Stitching Time: Week 10 0f 2021

The weather is starting to show signs of spring. It was warm enough to get back to our evening walk several nights this week.  I still managed to fit in my stitching time as well.

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Feb = 28/28 days
• 15 minute days/March = 6/6 days
• 15 minute days/2021 = 62/64 days
• Success rate = 96.88%

Most of my stitching time this week was spent on hand stitching down the binding for the Red, White and Blue Stars quilt.  I finished that off Friday night, so Saturday I was able to empty the project boxes. 

There were two project boxes dedicated to this quilt.  One had yardage the other had the fat quarters and left over strips, plus the book containing the instructions for making the star blocks.  Everything got put away into the right bin and now I have two empty project boxes.

Some of my other boxes have multiple projects in them. I should probably go through the boxes and at least separate out the ones that are on this year's quilt plan. 

What are you working on in your sewing room? Organization or stitching? Both? Were you able to work in your 15 minutes most days?  

1. Ivani 2. Marti 3. Julie in GA 4. Shasta @ High Road 5. Chrisknits 6. Stitching Loving Nana :)

7. karen 8. maggie f 9. Sherrie 10. Dq at Dreamworthyquilts 11. Meloney 12. DawnyK

13. DesertSky Quilting 14. Quilting Gail 15. Amanda 16. Carol Andrews

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March One Monthly Goal

The first week of March is just about over, so it's definitely time to decide on a One Monthly Goal.  

I just noticed that the OMG button says "motivation in a monthly link up". That's exactly what I need at certain stages of the quilting process. So which project needs that extra "umph" to get to the next stage?  

Not Red, White and Blue Stars.  

I've turned corner three on stitching down the binding.  A good sit down session tonight will net me a finished quilt. Plenty of motivation with that project.  

Grassy Creek needs borders. Borders are tedious and are one of the quilt stages I can stall out at.  

Grassy Creek, the 2020 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

So that seems to be a good option for my March OMG.  I'm bailing on Bonnie's pieced borders. The plan is for a set of strip borders, gray, yellow, gray.  The strips are cut and sewn together for the first border. I've even sewn on one strip.

As my focus for the year is to whittle down the active project/UFO list, I'd really like to have another project ready to send out for quilting soon. Getting the back made as well is probably doable this month.  I've already decided on a backing fabric. 

I found this floral in the stash. No idea how old it is. It's got the red and gold from the front of the quilt, so I think it suits.

That's the plan for March. Finish the Grassy Creek borders and get the backing pieced. That's definitely doable if I don't get side tracked. That will set me up to have a quilt ready to send out for quilting in April.  

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts for the March One Monthly Goal. This week also linking up with a new to me weekend linky party over at Quilting Patchwork Applique.   

PHD in 2021: February Progress

The plan for 2021 was to focus on finishing quilts.  Playing along with Quilting Gail's PHD in 2021 is supposed to help me keep on track and focus on those finishes. 

If you look at my chart for this year, I've done really well on the not starting anything new.  But the other side is still looking pretty anemic, no finishes at the end of February.  

No finish, but there has been visible progress on my four focus projects highlighted in blue. 

Red, White and Blue Stars was sent out for quilting in the middle of January and came back the last half of February.  Hand stitching down the binding is in progress.  I just finished corner two last night.  So there will definitely be a finish for March.  

Unity is my current leader and enders project, so it's not moving along really quickly. Still there was pretty good progress last month.  One border is on and the second is over half finished. I should get the second border finished and a good start on the third by the end of this month. 

All of Morewood's block A were finished in January. But I didn't fare as well in February with block B. This mystery quilt should be ready for borders by the end of the month. At least that's the current plan. 

Grassy Creek was the focus project for February, so it saw the most progress.  February ended with just one border strip added.  I'm hoping this project is ready be sent out for quilting by the end of the month. 

So no finishes yet, but lots of progress.  My goal for 2021 is to finish 8 quilts this year. Fingers crossed these four are finishes by the end of June which would get me half way there.  

Linking up with Quilting Gail for the February PHD Progress Report. 

To Do Tuesday for 03/02/2021

My office calendar shows a new month as of yesterday.  Hard to believe that a quarter of 2021 will be over at the end of this month.  Didn't we just change out our calendars to a new one?  

Friday was a day off work, so I got an extra afternoon of stitching time last week. That was really helpful in tackling the to do list.  

Weekly To Do List for 02/23/2021

• RW&B Stars: Make binding, label, trim quilt, sew binding on ✔
• Grassy Creek: Start adding borders ✔
• Morewood Mystery: Continue making block B ✔
• Unity: Make HSTs for clue 6 as leader and ender ✔

RW&B Stars should come off the list this week. I'm hoping that Grassy Creek is out for quilting by the end of the month so it will come off the list making room for one of my older UFOs.  But for this week, the To Do List will look pretty the same as it has for the last couple of months.  

Weekly To Do List for 03/02/2021

Red, White & Blue Stars: Finish the binding, take glamour photos

Red, White and Blue Stars, self designed

I've turned one corner and got the label stitched down last night during a phone call with the Scientist in Training. So three corners left.  I had planned to make the label all in red, but my printer wouldn't cooperate, all I could get from it was a really sick looking brown, so I decided to go with the contrasting blue.  The quilt is only throw sized, so it shouldn't take too long to finish the hand stitching.  

Grassy Creek: Add the borders

Grassy Greek, the 2020 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

I decided on three borders: gray, yellow and then gray again.  I'm going with simple strip borders. I like the quilt, but not enough to spend a lot more time making more pieced borders.

Morewood Mystery: Continue making block B

Morewood Mystery by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs

Morewood is now up on the big design wall. I think there are just four block B's left to make.  With the focus on getting RW&B Stars to finished quilt and Grassy Creek to finished quilt top, I doubt I get all four made this week. But you never know, that will be my stretch goal for the week.

Unity: Continue to make HSTs for step 6

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

There's a nice little pile of HSTs in the upper left corner, but I'm getting low on a few other block components for step 7. So I'll also need to replenish a few of the other pieces before making any more blocks.   

Linking up with Chris Knits for this week's Tuesday Do To.  

One More Mystery

We took our monthly day off on Friday, so it was a three day weekend for me.  So I had three good afternoons of stitching time this week to work on the four quilts in my "focus" group.  Red, White and Blue Stars should be a finish this week. I've gotten past one corner of stitching on the binding.  The other three focus quilts in the works at the moment were all started last year as mystery quilt alongs.  I was able to get Grassy Creek off the big design wall this weekend so I could put Unity back up and get a picture of the progress on it.  

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

It's almost too big for the design wall.  I'm still working on the blocks for step 7.  I'm a little over half way done with the second pieced border strip.  There are still a lot of HSTs to make to finish that strip, plus the top and bottom border strips.  Unity is my current leaders and enders project, so progress on it hasn't been fast, but there has been progress. 

One of the changes I made in my quilt plan for this year was keep the new projects from 2020 at the top of the to do list and finish those before I pulled out any of the older UFOs. I'm hopeful that Grassy Creek will be out for quilting by the end of the month and that the Morewood Mystery quilt won't be too far behind it next month. Hopefully by then, I'll be ready for Unity's step 8.  

Linking up with the Monday Making and Design Wall Monday.