OMG: May Recap + June Goal

Welp, May didn't see me get as far as I would like on my Ohio Star Quilt.
But a fail for May OMG is an opportunity for June!

It may be ambitious, but I'm shaking up my June OMG Goal and expanding it to incorporate two items; Two quilts, one goal! This will help me get back on track for OMG and the 2016 Finish Along.  

So, this month, I will finish my Ohio Star Quilt and the Tree of Life Baby Quilt (or cry trying).  

WIP 1/10/16

I'm trying to get this WIP from top to finish by the end of January.
All my quilts are completely hand pieced, quilted and bound. I never show my piecing stitches, but I'm working hard on improving so here's a peek behind the scenes (seams?).  

I'm working towards my stitches being more like the diagonal line as opposed to the horizontal one. 

I'm working towards my stitches being more like the diagonal line as opposed to the horizontal one. 

One of my quilty goals this year is to get at least one finish done each month. I have specific deadlines for some quilts, and I want to get my production up. Heidi at Red Letter Quilts is hosting a great link up: OMG (One Monthly Goal)

One thing I really like about OMG is that you can set any quilting goal, not just a finish, to link up with. This link up is all about encouragement to achieve your goal!! This brings me up to 4 link ups for the month, which serves another goal of community involvement!
I'm linking up with OMG today and with Kathy at Kathy Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching

WIP 11/29/15 + Sale News

I'm working furiously to get this WIP done...

...but life keeps getting in the way. Life has a way of doing that; keeping me from sewing, blogging, or getting my holiday sale up and going. 

The holiday sale has been postponed until next weekend. 
Still plenty of time to get orders out. Please keep your eyes peeled here and over at instagram!

I'm linking this post up with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching

Decisions on a Sunday Morning + News!

I'm a little late posting this one, but am linking up with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching anyway!

While unpacking, I've uncovered a lot of WIPs & UFOs. I made this mini quilt ages ago, so long now I can't remember. I do remember it was my first attempt at flying geese with not the best results. All my geese were cropped!! I've never quite gotten over it and haven't made flying geese since. 

I still liked aspects of this mini, though, so when I found it I decided to back it and quilt it. But now, what to quilt it with? I picked out a few thread choices, but none seem quite right... Any suggestions?

I have a lot on my plate at the moment, so I'm not in a great rush to make a decision. 

Now for the news! Mad Cat Quilts will be having a sale starting next weekend! Just in time for xmas gifts, of course! Look for updates and the start of the sale in the blog and instagram. There will be many small items, as well as sale prices on quilts! Keep your eyes peeled!

2015 Finish Along

This year, I want to blog more, I want to sew more, I want to finish more!

So I'm participating in Adrianne's (On The Windy Side) 2015 Finish Along.
For those of you haven't heard of this before, every year a lovely blogger runs a Finish Along (FAL) where sewists can make quarterly goals to finish for the year. The projects can be quilts, clothes, knits, etc... But they must be a semi started project when you link up at the beginning of each Quarter. As you finish a project, you make a blog entry, and at the end of each Quarter you link up again with all that you have completed. There's no punishment or negativity if you don't finish, but there are potential prizes if you do! More than anything, it's a way to keep a list for yourself, and also to have support from the sewing community as you go!

I'm a big fan of to do lists. I make one everyday for myself at work. Although I have included quilting on some of my lists, I have never made a list just for sewing. 

Here is my First Quarter List!
Since this is the first time I'm joining in, I'm gonna go easy for my Q1. I've picked 5 projects to get done in 3 months. 

1. Repair, Label and Gift the Friendship Star Mini.

This quilt is pretty much done (so much so, that I already blogged about it once). Although I consider it a 2014 finish, it needs repair where the binding didn't catch. It needs a label and to given to whom it belongs. I think this is a good goal to start the year and Q1.

2. Finish hand-quilting, binding and labeling All Gingham, All The Time quilt. 

This project was started way back in Jan 2014. I set it aside when I wasn't happy with how the hand quilting was going. After some months of space, we have reunited. I want to finish this one up completely for Q1.  

3. Finish Nest Block Jacket. 

I have an old red wool jacket that my mom gave me quite a few years ago. It's really red. I started a wee star block to add to it. I'm hoping it breaks up the red a bit. I have the block, but I have to figure out how to best affix it to the jacket. This seems like a simple Q1 Project, but it may go sideways if the jacket needs more work. 

4. Baste, bind, quilt and label Stormy Friendship Mini Quilt. 

I made the top for this at the same time as the yet to be named Friendship Mini. Now I've got a back made. I want to have this one finished this Q1. This should be a straight forward project.  I just have to keep on task .

5. Finish piecing, baste, quilt, bind, and label Quilt for Grandma Doris. 

This is the biggest project on the list bc it is the least done. I started this quilt Nov 2014 with very high hopes it would be done by xmas. Not to be. I'd love to have this one done Q1 with the idea to gift it for Mother's Day, maybe? But there doesn't really need to be a special occasion to gift someone a quilt, right?

OK! I'm feeling good about this list! Let's get going!
Linking up with Adrianne, of course!



Wrinkly Old WIPs

I've noticed there's a lot of quilting lingo out there. Some of the terms I like, some not so much. WIP (Work In Progress) is fine, normal everyday. UFO (UnFinished Object) on the other hand.... Not my favorite. I choose not to use it. (HST [Half Square Triangles], by the way, I quite enjoy.) 

 My sewing work generally breaks down like this:

I always have one or two quilts that I'm really working on at any given moment. Those I don't even consider WIPs bc they are active and getting done. These quilts could be in almost any state of progress. I like to have a few since I sew everything by hand. My hands tend to get tired but not my mind. I need one quilt getting pieced and also one getting quilted or bound. That way, when my hands start to hurt, or I have to give my callouses a day to rest, I can switch up the type of sewing that I'm doing. 

Next I have my ongoings. Little projects that aren't fully formed in my mind, or scrap projects. These are often littered about, sometimes easy to find and add to, sometimes not. These probably don't have a clear ending in mind. When they do, they will most likely move into the first category. Until then, these could be considered WIPs. 

Then there are the theoreticals. These are sometimes stacks I've pulled or stacks I'm adding to. Or fabric I'm just not using bc it seems to have a quilt waiting for it, eventually. Most times, these are only ideas I have for quilts. These really cannot be considered WIPs, bc they don't usually even exist. Yet. 

And lastly, I have the stalled quilts. These are mostly what I really think of as my WIPs. These are mostly quilts that I had to stop bc I didn't have the right fabric for them, or I got to a point where I wasn't sure what to do next, or didn't have the space to complete the next step. Occasionally, these are quilts that I just stopped bc I didn't feel like working on them. Not long ago, I was able to photograph some of this kind of WIPs. 

I started this quilt late last Summer, or during the Fall. I had some reclaimed bright feed sack squares and wanted a really bright vibrant quilt to showcase them. I started making blocks with lots of little fiddly bits and all the yellow I could fi…

I started this quilt late last Summer, or during the Fall. I had some reclaimed bright feed sack squares and wanted a really bright vibrant quilt to showcase them. I started making blocks with lots of little fiddly bits and all the yellow I could find. I made six blocks and started putting them together, but ran out of the right yellows and the motivation. 

This is a quilt I worked on last Fall while working on another that has since been completed. Also using reclaimed blocks, I finished this top pretty quickly, but have stalled out on the back. For many of my quilts I wait to find just the right fabr…

This is a quilt I worked on last Fall while working on another that has since been completed. Also using reclaimed blocks, I finished this top pretty quickly, but have stalled out on the back. For many of my quilts I wait to find just the right fabric to finish. And since I get most of my materials vintage or thrifted, this could take a long time. 

This poor little guy has been waiting a very long time to finish. Started in AZ at my BFF's house in 2010, this mini only needs the quilting and binding finished.  I chose a particularly annoying quilting pattern for this quilt, then lost the t…

This poor little guy has been waiting a very long time to finish. Started in AZ at my BFF's house in 2010, this mini only needs the quilting and binding finished.  I chose a particularly annoying quilting pattern for this quilt, then lost the thread I was using, then, who knows.... One day, it will get done. 

Every once in a while, I pull out these WIPs (plus more. But not too many more...) to look at, remember, or to see if anything in my stash has become usable for. These three may be doomed to stay in the pile, tho, at least for the time being. Just bc I'm not picking up these projects doesn't mean I'm not sewing! I'm making more WIPs all the time. 

The start of one busy quilt...

The start of one busy quilt...