September 2018 OMG

I made it!  I made serious progress on my one monthly goal, which is awesome.  You can see my goal here.

I prepped the papers for the square in a square block, including marking the quarter inch lines for stitching.

I found the center squares and starched them all.  They are almost all ready to start sewing on.

I cut out the first set of triangles, which are all yellow.  There were 352 squares, which equals 704 triangles for the whole project.

I was also able to plan out the pieced backing, and prepped some fabric so I just need to iron and cut them out.  This can be worked on next month.

I finished in the knick of time, more like posting in the knick of time, as I was able to finish this all last night.  It feels great to get a goal done, and I hope to continue to set realistic ones so I may achieve more each month.

Linking up to:
Elm Street Quilts

-Christina

15 Minutes of Stitching - Week 38

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

Days spent stitching this week: 7 out of 7
Days spent stitching in September: 23 out of 23
Days spent stitching in 2018: 238 out of 266
Rate of Success: 89.5%
My week runs Monday to Sunday.

This week went well in finding stitching time.  I found time in a hotel room, and even after a very long day.  That is normally my hiccup, if I have a long day I just want to come home and go to bed, but I made sure I was did my 15 minutes of stitching.  The end of September is upon us already, and I'm almost one fourth of my way to my goal of finding stitching time every day through the end of the year.  I hope everyone is finding a little bit of time, it is amazing how much is really getting done.  (Here is my secret, I almost always squeak out 30 minutes instead of 15 because I always try to be the overachiever/I always think of one more thing that then takes longer than I think it would.)

Linking up at:

Life in Pieces

-Christina

Design Wall Monday

Last week was semi productive.  Not as productive as I was originally hoping, but progress was made in some areas.  I was able to get about half a binding sewn down while on travel, and I'm sooo close to being done with cutting out papers, and making the quarter inch lines to extend for sewing purposes.

I am hoping this week is a little more productive on the front of my One Monthly Goal, as it is the last week of September!  And I have a little more time at home (more like the whole week, which means a lot of cleaning and quilting is going to happen, plus some home cooked meals).

Without further ado, my goals for this week are simple.  My first goal is to keep working on moving towards accomplishing my September's One Monthly Goal.  This will include starching fabric (I bought the last of what I need to cut this past weekend), marking 1/4" on papers (so close to being done), trimming papers and cutting out fabric (long way to go, but already started on it).  And finish them!

My second goal for the week is to work on my Breakfast Club project.  I want to get the new background cut out, which is going to take some time.  I would love to finish cutting out the other pieces, but one part at a time.

My third goal for the week is to work on the bindings of two smaller quilts.  I have had the binding sewn on for some time now, I just have not had time to finish hand sewing them down (one is 3/4ths done, and the other is a little over half way done).  I still need to finish the final juncture on one, as I sewed it together twisted.  It should not take too long to fix (famous last words right?).

My fourth and stretch goal (one can never have too many goals), is to work on the stitch and flip wreaths that have been works in progress for some time.  Even if a little progress is made, it is better than none.

I hope everyone has an awesome and productive week!

Linking up with:
Monday Making
Design Wall
Main Crush Monday

-Christina

Blogger Quilt Festival - Of the Woods

In February I was able to quickly finish a baby quilt for a co-worker.  The result was "Of the Woods". I found the pattern on Moda Bake shop's website, and the recipe was created by Suzanne Jackman entitled Bradley Street.  When I choose the pattern, I knew I would be able to show off all of the cute woodland creature prints I had found for this project, and to incorporate a solid color to complement everything and give it a woodsy theme, would be wonderful.

I love the end product.  Sometimes a quilt is hard to give away because it turned out too cute, and this was one of them.  But it was always intended for a gift, and I know it is loved within the household it went to.  The pattern was not hard to put together, and I was able to put the top together within a week, once everything was cut.

The quilting was a simple design of swirl flowers, which went with the whole theme of the quilt.  The backing was found online, and complimented the front of the quilt.  I love how it turned out.

Sharing at:
Amy's Creative Side

-Christina

Blogger Quilt Festival - Royal Gardens

Last April I was able to finish a quilt entitled Royals Gardens.  It is a block of the month pattern by Daniella Stout from Cozy Creative Designs.  Cozy Creative is my local quilt store, where I attend Breakfast Club on the 3rd Saturday of each month.  This was the project for the second semester of 2017, and I got it done within the first year of starting it!  It feels great.

The quilt was fun and easy to put together, and I love how it turned out.  I did a custom quilt design, quilting it myself on a longarm that I rented time for.  I am very proud of how it turned out, and it is now displayed proudly on our bed.

The borders were a pain to put together, but I think they make the quilt and tie it in all together.  I am glad I stuck with it, and it turned out so well.

The quilt ended up being 96" by 96", which fits our queen bed beautifully.  The backing fabric was found at Connecting Threads on clearance.  The fabric for the quilt top was from Daniella Stout's Happy Hour fabric line, which came from a kit.  The quilt is labeled, which helps us with the orientation every week.

Sharing at:
Amy's Creative Side

I can not wait to see what everyone else has completed!

-Christina

Design Wall Monday

Last week was productive!  I did not get everything done for Breakfast club, but that is okay, as they are only looking for progress on my quilt.  I did learn, of course the hard way, that I did not buy enough of the background fabric for L and B's wedding quilt, and since I bought the fabric several years ago, it is no longer in print/not the correct colors.  I have to laugh at myself, as now I do buy extra yardage for that fact.  I found a new background fabric and I have already started to starch it so I can get cutting.

While on travel last week I was able to make progress on my One Monthly Goal. I just received the last of the iSpy fabrics, so I'll be starching those next weekend.

My goals for this week are simple, as I'm traveling for work again.  My first goal is to keep working on moving towards accomplishing my September's One Monthly Goal.  This will include starching fabric, marking 1/4" on papers, trimming papers and cutting out fabric.

My second goal for the week is to work on my Breakfast Club project.  I want to finish starching my new background, finish getting fabrics ironed, and cut out all of the pieces so I can just sit down and sew in the future.

My third goal for the week is to work on the bindings of two smaller quilts.  I have had the binding sewn on for some time now, I just have not had time to hand sew it down.  It is the perfect thing to bring on travel this week, as I will sit in front of the TV and stitch some binding down each night.  I also have to finish the final juncture on one, as I sewed it together twisted.  It should not take too long to fix (famous last words right?).

I hope everyone has an awesome and productive week!

Linking up with:
Design Wall
Main Crush Monday

-Christina

15 Minutes of Stitching - Week 37

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

Days spent stitching this week: 7 out of 7
Days spent stitching in September: 16 out of 16
Days spent stitching in 2018: 231 out of 259
Rate of Success: 89.2%

I found time each day this past week to do 15 minutes of stitching.  It has been a very busy summer, and the end is in sight, with at least some down time coming soon.  With said down time I'm hoping to get some serious time to sit down and sew, of course between some household chores I've been putting off for some time.  We are almost to the last quarter of the year, and I'm becoming stronger in getting my 15 minutes or more of stitching in each day, which I am loving.  I hope to finish the year off strong.

Linking up at:

Life in Pieces

-Christina

Design Wall Monday

The last two weeks have been busy with sewing time limited, however it has been very nice to have that get away to my machine.  I have not accomplished a lot, but I have made progress on prep for various quilts, thought about how I am going to accomplish 5-6 quilts before the end of the year, and set my September One Monthly Goal, which is to do a lot of prep work on my niece's ISpy quilt for Christmas.

My goals for this week are simple, as I'm traveling for work, but also Breakfast Club at my LQS is on Saturday, and I have yet to make any progress on my independent study project for the semester.  My first goal is to keep working on moving towards accomplishing my September's One Monthly Goal.  This will include starching fabric, ordering some fabric, marking 1/4", trimming papers and cutting out fabric.

My second goal for the week is to work on my Breakfast Club homework.  I am not going to fully achieve what I planned for my homework for the months of July and August, but I hope to get July's fully finished, and complete steps two of five for August's homework before Saturday.  I will report back next week to let you know what I was able to accomplish.  The quilt is going to be beautiful when it is done in purple, teal and dark blue!

Linking up with:
Design Wall
Monday Making
Main Crush Monday

-Christina

15 Minutes of Stitching - Week 36

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

Days spent stitching this week: 7 out of 7
Days spent stitching in September: 9 out of 9
Days spent stitching in 2018: 224 out of 252
Rate of Success: 88.9%

I was able to find time each day this week, which is awesome!  I am trying to not miss a day for the rest of the year.  I am nine days in and succeeding pretty well so far.  Small things like going through my fat quarters to pick out fabrics for this quilt or that quilt, or refolding them because I want to put them in plastic bins.  I also was able to work on cutting out my Breakfast Club quilt, but I still have a good portion to cut.  One day at a time, and I will be done soon.  I hope everyone is able to find time in the upcoming week for their daily stitching.

Linking up at:

Life in Pieces

-Christina

September 2018 OMG

I was unable to successfully complete my August goal as the month got away from me, but also because I made two unexpected trips back east, the first to say goodbye to my Grandma as she was asking for all of her grandkids, and then back for the funeral.  It was not easy and still is not, but life continues on, and it is September already!  How did that happen?  So, it is time to come up with my One Monthly Goal.

With the passing of my Grandma, two quilts have moved to the top of my list for Christmas, in addition to the one I was planning to make for my niece, plus the quilt top I need to get done so I can start hand quilting it before the new year for a quilt show.  As a result, I have been redoing my plan for the end of the year so I can get it all done.  This month's goal is to do several things that are all prep work for one of the quilts to be done before Christmas.

The prep work includes; prepping the papers for the square in a square block (marking the quarter inch line for stitching, and cutting them papers down), finding the center squares and starching them, cutting the first set of triangles (yellow), plan out the backing as it will be pieced, and starting to cut the pink and purple fabrics for the second set of triangles and backing pieces.  Wow that is a lot, but that is okay.  I'm traveling for work a lot this month and some of these tasks are perfect to be done in a hotel room.

I hope everyone is able to complete their one monthly goals this month!

Linking up with:
Elm Street Quilts

-Christina

15 Minutes of Stitching - Week 35

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

Days spent stitching this week: 7 out of 7
Days spent stitching in August: 30 out of 31
Days spent stitching in September: 2 out of 2
Days spent stitching in 2018: 217 out of 245
Rate of Success: 88.6%

I'm a little late in getting this out this week, but we were traveling over the long weekend and then some to say goodbye to my Grandma.  It is never easy to say good-bye, but I know she is in a better place, and watching over everyone in her family.  I have my moments, as I'm sure I will for a very long time, slowly healing the hole she has left behind.  I was able to find 15 minutes to stitch everyday last week, as it helped centered me, and gave me comfort.  I made some progress on a few things that were easy to travel with, which is nice.  I have a few quilts to get done before the end of the year.  I'm hoping to stitch every day for the rest of the year, as I do not foresee anything that will stop me.

Linking up at:

Life in Pieces

-Christina