Just In Time January OMG

January has gone way to quickly this year. Normally the month drags, not this year.  Due to compressed schedules for completing yearly reviews and unplanned projects that resulted in some business travel, my month didn't look like I thought it would on January 1st when I set my one monthly goal. 

The plan was to get Twinkle Stars from unfinished top

Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Angela Feldbush of Soscrappy

to finished quilt top with backing and ready to send out for quilting.  So today after one more hour of clean up, the quilt top was folded up and added to the box with the batting and backing.  

We stopped at the post office on our way back from lunch. Fingers crossed that the top comes back ready for binding in two to three weeks.  So the January One Monthly Goal is complete just in time for the end of the month.  Hopefully, February's OMG won't be such a close call.  

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts for the January OMG Finish.

To Do Tuesday #4 for 2020

I'm in New Orleans on a work assignment, but I should be headed home tomorrow.  Being on the road took a couple of days out of my normal sewing week, but I did manage to get in some good effort last weekend, so there was progress and a few check marks on last week's list. 

Weekly To Do List (01/21/2020)
Twinkle Stars:  Clean up the back of the quilt top, press - progress
Frolic: Make 9 blocks - progress
Wild and Goosey Blocks: Make green blocks for RSC ✔

I have Friday off this week, which I'm hoping means another good afternoon of stitching time before the weekend.  So here's the list for this week. 

Weekly To Do List (01/28/2019)
1. Twinkle Stars: Finish clean up, press, package and mail
There are still rows and the bottom border left to clean up.  

That's all the threads that have snipped off so far.   

2.  Frolic: Make 9 blocks
This was the to do item that didn't have as much progress as I would have liked last week. Hopefully with Twinkle Stars out the door, I'll have more time to get these blocks made. 

3.  Wild and Goosey:  Make green and orange blocks

Angela noted last Saturday that orange was going to be the color for February.  So I'll finish off the green blocks and make a start on the orange blocks. 

4.  Winter Quilt Along: Piece backing 

The backing fabric is left overs from other quilt backs.  I need to work out a lay out using these two.  A striped backing maybe?  

Good luck with your to do lists.  Linking up with Home Sewn by Us for To Do Tuesday.  

Progress on the Not So Fun Stuff

The weekly progress post is going up a bit early this week. I have to be on my way to the airport by 5 AM in the morning, so there won't be time to write a post before I have to hit the road.  

Not much change on the design wall this week. Though I got in my 15 minutes each evening, that's about all the time I managed to work in, so not much progress on the sewing front.  The weekend afternoons were mainly dedicated to getting Twinkle Stars ready for quilting. 

This was as far as I'd gotten when we left for church Saturday evening. The top border and 4 rows of blocks had been de-threaded. 

By Sunday dinner time all that was left was the last two rows of blocks and the bottom border.  I'll pick up here when I get back into the sewing room later this week.  I should still make my OMG of getting this out the door for quilting, thankfully Friday is a day off.  

Linking up with Monday Making.  

Week 4 of 2020: Stitching Stuff

I was definitely ready for a weekend.  The work week seemed really long. Why? Maybe because of the winter weather, maybe because My Guy was sick or maybe it was because it was week full of meetings.  I definitely needed some sanity stitching this week!  

A few evenings all I managed was 15 minutes, but that's the goal.  

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/January = 25/25 days
15 minute days/2020 = 25/25 days
Success rate = 100%

I'm off to a good start on my stitching time goals for 2020.  Unfortunately, I've got a business trip starting on Monday.  I'll miss a couple of days of stitching.  My success rate goal for 2020 is 85%, which was a good choice. I've got business trips in February and at least two more in March.  Hopefully the travel will slow down once I get to second quarter.  

How are you doing at working in a bit of stitching time each day? 

1. karen 2. Marti 3. Julie in GA 4. Meloney 5. Jocelyn and Those Pesky Dresden Circles :) 6. Chrisknits

7. Loulee (Manxgirl) 8. DawnyK 9. Amanda 10. Rachel 11. Carol Andrews 12. Shasta @ High Road Quilter

13. Angie in SoCal 14. Quilting Gail 15. Quilting & Learning - What a Combo! 16. Deana

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To Do Tuesday: #3 for 2020

Winter has set in, at least for this week.  It's miserably cold, but at least it was sunny yesterday.  Speaking of cold, My Guy apparently has one. He's been feeling crappy since the weekend, now we know why.  Not the best start to a new week especially since last week wasn't particularly good for the to do list.  

Weekly To Do List (01/14/2020)
1. Twinkle Stars: de-thread Twinkle Stars and backing - progress
2. Frolic - Finish clues 3 and 5, progress on other clues - progress
3. Winter Quilt Along - Measure quilt, find backing ✔

Only one check mark, but there was good progress on the other two.  The backing for Twinkle Stars is cleaned up, pressed and packaged for shipping.  Bonnie released the reveal last Friday for Frolic. I didn't finish any more clues, but did finish three blocks from the bits and pieces I had finished.  

So what to put on the list for this week?  

Weekly To Do List (01/21/2020)
1.  Twinkle Stars - de-thread and press Twinkle Stars top
That's going to take a few hours, so I won't start that till next weekend.  The goal is to get it sent out for quilting before the end of the month, that's still doable. 

2.  Frolic

There are enough clues made to make 9 more blocks.  So I'll stitch those blocks together this week and then decide how many more I need to make for a complete quilt.  

3.  Wild and Goosey blocks

The plan is to make a few green blocks to go along with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for January.  These are slow going and aren't really amenable to chain piecing, so I'll take an evening or two and make what I can.  The point is to keep the project moving along.  

So that's my list this week.  Good luck with your own lists.  Linking up with Home Sewn by Us for weekly To Do List linky party.  

Bits and Pieces of Progress

It was a sunny, but cold weekend.  The Scientist in Training was home for a couple of days as she had appointments in town and she's out of school today.  We hung out and chilled most of the weekend. This is probably the last time she'll be home till spring break, so we opted to do a lot of family stuff this weekend.  I did get in a bit of stitching, but not as much as I normally do on the weekends.  

The first priority was to get Twinkle Stars sent out for quilting. I did get the backing all cleaned up, pressed and packaged up. 

I didn't even get started on the finished quilt top. That's on tap for next weekend.  It will take a lot of time to be sure there are no dark threads on the back that will show through that white background.  So it's hard to clean up the back and the quilt top all in one weekend.  

The other reason for the delay in Twinkle Stars is that Bonnie Hunter revealed the setting for all our Frolic bits and pieces on Friday.  Of course I had to stitch up a few blocks to see how my fabrics worked out. 

Frolic: The 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

I'm really happy with the final block and setting, though I may change out the black in the sashing strips for that very light blue in the center.  But it will be awhile before I get to that point. The blocks aren't hard, but they do take a bit of time to stitch up. I'll finish up all the blocks then make a decision on all those setting details.   

That was pretty much all my stitching efforts for the weekend.  Linking up with Monday Making and Design Wall Monday.  

Week 3 of 2020: Stitching Stuff

It was a cold and wet week. Now it's sunny, but still cold and windy.  Winter has finally set in for a visit and I'm definitely feeling it's already over stayed it's welcome.  On the other hand the cold weather makes it easier to get in those 15 minutes of stitching each day because I certainly didn't want to be out and about doing much of anything else. 

So far January has been a good month on the stitchy front. 

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/January = 18/18 days
15 minute days/2020 = 18/18 days
Success rate = 100% 

I'll be able to maintain the 100% success rate for another week, but then I have a business trip.  It's not likely I'll have time for stitching while I'm on the road, which is OK.  I'll have a day off when I'm back, so I'll make up the lost effort then.  

How successful were you at fitting in a bit of stitching time this week?  

1. Chrisknits 2. Julie in GA 3. karen 4. Marti 5. di

6. Meloney 7. Loulee (Manxgirl) 8. Amanda 9. Shasta @ High Road Quilter 10. Quilting Gail

11. DawnyK 12. Rachel 13. Deana 14. DesertSky Quilting 15. Christina's Handicrafts

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Mid - January 2020 PHD Report

It's been a quick moving month. It's already mid-month and time to check in over at Quilting Gail's with progress on earning my PHD (projects half done) in quilt finishes for 2020.  

Amazingly, there's been some good progress on a few projects. 

1.  Twinkle Stars - The narrow color border was finished by the end of 2019.  The final border is on now, so it's a finished flimsy.

The back is pieced too. 

So good progress on this project, though it likely won't come of the the UFO list till February.  

2.  Winter Quilt Along - Is now a finished flimsy.

Quiltgirl Winter Quilt Along

After measuring the quilt and determining how much fabric was needed, the backing fabrics have been selected. 

I don't have enough left of the top fabric, which is left over backing fabric from the Twinkle Star quilt. But combined with the bottom fabric, left over backing from Vintage Dresses, there will be enough to back this quilt. 

3.  Frolic - Clues 1 and 2 are done, clues 3 and 5 are close to done, with good progress on clues 4, 6, 7 and 8.

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

Frolic isn't on the PHD list at the moment, but that could change. It would be good to finish it this year.  

4.  Mosaic Mystery - Was just a stack of blocks at the end of December. Now it's up on the design wall with the top row assembled, bottom row in progress. 

Mosaic Mystery Quilt
from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

Another mystery quilt along carried over from last year that's not on the PHD list. It may get added at some point. It's my current leader and ender project.  

So not bad progress for the first few days of 2020.  But there's no measurable project progress according to the PHD tracking tool.  

At least there aren't any new starts so far this year.  That has to count for something. 

Linking up with Quilting Gail for the mid-month PHD check in.  

To Do Tuesday: #2 for 2020

Usually the first month of the year seems to pass by slowly. That's not been the case this year, the month is speeding by, tomorrow is mid month already.  But even with the quickly passing days, the to do list fared pretty well.  

Weekly To Do List (01/07/2020)
1.  Twinkly Stars - Find and piece backing ✔
2. Frolic - Finish Clue 3, progress on Clue 4,5, 6 and 7, Start Clue 8  - progress
3. Mosaic Mystery - Start assembling rows as leaders and enders ✔

Last week ended with check marks on two of the three items, and good progress on the third.  So it was a productive week. Keeping the to do list short and focused is paying off. 

So what's the plan for this week?   

Weekly To Do List (01/14/2020)
1. Clean off loose threads from Twinkle Stars and backing, press and package for shipment. Not one of my favorite quilting activities, so I tend to stall on this step.  

2.  Frolic - Finish Clue 3 and 5, progress on 4, 6, 7 and 8, start clue 9. 

Hopefully I can finally finish off all those HSTs for clue 3 and clue 5.  I'm over half way there on both clues.  

3.  Winter Quilt Along - Measure quilt and find a backing fabric.  

There's about 4 yards left of this fabric after making the backing for Twinkle Stars. I'm hoping there's enough left to use on this quilt.

That's my plan for this second full week of January.  Linking up with Home Sewn by Us for To Do Tuesday.   

Making Progress on the Stitching Stuff

The weekend started off with the potential for severe weather. We did get a lot of rain, then we got snow, which was mostly melted by Sunday afternoon.  Still it was a great weekend to stay home.  Which we mostly did, till the Scientist in Training had to head back to college Sunday afternoon.  But she'll be back on Friday since they don't have school next Monday. 

I did find my way into the sewing room for some extended stitching time over the weekend.  The backing for Twinkle Stars is now all stitched together.

It needs the stray threads cleaned off and a good pressing before it can be folded up for shipping.

There was also a good amount of progress on Friday's Clue 8 of the Frolic Mystery Quilt along. 

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

I've got a few sets of that clue made, so if we Clue 9 includes a block, I should be able to make at least a couple of blocks. Hopefully, I'll get more made before the next clue comes out on Friday. 

I also started a new leader and ender project this week, assembling the rows of the Mosaic Mystery quilt. 

 Mosaic Mystery Quilt
from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

All the blocks are up on the design wall. Since I took this picture the first row has been sewn together and I've made a good start on getting the last row stitched together.  

All in all a productive week.  I'm hoping this week is as good.  Linking up with Monday Making and Monday Design Wall posts.  

Week 2 of 2020: Stitching Stuff

The first full week back at work was challenging. Lots of meetings.  I was ready for the weekend and spending more than 15 minutes playing in the sewing room. Was your first full week of 2020 a bit challenging?  

Being off work for two weeks over the holidays disrupted my typical schedule. It was hard to get back in the groove of working in stitching time in the evening. 

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/January = 11/11 days
15 minute days/2020 = 11/11 days
Success rate = 100%

I did find my 15 minutes each evening, though not much more than that.  It was just a nutty week with stuff going on after work most evenings.  I'm hoping next week is calmer. Yesterday was nice. It snowed after a bit of freezing rain overnight. It was a good day to stay in and stitch while watching at the white stuff fall.

So how did your stitchy week work out?  

1. Marti 2. karen 3. Julie in GA 4. Chrisknits 5. Mary-Kay

6. Shasta @ High Road Quilter 7. Loulee (Manxgirl) 8. Meloney 9. katie z. 10. Amanda

11. Rachel 12. Another Stitching Nana 13. Quilting Gail 14. Deana 15. Christina's Handicrafts

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To Do Tuesday: The First 2020 To Do List

The first Monday in 2020 has come and gone. It wasn't so bad. There will be a lot to get done at work this month, hopefully it can all get done with no overtime.  The first few days of 2020 have been good ones on the stitching front.  Two check marks on the list for last week, with a bit of progress on the third item.  Definitely not a bad week.  

Weekly To Do List (12/31/2019)
1. Twinkle Stars - Add final border✔
2. Winter Quilt Along - Finish Hour 5 and assemble sections✔
3.  Frolic - Finish Clue 3, progress on Clue 4 and 5, start on Clue 6 (progress made)

Bonnie surprised a few of us with a Frolic clue on New Year's, followed by the regular weekly clue on Friday.  I made progress on all the bits and pieces, but didn't finish off clue 3 as was the plan. But to balance that out, I've got two finished quilt tops out of last week's stitching.  So staying focused paid off.  

So what's the plan for this week?  

Weekly To Do List (1/7/2020)
1.  Twinkle Stars - decide on backing fabric, make back, prep back for quilting. 

The backing fabric actually got picked out last night. I bought some large yardage pieces from the end of year sale at Connecting threads with the intent of using it for quilt backings. The fabric has been washed and dried, so it will need to be pressed before I can start cutting and piecing the backing.  

2.  Frolic - Finish Clue 3, make progress on Clues 4, 5 6 and 7, start on clue 8.  

I'm only making half the blocks to start, so it's been easier to keep up. Lots of HSTs with this mystery, which can be slow going. But I'm making a few pieces every day, so hopefully I'll be able to put together a couple of blocks once we get to that point in the mystery. 

3.  Mosaic Mystery - Lay out blocks on design wall, start to assemble rows as leaders and enders project.  I really shouldn't start the assembly process, but I really want to see how my fabric choices work in this mystery, so we'll see how it goes working in the piecing as a leader and ender. Maybe once Twinkle Stars and the Winter Quilt Along projects get sent out for quilting, this project will become the focused finish.  It could happen.    

So what's on your to do list for the week?  I'm linking up with Home Sewn by Us for the weekly Tuesday To Do List Linky party.  I'm hoping to have three check marks on my list by next Tuesday. Good luck with your weekly list.  

The Week in Stitches

I'm grateful that we went back to work last Thursday. We had a short work week, then a weekend to gear up for the first Monday after the New Year.  So I'm not dreading today too much as I got a bit dug out last week at work plus got in some good relaxing and productive stitching time over the weekend. 

My word for 2020 is "Finish", as in clear off the UFO/WIP list a bit.  My strategy is to focus on mostly those projects that are almost to the end point.  That certainly paid off this weekend.  Twinkle Stars now has all it's borders, so it's a finally a finished flimsy! 

Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Angela Feldbush of Soscrappy

Adding that rainbow border and that final wide white border finally says finished to me.  Now to decide on the backing fabric and get that pieced.  The plan is to get this one sent out for quilting before the end of the month.  Fingers crossed that it's quilted and bound before the end of February.  That would be awesome! 

Staying focused for one more week paid off cause the Winter Quilt Along Mystery is now a finished flimsy too. 

Quiltgirl Winter Quilt Along
Alycia Quilts

Thanks Alycia for a fun and relatively fast end of the year mystery. Once Twinkle Stars has been shipped out for quilting, I'll find a backing for this project and hopefully get it out the door for quilting in early February.  This quilt will be donated to Quilts of Valor once it's all finished.  Hoping to get this one off the list before the end of March. 

So it was an excellent weekend for stitching. Now I just need to maintain my focus so the backs get made and the quilt tops get prepped so both quilts can be sent out for quilting.  Linking up with Monday Making and Monday Design Wall.  

Week 1 of 2020: Stitching Stuff

We are five days into 2020 already.  Our new year has been pretty low key, thankfully no repeat drama like we had at Christmas.  It's been back to work and getting back to a routine stitching schedule.  My routine is to head to the sewing room at about 7 PM each work day evening and then stitch for about an hour. On the weekends, it's housework in the mornings, then an afternoon of stitching.  If life gets hectic, then I work hard to find at least 15 minutes of stitching time whenever it will fit.  

Before I get to how this 2020 is going on the stitching front, here's the final numbers from 2019.  I want to end 2019 on 12/31 and start 2020 metrics with 1/1/2020. 

15 minute days/week =  3/3 days
15 minute days/December  = 30/31 days
15 minute days/2019 = 332/365 days
Success rate  = 90. 96%

So 2019 was a pretty good year in terms of finding time to stitch. I met my goal of stitching more than 90% of the time. So far 2020 has been pretty good too. 

15 minute days/week = 4/4 days
15 minute days/January = 4/4 days
15 minute days/2020 = 4/4 days
Success rate = 100%

So a strong finish for 2019 and a good start for 2020. How are doing at finding time to stitch in the new year? 

1. Marti 2. karen 3. Chrisknits 4. Julie in GA 5. Meloney 6. Another Stitching Nana 7. maggie f

8. Shasta @ High Road Quilter 9. di 10. katie z. 11. Deana 12. Loulee (Manxgirl) 13. Rachel 14. Amanda

15. DawnyK 16. Quilting & Learning - What a Combo! 17. Quilting Gail 18. Jennifer in Indy 19. Christina's Handicrafts

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2020 Rainbow Scrap Challenge

For the first time since I started participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I didn't end the year with a set of blocks ready for setting.  My 2019 RSC project was a rainbow version of Bonnie Hunter's Wild and Goosey pattern.  Those little blocks take a lot of time to piece, so I didn't get very far.  

Modified Wild and Goosey
Based on Bonnie Hunter's pattern in Addicted to Scraps

Not a bad stack from last year, but I still need to add purple and red-violet to the mix.  Plus I need lots more of each color (I have it figured out, but I'll spare you those details).  Since I'm trying to focus on finishes this year and limit new projects, the plan is to keep adding to the stack of Wild and Goosey blocks from 2019 as the 2020 RSC project. 

Linking up with Soscrappy for RSC Saturday and with Oh Scrap on Sunday.   

2020 Stitching Plans and Strategies

Happy New Year!  After a slow start to my new year's day, I'm getting ready to head to the sewing room for an afternoon of nothing but stitching. My word for 2020 is "Finish".  As of today, there are 26 in progress projects on my list, a record.  The goal is to whittle that down to less than ten. That probably won't happen in one year, but I'd like to get that number back into the teens this year.  I do better with a plan of attack and better yet if I've posted about my plan.  

Here's my 2020 list of quilts to finish.

One of my strategies is to play along with America Patchwork and Quilting's Facebook UFO Challenge.  There are two other monthly UFO programs I'm participating in; Quilting Gail's 2020 PhD program and Dreamworthy Quilt's UFO Challenge.  I'm using the same list for all three. The American Patchwork and Dreamworthy quilts each select a number from the list to work on, I'm not going to follow along with that part. My plan is to start with number one on my list and just go numerically.

So the quilt to be finished for January is Twinkle Stars.  

Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

It needs one last set of borders, a back made, prepped for quilting, packaging and sent out for quilting.  That should all be doable for this month. So that's my UFO for the month, as well as my One Monthly Goal for January.  

Linking up with 
Elm's Street One Monthly Goal
Quilting Gail's PhD
Dreamworthy Quilts UFO Challenge

Happy New Year