July Goals

For several years I have been keeping a spreadsheet of all my quilting projects awaiting completion. At the beginning of the year, the spreadsheet lists all works in progress down one column, with months stretching out to the right. I schedule which projects will be touched in each month. New projects are added to the list.  As the year progresses, some of the scheduled tasks are moved out or erased.  There are several WIPs that I know will remain untouched during the year, but they are not forgotten -- because they are still on the list.

Then as I work on each project I color in the month's square so I can see progress.  This spreadsheet is very colorful! New projects are listed in red text. Monthly progress is colored blue. Projects left to marinate until next year are shaded light green. Focus projects are shaded bright yellow (remember that "PHD in 2020" goal?). Completed projects are marked in bright orange with a big "DONE" in the month. This spreadsheet is what helps me stay organized.  Please share your project organization ideas!


My goal in July is to accomplish the following tasks:
1. Finish the Ice Cream Parfait flimsy. I sewed and trimmed 50 half-square triangles last night. Only 33 more to go to assemble the sawtooth border. This is my OMG (monthly goal).

2. Add borders to Beginning Quilt. I finally ripped off the original borders. This project is my first attempt to quilt, before I knew to use a smaller stitch length. It was ridiculously easy to remove the border seams. The new border fabric is on hand, along with backing and binding.

3. Sandwich and quilt Tessellations / Formal Affair. Quilting will be diagonal, possibly with a couple loops around each block's bowties. If you have any better ideas for a simple quilting design, I definitely would welcome them.

4. Make final blocks for Pine Tree. Earlier this week I cut more greens for five blocks, but need to cut more background. All the block borders, sashing and outer border pieces are already cut. This is an OLD project and I really want to finish it in 2020.

5. Add borders to Awesome Land. While perusing Etsy, I found an awesome light gray for the outer border. I will shop my stash for the orange and dark gray borders. 

6. Stretch goal - Cut new setting triangles for 1860s Revival. I calculated how to cut the 3.5 yards of dusty blue to make setting triangles and a final 2.5 inch border. It's a complicated plan involving cuts down the length rather than width-of-fabric, but not all the way because I need an extra half inch for two of the big squares.

7. Stretch goal - Rip and fix quilting begun for Arcadian Chain. This quilt is blocking my midarm from touching any of the other numerous quilt flimsies hanging in the Black Hole Closet.

In between these tasks, I have several Lady of the Lake blocks to piece as leader-enders. This should keep me busy and distract attention from the 45-100 new quilts on my wish list. Hopefully.

Linking to One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts
Linking to Oh Scrap

Ice Cream Parfait Flimsy

Hello!  Even though our area has opened for business, we are sticking close to home and being safe. We've eaten out only twice - and that's okay because it's cheaper and healthier. I hope you are staying safe, too!

On the quilting front, I started a new project with the intent of making a wheelchair quilt for my mother. The resulting flimsy is a bit too wide for that, so that means I will have to make another new quilt, doesn't it?  This new one uses the Basket of Chips pattern from Quilters Cache and is made from fabric in my stash. No new fabric was purchased for this quilt!  I still have to make the half-square triangle border, requiring 88 scrappy triangles. I had cut so many for the blocks that I already had 80 triangles left over. Now I just need to cut some neutral fabric and sew the pieces together.

My daughter thinks the basket blocks look like bowls of ice cream with rainbow sprinkles. So the quilt name has become Ice Cream Parfait.

As for all those Works-In-Progress waiting for attention, none have reached the finish line yet. But they are closer!

1. New fabric has arrived for a new inner border and wider outer border for my first quilt which has languished for twenty years as a flimsy due to its currently pitiful borders. I was never inspired to quilt it. Now there is hope it will eventually be finished!

2. The center of Double Delight is done and waiting for me to decide on the border. I'm considering a pieced border to highlight the piecing. After all, I spent a lot of time piecing the blocks. A plain border would be faster, but just doesn't make the quilt shine.

3. Lady of the Lake has more blocks added to the pile. I'm sewing these as leader-enders. Sixty-two more blocks to go.

4. The little Greek Cross blocks are continuing to pile up. Eventually they will become a flimsy called Bricolage. That word means construction or creation from a diverse range of available things. It's a great name for a scrappy quilt!

5. Border fabric has been ordered for Awesome Land. Yes, I know it's supposed to be a scrappy quilt, but I just didn't have enough of the right fabrics stashed.

6. New fabric is ready for cutting zig-zag setting triangles for finishing another old WIP started in 2013. This one has had several names - Mother Goose, 1860's Revival, Double Cross.  Today I am figuring out how to more effectively cut up the 3-1/2 yards of the dusty blue print for the setting.

Tonight is my weekly "bee" with quilting friends. I will be cutting those triangles for #1 and possibly the fabric for #6. Or maybe I will pick through my pink scraps (PINK is the RSC color for June) and cut standard sized strips for future projects.

What is your biggest stumbling block when working on a quilt? For me, it is the quilting plan. I have a quilt that is half quilted but gathering dust. I didn't have a solid plan, just winged it in the first few blocks. It's not working and I can't bring myself to just power through and finish.  It's blocking me from quilting several other flimsys awaiting their turn on the mid-arm. Maybe I should bring it to the bee and pick out the stitches. Lesson learned. Sketch out a plan and, if it is complex, test it out before starting on the quilt. I'm not a professional quilter, so a simple design is better for my skill level.

On the flying front, last weekend my husband and I washed the airplane. I always forget how much surface area there is, especially the underside which usually has smeared oil (my airplane is an antique, so it spits a bit of oil).  She is shiny now - or at least WAS a week ago. That Saharan dust storm may have covered her again with dust. Next time we will drape her with old bed sheets - or go flying more often!

Dancing with Delight

The final Double Delight blocks were sewn.The blocks were arranged with setting triangles (enlarge the picture and find the pelican fabric!).

Diagonal rows were sewn (before cat rearranged them). Rows were sewn together and Double Delight is now ready for borders!

And that's my Memorial Day weekend, between the hot humid sunshine and occasional rain showers. Were you productive this weekend, too?

Happy Mothers Day

Even though my daughter woke me at 6:15am (!!!), calling during her drive to work to wish me a Happy Mother's Day, my husband rescued the morning by bringing me breakfast in bed. What a treat from both! And later another treat arrived!

It was a gorgeous sunny day here in South Carolina. I enjoyed the pretty view while puttering around the house and spending a few hours in the sewing room. Double Delight is progressing more than I thought I could achieve in just two weeks. There are only 10 more "rolling stone" blocks left to make!!!!

I have enough of one pink fabric for all the side and corner triangles so no worrying about matching pink hues. I'm not completely sure about the border, though. So many quilters have sewn this pattern with alternative border designs. More piecing or simple brown border?  At least there are 1.5 yards left of this gorgeous fabric used as the constant brown.

Will the quilting productivity continue?  Only one more week before I return to the office full-time. The countdown is on.....

Hope you are having a fun Sunday!

Doubly Delighted

In January, I announced my plan to finish 12 “projects half done” to earn a PHD (in quilting?). Funny, I find myself working on everything but those listed projects. After stalling out on Lady of the Lake blues again, I looked around my sewing room to see what caught my eye. Double Delight! A pile of pink and white strips were heaped on a box lid gathering dust. Double Delight is an older Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt that I have dreamed about making for years!

Most of the unit pieces for this two block quilt were already cut out waiting on motivation or initiative to work on it. I focused on the pink nine-patches for Block 2, making about 60 in one marathon session. Whew!

Today I assembled the big nine-patch blocks. Hooray! The Block 2s are done!

Next up are the units for Block 1 (I never seem to do thing in order!). There are 49 pieces in this block, most of which are square-in-a-square units. I have 11 of the blocks done, so I know how long it takes to assemble all 49 pieces that make up the block. It really does go faster sewing them assembly line fashion. Hopefully this Double Delight mood continues long enough to finish up the remaining blocks.

Wish me luck!

That doubly delighted feeling? My state is opening back up! I am still planning to wear my face mask in public, but I am truly looking forward to getting back to normal, or at least close to normal. Plus the roses are in bloom.

Heading Home Flimsy Finished

The flimsy for "Heading Home" by Kate Henderson from her book "Striking Strip Quilts" is finished! I used 2.5 inch strips from Connecting Threads fabric line Cascade Meadows, along with a pack of plain white 2.5 inch strips and a few scraps from my stash for variety.

This pattern was well written and super easy, in spite of all those flying geese. It was the flying geese that got my attention. I needed to work on my accuracy and thought this pattern was perfect for it.  I had just enough dotted black/white left in my stash to finish this quilt.  The backing will be a light peach trellis pattern from the same Cascade Meadows line.

Some of the Cascade Meadows fabrics snuck into my Awesome Land quilt. The leftover strips will become a scrappy binding for Heading Home.

Surprisingly, this quilt is rather small, just 52x52 inches. The five main blocks are 16 inches, with several partial blocks for the on point layout.  Some points were lost in the making of this quilt. Just a few....

Staying Busy

Before the pandemic, my excuse for not exercising as much as I should was time. Well, now that I am home more, I learned that time was not a factor. Motivation is the big issue. Have you discovered the same issue?

In between sewing face masks, my quilting projects are progressing.

The center of Awesome Land is assembled and ready for the three borders. Linking to SoScrappy, because this quilt was started when the RSC color was orange.

A Formal Affair flimsy/top has been assembled and is hanging with its backing in the closet lineup of tops ready for quilting.

Heading Home is in the assembly stage. I took inventory of all those flying geese and found I only needed 24 more which was quickly remedied.

And I finally cut a few more blues and whites to make more blocks for the ongoing Lady of the Lake.

What have you been sewing lately?