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

Getting Back In The Groove

  And getting projects done! 

First my OMG for January... I'm so happy to say I finished it!!!! 

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - January Finish Link-up

 

Here is a close ups of the quilting. I did a swirl with snowflakes/stars.

 

I used Aurifil 50 wt #4655 Storm at Sea, a variegated thread of blues and light grey. I can't tell you how happy I am to have this done and hanging on the wall! I've linked up with Free Motion Mavericks.

I was going to start on the Valentines heart everyone is working on, but it's a little larger than my quilt shelf and I don't want to put a lot of time in figuring out how to make it smaller.  

Did you get any UFO's done? Are you working on the Valentines heart? 

I am staying caught up with Pat Sloan's Home Is... QAL, but it's early and I usually do good until about the end. Mainly because I put off doing the setting blocks. Here are my blocks so far...

The first two are 14.5 x 14.5 and the third is 12.5 x 12.5 square.

And this past Wednesday has to be my most favorite! She has an applique template for a dog or cat and when I saw the dog template I thought immediately of Indy. 

He loved to sit on his hill, so I made my own template for the block.

This block measures in at 16.5 x 16.5 and went together very easily. I will add more detail to Indy either with fabric markers or thread, maybe both. I've been wanting to do thread painting and this may be the perfect project to get my feet wet. So we will see!

My next UFO I want to get done is the Jelly Snowflake. I believe I only have one round and the center, possibly 5 blocks. It would be nice to get that done while it's still cold out! I also would like to get my Out Of This World quilt quilted. It's for my son and it'll be the first one that I have made with minkie type material on the back. 

I have to post this pic...

It snowed! And Duke was enjoying himself. This picture makes me laugh and thought it would make you smile too.

I'll be posting in the next couple days, maybe tomorrow. I'll be linking up with The 350 Block Project, OMG, Free Motion Mavericks and PHD and I'll be posting more from my journal. I'll see you then! 

Sheila

January's OMG, Latest QAL and More Bullet Journal

 Can you, as a quilter think of anything more exhilarating than the possibilities that a new bundle of fabric holds. Even more thrilling is the start of a new project, the fabric uncut, the placements of the fabric in that first block and in the case of a QAL, a mystery of what the future blocks may hold...

That's what I was feeling Wednesday morning! Pat Sloan's new QAL started called Home Is... I'm not much for applique, but if I want to grow as a quilter I have to work on building my skills. Her first block has a small applique heart on it and if you really don't want to attempt it you don't have to put it in. I chose to challenge myself! Here's my block 

 

and a close up of the applique heart.

I used Aurifil #2425 Bright Pink to stitch around the heart and I'm using Edyta Sitar's Sweet Sixteen fabric for this QAL. Don't you just love those little birdies!

Now onto my OMG for January...

Since I didn't complete my OMG for last month I'm carrying it over. I'm happy to say that I finally finished the third block! Only one left, then quilt, bind and done!

 Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal January Link-up

And that's my OMG this month it is the same as last month, complete the Merry Mini wall hanging... Get it quilted and binding on! I'm feeling pretty good about getting things accomplished this month. I hope it lasts all year! 

I had a few comments and interest on my bullet journal last post, so I thought I would talk more about how I use it with my quilting. I don't spend too much time drawing in it or making it too fancy. I need it to be a way of organizing my thoughts. I get overwhelmed if too much is swimming around my brain and have always found jotting down a To-Do list help settle me. But I would end up with post-it notes and scraps of papers getting lost which doesn't help keep my brain settled. I started to use a journal a few years ago and I'm still working on ways to make it work for me. Here is last years page of how I keep track of what needs to get done or what I decide not to work on or just save the patterns to.

Sometimes it helps remind me of upcoming QALs or let's me see I have way too much I want to do! I can also look at my list and figure out what I have to work on next. I use this along with the Project List that I shared last post. This breaks down the projects into how many blocks are in the quilt or when the next one comes out.

You don't need a fancy journal to keep track like this, just a notebook will do. I started out by using a binder with pages I printed out. It helped me figure out what I want to keep track of, what I don't and how I want to set things up. Last years journal was a little less artsy than the previous year, but I did use it to think up quilting ideas or blocks I'd like to try. I do like looking at some of the drawings I did in 2019 when I had a moment to play. Maybe I'll do more of those too!

If you have any questions I'd love to help! If you are interested in more of my pages let me know and I'll post them next time. I keep everything in my journals...dinner ideas, sew everyday tracker, yoga tracker, and my daily happenings along with quotes and whatever is interesting me at the moment. 

Until next time!

Sheila

For all the animal lovers...                     Me and Duke,

He has helped me heal with his gentle soul.

Hello December And My OMG!

 Well December finally made it! This year is not one that I want to remember too often or too easily! And I hope and pray next year is much kinder to us all. I know come January 1st everything will go back to normal, but wouldn't it be nice!

December here in Kentucky has been on the chilly side. The dogs love it, me I just throw another quilt on the bed! We had our first snow and it was beautiful. I wasn't sure if the pups would enjoy it or not. I'm happy to say they loved it! Gracie would get snowballs all over her feet. She would let me clean them off and was ready to go back out. Duke would play snowplow and eat the snow! Gracie enjoyed eating it too but loved rolling around in it. The next morning they ran to the window like kids to see if it was still there and then run to the door to go out. My son is already asking when it'll snow again. It says 7% chance tonight...so I doubt we'll get much if any. 

 

Now for my OMG...

I started the Merry Mini QAL last year (I believe it was through Fat Quarter Shop hosting it) and only completed one block and started the second. There are only 4 blocks in the quilt! I did finish the second block the beginning of the month so at least that's one less! My plan is to finish this quilt (including quilting it) so I can hang it up on the wall rack for the winter. Right now I still have the Kitty on the Pumpkin  hanging up! 

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal December Link-up

And I'll close here with Duke sitting in my chair... He thinks his butt goes on the armrest! hahahaa I hope that leaves you with a smile!!!

Until next post, have a wonderful time!

Sheila

Main Street Block #6 and a Snowflake Block

This is block #6 of Pat Sloan's Main Street QAL. It's called Books On Main. I really like how easy this block went together and I can't wait to see how they all go together in a quilt!

And here is the Snowflake Block...

I love snowflakes! I actually had a cat named snowflake...he was a real flake! hahaha He was beautiful, pure white long hair and icy blue eyes. So when I saw this pattern I had to make it and of course use an icy blue in it! This is block 2 of the Merry Mini Christmas hosted by Fat Quarter Shop. Here is the video for this block to help you put the block together. I'm debating whether to do a table runner of just snowflakes or go ahead and do the other three blocks and make the mini quilt. I'm not sure if I have enough of this fabric pull to do both, so stay tuned!!!

Have a Merry Christmas in July!!!!

Sheila