Checking One Off the To Do List

It's been a whirlwind month.  April started with a week long business trip, followed by two weeks of some type of respiratory crud, a trip to see the Scientist in Training for Easter and then a weekend away for a family wedding.  Not a lot of time for stitching, so I wasn't sure that my "to do" item for the April One Monthly Goal was going to get checked off the list. 

The plan was to finish the binding on the Christmas Mystery quilt. With all the travel and not feeling well, it wasn't as easy to get all those hand stitches in, but that did happen last week.  I finally got decent pictures last night, just in time to post today. 

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

This was a fun mystery quilt along. I also learned how to make a Dresden plate block, that was a new skill.  My favorite block is probably the nutcracker.  I embroidered on facial features because My Guy thought it was too creepy left blank. My Guy was right, the nutcracker looks more finished and polished with the mustache.  The poinsettia border fabric has been in the stash forever.   The blocks were made from scraps and left overs from other projects. I can't claim it emptied any of the stash bins, but no new fabric was added.  

I'm pretty pleased with the label.

Yes, I know it says March 2019. It was supposed to have been finished last month, but it didn't happen.  In 10 years it won't matter if it got finished in March or April, it was at least finished in the right year.  I'm planning to keep this one for myself to use at Christmas time.  

The talented Trudy custom quilted this one with a swirly beard and swirling snowflakes in the block backgrounds. She kept the whimsy I was aiming for with the quilting.  

This is quilt finish number 2 for 2019.  So I'm 1/6th of the way to finishing off my UFO PHD for 2019.

Just ten more UFOs and three new starts to finish off before December 31st.  I may be just getting a bachelors degree this year.

Linking up with The One Monthly Goal April Finishes, Monday Making and Design Wall Monday.  Ho Ho Ho is also on my second quarter list for the 2nd Quarter 2019 Finish Along, so I'll be linking up there come July.  

Weekend Stitching: Good to Be Home

After a hectic business trip to the West Coast last week, I've spent most of the weekend trying to recover from the sinus crude that showed up while I was on the road. I'm still feeling pretty crappy, but at least the fever is gone.  It's nice to be home.  The sewing room doesn't have magical healing properties, but it was as great distraction from my symptoms.  

I spent some recovery time just sitting and hand stitching the binding for Christmas Mystery quilt, while binge watching the Great British Baking Show on Netflix. 

I'm just about to turn the third corner. So this project should reach the finish line before the end of the week.  

Progress was also made on the Storm at Sea quilt. 

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

All the dark blue Economy blocks are finished, I'm still working on the paper pieced dark blue diamonds.  There's a stack of unfinished  diamonds over at the sewing machine.  Hopefully, I'll be ready to start on the purple blocks sometime this week.  I'm really liking how this project is coming together.  

That's it for this week.  Linking up with the regular Monday show and tell linkies. 

Monday Making
Monday Design Wall

2019 Finish Along: Second Quarter Ambitions

We are already at the end of the second week in April,  almost half way through the first month of the second quarter.  The linky party for the Second Quarter 2019 Finish Along is up and running.

So it's time to focus on what might become a finish before the end of the quarter.  Back in December of last year, I put together a list of quilts to finish up in 2019.  So far only one quilt has come off the list, but I'm close too finishes on the next two.  So those will definitely go on the list for second quarter.

1.  Christmas Mystery Quilt (Ho Ho Ho) - Just needs the binding sewn to the back.  

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

2.  Christmas Angels - Ready to be sent out for quilting

Christmas Angels
Pattern by Kate

The last three quilts all need quite a bit of work.  I doubt all three will get finished this quarter, but they'll go on the list in hopes I'm really, really motivated the next couple of months. 

3.  Vintage Dresses - Needs borders, backing, prepping, quilting and binding. 

 Vintage Dresses by dress blocks by Charise Randell, setting by Kate

4.  Red, White and Blue Stars - Blocks done.  Needs sashing and broders, backing, prepping, quilting and binding.

White and Blue Stars

Setting by Kate

5.  Twinkle Stars - Needs assembly, backing, prepping, quilting and binding.

Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

  

Being realistic, the first three quilts on the list should make it to completion this quarter.  I really hope to make really good progress on number 4, but doubt that number 5 progresses any this quarter. 

Linking up with the 2019 Second Quarter Quilt Along post.  Wishing you a fun, productive and quilty second quarter.  

April To Do's

Six days into the a new month and it's already been a bit of a madhouse.  Unfortunately, it's not going to get a lot better anytime soon.  A week long business trip, Easter and a family wedding are going to keep me pretty busy this month.  So the April One Monthly Goal needs to be a pretty light one. 

There's lots to choose from, but not a lot of it is doable based on the time I'll have in the sewing room.  Based my time constraints this month, finishing off the Christmas Mystery quilt is probably  doable. 

The binding has been sewn to the front of the quilt.  As of last night, I had turned one corner with the stitching the binding to the back.  It's a small quilt, so I should be able to finish it up even with a packed calendar.  

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

Weekend Stitching: Rainy Days and Storms At Sea

Saturday was stormy and cold.  The Scientist in Training and I headed out for a necessary shopping expedition anyway.  The SIT has a poster presentation over her undergraduate research at a regional chemistry conference in a couple of weeks and needed to add some professional attire to her college wardrobe of jeans and graphic tees.  Plus we have a family wedding coming up at the end of April, so both of us needed dresses for that.  We found slacks, shirt and a jacket for the SIT, plus wedding appropriate dresses for both of us.  That accomplished we had lunch in Tulsa and then drove home in very heavy rain.  

Once we got home, she started on some organic chemistry homework, so I spent the rest of the rainy afternoon up in my sewing room finishing off a few more blocks for the Storm at Sea quilt. 

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

I really love the bright colors in this project.  On Sunday, I finished cutting all the dark blue pieces and started assembling those blocks.  The large diamonds are paper pieced, the other blocks are not.  I still need to cut the fabric to make the purple blocks.  Once I do that I can easily finish off a few more economy blocks that go in the bottom corner.  

Between starting the Storm at Sea and the Daisy Chain Mystery this month, I've lost a bit of momentum on my quilt plan.  Inverted Star was finished last week, next on the 2019 list is the Christmas Mystery quilt.  It's quilted, but needed to be trimmed up for binding.  The trimming got done, as did stitching together the binding strips. I was getting ready to sew the binding on to the front of the quilt, then remembered the label wasn't ready. 

The label was finished, printed, soaked, rinsed per the instructions, and dried.  It's sitting by the sewing machine ready for the framing strips.  The label says this will be finished in March 2019, that may be a bit optimistic. We'll see. 

It's Monday, so there are lots of fun linky parties to check out.  My favorites are Main Crush Monday, Monday Design Wall, and Monday Making.

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: 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: 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

Last Monday Check In: One Monthly Goal, PHD, and 2019 Strategy Progress

It's the last Monday in January, seems like a good time to see how my sewing room strategies for 2019 are working.  I really want to move some UFOs off the list this year.  

First up, the January One Monthly Goal was to get Inverted Star sent out for quilting.  

All that got done and the box actually made it to the post office.  It should come back in a couple of weeks.  Fingers crossed this one gets finished before the end of February. 

With Inverted Star sent off, I moved on to the second quilt on this year's UFO Challenge, The Christmas Mystery quilt. 

Mr. Nutcracker got a face and the backing was pieced.  The back has been de-threaded and pressed.  It's ready to be shipped out for quilting.  The next step is to prep the finished flimsy.  That should happen this week.  So there's still a chance this one also gets finished in February.  

In other stitching, I got a start on this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge Wild and Goosey blocks.

There's been progress on this year's Bonnie Hunter Mystery, Good Fortune. 

Good Fortune, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

I've actually gotten a few more blocks made, but apparently there hasn't been a new photo of that progress.

Lastly, a few more blocks of On Ringo Lake, the current leaders and enders project, have made it to the design wall. 

On Ringo Lake
Bonnie Hunter 2017 Mystery Quilt

There's been good progress this month on multiple fronts, but I've not made much visible progress towards my 2019 PHD.

All my report shows is one new start.  

Fingers crossed there's two off the list by the end of February.  

Linking up with the usual Monday linky parties. 

Monday Making
Main Crush Monday
Monday Design Wall
One Monthly Goal  

Weekend Stitching: Back to the Fun Stuff

It was bitterly cold all weekend.  Perfect weather to just hang out around the house.  Once a few household chores were out of the way, I migrated to the sewing room for the rest of the weekend.  

First on the list was to finish the not fun stuff from last weekend: prepping Inverted Star for quilting.  ✔

It took a couple of hours to finish off the prep work.  I found the right size box in the left over pile from Christmas. The box needs to be taped shut and a label added then it will be ready to mail to Trudy.  Getting Inverted Star shipped out for quilting was my January one monthly goal.  It should go out in the mail tomorrow.  It's nice to get that one checked off before the end of the month. 

Looking at the project plan for this year, next on the list to finish is the Christmas Mystery quilt.  It's not a year old yet, so it's not on the UFO list, but getting it finished will keep it off the list. Since the plan this year is to get in a few finishes, no reason not to pull this project out and figure out what's next for it.   First step was to address the creepy blank face of the nutcracker (which really bugged My Guy). 

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

I used dark gray embroidery thread to stitch in a few facial features. I'm happy with how it came out, so is My Guy.  No more creepy, faceless Nutcracker.  

Next step was to figure out the backing fabric and get that pieced.  Most of the quilt was made from scraps and fat quarters, so there wasn't any left over yardage to pick from there. After staring at the various piles in the fabric closet, I came across a green and gold print.  Not a Christmas print, but I think it will work for the back. 

It's got the same green tones as the print used for one of the Dresden Plate blocks.  I'm planning to bind this in either red or dark green.  That backing would work with either.  It didn't take long to piece the backing, this quilt isn't a very large just 52" X 64".  Next step is to give both the flimsy and the back a good press, then clean up the loose threads on both.  I'll probably wait till next weekend to get started on that.  Since this project used a medium gray, I won't have to worry to much about the threads showing through, except in the blocks that use white fabrics.  So hopefully that process will go faster with than it did with Inverted Star.   

That's it for me this week.  Linking up with the usual Monday linky parties:

Main Crush Monday
Monday Making
Monday Design Wall