Rounding off September with a win

 I was rather optimistic with my September to do list, and to let you in on a secret... I didn't think I would come anywhere near completing it.

BUT last day of September and I am so close to ticking off the last item!  I know... cool aye?  

The last items to be ticked on the list are:

The Cloudy Day Sampler quilt is a finished top!  It sits nicely at just a bit bigger than a topper on a queen size bed.  A multicolor border would be perfect but this would all depend on finding that illusive fabric to blend with all these scraps.

I got two rows sewn of the Quilt Buzz Bingo quilt.  My target for September.

Another four blocks for Sweet Escape...

This quilt has such a strong design, a gorgeous blend of modern and traditional.

The applique and blanket stitch for Timeless Traditions is done so the rest of the assembly can get finished now.  Just a few borders between friends 😂.  This has been an epic adventure which I am really looking forward to finishing.

I even got this bonus project done... another block quilted on this Modern Applique quilt.  Just one more block to start/finish.

My one project not quite finished was Section 7 of Line Dried.  But I've only got 2 x 3" blocks and a frame for the Ohio star so this will be finished off tomorrow and I can live with that.

Of course, I could easily have got this done if I wasn't a little bit distracted by this new jelly roll project.

Whoops, and this sampler Sew along using a charm pack.

 

A bit more and a bit more...

 

Well, the quilting seemed to take forever... funny how it always feels like such a long time... but probably about 3 hours in total to get around one block.  This ended up being a funny week so I only had 3 days during the working week to slot in some afternoon sewing time. 

And so onto the next step... block 9 in the Cloudy Day Sampler quilt.

And added onto the 3rd row.

Now I just need to sew the sashing strip onto the row and attach to the other two rows already sewn together.  I've got the rest of the piecing planned further down my To Do List.

Next up was a 6" block for the 2017 Summer Sampler.  I had fallen off the wagon with this Bom project... but I will keep nibbling away at it.

This was a little more fiddley than was comfortable... those are 1" finished units!  Teeny tiny piecing is not my usual happy place.

Then some fusible applique on Timeless Traditions.  I just had one half of the last corner left to apply pieces... it didn't take long to finish this task.

Again, I plan to come back to this project and finish the blanket stitch on two sides.  This is the plan for when I have finished the second blocks FMQ on There's a square in there... all because I hate changing feet and thread!

Saturday was National jelly Roll day (or some such nonsense) so I have been thinking about projects for the two jelly rolls I own.  I love this Crossroads Quilt by Quilty Love... although it's not officially a jelly roll quilt, the pieces are all 2 1/2" squares... I'm just not sure how many blocks I can eke out.

So I spent quite some time laying out the strips and trying to make complementary colour combinations (the bane of sewing with precuts).  I ended up with 3 yellow strips that did not want to play... although I am really happy with most of the other blends... some really interesting mixes of contrast and colours.

And the first block layout.  

Now I'm back on the FMQ.  It's the circle of life...

Ticking off mini tasks

 Well, the first week of the new regime has been a success!  Go ME!

The first step was to finish section 6 of Line Dried.  DONE!

Here it is attached to the end of the second row but i still need to sew row 1 and 2 together.

Lots of mini ditzy prints in this one.  But some solids and larger prints balance them out.

My leader ender project was to finish another 3 Giant Granny Squares.  DONE!

And so onto the next step.  Quilting some more of There's a Square in There.  Just a recap... I'm halfway through quilting the background sections... I have already finished the blocks.  I last worked on this one in May.

The quilt is a 4 x 4 layout... 16 blocks... 8 blocks sashing left to quilt.  To finish by the end of the year I decided I needed to quilt around 2 blocks per month.

So my mini goal in the great To do list is to quilt around one block.  It's all begins with that first step.... a quick clean, a new bobbin, thread the right colour thread (thank you past me for recording the right thread colour on my In the Works list), do a test swatch then change to a new needle... then finally a couple sections of stitching.

Once this section is finished I'm going to have a mini break and do something different before coming back to tackle the second block.

Making plans and sticking to them

 So I did something I haven't really done before... looked at all the tasks I want to achieve by the end of the year and worked out a bit of task division... what I can get finished each month... and made a bit of a schedule for the next month or so.

My plan is actually semi complicated because I have considered what key sewing tasks to focus on and then found a complementary project that fits as a leader ender that is also on the list.  I've got a mix of techniques that uses two of my sewing machines on multiple tasks, and several projects that need to be laid out on my open floor space... which is in high demand.

I know!  A bit EXTRA!

First up was working on Section 6 of Line Dried and although I haven't spent a lot of time on this this week, just stitching a few triangles or cutting a new block out... I've got to the stage I only need to finish one more block and this section will be finished!

My leader ender project has been to sew 3 Giant Granny square blocks and I'm almost finished the last one already.

I really do love everything about these blocks 💙💙💙

Now to make everyone feel really old I took my not quite 17 year old son to his first job interview this week!  Wow... hasn't time flown.

September? Really??

 Who else is wondering what the heck has happened to the year?

My August goals fizzled into a small quivering pile, so it's taken me a few days to pick myself up, reassess... and make a new plan, some new steps and finally some goals for September.

The goals I did achieve for August were to complete my Cloudy Day Sampler block 8 (see previous post) and complete 4 Giant Granny Squares.  Love how these are looking... big and floral and big... did I mention big??

I also partly finished my Timeless Traditions goal and got my last stems hand stitched down.

So then I knuckled down and reviewed my In the Works list... looked at the big picture and made some goals that I wanted to achieve by the end of the year.

1 Cloudy Day Sampler fully pieced

2 Giant Granny Squares fully pieced

3 Quilt Buzz Bingo fully pieced

4 Timeless Traditions fully pieced

5 Sweet Escape 3/4 pieced

6 Patchwork City basted

7 Theres a square in there quilted and bound

8 Avalon quilting started

Whoops... I seem to have started something new... Quilt Buzz Bingo.  A simple log cabin with variable logs... some very old stash and already 25 blocks made and now I'm playing with layouts.

I'm playing with adding some extra stripes in the sashing but i think I'm going to have to alter these as it's not quite right yet.

Next up I made a step by step To do list for each of my main By the end of the year list items.

And finally today made some September goals... monthly chunks of those steps... as well as catching up with my usual monthly projects.

Getting behind on the Line Dried quilt was not a good idea... so having two sections for this month seems like a real challenge... like can I even do it?  But I also recognise that not trying means not getting any of it done... so any progress is good progress.

Here I have laid out the colours for the next section.

And yes... I have 3 quilts laid out on top of one another... no one better want to stay in my sleep out this month!

Mini goals... one block cut out... for section 6

And just enough time to get the units sewn.  This French General fabric is so pretty.

My leader ender project will be sewing Granny Squares...

Order restored... well, everything is still a bit of a mess but I've got a good idea of where I want to head and that is half the solution.  Hopefully September will be a more successful month in the crossing off department.