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.

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.

A Little Bit More...

And so the ticking and sticking continues...

Line Dried section 5 complete...

While this quilt looks huge in the photo it really isn't... I think it's about 60" wide... and there is another row of sections to come along the bottom.

Not on the list but I've been adding to the Giant Granny Squares...

And inbetween it all adding a few more little nine patch plus blocks to the collection.

Just as a reference to the scale... 19" blocks compared to 4.5" blocks :o)

My friend Monika and I went on a shopping road trip and I added some new low volume fat quarters...

Some homespun solids that just grabbed my attention (note neither of these photos actually represents the colours... probably somewhere in between).

I got a large section of fabric to start the pieced back for the Homespun magazine BOM top I completed using Tilda fabrics.

Some other random fat quarters...

A few more low volumes...

And this lovely mustardy coloured FQ.

While this week has been very low key... back to work after the school holidays and battling a mild cold which I've found draining... I have managed today to print off the instructions and pattern for a new skirt!!  It's the Love Notions Allegro, short skirt version (elastic waist and pockets - it's talking my language)... and I'm going to use the fine cord fabric I bought in June.

Ideally I'd like to get this finished before Winter ends as I think it would be great with tights and boots.  But we shall see what happens... no pressure!!

June Goals... part 2

Continuing on from the last post it has been a cracker of a second half of the month.  Slipping through on the last day of the month... I got all my June Goals ticked off!!  Big woohoo indeed.


The combination of ticks and stickers seems to be a psychological winner and very satisfying.

I got all my rows of The Proverbial Quilt sewn together... just need to assess on the bed and decide whether it needs a floral strip on the top, and contemplate side borders to make it more useable.  It really has been a ray of sunshine and fun during our dreary winter days.

In Line Dried news section 4B was attached to 4A all ready for next months section 5.

My goal to sew the stems on the second to last section of Timeless Traditions was achieved!

And squeezing in just under the wire was Sweet Escape... sewing together the blocks for the second quadrant.

My One Monthly Goal for July is to quilt and bind the Double Nine Patch scrap baby quilt (already basted as part of my June goals).

Check out the other participants HERE

I'll fill you in on the rest of my July goals next time!

The Extra Week of February

Proclaiming the first week of March as an extra week of February has made a huge difference to my February productivity stats.

I got my two 6" 2017 Summer Sampler blocks finished, and the triangle block which joins them finished as well.

Although this wasn't straightforward... notice the bulging AND the pucker!  So much for "easing" the seam 😂

After unpicking all the units and trimming down... just a smidge off each unit, it all went together so much better and sits flat.

I finished sewing the second row of the Ultimate Beginner Sampler, using quilt as you go... and got my two rows sewn together.

It's still not 100% perfect... but it's OK.

My little scrappy leader/ender 9 patches have been slowly growing - 11 so far.  It is going to take a while to get enough blocks to make anything substantial but I suppose that's not the point.

I got the second section of Line Dried sewn and attached to the first section.

Block Two of the Happy Cloudy Sampler... I really like how this one turned out and could imagine a quilt out of this block.

Getting Dylan's quilt 3/4 quilted leads me to goals for March, which include finishing that quilting and getting the binding done (my main focus for this month).  Also getting the next sections/blocks done for Line Dried, Summer Sampler and Happy Cloud.  Row 3 of the Ultimate Beginner quilt would be nice too!