Prairie Moon Block Challenge

So, Prairie Moon's 350 block challenge is in full swing.

My summary is

173 Total

     66 January

107 February

 I am making quilts and not counting the blocks until the quilts are complete.

So I have made more than that, but hopefully they will all be counted when completed.

This is a new challenge for me.

I have no idea how many I normally make in a year.

T-shirt quilt is done

It's too big to have a place to take a good photo.

Swirls galore.

T-shirt quilt

I am filling in on the t-shirts to have a bit more even quilting. 

 The only problem is one shirt is all vinyl and I can't stitch through it.

 I hope Tammy has an idea of what to do with it.

February summary

I'm excited.  I used 37.2 yards of fabric this month.  Between what I've given away and used, I've gone over my 200 yards challenge.  I'm at 218.88 yards of fabric used.
That is exciting to me.  That means I have less mess in my studio and more room for the fabric that I will use.

March A Lovely Year of Finishes

I picked my batik 9-patch for the March A lovely year of finishes.

It needs a backing and quilted and bound.

I want it finished.  I love this quilt.

February archives

Things I accomplished in February

History table runner from UFO blocks
Scooby Do Pillow
Quilt Sunset/Dragon Quilt
Quilt Sunset/Dragon Quilt
Chicken Quilt Finished
Alphabet Quilt
Valentines teacher items
St Patrick's Day Door Hanging
Tammy friend patriotic quilt
Pineapple Blossom
Christmas Sampler Quilt

March Stashbuster Number game

The numbers are #7 & #17

That equates to Applique Owls

 and a Bee Quilt

You can't tell that there are supposed to be appliqued bees on this.

I am finding that as I get rid of numbers of UFOs that the numbers change from the beginning list.

But, I am going with these two projects because both require some applique work.

Since I'm going to be gone for a week, this is perfect to take on the plane and bus.

Maybe when I return I can finish the February second number.

Prairie Moon

Prairie Moon challenge is

Deal with the paper clutter

So, I've done really well with the other challenges.

I think I brought this on myself by saying I need to handle the paper clutter.

hummmm

It is embarrassing to show this photo.

the pile to the left of the chair is my Mom's stuff that I need to figure out how to handle.

The pile in the front is band booster things.

The beige basket is all the leftover envelopes I need to toss or put away.

The desk is a never ending pile of mess.

The blue bag doesn't really have much in it. 

I went through things and they got put there and now I don't know what I wanted to do with them.

So, I don't know if I'll be able to take care of ALL of it, but something is better than nothing, I think.  LOL

15 MInute spiff up

The task for the 15 minute spiff up for this week is 

Time to organize and straighten up your books.  

This is what my book shelf still looks like.

I'm sure I have other books around the house.

So maybe I'll see if anything needs to come into the studio.

I need to be more awake to climb, so this will happen tomorrow.

  

Little progress

I'm still quilting the T-shirt quilt.

Swirls take time.

Next is the Wilder T shirt quilt.

I have all the pieces sewn.

Now to get it all together.

This will not be quilted this month.

I finally cut some of the super hero panel apart.

I know what I want to do, but I'm not sure how I'm going to do it yet.

These are the 6 different characters.

All the others are repeats.

I think I have to put a border around them and then square them up.

They are slightly off square.

The first step is taken.

Prayers, please.  My Mom is back in the hospital.

T-shirt quilt loaded and started

So, the only pattern to quilt was my favorite - swirls.

I chose the white because of all the colors of the T-shirts and it matches the white swirls in the fabric.

I feel good that it is started, but it does take time because swirls are dense.

I also have to think when going over the t-shirts.

I take breaks and read email and work on other quilts when I run out of bobbin thread.

Two UFO bindings done.

Finished pineapple blossom's binding.

Washed it.

It is ready to go to the new owner. 

My Lovely year of finishes quilt is bound.

I need to put it through a wash and it will be ready for Christmas or a gift.

It feels good to complete something else.

Christmas Quilt is quilted

The Christmas quilt is quilted.

I have enough leftover red binding to bind the quilt.

DD has an hour lesson tomorrow, so I should make a dent in it then.

Design Wall Monday

My T-shirt quilt is the only thing on my design wall right now.

Guess I worked through everything else.

Will need to work on the super hero quilt today

Progress

It's been a good weekend of quilting, even with lots of other things going on.

A Lovely Year of Finishes project was this Christmas quilt.

I need it done this week before the end of the month

It is about half done.

Ran out of bobbin and I'm calling it a night.

I am doing loops to match the string of lights.

DD wanted red thread, so that is what I'm using.

Then the T-shirt quilt is coming along.

I am trying a couple of stabilizers and think I might have found out some hints.

I have one more black and purple block to make.

Next will be to figure out the fabric for the long strips.

the pattern calls for one long strip of fabric 15" wide.

I think I would rather do something like three long strips to make 15"

DD thought white in the middle would be nice.

I'll have to play with it tomorrow.

This was a quick pattern for a small number of T-shirts.

I have another T-shirt quilt to make that has LOTS of shirts.

This is my trial to make sure I have the process down.

Pineapple Blossom quilted

It is quilted and I'm about half done sewing down the binding. 

So, do you ever get one of those "I just have to do this quilt" feelings?

Well, this one is that point.

Last night I ironed on stabilizer on one T-shirt.

Today I did the other 4 and then decided on a design and cut out smaller T-shrit squares.

I'm going to border them with fabric in the purples.

This does not have a deadline, and another one does.

This one had my attention,so it is being worked on.

Fabric Report

Used this Week:                            2.36 yards

Used year to Date:                      198.53 yards

Used this Month:                         16.85 yards
Added this Week:                           0.00 yards
Added Year to Date:                       7.50 yards
Goal:                                             200 yards

Yards to goal:                               1.47 yards
Net for 2015:                              198.53 yards 

check out the other posts on Judy's site.

A couple of other fun facts are:

Prairie Moon is doing a 350 blocks challenge this year:
Number of equivalent blocks:               135

Perimeter in inches                             2776

Number of UFOs finished this year:        19

AF quilt quilted

This is a quilt from a friend of a friend. 

She pieced it, I quilted it.

Only stars and loops on it.

It's a fairly large quilt. 

The completed quilt.

Not a good place to take a photo tonight.

It will be in the mail on Monday.

The weekend

Yesterday was a strange day.

I had appointments that lasted longer than they should.

I had an evening activity at the HEB Center in San Antonio.

This is the view from our seats.

Went with 2 girl friends and had a great time

Say a Japanese Hoko show.

Very intense drumming, but the time went by quickly.

I loved the designs from the lighted "purple" area.

So, no sewing yesterday.

I did play with some fabric to put it away, but nothing else.

I'm home alone today.

DH is off to a falconry event with his hunting buddy.

DD is still at her sleepover.

DS is gone to work.

So, I have a list of things I really need to get done with this weekend.

I'm not going to post it because some can't be seen by others. :)

One thing is to finish this quilt I'm working on.

I ran out of bobbin and quit.  LOL

So, off to load the bobbin and figure out when DD needs picked up.

doing my challenges

My cutting table seems to get cluttered often.

When I'm working, it is a mess.

This is after some activity and I didn't clean it up when I was done.

For Prairie Moon's procrastination challenge, I need to put away fabrics and stuff.

This was a good place to start. 

After the process.

The pink is for the pineapple blossom binding.

The black and brights is my super hero fabric.

I think I've made a decision on the pattern for that quilt.

DD wanted to get me in the picture.

Don't I look excited?  

I started quilting the AF quilt.

My machine hates Aurofil thread.

No matter what weight it is, the thread breakage is unbelievable.

So, since it was white, I put in my Signature thread and hummed along until the bobbin ran out.

15 Minute Spiff up has us cleaning up the ironing station.

This is the messy spot.

It has two drawers in the front, but they are organized fairly well. 

The lime green containers held lots of started things without a purpose.

I combined all the hst into the orange box to the right.

All the non hst went into a baggie to be used in other things.

I need to do a creative quilt to use up miscellaneous blocks, leftover pieces, etc.

I put away the fabric on the left corner

I moved the T-shirt quilts I need to focus on from the back to the side.

All the junk found new homes in the trash or in a place of its own.

The screening is next to my batting now.

I cleaned the rubber thing under my iron.

I even dusted the shelf to the right.

I had some additional ironing board fabric and put new on my station.

This is the result.

That white interfacing hanging out of the box is used in making the T-shirt and baby clothing quilts.

My pressing station is cleaned off.

I can actually press a good sized piece of fabric.

That side of the room is looking good.

Of course, there are things to do, but it is manageable.

I so appreciate the extra motivation and accountability of these two sites to suggestion things to work on.

I've had a rough few years in trying to stay focused, and things got out of hand.

I can do it on my own, but the accountability is helpful.

THANK YOU!

Prairie Moon organization

Prairie Moon is doing a year long organization.

This week is 

Put away stray fabric and other items

So, I have a new camera and I'm still playing around with it.

A dark photo, but the cutting table is a mess because of projects.

I am going to clean it off and see what other piles are around here.

15 Minute spiff up

Straighten and clean up your ironing station. 

OK, so Bonnie is not wanting to do much now, so she picked an easy project, or so she says.

This is my ironing station.

It's a big board with lots of flat surface.

That means......things collect there.

It has been worse, and I think some of these things can be put away.

It will be incentive to do something in here.

Two days of not sewing much or doing much in here and I'm having withdrawals.

Join in with us.

Quilt loaded

This is a quilt for a customer.

This week is full of evening meeting,

It also required lots of planing during the day.

But, while the kids transferred iTunes to DD's phone, I loaded the quilt.

I will straighten it out tomorrow and maybe get to quilt it.

I hope.

Fabric

I finished folding and reorganizing my fabrics.

I guess I need to use more of my pink fabrics.

DD hates pink, so I'll have to find another place for them.

It all fits.

It is folded and can stay this way as long as I am not digging into it too much.

Thanks for the challenge.

St Patrick's Day Door hanging

I finished it.

Not bad for the first tar I finished.

I think I will starch the fabric first.

I have to share

Normally I only add in my quilting adventures.

But my 15 year old DD wanted to have highlights and I had to share.

The before photo shows her lovely long dark hair.

Why she needs to do anything is beyond me, but that's OK if she does. 

She didn't like me taking an in the foil photo. 

Then, the color looked like blood when they took the foil off.

LOL  She should that was wonderful. 

In the sunlight it looks like she had all her hair colored, but it was just 14 highlights. 

At home, the flash took out the brightness of the color.

She's happy. 

Her hair is really long.

The highlights are fun. 

Check out the color. 

She wanted to show off the top of her head. 

No, I don't want my face in the photo.
LOL

I think it looks really nice.

I hope she is happy.

ABC Finish

I finished this while DD was getting her hair highlighted.

One more UFO finish.

Design Wall Monday

Still on my main design wall, but the backing is hanging to the left.

Need to cut batting and it is ready to quilt. 

Pineapples are coming off my design curtains.

Soon it will be ready for backing and quilting. 

This is the template experiment and is ready for a border for Mom's St Patrick's Day Door hanger. 

I got these T-shirts from DD's trumpet teacher.

I want to make a small throw from them.

I think I'll just cut out the shirts after stabilizing and border with purples.

Now, what I really need to be working on is this super hero quilt.

Check out Judy's site for other design walls.

Update

We know the challenge this week was to work on the fabric.

I have rearranged it to make the size of the stacks fit better.

Three shelves are done

Panels on the top.

Second shelf has plaids and flannel.

Fourth shelf down has my 30's fabrics and my Music fabrics.

The orange bin has all the pieces of 30's fabrics.

The third shelf has batiks and they need to be refolded.

I need to work on the bottom two shelves. 

The top of this cabinet has large pieces.

It has my FQs that I have, which is not much.

The bottom of the top section is all my Christmas fabrics.

I wonder how many quilts are in that mix.

So, I don't have enough room for my blues to be in one stack.

My whites need more than one stack too.

But, neither need a full second stack, so I combined them together on the top shelve of the bottom section.

The black, red and purple stack fit nicely.

I really thought I would have more red.

My teal and greens live nicely on the same shelf.

I'm amazed at how many greens I have.

Floral and novelty with the patriotic live on the bottom two shelves.

One of the challenges has me use a tool I've not used before.

Here is my attempt.

I will add to this with more green for Mom's door hanging for St Patrick's Day.

Plan of Action

I have some challenges going on and one it to do something with my Fall quilt that needs put together.

I don't think that is happening because I need to get this super hero quilt done first.

I have some long arm quilting to do too.

I might not get any more of the challenge quilts done this month, and that is OK.

If I have a good month I could go back to them.

I lose a week in March because of a Band Spring Break Trip to Disney.

Used this Week:                            5.07 yards

Used year to Date:                      196.17 yards

Used this Month:                         14.49 yards
Added this Week:                           0.00 yards
Added Year to Date:                       7.50 yards
Goal:                                             200 yards

Yards to goal:                               3.83 yards
Net for 2015:                              191.09 yards 

check out the other posts on Judy's site.

A couple of other fun facts are:

Prairie Moon is doing a 350 blocks challenge this year:
Number of equivalent blocks:               240

Perimeter in inches                             5140

Number of UFOs finished this year:        18

Finished Chicken quilt

Binding is done on the chicken quilt.

I've had two people talk about wanting it.  LOL