May Goals

I don't really have many goals beyond, um, getting and then getting to know my toddler. I think that might keep me busy this month.

But hey! I can be unrealistic anyway!

In old news, there's plenty of binding to do, especially Cat Tails, which will be my Blogger's Quilt Festival entry and therefore my AYOLF goal.

Ripples and Reflections needs to be started since the official one-year-countdown to my MIL's 60th birthday starts in a few weeks.

St. Paul's Cross should be an easy one to do a few steps here and there. Save me the slow frustration of hating paper piecing when I'm only doing it in spurts.

And if I move enough things through the columns of my spreadsheet... {Yes, I have a spreadsheet tracking quilt progress. Doesn't everyone?} 

I think I'm going to call the Cardinal Charm Tessellation the new leader/ender project. I want it for Christmas for my FIL, and it'll take a while as a l/e. But mindlessly sewing squares to corners is a good l/e.

Linked

A Year of Lovely Finishes

Something Old, Something New @ Never Too Hot to Stitch

Monthly Goals - November

Okay, so we're already a little bit into November. But I haven't sewed since the Creeper because the Dude shared a long-lasting cold with me, then my sister and niece were here, and November is Nano, so I'm writing. Just not blog writing.

But luckily I don't have much I need to do for Christmas, so my November list is pretty short and sweet.

1) Rainbow Boats - a Hanukkah gift - just needs the rainbow stitched down, and scheduled for quilting early next week

2) Gobble Gobble wall hanging - I have a plan and should be able to stitch it together quickly this week, and toss it on the long arm with Rainbow Boats.

3) Squadron T-Shirt quilt - borders have arrived, so it's time to get working on this pile

4) St. Paul's Cross - really need to start cranking these out again.

There's obviously always plenty more to be done, especially once my sister mails me the wedding quilt blocks. And I'm taking a class on doll clothing construction. And I have a pretty good set of coupons for Joann's this weekend, so I'm going in with a list of quilts that need backing.


And a gratuitous kitten picture.

Linked:

Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

         

BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot

         

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Getting It Done @ Patchwork Times
A Year of Finishes

Weekly Progress - St. Paul's Cross

Another week, another slow bit of progress on St. Paul.

{St. Paul's Cross - Quilter's Cache}

I added eight more blocks, and now I am taking a break for a week. I can't fully participate in Selfish Sewing Week - I have way too many commitments for that - but I can selfishly set these aside for a week and come back refreshed for another round of them.

After I finished the weekly quota of paper piecing, I moved on to another new-ish skill - applique.

{H is for Henry - Art to Heart}

Although this isn't exactly the hard part, I have all the letters cut out and fused down. I don't have matching thread, so I'll continue my studies on the blanket stitch before heading to the store.

I also added two more blocks on the Flirt rows and therefore a couple bits of leader/ender RSC, but didn't take a picture.

{Wedding Quilt}

And I started taping squares to cardstock for my sister's wedding quilt.

September is "learn something new" month with the Fifteen Minute Challenge, so I refreshed my barely-existent skills at paper piecing and applique. On Thursday, I get to learn how to longarm quilt. There's a local place that rents time on their machines, so I'm hoping this will help clear off the list of unfinished tops!

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 - Paper Piecing

This month's Fifteen Minute Challenge is to learn something new. Well, paper piecing isn't quite new - I learned how to do it waaaaaaaaaaay back in September 2011. But I have done exactly one paper piecing project {barely} since then.

And relearning hurt.

There's just so.many.steps.

The first couple of days, I made a whole bunch of the parts, then tried to assemble them all into blocks at once. But there's a Y-seam. And I missed the intersection on the first three blocks, which became frustrating to the point that I might have quit if the fourth one didn't come out okay.

After that, I switched to 1-2 blocks a day. Harder to chain piece. But slightly less stabby.

And so, at the end of the first week, I have a whopping eight St. Paul's Cross blocks to show for my effort.

After all that work for eight blocks, I went into normal speed piecing mode on Saturday. Polished off all the blocks for Flirt and started assembling the rows.

Which finished off all the red RSC leader/enders. Then I pulled out the light blue bin, sorted and pressed and got to cutting. My next stack of leader/enders is ready to go!

And my last bit of weekly project arrived in the mail! 17 Kona and Bella in greys and purples, which will be sliced and diced for my sister's wedding guest book quilt.

{The bottom blue-grey might not make the cut. I need about five more greys, so we'll see what it looks like when the pile is complete.}

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 - Swapping

My mom was here last week, so there wasn't much sewing. We did do a lot of general house organizing {sometimes you just need someone else to look at the fridge and say, "that weird shelf is for soda cans."}

And we undertook a big sewing/playroom swap. Just rotated everything 90º around the room, so that the sewing stuff lines one wall and the kid stuff lines the other. Now the cutting table has the best light by the front window {bonus: can see the bus stop} and the storage units are right by the TV cable.

Obviously there's still plenty of boxes to be unpacked and organized - but we're getting there.

Meanwhile, I finished my niece's weighted blanket.

And I started relearning paper piecing for St. Paul's Cross. Ugh. I remember why I hate paper piecing. My first block was totally off. I've got everything printed to the same scale now and I'm getting better at remembering all the steps. Still, not my favorite piecing method!

I didn't add anything to the design wall this week. {Flirt Marks the Spot}

And barely added to my RSC pile. But I did do the math and I think I need to do 14 of these little blocks each month...which means I'm now 42 blocks behind and haven't even started cutting baby blues!

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

Work in Progress Wednesday - Week 30

I was away for five days, so I haven't made much progress on most things. Today I'm home, catching up on laundry and paperwork, so I have lots of sewing time in between. And by "in between," I mean, I sewed for three hours and haven't folded any laundry.

Six Swoon blocks done, and I'm starting to work on a layout.

St. Paul's Cross - still need to tear the paper off the second block. I'm thinking about setting up one of my antique sewing machines for paper piecing, so I don't have to swap out needles every time I want to piece one.

Hunter's Star, round two - 36/90 light blue half-blocks

Quilt-Alongs:
Fat Quarter Stars - ran out of background fabric scraps, waiting on yardage

 Argyle Quilt Along - three of the fabrics came from my stash. Just need to pick a neutral and fourth accent fabric.
LQS Saturday Sampler

Untouched This Week:

Chunky Log Cabin

Frolicking Pinwheels

Awaiting Quilting:

Sunkissed Jewel Box

Halloween Hexagons

Steelers Quilt

Bad Romance

Layer Cake Quilt Along

Hunter's Star

In Planning:

Cars Quilt (the Dude)

New Projects: 0

Completed Projects: 0

In Progress: 15

 

Check out more at Work in Progress Wednesday!

Work in Progress Wednesday - Week 29

Finally - finally - I learned paper piecing!

I'm doing the St. Paul quilt block in batiks. It's supposed to look like stained glass windows, and I am so in love. I've read dozens of online tutorials, but it didn't make sense until I took a class and just did it. Thank goodness for excellent teachers!

Hunter's Star, round two: 32/90 light blue half-blocks

 Five Swoon blocks done; working on #6, a 16" one. I saved the HSTs from the flying geese in the bigger blocks - soon I need to figure out if I can use those in the smaller blocks.

I finished piecing Sunkissed Jewel Box.

Mom's Tennessee Waltz is quilted and bound and packed for Virginia.

Quilt-Alongs:
Fat Quarter Stars - first block posted yesterday - haven't made mine yet
Argyle Quilt Along - starts 10/3 - I'm using a stash of fall fabrics to make a slightly smaller version
LQS Saturday Sampler

Untouched This Week:

Chunky Log Cabin

Frolicking Pinwheels

Awaiting Quilting:

Halloween Hexagons

Steelers Quilt

Bad Romance

Layer Cake Quilt Along

Hunter's Star

In Planning:

Cars Quilt (the Dude)

New Projects: 1

Completed Projects: 1

In Progress: 15

 

Check out more at Work in Progress Wednesday!