for 2 weeks.

Tonight I quilted it.  One set of quilting on the diagonal.  Another for the vertical lines and lastly for the horizontal lines.  It took 2 hours and killed 2 spools of purple thread.  (I buy garage sale thread and use it up this way.)

I'm so excited!

Gardening

A week has elapsed. And what a week.


Sunday we went to the Sox game and of course Renee wiped out. Never a dull moment.

Monday I stayed home for the day and got 2 flower boxes planted with lettuce, 2 large pots planted with herbs and one small pot freshened up, as its contents were spearmint and it regenerated over the winter. I also cleaned up the back deck a bit and did some weeding in the front yard. I made lemonade on this day off, so to speak.

Tuesday, I went to work and then stayed and worked overtime until the migraine took me. I ate chocolate and within 5 minutes I was overcome. Grrr…..

Wednesday, I went to work and then left an hour early to head to a wake. The prior two days were spend convincing my father to go to the wake and coordinating getting him there.

Thursday, I went to work, had lunch with Ted for our 16th (!) anniversary, came home and we promptly gardened. Renee and I weeded out a bit of the square foot garden, and then we set our sights on the tomato bed. That involved removing every plant and weed, adding 2 cubic feet of dirt and food, mixing it all together and replanting the good stuff. We had dumped a lot of tomatoes into this bed last fall and we have about 18 tomato plants, some larger than others. We’ll see what made it through the process. Ted worked on the back bed, which involved figuring out where the retaining wall stones go and getting them level, making it straight, etc. He made great headway, using the leftover stones from the tomato bed. We were out there about an hour. While I finished planting everyone back in the bed, Ted and Renee cleaned up and then he watered everything while I got cleaned up. We rushed to the local ice cream shop for treats to celebrate. We had never been there and it was very good. It is 20 minutes away from our home. There are basically 2 local ice cream stands and we’ve tried the other one and I was unimpressed. I’ve tried like 3 times. This one was a homerun right from the start. Reminds me of Stop ‘n Chat, a memory of my young adulthood.

Today I am once again at work, but it is Friday! Yay!

No I didn’t sew at all, but once the garden is in and everything our there is tidy for the year, it goes into maintenance mode and then I can start sewing again. Tomorrow holds promise, as does Sunday.

So, my goals:

Attach binding to Australia quilt
Quilt all 20 yellow LCRR blocks
Quilt at least half of the purple strings blocks quilt
BOM stuff
Still aiming to have binding attached to 5 quilts by the end of Memorial Day weekend. 3 are doable and the last two may or may not make it.

Grrrr

Yesterday, while Ted and I were taking Grandma Mary to the Sox game, Renee wiped out on her scooter while at Grandma Karen's house.  Karen called us while we were driving back to her house.  


How Renee got injured is immaterial; once the accident happened, everything fell into place and all went fine.  My SIL Kate checked Renee over and determined there were no broken bones.  However, Renee was scraped up like nobody's business.  She is a hot mess.


So we came home and made it through the night.  I cleaned and dressed the wounds as best I could, offered her Advil and slept with my door open just in case she hollered.  After she was tucked in, Ted and I decided to take her to the doctor today.


So I called this morning and to get Renee's actual pediatrician, it would be 11.45.  Fine I said and Ted went off to work.  Renee and I made it to the doctor's, and after waiting a half-hour in the little room, the doctor comes in and basically infers to me that this is a waste of her time.  My child is using a cane, she is limping so badly!  That did get diagnosed as a groin pull.  I had to ask for the note out of gym.  I mean, really.


Clearly this woman has never given birth, because if you have ever given birth, you have great respect for the groin injury!!!  As for all the scrapes and bruises, well, no antibiotic was needed, but I didn't clean them well enough.  Huh?  Kate cleaned them, then I cleaned them.  We could only handle the horrible screams so much.  


Anyway, my rant is that I have health insurance for a reason - to use it.  This doctor doesn't seem to grasp this nor that I am a bereaved parent and thus take my child's injuries more to heart than others. Makes me crazy.  What does she care that this is trivial?  I don't ride a bike and never have and thus have never had this type of injury.  I didn't go to the ER and misuse that system.  I didn't use Urgent Care, as they say to come into the doctor if at all possible.  


I felt it was a fine use of my health insurance.

Changing Gears

I have realized a few things.

I am hosting Christmas this year for at least one gathering.  I split this duty with one of my SILs and this year is my turn.  Then my kid noted that for her entire life, she has travelled on Thanksgiving and she for once would like everyone here.  So back up the entertaining truck by about a month.  (Next up, convincing everyone to come here – ha ha ha.)

Then add in the idea that we moved here 5 years ago this spring.  Grad school is done, elementary school will be done in less than 2 weeks.

And lastly, my kid is off to camp for 7 weeks of the summer.  Like drop off on Sunday-see you on Friday camp.  Like she’s gone during the evenings camp.

All of this has brought me to the thought that it is time for a deep clean.  We never painted or anything when we moved in.  It was freshly painted and carpeted at the time, and so we moved in.  One smart thing we did was put a lot in the garage and it had to earn its way into the house.  But now it is time for a deep clean of everything.  The seasons of life move on and we have a change in our season.  I’m home more and Renee is entering junior high.  The need for play dishes and My Little Ponies and all of that is diminishing.  She loves to create art, lots and lots of art.  Her expressive ways have changed.  It’s time for a junior high room, with bunk beds and posters and creative space.  She is nearly my height, so all of the 42” bookcases can be replaced with regular 6 foot ones (all bedrooms have those loft/cathedral ceilings).  She has started a musical instrument and we need a music space.

You get the idea.

So I have made a schedule of what to clean and when.  It’s all baby steps.  It has to be.  There are also several rooms underway at once in different stages, as I get bored and lose hope easily enough.  But by the time school starts, 3 of our 4 bathrooms will be done (only ours will be left), all 3 bedrooms will be decluttered, 2 of them will be redecorated, with painting if required, etc.  It will be easier with Renee out of the way.  For the record, she has been informed of this, as she will need to live in the guest room while I do her room. 

I’m excited for how it will look when it is done.  I’m also excited about how I will feel when it is done.  Sadly, there are about the same amount of living spaces in the house to do once the ones I’ve targeted are done.  Guess how my fall will be spent? 

So with that I am revising my UFO goal to 12 for the year.  I have 3 done and I missed April.  I have 5 underway right now and I am bound and determined to finish those 5.  I just cannot get it all done, and I am OK with that, as long as some of my goals get done.  A clean house is highly underrated, but definitely a necessity.

So the updates will be about both things now.  I’m so excited for both.

Oh, and I attempt to garden too.  I’m a nut.

PS I've decided I'm going to quilt one of the 5 UFOs underway in sections and join them, plus I got another sandwiched today.

Working Through It

I realized that part of my problem was I had too many things going on sewing-wise.  So I put everything away, took out the box #2 and took out those UFOs.  


The Huge Fence Rails was quilted and now I need to frog 25% of it due to a pucker on the front.  I shall persevere on this one.


The yellow LCRR needs to be put together and have a back made.  Then it's on to sandwiching, quilting and binding. 


The 16 string blocks were my adventure last night.  I slit them in half, added purple triangles to each one, and set them in rows of 5, with 6 rows.  When I went to bed last night, I had 2 sides of the borders on.  


I did keep one UFO out and that was my April item, the big St. Pat's LCRR.  Once the box number for May was announced, and there was another LCRR in there, I decided if I had to sandwich, etc one of them, I might as well get two done.  


I'm trying to balance my housekeeping goals and my quilting goals, plus of course I do work.  So I'm going week by week.  

April month end

April has come to a close and no, I did not finish a UFO.  Boo.  


Judy has pulled the UFO number for May and it is #2.   I have 3 things left in that box and by rights, I should do all 3.  Yep, that's not going to happen, but one of those 3 is underway.  So there is hope.

In Which Life Interferes....

My life, namely my work life for which I get paid, is now rearing its ugly head.  That's fine; I've had stretches in my life like this before.  However, this time work will not get the better of me.  


I'm now planning in 2 to 3 week stretches.  I wrote the list below at the beginning of last week and I'm still working off of it:

So by May 13^th….

Australia quilt done done

24 Chiclets blocks done done

1 column of old Navy shirts done

St. Pat’s quilt done done

Mini St. Pat’s done done

BOMs up to date

Months 1-4 of B&W BOM – blocks sashed

BRB – progress

Xmas BOM – top done without borders

So yeah, it's steps and pieces.  I will not have an April finish in April, but I will persevere.  In prior times like this, I gave everything to work at the great expense of many things, including my hobbies.  Not this time.  I will work and do what they ask, but I will make sure the hobbies get some time too.

So the goal for this weekend, besides finishing many steps for things for work, are:

Australia quilt - trim and attach binding

St. Pat's backing done

BOMs up to date

Months 1-4 of BOM sashed

2 dozen BRB blocks

So off I go.  I'm going to work on the BOM sashing project and then one half-hour of BRB work.  Then I will come back upstairs and work on regular work.  I shall alternate in this fashion for both today and tomorrow.  I fought having work access at home, but since I succumbed, I might as well do the best I can with it.

Inspiration

OMG, I have just had a huge burst of inspiration! I have as part of my monthly homework the idea of cutting out and ironing interfacing on the backs of a decade's worth of $5 flag shirts from Old Navy. I buy a couple of shirts each year at Memorial Day and wear them through Patriot Day. Face it, the red, white and blue never got out of style or season.

Anyway, I have 22 shirts. I have been trying to cut and prep them but it's dull and my cutting mat is all but dead. I did buy a new mat yesterday, as they were on sale. So there's one problem solved. I also bought 3 yards of a navy print with stars on it. I like stars for this quilt; I don't know why. 

Anyway, as I was showering this morning, it came to me. I will make 5 columns. Each one will be 12 inches wide and 75 inches long. They will be QAYG. The odd columns will contain 4 shirts each and the even columns will have 5 shirts each. To achieve the length, star blocks will by used. The joining strips will be red. Once the center is done, then the 4 borders will be added as QAYG in a log cabin attachment fashion.

So now I will start to do one column per month. I must have 2 of each color short to audition for each column, which means I pretty much have to keep up on the shirts. As to the fabric I just bought, I will use it as the backing of the column and the framing fabric for each t-shirt. I do not know if I will have enough to make it a border as well. I should, now that I think about it.

Tax Day!

Although I am an accountant by education, today is not a big day for me. Years ago, one of our governors (who of course is in prison, because I live in IL) took away my ability to do taxes for others and I could not have been happier.

So instead of filing extensions and seeing clients all day, I had a Girl Scout meeting. In case you didn't know, I am a troop leader for a bunch of 5th grade girls who are frankly just wonderful. It was a great use of a Sunday.

Last night, I sewed up a storm. I got 2 dozen BRB blocks done, bringing my total to 4 dozen. I need 12 dozen. I also quilted on the Huge Fence Rail and got really far.

Tonight I am going to quilt. I hope to finish the quilting on the Huge Fence Rail and then to layout and maybe assemble either the top or the bottom of the St. Pat's LCRR. I'm going with a zig zag / streak of lightning setting.

This next week does not look promising for quilting. Each night is packed, whether I like it or not. Monday is Girl Scouts, Tuesday is overtime, Wednesday is a dinner, Thursday is a dinner, Friday is the local circus (ISU has the nation's oldest collegiate circus). So Saturday and Sunday are prime quilting days. I hope by the end of next weekend, I have the St. Pat's quilt all quilted.

Then it would be make and attach bindings to everything.

It's great to get some quilting done. This is where so many projects stall out.

Lack of Productivity

It was, overall, not a very productive weekend. Some weekends are like this.

My original goal was not to leave home until Monday morning. Then I had to do the BOM thing. Then the child needed shoes for picture day this week. And then we were invited over for Easter. And thus my plan to not leave home for 3 glorious days was shot.

While that was annoying, the migraine was the worst. On Friday, it had me in bed at 5.30. On Saturday, I made it as far as about 9.00. On Sunday, it flirted with me, but never stayed. The barometer went nuts, going from 80 degrees to a hard freeze one night. That much fluctuation does some serious damage. I just cannot keep up.

I tried to quilt. I did finish the quilting on the Australia quilt. This week, the goal is to bind the thing. I did more quilting on the Huge Fence Rail. I made progress on BRB blocks and Chiclets blocks. I tried. I really did.

I am now entering a phase of mandatory overtime, coupled with an extremely busy life outside of work. I have no idea how I am going to fit quilting in, but I will because I must. So the goal for the month has changed to try to move each quilt one step farther each week.

1. Australia quilt – bound and done.
2. Huge Fence Rail – quilted.
3. St. Pat’s – sandwiched.
4. BRB – continue on blocks.
5. Chiclets – finish 12.
6. Shirts – cut 4.

That’s as much as I can focus on between now and next Monday.

The most important of these is LOVE

Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.

He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself...

While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.

The above piece I got off the internet. Here are my thoughts added:

It has been 2000 years since Jesus walked this earth. His actions, words, parables and lessons are as valued as ever. Regardless of your personal faith or creed, you cannot deny that this man spoke great, profound things. If we believe in the words and teachings of more modern-day leaders, such as Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King or Gandhi, we should remember to take stock in Jesus' words and teachings as well. The most important of all of these is LOVE.

Traditions

Traditions. Every family has them. For us, it's watching The 10 Commandments. And tonight is the night. My 11 year old, who actually started this tradition, is threatening to boycott, but I'm not sure if I will let her.

Anyway, the point is, traditions are good and don't need to be formal.

On to quilty content. Yesterday, I took the day off and I was moving along just fine until the migraine hit with a vengeance at 5.30. I did finish quilting the Australia quilt. I made some more BRB blocks, but not enough. I finished prepping some QAYG foundations. I finished the last of the required Chiclets centers.

And I filed my taxes online. So glamorous I know.

So today I will be making easy fun food to watch during the movie, maybe doing a bit in our mini garden, making a FART to the quilt shop and of course more quilting. I do want to quilt on the Huge Fence Rail today. I also will make more BRB blocks. I think during the movie itself I will take the ST. Pat's blocks out, make the top, make the back and sandwich the whole thing. That's a lot of work, but the movie is 5 hours long.

April is #10

3 posts in one day - yes, I know!

Well, April is #10 according to Judy, so into the #4 box we go. And what do we have?

Box 4

4a Diamond Shapes – Die-cut diamonds and no focus. Status: In pieces.
4b Valentines – Lots of nickel charm packs in this one. Status: Most blocks completed.
4c Purse Pack – A package of fun and different fabrics that I bought. Status: In pieces.
4d St. Pat’s LCRR – Making this one for the month of March of course. Status: Blocks completed.

What delicious fun!

My April goals are as follows. I have 2 days off this month, and I have stuff going on for each of those days, but I should be able to get some sewing time in as well.

4d St. Pat’s. Goal for this week would be to get the top done and get the thing sandwiched for quilting
4c Purse Pack. Just fun. I’ll see what I need to achieve the mission.
2b Huge Fence Rail. Quilting in progress.
5b Australia quilt. Quilting in progress.

This would give me 4 finishes and that would be huge.

Other items:

1b Xmas BOM. Into a flimsy.
4b Valentines. Into a flimsy.
Mary’s BRB. Done.
All t-shirts done.
32 QAYG blocks done (have more than 24 I believe).
All caught up on Chiclets.
26 Jeanne’s Diamonds. Into a flimsy.

This is a crazy amount of things, but I am already progressing down the path. I’m off on Friday, so the goal by the end of Easter weekend is to have the BRB and the St. Pat’s quilt both sandwiched. Then it’s a month of quilting.

Q1 in Review

It’s the end of the first quarter of the year and I’ve taken some time to look over what I’ve done and what I hope to get done for the year. I’ve made some modifications.

1. I wanted to make 8 QAYG blocks for all 12 months and make 2 donation string quilts from them. I will actually stop after 48 blocks are made and make only 1 strings quilt. This is in part because I’ve reached my string tolerance for the year, in part because I want to be successful and in part because I need to make string blocks for other things. I will set the goal of June to finish the blocks and then July to complete the quilt.

2. I have not stayed current with t-shirts, but that’s OK. I have 22 shirts total and 6 are done. I will set the goal of June to finish the shirts, which involves cutting out the flag part of the shirt, ironing it to interfacing and then cutting the remainder of the shirt into 1 inch strips. For the back half of the year I hope to finish the shirts into blocks and have a top done.

3. Sadly, I cannot cut myself any slack on the Chiclets blocks. I need to make 12 per month because I really need 144 blocks. 108 for bed quilt and 36 for a shower curtain. My window already has Chiclet curtains on it and frankly I love them. I wasn’t so sure and necessity was the mother of invention in that case, but I’ve decided to go for it.

4. I have added the 6 pay it forward quilts to my list and I will aim to get one done each even numbered month. I am behind already, having missed February, but I will catch up. It is nice to work on new things while finishing stuff up.

5. As of the end of Q1, I should have had 7 UFOs done and I have 3. By the end of Q2, I should have 13 done and I hope to be at that point by then. I use the number of paychecks I have received as my counter.

I am very encouraged about my progress. Things are getting done and that is amazing. Right now I have 2 quilts sandwiched and being quilted a little bit every few days. I have 2 items in my sights to be completed from the April challenge box. I hope to also finish one of the pay it forward quilts in April. I feel like there is some true momentum going on.

Most importantly, I’ve learned to say no. I have an occasion coming up where a quilt would be a lovely gift. But I have other gifting options and to drop my current plan and work on that quilt, which would require me purchasing everything, would frankly ruin my momentum. I don’t mind deadlines; that’s why I do the UFO challenges that I do, but this one would not be beneficial. So I am buying a gift instead.

March Report

I completed 3 items in March. 1 was the UFO for the month, and that’s the Chiclets table runner. It will hang on my cube wall, after I’m done hanging up the red table runner also pictured below. The red mat stays home.

The red stuff was started and completed in March. I’ve decided I can start new stuff but I must finish timely. So far so good.

I used 1.69 yards in March. 0.90 on the UFO and 0.79 on the red items.

Q1 Last Week Push

Not too much is going to go on for this last week of March. I finished the mandatory UFO yesterday, so that takes some of the pressure off.

My goals for the week are:

Finish all fence rail blocks. I’m half way done.
Finish t-shirt stuff. I need to cut 2 and then iron 6.
Work on Chiclets blocks.
Knit stuff.
Crochet stuff.

I’ve also been doing some blue HSTs as leaders-enders for a BRB I am doing as a pay it forward initiative. Yes, 6 more projects this year. But hey, it’s all good.

3 Finishes

I have 3 small finishes to report. The handsewing was done this weekend. Pictures forthcoming. One of them was my declared March UFO - amen.

On other fronts, I am all caught up for the quarter with QAYG blocks. I also did some fence rail blocks for that UFO.

I still haven't sandwiched the Australian quilt and at the rate I am going, it may not be until I also have the fence rail quilt ready to sandwich that I bother. I may even wait for Saturday and Judy's reveal of the April number. Maybe that month's UFO will be ready to sandwich as well and I can just do the dreaded task on everything all at once.

Nothing New

Nothing new. I’ve really been a bum!

Saturday is National Quilting Day and I hope to get a lot accomplished. I need to run to the LQS for a BOM and my child has 2 different events, but somehow, some way, I will sew.

Quick Update

The Girl Scouts turn 100 tomorrow. AS a leader and an adult volunteer in the service area, I've been going non-stop for a few weeks. Today was a small break.

I was able to cut up a t-shirt and make my BOM block. That may not seem like much, but I did these things slowly and leisurely, with enjoyment of the process. It was heavenly.

And in an hour I am meeting up with other GS adults and we will be preparing for the big 100 tomorrow. Maybe tonight I can get in a few more stitches.

Oh, I have been knitting a bit as well.

More Planning

OK, yeah, not much happened this weekend on the sewing front. Such is life. I did make it out to the LQS to get my next BOM block and I bought some batik FQs for a project. And I did a bit of knitting.

Anyway, I did open up box # 2 to take a look in there. 2a Chiclets table runner is pretty easy. One piece of a block on the edge needs to be replaced and then the blocks need to be assembled. Then sandwich, quilt and bind. All very straightforward. I hope to get this ready to the hand binding stage by St. Pat’s.

I also looked at 2b Huge Fence Rail, and there are not as many blocks in there as I had hoped. So I will have to make more, with different fabrics and hope everything plays nice. There are red rails, green rails and purple rails. I hope to get the blocks completed for a color each week. I don’t know what color I’ll start with, but I hope to get 16 of one color done by next Monday the 12th.

I still haven’t sandwiched 11b. I hope to get that done during the week this week. Then I want it to the hand binding stage by St. Pat’s.

What else can I do this week? I hope to cut up 2 more Old Navy shirts. I hope to make more QAYG foundations so that they are ready to sew. I hope to do the BOM block I just picked up. And I hope to knit 15 minute each night. The yarn stash isn’t too bad – let’s keep it that way.

2012 UFOs - March is #8 - Plan of Attack

Oh, oh, oh, Judy released the number a day early! Yippee!!!

This month’s number is 8, which when you do 8 – 6, gives me 2 as the box number. Let us take a look at what’s in Box # 2 .

Box 2

2a Chiclets Table Runner – I made a 4 block rectangular runner that I want to hang on my cube wall. Status: Flimsy.
2b Huge Fence Rail – I made a bunch of these fence rail blocks which are only 3 rails each, but the rails are each 3.5 inches. I want to make this into a quilt and donate it onward. Status: Most blocks completed.
2c 16 String Blocks – Just like it sounds, I have 16 string blocks done. I want to make some more, make a quilt and donate it onward. Status: Most blocks completed.
2d Yellow LCRR – I made this for my DD. Status: Blocks completed.

Since March is going to be a crazy month in my life, I’m definitely going with 2a Chiclets Table Runner as my UFO to complete. I also want to hang it in my cube at work.

As for the other UFOs, I’m not so sure. I know I plan to finish 11b Australia fabrics in March. Maybe I will take a look at 2b Huge Fence Rails to see what’s involved.

Homework goals:

24 Chiclets blocks done
6 Old Navy shirts done
16 QAYG blocks done

Bonus UFO goals:

Top pieced for Orca Bay . I need all of those little pieces out of my life.
Top complete for Jeanne’s Diamonds

Carryover UFO goals:

Finish 11b
Top complete for 1b Christmas 2 BOM

New Project goals:

Pattern done and fabrics bought for Brett and Amy’s quilt
Start cutting and L&E for BRB in blue for Mary

I have no idea how this is all going to get done, and most likely only half of it will, but that’s OK. It’s good to dream.

February UFO is done

I did indeed finish the 1c Seaside Rose sweatshirt jacket and I wore it to a bridal shower. There was a fellow quilter there and she asked me all kinds of technique questions, which was fine. This conversation baffled everyone else, but we were good. The sweatshirt is indeed very comfortable and cuddly. I already know what I want to do for the next two!






My goal right now is to clean off the table I will use to baste a quilt so I can, in fact, baste a quilt. The 11b Australia fabrics quilt is still there waiting to go and I just need to clean off this table. And go buy more spray baste, but that’s beside the point. I want to get that quilt basted and ready to quilt by tomorrow night, so that I can quilt 6 lines each night until it’s quilted. I have a very busy 2 weeks ahead of me and if I have something simple and ready to go, there’s hope.

I also completed:

12 Chiclets blocks, plus 12 more centers
6 Old Navy blocks

And I’m up to date with all of my BOMS.

2012 UFOS - January Wrap Up

Yes, I know I’m behind, but this is the week where I get caught up. I believe that once this post is done, then I am caught up. This one has been bugging me for a while that I had not done it!

January’s UFO was #5. So I went to box # 5 in my life and found the 4 projects, plus of course the homework and the 2 bonus UFOs. Here’s how it all ended up.

5a Snowmen – I swapped 12” snowmen blocks a while ago and also some snow FQs. Status: Nothing done, still a flimsy.

5b Australia FQs – I received these in a secret santa type box and I need to finish this project and donate it. Status: Became the leader-ender project for February. Top and back are both done, soon to be quilted.

5c Bricks & Stepping Stones – I started these blocks trying to make 10 per color of Judy Laquidara’s 2011 Monochromatic challenge. Status: More blocks completed; over halfway I think.

5d Watermelon – A Dorothy Young pattern. Status: Done! This one is all done, despite diverticulitis that would not quit. It is a Dorothy Young pattern called Mosaic Tiles. I love it. I loved it so much at the time I made the top that I made a mini and that one is called Watermelon Seed.
Yes, I know I’m behind, but this is the week where I get caught up. I believe that once this post is done, then I am caught up. This one has been bugging me for a while that I had not done it!

January’s UFO was #5. So I went to box # 5 in my life and found the 4 projects, plus of course the homework and the 2 bonus UFOs. Here’s how it all ended up.

5a Snowmen – I swapped 12” snowmen blocks a while ago and also some snow FQs. Status: Nothing done, still a flimsy.

5b Australia FQs – I received these in a secret santa type box and I need to finish this project and donate it. Status: Became the leader-ender project for February. Top and back are both done, soon to be quilted.

5c Bricks & Stepping Stones – I started these blocks trying to make 10 per color of Judy Laquidara’s 2011 Monochromatic challenge. Status: More blocks completed; over halfway I think.

5d Watermelon – A Dorothy Young pattern. Status: Done! This one is all done, despite diverticulitis that would not quit. It is a Dorothy Young pattern called Mosaic Tiles. I love it. I loved it so much at the time I made the top that I made a mini and that one is called Watermelon Seed.



Homework

12 Chiclets blocks – nothing done
4 Old Navy Flag shirts – 2 started
8 String QAYG blocks – done

Bonus UFOs

25 Orca Bay – The Bonnie Hunter 2011 Christmas mystery. Status: 1 little row and 1 star row pieced together.
26 Jeanne’s Diamonds – The Dorothy Young 2011 Christmas mystery. Status: top done; needs borders.

I also did 2 undeclared items. One was a baby quilt for my DH’s co-worker. It was an Anita’s Arrowhead. The other was a mini of Jeanne’s Diamonds.




Final January totals: 12.59 yards used. 8.99 for UFOs. 3.60 yards YTD. 3 finishes.

Current Status

OK, it’s been a few weeks since I posted and I need to catch up on things. So I’m aiming for one post per day until I get reasonably caught up.

February quilting is not going in any way like I had planned and that is fine! I’ve been working a lot on the homework things. For example, I did get 12 Chiclets blocks done, plus I did the centers for the 12 I am behind. I did get 6 Old Navy t-shirts done. I also completed the top on 11b Australia fabrics, and pieced the backing.

I actually went ahead and ordered the sweatshirt for 1c the Seaside Rose sweatshirt. Last night I cut it apart and made the center front cut. I also started putting fabric down on the jacket. I decided somewhere during the month that this UFO would actually be the easiest to complete, so I went ahead and decided to work on it.

So where do I stand with 9 days left in the month? Pretty good. I know I overplan, but that’s OK. It gives me the variety I crave and the ability to get some things done. I haven’t planned all the way through the month-end, but I have planned for this week. Tonight’s goal is to finish one half of 1c Seaside Rose sweatshirt’s body and to sandwich the 11b Australia fabrics quilt. Then Tuesday through Thursday are finishing the sweatshirt pieces and quilting the quilt. Friday is assembly and binding attachment night for both items. I haven’t done a set-in sleeve in quite a while, so this should be interesting. If I make to this point, both UFOs will only have handwork left, and that is for Tivo time!

The other things I know I want to work on are the 8 QAYG blocks, Orca Bay and 1b Christmas 2 BOM. I envision that 1b Christmas 2 BOM is the UFO I will carry into March. At any rate, it seems like I am on pace to complete 2 UFOs this month, and that is good.

2012 UFOs - February is #1 - plan of attack

So February is UFO #1. Yummy! Here’s what’s in box # 1 .

Box 1

1a Thimbles BOM – A BOM, with an extra block made so I can set on point. Civil War fabrics. Status: Blocks completed.
1b Christmas 2 BOM – I took the instructions for 2 different BOMs I was in and made another block in Christmas fabrics. I need to make the 25th block and set them on point. Status: Most blocks completed.
1c Seaside Rose Sweatshirt – A jacket covered in the Seaside Rose line, with the jacket coming from a sweatshirt. Status: In pieces.
1d Red Strings – Red string blocks and die-cut hearts come together for a cuddle quilt. Status: In pieces.

For 1a, Thimbles is the name of the shop where the BOM came from. I love this BOM. Love. Covet. This one is mine. So this is the one that I will finish this month.

For 1b, I will work on getting it to a flimsy.

For 1c, I don’t plan on doing anything.

For 1d, I’ll take it out and let it percolate. If nothing happens, it’s OK.

Homework:

8 QAYG blocks
12 Chiclets blocks
4 Old Navy shirts

Bonus UFOs

A quarter section of Orca Bay
Completed top for Jeanne’s Diamonds

Catch-Up – now I am behind in my goals (stupid diverticulitis!), but here’s how I can catch up. I can do all or nothing or just one or two.

For the 12 Chiclets blocks, I can get all the centers done for the 12 I missed.
For the 4 Old Navy shirts, I can just do some extra this month.
For Orca Bay , I can get another quarter section together as a flimsy, so to speak.
For Jeanne’s Diamonds, I can finish it.
For 11b, I can get it to a flimsy.

I know I am trying for 2 UFOs a month and in some months I need to complete 3. Right now, I will get 1a done. If I could get any of the following also done that would be good. Two of them would be great. In contention: 1b, Jeanne’s Diamonds, 11b.

Let’s see where this goes….

quick update

A quick update as we head into the last weekend of the month….

I was attacked by diverticulitis this week. It was really bad. Bad bad bad. So that seriously cramped my productivity. However, somehow, some way, I was able to finish quilting all the white thread items on 5d Watermelon Slice. This did make my day. I did handle it about 15 minutes at a time with 45 minutes of rest in between each session, and I did this over 3 or 4 days. But I got them all done, and the machine is now rethreaded for the pink rectangles. Since I’m not 100% yet, I plan on doing 15 minutes at a time for them as well, and should finish with ease this weekend. Since the binding is already on the quilt, I did take some time as well whilst being infirmed and worked on that as well. I would say it’s 40% stitched down. Overall, the goal is to complete the quilt this weekend. This is completely do-able and I’m so happy to have a finish of this size! It has been a long time!

As far as everything else goes, I’m going to clean up my basement sewing space and pack up the rest of January. While I didn’t hit every goal, I got a lot farther than if I hadn’t made any goals at all. So I’m judging the month (in advance) as a success. I’ll still make 5b out as a leader-ender project and get that cut up and prepped and next to my machine while I clean up my space. While I’ve occupied my kitchen table for quilting this big quilt, the mess that is sewing has taken over my main floor, so while I finish 5d Watermelon Slice, I will clean up the downstairs space and prepare it for the machine to return. Then once the machine is returned, I will clean up the main floor as if no sewing went on. It was an experiment and a very successful one, so I will do it again as needed.

Here’s hoping for a restful and productive weekend.

2012 UFOs - January is #5 - week 3 wrap up

Week 3 of the month. What can I say? 10 days with no post - sorry

I went ahead and occupied my kitchen table. I did start quilting 5d Watermelon Slice, which I am declaring as the #5 UFO for Judy’s challenge. I want to quilt the top in 3 different colors of thread – green, white and fuchsia. The green is all done and was by far the largest amount of quilting needed. Since it also included the borders, I went ahead and trimmed the quilt down, thus removing a foot of bulk on each side, and added the binding. Only 100 inches of the binding was made, so I had to make more first – grrr. But now since the binding is on, I can sew binding down during the 10pm news, which isn’t all bad. My goal is to finish by this weekend and since I am #12 on the list, I best hurry.

I did go ahead and sort out all of the Old Navy shirts. I washed them and started cutting. Cutting is a more arduous task than I thought, as I am cutting the rest of the shirts into strips for a crochet project. (Yes, I’m nuts.) So with about 8 or 9 days to go, this is where I hope I end up.

5a Remains untouched and that’s OK.
5b I had hoped to finish this one, but it’s not going to happen. I plan on leaving it out as a leader-ender project.
5c I wanted all blocks done, but about half will be. That’s still better than where we were.
5d Done done.

The 8 QAYG string blocks are done.
The 12 Chiclet blocks are started but will not be done.
The 4 Old Navy shirts will be cut and have interfacing on them.

I have 1 little row and one star row done on Orca Bay . I will not be as far as I want to be.
I have not done anything more on Jeanne’s Diamonds.

I did finish the Anita’s Arrowhead baby quilt for my husband’s co-worker. That used up 3.06 yards of stash.

New totals: 3.60 yards used. 0 for UFOs. 3.60 yards YTD.

January Week 2 weekday update

My week 2 goals are kind of going by the wayside, once I figured out what I wanted to do on each project for the month. It really doesn’t matter, as long as I get all of it done. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

So far during the week, I haven’t actually done too much sewing. Monday involved a Girl Scout meeting. We did a tremendous amount of cleaning on Tuesday, which at least puts me in the right mind to sew in peace. Wednesday just sort of slipped away from me; I didn’t sew. But I did do some fabric searching, and that was involved, as our basement is a complete and utter wreck. After the fabric quest was complete, I was done for the night.

Yesterday I left work early for a snow day and I did get some sewing in. What I did accomplish was pretty good. I had found a lot of parts of things from my UFO list for the year, so I got those all filed into the 6 UFO boxes. I also moved the 6 UFO boxes out of my front entrance and into my sewing room and into their location under my sewing table. I also pulled fabrics to make more Bricks and Stepping Stones blocks, part of UFO 5c. So while I put stuff away, I actually took out more.

On to the sewing. I completed 8 Anita’s Arrowhead blocks, making my count 19. I need 25 to make the quilt 45” and not needing a border. I laid out the 5d UFO entitled Watermelon Slice and stared at it for a long while. I have a quilting plan in my mind, and even better yet, a timetable to complete it. I went through what blocks were done for the 5c UFO, and regrouped by color. I need 120 blocks, which is essentially 10 blocks per color from last year’s monochromatic challenge. Since I want all the blocks done this month, I need to do about 40 per week. So 10 were done (yellow). I completed red and blue last night. I need 10 more for this week, but since it is out and since all the fabric has been pulled to complete this, I may just persevere onwards until all 120 blocks are done. I am using them as leaders and enders for the Anita’s Arrowhead blocks, which I make 4 at a time. I also found a backing for the 5b UFO.

So with all of this being said, my weekend goals are as follows:
Finish Anita’s Arrowhead
1/3 of the quilting on 5d Watermelon Slice
Finish all the blocks on 5c and put all that fabric away

I will feel better when the area is tidy again.

Week 2 goals

Week 2 goals:

5a Nothing. And this will remain this way all month.
5b Get as far on the top as possible. Goal is to finish this month.
5c Do 3 sets of 10. Colors are red, orange and green. Goal is to finish all blocks this month.
5d Pull it out of the closet and study it. Goal is to finish this month.

Make the 12 centers, which are 16-patches, for the Chiclets blocks.
Nothing on the shirts.

Assemble the next 2 rows for Orca Bay . Attach them to the 2 rows already done. Goal is to quilt first section this month.
Finish all the borders for Jeanne’s Diamonds. Goal is to have sandwiched this month.

I have started a baby quilt for a co-worker of DH. I am doing Anita’s Arrowhead and I have 11 blocks made and need at least 20; 25 would be better. My goal is to get as far as possible on this one this week. Goal is to finish this one this month.

Week 1 recap

Week 1 wrap up:

Goals:

5a Nothing.
5b I think I know what I want to do. So I will pull everything together and let it sit there for a while and let it percolate.
5c I want to make 60 black and white 4 patches and look up the colors that were 7-12.
5d Pull it out of the closet and study it. Start quilting on it and be ¼ of the way done with the quilting.

Complete the 8 string QAYG blocks.
Cut 2.5” strips for Chiclets blocks. I have a bunch of fabric lying around and so while I put it all away, I’ll just cut a strip from each one.
Nothing on the Old Navy shirts.

For Orca Bay , I will assemble a little row and a star row. I’m starting at the bottom.
For Jeanne’s Diamonds, I will put the rows together, which will leave me with a completed top without borders.

Additionally I made a mini of Jeanne’s Diamonds and that is sandwiched.

Progress:

5a Same.
5b Going with Streak of Sunshine.
5c Made 60 4-patches and looked up all the colors.
5d Nothing. Boo.

The 8 QAYG string blocks are done.
Strips were cut for the Chiclets blocks.
Nothing was done on the shirts.

I did assemble 2 rows for Orca Bay .
I did assemble the center of the top for Jeanne’s Diamonds.

I did finish the mini Jeanne’s Diamonds. 0.53 yards used in mini. 0 for UFOs. 0.53 total YTD.

Mid-week Update

This is what I got done on Wednesday, while recovering from a migraine...

5b I took the fabrics out of the box and realized that there are 7 of them and they are at least FQ size if not bigger. I’ve decided to do Bonnie’s Streak of Sunshine with them in as large of a size as the fabrics will permit.

5c I found the list of 2011 colors from Judy. I then took some inventory of what I had done. And I made 20 4-patches.

I started to sew a string block to use up a spool that was just about done.

I did sew together one little row and one star row for Orca Bay .

I did assemble the blocks for Jeanne’s Diamonds.

This is what I got done last night...

I cut a whole bunch of strips for the Chiclets blocks. And then collapsed for the exhaustion of a 2 day migraine.

I'm out of pocket Friday afternoon to Saturday night, so here's hoping for a big quilty Sunday.

2012 UFOs - January is #5 - week 1

So Judy picked the UFO number on Sunday (OMG, I was stalking for this number on Sunday!) and she picked 5. So let’s take a look at the 5 box, plus the bonuses plus the homework.

Box 5

5a Snowmen – I swapped 12” snowmen blocks a while ago and also some snow FQs. Status: Flimsy.
5b Australia FQs – I received these in a secret santa type box and I need to finish this project and donate it. Status: In pieces.
5c Bricks & Stepping Stones – I started these blocks trying to make 10 per color of Judy Laquidara’s 2011 Monochromatic challenge. Status: Some blocks completed.
5d Watermelon – A Dorothy Young pattern. Status: Sandwiched.

Homework

12 Chiclets blocks
4 Old Navy Flag shirts
8 String QAYG blocks

Bonus UFOs

25 Orca Bay – The Bonnie Hunter 2011 Christmas mystery. Status: In pieces.
26 Jeanne’s Diamonds – The Dorothy Young 2011 Christmas mystery. Status: In pieces.

So from all of this, I need 2 finishes for January. Here are my goals for this week on this box. I hesitate to talk about the whole month, so let’s just start with the week.

5a Nothing.
5b I think I know what I want to do. So I will pull everything together and let it sit there for a while and let it percolate.
5c I want to make 60 black and white 4 patches and look up the colors that were 7-12.
5d Pull it out of the closet and study it. Start quilting on it and be ¼ of the way done with the quilting.

Complete the 8 string QAYG blocks.
Cut 2.5” strips for Chiclets blocks. I have a bunch of fabric lying around and so while I put it all away, I’ll just cut a strip from each one.
Nothing on the Old Navy shirts.

For Orca Bay , I will assemble a little row and a star row. I’m starting at the bottom.
For Jeanne’s Diamonds, I will put the rows together, which will leave me with a completed top without borders.

Additionally I made a mini of Jeanne’s Diamonds and that is sandwiched. I’d like to quilt it by Thursday night and bind it in the car over the weekend, as we are travelling north.

Sick of Green

I'm sick of green. There, I said it. I'm so stuck in the Orca Bay mystery. I'm trying to finish all of the green clues, since Bonnie's black is my green. OMG, I am so sick of green.

Oh, and Happy New Year.

I shall persevere. I am close to being done with the green. I had hoped to be done with it yesterday, but that did not happen. So today I shall try again to be done.

I went and saw the reveal for Orca Bay and I like it. I'm also glad that I switched the black and green positions in my own quilt. While green is bugging me now, having a quilt with that much black would bug me later with the finished product.

I also need to finish Jeanne's Diamonds, which I also hope to do today.

They're still asleep and I best get downstairs to start HP 6 and finishing up all that green....

Final Friday

Yep, it’s the last Friday of the year. And it’s a nice long weekend.

Goals:

Jeanne’s Diamonds – I have finished all the pieces for this top, and was at the clue where you put the top together when I noted that I really wanted an alternate block in the place where all the negative space blocks were. So I made those last night. But somewhere I cut some fabric both the wrong width and length, so I just stopped sewing at all last night. It was a wise move. So for this weekend I want to have the top finished. I also want to make a mini of this one and finish it, so I can hang the mini on my cube wall under my name plate.

Orca Bay – I know that Step 7 came out today and Step 8 will come out Sunday, but right now my goal is to get caught up. For Step 2, I have 12 done. For Step 4, I have 6 done. For Step 5, I have 200 done (Step 3 included). For Step 6, I have 20 done (Step 1 included). So I’ve done as Bonnie requested and worked a bit on each step as it came out. However, this weekend my goals are to finish Steps 5 and 6, and also the 100 extra units in Step 7 that use leftover Step 5 parts. Any string blocks that I get done will be considered a bonus at this stage of the game!

NYE Mystery – I’ll download the clues and that’s about all right now. We shall see.

January UFO – I’m eager for Judy to pull the number so I know what choices I have! Since a roll of batting is out of the question until late March, I have reviewed each box and there’s enough in each box let me finish stuff without having to worry about my lack of batting. So that’s good. More machine quilting, which may be bad in the short run, but overall, it’s good. So back to the topic – when the number is pulled, I’ll get going this weekend.

IT feels so good to be back in a crafty mood. It had been gone way too long.

2012 UFOs - Read 'Em and Weep

My UFO list for 2012 seems confusing. I have decided to store 4 UFOs per box and I have 6 boxes. So if a month is between 7 and 12, I will just subtract 6 from the number chosen and work from that box. I would love nothing more than to finish a UFO every 2 weeks. That would clear out some backlog. I have more UFOs than fabric, so that’s really how the stashbusting needs to happen. And yes, while 4 * 6 = 24, it would make 26 UFOs to finish one every 2 weeks. So I’m carrying Bonnie Hunter’s Orca Bay and Dorothy Young’s Jeanne’s Diamonds forward as the other 2 UFOs.

So without further adieu, this is how I came up with my 26 UFOs that I claimed to Ellen…All are quilts unless noted. LCRR stands for Log Cabin Round Robin.

Box 1

1a Thimbles BOM – A BOM, with an extra block made so I can set on point. Civil War fabrics. Status: Blocks completed.

1b Christmas 2 BOM – I took the instructions for 2 different BOMs I was in and made another block in Christmas fabrics. I need to make the 25th block and set them on point. Status: Most blocks completed.

1c Seaside Rose Sweatshirt – A jacket covered in the Seaside Rose line, with the jacket coming from a sweatshirt. Status: In pieces.

1d Red Strings – Red string blocks and die-cut hearts come together for a cuddle quilt. Status: In pieces.

Box 2

2a Chiclets Table Runner – I made a 4 block rectangular runner that I want to hang on my cube wall. Status: Flimsy.

2b Huge Fence Rail – I made a bunch of these fence rail blocks which are only 3 rails each, but the rails are each 3.5 inches. I want to make this into a quilt and donate it onward. Status: Most blocks completed.

2c 16 String Blocks – Just like it sounds, I have 16 string blocks done. I want to make some more, make a quilt and donate it onward. Status: Most blocks completed.

2d Yellow LCRR – I made this for my DD. Status: Blocks completed.

Box 3

3a Carpenter’s Wheel – A Dorothy Young pattern. Status: Flimsy.

3b Dear Jane LCRR – Log cabin blocks done with a Dear Jane block in the middle. Status: Blocks completed.

3c Easter Carrie Nation – A Dorothy Young pattern. Status: Flimsy.

3d My Blue Heaven – A Bonnie Hunter pattern. I hate the quilting I’ve done on it. Status: Needs to have quilting frogged and redone.

Box 4

4a Diamond Shapes – Die-cut diamonds and no focus. Status: In pieces.

4b Valentines – Lots of nickel charm packs in this one. Status: Most blocks completed.

4c Purse Pack – A package of fun and different fabrics that I bought. Status: In pieces.

4d St. Pat’s LCRR – Making this one for the month of March of course. Status: Blocks completed.

Box 5

5a Snowmen – I swapped 12” snowmen blocks a while ago and also some snow FQs. Status: Flimsy.

5b Australia FQs – I received these in a secret santa type box and I need to finish this project and donate it. Status: In pieces.

5c Bricks & Stepping Stones – I started these blocks trying to make 10 per color of Judy Laquidara’s 2011 Monochromatic challenge. Status: Some blocks completed.

5d Watermelon – A Dorothy Young pattern. Status: Sandwiched.

Box 6

6a Bird Crewel – A piece of needlepoint needing some finishing. Status: In pieces.

6b Beau’s – I swapped with Nancy , Near Philadelphia for the Miss Mellie quilt and Ashley’s quilt. It only makes sense that I bring everything together for a huge quilt called Beau’s quilt. Status: Most blocks completed.

6c Dog Bandannas – I have many bandannas from my dog and a friend’s. Status: In pieces.

6d Black & White BOM – The BOM won’t finish until July, but when it’s done it will be finished in blue and hopefully go to DD. Status: Some blocks completed.

Bonus UFOs

25 Orca Bay – The Bonnie Hunter 2011 Christmas mystery. Status: In pieces.

26 Jeanne’s Diamonds – The Dorothy Young 2011 Christmas mystery. Status: In pieces.

Homework – Yes, I do also assign myself monthly homework. So for each month, I plan to make/do…

12 Chiclets blocks
4 Old Navy Flag shirts
8 String QAYG blocks

And that is more than enough to do for 2012. I desperately need to order a roll of batting! It feels good to be enthused about quilting again and to have some semblance of a plan.

Addendum: I'm going to track my additional costs of finishing these UFOs. I wonder what that will be this upcoming year....

Weekend Update

Despite having a huge migraine for part of the weekend, I did spend some time sewing.

I did indeed go through my entire set of scraps from the yellow log cabin and pulled out all of the leftovers. I made 350+ inches of binding and sewed them all together on the bias, so all of those triangles are now in the scrap bucket. Any other 2.5 inch logs were cut up the middle and thrown in the yellow strings ice cream bucket. Well, by that point, I might as well just cut the foundation papers and go.

And I’m so glad I did; it was the mindless sewing in the near-dark I could do with a migraine. I got 6 of them done, 6 black ones and a whole bunch of HSTs that had been previously cut out. I’m now out of pre-cut units, but I got far despite the migraine, which is good. I still have 2.0 green strips cut, so more HSTs until those run out. Then I can cut more greens and keep working on QSTs.

One day I’ll be caught up. But for now, I’ve got every step underway.

Actual Sewing - Can You Believe It?

I sewed yesterday for a little bit. I actually cleaned up my cutting table for 15 minutes first. I was so excited, as I found a packet of 80 die-cut hearts that I have been looking for, plus I unearthed my quilter’s reference book. You know the one – it has how to set on point and how many triangles will you need and cut them this way, etc. I was quite glad to see that again.

We’re trying to move back our small family room sofa so that there is more floor space for the PS3 Move that we have. My cutting table butts up against the sofa, so the cutting table has to move so that we can move the sofa. So it will move to where the ironing board is. The ironing board will go away and so I need an ironing pad. A series of bookcases are also going to be moved in all of this, so it’s just a boatload of crazy. We want it done soon, so that we can enjoy the Move, but it is not a requirement for us to host Christmas.

We are hosting Ted’s mother’s side, who are all very forgiving people when it comes to housework. That is right up my alley.

In detailed Orca Bay news, I am using green where Bonnie is using black. So I am taking out 5 hunks of green fabric at a time and cutting 1.5 strips and 2.0 strips, and then of course the corresponding neutrals. Someone did point out that the HSTs for Old Tobacco Road (OTR) were the same size as these, so I’m cutting more 2.0 strips and just piecing those HSTs like crazy and dumping them in an ice cream bucket. Once I get all the QSTs made and counted, etc, I will go back and start pressing and counting all of the HSTs. I want to knock out the OTR ones at the same time and since I have a king sized bed, I want like double the amount of HSTs. So basically I just need to make 1200 HSTs and life will be good. See why I’m not even counting them at this point? I have 22 QSTs sewn and many halves sewn.

I am using black where Bonnie is using blue, so I did cut out 18 foundation papers and started sewing those as the leaders and enders for when I chain-piece all the cut green pieces. I just add a strip to every block I’ve started and make sure the last thing through the needle is a new string block. These are going very quickly. I have not been able to find any black strings so far in my scrap bags, so I am cutting strips from black hunks of fabric.

I am using yellow where Bonnie is using red, and of course since I work, I haven’t started those yet. I don’t think I can have 4 steps going at once. So these will just have to wait. I did just finish an all yellow log cabin, so I have tons and tons of leftover strips that I will use. I will sort through all of my bags and pull them all. The first goal will be to see if the strip is 2.5 inches. If so, and it’s long enough, it will go into the pieced binding. Once I have 350 inches of binding or if the strip doesn’t meet the binding qualifications, I’ll go ahead and use it as a string.

My weekend is already a bit crazy, but that’s OK. The goal right now is to finish the QSTs while sewing on steps 2 and 3.

As for Christmas, I have two small gifties to make for a pair of sisters that are the nieces of a friend of mine. That will be something fun to do next week.

Folding Optional

As we are now in what I am calling the 4 Long Weeks, this week and perhaps the rest have been dubbed Folding Optional. We are literally gone every weekend or we are hosting. One or the other. So since I don’t have the weekends to do laundry, I’m doing it during the week, thanks to the wonderful timer capability on my lovely LG washer. I set one load up to go off at like 4.30 in the morning. I throw it in the dryer as I get up in the morning (I get up about an hour before I actually start moving – it’s called coffee) (and Facebook, truth be told). Then I set up another load to go off at about 5pm and I can throw that one in the dyer when we get home at about 6pm. If I’m feeling super-industrious, I throw another load in that I switch out as I head out for bed.

Everything ends up in laundry baskets. Folding is truly optional right now. There’s nothing I can do about it and I could fold, but then I would be doing housework all the time and not resting, which is really not a very good thing. So, yeah, grab your stuff from the laundry basket.

Keeping this quilty: I am now up to 22 QSTs – 10%! And I sewed some HSTs and left them chained together and dumped them into an ice cream tub. No string blocks at all; I went through 2 bags of scraps yesterday and some of my cutting table and no black strings or scraps showed up.

Bear Down

Yesterday we went to the Bears game. While the game itself was atrocious, there are a few things that I try to notice each time we go.

The classiest piece of Bears-wear that I noticed belonged to a gentleman in the row in front of me. He was wearing a navy fedora with a discreet GSH on the brim. For those of you old enough to understand this, it was the same style hat Papa Bear Halas wore on the sidelines. It was impressive.

I also take note of jersey sightings. I myself wear 34 Walter Payton – can’t go wrong with Sweetness. I did spot the usual amount of 54 Brian Urlacher and 90 Julius Peppers and of course 23 Devin Hester. Some 1985 throwbacks included 45 Gary Fencik (2 of them!) and 72 William Perry. I also saw one that nearly broke my heart – 57 Olin Kreutz, sadly traded away before the season started. There were 51 Dick Butkus or course. But the best by far was 3 Bronko Nagurski. That is downright old school and as they say in The Incredibles, the old school is the best school.

Gary is a guy who sits in our section and for the second year in a row, he was absent. However, his daughter was there (they have the same smile), and I’m here to tell you that 6 beers by the end of the third quarter is not cute. You were spilling your beer and generally looking like a fool. Please, be classy.

And last, but not least, the guy behind me had a cowbell. He’s lucky to still be alive.

To keep this quilty, I have done one QST for Orca Bay . Count ‘em, one.

Gearing Up and Winding Down

Well, I've decided to try metal bobbins in Ed to see if it helps, as the machine came back to me with a metal bobbin in it. That seems to mitigate the problem. I've also messed with the tension more than I ever care to.

I now need to find a sewing machine repair place nearby.

I did indeed finish up my swap and get it mailed. I found the pattern that I needed for 2 little gifties I need to make. My BOM is up to date. So I've started Orca Bay, with green where the black goes, so it's a Green Bay and not an Orca Bay!

I've decided that each week, I will do each step plus 50 from step 1. That will keep the sewing sane.

I've also started revamping the sewing area, which is being done in conjunction with the revamp of the family room (all of us have our hobbies in the family room - it's a zoo). Ted and I talked it through and we have a plan. Now to work the plan.

Today I've started project restock the deep freeze, and so off I go to package up 5 packets of pork chops bought in bulk today.

Machine Woes

There are 4 machines in my life (actually 6, but the other 2 don't have names...).

Old Betsy is up at Kim's.
Ed has just arrived back to me after Kim had him serviced at some place on Harlem that someone swore was wonderful.
Ruby is my Janome Gem that I dropped off today for servicing.
And Edd (yes, it's an Ed thing - points if you get the reference) is in the garage.

Since I just dropped off Ruby today, I've been using Ed. And man is Ed a mess. It's like he was never serviced. He has 22 stitches - now only 2 work. And this evening tension problems decided to rear their ugly heads.

As Flo would say on Good Times - damn damn damn.

It's Almost Here!

Tomorrow starts the Orca Bay mystery! See the button on my sidebar?

The Two Word Fax

If you have ever followed the career of a guy named Michael Jordan, he returned to basketball after the death of his father with a two word fax: "I'm back."

And all of Chicagoland rejoiced. (And the west side really rejoiced; the economic benefit was tremendous!)

And with that, here I am. My quilting mojo has returned. I have rejoined stashbusters. Life is good.

Zzzzz

I is so tired.

Bad grammar and all, I am just so tired. I have no idea why. Life is good. Work is good. I'm getting my mojo back for a few things.

Maybe it's the swimming. We swam tonight.

Off to bed.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz