May's One Monthly Goal and MIA To-Do Tuesday on a Thursday

To describe the last two weeks, I can only say, I bit off more than I could chew. This is a catchup post. 

I signed up to volunteer at two different organizations over a year ago, and finally was contacted and started the training for both. Well, I'm a gung ho person when it comes to starting something new, and in the last two weeks, I had 8 shifts. Even though some shifts are only two hours long, there's still 'getting ready' time beforehand, so it takes more time than I realized. I've also had 'guild stuff' to do, so no wonder I haven't felt like I've had time (I have had the time, I just haven't felt like it. 😉) or done much in the way of sewing.

My April One Monthly Goal was to finish the outdoor furniture cushions. Well, these did not even get dug out from under the pile. So I am carrying this forward for May's One Monthly Goal. I need to make sure I scheduled this To-Do into my calendar and commit the time. 

I know it's Thursday, but I started writing this on Tuesday, so bear with me. Ha! 

My last To-Do Tuesday post was # 10 for me (April 11 - 17th), I only made progress on one thing. 😣

• Sew two embroideries into pillows for a lady who contacted our guild for help. These are done and delivered!

I'll admit, I took way longer than I should have to get around to doing these. The lady was growing a bit concerned that her embroideries were missing in action. However, once I got down to tackling it, they weren't difficult. It was a bit terrifying to make that first cut into someone's embroidery canvas to resize it for the pillow. I zigzagged the edges to ensure it would not unravel. When I opened up the package of white fabric she had bought at Michael's for the embroidered pillow, the fabric turned out to be quite loosely woven, and fairly see-through, so I made the pillow using a double layer. I made a simple envelope pillow case, as I wanted to provide the option of removing it to wash if needed. 

The wool pansy embroidery was more of a challenge, as it was very distorted and needed to be coaxed back to square. I had never done this before, so with some advice from a few guild members, and a google/YouTube search, I managed to get it as close to square as best I could. 

When I unpinned it, it still wanted to return to its original stretched shape, but with a little coaxing, and careful pinning, I got it done. Whew! 

When I delivered the pillows, the owner was pleased with the results, and sent me home with a small donation to our guild's community quilts program, and a bag of freshly baked cookies, which were delicious!

• Sew ironing board cover for local theatre. Fabric is washed and ready to go. Not done.
• Make and sew hanging sleeves on two quilts for our local fair office. Not done.
• Keep sewing the pink/grey blocks (I am up to 60, I need a total of 80 blocks) Not done.

So...now that it is Thursday, and I have other commitments today through Sunday, I am only going to put one sewing related item on my To-Do Tuesday #11 on a Thursday: 

• Sew ironing board cover for local theatre. Fabric is washed and ready to go.
  

And off I go!

Linking up to: 

Quilt Schmilt To-Do Tuesday

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal

April One Monthly Goal

I am participating in Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal challenge, and so far I have succeeded in competing January's OMG (blogged here) and March's OMG (blogged here) so the motivation is really helping me to work towards the goal (most of the time 😉), and get it done!

My April OMG is not a quilting project, but a sewing project I have been putting off since last summer. I really, really, really need to finish making the cushion covers for our outdoor furniture. 

I cursed and complained my way through the frustration of making the first cushion and then I was sooo done I told my husband that was it. I wasn't making any more. It actually turned out pretty good in the end. 

I have all the pieces cut out for the rest of the cushions (7), and I made the gazillion feet of piping, so it's just a matter of committing and pushing myself to get them done so we can enjoy them when the weather gets warmer.

I will have to dig the fabric out from under the pile first, 😅.

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal

February One Monthly Goal Moves to March's One Monthly Goal and The 350 Blocks Project

My one monthly goal for February was to finish my Scrap Snap quilt. Well that just did not happen. I did manage to get it to the Flimsy stage. At least it has moved forward. You can read more about this quilt and find the link to the tutorial in this post. 

So, my One Monthly Goal for March is to finish the Scrap Snap Quilt. 

I've been procrastinating because it is such a chore to drag out the box and wrestle out the batting to cut for just one quilt. I just need to do it, and cut batting for a few other flimsies while I'm at it and it will seem like its worth the effort.

February 1st, I signed up to participate in Prairie Moon Quilts The 350 Blocks Project, which I found through another blog. Its a fun little challenge where you keep track of and report the number of blocks you make each month and then submit your total to the blog host. At the end of the year, if you meet the 350 yearly total, you'll be entered into a grand prize draw. Fun! And it is achievable, since all you need to do is keep track of the number of blocks you make. Easy-peasy!

Since I started in February, I checked with Shelly, the host, and she said I could include the January blocks I made in my February total. This may help explain (not excuse, 😉) my distraction from my one monthly goal. Counting up the blocks really shows you the progress you've made, even if I don't have any finished quilts to show yet. 

From January 1st to February 28th, I have sewn: 

• 87 - 30's Repro Bricks and Stones blocks to add to the 215 blocks I made last fall (more than enough for two good sized quilts!)
• 45 - Windmill blocks
• 43 - Pink 16-patch blocks
• 41 - Puss in the Corner blocks (assembled into a top, I just need to add some borders)
• 8 - H blocks (Cathy @ Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting calls her finished quilt Animal Crackers. Cute! I get so much inspiration from her!
• 2 - 4-patch blocks
• 2 - 9-patch blocks
• 1 - Bento Box block (6" finished) (Cutting instructions for the 6 inch block can be found here and alternate assembly method tutorial here)
• 1 Celtic Twist block
• 1 Zipper block (finished to the wrong size, its missing two teeth 😏)

A grand total of 231 blocks in two months!! Yay!  Shelly has announced March's goal is 30 blocks. Since I have lots of sewing dates in March, including a 4-day quilt retreat, I'm pretty sure I can meet that goal 😃.

I couldn't resist sharing a picture my husband took yesterday of one of our Fur Babies, Bella. She was overlooking the stairs, out the front windows at the snow falling. 💚

I am linking up to:

• Elm Street Quilts March One Monthly Goal
• Prairie Moon Quilts The 350 Blocks Project
• So Scrappy RSC 2023
• Quilting is more fun than Housework Oh Scrap

February One Monthly Goal

My One Monthly Goal for February is to finish this Snap Scrap Quilt that's been pinned to my design wall for a long, long time. I searched my pictures and I started this back in July 2020! Oh, my! See it hiding behind my January OMG? 😉 Sorry for the lousy picture.

I loved this pattern so much that I asked my quilty friends if they wanted to play along and swap fabric sets to get some variety. We each chose two colours and then cut a set of the colour for each of our friends.

My colours were yellow and purple. 

It was great because we could play along with a pal who had moved across the country. She mailed her fabrics out to me and then the local gals got together outside with masks on (remember the early days of Covid). It was so fun to meet up to swap our fabric sets, see all the different fabrics that others had shared and to catch up with one another.

I started cutting colour block sets for three (or four, Eep, I can't remember!) more quilts with the intent to make one for each grandchild (since then, I now have five grands, LOL). These will be a work in progress. For now, I want to get the first quilt top assembled, quilted, and ready to cuddle. 

You can find the free Scrap Snap pattern (it is super fun and easy to make) on Kari V's Quilts for the Making blog here http://quiltsforthemaking.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-plan-whats-yours.html

I am linking up to Elm Street Quilts February One Monthly Goal

January One Monthly Goal Quilt Top is Finished!

I'm giving myself a little Whoop Whoop! 

My one monthly goal for January was to finish assembling our guild's raffle quilt top which I completed last week, with plenty of time to spare! I just need to snip all the little threads and ravels and it's off to the longarmer.

I found extra wide backing fabric that will compliment the front nicely, so I don't have to piece the back. Yay! 

The backing is Day Dreams by P&B Textiles.

Linking up to:

Thank Goodness it’s Finished Friday (TGIFF)

Finished or Not Finished Friday

elm street quilts One Monthly Goal Finish

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop

January One Monthly Goal

My One Monthly Goal for January is to finish assembling the quilt top and prepare the backing (pieced) and binding for our guild's raffle quilt so it can be sent off to the longarmers. 

I have half the top sewn together, and need to join the rest of the blocks and rows to complete the top. The back is going to be pieced with a striped row vertically between the Grunge. I am a little worried that we did not buy enough backing to piece the back, and if that is the case, we will have to go to plan B and look for an alternate fabric, as Moda "New Navy" Grunge seems next to impossible to find in BC, let alone Canada. 

You can see underneath the top there are layers of different quilts/blocks in progress on my design wall. Extra insulation, I say! Ha!

I am linking up to Elm Street Quilts January One Monthly Goal.

One Monthly Goal January 2020

Happy New Year!

My one monthly goal for January is to finish quilting and binding this Fancy Fox II quilt for my colleague’s daughter. Pattern is FANCY FOX II by Elizabeth Hartman.

My colleague wanted a quilt with animals that was nature inspired as they're an outdoorsy family, very much into camping, hiking and mountain biking. I was nervous about the colours I had chosen, so I gave her a sneak peak, something I don't usually do. She was really pleased and is looking forward to seeing the end results. Yay!

I am about 1/3 of the way through quilting it with wavy lines, but I am struggling with little puckers that are showing up.

I will persevere and hope that after a wash and crinkling, the puckers won’t be too evident. I am linking up to Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal January Link-up.

Happy stitching!

~Kat