April goals

Here we are midway through Week 3 of staying home.  I'm still having trouble focusing, but do feel as if I've calmed down a little bit.  Time to update my goals.

I haven't finished everything I wanted to in March, but I'll continue to work on those items as well as tackle some new goals for April.  The number drawn for the APQ UFO Challenge was #1, and I have a couple of fun things listed under that number.  I quickly found the project box for one of the 2 and I had actually left things well organized, which was a surprise.

This is Temecula Circa 2016 - an online Sew-Along project from the Temecula Quilt Company.  See my original blog post about this "small block" project - and yes, it is from 2016.

http://mysewingroomsara.blogspot.com/2016/04/temecula-circa-2016.html   This is the center of the quilt, and there are lots and lots more small blocks finished for it.  Actually I have a little over half of the blocks done.  Each of these blocks are 3.5" unfinished, so lots of teeny tiny pieces involved.  Most of the patterns, like this Shoo Fly block ask for 2 blocks plus a couple of 2" HST.  In looking forward I noticed the last few ask for 3 blocks made in from the pattern.  

Also on the UFO list from 2016 are the car blocks I was making with the Row By Row license plates.  I had a plan for these blocks but only have about 5 of them made.  I'm hoping when I find that project box that there is a sketch of how I planned to lay them out.  Or I could start from scratch with a new plan.  

So, I have some fun choices of "new" old UFOs to choose from.  And I'll continue working on the things carrying over from March - and from January and February.  

1.  keep up with Saturday Sampler blocks

2.  Sew Vintage barn block (have only chosen fabrics so far)

3.  Simple Whatnots - finish top of Smack Dab in the Middle  (4-patch border needed)

4.  Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks (light and bright blue)

5.  butterfly themed Sew Together bag

6.  Harvest Road - finish top 

7.  bind the 2nd small Day and Night table topper

Distracted by Unity

Do you follow Bonnie Hunter on Quiltville?  If so, you probably know she is doing a FREE (for now) quilt-along project over the next few weeks.  She calls it Unity and was inspired by the Covid-19 social distancing happening around the world.    

https://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/unity-quilt-along.html

It's kind of like her annual winter mystery quilts, as she will release a new clue each week for about 8 weeks. But this one she is telling us will be a medallion style quilt, and the first week's clue is the 18" center section.  We'll build around this medallion center with the future clues.  So it isn't entirely a mystery.   

I have no idea whether I will actually do all of the clues, but I couldn't resist making this medallion center.  Her followers have been posting their finished blocks on her Facebook group and I've been blown away by some of the gorgeous color combinations.  The dark background in this block was inspired by one I saw online.  All of these fabrics are from my stash but I chose not to do a totally scrappy look in this first block.  Once I see what the next week's clue looks like I may pull more lime green, pink, and aqua from the stash for a scrappy look.  And I'll probably keep doing a black background but will use other black prints as we go.  

Design Wall Monday - Puzzles

The sun is shining brightly today (and yesterday) and the grass is actually beginning to turn green.  And it may reach 60 degrees again today. Yay!!

No sewing yesterday but I opened windows and enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine.  My sewing room is in the basement and gets very poor light . . . so I decided to find other things to do upstairs.

Four loads of laundry, cookie baking, sorting through a stack of old quilting magazines for recycling, cleaning out one shelf in a closet - and working on a puzzle.

Today - I'm working.  A "pre-construction" meeting being held by Webex instead of in person, and processing more invoices out to the clients are on my radar.  But my window is open and the birds are chirping.  Maybe some sewing and finishing the puzzle will happen after work today.

What's on your design wall this morning?
https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

Just needing a border

Smack Dab in the Middle is now about 20" square and just needs the final pieced border added.  That border is made of tiny 4-patches made of 1.5" squares of all of the prints.

If I've counted correctly I have 44 of those tiny 4-patch blocks to make.  Maybe it will happen later today, or possibly tomorrow.  It took most of the morning to add the log cabin sections and the flying geese sections, so it's time to do something else.  Maybe some laundry . . . or maybe I'll just pick up the book I was reading and curl up on the couch while the rain pours down. 

Smack Dab in the Middle

Smack Dab in the Middle - that's the name of this little quilt from Kim Diehl's Simple Whatnots Club #8.  I've been trying and failing for 3 days to cut out the zillion tiny pieces for this adorable little quilt.  But this morning I finally finished the cutting and even neatly refolded all of the fabric and put it back into the box for the next project. 

And I began to sew.  The 8.5" center is done.  Only 2 interruptions today and I made myself go back down the stairs and focus. Yay - a small victory over my brain!!

I think the most difficult part of this little quilt will be laying out 200 tiny squares (1.5") for the outer border.  The main part of the quilt has a log cabin vibe.  

This was one of my short term goals that I set just a couple of days ago. Lots of opportunity for mistakes when the cutting stops midway through the pattern, especially when there are hundreds of tiny pieces. 

Struggling with focus

Like most people these days I'm very stressed out and worried.  With that, for me, comes the inability to focus on anything very long.  My brain just refuses to calm down.  I flit from thing to thing to another thing - currently trying to read 2 different books, have several sewing projects just laying around, takes me twice as long to process any invoice for work.  It's just NUTS!!  And my temper and emotions just get the best of me at the oddest times.  Guess that is the picture of stress!!

The parts are all cut for the next Sew Together bag (Butterflies) and the outer shell is quilted, but I need zippers.  Or at least I need one 22" zipper in an appropriate color. Bubble gum pink, lemon yellow, and bright aqua just didn't look right.  I can live with white or tan zippers inside for the pockets.  So I may have to get online and find what I really need.  Our closest Joann Fabrics store was destroyed last fall in a tornado, so online is probably my best bet for zippers.  

And just now, in looking at the photo of the fabric above, I believe I need to rethink the color of the binding too.  The green I picked out is way too bright and that binding will determine what color zipper I ultimately decide to use.  Decisions, decisions!!

I do have some other things that I really want to accomplish in terms of sewing, and I'm hoping that putting my short term goals in writing here will help me focus on them a bit more.  Not likely, but I'm going to try.  Sewing usually relaxes me and I need that. 

So, here are my short term goals . . . 

** finish cutting out the Simple Whatnots project I began to cut this morning before a "work" phone call distracted me. 

** make my March blocks (2) for Saturday Sampler

** make my Barn Quilt Block for Sew Vintage - pick fabrics first of all

** add 3 more pieced sashing strips to Harvest Road - & the border

A long time coming . . .

After several years of languishing in a project box, the Batik Stars quilt is done!  Check this very old UFO off the list.  It turned out much better than I anticipated it would.