End of Month Report - April

This will also suffice as my weekly report, since I haven't done much worth reporting. Ah, the joys of prepping a house to sell.

Family: the black cat started an extensive chemo program at OSU, and is responding really well to it. Every minute of cuddles is worth my entire fabric budget.

The Dude was Star Student this week. I think his brainwashing is complete.

And after a yard sale this coming weekend, I think the house will be ready to go on the market. Deep sigh.

Adoption: our agency's first cases of the year go to court soon, so we should have a better idea of the timeline soon. Meanwhile, our I-864 got lost, so I'm copying tax returns...again.

Running: another month, another half!

Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon - 2:33 and a PR for Lori! We did shots of vodka at mile 6.4...which was about 8 am. Obviously we take running seriously.

I made the sparkle skirts, mostly because Team Sparkle doesn't have a rainbow one. They were...less than perfect. The rainbow "fabric" has zero stretch to it, unlike the colors. If I had to do it again, I'd make casing - it's just as easy as zig-zagging the elastic to the fabric.

Other sewing:

I finished piecing the top of the fireman t-shirt quilt, and it's about 75% quilted. Should be done by the end of the week...which is not quite by the end of April, but pretty close.

All of the quilting is done on the Fractured Four Patch, and the binding is prepped, but it's in the queue behind the t-shirt quilt, so it waits.

I also said I would finish Boardwalk, Cat Tails, and Saturday Sampler - all of which were hardly touched in April. {Boardwalk had brief moments as leader/enders.} I seriously underestimated the amount of work the house would take. {Go ahead and laugh.}

Sadly, didn't even cut any green for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge. And I only did a NewFO if you count the fireman quilt...technically it was started in April!

Goals for May:
1. Quilt Rainbow Sherbet - and delivering it to my MIL at a wedding...Mother's Day weekend...

2. Finish the fireman quilt and Fractured Four Patch.

3. Start/finish another running t-shirt quilt. {Momma's gotta pay for chemo!}

4. Finish one of the above mentioned tops. {Boardwalk, Cat Tails, Saturday Sampler...one of them...any of them!}

Linked:

Nothing But UFOs
A Year of Finishes
Getting It Done
Year of the Finished Project
Just Three

Fresh Sewing Day @ Lily's Quilts
NewFO Challenge @ Cat Patches 
Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy

Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Weekly Progress - Catching Up

I skipped a week, for a variety of reasons. There didn't seem much of a point last week to mention that all I managed to sew some sashing on a t-shirt quilt. 

And then Boston happened... Which, considering I had an eight year old at the finish line of my last race...

And then Thursday night/Friday morning, a cop was seriously injured by the bombers. He graduated with my husband, from a small, close-knit military college.

So if you feel inclined, this is the donation page run by their class agents.

Life has been dominated by the packing, but we've finally turned the corner on that - the storage unit is stuffed and most of the rooms are ready for cleaning and painting. Finally.

{Someone has a Yoda-ish opinion on packing.}

The little sewing time I managed to sneak in was dedicated to two projects.

Quilting my sister's quilt.

Which meant the cat had to be a jerk.

It's finished to the binding, which had to be dug out of the storage unit. Plan ahead, I do not! But it should be done this week.

And putting together the fireman t-shirt quilt, which is down to the borders and should be finished next week.

The design wall still hasn't changed, because Boardwalk isn't a priority until the above projects are finished. Look at me, I'm being a responsible adult!

Wedge is doing really well on his cancer treatments. He's lost a good bit of weight, so now poor Tycho is both the fat and annoying cat.

And now I have to get back to shredding....

Linked:

Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

   

BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot

   

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story

Coming Clean...

...literally. I've spent the last week packing up and cataloging the insane amount of STUFF in the sewing room.

And in an effort to be shamed on the internet, I'm posting The List. Maybe then I'll work through The List instead of starting/buying new things.

Maybe.

Orders

Fireman T-Shirt Quilt - in progress

Chevron Baby Quilt - in progress

Matching PJ set - fabric is on the way

Gobble Gobble Mini - planned

Pillow Shams - planned

Vera Bradley Stars - planned

Witch Table Runner - planned

H is for Henry - fabric is on the way

Purple/Yellow Four Patch - quilting

To Be Quilted

Layer Cake Quilt Along

Skorca!

Christmas Stars
Four Patch Frenzy 1
Frolicking Pinwheels 1
Heart Table Runner
Leftover Bunting Quilt
Nine Patch Snowballs
Ornament Table Runner
Pink Hunter's Star
Postage Stamp Table Runner
Rainbow Sherbet
Sunkissed Pillow
Swoon

Partially Pieced

 Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2012

Boardwalk

Cat Tails

Four Patch Frenzy 2
Fat Quarter Stars
Frolicking Pinwheels 2
Log Cabin Shoes
Polaroid Quilt
Saturday Sampler 2012
St. Paul's Cross
Strip XOs
Woven Snowmen
Flirt Marks the Spot
Cat Flying Geese
Cars

Toy Story 1

Toy Story 2

Just Needs Borders

Central Park Sudoku
Chunky Log Cabin
Summer Drinks

Planned {as in, I already own the fabric}

Cardinal Charm Tesselation
Coffee panels and yardage
Lone Star
Pez Schnibble
Voila Pumpkin Kit
Bonnie & Camile Spin City
Monkey Jelly Roll
Trip Around the World
California Girl Double Hourglass
Hello Luscious Avignon Picnic
Mason Jar quilt
Homespun + Jeans

Star Wars Pixelated

Scrap Project {as in, scraps that are partially pieced in some way and enough to make a mini or pillow, or there's enough that I can get another entire quilt out of it and am therefore unwilling to separate them...}

Civil War Scraps
HST Joy Scraps
HST Swoon Scraps
Winnie the Pooh Scraps
Sew Cherry HST Scraps
Fairy Scraps
Saturday Sampler '11 Scraps
Pink Hunter Star Scraps
Blue Hunter Star Scraps
Steelers Scraps

Small Project {already in some stage of production}

OU/OSU Bunting
Crayon Rolls
Car Organizer
Red Suede Purse

Purple/Yellow Ribbon Blankie

And this does not include fabric pulls I have set aside for unknown projects...or the fact that some of my scrap bins won't close...or my stash in general...or all that garment fabric I packed up with two boxes of patterns...or my bucket list of quilts that I don't own fabric {specifically} for...

During the next week or so {in between packing} I'll try to add links to the last-seen version of each project. Some have never been seen on here...because I didn't want to admit I was starting a new project.

I'll be replacing my "to be quilted" tab with this. It will also be my perpetual FAL list and the only place I'm allowed to get NewFOs. {Really, Mom. Even if the kit is on sale!}

Hopefully, over the next year decade, I can whittle this list down. And not add to it...too much.

Weekly Progress - Cataloging the Stuff

A day late and a dollar short.

...literally.

Wedge was admitted to OSU's Small Animal Clinic yesterday. After four years, I finally picked the Oklahoma team I'll cheer for, as they got him to eat for the first time in a week. At the cost of my fabric budget for, oh, the next year or two.

Anyway, this week, most of the progress was on the house. Or rather, removing things from the house. Luckily, a lot of it went out in trash bags or donation bags {or was left on the neighbors' doorsteps in the middle of the night...}

But there's still a lot of STUFF.

Especially in the sewing room.

This is STUFF that's in progress, or planned to the point that {obviously} I have the fabric. Over twenty projects. {So maybe I don't really need that fabric budget.} And I still have several shelves to go, plus all the shoe boxes.

Kate pointed out last week that at least all this organization will make it easier to set up the new place. And I really hope that removing all the projects {literally, I have to go through four traffic lights to get to the storage unit...so not worth it!} will make it easier to focus on one or two projects at a time.

My meager sewing time this week was focused on a t-shirt quilt for a friend. No picture because, face it, interfacing t-shirts isn't the funnest thing to look at.

I managed to sneak in a few minutes for my own stuff, namely...

Boardwalk, still on the design wall.

Blocks in progress.

Cat Tails - pieced the last three tail blocks. Next I need to finish off the cats that go with them, and work on the layout.

RSC - so far behind, still making orange leaders/enders and haven't even cut green. I did start cutting yellow in preparation for the scraps to go to storage, since yellow and orange share a box. {Watch, yellow won't even be a choice in May/June/July. I wonder if it's cheating to ask the colors in advance?}

I've also been cutting squares for a chevron quilt before the scraps/stash go to storage.

And I covered a piece of corkboard so the boy could have a board for his spelling words and other important things. {The fish isn't missing. He likes to sit in the mouth of the shark. No one in my family is normal.}

Linked:

Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

  

BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot

  

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story

Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy 

Weekly Progress - Moving Along

What is it about the end of the month that makes me somewhat productive?

Oh, right, the accountability of linky parties. I don't want to disappoint the people on the internet, after all! ;)

So this week, my design wall finally changed!

Woo! Four Boardwalk blocks, finally done! I also cut the sashing strips. Now to finish off the last ten blocks!

Just a peek at the Twisted Four Patch - it's basted and being quilted right now...in between box packing.

Flirt strips sets are becoming blocks, in such an organized fashion.

For the Fifteen Minute Challenge, I sorted the yellow box, which also contains my paltry selection of orange {for the RSC.} I cut the RSC for yellow, too, while I was in there, and some blocks for a rainbow chevron quilt. Now that box can go into storage...sigh. Bye-bye, fabric!

Linked:

Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

  

BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot

  

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story