October goals update

My October goal was pretty light and in hind sight, for good reason! Life just doesn't seem to slow down. My goal was to decide on and start the quilting on my 15 minutes of play blocks quilt. 

Unfortunately, I didn't make the bonus of finishing. 

I did decide on the quilting for my 15 minutes of play orphaned blocks quilt. In the 'made' fabric squares I decided to quilt each on with a matching thread color. I made a twisting log cabin pattern in each. There are 20 different squares so I had 20 different thread color changes. I also decided (about half way through) to stitch in the ditch around each star point in the color of the point. 

There is a lot of negative space in this quilt so I needed to decide what to do. In looking at the whole quilt, I decided to go back and quilt echoing squares around the 'made' fabric squares in the color of the square. Yes, it would have been more efficient to have decided to do this while I had the specific colors threaded but I don't always do things the easy way. 

I am currently working on going back to changing threads 20 times to finish this part of the quilting. 20 thread changes adds a bit of time to the quilting process!

I have a few of them done and I do have a plan for the remaining negative space with white thread! Inside the stars, I am planning a swirl or concentric circles and in the space between the stars, straight line quilting in a chevron pattern. IT"S GETTING THERE!

I did keep up with my RSC blocks and Milky Way QAL blocks and I'm only one block behind on Grandma's Kitchen. 

Also my charity quilt is almost a flimsy! 

I linking up to October Finish Link Up over at Elm Street Quilts. 

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October Goals

It is time to set some October goals! Since I finished my Sail Away! quilt, I can now refocus on my quilt using the orphaned 15 min of play blocks that I had finished the flimsy as part of my August goals. 

On Saturday (still officially September) this happened!

I found some time to sandwich this quilt and it is now ready to quilt! I'm not sure how to quilt it yet...should I match the thread colors to the blocks, use a variegated thread, or a neutral? What do I do in all the negative space? 

Decisions to be made! Ideas? 

My goal for October will be to make a final decision on the quilting and get it started. Bonus would be to finish!

I also have been working on a charity 2 color quilt. It is a basic bear claw block with lots of HST pieces. I found this technique that makes 18 2" finished HST and it really speeded up the process. 

Have you ever used this technique? It was new to me!

The papers did not come big enough for the large HST piece so I did these using a traditional technique.

October brings a new color for the Rainbow Scrap challenge and a new star for the Milky Way QAL. This month's color is pink and the star is called Sol. 

I am also keeping up fairly well with the Grandma's Kitchen weekly Sew Along. 

Here is last weeks block.

I'm linking up to One Monthly Goal October Link-up over at Elm Creek Quilts.

We are heading up North mid~week to experience the trees showing all their glorious Fall colors! It is such a beautiful time! Hope we have great weather!

September Goals Update

I'm happy to say that I accomplished my goal for September! I needed to finish the quilting and bind this quilt.

I had started the quilting with the little sail boats following the tutorial by Lori Kennedy over at The Inbox Jaunt. I needed to finish those and then add waves to the borders following another tutorial by Lori. 

I bound this quilt with a blue and white fabric I bought last year while vacationing in the Pacific Northwest with this quilt in mind. 

Here is my finished Sail Away! quilt. I made this quilt with different nautical prints and other red, white and blue prints in my stash following the pattern called Nautical News by Busy Hands Quilts. I replaced one of the blocks with a sail boat block. 

I also added a paper pieced anchor block to the back.

It does feel great to use fabrics from my stash which I had collected over the years! 

The finished size for this quilt is 59" x 79"

Even the label is nautical themed!

I also kept up with the quilt alongs that I am following. See my orange blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and The Milky Way QAL here.

The newest finished blocks for the Grandma's Kitchen Sew Along are 

Kitchen Door 

Sunday Dinner

I'm linking up to One Monthly Goal September Link-up over at Elm Street Quilts.

New Goals

We had a nice Labor Day weekend camping and hiking in Devil's Lake State Park but now it is time to set some goals for September!

After completing my scrappy star top, I set it aside and started the quilting on my Sail Away! quilt that I completed the top for in 2016.  

Sandwiched and with the quilting started, 

my goal for September is to finish the quilting and bind this quilt!

I'm quilting little sail boats in the blocks and waves will be in the borders. I'm following the tutorials by Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt.

Also, the color for September is ORANGE! I will work on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks making little spools in orange. This challenge is sponsored by SoScrappy.

I will also make the monthly star, Betelgeuse, for the Milky Way QAL over at Blossom Heart Quilts. 

And I will catch up and continue the weekly sew along over at Pat Sloan's Grandma's Kitchen. 

I will link up to OMG September goals at Elm Street Quilts. 

Go on over and read other goals and give some encouragement!

Do you set monthly goals?

August Finish

It's that time again when we share our monthly goal finish. My goal was to make something out of the 15 minutes of play blocks that were uncovered in my sewing room. In my last post I showed a pattern that I decided to use. I rewrote the block to fit the size of my blocks. I also needed a few more 15 minutes of play block to make a good sized quilt. 

The pattern for Fat Quarter Shop

I'm happy to share that I was able to finish my goal and now have a flimsy waiting its turn to get sandwiched and quilted!

I really like the scrappy secondary stars that are formed!

My other goals are always to keep up with my monthly QALs. 

My little spools for the Rainbow Scrap challenge in neutrals.

Polaris for the Milky Way QAL. 

And blocks 7 - 9 of the Grandma's Kitchen Sew Along!

Linking to Pat Sloan's Grandma's Kitchen.

 Linking up to OMG August Finish Link Up at Elm Street Quilts. 

It has been a good month for quilting!

Time to set those August goals

It is amazing that it is already August! 

School here starts very soon, August 17th for the students in my district. I'm not ready for summer vacation to be over!

However, it is time to set some goals! 

As I mentioned in a previous post, we are having our kitchen renovated. The contractors are now finished (Monday was their last day) so now it is up to us to finish the little things we didn't contract out. Thankful that my hubby is very handy...it saves a bit of money! It will be my job to put everything back into the cabinets (we have been living out of boxes and the dining room table full of odd sized things since the end of June)..more organized and slimmed down than before! Hehe!

Here are a few picture so far (my kitchen isn't very big so it is hard to get good photos.)

Across from stove

As for my quilting goals, I mentioned that I was organizing my sewing room a bit and uncovered a bunch of 'made-fabrics'. My LQS had Victoria Findlay Wolfe come for a lecture and workshop. I wasn't able to attend the workshop but I did go to the lecture and trunk show! She is quite amazing! If you ever have a chance to see or hear her ~ GO! The lecture was based on her 15 minutes of Play book (before her QuiltCon win and her incredible work on double wedding ring quilts!) 

I made these blocks after I was impressed by her story and work!

So my goal for August is to make something out of these blocks. A month to play with scraps!

I will most likely make more blocks as there are only 8 rainbow colored blocks. I did find one partially completed low volume block and 3 more orphaned low volume blocks (foundation pieced) that my daughter made when she made this quilt. Not sure if I will use them. 

As always, I will keep up with the RSC, the Milky Way QAL, and the Grandma's Kitchen challenge blocks. 

I'm linking up to One Monthly Goal for August over at Elm Street Quilts. 

What are your goals!

Check in

It is time to check in and post my goal finishes for July. 

My goal for July was to move my Go Cubs Go! quilt forward and I'm happy to say that it is done! I completed the quilting and binding and just last night added the label. Hopefully we will be able to use it in October this year!

I posted about the details here if you are interested.

 For the label I found a picture of a baseball online and used it as the background. Cute, right? 

I also previously posted about the Rainbow Scrap Challenge block and the Milky Way QAL block for July here. Goal accomplished!

In the beginning of July I mentioned that I joined Pat Sloan's Sew Along. So far there have been 5 blocks released. I'm using some Domestic Diva by Riley Blake that I had in my stash but I needed to get a bit of yardage (I found some online and also bought 2 coordinating prints).

I made this block out of order (it was the 2nd block released) since I was waiting for the brown yardage. You can see the 1st and 3rd blocks here.

The 4th block released. 

The first 4 blocks altogether. 

And today's block...

Proud to say that I'm all caught up! 

I'm linking up to One Monthly Goal ~ July finish over at Elm Street Quilts.

and Let's Be Social over at Sew Fresh Quilts.

I'll be back soon with my August goals. 

It's Time

It is time to set some goals for July! We will be going through a kitchen renovation which will limit my time in my sewing room. 

Before the major packing started, I managed to sandwich my Go Cubs Go! quilt. So my goal is to move it forward and decide on the quilting and get it started.

The color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is blue so I will make my spool blocks and I will use blue for this month's Milky Way QAL star, Regel.

I also joined in Pat Sloan's new Sew Along, Grandma's Kitchen. The first block was released on June 28th called The Kitchen Table. A block is released every Wednesday. There are 4 Wednesday in July so I hope to be able to get most of them done before I update my progress. 

I'm linking up to Elm Street Quilts - July Goals.

I really like stating my goals each month as it keeps me focused. I have learned to be realistic in setting goals and to be happy if I achieve more. 

Have a great 4th of July!

June goals

June is under way! Schools out! Vacations begin!

June will be a short month as far as quilting hours go for me. We have a 10 day vacay planned which will commence this week! 

After our return, we have a party for someone turning 60! And...we are in the middle of a kitchen and mudroom renovation project which we hoped would be done while we were away...but that isn't going to happen as the counters aren't going to be ready. I also have taken on 2 alteration jobs!

Call us me crazy! 

So for my June goals...

I will complete the quilting and binding the city bank quilt AND sandwich, quilt and bind the butterfly baby quilt. 

My niece has had her baby girl so this needs to happen!

Anything that is achieved beyond that is bonus! 

The color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is YELLOW 

and the star for the Milky Way QAL is called Capella! 

Linking up to OMG June Goals at Elm Street Quilts.

May Goals Update

It's the end of May and I need to update you on my goals. 

One on my goals was to quilt the city bank quilt. Unfortunately, after receiving the new foot and rulers, I have not had time to sit down and try them out. The end of the school year has been super busy. Just 3 days left! 

So my city bank quilt still needs to be quilted. 

Sandwiched and basted and ready to go!

UPDATE:Since posting this, I have been able to get most of the quilting completed...only 13 of the 42 blocks to go!

My 2nd goal for May was to start piecing butterfly blocks for my nieces 2nd baby's quilt. I was much more successful in achieving this goal (working in smaller bits of time). It is all pieced together and ready to be sandwiched. However, that can't happen until I quilt City Bank! 

How's that for motivation!

I used 4 different butterfly blocks patterns....2 of them are 8" blocks and 2 are 4" blocks. 3 of the 4 block patterns were paper pieced. I wanted the butterflies to be angled but not at the 45° (on point) so I played with half square rectangles allowing a gentler angle. 

I anchored the quilt with a row of pretty flowers. 

I also finished the May challenge for RSC and The Milky Way QAL (see post).

Linking up to OMG-May Finish Up @ Elm Street Quilts.

Setting some goals for May

It's May! Time is flying by! It is time to set some goals for May. I am looking forward to quilting the City Bank quilt. 

(pattern name from the book City Quilts...the quilt will be named later)

At the International Quilt Festival in Chicago, I purchased the foot and several rulers to learn FMQ with rulers on my domestic machine! There was a bit of a faux pas as I purchased a high shank foot/rulers

but my machine is actually a low shank. Before purchasing, I did ask the Janome dealer (I have an Elna which is now owned by Janome) to verify the shank and I unfortunately, received incorrect information. Since I wasn't entirely sure, I had asked the store if I could return it if it proved different. They were very accommodating, and I am happy to say I received the new foot/rulers today! I'm very excited to get started! 

So my goal for May is to quilt and bind this quilt!

One of my nieces, also due in June expecting her 2nd baby, asked me to make  a baby quilt for her and the baby. The theme for the baby's room is butterflies with the colors of teal and purple. 

My goal for May will be to start making butterfly blocks and piecing this quilt. 

I have little planned for this quilt. I have done some searching for butterfly blocks and I have started collecting fabrics. I hope this isn't too hefty a goal as school is quite busy as the school year draws to a close. 

Summer is just around the corner!

I will continue to keep up with the RSC and The Milky Way QAL. 

May's color is green!

I'm linking my goals up at OMG-May Link-up @ Elm Street Quilts.

April Goals Update Ü

The end of April is closing in therefore it is time to update my goals. It has been a pretty productive month for me...mostly out of necessity. The elephant baby quilt needed to be finished for the baby shower last weekend. 

The quilt was well received!

I named this quilt Dare To Be Different based on the one row of elephants that are marching in the opposite direction and the one baby elephant that color is different.

The pattern is from Lorna over at Sew Fresh Quilts. I did add tails to the elephants. This is the second animal quilt pattern from Lorna that I have made. I just love her style.

The quilt finishes at 38 1/2" x 41"

The backing fabric (I forgot the fabric line)matches the baby elephant (Kona Wasabi) with some gray to break up the brightness. 

I quilted it using straight lined machine quilting.

Another of my goals for April was to finish the piecing of City Bank quilt.

Today I sandwiched the quilt...it is ready for quilting!

I also made my RSC block and the block for the Milky Way QAL.

I'm linking up to Elm Creek Quilts ~ OMG April Finish. Go over and check out everyone's progress!

April goals

April is already here and moving fast!

My first goal for April is to sandwich and quilt the elephant baby quilt. 

I worked on piecing the back so it is a matter of finding the time to get it layered and start quilting.

I will also continue to piece the City Bank quilt.

I cut the materials and have sewn 5 blocks to date. 

I'm using some Kona, Grunge, Tula Pink and a green from my stash. 

I will also complete my RSC blocks and my block for The Milky Way QAL. This month's color is multi-colored. 

You know, the fabric prints that don't fall into any one color way.

I'm linking up to OMG at Elm Street Quilts for the April link up. 

Be sure to head over to see everyone's goals.