Oops….

I really didn’t make it this month. I was kinda close though.  I did get the sashing sewn on to the flowers and all they need is the border.

Here it is without the border.

Yea!  It’s mostly assembled!

Here is the green I had originally thought I would use for sashing.  I did use it in the corner stones and thought that I would go ahead and use it as the border.

I know, they aren’t the best pictures, but at least I came close to finishing this UFO.  I’ll bet getting that border on before the week is out and then I can call it complete.  Of course I still need to get my star done and the new one comes out tomorrow.  I hope to get some of that done yet this week as well.  We shall see how it goes.  Plus I need to pick the next UFO to tackle.  If nothing else, I’m not doing too badly at carving out a little sewing time during the week.

With it now being summer break, I was worried about losing all of my sewing time.  So far, that hasn’t been the case.  It seems like I will be able to still make it work.  I won’t bore you with all my details, but I’ve been working on a theme a week for summer break.  This week we are doing a Superhero theme this week.  If you are curious, you can read more about my exploits with the boys here.  Mainly I use the Smallest One’s nap time as a quiet time for the older one to do things like his own craft or reading or playing a video game which still gives me a chance to get a little sewing done.

At least I am hoping that it will continue to do so.  Wish me luck!

As far as the 10K stepping, well, this week was easier than last (yea!) and I was able to make that goal 4 times this week.  I was a little surprised that it wasn’t much harder to reach and seemed a little easier than 8K.  I’m not sure why but I am going with it.  I have instituted a little exercise each day with the boys where I get in at least 20 minutes of walking while they do jumping jacks or running or silly goofy things to get their bodies moving.  It’s working and I’m glad for that.

I have my work cut out for me this month and I’m hoping to really get a good start on it during this week.  It always feels like there is more to do than hours in a day, doesn’t it?  Maybe that’s my motivation kicking in….that would be a good thing.

 

 

 

Slipping a little bit.

I’m not sure I’m going to make it this month.  There is still some potential, but I have a feeling that next month I am going to have to make up for this month as well as do what I need to for June.

No excuses.  Just not much time for sewing the last couple of weeks.  That’s okay – sometimes that will happen.  So, I’ll give it a shot tomorrow am and see if I can maybe get those flowers going.  They will be the easiest to complete.  I think it’s a certainty that I won’t get the lovely stained glass star done for the month.  I’ll be okay though.  It won’t take much to get back on track.  After all, this happens sometimes.  We have other things that become priorities.  School ending and potty training seem to be the order of these days.

I did think that I would share one of my favorite tools – Iris Pins.  Well, I shouldn’t say that they are my favorite tool.  I actually hate to pin.  However, if I have to pin (and there have been a few times where I have not been able to avoid it), these are the pins that I prefer to use.

Here is the tin they come in and it’s kinda cool.  You push in the top and it pops loose.  Push it again from the inside of the lid and it will then snap closed over the top of the tin.

Aside from the packaging being pretty cool (because let’s face it, the cooler the packaging the more likely we are to purchase it), the are very slim pins.  Here you can see them one next to a flower head pin.

Yes, it’s a little shorter, but you can see how much thinner it is than a standard flower headed pin.  I’ve had these for quite a while and my tin is starting to feel a little lighter which makes me think that I need to pick up some more.  I got mine at my local quilt shop so I may just have to pop in again to see about picking up some more.

Last week was also pretty bad for getting good steps in.  This week has been going much better and I’ve had 3 consecutive days of reaching my 10K goal.  I’m hoping that today will be a 4th one.  One thing I do wish is that I would see some change in the scale, but so far that has been a bit of a disappointment.  Maybe keeping up with this 10K will help give the scale a bit of a jump-start too.  It certainly can’t hurt.

Making it a better week.

Well, it has been a more productive week and I’m feeling better about getting things back on track.  I’m glad I took another week to work on these 8k steps.  It has been going much better so I’m hoping that next week I’ll be able to make that final step to 10k.  I’m a little nervous about that, but I think this more gradual approach has been paying off.  Although I do reserve the right to just bump it to 9k…

I did make progress on the flowers.  They are ALL stitched around.  Yea!  The last couple were kinda fun, but I think that was because I was racing finishing the spool of thread against the last two blocks.  I barely made it before the spool ran out, but they are done!  Next is figuring out how to lay the blocks out and then cutting the sashing.  Here they are! I’m not sure that you can really see the stitching (which is okay, as they are certainly not perfect) but they are ready for the next step.

I did find the flannel for the backing on my emergency project and my goal is to get it and the batting cut tomorrow.

Now, I’m not sure how up to date you are on the latest Disney cartoons, but they have one now called The Lion Guard which happens chronologically after their movie The Lion King.  Anyway, I have a tiny person who has been fascinated by both the cartoon and the movie.  I hear him often singing “Hakuna Matata” which cracks me up.  Anyway, when I found the flannel I happened to go down the licensed fabric aisle and low and behold there was Lion Guard fabric.  Crazy right?  Not really, I think they have licensed fabric for everything.  I was surprised that I only saw one.  So, I did the only rational thing – I bought enough to make a pillowcase for that tiny person.  That project is completed!

I thought the brown set it off nicely.  And of course, here is that tiny person who has been sleeping on it since I completed it.  He doesn’t quite look like a Little Red anymore, but sometimes when the light is right his hair still shows up with red.

I got some more done on the second wedding quilt also – pinning and trimming.  I have a few more to trim and then I can add in the next piece.  See?  Things are just plugging along this week.  At least so far and I even have a plan so I can keep it going.  Hang on until next week, maybe I’ll even have some more pictures!

 

How are things going for you?

I would love to say that it has been another awesome week where I have a ton of pictures and got a lot of things done.  However, that has not happened as I’m sure you have guessed since I’m little on the late side posting this week.

I’m working on that whole 8K step this week, but man, this time it has been hard.  I think I’m going to have to go at least another week working on that goal.  What’s funny is that now Little Red has started walking and saying he has to get his steps in.  At least that is something positive that he is doing, although most of the time he tells me it’s not time for me to do my steps.

I have managed to stitch around 10 of the flowers for the fused flower quilt.  Honestly, it’s not that fun.  I keep hoping that the more I do the more fun it will be.  I’m glad to be half way through them.  It’s not horrible, but I do need more practice with this technique.  Lucky for me, I believe there may be another project or two in my UFO pile where I will get to practice this technique.  I have noticed that I really should have used a stabilizer on the black fabric.  I double checked the pattern to make sure I hadn’t overlooked that step and I didn’t see anything about stabilizing.  I think that it would be a good practice for me to put a stabilizer on the back when doing machine embroidery in the future.  Since it was a project that had already been started, I just carried on as it was.  Next time I would do the stabilizer on the yardage before cutting into squares.  We will see how these blocks lay when they are assembled into the quilt top.

In other quilt projects, I did start a new one.  I know, but it’s a special occasion.  This will be a quickly done Turning Twenty in a quilt as you go method.  I found the fabrics I needed  mostly from my stash and only needed to purchase a few sport team fabrics.  I still need to purchase the backing but all the fat quarters have now been cut.  Next up is to cut the batting and backing.  What’s the special occasion? An ailing family member that I would like to cheer up so it is something that needs to be done in a hurry.  Not the type of thing that we like doing, but one of those things that we feel needs doing.  Now I just need to get out and get some nice cuddly flannel.  I should have pictures next time.

Sorry this is all over the place.  I feel bad that I’m a little behind and I wanted to get back out here and stay on track.  Now, while I still have a few minutes before the clock ticks over to a new day I should take advantage of getting a few more steps in.

 

Nailed it!

Yep, I totally nailed it this week.  Okay, mostly nailed it. I just have one teeny thing I need to fix.  Just one.

Oh!  And I have pictures!  Yea for pictures!  First, I did finish my April UFO.  I thought I would be nice and take a picture of it with just the first border.  It’s not really doing anything for me at this point….but wait!

Now, here it is with the indigo border.  Bam!  Finishes the look and made me fall in love with it all over again.  I’ll have to admit here that I was a little envious of the one that Sandra Dee was starting with her rabbit panel.  Seriously, hers will be absolutely gorgeous.  I can’t wait to show you pictures, but you will have to wait until the next retreat!

And a couple of close-ups just because, well, more pictures!

So, whew!  I’ve managed to keep up on this whole UFO thing.  I also got started on the one for this month.  Here is the pattern.  It is from Details By Diane.  She does a lot of stained glass looking quilts but without using bias tape.  If you aren’t familiar with her patterns, you can check her out here.  Anyway, I had started this one a while ago and I wanted to use my Oriental prints.

Here are the blocks.  Aren’t they cool?  all I have to do now is zig zag around each of them.  Today I was able to get through 2 1/2 of them.  I didn’t have much time today.  I also had to send my husband out for black thread because apparently I didn’t have any, well, he was already out so it was just one more stop for him.  Can you believe that?  A quilter with no black thread!  I had black hand quilting thread and black upholstery thread and I have no idea where that came from.

Here is one of the blocks in progress.  See?  She makes it really easy, and no mine are not perfect but that’s okay.  It’s an area where I could use a little more practice.

  

Once I get through the stitching it’s time for the sashing.  That is a little bit harder of a decision.  I went through my stash to see what I could use without buying anything and I came up with two possibilities.  Inez and my husband voted for the first one.  I have not made up my mind just yet but figured one will be the sashing and the other the cornerstones.  If you would like to cast a vote, please do in the comments!

           

Did I not promise lots of pictures?  Don’t worry, I still have a couple more.

I even took a few moments to work on the cat appliqué block.  See?  No more pins.  The head is completely sewn down.  Of course I still need to make a decision on the eyes… that’s okay though…each part gets me a little bit closer to finished.  I still don’t think it needs the tongue. Just an eye and the border.

Now for the part where there is a teeny problem.  It’s with the paper pieced star block of the month.  Now I know it looks like it’s good, but it doesn’t lay flat.  Like, going to have puckers when it gets quilted doesn’t lay flat.  So, I haven’t added the outside border pieces.  I did take it apart once and when I put it back together it still didn’t lay flat.  At that point I just walked away.  Something is going on with it and I’ve put too much work into this block to try to fudge it later.  I’ll have to go back and do some more work on it, but I think I’ll wait a few more days…or maybe until I finish the May block.  Will see how it goes this week….but I’m betting I won’t touch it…at least not yet.  Maybe next week.

Yes, my feet are still on fire! I managed another whole week of 7k steps and so this week I’m bumping it up to 8k.  Yahoo!  I figure I’ll be on 8k for a couple of weeks and then I’ll make that jump to 10k which isn’t feeling so elusive anymore.

Now, it’s time to keep moving forward!