The Final Week in July. . . .the big move!

So, last week was the official move from an apartment to a large house!  While we are all moved out, we are still a little ways from moving in :)  Realizing we just have too much and weeding it down is time consuming.  That includes my sewing stuff.  Hoping for a little relief this weekend.

I could show pictures of my studio now, but it's not quite ready or organize to do so.  But I can show some of the things I have sew in between the few spare minutes of "me" time over the past month.

First, my finish challenge for my Modern Quilt Guild....ok, let me state just the top is complete.  We had to use ALL 40 charms in a Kona Classic charm pack and allowing for only one other fabric to work with.  Well, loving that tasseling new notion, I used it - it will work out perfectly as a bed runner:

Then, I've done several blocks for my Let's Be Together group:

And finished sewing 2 valances, one for our main bathroom and one for my kitchen....the crabs are gray/blue, that's the theme for the kitchen and the lighthouses/beach is the theme for the bathroom:

And that is about it....we are pretty much caught up....I also received my August towel from Jeanette:

I'm hoping to get more of my studio organized and finish up some class samples this weekend.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

OOo...fun icons on my side bar...

well, now I'm feeling almost "me" again (there's still a piece of me missing, but hopefully it will be home soon) I realize I have some personal challenges to catch up on!!  YIKES!   It's amazing how quickly we can fall behind on goals we set for ourselves, whether it's because we are tending to everyone else's needs or lack of self confidence, it happens quickly and very hard to catch back up.

But I'm going to make that effort to catch up!

I have the Christmas Project Group and the UFO group to re-evaluate my goals.  So, it's a new month and here are my goals for this month based off my group challenges.  Need to find some kind of reward for myself if I do this - any suggestions?  Something up to $50.

UFO Challenge

I'm 3 months behind, though I think most of my UFO's are mostly started, so I can make them up---I think.  Here's the ones I will add to this month's goals:




As for my Christmas Projects, here are 4 I'll set as goals for April (of course the easy ones):





Whew...I guess I need to get sewing ASAP!!!  Any wagers on how many I'll complete?

Christmas Projects 2010

I was invited to join a yahoo group hosted by Ms. Betsy to help us focus on starting and working on our Christmas Projects now and through out the year verses waiting til late Fall to do them.  Her goal is to actually work on gifts as well.

So, I went through all my Christmas related projects and documented them for this post, that I need to finish to help clear out my UFO's and have some pretty new things to use next Christmas.  I also will add gifts projects in, but most likely won't share them because I don't know who reads and receives them until next year :)

I have several Completed Tops that fall this category:





Now here are my UFO's that fall into this category.  Two are patterns I would like to do, the Stockings we definitely need new ones and the Christmas Geese I would love to do, but need to gather homespuns that fit a Christmas theme.







As of 12/30/2009 my count for this challenge is 12.  Maybe I can get one done a month?  We'll see!

It's Kim's fault....

If you read Peaches in Stitches, you'll understand. :)

It's that time of year to review what I've accomplished/completed and what I have left to do.  UFO review time.

Over the next week or so I'll share pictures of my completed project (kinda a year in review - and no I still don't have a working camera and I still have so much to share) and share my re-evaluated UFO's.  Which means, I will most likely be giving away some......unsure how I plan to do that part, but it will involve audience paticipation!

Check out Kim's handy UFO worksheet and share what you do to keep y0ur UFO's organized, please.

Maybe we can work together and knock them out in 2010?  Anyone else up to the challenge?

Still here....

been a busy week and forgot to prepost last Sunday.  Lots of pictures to share, this weekend should be slower for me to "catch up".

There is a winner in my Halloween Challenge, go and visit Mary's blog and see her cute little Halloween quilt!  Congrats Mary.  I'll pop your winnings into the mail.

TGIF!  Have a great weekend!

Halloweenie decorations....

Do you have yours up?  I do, finally!   Also, I have several Halloween themed quilts hanging around the house....

This one is from Ms. Betsy, who sent it to me last year and hangs in my sewing studio:



This one I made as a sampler for the shop last year and my longarmer quilted it with candy corn, it hangs in place of my sunflower quilt in the dinning room:



And this quilt is our couch quilt.  It's perfect now that it is getting chilly and I refuse to turn the heat on yet.  I made this from a row swap I did a few years ago:



Of course I have about 4 other ones in the works, can't have enough Halloweenie things/quilts in my house.

Challenge time....I haven't given anything away in a long time, so I have some Halloweenie panels and fabric to donate to the winner.  What you need to do is post your Halloweenie quilts (or if you don't have one yet, your halloween decorations) and be sure to comment here, so I can go and see.  I'll put everyone's name in a hot and have my youngest child pick a winner, from the comments that qualify.  If you want an extra drawing in the hat, pass on the info.  We'll pick the winner a week from today, Monday October 19th.  Please share your Halloweenie quilts with me!!

Have you ever.....

been quilting along and finished quilting and all ready to complete your quilt with binding, to discover you haven't prepared "said" binding? UGH!

Well, I've done this not once, but many times. I get gleeful with excitment thinking I'm almost done and the dreadful act of cutting, sewing and pressing binding at that point just frustrates me. So, I declared this Backing & Binding Week.

I know ya'l are a lot like me and love to make tops and stop....so, I challenge you to go forth and get your backs and bindings all done this week for all those tops. Place tops, backing & binding in their own big ziploc bags until they are ready for quilting.

I have dugged through my stash and amazingly found fabric for the remaining backings and bindings I need to do. Even prepared some binding for a quilt that is at the longarm'ers right now. Two other quilts at the longarm's will have to wait til the come home for binding.

So far I have sewn 3 backs, created 6 bindings this week. I have 8 more bindings to prepare and one back - WHOO HOO! Everything is one more step to being completed.....eventually :D

So, off you go....see if you can beat me at making bindings this week.....



Backings Needed: 4 Backings Completed: 3

Bindings Needed: 14 Bindings Done: 6

Share your pictures by end of the week, comment here and I'll toss in something fun to give away.

Take the Challenge

If you took my challenge from this post, please comment here so I can put all your names into the drawing for a prize. I have picked out some fabric and some notions for you to add to your stash.

I'll be posting the winner and starting a New Manic Monday Offering this coming Monday. Preparing my 2008 UFO list has added several new Manic Monday Offerings! It looks like I might kick start off this year with 3 offerings!

Have a good weekend!

Curiosity and a Challenge for you….

I'm in the process of reviewing all my hard quilty work in 2007 and I'm curious how hard did you work?

So, I'm offering free stuff to one lucky winner. Here's the challenge:

Starting TOMORROW create a blog post with the following:

1. Go to flickr.com or photobucket.com and create a slide show of all the completed items (quilting related) you have done THIS past year. Or where ever you can create a place to show off all your projects - I think a slide show would be the best.
2. Then in the same post share your list of UFO's you are starting 2008 off with.
3. Lastly, add your yearly goals for 2008.
4. Be sure to comment in my blog that you have done this - I don't read everyone's blog daily and I might miss your entry.

I will be offering a special winning to one lucky participant, I'm not sure what it is yet - but it will involve fabric and notions of some kind. I'll raffle everyone's name (who has posted ALL the above info) in a hat and my daughter will pick a winner next Sunday (January 6th) evening. So, get make sure you have your post in before then.

If you read my live journal community as well, this winning is separate from that one and so you can enter there and here.

Next week, January 7th, I'll be starting my Manic Monday Offerings again (and announce the last winners).

I'm off to do mine now and will post it later today.