Get it Done! June/July

It has not been a good month for meeting goals.  Here is what I planned to do, when I packed up for my visitors at the end of May:

1. Quilt bear paw - not done, but it is loaded on the long arm
2. Quilt hunter's star - not done
3. Finish borders on Swoon - Done!
4. Bind the quilties that I stacked in a corner when my company arrived (not sure how many there are) - not done

Well, I guess there's really no way to go but up, from here :)

This month's goals:
1-3. Finish quilt for quilt shop.  Since I'm just assembling the top, this includes finishing the top, making the (pieced) backing, quilting and binding it.  I think that's at least worth 3 items :)
4. Finish quilting bear paw.  It has to come off the long arm in order to finish the other quilt, so this was an easy choice.

The good news is, it has already been a productive weekend.  And I'm on vacation most of this coming week, so lots should get done.

Check out Judy's blog for more progress on Getting it Done.

Stash Report

Doubling this post up for Design Wall Monday, because while some blocks go sewn together, not much has changed.

I've been working on a new quilt this week.  The top is not done yet, so no stash usage to report there.  I have the bit on my wall now ready for assembly, and I'm trying to decide if I want the green accent pieces.  They were supposed to pop, but the green is so close to the green in the print that I'm not sure the effect is what I was hoping for.

I did manage to use some stash however.  Backing for the quilt on the long arm is 5 yards.

Total stash usage this year: 130 3/4 yards out

Drop by Judy's blog for more stash reports.

Design Wall Monday - June 24

Finally, my design wall has something on it. It's been a busy sewing weekend here - rainy days mean sewing without guilt :)

First, I've been playing with a few layouts for this month's Block Party block - it has a deadline, so I thought it best to get that finished before starting something new.  The instructions were to use between 3-7 circles of various sizes appliqued on the background.  The last one is probably going to be the end result.  This block party has been a lot of fun - we've done a great variety of different blocks, most ones that I would never have done for myself.

Then I started on my next project.  Lots of strip sets stacked beside my sewing machine, and a ton more to come.  This is the shop sample for a class I'm going to teach this fall.  I'm trying to follow the directions to the letter, to make sure I know what questions or issues students might have.

This is one of the quilts I finished this weekend.  It was originally not going to have a border, but the quilt top was about 10" too small for the bed.  So I sat down last week and figured out what I could do with the little bit of fabric I had left, and came up with this border for it.

Next challenge will be binding, because now I really am out of all the fabric.

And I finally loaded up one of my quilts on the long arm.  With 2 new finishes this weekend, it's time to get a few quilts through the long arm process.  I'm running out of places to put the tops.

Drop by Judy's blog for more design walls today.

Stash Report - June 23

Two finished quilts this week!  Stash numbers look great when you put borders on 2 quilts in the same week :)  I finished the borders on my swoon quilt yesterday, and on the teal one.  Only one quilt got photographed, because it got too late/dark to get a good picture of the teal quilt.

Satsh used this week:

Swoon - 12 yards
Teal quilt - 6 1/2 yards

Total stash usage this year: 125 3/4 yards out

Drop by Judy's blog for more stash reports.

Progress!

I'm making progress with the borders on my swoon quilt.  4 down, 3 to go.  I decided to go with a green frame - the quilt will be a bit more green than I was hoping, but I wasn't really happy with any of the other options. Hopefully I'll still like this one when it's done.

Maybe I shouldn't have take the picture with the green block in the corner :)

Design Wall Monday - June 17

My design wall looks like this today.  Pretty and green.  And neat and tidy. I am trying to decide if I want to put back my design wall how it was before (just flannel tacked directly to the wall) or do something a bit more durable this time. And something that might protect my new paint job.  I haven`t decided yet, but I do suspect that speed will win out and the old sheet will go back up before long.  And I doubt the tidiness will last past the first stitch.

In the meantime, I did pull out a couple of projects to finish.  There was a moment of panic as I found the fabric from one, but neither of the quilts.  Figured out where I`d stashed the quilts, then I had to to go hunting for the remaining fabric for the other quilt.  But, all bits and pieces are found now, and a plan is in place.  2 quilts that need borders, then on to a new project.

First, I`m determined to finish the borders for swoon.  I completed the pieced border at my last retreat, now I just have to put them all together - all 7 borders.

And then, on to this project.  I`ve decided it needs a border because it`s too small right now for my space bed.  A 6" border all around should fix that problem.  At least I hope it will, because I think that even that little is going to stretch the remaining fabric to its limits.

Check out Judy's blog for more design walls today.

Stash Report (or lack thereof)

I have used no fabric in the past few weeks.  I haven't even been sewing.  But, I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.  I just have to figure out how to put everything back together.

I had grand plans to paint the two "easy" walls of my sewing room yesterday,  and leave the icky, hard walls for today.  But after I got through 2 walls I looked at the open paint, the fact that I was already hot and sweaty and dressed in my painting clothes, and I pushed stuff around in the room, emptied the shelves, and continued painting.

And now it's done.  Took 2 hours, which isn't bad, considering.  Maybe I shouldn't have waited 7 years to do this. But my sewing room is now painted, and I can put stuff back where it belongs later today.  And then maybe, just maybe, I can pull out a project to work on.

As I was finishing the last wall, my youngest came up the stairs and glanced in the room (the first wall is visible from the stairway).  He said "Has that wall always been blue?"  I don't know if I should be happy he actually noticed, or concerned that he had no idea what colour that room was :)

The casualty of all this productivity - my children's dinner.  Bad Mom award, as my oldest left the house at 9:00pm, before dinner was ready.  And I did not escape unscathed from my efforts.  As usual, a portion of the paint attached itself to me. Just a little gift to remember it by :)

And, so I don`t lose track of my stash:
Total stash usage this year: 107 1/4 yards out

Drop by Judy's blog for more stash reports.

Once again I've been AWOL from blogging - and quilting - for a few weeks.  And what do I do when my company leaves?  Do I immediately start sewing again, because I'm going into withdrawl?  No (well yes, I am in withdrawl. But no, I'm not quilting yet).  Instead, I decide it's time to paint the sewing room.

Since I had to clean it up for company, and now have to reassemble it into a sewing space, it seemed the right time to take the plunge and (after 7 years) paint the room something better than the beige paint the builders slapped up.  Unfortunately, that probably means not much sewing for another week or two.

I did manage one hour of sewing this week.  Block party was today, and I had to have the block finished.  So I brought the machine back and sat down to do it Thursday morning at 6am.  What else does one do after a 5am airport drop-off, and before the regular 7am walk?  The wonky star was really fun and quick to do - the perfect project for a short morning break.

And now on to painting. Here's my poor room, with 2 walls exposed and ready for paint.  I think this is going to be a staged process, because there's still a lot of clutter on the sewing table that I'll have to move in order to paint that wall.  So, these 2 first, then I'll tackle the rest.