May OMG Finished!

I finished my May OMG, and it was not totally last minute!  My May OMG goal was to iron and cut out the fabrics for this lovely quilt for my husband's and mine Godson.

I was able to iron AND cut it out during QuiltCam with Bonnie K. Hunter from Quiltville on Tuesday.  I did not expect to get as far as I did, but I was jumping for joy about all of the progress I made during it.

I am ready to sew this together, after reviewing the pattern it should not be too hard.  Now to think on what my June OMG will be, maybe the longest UFO I have in my stash?

Linking up:

Sew Fresh Quilts

Elm Street Quilts

-Christina

15 Minutes of Stitching - Week 21

Let us see how this week went on the 15 minutes of stitching front.

Days spent stitching this week: 7 out of 7

Days spent stitching in May: 27 out of 27

Days spent stitching for 2018: 122 out of 147

Rate of Success: 83.0%
My week runs Monday through Sunday.

This week was productive, granted I was working against the clock.  I had to get a quilt top put together before my quilting time on Friday at my LQS.  I made it and I just finished the binding on it so it will be in the mail this week, once I take final photos tomorrow.  I have stitched every day this month so far, and I plan to finish out May strong.  I hope to continue this stitching streak through June and July.  Time will tell.  I hope everyone is making progress on their long term projects and are seeing some progress on them.

Linking up to:
Life in Pieces

-Christina

Design Wall Monday

On Friday, I was able to get some quilting done on two quilts I have been trying to finish up.  One is totally completed now, which I will be sharing on Friday, so stop by then to see it in full.

The second one, I hope to get finished this week.

Without further ado, my goals for this week include:

My first goal is to iron the fabric and cut out the quilt below, which is my May OMG.  I am busy on Thursday so I have to get it all done by Wednesday night to do a post and link up before the deadline.  I think I will be able to get this done.

My second goal is to prep the label and binding for this quilt, which has been quilted.  Then I have a few days where I have a few hours to kill but not enough time to go home so I will be working on sewing down the binding this week.  I would love to get it done to wash on Sunday and send off to the happy couple.

My third goal for the week is to work on cutting out the final three stitch and flip wreaths for last year's Christmas gifts.  I would love to get them all cut out and then started before the end of the weekend.

My week's goals are doable, now to just focus and make headway on all and maybe some more?  We shall see how everything pans out.

Linking up with:
Design Wall
Monday Making
Main Crush Monday

-Christina

Hands 2 Help Quilt Update

The top is finished, and I am off to go quilt it at my LQS!  I will have it fully finished and in the mail on Tuesday to Happy Chemo.  I think it turned out wonderful.  If I wasn't using minion fabric on the back and for the binding, my husband was going to try and appropriate it even though it is meant for charity!  I guess I have to dig out more scraps and put another one together for him, maybe I will make it bigger too.

I love this shot I took of the finished quilt top.

Sharing at:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict

-Christina

Design Wall Tuesday

Last week I made progress on my Breakfast club quilt, I sewed tri-recs triangles together, and cut up some four patches that are ready to zip through the machine in the future.  Below is a stack of triangles waiting to be ironed.

I also started on my Hands 2 Help quilt, and then I made a mistake with putting no two right sides together.

It turns out I was tired, and the 2nd one I caught early on, where as this pair made it through and I caught it while ironing my strips.  At least it happens to all of us, and we can chuckle about it, get the ripper out and get it fixed up nice and quick.

I was able to complete this on Sunday, so I have new goals of things to work on this week.  Let us see what my goals are:

My first goal is to finish this quilt top for Hands 2 Help.  I am currently sewing strips together, and I hope to start cutting segments tonight (yes!).  I need to get this done by Friday to quilt it on the long arm at my LQS.  The photo is from Confessions of a Fabric Addict as it is her pattern.  I will have a photo of progress next week to show.  

My second goal is to prep this quilt top and backing for quilting, which will take place this week, if I have time left within my time slot.  I will also have to dig out my roll of batting and cut two sections for the quilts I plan to start this week.  This will be an easy project before my knitting class.

My third goal for the week is to start working on my May OMG, which is to iron the starched fabric and cut out this baby quilt.  I just need to find the fabric and get to work.  I hope to start this on Saturday/Sunday in the middle of sewing on bindings.

I hope everyone has made good progress on the project(s) they are working on.

Linking up with:
Design Wall
Monday Making
Main Crush Monday

-Christina

15 Minutes of Stitching - Week 20

Let us see how this week went on the 15 minutes of stitching front.

Days spent stitching this week: 7 out of 7

Days spent stitching in May: 20 out of 20

Days spent stitching for 2018: 115 out of 140

Rate of Success: 82.1%
My week runs Monday through Sunday.

I'm doing great, each week I am raising my rate of success percentage, I'm almost to a solid B now.  It is getting easier to find 15 minutes even though I had an extremely busy week last week.  It also helps that I'm spending a lot more than 15 minutes sewing each day as I have to get a quilt top done by this Friday so I have been focusing on that on a consistent basis.  Now that summer is quickly approaching I hope that it is even easier to find stitching time each night, and to make some great progress on projects that I want to move along.  I hope everyone is doing great, and some progress is being made.  I have a new goal, and that is to finish a long time UFO this year.  I would love to finish more, but I'm trying to think realistically of what I will be able to get done with everything else I need to finish before the year is up.  Let us see how it goes!

Linking up to:
Life in Pieces

-Christina

Las Vegas Quilt Shops

About two and a half weeks ago my husband and I had the pleasure of going to Vegas to have a short "get away" weekend.  Of course the one thing we had to do while in Vegas was to visit a quilt shop or two to check them out/support the local businesses within the area.

We were able to visit two.  The first one we visited was Quiltque.

I was able to pick up two one-yards for the rainbow bargello quilt I am currently collecting fabrics for.  The store was vibrate, full of the more modern fabrics.  They had a large area for the Berninas they sell, as they are an authorized dealer, and a large classroom.  The store was neatly organized, and the project kits were right next to the samples, which is always helpful when someone would love a kit.  The front windows brought in a lot of natural light, and it was airy and cheerful.  Nice big shop, I just could not find a lot of blenders, which is what I was looking for.

The second shop we visited was the Christmas Goose.

At this location I found lots of fat quarters (neatly folded and put in a pack of 12 for a reasonable price), and an indigo for my bargello quilt.  The fat quarters in the Reproduction prints will be used for a quilt that I am planning on EPP.  I'm chomping at the bit to get started, but first I need fabric, and second I need to finish another quilt before I start.  This shop was filled with some modern fabric, lots of blenders, and a ton of reproduction fabrics.  Their kits were located pretty close to their samples, and they had some wool projects, and a scrap basket, fill a bag for X amount.  They had a decent sized classroom, and every available place had an item(s) on it.  The space was well used, and it felt homey and well loved.  A sizable shop to visit just off of the strip.

Overall, my husband and I had a great time in Vegas, but of course we were happy to be home.

Linking to:
Sew Fresh Quilts

-Christina

Design Wall Tuesday

I finished the quilt top below this past week.  Doesn't it look fantastic!  I love the secondary pattern that pops out to me.  I can not wait to make one for my bed.

I was able to complete this on Sunday, so I have new goals of things to work on this week.  Let us see what my goals are:

My first goal is to work on getting some of these pieces put together for Ring of Stars.  My goal is to have almost all of the triangles finished, and my 4 patches cut and started put together before Breakfast club on Saturday.  I just sewed the strips together to cut apart for my 4 patches, and a good 3/4s of the one side of the triangles are on.  I think this is doable before Saturday morning.

My second goal is to start putting together my Hands 2 Help quilt.  I will be working on this on Sunday to help with the insanity of the weekend that is coming up.  The photo is from Confessions of a Fabric Addict as it is her pattern, hopefully I will have a photo of progress next week to show instead of using this picture.  Good challenge?  I hope so :)

My third goal is to prep this quilt top and backing for quilting, which will take place next week.  I will also have to dig out my roll of batting and cut two sections off for what I hope to quilt next week.  This will be an easy project at church while waiting for practice to start this week.

I think all of my goals are doable this week.  At least I'm getting better at setting my goals!

Linking up with:
Design Wall
Monday Making

-Christina

15 Minutes of Stitching - Week 19

Let us see how this week went on the 15 minutes of stitching front.

Days spent stitching this week: 7 out of 7

Days spent stitching in May: 13 out of 13

Days spent stitching for 2018: 108 out of 133

Rate of Success: 81.2%
My week runs Monday through Sunday.

Yippee!  I have quilted every day this month, and I hope to continue the pattern.  It makes me very excited that my rate of success has increased considerably, and I'm getting closer to the mid-B range, which is where I want to end the year with.  By working on something everyday this past week, I was able to finish a quilt top, and I'm working on getting the next one put together.  One more quilt top to go this month before I will finish what I intended to complete this month.  It is extremely nice to keep making progress on projects that I want to finish.

Linking up to:
Life in Pieces

-Christina

Royal Gardens is Finished

Royal Gardens is finished!  This was started in August 2017, and was finished in April 2018, and is currently on our bed, which is beautiful!  I finished something for my house and did not give it away (first time ever)! I completed the quilting on it, and "sewed" down the binding for my church's quilt show in March, however I was finally able to finish sewing the binding down in April.

The backing was found on clearance through Connecting Threads.  I have gotten a ton of compliments on the back as it could be a quilt within itself.  I feel like it matches well to the front, and compliments it.  The red binding is perfect for both sides, and gives the quilt a nice frame.

The pictures my husband took of the quilt are awesome!  I love this shot, with just a little bit of the sky peaking through, and it shows off the quilting.  The quilting was custom, I love how it turned out.  I worked on my feathers and custom quilted each border, which was interesting.  I flipped the quilt 90 degrees after quilting all the way down on the long-arm to quilt the borders so they looked cohesive.  It turned out in the end, but one border has some puckers in it.

Overall, I am more than happy I got this quilt done, my husband keeps complimenting me on it as he loves having it on our bed.  This is a project on my Quarter 2 Finish-A-Long list, as number 38.  Two done for the quarter, lots to go!

Linking to:
Crazy Mom Quilts
Busy Hands Quilts
Confessions of a Fabric Addict

-Christina

Design Wall Monday

This last week I have been busily working on a wedding quilt to get it done before the actual wedding in a week and a half.  This is some of the progress of the pieces in the middle of the week.

I love watching small pieces like this come together to create something bigger.  I am so excited to get these blocks together so I can put it all together.  I will still have 4 borders to put on by Friday morning.  I already know how I'm going to quilt it, and I still need to find a backing for the top. (Nothing like last minute!)

Now for my goals for the week are the same as last week:

My first goal is to finish putting together the quilt top, and get it quilted.  I am in the middle of putting the blocks together, and then its putting it together and getting 4 borders on.  Lots of patience and perseverance will take place to get it quilted on Friday.

My second goal is to start putting together my Hands 2 Help quilt.  I see some strip set sewing in my future.  (The photo is from Confessions of a Fabric Addict as it is her pattern)

My goals are short this week, but that is because I have to put all of my focus in on these two quilts this week to get them done before each of their deadlines comes up.

Linking up with:
Design Wall
Monday Making

I made it on Monday to the party again this week!
-Christina

15 Minutes of Stitching - Week 18

Let us see how this week went on the 15 minutes of stitching front.

Days spent stitching this week: 7 out of 7

Days spent stitching in April: 26 out of 30
Days spent stitching in May: 6 out of 6

Days spent stitching for 2018: 101 out of 126

Rate of Success: 80.2%
My week runs Monday through Sunday.

This week went very well, I had the energy to do at least 15 minutes of stitching everyday, if not more.  I have to get a quilt top done before the end of the week as I have quilting time scheduled for Friday at my LQS.  It is always nice to have a deadline to make the project go by quicker (not!).  I made it to a B- this week, and I hope to keep it up and increase it to a B in the next few weeks, and I have stitched every day this month so far, including tonight already!!!  I'm feeling energetic and the want to finish some things is there, all it has to do with is time, but with 15 minutes a day, I will get a lot further than I have in the past.

Linking up to:
Life in Pieces

-Christina

May 2018 OMG

For the month of May, my One Monthly Goal is to iron, cut and start this baby quilt for our God Son's baptism in August.  The fabric is already starched ready to be made into a quilt, as I bought the kit from Missouri Star Quilt Company, but I changed out the border as I did not like the print they had chosen for it.  The quilt matches his nursery perfectly, and I am so excited to put it together for him.

Even though my goal is semi-short and sweet, I have to finish two quilts before the 20th of May, so I will not be able to start making progress on this quilt until after I get the other two done.

Linking up to:
Elm Street Quilts

I hope everyone has a successful month!

-Christina

Final Big Bed Quilt Check In

My goals for the big bed quilt along hosted by Stitched In Color were to complete Royal Gardens and start working on the next big bed quilt I am going to do.  Did I make it?

Yes, I did!  Royal Gardens is finished!  Doesn't it look good?

I was also able to start working on the next big bed quilt, which is called Ring of Stars.  Here is a picture of some of the chain sewing I am in the middle of doing.

I would call my goals met, and I am excited to have a quilt I made on our bed finally!

Linking up to:
Stitched in Color

-Christina