End of Month Report - July

 July  involved a lot of this...

...and this...

...with a little bit of sewing and wedding stuff thrown in!

Family: our house in Oklahoma is under contract and should close soon. We found a new place in Washington - renting this time - and will be moving in today. Well, the Dude and I. Our stuff might be here in a week. Let's just say it was NOT a good move for our stuff.

The Dude: got the award for muddiest at Cub Scouts camp. And he has the once-white t-shirt to prove it!

We stopped at Dinosaur and Craters of the Moon National Monuments on our way to Washington, and we all had a great time. The Dude especially loved the pteroglyphs at Dinosaur and the lava tube caves at Craters. I'll have a full post on that once I can use a computer that takes camera cards!

The cat: is already meeting with his new cancer vet in Spokane. Cancer is still in remission, but he is getting a feeding tube, as my 17 pound behemoth is now six pounds. :(

Adoption: well, let's just say the agency asked us to update the home study asap because travel may be in the near future. Which still could be a while.

Wedding: threw a very purple bridal shower in between all the moving and house hunting. And made sure I had a professional photographer around, so the photos are amazing! Full post on that soon, too. {Hey, I have nothing to do until the boxes are delivered!} I believe Lori is posting about it on Friday, if you want to see more.

Running: very little this month - just some sprints (ow) and a nice pre-shower run with Lori. In which we got lost in my parents' development, but managed the fastest 3.5 miles for either of us in the recent past.

Sewing: okay, this got to be a long update before I even got to the sewing!

Two quilt finishes - a second family t-shirt quilt, and a second really random quilt.

Finished the blues from, um, May, maybe? But that caught me up to the end of June on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Obviously my teal scraps were elsewhere this month.


{The following pictures were taken with hotel room lighting and a cell phone. Sorry.}

There was some shopping along the way, of course! I picked up everything but the neutral to make a quilt for my son's foster mother in Korea. The quilt is based on the "Road to Oklahoma" block {since we thought we'd be in Oklahoma when he came} so it seems appropriate that the fabric came from the road to Washington.

And I grabbed three pieces of Happy Go Lucky to finish off my little collection for Spin Cycle. Now I just need the neutrals {and time} to start that one!




And the biggie - my mother-in-law talked me into making this massive kit. The pattern has instructions to break it down into a BOM, so I will spend some time cutting and bagging it for that, in between unpacking. I've got just under two years before her 60th birthday!

So my four goals from last month? The two quilts are done, the move is...done-ish, and the sanity was gone by halfway through the month.

This month, I'd like to:

1. Move in/unpack.

2. Finish St. Paul's Cross. Yeah, I'm only two blocks in. No biggie. I'm sure I totally remember how to paper piece.

3. Start "H is for Henry."

4. Start the Road to OK/WA quilt.

Linked:

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

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

Weekly Progress - Big Things

Major events happening around here. Because I needed more on my plate before we moved.

We accepted a contract on the house! Yay! Awesome! Now I need to add inspections and carpet cleaning to my before-we-leave list! {Not that I'm complaining. Really. Honest.}

{I claim this minivan in the name of Run Disney.}

We bought a minivan! Yay! Awesome! Now I need to get it registered before we leave. And use it to make a million and a half trips to the storage unit to empty that. And repack it.

I plan on having everything that will go with us packed before the movers arrive next week. And that would be everything we need for the move, plus the bridal shower. Should be fun.

Finished!

Really Random Quilt #2

In Progress:

The last t-shirt quilt is 75% quilted - the grid is almost done, then I have some diagonal lines to add.

Design Wall...is no more. I broke down the insulation and threw it out {saving the flannel, of course.} Sad day.

And I caught up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge! And July is teal, of which I already made two, and...that's the extent of my teal scraps. So, woo! All done for July!

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

Really Random Quilt #2

This one was slightly harder than the first random quilt. For this one, she requested OU, Steelers, and Angels...not exactly things that go together!

However, I have a ton of OU and Steeler scraps, so I started hunting for something that would work while she hunted for Angels fabric.

Which, turns out there's not any! She lucked out on a 8x15" slab on eBay, and pilfered one of her son's t-shirts. Since we had almost no Angels fabric, I wanted to make the most of what we had.

I was drawn to this pattern, done in OSU by Kate from Life in Pieces, mixed with this quilt by Kati from the blue chair. Mostly, I liked the randomness of Kati's but the slab piecework {and therefore no 90º corner seams} of Kate's.

This is as close to improv piecing I'll ever get...all the main blocks are 12.5", unplanned until I started each one. And I really doubted the process the entire time, especially the negative space in the corners. 

But now that it's done...I love it! I can't say it turned out the way I pictured it, because I didn't really have a "picture" plan, but I think it turned out really well.

I mean, how else would you blend all these fabrics? {Which started a debate about letting children in the same household support OSU/Packers vs. OU/Steelers.}

The solid is Kona Marine and the backing is black minky. {Yes, this is her fourth quilt backed in the same minky.}

42x56"

Linked:

Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

TGIFF @ Quokka Quilts

Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

Link A Finish Friday @ Richard and Tanya Quilts

Finish-A-Long @ She Can Quilt {FAL List}

Weekly Progress - Time Management

Something I need to work on, obviously. The realization that I had four quilts to finish before we leave/end of Fourth of July weekend really kicked me into gear. Luckily they're all easy and/or close to done.

Finished!

Really Random Quilt #1

Family T-Shirt Quilt #1

Design Wall: Really Random Quilt #2 - all but the top two corner blocks are done. I ran out of blue. But the calculations are done - including binding so I'm not making yet another trip - and I will be out to get more blue as soon as the Dude is awake.

Family T-Shirt Quilt #2 is well on its way, with most of the rows assembled. I have to cut three more shirts to fill a couple holes.

And my Rainbow Scrap Challenge is loving all this piecing! I finished all the yellows, as well as the previously unfinished orange, and a couple blues. I might run out of blues before the next color is announced!

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 - June

Ahh, the first full month of summer. Of three - that's right, the Dude finished in Oklahoma before Memorial Day and won't go back in Washington until after Labor Day. This is the closest we'll probably ever get to 104 days of summer vacation. We've been finding a good way to spend it. ;)

Family: House is still on the market. In fact, our open house is today. And we will probably offer it to rent soon, as our packers come in two weeks and I'd like to know what's going on before then!

The Dude: already did VBS and two art classes, as well as library crafts and summer reading logs. He's also become an expert at sleeping past 9 am.

Cat: is in REMISSION!!

Adoption: nothing new here. If you're wondering on the limbo we're in, a fairly good explanation is here. We're just waiting for our turn for EP {Exit Permit} and then everything will start rolling.

Running: the Summer of Speedwork. It's interesting how running less than a mile, and for less than eight minutes overall, can hurt as much as an eight mile run. Not to mention it's 100º during these sprints.

Plus, my calves are bruising again. I've narrowed it down to a problem processing lactic acid, or muscle strain from mid-foot striking. Either way, the solution is stretching, foam rolling, ice, and compression. Which means I'm starting a compression sleeve fashion statement.

{Design and photo by Lori Barbely Photography}

Wedding: the invitations for my sister's bridal shower are out, and the Pinterest-y plans are rolling along.

Blog: have you made your switch yet? I prefer Feedly for reading, but I can't figure out the link on the right there. I've also been slowly updating my pages  - I pulled the t-shirt quilts out into their own page, and finally started a 2013 finished page.

Sewing

Three finishes: Raiders T-Shirt Quilt, Family T-Shirt Quilt, Random Quilt #1

NewFO: the second Random Quilt is down to three blocks and assembly.

The last Family T-Shirt Quilt is in assembly.

And the RSC was a great leader/ender this month, polishing off all the yellows {okay, one is still on the machine being an ender}, four oranges, and a blue. A few more blues and I'm caught up...which hasn't been the case since, oh, January.

My other goals for the month were to finish Cat Tails or Saturday Sampler, but since I didn't quite finish the above, I didn't work on my stuff. Boo. I did cut all the remaining pieces for Cat Tails, since I needed the neutral blocks.

Goals for July:

1. Finish the last t-shirt quilt and random quilt.

2. Move.

3. Stay sane.

4. Hahahahaha...

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

Really Quite Random Quilt #1 - Finished!

The gal I did the Runner's T-Shirt Quilt for has a complaint.

...her two boys are CONSTANTLY stealing the quilt.

So she asked me to make them their own quilts.

The first one is Packers, tennis, and OSU fabrics. I had yardage of that, so I went with a simple strip design.

I kind of really like the way the OSU strips offset the others.

It's echoed quilted along the seam lines.

Backing is black minky {of course...I should have a bolt of it just for her!}

42x58"

Linked:

Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

TGIFF @ Blossom Heart Quilts

Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

Link A Finish Friday @ Richard and Tanya Quilts

Finish-A-Long @ She Can Quilthttp://shecanquilt.blogspot.com/ {FAL List}

Weekly Progress - Deadline Sewing

It's crunch time here. I have four quilts due by the end of Fourth of July weekend...and an open house in between. Oh, and we're supposed to buy a car before we leave. And plan my sister's shower. And find a place to live in Washington? Nah, that can wait...

Luckily, one is almost done!

This family t-shirt quilt is to the binding stage, and the binding is ready to go, so it should be done by the end of today. Whew.

I got the backing for #2 {and #3}, so that's up next on the quilting. Yes, we love minkee around here.

Meanwhile, I'm cutting out the 40 shirts for #4.

#3 is still on the design wall, still only 5 out of 12 blocks.

And there's been lots of progress on the RSC! Finished off two yellow blocks only to realize I never cut more. So I started some orange as leaders/enders. And then I finished cleaning up my dark blue {and some teal} scrap bin and cut those pieces. I may actually catch up by the end of the month!

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 - In a Funk

Gee, if you spend 6+ weeks working hard to get the house ready for the market, then a week or two happily sewing all the time because you finally can, you'll probably hit a wall. Hard.

So that's why I have very little to show this week.

I spent a lot of time trying to quilt the Raiders T-Shirt Quilt. And it spent a lot of time puckering and pulling and fighting with me. I finally threw in the towel and took it to my local long-arm quilter. After spending a lot more time picking out all the stitching.

But hey - the binding is ready to go when it comes back!

Then I worked on my second of the random themed quilts. This one is OU/Steelers/Angels. It's kind of vaguely based on Kate's OSU quilt {in the block design} and Kati's print gallery quilt {in the slightly more random layout and the negative space in the corners.} There will be blue sashing between each block.

And thanks to the prepwork being done when the color of the month was orange, I have my yellow leaders/enders ready to go. Except for one tiny detail - I'm completely out of neutral scraps. Never thought I'd see the bottom of that box! So I need to cut the remaining pieces of Cat Tails to get some more scraps.

And that's it! This week, the Dude and I are going work on shaking this funk, mainly by coming up with a summer routine, enforcing actual bedtimes, and eating proper meals. And not going to the Snocone stand every day. Hopefully that will carry over to the sewing room, because I have some more t-shirt quilts to churn out.

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 - 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