The July To Do List

Hope everyone in the United States had a wonderful 4th of July.  We hung out with family, had my Mom's famous potato salad, and talked about growing up and how not normal we all were (in a good way).  

Now that we are past the holiday, it's time to get serious about what the quilty plan is for July, including deciding what's going to be the July One Monthly Goal. 

The quilt plan says that Vintage Dresses is next up on the to be finished list.  The very last border has been attached, so it's now a finished flimsy. 

The next step is to pick a fabric for the backing, get it pieced, and prepped for quilting.  That's my One Monthly Goal.  Our wedding anniversary is this month, plus I have a business trip that starts on a Sunday, so it's not likely I'll have time to prep the flimsy to go out for quilting. But that might happen, just depends on how much time I get in the sewing room this month. 

What else is on the to do list for July?  I finally decided resistance was futile and I joined in Kevin the Quilter's Simply Sensational Summer Scrap Quilt mystery quilt along. 

All you need is scraps in two colors.  After examining my scrappy strips, I decided a new scrappy quilt was the perfect way to empty my 2.5" strip bag of blues and browns.

This isn't the whole pile I pulled out of the bags, but just a sampling of the fabrics that make up both piles. The first bit of the stitching is just 4 patches, so that's just easy sewing.  Just pop a couple of four patches in here and there and before you know it you'll have a pile to work with. 

Also on the July to do list is to pick out the fabric for Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs 2019 Mosaic Mystery Quilt. 

This mystery quilt along is on my 2019 quilt plan, so it was a planned new project for this year.  Sometime this month, I'll have to haul out different fabrics to the cutting table and find a winning combination.  That's always a fun activity.  If you are looking for the pick me up of a new summer project, I can highly recommend Cheryl's mystery.  She gives very clear guidance on how the fabrics interact with other in the quilt, so it's easy to pick out a good contrast of fabrics.  Instructions come out monthly, so it's not fast paced, which works with a busy schedule.  Finally, her instructions are always well written.  

The last thing on the July to do list is to keep working on the borders for Storm at Sea, especially the blocks for the pieced border. 

I need 18 of these square in a square and 10 blue diamond blocks. Once Vintage Dresses is out for quilting, Storm and Sea will become the quilt to finish.  

That's a pretty ambitious list for July, what we call a stretch goal at work.  If all that actually gets checked off the list is the progress on Vintage Dresses, it will be an excellent month.