March 2014 NewFo Project

 

Another month came and went and another quilt got started!! I *think* I'm starting to enjoy quilting, maybe, just a little:) This challenge is hosted by Barbara over at Cat Patches and is a lot of fun. You are to just start a new quilt or quilt-like project each month and post about it on the last day of the month. No pressure to actually finish any of you projects!! Now that's my kind of challenge!!! :)

 



Well, I am just squeezing this one in. I had started on this project a week or so ago and posted about it HERE, but I was determined to get a bunch more done before today's post. That never happened:) However, today I had some time on my hands and once I got started (in between schooling, housework and making food!!) I just didn't want to stop. This isn't usual for me when it comes to sewing with the machine. I'm all for handwork, but put a sewing machine in front of me and I lose my cool pretty quickly.

Today went very smoothly. I already had the fabric cut that I was going to use, and I had a few of the 3.5 in blocks done. I finished up enough of the 3.5 in blocks to be able to put together the first 5 9.5 inch blocks (this is the block's finished size). And that went so well that I decided to start cutting up the next color:) Then it was after 9:00 pm and I decided that I needed to stop, clean up and finally get on this blog!!

So here is what I have done so far...

These are the first 5 9.5 inch blocks, obviously they are stacked on top of each other:) I'm so happy that these actually look like they should. This is the first time I've done anything like this, or really any block that wasn't just patchwork, so this is super exciting for me!!!

 

Here are my blocks with the other fabrics that I will use in this quilt. I'm thinking of putting a narrow white sashing in between each block to break it up a bit.

And here are the blue pieces I cut out tonight. There is enough there for 6 9.5 inch blocks so long as I don't mess any of them up:)

 

I'm doing this project along with AuntMarti at 52 quilts. This is supposed to be a 'Block-a-Day' project, so I'm super behind as we should be on block 12 now, but that's okay, I didn't expect to keep up with that. She has a great tutorial on how to put these blocks together, which has made all the difference for me. I'm one that needs to see how something is done to be able to do it so I LOVE tutorials:)

 

I have two different projects that I want to start for next month's NewFo challenge. One of them was going to be this month's project, I even bought the fabric and got it washed and ironed. Then I found this Block-A-Day challenge, and I thought I would combine it with the NewFo challenge, as it is a perfect challenge for a newbie quilter like me. Not a problem, I thought, I can just do the other project in April:) WELL, then I bought a quilting magazine.... I need to not do that:) So I found another project that I am just in love with. And it has applique which is something that I want to give a try this year. I'm going to have to fight with myself to see which one gets to be April's project:)

 

Stay tuned to see which project wins out!! 

Weekly Goals 3/25/14

Well, that was quite a break from blogging!! I had meant to just take a couple days off, but then we all got sick and the break just got longer and longer. We have also just 'upgraded' from a desk top computer to a laptop, and I thought it would be nice to just sit anywhere and blog, but I'm finding that I revert back to putting the laptop on a table and working from there anyway:) Since we can't leave the laptop out on any one table all the time, it gets put away and I've used that as an excuse not to get it out and work on it. I'll have to get better about that so I can continue to blog about all the fun stuff I'm doing:)

With a sick week, dd and I have some work to get caught up on. Instead of taking a spring break in March like most schools do, dd likes to take her birthday week off (in April). So we need to make up for a few of the days she missed last week due to being sick so that she can still take her birthday week off here in a few weeks. She ended up missing quite a few of her activities last week like one day of volunteering at the zoo, a day of volunteering in the nursery for the local MOPS club, and helping out with a 4-H member's family wedding. She did make it to youth group, but had to leave early because of the dust and straw up in the barn loft. Didn't make for a very fun week:(

Hopefully this week will be better. I'm not going to go back and see how I did on my goals a few weeks ago, I'll just start fresh this week. So my goals for this week are...

1. Housework - catch back up on dishes and laundry. Need to vacuum and clean the bathroom as well.

2. Blogging - Just getting on here and blogging a time or two will be my goal:)

3. Exercise - I haven't been to the gym in over 2 weeks!!! Hoping to get back there today!!

4. Sewing/Crafting - I have learned how to cast-on for knitting and can knit a row or two without throwing the needles now:) I would like to continue practicing. I need to get the Spring exchange project done and mailed off. Also want to work on my Something Old/Something New projects and NewFO project before the next group of projects are due:) Hope to have a couple of projects finished off and ready to show for Whoop-Whoop Friday!!

We don't have a ton of running around to do this week, so those things should all be possible. What do you have going on this week?

IHSW - March 2014

If you just read my last post - FNSI - you will know that our whole family came down with a cold last week, and that it just will not go away for my dd and I. Thankfully my hubby was able to get it beat within 24 hours or so, which is good since he still needed to go to work. But for dd and I, the cough is still lingering, so this has given me lots of time to sit on my corner of the couch and stitch away.

This month for my IHSW project, I am working on a Spring block for an exchange that needs to be sent out the 1st of April. This is a freebie from Sylvia Kuhnert from www.syku66.blogspot.com. (I'm thinking this is all in German:).  I was just about able to finish it up. All that's left to do is the boarder and fill in the word 'SPRING'.

Actually, I have tried filling in the word a few times already, but can't find a color I like for it. This is one of those projects where I decided the colors just weren't right for how I wanted it to look. No problem, I'll just switch a few of those out and we'll be done. But it hasn't been that easy. The original had a red heart and a mustard yellow sun, but I wanted this a bit more bright, so I changed things. The words should be a dark brown with the boarder being the darker green. I was going to change the words and boarder to a lilac purple, but the words didn't show up very well. So now I'm thinking about doing the boarder purple and the words being white. I'll give that a try next:) 

Now off to get caught up on the housework and make sure dd is getting her schoolwork done:)

Friday Night Stitch In

It's been quite a while since I've done a FNSI!! And I had the perfect project to work on for it this time:) Unfortunately, our whole family came down with a cold this week and for dd and I it just won't leave!! So I had great hopes for Friday night, and I did get some done, just not what I had hoped.

I started a 'Block-a-Day' project that I found over at '52 Quilts' blog. I'm going to have to do something along the lines of '7 blocks-a-week' kind of thing instead of a block each day since I have to get my sewing machine out and set up and then put back away each time I use it, but that should still be easy enough to keep up with:)

So this is what I got done on Friday...

 

I did lots of cutting, although it doesn't really look like it. I'm not sure how anyone could possibly have sat down and cut ALL the blocks for this quilt at one time!! It just about drove me nuts to sit down and cut enough for 5-6 blocks at one time:)

 

 

 Another pic of the blocks I cut along with the other fabric that will be part of this quilt. I love these colors together. I may need to find another blue, gray and green so I have a bit more variety in the fabrics.

 

I got enough done to finish up 2 blocks, but I haven't sewn them together yet. I think I need a 3.5 in square so I can even these up a bit before sewing them together. I hope to get into town tomorrow and see if I can find one. Until then, I'll just keep working on getting them to this point. I'm pretty happy with the results as I've never done triangles before. The tutorial on '52 Quilts in 52 Weeks' blog is super easy to understand and follow, which made doing this much nicer for me. It only took me ruining about 6 different squares before I figured it out:) That's pretty good for me!!

This will also count for my NewFo project this month. Hopefully I'll have quite a bit more done by the end of the month so I'll have more to show off:)

Weekly Goals - March 3rd, 2014

Last week ended up being a bit mixed up for my goals. Dd came down sick - I'm not sure what is going on with her. She's had this a couple time this winter. Headache and fever followed a few days later with cough and congestion. All but one of the times, it was really mild. She has asthma so usually when she gets the cough/congestions it goes into a full blown bronchitis, but thankfully that has only happened once this winter. This time it is really mild again, so she is up and around and feeling pretty good despite a bit of a cough. 

Because of the sickies and a weekend winter storm that moved in, we were able to stay home a lot more than I had planned!!! :0) I don't know about you, but that is always a welcome surprise here!! So I was able to get more done on the house/re-arranging, but less of the going to the gym and working out.

Here is my progress for the week...

1. Stitching - I got my Something Old project done, but didn't get started on my spring exchange or get anywhere on my Smalls Sal project.

2. Exercise - I only got to the gym once, but I also made my goal of one day of yoga.

3. Housework - Laundry and dishes are both caught up!!! I have one final pile of misc books/mag/papers still from the re-arranging that I haven't found a place for yet, but it's getting really close to being done!!!

4. Blogging/e-mails/other crafts - E-mails got done and my NewFo (quilting) project started and blogged, but that was all.

Okay, a semi-busy week this week, so here are my goals...

1. Stitching - I think I'm giving up on trying to get my Smalls Sal project done and posted for the month. I only have 2 days left and I haven't even started yet, so I guess that'll have to be this month's project. I would like to get the spring exchange piece started and work a bit on my Something Old/Something New projects.

2. Exercise - I should be able to get to the gym 3 times this week!! And I still want to do one day of yoga at home.

3. Housework - Keep up on dishes/laundry, and finish up with the last few things in the living room.

4. Other Crafts/Projects - Plan ahead for the next NewFo project, do a bit of crocheting, work on casting on/knitting - see if I can get a bit further along before giving up again!!

5. 4-H/Youth Group Craziness - This weekend is going to be a blur of running around. THREE different 4-H events going on and Youth Group as well!! First dd helps with the Clover Bud group for a couple hours on Saturday morning - this is a county wide group of kids just a bit too young to be in regular 4-H, this serves as dd's Jr. Leaders project. Then 4-H days in the evening - this event gives 4-Her's the chance to practice their speeches, project talks and/or talent pieces in front of a judge before fair time. Dd has given a speech in the past, but will be there to help set up and guard doors (so no one walks in during a speech) this time. Then Youth Group that night. Sunday the 4-H Jr. Leaders group are going to the next town over to go ice skating for the afternoon. That should be a lot of fun, but I'm hoping not to have to go. If dd's friend comes along I'll go, but otherwise I'll let dd go with them by herself. SO my goal for the weekend is just to survive it!! LOL

What are you up to this week?

YOTA for March 2014

I wasn't able to stitch on my YOTA project as much as I would have liked this weekend. I was really focused on getting my 'Something Old' project done (and I DID!!!) and between that and working on the house, I was only able to do just a bit of other stitching. But progress is progress and I just love how this is turning out. :)

So here is where I was before this weekend...

Bent Creek - Spring Snapperland

And here it is right now....

 

Yeah, not much more done on it. That little girl is super cute though!!! She will be holding a purple flower when I'm done with her. :) It's coming together and I'm really happy with this project, it's been a fun one.

 

Head over to 'Pull the Other Thread' to see others who have joined in on this SAL!! 

Something Old/Something New March 2014

I'm a day late on this!! We were busy moving furniture and organizing piles of books/magazines/papers and misc other things that I found laying about every where!! Now the furniture is all arranged and it is much nicer in the living room, but I still have a bit of the organizing to do. I'm not sure where all this stuff came from!!!

I was able to make some progress this past month on my Something Old and Something New projects.

 

I finished (just today!!!) Prairie Schooler's Spring Ornie!! I think this is the second or third time I've stitched this one. Every time I get it finished an exchange comes up that it would be perfect for and so I give it away. There is another exchange coming up that this would work for, but I think I'm going to keep this one for myself:)  

 

And here is my pathetic start on what was my Something New for last month. This will be Bent Creek's Winter Snapperland, and I made an exciting 1 1/2 box start!!! LOL It is a start though and that's all that matters. :)

 

This is Chessie and Me's Flower and Bird Sewing Roll and it's what I picked out for my Something Old for the month of March. I will probably need two months for this one as it has two charts in it. One for the front of the sewing roll and one for the inside. But as you can see, I have a pretty good start on it, so it may not take super long.

And this is my Something New. I'm really excited about this one. I joined in on the Ladies Prim Society, hosted by Dyeing to Stitch, this year after hearing (and seeing) all the fun projects they had for last year. There are a few stitching 'clubs' going on, and since I really like Threadworks Primitives and Blackbird Designs (the two designers for this particular club) I thought I would join. I am so glad I did, because this is a really cool project:) It came with the fabric, thread, fabric and instructions on putting this 'Stitcher's Wallet' together.

So do you have any fun new or old projects you are working on right now? I'm going to go ahead and keep doing this SAL even if no one joins along, because I am really enjoying it. You can join in at any time that you want. Just post an old and new project that you are currently working on and then link up here:)



My YOTA post will be up tomorrow. Not much progress on it I'm afraid, but something is something:)