I think I might pull it off!

I was a little worried last week that I would not be able to get my UFO done for this month.  I’m feeling a little better this week, and it’s only Monday!  I was able to complete all of the blocks for my most recent UFO and now all I need to do is assemble the top.

However, I’m taking a small interruption to assemble this month’s stained glass star.  Each star is broken down into 6 pie pieces.  For this particular star, each pie piece has 5 parts.  I was able to complete two of those 5 parts for each of the 6 pie pieces.  I’m hopeful that I will be able to get at least one more section competed tomorrow and the star completed before Friday.  It’s always good to have goals.

That means I’ll have all weekend to work on assembling that quilt top!  It looks like I should make my goal for this month after all!  Whew! I was a little worried that it was only February and I was already going to be behind.  Now I just need to keep plugging along and I’ll be finished in no time!  Then I’ll have some pictures to share.  After all, who doesn’t love show and tell?  Of course I actually need to get it completed and of course it is not a straight or on point set.  It’s more of a fancy setting with lots of open space but it looks like it should go together fairly quickly.  I hope…

I think we are all fully recovered from Little Red’s birthday party and I’m relieved to get back to sewing.  Aside from that, things are quiet and we are starting to get ready for retreat.  Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to use my time there to work ahead on my UFO’s….or maybe get the wedding quilts completed.  Hmmmm….decisions decisions!

Hopefully you are making some progress on your UFO’s.

 

Just some personal thoughts.

While this was Valentine’s Day weekend, it really took a back seat to everything else that was going on.  First of all, we had Little Red’s birthday party that we were planning with a Star Wars theme.  We had pool noodle light sabers and lots of cake and kids smacking each other with pool noodles for about 2 hours.  I’m betting that everyone slept well that night!

However, things were a little overshadowed as our Parish Priest passed away and the weekend also became filled with prayers and visitations which culminated in his funeral today.  I don’t know if you have ever been to a funeral for a Priest, but I and Small Blonde attended one this morning.  It was pretty amazing. Why Small Blonde?  Well, he was fairly upset to hear of Father’s passing and he attends parochial school where Father also made appearances.  We made a dessert for the luncheon (for which they were expecting 250 if that gives you any indication on how big this ended up being) and headed to the church so we could be sure to get a seat.  As Small Blonde and I paid respects and found a seat and chatted a bit, the church began to fill.  We watched the Knights of Columbus (in total 16) come in wearing their full regalia complete with swords, but I was unprepared for the numbers of Priests that were there to assist in the officiating.  I stopped counting at 30.  Yes, 30+ Priests, a Monseigneur, numerous Deacons and a Bishop to officiate the mass sending one of their brethren home.

With so many surrounding the Altar, you would think there would be plenty of rooms in the pews, right?  Except there was standing room only with as many squeezed into a pew as could fit and still they came to honor Father.  I think he would have been proud of the job that was done today.  It was held in one of the 2 churches he ministered in, and while it was not our home church the African choir that sometimes sings at our masses was  present and sang after Communion.  Honestly it made me smile to hear them.   I don’t think I have seen anything quite like it and I’m sure the enormity of what we witnessed this morning was lost on Small Blonde, but that’s okay.  I’m just happy that he was able to hold his good behavior together through the whole thing.

As far as I’m concerned, well, I find comfort and power in the ritual of our mass to the point where sometimes (like today) the power of it is a bit overwhelming (and maybe Hattie feels the same?).  The enormity of today was not lost on me.

<whew> To end on a lighter note, Little Red was super excited for his birthday party (he asked Santa for one for Christmas) and he has been singing Happy Birthday to himself for a week.    So, here are the cakes I made for this party.

And also the light sabers.

I have to admit I did not get any further along in my UFO’s and have not yet started my paper pieced star.  I’m hoping for a stellar week this week where I can get lots more done…we shall see what tomorrow brings.

And please, hold each other a little tighter tonight….

UFO Central

That is exactly how I’m feeling – that I am UFO central.  This past week I spent a bit of time working in my sewing room.  Mainly because I want to find space for a designated cutting table.  I’m coming to terms that I may not be able to make my dream table work, but that is okay.  I’ve got another option.  It’s a kitchen cart that we no longer need in the kitchen.  It has 2 drawers with would be great for cutting utensils and two shelves underneath that I can use for storage of something.  Maybe my scrap bins would work well under there.  I think the wheels will be minimal trouble…

Anyway – I went through more of my UFO’s and I discovered that I could rearrange them a little and open up some space, or should I say that I was able to downsize the storage needed for my UFO’s a little.  I also found that I have some UFO’s that should be easily completed.  Three have all the blocks completed although only one of them has the setting triangles ready to go.  The other two need some sashing fabric and setting triangle fabric.  There is even one that only needs borders and they are at least cut and just need to be trimmed to size and added to the quilt.  That will probably be the easiest one to finish up.  Plus I had some fabrics put aside to use in a project where I just hadn’t picked the pattern and I got around to putting that to order as well.  I’m really feeling optimistic about being able to knock out quite a few of my UFO’s and starting to get them under control.

So far, I have been diligently working on the Joann’s block of the month.  This one was a little more interesting (even though it was precut pieces).  This time each month encourages you to try some different techniques.  There was some basic piecing and appliqué, but also partial seams and cutting with templates and on the last block Y-seams.  I’ve gotten all but the last block completed – and I’m delaying a little because of those Y-seams. I’ve tried them before and it didn’t go so well. These do have some explicit instructions so I’ll give them a go and see if it doesn’t work out for me.  At least it is the last block and then I will switch over to the stained glass paper pieced block.  I really want to get going on that one so I don’t get behind.  I hope to at least have some pictures of the completed blocks from my UFO and the start of my paper pieced block.  Wish me luck!

I hope you are doing well on your Revolutions. I’ve not had much luck on some of my other revolutions, but tomorrow is a new day and a chance to start again and I am looking forward to that.  All we can do is just keep trying – we only fail when we stop trying.

Oh!  If you are working along with me on getting your UFO’s completed, please feel free to post any pictures in the comments.  It’s like show and tell and I just love show and tell.  I’ll try to not have your completed UFO’s turn into new UFO’s for me…..

Keeping up.

It’s the first of the month, so you know what that means!  We got a new block for our star block of the month and it’s time to tackle another UFO.  I did get my printing done for the new block but I had a little trouble that the printer was cutting off the top a little so I think I’ll need to reprint part.  Today I did pull out another UFO and guess what!  It’s almost the same as last time.  It’s another Joann’s precut block of the month that I had picked up on clearance.  Yep, I still don’t like the precuts but I’m going to stick to it and get it done.  This time I do have the setting kit so I should be able to make it all the way to a complete top.  At least that is what I am aiming for this time.  I had already completed the first 4 blocks and today I added the next 2.  With any luck I can get another 2 done tomorrow.  Of course I need to see about that paper pieced block.

All of the above means that I will have to put back on hold my current project.  I am making progress on it though.  I have 58 of the 97 sections done with 20 more in progress.  I should be able to get those completed fairly soon and I have to admit that I am pretty excited about moving on to the 3rd section as I only need 54 and then I can start assembling the quilt top.  What I am not looking forward to is tearing the paper off.

I also took some time over this last week to put some things away in my craft room.  When my aunt passed away just over a year ago, I acquired all of her crafting supplies which also mingled in some of my grandmother’s supplies.  I spent most of that time organizing the beading supplies.  My aunt would make beaded ornaments so I have lots of sequins and styrofoam forms and pins and assorted beads.  My grandmother crocheted bead rope necklaces so there are lots of seed beads and pearl beads in assorted colors plus some started necklaces.  I’m almost wondering if these are coming back into style…especially since I have quite a few that are complete in assorted colors.  Not sure what I am talking about?  You can find one here.  Of course now I feel the need to find how to finish them.  Add that to my list of things to do…..I don’t know that it will make my UFO list for this year but maybe if I find some spare time somewhere I’ll see if I can figure them out.  I’m sure I should be able to figure it out.

In case you were wondering, the beading is only the tip of the iceberg.  I have a couple of tubs of yarn, boxes of plastic canvas and patterns as well as quilling and stamped embroidery on table linens/pillowcases.  I’m sure there is more that I am forgetting, but that is really the bulk of it.  I just wish I had more time to dig into doing some of it.  I was actually thinking that Small Blonde (having turned 7) may be able to work on some plastic canvas with a yarn needle.  It may be fun for him to pick his own colors and try his own designs or see if I can teach him to start reading a pattern.  I think that I will wait until spring break or maybe even summer vacation so we have more time without having to worry about bedtime and homework.  I hope that he finds it interesting.  I guess we will see how it goes!

Well, tomorrow is a new day and I’m hoping that it will bring some time to get another block or two completed for my latest UFO.    I hope you are making progress on yours as well.