Wrapping up the June One Monthly Goal

It's been pretty much a do nothing Saturday.  We woke up and found three college girls asleep in the living room. The Scientist in training was home for the first time since summer semester started. This was the first chance since Christmas that the high school girlfriend pack has been able to meet up. So that meant I couldn't do too much of anything around the house. Which was 100% OK with me.  Work was just weird and wired this week, I was ready for a day of down time. 

It's the next to last day of June, which means it's past time to finish up this month's One Monthly Goal. 

My June goal was to finish off the Christmas Angels quilt. Actually, stitching down the binding got done last night, but I had to wait till we had good lighting in the library to get the final photos. Even with good daylight, the colors look a bit flat.  It really is much brighter in person.  

Christmas Angels (Heavenly Hosts)
Pattern by Kate
Started July 6, 2013, Finished June 29, 2019 

 Looking at the starting and finishing dates, almost exactly six years from when I started cutting the fabrics to when I finished the binding. 

Trudy's quilting is always gorgeous.  It's hard to tell in the photo but the thread is actually a gold color and has just a bit of shimmer to it.  Very festive, without screaming Christmas. 

Christmas Angels was number three on the 2019 Quilt Plan, which was supposed to have been finished in March.  Better late than never.  The last two finishes have been Christmas quilts.  So I'll have one for me to decorate and one for my SIL to use this holiday season.  

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts for the June One Monthly Goal. This is finish #3 for 2019 and takes the UFO count down by one, so it seems like a good fit to also link up with Tish's Adventures in Wonderland's  UFO Busting post. Christmas Angels was also on my Second Quarter 2019 Finish Along list. So I'll be linking up with the 2019 Finish Along - Second Quarter when that post comes out next week.  

Not Much Stitching Going On

It was nice to sleep in my own bed last night after a long weekend of packing, moving, graduation parties and hanging out with the family.  There wasn't a lot of time for stitching with all of that going on. Before I headed out Thursday morning to help the SIT move, I finished off one more Wild and Goosey block for a total of 14 so far this year.

These little blocks take a lot of stitching to finish off just one, so it's been slow going.  I've been following along with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge colors, the first orange block is sitting on the sewing machine partially finished.  This is definitely going to be a longer term project so it's good I like how these blocks are turning out. 

I took some hand stitching to work on during the trip, but never had a chance to haul it all out.  It was easier to work on the computer this trip, so I spent my "stitching time" working on the labels for the next two quilts on the to be finished list.  My justification for calling it stitching time is that I can't finish the projects without the labels, so getting them done helps move a project along the road to completion. 

The Christmas Angels quilt is back from being quilted, so getting that label finished was the priority.  

This label is close to finished. It needs the final message added for the intended recipient and may need some tweaking at the top. 

The next quilt on the to be finished list is Vintage Dresses. I've been struggling with the label for that one.  

This is my favorite version so far. but I'm far from done tweaking on this one. 

So not a lot of playing with fabric this week, but there was progress on some of the things that have to be done before the binding goes on.  Hope your week was more productive than mine.  Linking up with Main Crush Monday, Monday Making and the Monday Design Wall.   

Weekend Stitching: How's it Going?

Weekend's are definitely too short.  March was too short. April marks the start of the second quarter of 2019.  One fourth of the year is already over.  There's still three quarters of the year left. Seems like a good time to check on how well I'm doing with those lofty quilty goals outlined in this post for the 2019 Planning Party.  

First goal was UFO reduction.  The strategy for 2019 was to pick and prioritize 12 quilts.  I'd start with #1 on the list and work on it till it was done and then move on to #2.  So how's that working?  

Inverted Star was a finished flimsy at the beginning of the year, it needed a backing made and prepping for quilting.  

The binding was finished in March.  

Inverted Star (Second Star to the Right)
 Inverted Star block by Jessica Boschem of Common Threads available from Blueprint 

Setting by Kate, Started January 1, 2014, Finished March 11, 2019

The Christmas Mystery Quilt (HO HO HO) was the second quilt on the list.  It also needed a backing made and prepping for quilting.  My Guy also insisted that the nutcracker was too creepy, it needed a face stitched in.  

Christmas Mystery
designed by Carrie Randall (Quilter's Hideaway)

Those things got done.  The quilting is done, the binding and labels made.  The label's been pinned in place, I hope to start stitching on the binding tonight. This one should be finished by the end of April

Number three on my list was another Christmas quilt.  

This project needed borders added before it was ready for backing and prepping. 

 Christmas Angels
Pattern by Kate

The borders are done, the backing made and prepping for quilting happened was finished last night.  It's ready to go out for quilting.  

So projects are moving along, slowly, but they are moving.  All three of these projects were on my list for the 2019 Finish Along.  

My last two ambitions were on finding time to stitch and to sew from the stash.  I've managed to find stitching time 86 out of the 90 days so far this year.  That's not shabby at all.  Both new projects started this year, the Daisy Chain Mystery.

Daisy Chain Mystery
2019 Little Bunny Quilts Mystery
by Alison of Honey, Bunny & Doll Designs

and the Storm at Sea quilt

Storm at Sea
Paper Piecing Class by Carrie Randell (Quilter's Hideaway)

were made with stash fabrics.  I've added a bit of new fabric, but first quarter ended with more out of the stash then into the stash. 

So first quarter's been pretty good.  I'd probably do better at finishing projects if I'd quit starting new projects, but what's the fun in that?  

Hope your year has been productive. Linking up with the normal Monday linky parties and the 2019 First Quarter Finish Along when it's posted.  


Design Wall Monday
2019 First Quarter Finish Along

March One Monthly Goal: Completed

There's just a few more hours left in March. Thankfully there was enough time today to finish up the month's One Monthly Goal.

The plan for this month was to get the Christmas Angels quilt prepped and packaged so it could be sent off to be quilted.  I just barely managed to get the finished flimsy pressed and de-threaded before dinner tonight.

The green fabric frayed pretty easily.  It took a bit of fussing to get rid of the green strings and the other loose threads from the back.  There was a box in the attic stash that would fit the flimsy, backing and batting.  All that's left is to tape up the box and write up a label.  

Prepping a quilt to go out for quilting is my least favorite sewing room activity.  I tend to put it off for as long as possible. Making it a monthly goal is usually the driver I need to make that happen. I didn't quite take it up to the 11th hour, but it's close this month.  

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts' March One Monthly Goal Finish Linkly party.

Life in Pieces Week 13 of 2019: Stitching and Destashing

It's been a long week. There's a few changes going on at work that have been uncomfortable, consequently there's been a bit of drama.  Getting in my 15 minutes to stitch each day has been very necessary to maintaining my sanity this week.  

Consequently my stats look pretty good on that front this week. 

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/March = 29/30 days
15 minute days/2019 = 85/89 days
Success rate = 95.51%

I'm really happy with my success rate for the year.  I'm only missing 4 days of stitching. Not bad for the first quarter.  You can share how your efforts at finding time to play with fabric and thread  are going by linking up below.

The stash report looks pretty sad in comparison.

Fabric out this week = 0.03 yards
Fabric out in 2019 = 17.48 yards
More out than in for 2019

The only fabric out for the week was a Wild and Goosey block.  Those little blocks don't use a lot of fabric.  But I'm ending the quarter with more fabric out than in, so that's looking good too.  Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash report.  

The focus this week has been on my One Monthly Goal, getting Christmas Angels ready for  quilting.  It's been a good project for my 15 minutes a night.  

The dark green frayed badly, so there are a lot of very dark threads that need to be removed from the back so they don't show through after quilting.  I've got two of the five rows cleaned up.  Hopefully I can finish that today to meet my OMG.  

Did you have a great, good or dismal week on the stitching front?

1. Julie in GA 2. Chrisknits 3. Meloney F 4. maggie f

5. di 6. Shasta 7. Angie in SoCal 8. Deana

9. Amanda 10. Christina's Handicrafts

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

Weekend Stitching: Contemplating the March One Monthly Goal

We ended up with about an inch of snow on the ground yesterday and bitterly cold temps. With the wind chill it feels like -7 F outside this morning.  Schools are out today, not because of bad roads, but because it's too cold to have the kids standing out at the bus stop.  It would be a good day to continue stitching in my warm sewing room, but work is not canceled.  Bummer. 

Hard to believe it's March with the temps being so low, usually we've warmed up by this point.  Warm or not, it's still a new month, so it's time to decide on a new One Monthly Goal.  

The 2019 stitching strategy is to keep working on those quilts closest to being finished rather than moving on to a new UFO each month.  So I've been trying to pick a one monthly goal that's doable, but moves a project closer to finished. There are actually three project closing in on finished, any one of those would be a good choice for this month. 

Inverted Star is in the binding stage.

I've just about to turn corner number three on this project, so it's likely this one will get done even if it's not the one monthly goal.

The Christmas Mystery Quilt is back from the quilter and it needs binding.  I've started evaluating fabric options for that. There's this striped left over from a previous holiday quilt. 

Or this red.

I don't have enough of the red used in the sashing to make a binding with, but this red is pretty close.  The other option would be a dark green, but I didn't get that far into the stash options yesterday. 

The last possibility for the March One Monthly Goal would be to get the Christmas Angels quilt cleaned up, pressed, and sent out for quilting.  The back is pieced, cleaned up, pressed and already packaged for shipment. 

So I just need to get the top ready to go.  Prepping for quilting is the step I tend to stall on.  I don't mind doing the back, but the finished flimsy always takes longer.  

Christmas Angels
Pattern by Kate

If I make it my One Monthly Goal, it's more likely to get done.  The other two will probably get done without any extra prompting. So that's my OMG for March, get Christmas Angels prepped and shipped out for quilting. 

Linking up with the Elm Street Quilts for the March OMG and the other usual Monday linky parties, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Monday Design Wall.        

Weekend Stitching: Moving Things Along

This weekend just flew by.  We judged Science Fair Saturday morning, then headed out of town to see the Scientist in Training.  She's a bit slammed with homework and exams, so couldn't come home this weekend.  So we took her out to dinner on Saturday night and then to brunch on Sunday before we headed back. It was a quick trip, but a good one.  She'll be home for spring break in about 3 weeks.  

We were off work Friday, so I spent as much time as I could in the sewing room, it was too cold and rainy to do much else.  By mid Friday afternoon, I'd finished my February One Monthly Goal. 

The plan for February was to get all the borders on the Christmas Angels quilt. 

Christmas Angels
Pattern by Kate

All those borders are now in place, Christmas Angels is a finished flimsy.  I'm really happy with how this quilt turned out, though the photo's not great.  I just didn't have time to get a good one with all the other stuff going on this weekend.  It's easier to see that the dark fabric is green from the right side of the photo. Here's a close up that shows the fabrics better. 

The quilt has not been pressed yet, so please ignore all the wrinkles.  

The backing fabrics have been selected from the stash, a piecing plan worked out, the fabrics cut to size and stitching started.  So I should have a back ready before next weekend.  Then comes the not fun step of cleaning up the loose threads and pressing both the flimsy and the back.  My least favorite step of the process.  Even so, I'm hoping to have this project sent off to be quilted before mid-March.  

That's it for me this week.  Linking up with:

One Monthly Goal

Monday Making

Main Crush Monday

Monday Design Wall

Weekend Stitching: What's Next, The Down Side of Multi-Tasking

We talked with the Scientist in Training last night.  She said she was really sad at how fast Sunday came this week.  The semester is going so fast, but yet the weeks seem to drag.  Yep, that's how I'm feeling about this winter.  Half way through February, but boy getting from Monday to Friday at work has been a chore!  

It was nice to spend some quality time in the sewing room over the weekend.  By Sunday though, I realized it was time to stop and take stock of what each project needed to keep moving it towards a finish. 

First up was Inverted Star.  The SIT finally wrote a message for the label.  So that got printed up, rinsed and laid out to dry.  So it should be ready to use today.  Next step was to figure out what to use for the binding. 

Since the quilt is for on of the SITs buddies, I let her choose.  She went with the darker blue. 

The binding strips are all cut and I've started sewing them together.  

The Christmas Mystery quilt finally made it to the post office last week (between work and the weather, that wasn't an easy task). Trudy is now contemplating how to quilt it.  I need to finish the label, so it's ready to go when the quilt comes back in another week or so.  

The last round of borders is going on Christmas Angels. The quilt has gotten too big to photograph on the design wall so no photos.  Just two more strips and it will be a finished flimsy.  So it's time to raid the stash for a backing fabric.  

The stack of Good Fortune blocks is growing.

Good Fortune, 2018 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

I was contemplating changing the layout to a 5 x 7 block setting with sashing to help the black blend in.  If I do that, the border blocks which have already been made won't fit right.  I don't have enough blocks for the 5 X 7 setting, so for now I'll make enough blocks for that setting and then reassess.  I really need to play with the potential borders in EQ so I know how many blocks to make and where I'm going with this project so it doesn't stall.  


Next up was to figure out where I'm going with On Ringo Lake, my leaders and enders project.  

On Ringo Lake
Bonnie Hunter 2017 Mystery Quilt

I've got 22 blocks finished.  I need 32 for my on point layout.  I have all the nine patches needed for the centers, but need more flying geese and HSTs.  I need to cut the fabric to finish those remaining 10 blocks.  I also still need to make all the sashing pieces too.  There was a stack of black squares that had been cut to the wrong size for the flying geese.  Those were trimmed up to use on the sashing strips.  I'll stitch on the sashing pieces till I get a chance to cut a bit more fabric to finish the blocks. 

Hopefully if I stick to my new to do list, there will be a couple of finishes to celebrate soon.  Linking up with:

Monday Making
Monday Design Wall

Weekend Stitching: Steady Progress

It was a good weekend to stay in and sew, which is pretty much what I did. British Baking on Netflix and a few cups of coffee, made for some very relaxing stitching time.  

First on the list was round two of borders for the Christmas Angels quilt. 

Christmas Angels, Pattern by Kate

The quilt is really straight, the photo was taken at an odd angle as the quilt has gotten to big to photograph easily.  Just one more beige border and it will be time to add the final dark green border.  So I'm on track with my February One Monthly Goal.  

The Good Fortune blocks had to come down to put up the Angels flimsy. 

Good Fortune, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

As the number of blocks on the design wall increase, the better I like it.  I've decided to go for a 5 X 7 block layout.  So I'm just over half way done with making the blocks. 

Lastly, I finished the 4th red Wild and Goosey block.

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

So I could lay them out to see how one block is going to look.  I'm really happy with how these are working out.  I need to get started on making some yellow ones this week.  

That's pretty much it from the sewing room.  I am hoping to take my bonus day off this Friday, but with everything going on at work, that may not happen.  Fingers crossed there.  

Linking up with:

Monday Making
Main Crush Monday
Monday Design Wall

February One Monthly Goal - Still Dithering

Tomorrow is the 7th of February and I've yet to choose a One Monthly Goal for February. 

I'm having a hard time deciding between three different goals. 

1.  Inverted Star is quilted and just needs to have the label completed, the binding made and then sewn on.  Here's the Scientist in Training approved label. 

Unfortunately, the SIT is studying for her Organic I exam on Friday this week, so it's not likely I'll get anything from her before the weekend.  But then she has a physics test and a differential equations test the following week, so I may not get anything out of her till the end of the month.  Maybe it's best to decide on what to use for the binding, get that made, but not try to get this one completely done by the end of the month.  So what else is on the list as a potential OMG?  

2.  Christmas Angels needs the borders added, backing made and to be prepped for quilting. 

Christmas Angels, Pattern by Kate

It's been crazy at work, plus it's a short month.  I could probably get the borders added by the end of the month, but not the backing and the prepping.  Or I could go completely off script for February's OMG.  

3.  Get all the pieces cut for a new mystery quilt along over at Little Bunny Quilts. 

The cutting instructions come out the 18th, so I'd still have time to get that done by the end of the month. But the push for this year was to focus on the older quilts on the UFO list.  So hmmm.  

So what's my February OMG?   I'm going to stick to my plan to focus on getting projects moved off the UFO list.  The most doable thing that adheres to the 2019 plan is getting the borders on the Christmas Angels quilt. So that's the goal for Febuary 2019.   If I get the backing made, that will be a bonus.  

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts for the February One Monthly Goal.  

Weekend Stitching: This and That

It was nice to have a slower paced weekend.  The Aleve hasn't worked miracles, but I was able to sleep through the night last night and can walk without pain today.  Fingers crossed that sciatic nerve problem is in remission for now.   Even better, being able to navigate the stairs meant there was actually some progress in the sewing room this weekend. 

First off the list was the Christmas Mystery quilt. 

The flimsy has been de-threaded and pressed.  I need to check out what other boxes are in the attic, this one is a bit big. This mystery quilt should make it to the post office sometime this week.  

Now that the Christmas Mystery quilt is ready to go out for quilting and Inverted Star is not yet back from the quilter, it was time to work on number 3 on my 2019 quilt plan, Christmas Angels. 

Christmas Angels
Pattern by Kate

The first two side borders are on.  I've got the top and bottom border strips ready to go.  These skinny red borders will be followed by a beige border and the quilt will be finished off with a dark green border.  The borders should get done this month and maybe the backing.  Not sure it will get prepped for quilting, but it will definitely be closer to being finished. This quilt was started in 2013, it's definitely time to get it off the UFO list.  

I'm still slowly moving along with the Good Fortune blocks.

Good Fortune
2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

I've decided to reduce the size of this one to 5 blocks by 7 blocks.  I've also been playing around in EQ, adding a black or purple sashing helps the incorporate the black into the design better.  So I will probably go that route.  Not sure what I'm going to do about the borders.  I'll cross that bridge when I get there. I do hope to be able to use some of the border blocks that have already been made, but we'll see how that goes when I get that far. 

Good Fortune is probably coming off the design wall this month and going inactive as there is a new project waiting in the wings. 

The Daisy Chain Mystery Quilt along over at Little Bunny Quilts kicks off today with the posting of the fabric requirements.  Alison has hosted a number of quilt alongs and I've always passed, but this one looked like fun.  

Now it's time to get ready for work. Bummer.   Linking up with the usual Monday linky parties. 

Main Crush Monday
Monday Making
Monday Design Wall

May 2018 Wrap Up

Hooray for Friday!  The week back to work after vacation is always a bit of a madhouse, so I'm glad this one is over.  I've had a nice little nap in the recliner this evening.  So hopefully that means I'll have enough energy to go stitch for a bit once I finish this blog post. 

In addition to being the end of the week, it's the start of a new month.  So how did things go in the sewing room last month?   I didn't reach my One Monthly Goal for May.  

So that's a bit of a disappointment.  I really shouldn't be, there was a lot of progress for a month where work took over my evenings one week and we took a family vacation for another week.  The May OMG was to get this stack of blocks into a finished flimsy.

The flimsy not's finished, but all the blocks got sewn together. 

Christmas Angels Pattern by Kate

Plus the one of the pieced border strips is attached and almost all the blocks are made for the rest of the pieced border.  I'm just missing 4. There are two more borders after the pieced one. So the quilt isn't as far along as I had hoped, but it's definitely farther along than at the beginning of the month.  Progress is good.  

There was progress on Vintage Dresses too.

 Vintage Dresses by Charise Randell

All the rows are sewn together. Now that borders have been worked out, it's time to audition some fabrics.  

The last bit of progress was getting the yellow blocks for the Squared Away Sampler finished. 

 Squared Away Sampler designed by Mari (The Academic Quilter) and Angela of Soscrappy

But there's been no progress on the pink blocks for May.  The color for June is teal and turquoise, so now I'm two months behind on this project.  

Considering how crazy May was, it's amazing that anything got moved along.  I'm hoping that June is a lot calmer and provides the opportunity for more stitching time.  Have a great weekend.  I'm off to figure out what's the priority list for June.  

Butterflies and Angels: Vacation 2018

Wishing everyone in the United States a safe and reflective Memorial Day.  We drove home yesterday, in part to avoid the end of the holiday weekend traffic and so we'd have one day to recuperate from vacation before heading back to work.  We had a fun vacation, though it was shorter than usual.  The Scientist in Training is heading back for summer school this year and My Guy has business trips in the works, so we didn't have a big window for scheduling things this year.   

Most of my stitching time this week was spent on one of my long term travel projects, the butterfly medallion panel.  I spent most of the week working on butterfly number 3 (out of 9 on the panel).

I keep planning to work on this while we are home, but I never remember to pull it out of it's case (hence all the folds and wrinkles).  

Since we got home early Sunday afternoon, I was able to get a good start on the laundry, then go spend the evening in my sewing room.  All the rows of the Christmas Angels quilt are now sewn together. 

Getting this to the finished flimsy stage is my OMG for May.  The plan is to spend most of today in the sewing room.  My Guy is off on a 70 mile bike ride and the SIT has plans with friends.  So I'll have the house to myself for most of the morning.  Hopefully I can get the center all sewn together, finish the pieced border, plus add the two strip borders before the end of May.  

That's all the quilty stuff for this post, so you can stop here if that's what you stopped by to see.  You can read on if you are interested in seeing a few vacation photos.  

Due to the changing dates of My Guy's business trips we opted for a close to home vacation this year.  We spent some time in Missouri Wine Country to start. 

A little wine is always a great way to start vacation. Stone Hill is one of our favorite wineries and we can highly recommend both the wines and their Vintage Restaurant. It's a must visit any time we are in the area. 

We spent the rest of our vacation in the St. Louis area.  Doing the expected things, like visiting the Botanical Gardens. 

Yes, I have lots and lots of pictures of beautiful flowers, but I really loved these leaves.  They look like someone tried to paint them green.  

My Guy and I are both from Missouri.  We were chagrined to realize a few years ago that the SIT had never seen the Gateway Arch.  It's such an iconic part of the state, we really felt it was remiss of us that we'd never taken her.  So we did that this trip. 

Now she's been there, been up in it, so that's checked off the list.  

We also visited the St. Louis Art Museum, but I don't have any photos from that visit.  It's not hard to guess our next activity from the below photo. 

I was amazed to find out the St. Louis Zoo is free if all you want to do is see the animals.  We had a wonderful time, it really is a great place to spend a morning. Schools in the St. Louis area had classes until Friday.  The zoo was really, really busy the morning we went.  I can't imagine what it will be like this next week.  


Our last outing was a place called The City Museum.  

Yes, that's a school bus hanging out from the 10th floor of the museum.  SIT said the listing for the museum said it was a place containing interactive displays of art.  It really was a cross between an art museum and an amusement park.  We had a lot of fun, but we were all a little sore that night from crawling around the caves and other exhibits.  If you have older kids (tweens and teens) this is a great place for them to burn off any extra energy.  

In between all the site seeing we ate a lot of great food (mostly, there were a couple of questionable meals), My Guy rode his bike on the Katy Trail in the mornings while the SIT and I shopped in Old Town St. Charles. It worked for all of us.  Now to finish off all the accumulated laundry and spend some much needed R&R time in the sewing room.    

Linking up with:
Monday Making
Monday Design Wall