2022: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 6

 

 

I told you the Aunt Daisy quilt along in a previous post. It is such a pretty quilt that I decided to join it. I chose these jazzy blue fabrics with off white backgrounds. I have to give the quilt a name so I can add a label to the blog post and have decided to call it Jazzy Blues.

I've cut the first fabric for the flying geese. I decided to use the same fabric for each component since they will be distributed throughout the quilt. I am hoping it will add another layer of design on the quilt.

And like Amalfi, I will have rogue blocks so I don't have to worry about having the right amount of fabric for each component.

2022: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 6

I didn't have work this week, so I had a lot of time for quilting. 

 

I've developed a habit of recycling cardboard boxes when I get them to avoid filling them up with junk. This means that when I need one, I either have to wait for the next incoming box or I have to empty one that is already full. I  dumped a cardboard box full of scraps so I would have the box available for charity. I spent a good bit of my 15 minutes a day cutting up these scraps into one and a half inch strips and trying to get my table back.

 

I pieced more of the backing for Lansing Leaves. I started the Aunt Daisy quiltalong.  So far I have chosen the fabric, cut and marked the pieces for the flying geese.

 

Not a lot to show even though there has been a lot of progress.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 37 out of 37 days

Success rate  = 100%

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

 

 

2022: More Finishes Than Starts

Since I started a new quilt before finishing a long-term quilt, this changes my stats to have more starts than finishes. I was hoping to have a finish and just maintain it throughout the year, but that would have been boring for you to watch. I just started a new quilt to keep this story exciting for you. Will she manage to end the year with more finishes than starts? Ah, the sacrifices I make for my blog readers.

Week 4: 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

It has been below freezing a lot of this week, and although I generally walk unless it is below zero, I took a break this week. We had snow and I didn't want my dog Zeus to slip and slide on the street with his hip trouble. He did not insist on walking, and was happy to spend time out in the back yard. He enjoys the cold.

This means I didn't take a lot of pictures, so I found an old one from 2009.

2022: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 4

I had a solid week of quilting this week. I made the Project Quilting challenge quilt which I showed you in my last post, Flight. 

The borders I added to Lansing Leaves last week didn't pass quality inspection, so I ripped out a couple of small sections and sewed the entire borders again. I pressed them and sized up the last two borders. I added one, and it didn't pass quality inspection either. It had a tension issue after I refilled the bobbin so it got a second seam too. The last border passed quality inspection, but I was tempted to reinforce it too since all the other ones did.

I am declaring it done, even though I still need to press the last two borders. Since I have the backing and binding fabric chosen (they were in the drawer), I think I will continue on with this quilt so I can get a finish.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 23 out of 23 days

Success rate  = 100%

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

2022: More Finishes Than Starts

2020 Quilting Goals

Quilting Jet Girl is having a planning party, so even though I haven't even finished my goals for 2019, I am looking ahead to the next year to decide what my goals should be. I tend to do things out of order anyway, and when there are prizes involved, well, how can I resist?

1. The first goal I have is to tame the scraps. I have emptied a few scrap boxes so far this year, and I would like to continue that process next year. My end of the year goal is to have 1 (one, yes only ONE) scrap box by the end of the year. A reasonable size box; no stuffing all the scraps in a refrigerator box allowed!

2.  Clean the sewing room every month.  I am still in the process of going through every.single.thing in the bedrooms, and I want to keep it in some sort of order by making sure that I keep going back to keep them tidy. It isn't reasonable to say I will always keep them clean so once a month sounds reasonable.

3.  Keep making a mini a month, allowing for exceptions for busy times. These little quilts keep the joy in quilting.

4.  Keep stitching 15 minutes a day.  It keeps me sane and gives me permission to take time out for me.

5.  Move quilts forward, preferably to completion.  I have a bunch of quilts in progress and I want to make sure that they don't stagnate.

6. Keep having fun. This means that if any of the other goals cause any stress, I can focus on another, or even, gasp, start a new quilt!

 

Planning Party Semiannual Review

Back in December, we had a planning party, and chose some goals for the year. I chose to make my goals very generic and loose, hoping it would be easy to say that I had accomplished my goals. Here's the abbreviated version of the goals.

Let's see. What are my plans for my year?

1. Finish things.    I want to move the quilt along a little bit and make [the queue] smaller.  While I don't feel the need to eliminate the line since I like working on more than one quilt at a time, it would be nice to get some quilts progress to the completion stage.  

 2.  Have fun.  I am hoping that I can maintain the relaxed attitude I have had lately about quilting and keep reducing quilt guilt. If I can keep the rules to a minimum, I can thoroughly enjoy my quilting and genealogy hobbies.

3.  Clean and organize.  As you know,  have been cleaning and organizing my entire house using an adapted version of Marie Kondo's Konmari Method.  I have gotten through the main spaces, and decluttered and organized quite a bit.  The next space will have to be the sewing room / craft supplies.

Let's see how we did.  In the Finish Things category, this year, I showed you a finished Adinkra wall hanging, a finished fabric book, and two finished Valentine's quilts.  The goal was to make the unfinished list smaller, and I'm not sure I did that. The fabric book and Valentine's quilts were not on the list at the end of the year, so they don't really reduce the list, except maybe as a percentage of finished projects.

I did start a crazy quilt class, made some stumpwork portraits that now need something done with them. I am not going to call these quilt projects, because the goal was always to use them as practice and not to make quilts, so I am not counting them.  I did make more circle blocks and make progress on a old-time crazy quilt block. Since Adinkra is finished and I have made substantial progress for On Ringo Lake, I am going to  check off the Finish Things category and quickly move on to the next category before the auditors notice.

In the Have Fun category, I will refer you back to the mini quilts, the fabric book, the stumpwork practice, and the crazy quilt practice. I also made a snippet roll. Maybe even the On Ringo Lake quilt at times. I also have a start to the next genealogy junk journal.  I have to say that I excelled at the Have Fun category. I played around to get practice with lots of new-to-me things and thoroughly doing so without guilt.  I even managed to not make rules about having to finish by a certain time or even a requirement to finish at all.  When I was first reminded of this goals list last week, I was thinking that this is the only category that I could easily check off as a resounding success.

Do you think the auditors will notice that I forgot to talk about the clean and organize category?

I have to admit that the day after I wrote up the plans for the six months, I realized that I had just given myself six months to clean one room.  Six months for just one room! I was absolutely giddy.  Fooled everyone, didn't I.

Well no, I fooled myself.  Mind you, I did spend some time at the beginning, at least fifteen minutes a day for at least a week, cleaning.  But then I started new projects and moved things around, and well, things probably aren't much better looking now than they were in the beginning of the year.  I will spend more time this week to clean up that room.

To be fair, I was busy at work, and I'm pretty sure I have worked more days this year so far than I have in previous years.  Also, I finished the On Ringo Lake quilt top!

I am going to take a break from this quilt to work on other projects, and for the next two weeks, I am allowing myself to use my stitching time for cleaning up my sewing space.

Linked to:
2018 MidYear Review

March Goal

Spring is a busy time for me, with work, spring cleaning, gardening, and enjoying the time outside, so I am going to keep my monthly goal simple, and continue with making circles and making progress on On Ringo Lake.

To make the goal quantifiable, I suppose I can still say I will  make one circle a day for the month of March, but that seems to not be very realistic if I keep making progress on On Ringo Lake. I will say I will make at least one circle every other day. That way, I can keep making progress on both quilts.

Linked to:

One Monthly Goal - March Goal Setting Link-up

Monthly Goal Check in

Why is this month so short?  It is time already to check in with the One Monthly Goal. I thought I kept it simple by saying I would just keep up with my daily circles this year.  Here are some more circles I showed to try to catch up.

Block 238

 

This looks like a chair to me.

 

Block 239

A circle with spikes/spokes. I saw a picture of a quilt at the QuiltCon that had spikes.  Mine are too fat, but it is a small block and I want to keep things easier for me.

Block 240

A semicircle and its reverse.

Block 241

A collage with lots of layers. Using up the pretty trash.

Block 242

This is a spiral, and I had leftover when I got to the center so it became a Q.

Block 243

 

A semicircle is still a circle. See, it has "circle" in its name.

 

Block 244

 

Love the colors in these beautiful batiks.

 

 Block 245

 

I hope there is enough variety in these blocks. I am using scraps from On Ringo Lake mostly, plus a few bits that are still in the trash scraps bowl.

We've had 59 days this year, and I've made 45 circles, which means I haven't met my monthly goal, but I have made good effort, and the circle box is getting fuller, so I am okay with my progress.

Linked to:

One Monthly Goal - February Finish Link-up

January One Monthly Goal Check-In

At the beginning of the year, I made a list of goals for the January and for the first quarter. I said I would:

1. Finish quilt top for On Ringo Lake by the end of the quarter.
2. Trim and bind Adinkra by the end of January.
3. Make 90 circles for Quilty Circle 365 by the end of the quarter.
4. Border, quilt, and bind Life of Plenty by the end of the quarter.
5. Quilt and bind another UFO top by the end of the quarter.

As you know, I finished the Adinkra quilt this week (except for the label) so I have satisfied my One Monthly Goal. Yay!

As for the quarterly goals,

1. I sewed more rows on On Ringo Lake but still need to make the remaining blocks to finish the project, since I decided to make the full size quilt.  I have enough nine patches, so onto to part two of the mystery! The goal is to make this a top by the end of the quarter, so I am on track.

2. Adinkra - done! (except for label)

3. In order to make 90 circles for the quarter, I wanted to make sure I made 31 circles for January. I've made 21 circles so far. Just when I think I am caught up on this project, I am behind again. I did sew my blocks together into rows this month so additional progress was made on this quilt besides the making of the circles.

4. I haven't touched Life of Plenty, but it is a quarterly goal and not a monthly one. Maybe now that Adinkra is done, I will find time to work on this one.

5. Quilt another UFO quilt. I didn't work on any other UFOs.  I did instead work on other projects - I worked on a couple of art quilts for a swap, did some art journaling and started a tiny stitching book. I will show you the art quilts after I send it to the recipient and the stitching book when it is done. The picture shows a better picture of the  snippet ribbon I made this month.

All in all, I think it is a good showing.

Linked to:
Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal February Goal Setting  - Oops, I think this means I have to set a goal for February!  I will set the goal to make enough circles to catch up to the one circle a day for this year.

15 Minutes to Stitch

Kate has been documenting her stitching goals for a while now, and I always thought I should join her.  It has been my goal to stitch for at least 15 minutes a day for many years. 

I decided this year, I will join her and document my progress. I know that there are times of the year when I don't get any stitching in, and other times when I get more, but it would be interesting to see how many days I do sew.

Days with stitching this week:  7 out of 7
Days with stitching this month:  7 out of 7
Days with stitching this year:  7 out of 7
Success rate:  100%

Quilting Goals

Here is a list of projects I would like to work on this quarter for the 2018 Finish Along for the first quarter. It is ambitious but any progress would be good on each of them. I've also separated out January's plans for the One Monthly Goal.

On Ringo Lake

When I added this quilt to the list of quilts I have started, I noticed that I had been really good at finishing the quilts I started in 2017. 100% of the quilts I started in 2017 are either finished or started late in the year and currently in progress. I am going to take the prize before the auditors find any mistakes in the record keeping.

I want to keep up with this accomplishment by getting this quilt finished this year. I hope to get the top made by the end of the quarter.

Adinkra

 

This quilt has been quilted and needs trimming and binding.

365 Circles

There are plenty of older projects that need attention, and I decided that rather than finding older projects to finish, I might as well work on the ones I worked on in 2017 to get them closer to the finish line. I hope to make many more circles for the circle quilt. I think a circle a day is manageable again, so I hope to make 90 by the end of the quarter.

Life of Plenty

This is another quilt I worked on in 2017. I would like this one bordered, quilted and bound by the end of the quarter.

Finish another UFO top

I hope to get at least one UFO quilted by the end of the quarter, but will choose it when the time comes. I want to allow myself some flexibility. The Droid quilt seems like it might be a good one to finish.

I've linked up to Capitola Quilter where you can see other people's plans for the Finish Along.

January's Goals

For the One Monthly Goal, I would like to finish the Adinkra quilt. It is the closest to the finish and it will be nice to get it done. I do plan on making more progress than just this quilt, but will be happy to have a finish to start off the New Year!

2018 Planning Party

It's time already to make plans for 2018!

Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl is hosting a Planning Party with lots of fun and prizes, and I figure I may as well play along.  It might mean an extra one or two quilts get made if I make plans and have goals.

 

Let's see. What are my plans for my year?

1. Finish things.  I have many quilts that have been started, and have fallen farther back in the queue as I keep starting new things.  I want to move the quilt along a little bit and make it smaller.  While I don't feel the need to eliminate the line since I like working on more than one quilt at a time, it would be nice to get some quilts progress to the completion stage.  Since quilting has become easier with the quilting table, I think this goal will be more reachable than it has been in the past.

2.  Have fun.  I am hoping that I can maintain the relaxed attitude I have had lately about quilting and keep reducing quilt guilt. If I can keep the rules to a minimum, I can thoroughly enjoy my quilting and genealogy hobbies.

3.  Clean and organize.  As you know,  have been cleaning and organizing my entire house using an adapted version of Marie Kondo's Konmari Method.  I have gotten through the main spaces, and decluttered and organized quite a bit.  The next space will have to be the sewing room / craft supplies. I think it needs to be done before the more sentimental things like pictures, and I want it done before the out of the way areas like the basement and garage. I have trouble doing this area because I keep wanting to work on projects, but I think that if I dedicate some time to doing both, I may be able to get through it.

Blue and White

This blog looks so clean and clutter free that I am hesitant to clutter it up with fabric scraps and clashing colors!

I have decided to work with blue and white fabric to keep the theme going for at least a little while. Dot has made some blue and white stars, and I thought I would start with that. I also want to make some nautical type blocks - boats, lighthouse, fish, etc.

I haven't done any of that, mind you, but I think that having a plan might actually help get some quilting action on this blog.