OMG for May

Going to play along this month for One Monthly Goal over at Red Letter Quilts.

My goal for May is to get my niece's quilt top completed and put together.

The blocks are Road to California:

I have about 12 made, and think I have enough of the black leaf pattern to make 25-30. I hope. If not, I'll make blocks until I run out, and come up with borders to make it big enough :)

April 350 blocks report

Whew!!

A long time to not post - I was nudged by Prairie Moon Quilts April blocks report..

It was a reasonably productive month, though. I'm going to call my final number of blocks 23.

I finished this hourglass miniature quilt; it was a UFO from the heart quilt I made, using the leftover trimmed blocks. 72 blocks! They're tiny, though, and I was starting with already-made HST, so I'm going to claim 16.

I pieced a miniature trip around the world, and started quilting it. How many blocks in this one? One? 

I stopped keeping track of my split 9-patches at the end of March, and only started back up the last week of this month - 5 blocks this month. Likely more, but I didn't document them! I had 45 in February and 52 in March. I kept up with the 365 challenge blocks (28 of them) in February, but completely dropped out in March :(. I also got one Road to California block done in February, so February's TOTAL is 74.

Overall YTD is 83 + 74 + 52 + 23 = 277

I've also started to organize beads, in the hope that I'll actually USE them if I can see them better.

January 350 Blocks Report

Well...lots of blocks this month; quite frankly, I'm a little surprised by how many I got done.

I kept up with the 365 Challenge until the middle of the week - I finished 28 of those tiny blocks- a few are missing and I'm too lazy to take more pictures:

I finished 35 split 9-patches:

Five road-to-California blocks for a quilt for my niece:

 
And, finally, 15 "blocks" for my guild challenge quilt.

That makes a total of 83!!!

OMG --- Progress! and repeat

January's goal was to make progress on my guild challenge.

I've gotten a little past half-way - 15 "blocks" done, and by my count I need 24. My only real concern is that my base fabric holds up the rest of the way!

If not - there may be some creative bordering and/or binding.

My OMG for February is to have this FINISHED. I have to turn this in at our March guild meeting, so not sewing on the binding during the meeting would be nice for a change.

Stash Report - Week 3

Yards in: 0.25
Yards out: 0.85
Cumulative yards in: 0.25
Cumulative yards out:  1.15
Net gain/use: 0.9 USED

Spending since last post: $0
Spending this year: $0

As I posted earlier, I received goodies in the mail - two cute fat eights.

My new pillowcase is 20 x 28 - with about 4" overlap on the band. 0.85 yards by my count - I found the floral fabric already sewn into a pillowcase, but lacking a finish.

I also finished two more blocks for my niece's quilt - I'm up to a total of 10 now and will likely need 20 to finish it. Maybe 25.

I'm all caught up with the 365 Challenge blocks.

I also finished five more split 9-patches. They rest in the fruit bowl before migrating upstairs to join their kindred.

AND started cutting for my guild challenge quilt.

A box of goodies in the mail

Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the winners for the end-of-year Studio Organizing Final Countdown from Shelly at Prairie Moon Quilts. 

Earlier this week, a LOVELY box arrived in the mail:)

There is a most gorgeous tote bag (I have a not-so-secret obsession with tote bags!), a pattern for matching kid/doll pjs, a couple of fat quarters, thread, thread, a mirror (the rectangle with the Kansas City Star Quilts logo), a wonderfully bright - both beam and body color - flashlight, some peppermint soap (not pictured ~ it went back to college with The Lovely Daughter), and a scissors charm.

Thank you so much for these, Shelly! It was a fun surprise.

Weekend accomplishments

I caught up with the 365 Challenge - and because of the time difference, I'm actually a day ahead :)

 Earlier, this week, I finally noticed the turned four-patch in the block below - there were actually two that way - and fixed them.

This weekend, I finished another one - and found another red to cut out the next set.

And three more split 9-patches.

Stash Report - Week 2

Yards in: 0
Yards out: 0
Cumulative yards in: 0
Cumulative yards out:  0.3
Net gain/use: 0.3 USED

Spending since last post: $0
Spending this year: $0

Nothing finished, so nothing out :)

OMG - One Monthly Goal for January

Joining in on this as well :)

Red Letter Quilts has started a One Monthly Goal (OMG) Challenge.

My goal for January is the FSQ Ultimate Guild Challenge quilt I have planned.

These are close-ups of glass blocks in a Frank Lloyd Wright building on the Florida Southern campus, and the inspiration for my quilt. I have a couple of pieces cut, but need to get busy!

Today's accomplishments

- one more split 9-patch
- one more Road to California block complete, one more in strips, two "fixed", and 10 more red squares cut
- caught up with 365Challenge
- torn-out magazine pages corralled into magazine folder

Studio Organizing, Week 1

This year, starting from the beginning on the Studio Organizing Challenge from Prairie Moon Quilts.

This week's challenge is:  DEAL WITH PAPER CLUTTER

Honestly - I don't have *that* much paper clutter - except for all of the loose pattern stuff torn out of magazines that I should deal with. I'll work on that this week, although I don't expect to finish it all.

Stash Report - Week 1

Yards in: 0
Yards out: 0.3
Cumulative yards in: 0
Cumulative yards out:  0.3
Net gain/use: 0.3 USED

Spending since last post: $0
Spending this year: $0

I finished some last-minute Christmas gifts to mail out next week, and started back working on UFOs. 

Sunday sewing

- Finished a heating bag for my brother - 8 x 12, so only about 0.1 yard stash busted

- another block for a niece's quilt

- the first four 365 Challenge blocks

Nested baskets

I used the tutorial from this page to make little nested baskets as a belated Christmas gift for my sister-in-law.

I didn't make nearly as many - only four. The starting sizes were 12.5, 10.5, 8.5, and 6.5 inches. By my math, that makes stash busted about 0.25 yards. Not a whole lot - but a start!

Out of the [quilt] box!

This is the third challenge from Prairie Moon Quilts.

And this year, I WILL try something new - I signed up for the 365Challenge - a new quilt block to make every day. AND it fits with my other "new" thing - I signed up for a local mini group.

I'll be cutting some tonight - I'm going to be working on a belated Christmas gift for my sister-in-law - AND un-decorating the Christmas tree so it can go out to the road for recycling.

Second Prairie Moon Challenge

The second challenge is:

Organize ALL our UFOs

I've made a good start on this - UFOs are listed in the sidebar as I think of them/find them. In previous years, I've made lists - and then lost track of them. Hopefully by keeping them on the blog, I can keep better track of them.

I'm up to 19 so far :) AND, I still like all of them and want to finish them! They're more due to life getting in the way, rather than hitting roadblocks. Although in a few cases, the roadblock is actually *finding* the UFO - I know it's hidden in the bins, but don't know where.

I've joined Stashbusters UFO Challenge again this year - that will keep me accountable.

First end of year challenge

I'm doing the end-of-year challenges from Prairie Moon Quilts.

These are my responses to the first one.

Take a good hard look at your fabric stash

Do you like the way you have it stored?
Not really. The bins work, for the most part, and are needed to keep the stinkbugs out. My biggest issue is not having enough space to have it all in one place, so it's scattered all around the house.
 
Do you like the way you have it sorted?
Not really. Some of the bins are sorted by color, some by theme, but most by "shove the fabric in a bin before the cats pee on it."

Do you like all the fabric you have?
Mostly - there is one bin of polyester I inherited from my MIL that is just going to go in a donation bag very soon.

Do you like the system you have, but aren’t working it like you want to?
I do, at least as far as I have a system. I don't store a lot of my scraps in pre-cut sizes, only the ones I've bought that way. I don't have a lot of yardage - having a designated place for pieces that are big enough for backings would be a big help.
 
Have you seen a system you’d like to implement, but haven’t taken the time to implement it?
Not yet :)

I've done MUCH better at not buying randomly this past year, and plan to continue that in the new year.

And overall - I like having a stash. I like being able to find and use odd fabrics. But better organization would definitely help.

2016 Word of the Year - Discipline

Self-discipline, that is.

Every new day is a chance to work on what I need or want to do, to make changes for the better.

UFO completion

This was an Orphan Block Challenge for my guild.

Completed guilts were donated to our Service Projects group for donation.

My orphan blocks were the wonky log cabin in the middle, the flying goose part of the arrow/house block, and the sawtooth star. I made the friendship star and the six nine-patches to complete it. The leftover blocks were from quilts I made for my daughter's BFF and the BFF's mom.

 

The back is a soft flannel.

 

Close-up of the back and quilting - not perfect, but not awful.

I made a scrappy binding to finish it off.

 

Mojo returning

I finally started sewing some again.

It started with some split 9-patch blocks:

After a week or so, I have a nice little stack.

And I can play with them, to see what kind of pattern they want to make.

This past weekend, I dug out some printed panels and made blocks to go with them. Not showing much; this is a Secret Santa gift :)

Now maybe I can dig out the quilts started for Hannah and Deana and get to work!