To-Do Tuesday #4 (I need a Do Over)

Well, last week I got hopelessly side-tracked from my To-Do list. 

Here's a look at last week's list and progress or lack thereof:

• Choose backing for Scrap Snapper quilt - 😔
• Make binding and label for Scrap Snapper - 😔
• Sandwich, quilt, bind and label Scrap Snapper (my February OMG) #1 priority- 😔
• Keep sewing 16-patches with scrappy 2 1/2” pink and gray strips (until I run out of scraps) - progress made. I am up to 43 blocks so more than halfway.
• Keep cutting fabric for Zipper blocks for retreat - a bit of progress. I have the prints pieces cut for 15 blocks. 
• Sew bindings on at least two guild community quilts - I finished binding on only one small quilt. It couldn't have been a better match! 

• Gather supplies for some Taggie blankets (a guild initiative) to take to sew at retreat - I've found only a bit of ribbon but I need to find more. 

So, as you can see, not a lot of progress made on my list. Having said that, I was keeping busy, I've been sewing lots of 16-patch pink blocks, and sorting, cutting and ironing scraps. Yesterday, I spent the day with three other ladies cutting, sewing blocks and putting together tops for our guild's community quilts. It was a fun day. 

Another reason I didn't get to my To-Do list is I could hardly move around in my messy sewing room. I've made a bit of progress in straightening it up. 

I had all these little notes posted and taped here and there and on the shelf above my cutting counter. 

It's too bad none of them jog my memory or mean anything to me now. I'm sure they had great meaning at one time. LOL!

 

I gathered up all the boxes of community quilt fabrics and scraps and stored them separately upstairs in the back bedroom until needed. I gathered up all the miscellaneous gift bags, ribbons, bows, tissue paper and the like, along with gifts I've bought and left (dumped) in my sewing room. Those will be stored in the bedroom closet. And I filled another bag of miscellaneous "this doesn't belong in here" things that slowly find their way into my sewing room and need to be put away.   That helped a bit. I still have a l-o-n-g way to go before I could have anyone over. Ha!

I tackled one problem that needed to be addressed. I follow Quiltville's Bonnie Hunter's Scrap User's System and cut my scraps to sizes that work for me. However, I had the bins stacked in three different areas of my sewing room, and since the top of the bin is a horizontal space, more crap slowly gets piled on them. So, I emptied the top shelf above my cutting counter and lined up six of the bins there, making them easily accessible to put away scraps I am cutting at the counter. I have six more bins stacked on top of the tower I store fabric and projects in bags. Some of the bins are oddball sizes that aren't included in her system but that I don't want to cut down just yet (3-inch, 5-inch, 5 1/2-inch, 6-inch, 6 1/2-inch). 

This has allowed me to empty some cut scraps from paper plates, little boxes and bins, box lids, and zip lock bags, wherever they were sitting because the bins seemed too hard to get at to put away one or two strips or bits. Much better! (The two little rolls of fabric are grab-bag style bits I bought at a quilt show. I want to check them for accuracy before I add them to my own bins.)

On to this week's To-Do List #4: 

• Choose backing for Scrap Snapper quilt 
• Make binding and label for Scrap Snapper
• Cut solid fabrics for the 15 Zipper blocks to take to retreat
• Gather supplies for some Taggie blankets (a guild initiative) to take to sew at retreat
• Find backing and cut batting for a guild member's two community quilts and deliver to her
• Pack for retreat!!
• Set a timer for 30 minutes each day to sort, put away, put for donation or throw out "stuff" in my sewing room. Track my progress!

Linking up to: Quilt Schmilt To-Do Tuesday