Plugging Away

As an accountant, I try not to use the word "plug". LOL Yet I feel that I am "plugging away" or chug, chug, chugging away at life, either doing the myriad chores that keep myself and surroundings clean and neat, or by taking small steps toward personal goals.

Today my arms are a bit sore after tackling spring cleanup around the yard. I trimmed bushes, picked up sticks, pulled vines, shuffled mulch and checked the sprinkler system.  My body was dragging so much last night that I knew a hot bubble bath was needed. Ahhh, that was quite a treat and let me drift off to a nice, healing sleep. Happiness is a bubble bath and fluffy bath towels.

My contentment grew when I realized that I had made progress on all of my monthly quilting goals. The block-of the month projects were done (at least for March), I made several blocks of Double Delight and Lady of the Lake, and I am nearly finished with the quilting on April Showers (trying out the name of that 54 degree gray/yellow/teal quilt). I even made units for En Provence and am nearly ready to quilt the latest "squirrel". Tonight is a quilt guild meeting during which I plan to cut more units for En Provence.

On a higher note, I finally got in some air time. Saturday's attempt to go flying was foiled when the battery was found to be dead. We plugged in the charger and resolved to return on Sunday. All went well on Sunday and the engine sounded great. The weather was a bit windy, but it was blowing almost straight down the runway. Well, as soon as we rose above the ground effect, the turbulence began. Clear air turbulence, ugh!  About 10 minutes of random wing lifts and being shoved around up, down and sideways, I called it and headed back. Hey, at least we were up long enough to remember what the view was like from above and to splash oil through the engine cylinders. The snapshot below shows my airplane looking wistfully at the sky, waiting for the chance to return.

Are you ready for April? The azaleas are in bloom around here and my garden is sprouting up. The weather is warm and sunny, no longer whispering about dipping below freezing at night.

Green is for March

Even though I've been quiet, I have not been idle, at least in regards to quilting. This month Pat Sloan had us make FOUR large blocks for Out of this World mystery quilt. They were the same pattern at least. Next month she is unveiling the layout and I hear these big blocks will be the corners. Interesting!

Next I pulled green scraps and made most of my green blocks for my RSC 19 projects.

I also found time to assemble the four blocks from Highland Fling, this year's mystery quilt from evapagedesigns.  Beth gave us several layout options but I chose one of my own. Eventually I will quilt it so it does not linger long as a WIP.

February Love

Hello!  There has been slow but steady progress in February on my various quilting projects.

It is always fun to announce a finish. This is my first finish for 2019 - Irish Star Chain. It's also my first project quilted with my new midarm.  My hubby and I have already snuggled under it watching television one evening. I'm so pleased with how it looks - even my quilting!

April Showers (the 54 degree grey/yellow/teal quilt) is under the midarm needle and about halfway done.. I hope to finish that one next week.

This weekend I finished the Out of This World block and my yellow RSC blocks for February

Then I began working on Highland Fling, evapaigedesign's mystery quilt. After a quick Facebook consult on background color choices (most quilters preferred white for contrast against my brights), I finished all the cutting and began sewing. Now I feel like I have a million half-square triangles to trim. This will be a quick project. Just two more weekly clues and it's done.  I can't wait to see what all these pieces turn into. And this one is all from my stash, even the background!

If you try the accordian trick to make a wide variety of half-square triangles, be sure to have a leader-ender project at hand. I was able to make six Lady of the Lake blocks while making my first set of accordians for Highland Fling.

What's next?  According to my quilting plan spreadsheet, I need to add borders to Acadian Mist and make more units for En Provence over the next two weeks.  Maybe I need to shoot for that 20-minutes-a-day goal so many of you are trying. Some evenings after work and dinner I just want sit and relax. That's probably the best time for some quilt therapy.

Have you been making progress on your 2019 quilting goals, too?

Sunshine a plenty

February's RSC color per Angela is YELLOW. That means I am digging through my yellow & gold scraps to make several blocks for the my RSC projects. The last time I pulled yellow scraps, I made this for my daughter:

Yellow makes me think of spring.  This week is projected to be much warmer than last week here in the south. That makes me so happy!  <singing "I've got a pocket, got a pocket full of sunshine">

I am happy to announce I finished the quilting on Irish Star Chain, the first I did with my new mid-arm, and will bind it this week. Then I can plug that finish into my 2019 page (and update the picture).  Next up should be Arcadian Chain (Patty Cake/Irish Chainish), but I really want to work on the Stormy Skies, the grey/teal/yellow quilt that is already sandwiched and ready to go.

Beth Hertler of evapaigedesigns announced her new mystery quilt - Highland Fling - dedicated to us fans of Diana Galbaldon's Outlander series. Of course I have to participate! I have been a fan for more than 20 years, when I found her first Outlander novel at a bookstore innocently waiting for me to thumb through and become engrossed. For a small fee, you can jump in on the fun here. I dug through my scraps last week and decided I need to either use white as my background or shop for a light grey. Even if you do not want to do another mystery quilt, check out Beth's unique accordian triangle trick. It's a great way to mix colors for half square triangles.

Lots of Small Steps

When dealing with large projects in my professional life, I learned to break down projects into smaller steps so you can measure progress and so the project scope does not get overwhelming. It works the same way with quilts. You cut and sew units, sew the units into blocks, assemble the blocks and sashing, add borders then sandwich and quilt.  For scrap quilts, you can make a few blocks each day, week or month.

Last year my spreadsheet of works in progress (WIPs) had columns to the right representing months. I marked what steps planned for each month. As the year progressed, some of those tasks began sliding to the right, delayed more and more. That's okay because at least some progress was made.

For 2019, I created a similar plan, although now I decided how many blocks to make each month so eventually the quilt could be finished within the year.  That was an easy decision for Pat Sloan's Out of This World block-of-the-month.  ONE block each month.  For my two RSC projects, I will be making 3 blocks a month for each.  That's a total of 7 blocks a month.  Hey, they both use the same 2" strip size so I can use the same fabrics for the background!  See January's red blocks.

Have you made a quilt with plaids?  I had made test blocks of Moth in the Window and Sugar Bowl (both Bonnie Hunter patterns), plus a Double Pinwheel from an old quilt book. I would like to select at least one plaid each month and make 1-2 blocks for each project, varying the placement of contracting solids. That would add 3 to 6 blocks a month.

Speaking of Bonnie Hunter, I have three WIPs for which I am still making blocks - En Provence, Garden Party and Lady of the Lake. There HAS to be a few of you who are as slow as me!  I am still working on the neutrals and units for the large En P blocks. The other two quilts need LOTS of blocks. If I made 3 or 4 a month for each, that would add 6 to 8 blocks a month for the plan.

Hmmm, this plan means I need to sew 16 to 21 blocks a month for ongoing block collections. I'm not sure about that. For pure sewing fun, I have been working on various other quilts, including Bonnie's Tobacco Road and Double Delight, plus I have seven flimsies waiting with their backing to be quilted.  Now it's getting a bit overwhelming.

This is where priorities come into play. Which projects should I absolutely make time for and which ones can slide?  This is my set of priorities:

Priority one (BOM/RCS) =  7 blocks
Priority two (DD) = Double Delight as leader/ender
Priority three (EP) = En Provence
Priority four = Pick a flimsy to quilt and just do it
Priority five (GP/LOL) = Make progress on Garden Party, Lady of the Lake
Priority six = Make progress on other WIPs in assembly stage
Priority seven = Squirrels (those projects that catch your eye but there isn't enough free time to focus on them, but you really, really, really want to make them)

January progress/plan:
#1 - I finished my RSC blocks in red and the BOM.
#2 - Finished cutting millions of triangles and sewed some units while making the RSC blocks.
#3 - Cut more neutrals for EnP
#4 - Sandwiched my green Irish Star Chain flimsy and will take a mid-arm class on Saturday.
#5 - LOL inventory count was 14 blocks made. If I sew 10 blocks a month, in a year I will have enough blocks to make the quilt. Could I really fit in 10 a month? I can commit to 4, maybe 8 a month. So this project may take a bit longer. I cut fabric for four blocks and found enough already cut for about 12 more blocks.
#6 - Add final borders to Patty Cake and last year's RSC sampler so they can move to #4.
#7 - My current Squirrel is Tobacco Road for which I have cut all the bricks and will be cutting fabric strips for the non-brick units. I'm doing this in patriotic colors. How does "The Road to Freedom" sound for a quilt title?

Notice the plaids are not in play. Most likely the plaids will collect dust just have to wait until 2020.

This kind of planning works for me. I really like working on multiple projects at the same time because I get bored easily. Does that happen to you?  Hopefully my example will help you tackle your own WIP list. Make your plan and set priorities.

On a higher note, last weekend I flew my baby in circles around my home airport for some landing practice. Maybe next time I will bring a passenger to snap photos so you can see picture proof! My goal for 2019 is to fly more, so I plan to participate in the local breakfast club and schedule another flying vacation this summer.

Red for RSC19

This year I am planning to participate in Angela's RSC program. My RSC block will be like this one:

I am calling it Seeing Spots, because the background fabric will be a dotted swiss and the block is sort of like a big dot. My scrap bins tend to have strips a bit smaller than 2.5", so by using 2" strips the blocks will end up at 9" finished.  If I make 3 blocks for the next eight months plus one extra, that will give me enough to set 5 x 5 and should make a nice sized baby quilt at 45 x 45 inches.  The block idea came from Capital Quilters Guild in Australia (click here for this one and other blocks of the month).  I have made all three RED blocks for January although I did not snap a picture yet.

It's not making much of a dent in my scrap bin, so I need another RSC project. Maybe I should choose this one called Spring Bloom, or God's Eye.  Both are on my wish list. I have about 5 yards of solid black, so the large God's Eye blocks may be the winner. What do you think?

New Beginnings

Happy New Year, folks!  While binge-watching Game of Thrones, I made Block #1 of Pat Sloan's Out of This World BOM.  This block was named Space Shuttle. Like that center!

Check out her free patterns HERE

I was one of the fortunate who snapped up the fabric collection from Fat Quarter Shop before it sold out. Last year I waited a few months then started buying camping themed fabrics for her Let's Go Camping BOM, but I never made any of the blocks. Maybe I should make it at the same time as the 2019 series.

This first block was a huge one.. I like the soft gray, navy and teal colors underscored with a little black. This should be fun!  My uncle used to work for NASA, so I am all for celebrating space exploration.  Plus I really love sci-fi books and movies.  Venture is my word for 2019, after all.

#OutOfThisWorldBOM