Checking in

Half-way through January, and it's time to check in on our monthly goals.  My UFO for the month is my son's quilt.  It is now quilted, and the binding is almost done.  The plan is to take it to guild tonight, and try to finish the last section of binding during the first half of the meeting, so I can display it at show and tell.  This one has been so long coming, and I'm so happy for the encouragement to get it done this month.  I tried to finish binding last night, but just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

My other goals for the month, which I set as part of Judy's challenge, were:

1. Catch up on Dancing with the Stars - just 1 block left to go, and I should be able to finish that this weekend
2. Do 2 blocks in Gardener's Alphabet.  This is an embroidery project, and it's not gotten much attention.  My hand-stitching time has been spent binding quilts.  But I did take it to the drop-in morning on Saturday, so I go 1 hour of work done on it.  Any progress is better than none.
3. Make 2 quilties for guild.  The meeting is tonight, and the quilts are completed and washed, and ready to go. 

I embroidered the 4 plain blocks in the first quilt, and then did some micro stippling around them to make the designs stand out.  The rest is stitch-in-the-ditch.  A good opportunity to practice that on my long arm.

Here's a closeup of one of the embroidered blocks.

The second quilt was done with a simple (quick) meander.  This quilt was the result of a class at retreat last fall. It was designed as a table runner, teaching mitres.  I made 1 extra block and turned it into a donation quiltie.

I'm linking up to check in with A Lovely Year of Finishes.