To Do Tuesday - Balancing Act

My holiday vacation hasn't gone exactly to plan.  I really thought there would be more time for stitching. My holiday to do list has been longer than my stitching to do list, with time critical items on it.  But I'm working my way through that list; just three more big items on it and I'll be able to focus a bit more on my stitching to do list.  Last week's to do list reflects my divided focus. 

Weekly To Do List for 12/10/2019
1. Twinkle Stars - Add rainbow borders - progress
2. Frolic - Start Clue 3, make progress on clue 1 and 2  ✔
3. Mosaic Mystery quilt - finish the December clue - progress
4. Winter quilt along - Finish clues 3 and 4, start clue 5 - progress

Only one check mark last week, but progress was made on each project. So not so bad for a busy week.

Today is my last day of work for the year.  But we do have some things to do around the house. Still I'm going to push for a nothing but stitching day sometime in the next week. Fingers crossed that means lots of progress on the to do list. 

Weekly To Do List for 12/17/2019
1. Twinkle Stars - Finish rainbow border, add final white border.

Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

One rainbow border is on, so just three more to go.  It would be nice to get this to finished flimsy by the end of the week. 

2. Frolic - Finish clue 1, make progress on clue 3 and start clue 4. 

3.  Winter Quilt Along - Finish hours 4 and 5, assemble sections.

Quiltgirl Winter Quilt Along
Alycia Quilts

Section 1 is finished (forgot to get a new photo) and section 2 is started.  I'm hopeful this will be a finished flimsy by the end of the month. 

4. Mosaic Mystery - Finish the December Clue

5. 2019 Christmas Mystery Quilt - Finish sashing and add borders.

2019 Christmas Mystery
designed by Carrie Randall (Quilter's Hideaway)

Usually I stick with just 4 to do items, but I'm optimistic that I'll have more stitching time this week than normal.  It would be nice to get this little quilt moved to the finished flimsy stage. 

That's a pretty ambitious list for me.  If I can make good progress on the list, it will set me up to start 2020 with three finishes.  That would be really, really nice.  

Good luck with your to do list.  Linking up with Home Sewn By US for Tuesday To Do.  

Bordering Again

We are slated to get ice this morning, changing to snow this afternoon.  It's nice to be off work when we have that kind of weather. Too much to do to have a nothing but sewing day, but I hope to get in some good stitching time this afternoon.  I spent the weekend at my Mom's, hanging out with the women in the family, including the Scientist In Training.  Finals are over, so she's home for the next four weeks. There's been discussion about some Christmas shopping here in town, we'll have to see just how much ice/snow we get.  

The biggest focus last week was to get Christmas stuff wrapped so I could take all the packages with me to Mom's. That happened, but so did an annoying headache, so not much got done in the sewing room that first day of holiday vacation.  The most visible progress on the stitching stuff is the progress on the borders for Twinkle Stars.

 Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

The first border has been added.  The strips cut for the others.

Is that dark green too dark for the other fabrics?  Should it be replaced with a more medium green? I'm concerned it may be too dark and compete, not complement the center.   

Due to an emergency at work on Friday, I didn't get any Frolic HSTs made.  I left for my visit at Mom's after that situation was resolved.  There definitely will be some HSTs on the agenda this afternoon.

Linking up with Monday Making and Monday Design Wall.   

Week 50 of 2019: Stitching Stuff

It's been a mixed week.  My holiday vacation started on Thursday, though I do have to go in for a day this week.  It hasn't been all stitching time, cleaning house, Christmas shopping, and present wrapping have been on the agenda as well.  There is lots of extra stuff to do this time of year. How are you doing at working in at least 15 minutes of stitching time each day? 

I had a good week, though there hasn't yet been a nothing but sewing day.  Hopefully I'll be able to work in one or maybe even two of those while I'm off work.  At least this week most of my sewing sessions were an hour or more. Getting off work on time really makes it much easier to find the sewing room at night.

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/December = 14/14 days
15 minute days/2019 = 316/348 days
Success rate = 90.8% 

It's been a good year for getting in stitching time, not as good at finishing projects this year. But there was a lot of progress on the newer projects. So as usual a mixed bag.

How are you doing at working in some stitching time along with the holiday preparations?  

1. Julie in GA 2. karen

3. Amanda 4. Meloney

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To Do Tuesday: Start of the Holiday Vacation

Just three more days that I have to get up, get dressed and drive to work for 2020.  I was going to say just three more days of work for the year, but that's not quite true. I'm going to have to work a bit while I'm off. But if I spend an hour a day on the work computer most days of vacation, the reward is I should be able to check off a few big things on my work "to do" list and I'll start the new work year on better footing.  That's worth the hour a day out of my fun time.  

The stitching "to do" list from last week has more check marks than I expected to have. 

Weekly To Do List for 12/2/2019
1.  Twinkle Stars - Add last two borders - progress
2.  Frolic- Start Clue 2, make progress on clue 1 ✔
3.  Mosaic Mystery - finish November's clue ✔
4. Winter Quilt Along - finish clue 2 and clue 3 - progress

Last week was pretty brutal in terms of overtime worked.  So the   two check marks is two more than I thought I'd get.  Add in there was a bit of progress with the Winter Quilt Along  and Twinkle Stars too, it was a more reasonable week then I expected.  Most evenings I barely got in 15 minutes of stitching time. 

My holiday vacation kinda starts on Thursday.  I have to work next Tuesday because there are some key meetings my supervisor asked me not to miss.  But there is Christmas to get ready for.  The tree's not up yet and there are gifts to wrap. So I'm not going to get too ambitious with the list for this week as much as I'm tempted to start adding more than four items.  

Weekly To Do List for 12/10/2019
1. Twinkle Stars - Add the rainbow border. 

I've gotten started cutting and stitching the different fabrics together.  The plan for this week is to get this border stitched together and then stitched on.  

2.  Frolic - Make progress on clues 1 and 2, plus get started on clue 3 when it comes out on Friday. 

3.  Winter Quilt Along - Finish Hour 3 and Hour 4 clues, plus make a start on the clue for hour 5.  

Quiltgirl Winter Quilt Along
Alycia Quilts

I finally finished the Hour 2 clue.  Hour 3 was all up on the design wall yesterday, but last night I was able to get row 1 and 2 pinned together so it can be stitched.  I should have time tonight to make more progress on this section so I can move on to the Hour 4 clue before Alycia releases Hour 5 tomorrow. 

4.  Mosaic Mystery - Finish the December Clue

That's my list for this week.  Work is finally started to slow down a bit, so the working overtime should be finished for the year.  I should be able to check off all four from my list next week.  That will feel really good. 

Linking up with Home Sewn by Us for To Do Tuesday.  

Weekend Mental Health Stitching

Once I finish the reports that are due tomorrow, things at work should slow down a bit. Fingers crossed that's the case anyway.  I made headway today, but took a break after six hours of report writing to do some mental health stitching. All work and no play makes for a stressed out and not happy quilter.  

I only managed about three hours of stitching time, but it felt so nice to play with fabric and thread.  I got started on clue 2 for Frolic, this year's Bonnie Hunter mystery.

Frolic
Bonnie Hunter 2019 Mystery Quilt 

   

The pattern calls for a lot more pieces than that, but at least it's a start. I was also able to finish off Hour 2 of the Winter Quilt Along.

That's the last of the blue HSTs.  Hour 3 is a bit farther along then it was. 

Quiltgirl Winter Quilt Along
Alycia Quilts

If I get some stitching time tomorrow evening, I might just get Hour 3 finished. We'll see, I'm betting I end up staying late at work to finish those last few reports and don't get much stitching time tomorrow. 

I'm now sane enough to make a go of it tomorrow.  It may be a long day, but hopefully that's the last of the long days till we get back from holiday vacation. Linking up with the usual Monday show and tell over at Monday Making.