I guess posting my goals online really helped with my motivation!
I've already finished the circle quilt top, trimmed the Red Barn quilt and cut the binding, and I have the Feeling Stitchy swap buttons planned and on the hoop.
It's a good thing I have this strong start - we are going on a ski trip at the end of the month and it is amazing to me how quickly that will be here. Planning and packing seems to be a lot more complicated when you throw a 3-month-old into the mix!
Labels: quilting, sewing, swaps, wip
I feel like I have a new appreciation for the expression "time flies" now that I am watching my baby grow. It is hard to believe my little boy is already two months old! The days go by so quickly, and I never do everything I think I can accomplish looking ahead each morning.
For example, I only have a few seams left on the
circle quilt but these strips have been sitting here for over a week waiting to get sewn together.
I also got the
Red Barn quilt back from the quilters and it is waiting to be trimmed and bound. Of course, everything that was stored in the nursery is now stored in the guest room where this quilt will live, so I have a little work to do to make the bed ready for its new covering!
To give me a little more crafting motivation - to get back on the horse, so to speak - I joined the
button swap at
Feeling Stitchy. I can't wait to get to work!
In the spirit of looking ahead, I think I will post some March goals. I am keeping them quite simple, because my to do list often gets filled with baby snuggles - and laundry! - instead of sewing time.
March Goals:
1. Buttons for swap - finished and mailed on time!
2. Finish circle quilt top.
3. Bind Red Barn quilt.
4. Pick up guest room enough to make the bed!
Administrative Note: I've upgraded to threaded comments! From now on I will be replying in the comments, and it will show up tied to the original comment on that post. If you include your email when you comment I believe you should be notified that I've replied. Hopefully it works smoothly!Labels: monthly goals, quilting, sewing, swaps, wip
Ben is taking naps pretty well in his crib now, so I find myself with my hands free and able to spend some time in my craft room!
After some much needed straightening up, I got back to work on the
circle quilt for Ben's room. I can't wait to get this quilt done! Of course, this is never far from my side:
(We love
our monitor, by the way, if you happen to be in the market...)
Labels: quilting, sewing, wip
I estimate I am about 2/3 done with this stocking now... As long as I don't put it away again, I can pretty much guarantee it will be ready for Christmas 2010!
Labels: needlework, wip
Working on a couple Christmas presents behind the scenes. Looking forward to sharing after they're gifted!
Labels: jewelry, sewing, wip
Working on the table runner. Making cranberry relish. Prepping sweet potatoes. Thawing beans. I can't wait for dinner tomorrow!
Labels: cooking, wip
Rather than joining
Jacquie's push to finish WIP's, I keep coming up with more. I'm working on a table runner for our Thanksgiving table and doodling for a long overdue wedding sampler. The flowers are part of my fall decorations, hopefully everything will be cozy for our feast on Thursday!
Labels: wip
I told you I'd be boring you with circle quilt updates! All the circles and squares are cut and arranged. Now it's on to assembly!
Labels: quilting, sewing, wip
I stocked up on some cute Christmas towels at Target this weekend in preparation of making many of
these adorable towels for family and friends. It will be fun to put some of my stashed Christmas fabric to good use!
Labels: wip
It is getting harder and harder to motivate myself to get off the couch and go into my sewing room. When is this fabled nesting supposed to happen? With all the motivation to finish projects and deep clean? Haven't experienced that yet. Instead I've just been propping my feet up and resting my cross stitch frame on my big belly and stitching. Books on my iPhone make this especially enjoyable. I still don't think I'll be finishing this stocking by this Christmas, but maybe I'll surprise myself!
Labels: needlework, wip
I always have good intentions to work on a hand-stitching project while watching TV in the evenings, yet it never seems to happen. Finally I'm doing better, since I have several projects in the works. I'm slowly growing my granny square blankie - I made some progress on the plane to and from my conference last month. I'm also planning to get back out the cross-stitch stockings I've had kits for since my husband and I got married. I guess they won't be done by this Christmas, either...
Labels: knit/crochet, wip
This is a little more difficult than I anticipated. Luckily, I am taking
Liz's suggestion to do raw edges on the circles so perfect cuts aren't as critical. I am so excited to see this quilt start to come together... I'm sure you'll get sick of the in progress shots so I'll try to keep myself under control!
Labels: quilting, sewing, wip
For the back of the Red Barn quilt I decided to do something bright and a little surprising. My husband said "that's kind of weird." I'm still pleased - I hope it comes out like I picture it, it's definitely bright!!
Labels: quilting, sewing, wip
The Rainbow Sherbet quilt top is basted! Since this is going to be a lap quilt instead of a bed quilt, I'm quilting it to fleece, of course. I wanted a pale orange fleece but ended up with this blue, which I still love. I don't think I'll be able to wait until the baby arrives to cuddle under it. I promise this is the last tease of this quilt, I won't torture you with it again until it's done! (My iPhone sneaked into the picture - I play books on it while I'm working on basting, helps with motivation!)
Labels: quilting, sewing, wip
I finished the Red Barn top! Last night I had an appointment with
Karen for a long arm consultation to quilt this. I can't wait to see it! I've never gotten a quilt professionally quilted before, I think it's going to be fantastic.
Labels: quilting, sewing, wip
I finally have all my blocks arranged for the original Red Barn quilt along. Slow? Yes. Worth it? I have no doubt it will be. My new quilt wall made this so easy. It wasn't quite big enough to arrange all the blocks, but only two rows short - not bad!
Labels: quilting, sewing, wip
I have long wanted a quilt design wall, but do not have an open wall in my sewing room to accommodate such a thing, even temporarily. What I do have is a wonderful, huge set of Ikea shelving with doors - basically a big wall!
Why didn't I think of this before? For now I'm using some spare batting to arrange my Rainbow Sherbet quilt. It's just taped to the top of the shelves, and I can roll it up (quilt blocks in place) if I need to put it away for a little while. Perfect!!
Labels: quilting, wip
This once a week posting is really not my intention. The crafting is happening, the photos are even happening, but making it to a published blog post seems to be the missing step...
Over the weekend I did get a good amount of time in my sewing room. The strips for the Red Barn quilt along are slowly being pieced together and I'm getting my
sewing chair back. I have about five more sets of strips to sew together, then cut all the blocks. I'm a little worried about arranging all these for the top. Any suggestions for arranging a queen-sized quilt without a quilt wall?? I don't think I have any floor space big enough!
Labels: quilting, sewing, wip
The QBB quilts are quilted! And gorgeous. Carolyn did an amazing job. I got the binding machine-sewn on this weekend and my mom will hand-sew two and I'll do one. They should be easily done in time for my mother-in-law to deliver to the Quilt Show next week. I love this teamwork approach to quilting!
Labels: quilting, sewing, wip
Thanks for all the book recommendations yesterday! In addition to reading the "classic" Interview with a Vampire, I spent a little time in my sewing room.
I made some progress on the piecing for the
Rainbow Sherbet quilt top. We're not actually going to have a twin bed in the nursery after all (the room is too small) but this will make a great cuddle blankie in the rocker. Finishing this top was on my
September Goals list, needless to say it isn't finished on time!
I also got started on my Grandma's handbag, another unfinished September goal... My grandma always requests colorful fabrics, I think these fit the bill! After the bright Sherbet quilt fabrics, I'm loving the more muted colors.
Monthly GoalsHard to believe another month has gone by! My October list is primarily finishing up my September goals...
1. Finish Gma's handbag.
2. Bind and label QBB quilts.
3. Finish Rainbow Sherbet quilt - top, quilting, binding, the works!
4. Finish Red Barn quilt top.
September Goals:
1. Family Projects - Karyn's necklace & Gma's handbag.
2. Three quilt tops for Quilts Beyond Borders.
3. Red Barn quilt-along quilt top done. Nope.
4. Rainbow sherbet quilt top done. Nope.Let's see if I can do a little better this month!
Labels: monthly goals, quilting, sewing, wip
I finished the three quilt tops I wanted to do for Quilts Beyond Borders! Carolyn, who landed at my site while searching for QBB, has
very generously offered to quilt them, and then when I get them back my mom has offered to handsew the binding. What teamwork!
Labels: quilting, sewing, wip
I can't believe it's already September! Since I did so well holding myself accountable for my August goals, I'm doing the same thing for September...
1. Family Projects - Karyn's necklace & Gma's handbag.
2. Three (yes, 3) quilt tops for Quilts Beyond Borders.
3. Red Barn quilt-along quilt top done & to the quilters (I'm outsourcing the quilting on this one).
4. Rainbow sherbet quilt top. That's what I'm calling the nursery quilt for now...
In addition, we also plan to get the nursery painted and are going out of town for the long Labor Day weekend. It's going to be a busy month!
August Goals:
1. How-to's for baby blankies and quilt labels are done.
2. Flutterby quilt is finished.
3. Rainbow sherbet fabric is cut!
4. Nine patches are done.Labels: monthly goals, wip
I have all the strips for the
Red Barn quilt along matched up and ready to sew. I don't even want to think about how many 44" seams this will require. That's what I get for deciding to make this a queen-sized quilt! Maybe it's time to test out that on/off button on my new machine instead of using the foot pedal...
Labels: quilting, sewing, wip
I finally finished my blocks for the
9-patch along. I have all the border squares cut to finish the tops but will probably put this on hold for more pressing August projects. I'm loving this so far!
Labels: quilting, sewing, wip
I know we're already a week into August, but in the spirit of accountability and crossing things off my to-do list, I wanted to post my August goals. I never get as much done as I want to, so I'm going to try to keep it fairly simple this month!
1. Catch up on a couple bloggy things - mainly my baby blankie tutorial and how I do my quilt labels.
2. Finish my flutterby quilt. I can't believe I've had the top done since
February.
3. Get the pieces cut for the quilt using
this fabric. It is for the twin bed we hope to have in the nursery.
4. Finish the other 11 nine-patches for
this set.
Bonus goals: More progress on the
Red Barn quilt and a custom order necklace for my aunt. But that might be ambitious!
Labels: monthly goals, wip
I've started working on my blocks for the Old Red Barn quilt-along but I am definitely not close to the finished quilt top! I thought it was an appropriate project to break in my new machine. I actually ended up doing five strips instead of six - it was an accident at first but I like the way it looks. I'm hoping the cohesiveness of this quilt comes together as I finish more blocks - since these all use different fabrics I think it looks a little too random. I still have high hopes, because I do love all the fabrics!
Labels: quilting, sewing, wip
I wanted to get started on the granny square blankie and realized I didn't really remember how to crochet. It's been a while! Thankfully there are some decent videos online and I have a few books, so that all helped jog my memory. This is my little practice square:
I switched to a smaller hook and got started on my blankie. I can't wait to see it when I get into the 2nd round of each color - I have that green to do after this turquoise which I think will tie nicely back into the center chocolate brown.
There needs to be a little more balance to all those warm colors in the middle but hopefully the green will help. I think it's going to be really pretty!
Labels: knit/crochet, wip
Nine of my second set of twenty nine-patches finished this weekend. I also got a good start on the
granny square project but can't get a good picture of it. Combine that little bit of crafting with actually changing the sheets on our bed, having a very clean kitchen, and getting caught up on other laundry, and this was by far the most productive weekend I've had in ages!
Labels: quilting, sewing, wip
I actually had another post planned yesterday before I found out about
Dana's giveaway! Some of you may have guessed, but I actually do have a big project in the works that I can finally share.
Baby Mikke, due January 20, 2010.Now that this little one is sapping a bit less of my energy, hopefully crafting and blogging will return to normal. Which is a good thing - I have quite a list of projects planned before January! (And won't that be more fun on my
new toy!)
Labels: family, wip
Another WIP. Are you tired of these photos of craft supplies instead of actual finished projects? I don't blame you. As my sister said, "But your last post was just a pile of fabric!" Tomorrow's post is another work-in-progress but then hopefully the finished projects will be more common! Anyway, I couldn't resist picking up some yarn to do a
giant granny square blankie. Loving these rich colors.
Labels: knit/crochet, wip
I didn't have the productive long weekend that I had hoped for but I did get the wedding quilt quilted and the binding is ready to hand sew. As for the rest of the weekend, I will allow Hitch to demonstrate our level of activity...
Remember our sweet little black kitty? Yeah, he grew a little!Labels: family, quilting, sewing, wip
The lack of posting here is directly related to the lack of crafting going on at my house. But the arrival of this fabric in the mail is good motivation to finish up my other quilting projects so I can start on this new project! I have five in-progress quilts and I hope to finish up as many as I can before we go on vacation in mid-July. We'll see if that's overly ambitious!!
Labels: fabric, wip
Only a few lines of quilting done on the wedding quilt despite big plans...
Admiring pretty roses brought home from a work dinner.
Fun summer reading on the nightstand.Sorry to disappear on you there. Instead of a productive weekend of quilting and blankie-tutorial-making I ended up on the couch for two days and then headed off to a work conference. Then this weekend we traded craft time for socializing - not a bad trade but it didn't leave any time for sewing! I tend to forget how busy summer can be. I might still be in and out for a few weeks but I won't go too far!
Labels: wip
It's a basted wedding quilt!! I had a mental block about getting down on the floor and getting this quilt basted, but now that it's done I don't understand what the big deal was. I'm looking forward to getting it finished!
Labels: quilting, sewing, wip
