2024 Quilting Ambitions 2nd Quarter Check In

The end of June marks the end of the 2nd quarter for 2024.  It's a good time to check in how I'm doing on my quilting ambitions (goals) for the year. My quilting goals are much like my work goals used to be. I'd write up the goals at the beginning of the year and then forget about them. At work, my supervisor would schedule a midyear goal review, I'd look at them just before the meeting and inevitably there would be one or two goals I'd forgotten about completely.  My quilting goals are pretty much the same, I don't look at them often so forget what I promised myself. It's a good thing that Yvonne over at Quilting Jetgirl reminds you to look at your goals and link up with her 2024 Quilting Q2 Check In to report on your progress.  

So how am I doing on my ambitions?  

1. Make Quilts. This goal wasn't just about finishing, it was written to include making progress on a number of projects.  I'm a visual person, so the best way for me to gauge progress on this goal is to look at what my progress graph looked at the beginning of January versus how it looks now. 

January 1, 2024

June 30, 2024

There's been good progress in the quilts to be finished, blocks to be finished and new projects.  But there is still a long way to go to get more of those color bars farther across the chart. Several projects are close to meeting some of the milestones in the graph, so there should definitely be less white space by the end of third quarter. 

2. Learn to quilt.  I finally decided that a quilt as you go project would be a good place to start with this goal. Grandmother's Choice is one of my oldest UFOs and seemed to be a good candidate for quilt as you go. I'm working on finishing up the blocks. 

Once that's done, I'll focus more on doing some quilting exercises to build up my skills. Hopefully by the end of third quarter I'll have started quilting the blocks. 

3.  15 Minutes to Stitch (Stitching Stuff Linky Parties).  The goal was to stitch 15 minutes a day at least 75% of the time.  Amazingly, I'm still at 100% at mid year.  

This year is by far the best year I've ever had with getting in some stitching time most days.  It's become much more motivating now that I've kept it up this long, we'll see how long my 100% streak lasts.  

The unstated ambition here was to post a linky party all 52 weeks of the year.  At the end of 2nd quarter, 26 linky parties had been posted for all 26 weeks of the first half of the year.  So 100% on that goal as well.  Being retired has helped on this front. I'm not traveling as much and have more time to plan for busy weekends and get a post mostly ready to go so I'm not having to come up with a post when I'm pressed for time. 

4. Stash Organization.  There's been a lot of progress on this front during second quarter compared to almost none on this front during first quarter.  My focus is on scraps, yardage and organizing my fabric closet.  

On the scraps front:

The working scrap bin is empty, scrap bag #1 is empty and there has been some progress on scrap bag #2. So good progress there. 

Pressing and folding fabrics so they will fit on the fabric closet shelves has been a work in progress since last year.  It's been going pretty well this year. 

The bin filled was on March 31st and it was empty by May 25th.  The bin was refilled on June 9th.  It was still a work in progress at the end of June.  

The fabric closet was overflowing at the end of last year. 

 

It's still far from perfect, but there is some improvement. The fabric on top of the shelving unit was washed and pressed for storage in Texas, but needs to be refolded to better fit on these shelves that were added when we moved to Oklahoma. That messy pile on top was all moved to some empty drawers in Grad Girl's old room. That's the fabric going into the to be pressed bin for a quick retouch with the iron before refolding it. The wire cubes on top of the shelving were added at the end of 1st quarter.  They were almost empty then but are slowly filling up with the refolded fabrics.   

The fabric in the gray bin and on the floor hasn't been washed (I prewash my fabrics).  As I've moved the older fabrics out of the drawers, I've moved that fabric to the drawers. It's easier to get to the top two rows of the shelving now.  

This goal is still a work in progress and will likely continue into next year. But it's been nice to get the fabrics better organized so I can see what I have.  

5. Stretch goal: Consider if pattern creation/editing is something I want to do?

I've been busy working on my UFOs and getting the stash organized. That seems to be enough for me at the moment.  I have made the decision to take on a role that will allow me to use my chemistry and statistics know how. I'm still considering these options, but since I'm happy with where I'm at, there probably won't be any action on these this year.  

How would I do at a mid-year review of my progress?  There is progress on each of my goals.  Even if goal #5 isn't going to move ahead this year, something else took it's place. That's OK, life changes during the year and sometimes you end up going in a different direction. I'm a type A personality and always feel I could have done more. But considering all the knee problems that bothered me most of first quarter and having knee surgery during second quarter, I'm pretty happy with how things are going this year.     

Happy 4th of July!

 

June 2024 PHD Report

Hard to believe that we've already passed the half way mark on the year.  June was busy with lots of non sewing stuff, so though I managed to keep up with my stitching time, there's no progress in my PHD Report. 

No new starts, so that's a positive.  But no new finishes. Even so there was good progress towards making that happen in July.  

My second oldest UFO was moved along and underwent a name change as well.  What started as the Grandmother's Choice quilt along with Barbara Brackman is now Kate's Choice as I've been picking the blocks for this sampler. 

Almost two more rows of blocks have been added since the end of May.  Just two more rows of blocks left to make.  The plan for this quilt is to finish it as a quilt as you go.  I'm hoping to get to the quilting part before the end of third quarter.  We'll see how that goes.  

We went to Texas for a conference and some kitty sitting, so the travel project also saw a bit of progress. 

Since we have family time planned for the 4th of July holiday, it will see some additional progress in July. 

Work on the Wild and Goosey blocks (Bonnie Hunter) continued with the addition of a few new blue blocks.

I've been making these blocks in the RSC colors (So Scrappy).  July's color is teal.  Hopefully I can make some good progress on those.  

My one hope for a finish was the 2023 SAHRR (Quilting Gail).  But the USPS delivered my check for the quilter to the wrong address, so that delayed the shipping back to me.  

I did get the binding made and attached to the front, but there wasn't enough left of the month for me to finish the hand stitching to the back.  There will definitely be a finish for July.  

Indigo Way (Bonnie Hunter) inched along in June as well.  

The last 4 setting triangles are not quilt assembled, but I'm getting close.  I discovered as I was putting these blocks up on the wall, I've been laying out the rows incorrectly.  I'll need to stay on top of that when I get to assembly. 

The 2024 SAHRR was given a good press and de-threaded last weekend.

It was packaged and shipped out yesterday. So hopefully it will be quilted and back before the end of July.  It would be nice to have another finish before the next PHD report. 

I didn't quite get the Guild BOM caught up for June. 

July's block will be one of the 12" blocks, so it should go a bit faster than June's did. 

The June progress tracker shows one more bar almost all the way across the chart.  

Not much movement on the rest of the chart, but not all progress shows up well in a chart.  Next month there should be some more obvious changes in this chart (fingers crossed). 

Linking up with P Designs USA for the June PHD Report.  

To Do List for the Week of 07/02/2024

We had heavy rains with strong winds over the weekend, followed by high humidity which has made it just miserable to be outside.  I had to run errands a couple of days last week and came home needing naps afterwards. I'm pretty sure one day I got dehydrated and just felt crappy for most of the day.  All that to say, I didn't make as much progress on my to do list as I had hoped. 

To Do List 06/25/2024

1. 2024 SAHRR: Prep for quilting ✔

2. Kate's Choice: Continue making blocks ✔

3.  Guild BOM: Finish June block - progress

4. Wild and Goosey: Continue making blue blocks ✔

5.  Indigo Way: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

Not a bad week, the important to do items got done.  We have some plans to hang out with family over the 4th of July holiday.  So I probably won't get as much time in my sewing room this week, so my list will be pretty easy going.  

To Do List for 07/02/2024

1.  2024 SAHRR (Quilting Gail):  Package and mail

That should happen today. I need to find a box and print the label, but that's pretty easy. 

2.  Kate's Choice: Continue making blocks. 

I added one more block to the design wall yesterday.  I'm still playing with layouts for the blocks.  Probably a couple more weeks before all the blocks are made for this project. 

3. Guild BOM: Finish June block

The July block has already been posted, but it's one of the smaller 12" blocks.  Hopefully that means it will have fewer pieces to assemble.  

4. 2023 SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Hand stitch binding. 

The quilted top showed up late last week. Though it wasn't on my to do list last week, I took time to make the label and the binding.  Over the weekend the binding got sewn to the front and I started the hand stitching.  I turned the first corner last night, so three left.  I'm really excited to finish this quilt.  

5. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter):  Finish up blue blocks, start teal blocks

I have two blue blocks in progress, one of those is almost finished. So when I start the next block it will be teal. 

6. Indigo Way (Bonnie Hunter): Continue as my leaders and enders project. 

I finished one of the four remaining setting triangles.  I should finish all of them this week. Then it's assembly time!  

Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs will release the fabric requirements for this year's Marble Mystery tomorrow.  That will be my next new start. Cutting instructions will follow in August, but I tend to wait till the first clue comes out in September before I start cutting.  I need to finish off a few quilts between now and then.  The two SAHRR quilts will give me a bit of a start on that effort. 

Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday. Good luck with all your goals this week and for those in the US, have a very fun holiday. 

Progress on the Old and the New

It was nice to be home and be back in my sewing room for the week.  Summer has truly taken hold and it's far to hot to do much outside. At least that's my justification for all the sewing room time last week.  There was some good progress on the second oldest project. 

Another 4 blocks are up on the design wall and 2 more are under construction at the sewing machine.  

Just 9 blocks left to finish the planned layout.  Once the blocks are done, it will be time to spend some time practicing how to quilt on my domestic machine before I give the quilt as you go approach a try. 

Sunday afternoon was spent prepping the 2024 SAHRR for quilting. 

Thankfully the black and orange didn't require much in the way of de-threading, but the off white with the orange/gray/black stars frayed quite a bit.  Even so snipping loose threads and pressing didn't take to long.  Now I just need to find a box and get it shipped out for quilting. 

Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Patchwork & Quilts.