April tally-up —

Mixed results from my month of sewing...even with the lock down I didn't get as much done as I thought I would - always plenty of distractions down on the farm (etc!). I did set myself plenty of goals though and on the whole kept reasonably focused. I fought the urge to start new large projects but did get sidetracked occasionally with smaller ones :-)
My PHD goal, hosted by Quilting Gail, was to finish my Hannah and Harrington quilt. It was all basted, ready to go.... I stitched in the ditch of the big blocks, and also quilted in the small squares.
Rather than cross hatching, I did a simple vine design across the diagonal of each square —

A lot easier to see on the back —

So at this stage it looks like this —

It has a lot less pins in it!

Some may remember me saying I have a Glide foot to attach to my machine to quilt around the felt appliques (preventing any snagging). Attaching that involves doing a foot conversion first - the warning on the pack says to take care, incorrect installation may 'cause damage to your machine'. I gulped a bit at that and decided to wait till after lock down to do that IN CASE things do go haywire. I wouldn't like to not be able to get it looked at by my machine person for weeks.....

So because of me chickening out, the work on this goal sort of stalled a bit.

My One Monthly Goal, signed up for over at Elm Street Quilts was to get my Truck and Tractor quilt finished...hmmmm....I got the top finished - yaay - but didn't get it quilted. I had a rummage around and didn't have enough of anything to use for a backing so that was another wait because of lock down job. However, I was happy enough with where I got to as there was still a lot of work to be done on it at the start of the month.
I've just linked up for the end of the month report - click *here* to see how everyone else got on.

My WOOFA goal was to get some more work done on Foxley Village. In particular, some pieced blocks to go with the appliqued ones I've already done.

I wrote about this the other day. Pleased with the progress here.

My 350 blocks project is another one I'm tallying up tonight. Shelly over at Prairie Moon Quilts has challenged us to make 30 this month. 

Including the 15 for the Tractor/Truck quilt, some for Foxley Village, 10 for my postcard quilt, and a few extra randoms, my tally came to 34. Not bad, I feel!!

I haven't quite updated my OPAM page yet but I think I have 11 for the month! I'm so glad I've blogged about them all as I'd forgotten about the bunnies —

the bunny bags —

there was also the Scrub Stitching pouch —

and a Tilda pincushion —

I counted overlocking four nighties as two finishes and there was a cot sheet, plus my postcard quilt. Whew, plenty keeping me out of mischief, and it doesn't make my underachieving of my goals look quite so bad. The goals help me to keep focused on the bigger picture but I do like to potter and play with other little things as well!

'til next time,

happy and healthy stitches,

 

End of month tally up

Even with an extra day in the month, I haven't done nearly as much sewing in February as I had hoped. However I am happy with what I have squeezed in.
Getting the negatives out of the way first, I failed to meet my One Monthly Goal which I signed up to at the start of the month. I did want to get my latest baby quilt finished. There're more baby quilts waiting to be started so I need to get moving on this.

I did get it basted and spent an hour or so quilting some straight lines. But that's it so far and this will get put down as next month's OMG - better luck next time!
(Patty's One Monthly Goal can be found on her blog *here*.)

Instead of quilting the baby quilt above I had started the month finishing the quilting on my blue mystery stitchery quilt. This was my first PHD completion of the year.

See more *here*.

Very good to get that out of the way. Just 11 PHDs to go! (Gulp.) Another on my PHD list is my Scrappy Sprouts quilt. It's been pulled out, I made four more blocks, and I'm going to leave it on my wall until I've done some more serious work on it!

For my WOOFA challenge (working on or finishing challenge) I have worked on three of my projects.
I've completed another 18 (!!) blocks of my Omigosh quilt. The amazing thing that these have been made in a quiet half hour at the start of each day - once the half hour is up I put them away.

Sometimes I have only 15 minutes, but I don't do any more than a half hour. And for the last week I haven't done any at all. Also, I had a lot of partially completed blocks so don't go thinking I am Wonder-woman, I didn't sew them all from scratch this month.

Another WOOFA project was a little work on Foxley Village; another two applique blocks —

The geese block was particularly cute.

And 28 blocks for Flashcat. No I still haven't had a chance to blog about this so I will soon. The latest blocks are for the first border, seen below. This is another Tartankiwi design I am pattern testing for Juliet. (It's a fabulous project so deserves its own post!)

Well that was a bit of a tease, here's another one —

And not on any lists is my newly started 2020 temperature quilt. I have pieced one week to see how it would look and am really pleased with how it shapes up.

First week of February temperatures
And don't you just love my special sign!

My actual finishes for the month are very low which is why I am enjoying taking part in the 350 block project, run by Prairie Moon quilts.
The 350 block project celebrates the blocks made, even if a quilt isn't finished and is the reason I'm being so careful to count and state the number of blocks I've made for each project. This month's grand total is 53. That's pretty positive, I reckon :-)

We are very lucky that we get to spend a lot of time with the wee people in our family. We had two smallies visit today. I sometimes feel I have really made it as a quilting Ganma when a small child insists on nestling into a (patchwork) cushion and covers himself with a quilt (in the middle of summer) so that he can concentrate on a puzzle  ♥

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Finished twice!

A project I considered Half Done and one I wanted to complete properly this year was my 2010 Mystery Stitchery, completed through The Country Yard way back then.
I re-discovered it recently when the elder twins were building a hut —

I realised how little quilting it had on it and decided if it was going to live for more huts and general wear and tear, it would be best if I added some more to it.

It was quilted around the sashing of the stitchery blocks and and in about 6 other ditches. A bit baggy in places :-(

I decided I wasn't going to quilt it to death, but I do like my stitcheries to have at last a little quilting in them —

I had a bit of a play adding in some steam or ribbons, etc.

I should include a photo of how these blocks were before —

There are a couple more photos of these on my previous post. When I wrote that post I was asked where the proverb designs came from. After a bit of hunting and remembering, I found them *here*. The site is slightly updated from years ago when we accessed them for The Country Yard but you should be able to get them ok.

I stitched in a lot more ditches. The flying geese got a wee touch of free play —

I did some very simple border feathers —

I had a flashback to 2012 and the Diane Gaudynski feathers I learnt then.

Finished with a label (nothing flash!) —

Funny that this quilt never got a name - it was always just The Mystery Stitchery!

A quick photo shoot of the new and improved twice finished quilt!

Ta-Da! My first PHD finish for the year.

Read more about the PHD project *here*.
EDIT - I'm linking up to Gail's PHD progress report *here*.

I mentioned in my last post that we had the elder girls here. They stayed for a couple of nights while their Dad and YD were otherwise occupied......

The Grand Result? One big little baby boy ♥

Unfortunately for you, you're seeing more of me than he in the photo below but rest assured that he is a beautiful bonny fellow. The spitting image of his father.

One happy Ganma and newborn Odie ♥

As can be expected we're all as pleased and proud as punch!

'til next time,

happy stitches,

End of January round up

I started the month with a hiss and a roar, with all sorts of planning and thoughts for the year.
As the end of the month approaches, it's time to do a round up of what I've been doing, and see if all that planning is keeping me accountable?!
First up, I committed to Patty's One Monthly Goal. I had a pile of fabric selected and set myself the goal of making it into a baby quilt for a friend of both our daughters.

I aimed for a flimsy but wondered if I might have time to get it to the finished stage as well.
OK, so the flimsy won out!
And the fabric pull changed quite a bit. The above fabrics were sitting on a white print until I remembered a sweet dotty grey print sitting on the shelves at The Country Yard. That came home with me, and a few different blue/greens. I then culled nearly half of what I'd originally pulled.

A straight forward design, guided by the family's love of the sea. (Apologies for the glarey photo.)

In spite of being out each day this week, I managed to sew the last few stitches joining the last rows well in time for the end of the month! Thank you Patty for the extra push to get this done; you can see who else met their goal this month *here*.


Kris of tagalongteddies did a callout for sign ups for OPAM 2020 and once again I jumped in. It really is a great way to keep track of the year's finishes. (OPAM = One Project A Month)
I had a healthy tally this month; as well as the Joey pouches and bassinet sheets previously shared, I also finished the afghan I've been working on lately.

I bluffed my way around the last round with matching-but-not-the-same yarn and am really pleased with the result. The edging treatment is so lovely - I'm sure I said that last time!

If you are interested, details about the pattern, and to see more made in this design are in a previous blogpost *here*. And my yarn hassles (!) are *here*.

I've spent a lot of this month organising and making lists. 

I put Omigosh on my WOOFA list (Working On Or Finishing a UFO). Omigosh is a box of randomly sewn strips - I'll sew two scraps together then toss them in the box. I've been sorting through them, pressing, trimming, sewing and so on. Visit Cheryll *here* to see how others got on with their WOOFA projects this month.
Inspired by Debra of Tuning My Heart Quilting, I have managed 15-30 minute time slots to work on it on most days of the last couple of weeks. There are a few of these types of challenges around, this one focuses on one project which you work on for 30 minutes a day, then put it away and get on with your other sewing. As a result I have completed 5 more of these 4½" blocks —

At the start of 2019 I signed up with Shelly of Prairie Moon Quilts to keep track of the number of blocks I made during the year. I lost track and signed out early on, but I'm trying again this year.
For this month's tally I have the 5 tree blocks I shared last post, the above Omigosh blocks and I'm counting 11 blocks for the baby quilt at the start of this post (six fish and five rows since they're pretty basic blocks). So, officially that's 21 blocks for the month. Woohoo, that sounds good to me :-)

My PHD progress is a little less productive - I've been so focused on my planning that I haven't had a chance to work on any of that (very long) list. I have, however, oiled my Sweet 16 and selected threads for the first one on the list - small bites, right?!

I'm just popping in one more photo which I took while I was out on the deck taking my other pictures yesterday afternoon. The countryside is rapidly drying out and brown is becoming the new green. Grass that we had at the start of the month has desiccated.

Must get moving and get my day started,

'til next time,

happy stitches,

WOOFA and PHD update

What on earth is going on down here?!!

That's what the MOML said when he came down the stairs yesterday afternoon.

Here's why!!

I was in the midst of a sort out :-)

I've set myself some pretty strong goals for the year, signing up with Gail's PHD and Cheryll's WOOFA, and still wanting to do more.
I really felt I needed a sort out so that the projects I want to work on are at the forefront in The Palace and those that are taking a backseat are stored tidily away.

Several hours later I had sorted enough to tidy my brain and my room. I now have clear floor space, I've reorganised a few shelves, and the wardrobe, set up a planning folder, I've reboxed projects and so on.
I have, all in one place, my PHD projects. Here they are all stacked up waiting for a year of creativity and finishes. I discussed all these ones back *here*. There's 12 (gulp) in all.

12 finishes for 2020!!

I've also sorted out my WOOFA projects. As I see it, these are the list of projects I want to work on, but I'm not necessarily aiming to finish them. Accordingly I've made a separate list for these items. The PHD list is Must-DOs as far as finishing; the WOOFA list, I'm not aiming quite as high. (I hope that's acceptable, Cheryll.)

Wouldn't be be great though if they were all finished as well!

I have 6 projects on this list —
Pieces of Time —

This wasn't even on my radar but Joanne put it on her list. As we both started ours at the same time, I thought I should pull it out!

Not even a Mouse —

Row By Row quilt —

Country At Heart —

Flash Cat Medallion —

I haven't really blogged about this yet but that will wait for another day!

Omigosh quilt —

Such a long term project. But as I love making the blocks, I don't want this to fall by the wayside. And I want an excuse to sew them, when I clearly have other projects on my list!

Believe it or not, I have a fair few projects that need attention and I am hoping that my approach this year will help me to refine that list. I'm listing both lists on my sidebar.

I must do a sing out to Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl who organised the 2020 planning party which I linked up to in December. The process, although incomplete, really got me thinking and planning. She also arranged for some sponsorship for the planning party and I'm thrilled to be the winner (randomly selected) of the Aurifil collection prize! As Aurifil is a thread I already enjoy using, I'm very happy about that! Thanks Yvonne, and thanks Aurifil!

Okay, that's enough list making and tidying to make my head ring :-) I'm off now to sew-sew-sew ♥

'til next time,

happy stitches,