Weekly Progress - Finishing Some Tops

I finished THREE tops last week - and one is already basted and in the process of being quilted. It's really amazing what you can get done when there's very little to clean in your house.

I'm also focusing on getting one project done to completion before starting another, so there's less out to clean up if we have a showing. Weird how that helps.

And so...

Raiders T-shirt Quilt - quilting to Arrested Development episodes

OSU/Packers/tennis quilt - top done. Took about 90 minutes...but I think it's a pretty good design given the randomness of the fabrics.

Boardwalk - top done...mostly. I really like the borders of the pattern, but I don't have the necessary fabric. So it's going to marinate in the "finished tops" pile until I decide what's next.

Design Wall - the second random top. This one is OU/Steelers/Angels, which luckily means a lot of dipping into my scrap bags.

RSC - finished off green {April}. 

And woo - June is yellow, which is already an organized bin with a couple blocks cut out! Which means I should probably catch up on May's blues...

School is out, but VBS is in session, so I should get a good bit more checked off the list this week. As long as there's not too many interruptions for showings...

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

Scrap Basket Sunday @ Kim's Big Quilting Adventure

End of Month Report - May

It's been a busy month, with a whole lot of successes. I'm quite pleased with May!

Family: The house is on the market! And the showings continue...

Cat: Wedge is doing pretty well, minus the fact that I'm now hand-feeding him. Plus, he's a whole new cat - my scaredy cat now sleeps with the Dude, ventures outside {with me}, and doesn't hide under beds when the doorbell rings. Do cats have bucket lists?

Adoption: Our I-600 was approved! Again! {The first time it's for "any orphan" - now it's specifically for William.} Still waiting to hear timeline news. And I have an agency in Washington already waiting to update our home study - luckily they think we'll only have to redo the actual home portion of it, not the whole thing.

Running: I did the Red Dirt Half last weekend. It was not a good race physically or mentally... Now I'm done for the "season" and getting ready to start the summer of speedwork.

Sewing

Rainbow Sherbet / Fractured Four Patch / Fireman T-shirt Quilt

Three finishes! And one almost finish...

Raiders T-Shirt Quilt - basting while watching the new episodes of the best show that was ever cancelled by Fox. {There's actually a lot of competition for that one. Says the Futurama/Greg the Bunny/Firefly/Undeclared/Andy Richter Controls the Universe/Kitchen Confidential/Titus fan.}

And one done as far as I can, as the recipient is still deciding on border fabric.

And that takes care of #1-3 on last month's list.

#4 was finish one of my personal tops...any of them...

And it was Boardwalk! There's a series of borders, which I like, but I don't have the fabric for them. So I don't know yet if I'll end up getting some and finishing it, or just finishing it as is. But the main top is done, so I am happy for now.

And just to throw another top into the mix, this is the first of two really-quite-random tops. This one is OSU/Packers/tennis. {And a NewFO!}

The second will be OU/Angels/Steelers, and is based on this quilt by From the Blue Chair.

RSC - finished the green blocks! Which means I'm only a month behind now!

June Goals:

1. Finish the two really-quite-random quilts. 

2. Finish the three t-shirt quilts orders. {Raiders/above-mentioned-family/family that hasn't been started yet.}

3. Finish Saturday Sampler so I can participate in A Season By Hand. Seems appropriate for an Amish quilt, right? However, this is inaccessible in the storage unit, so it only gets done if the house sells.

4. Finish Cat Tails. This actually is accessible so it might get done. Especially since I'm out of the neutral centers for the RSC blocks.

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

Weekly Progress - Free Time

Happy Memorial Day!

It's amazing how much you can get done when you finish all the house projects and suddenly have nothing to do all day. And so far, everyone has been helpful at keeping things picked up, so the daily maintenance for showings doesn't take all that long.

Which leaves me lots of time...interrupted time between showings, but who's going to complain about that?

So, first I worked on a family t-shirt quilt.

{This is my fake nursery, that William will never sleep in. Irony. Or something.}

All interfaced and cut out, but the woman wants a border, and so it won't be sewn together until I know if there's a color we don't want on the outside edges.

Then once I reached a standstill there, I went back to the Raiders t-shirt quilt. It's all cut out and interfaced now...and between taking that picture last night and finally getting around to writing this, I pieced most of it together.

And I finally - finally - had a Boardwalk day! All the blocks are done and being shifted around until I'm satisfied with the arrangement. Like all those dark teals are in each corner now. 

My OCD {and out-of-school} assistant is trying to make sure no like blocks are touching. Which means there's been a LOT of block moving.

And here are the few little RSC blocks I've finished as leaders/enders. I'm still working my way through the green pile...I need to finish sorting the blue bin this week.

That's it - I'm trying {obviously} to keep as little out and about as I can, so there's less to clean up with the showings.

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

Scrap Basket Sunday @ Kim's Big Quilting Adventure

Weekly Progress - To Market

No, not Quilt Market! But the house is officially on the market! So...now I just have to make the beds and keep up with the dusting. And finally have some free time to...wait, what was it that I do in my spare time?

Oh, yeah - I used to sew! Not just cut out t-shirts every now and again!

That's all I did this week. It's not that bad, considering it's three out of five columns of a t-shirt quilt. Slice up a couple more and I'll have it ready to baste by the end of the week.

I monogrammed a bag front for a friend. She's making the Weekender - brave woman!

Design Wall still hasn't changed - big shock there. Assuming I don't get shut out of my house too much for showings, I'm going to dedicate an afternoon or morning after I finish the t-shirt quilt to this. I miss my own projects!

I made a couple 1.75 green RSC blocks as leaders/enders. And I did start ironing the dark blue bin. I think I'm only going to pick five, and five from the "other" blue bin - I don't want a lot of blue even if it is the majority of my scraps.

Oh, and Victor II? Totally passed the Dude test. All he said was, "wow, Victor looks better already!" Of course he does, sweet boy, Momma has great medicine. It helps that Victor II has the same habit of hiding in the shark's mouth.

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

Scrap Basket Sunday @ Kim's Big Quilting Adventure

Weekly Update - Fusing Things

Lots done, but very little sewing this week.

First, a winner of my giveaway, which I didn't get to this weekend because we were at a wedding and I didn't want to interrupt family time. {Okay, really, the hotel internet was terrible.}

Random.org says the winner is....

....18!

Rachel, who looks like she uses panels.

She said: "Selling a house is such a pain. Empty as much as possible out so it looks bigger. No toys or pets helps, too. Good luck! The panel is cute. I know a couple of expectant moms...."

Lots of good advice from you all! I wonder if burying the Saint will work for a non-Catholic. ;)

I'm in the final crunch of cleaning, and working my way through a pile of t-shirt quilts, but first I need to take care of Victor, who died made a remarkable recovery while the Dude was at school today.

Finished!

Fractured Four Patch

A peek at Rainbow Sherbet. Full post will be up in time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

In Progress

Fusing and cutting blocks for the Raiders T-shirt Quilt.

The next stack...already measured and laid out on paper. Once the design is approved, I'll start cutting.

And in the RSC corner, I separated my blues into the suggested light/bright/dark. Except I don't really have a lot of what I'd consider bright. Which is okay - since they're wee little blocks, I don't want 30 blues compared to 10 of the other colors, so I think light/dark is enough.

As usual, the design wall isn't changing. Maybe someday soon...like when I don't have to run to three different stores to find a betta with the right coloring.

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

Scrap Basket Sunday @ Kim's Big Quilting Adventure

Weekly Progress - Moving Along

Finally, things are slowing down on the house, so I have some spare time to make some quilt deadlines! We are doing the last clean sweep this week, making sure all the paint is touched up, and possibly listing it by the weekend if our realtor thinks we're ready! Whew. That was a loooooooooong six weeks.

Finished!

Fireman T-Shirt Quilt

Almost finished!

Fractured Four Patch - just tying off the quilting threads from the middle sections. Why, oh why, did I do double lines?

Quilting!

Rainbow Sherbet - we're going to a wedding this weekend, so I'll get to hand this off to my MIL in person! {Woohoo, no shipping costs!}

Piecing

Raiders T-Shirt Quilt - yup, another one. This one won't fit my "standard" design, which is a little more fun but a little more work.

Design Wall

Haha, of course it hasn't changed. Depending on how I do on the deadline stuff, I'm going to try to fit in a Boardwalk/Cat Tails morning sometime this week.

Cutting

I cut all my green RSC blocks! Wait, that was April's color? And it's May now? And May is blue? And my blue scrap bin is...oh, whew, she knew that. Sorting it into three piles - I can do that!

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
Scrap Basket Sunday @ Kim's Big Quilting Adventure

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

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