June's OMG, My Block Count So Far And Sewing Clothes

 One of the things I wanted to do better was blogging...I failed! I missed the last couple months of joining OMG. But it just means I need to try again and harder to stay on track! 

For my OMG I want to get my son's Out Of This World Quilt finished. All that is left is trimming and binding. I figure if I want to get it done in time for him to take it to college with him this fall I need to get it done and out of the way now!

Since I have it on the table I might as well get started and get it trimmed! I also noticed I still have threads that need to be hidden. I had a lot of trouble with the thread breaking so there is more than usual. The OMG is run by Elm Street Quilts and I strongly urge you to play along. It helps me complete projects and get those ducks back in a row. Until the next squirrel comes running by!!!

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal June Link-up

 

This is a page from my 2019 journal.

Did you catch what I said... My son starts College this fall! I'm not dealing with it very well. Last month was prom and graduation. Here's my sweet boy at the prom...

 

They had their prom outside so we opted for a sports jacket instead of a tuxedo. We figured he could use it later.

The size of his class was 135 and that was also held outside. I'm so proud at how well he has done. He graduated with a weighted GPA of around 5! We'll know for sure when he gets his grades.

The next months coming up will involve packing and getting him ready for his next chapter. 😭

and ours.

 

 I'm playing along with Prairie Moon Quilts and I am keeping track of my block count for the year and as of the end of May I have only made 95 blocks. 

But I did complete a 42" Square table topper/wall hanging that I was a tester for Jen of Patterns by Jen. She's taking time off and I'm not sure when she will post the pattern and the testers quilts so I won't post it here yet. I also made several blocks for Home Is... by Pat Sloan. I am behind, I need to finish 5 more blocks. So hopefully I can get that done this month too.

I've also made 6 shirts! I found Love Notions Sewing Patterns and they make clothing patterns. I haven't made clothes since I was in my 20's and it wasn't many. So I consider myself a beginner. But these patterns are easy to follow and I feel so proud of myself! One of the last shirts I made was the Rhapsody...

I love it! And so does Gracie, or maybe it's just the attention she was getting.

As for my PHD progress...Lets refer to the squirrels! I was distracted and didn't complete any of my projects, but I have moved them along! 

I think that's about it for now. I'll try to do better at getting my blog out. I have several new quilt ideas I plan on writing up and making them, maybe I should get a tester or two? So for now, Have a great day, week, month!

Sheila

March's OMG, Block Count And What Is My Latest Finishes

First my OMG for this month is to finish my Jelly Snowflake. I have the binding made and the top, back and batting sandwiched together. I just need to quilt it and bind it and then we can use it! Hopefully we will be able to use it this season...our weather has become a little warmer lately. I'm sure we will have at least one more snow before the weather changes for spring, at least that's what I hope! 

 

I highly recommend joining in on the OMG! It's a great motivator and you have a chance to win some awesome prizes!

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal March Link-up

 

I'm also linking to Quilting Gail and her PHD, another great project completer motivator! I didn't complete any projects in February, but I'm set up to have at least 2 finishes this month!!! I'm very excited about that!!! One of the projects I will be completing this month is the Jelly Snowflake (above) and I'm currently finishing up the quilting on my son's Out Of This World quilt that he will be taking to college this fall...yes my baby is heading for college this year! A whole lot of mix emotions going on there! 

Here is the space quilt under the needle. I used Aurifil 40/3 #2110 Light Lemon and 50 wt #2783 Medium Delft Blue in the bobbin. For the outer border I switched to 50 wt #2780 Dark Delft Blue since the material was so dark.

and this is the back of the quilt. It's my first time using Minky and I love the feel and the look of the quilting on it.

And here are my bullet journal pages and my sweet model Duke!

Here he shows the projects I started this year...well I haven't actually started The color challenge yet, but I will this month!

 I am also counting my blocks and posting them with Prairie Moon Quilts. This month I only finished 23 blocks. That gives me a year total of 55. Spending time quilting the above quilt took time away from making blocks, but you have to get the projects done!

That and I think I need to either fix one of my sewing machines or buy a new one. I'm using my hand crank one and while it does stitch nice and help me keep things straight, it does stitch slow and my shoulder blade has been aching. 

Isn't she a beauty! I took this when I first got her in 2019. She is a Singer model #99 and was "born" on Nov. 28 1928. To the right is Sigmund my sea green sea monster! I call him a monster for a reason...He's a heavy machine!!! He is a Singer 185j and was born sometime in 1954. I loved sewing on him, but I wore him out and now I can't get him to sew past a certain point without having to push the wheel, then it will stitch until he gets to that point again. I need to get him up and running again, he stitches beautifully and I miss sewing on him.

Here is a breakdown of my block totals...
Five blocks were from the Jelly Snowflake, six blocks are from Home Is... QAL and 12 are from my Star Dancer quilt. I hope to get caught back up this month. I think I'm on target so far, but then it is the beginning of the month anything can go wrong!

These are who I'm linking to...

Elm Street Quilts  OMG

Quilting Gail PHD

Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing Free Motion Mavericks

Prairie Moon Quilts The 350 Blocks Projects

Check out these blogs and play along... It's a great way to get projects done, be inspired and have fun meeting new people!

See ya later!

Sheila

My Month In Review, Counting Blocks, Phd Finish and OMG

 I feel pretty good about what I got done in the quilty part of my life, not so much in the packing and getting rid of part! And that stresses me! But onto my block count and project finishes and what is in store for February.

First I'm linking up with Prairie Moon Quilts to keep track of my block count. And I'm happy to say my count is 32! Most of the blocks are from my new/first pattern! Sorry no pictures at this time. I hope to start writing up the pattern this week along with continue to make more blocks and completing it. I made 4 blocks from Pat Sloan's Home Is... QAL and 2 of the Merry Mini blocks more on that below. I posted them on my last blog post. I think I have to figure out a better way to get my posts scheduled!

 

I'm also linking up with Quilting Gail who runs the PHD on her blog. PHD stands for Projects Half Done...LOVE IT! And I'm happy to say I actually finished one of my projects from 2019! I know I posted it yesterday, but I'm posting it here too otherwise I'll have nothing to show!!!

This is the Merry Mini quilt from The Fat Quarter Shop. You can still access the pattern here.

Here is one way I'm tracking my Projects.

The first project on my list, Out Of This World quilt has it marked that I quilted it, but I just got carried away when coloring it in! I will work on that next along with #12 Jelly Snowflake.

Here's my Jelly Snowflake that I have done so far. The four corners are complete and all I have are the fourth section and the center block to do, then quilt and bind and it's a finish. Hopefully in time to use it this winter!!! And to help me get it done in time for us to use this year, This is my OMG for February! I want to get the top pieced and ready for quilting.

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal February Link-up

 

 

I thought I would share my tracker for sewing everyday. I don't put a time limit on how long I have to sew, I just have to sew. I set this up the beginning of the year with the date in a box. That is the most extensive time I put into this. Then all I have to do is color in that date. 

It may not be pretty, but it works for me and makes me feel good about staying on track.

Another way to track your progress on your projects is with TRELLO. If you like apps and doing things digitally this may be the way for you. I use it to keep track of my projects, what quilts I finished and what quilt books I own. I have it on my phone and I can access it on my computer. I like that I can work on it on more than one device and I can actually post my pictures in it. I'm a visual person and like to see what is going on, besides the colors always cheer me up!

This is my Trello quilting page, called boards. I can click on the project and it will open up to let me see what I have done, needs to be done and if I need to add anything like a completed block or new photo. The other nice thing about this program is when I complete a project, let say The Out Of This World quilt, I just move the "card" to another board...The finished quilts board under the list for 2021 finishes. You can also share sections if you are working on a project with others. I haven't done this so I can't give you much info on that. I thought this was a nice way to track your projects if you like digital instead of the manual nature of a journal. Or like me want another way to look at your projects. The section I have on my quilt books helps me NOT buy the same book! I'm sure no one ever does that!

That's all for today!!!

Sheila

Welcome 2021 And What's In Store

 What's in store quilting wise that is! I want to join more links and get more done! Last year I only finished 3 quilts! How sad!!! I did complete several flimsies...Is that how you spell the plural of flimsy? Anyway, I have found several blogs that I enjoy and a few new ones that I want to participate in along with the ones that I already participate in. I put their buttons on the right and it should take you to their blogs to find out more about their link ups.

One of the new ones is Quilting Gail. She runs the PHD or Projects Half Done. I love that don't you! Check out her blog for the details! Here is my list of PHDs, I keep a bullet journal and figured it would be easiest just to post the pages from that. 

Numbers 25 and 26 are my ongoing projects. I'm using certain blocks from the past Aurifil DOM QAL along with some from this year. I love the ease of coloring in the sections that are done. As you see I have more than 12! I like that I can pick and choose what I want to work on and try to get finished.

This is my pages for this years starts. I doubt it will stay that empty for long!!! I already put in Pat Sloan's QAL that starts January 6th and Jen Shaffer of Patterns By Jen. She runs the Color Challenge every year and I've been one of the Color Challenge bloggers that participates in showing my version. This year I believe we are including recipes!!! I'm hoping that this year I will get to complete my quilt!

Of course I'll continue to link up with OMG, For The Love Of Geese, and Free Motion Mavericks, hopefully more often, at least that's the goal. I'm going to try and not start too many QALs, they usually get me bogged down. I will do Pat Sloan's QALs. She is the first QAL I participated in when I started quilting and feel a connection with her. 

The second page is for something new I want to do and that is to start making my own quilts and writing up patterns. I have several that I'm excited about trying, a few I already have the material for! 

So let's get this year going!!!!

Sheila