Ringo Round the Lake

It snowed here last night, as it did in many parts of the country.  Zeus loves playing in the snow, and going on a treasure hunt for treats. He found a waffle here, which gives a whole new meaning to frozen waffle.

Since I am snowed in, more progress has been happening on the Ringo Lake blocks. I've been adding scraps from the stash for variety, which are leaning a little bit more to the green side of greenish blue and orange side, and a little bit more patterned, but I think they still stay pretty controlled over all.

“Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.”
― Kahlil Gibran, Sand and Foam

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I'm trying hard to keep this from becoming a UFO .

Pointless Puddle

Remember the mistake I made with the flying geese for Ringo Lake? Why am I reminding you of my mistake? Because I joy-i-fied it.

Look what showed up from my sewing machine!

After agreeing to make eleventy million flying geese and other parts and pieces, it was hard to say no to sewing a few seams here and there.  Especially ones that did not require any points to match, and I could just trim everything to size.

Some binding strips? Sure, bring it on.
 
I cut the big squares for the flying geese a quarter inch too big, which made them too short and too wide, chopping off the points, and the colors were reversed so I couldn't use them for Ringo Lake.  I decided to make something to help motivate me to sew those eleventy million flying geese.  Someone made a smaller quilt and called it Ringo Puddle, and I like the name, so this one is Pointless Puddle. I'm not sure if it will be a pillow or a wall hanging. Right now, I am thinking a wall hanging that can double as a pillow cover.

I mitered the corners by making half square triangles.

Linked to Let's Bee Social #211 at Sew Fresh Quilts
WIP Linkup at Silly Mama Quilts

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!

My Year in Focus

She Can Quilt is starting a project, taking a photo every day of something she finds interesting, and featuring a weekly round up, using the hashtag #myyearinfocus.  I haven't done that in a while, since I usually wait until the end of the month to show my pics, and am not officially joining, but figured it wouldn't hurt to make a collage.

It's cold outside and pretty.  It's even nicer to stay indoors with my topical plants and (mostly quilting) books.

On Ringo Lake Progress

I am participating in the mystery quilt from Quiltville.  If you want to make it, hurry and get the free pattern before it is archived. I had decided to make a few blocks for On Ringo Lake instead of the whole big quilt.  I was going to make 13 blocks for the on point setting. Then I could decide whether I wanted to make it bigger.

However, I made three of the nine patches two small, and wound up with 10 blocks instead.  It's been a while since I've made anything this small and precise. I got frustrated and decided I would just do either an even smaller quilt, or make the additional 3 blocks.

That feeling didn't last though, because I took the blocks upstairs to press.  It was very comforting to press the blocks and feel the heat of the iron. It is cold!  Then I laid out the blocks on the floor to see how they looked.  In my half asleep state, I must have been focusing on the bed. I thought the blocks looked really good, and I thought it might be better to go ahead and make a quilt for the bed.  I went to bed ready to make lots more blocks to make a bed quilt.

The blocks are easy enough to make when you take things one step at a time, and the result is pretty impressive. It's hard for me to believe I can make blocks like that!

Today, I decided just to make more blocks and see how many I am willing to make. Ah,  the joys of leaving the options open!

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Oh Scrap!

Word of the Year for 2018

I have enjoyed having a theme for the year for several years, and have chosen my word for 2018.  There were a couple of things that happened this year that helped me choose it.  One day, someone asked me who someone who walked by was.  I said her name, and was about to say what company she was from, when I stopped myself with a thought, "Are you sure?"  The person who asked me thought it was rather rude of me to not answer the question.

The other occasion was the quilting of the Adinkra quilt.  I decided to wing it and do some doodle quilting, just letting myself decide what to quilt as I went along, but there was that internal dialogue again, "Are you sure?" 

My goal for this year is to quiet that voice, and say back, "Yes, I am sure" instead of thinking "I think so" and pushing through despite my lack of assurance. I have worked for corporations all my life, and have attended a meeting or two. I know how to doodle. I am a master at doodling.

My word this year is Confidence. I will work on trusting myself more, and developing the self confidence to quiet that inner voice that makes me doubt what I am doing.