Focus

I need to focus. I am bored with all my projects and want to jump into new ones, but that is against my goals for the year. I’m not doing so swell on my goals. So this post is me re-working my plan for the rest of the year.

 

• Farm Gal’s Folly – Oi! This is so much work. I still don’t have anywhere close to enough material. I’m way behind on my daily quota of geese blocks. I love the thought of the project, but I’ve decided to scale it back by one quilt (one of the recipients I’m not so close to anymore). So 5 quilts instead of 6. Still a LOT of work. I may not make it by Christmas. But I do want these ladies to have these quilts. So I keep chugging along. What I really need are some awesome sales or a trip to a quilt shop to find some fabrics I haven’t seen yet. At least I don’t hate the geese yet. Did you see the pretty plastic containers I got for my current projects? It’s nice to have all the pieces in one place.

• Remember my Double Star Creams quilt for the master bedroom? Mary said I should think about scaling it down somewhat so I could just get it done (since I’ve been working on it for, like, 3 years or so). I was resisting, but I’m thinking now about a table runner and maybe some other small projects with the blocks. I have 13 blocks complete and several cut out, so I guess first things first is to finish sewing up the blocks and then go from there.

• A Punch of Piccadilly is coming along as a leader-ender project. I am almost finished with the 4-patch blocks and will start on the 16-patch blocks after that. I love seeing the pile of finished blocks grow. It’s fun to grow a second quilt just from a seam here and there. 

• I have a green floral skirt cut out and sitting. The lining is finished, but the skirt itself, well, I’ve been putting it off. It won’t take long, and the hardest part will be inserting the zipper, which isn’t all that hard (at least, not when I’m well rested and in a good mood).

• The gray floral dress that I cut out this weekend is waiting patiently. It really won’t take too awful long to sew up, but I am procrastinating. I tend to procrastinate on clothes because I’m scared I’ll do all this work and they won’t fit. I made alterations to the pattern based on my measurements, so I’m doubly nervous this time. I just need to suck it up and get on it.

And now for new projects I have on taps for the rest of the year (in addition to those WISPs above).

• The Summer Star Sampler Quilt Along – I totally am going to make this quilt; it just isn’t going to be at the same time as everyone else. I came up with the bright idea to bribe reward myself for exercising with fabric for this quilt. I did well the first two weeks, but have sunk into the abyss since then (see previous post about sick baby, dog recovering from surgery, and overflowing garden). I will get back on track and get the fabric and make this quilt . . . at some point. I got my first bribe reward this week in the mail, and it was so pretty! Love, love, love, love, LOVE! The custard toile is gorgeous!

• A throw quilt for a Christmas gift . . . I can’t give details because she may pop in here from time to time
• A themed quilt for our friends’ little one scheduled to make his/her arrival late this year. I have the fabric, but I am beyond frustrated on the design. I thought I had it all figured out, but now, I am back at square one. Gah.
• A gray jacket to go with the gray floral dress – have fabric and pattern
• A blue work skirt – have fabric and pattern
• A black work skirt – have fabric and pattern
• A (different colored) gray work skirt – have fabric and pattern
• Random Christmas Projects
• Other WIPs that have been languishing

Okay, this list is getting scary. And this is just what I’m hoping to accomplish the rest of this year! I totally know I can get it done (except maybe Farm Gal’s Folly). But, I think I need a retreat . . .

Tonight, I will get the sewing machine into the kitchen while canning carrots and work on that green skirt. It would be great to knock that one out.

In a Flitting Mood

I can’t help it; I’m a flitter.  I get bogged down in projects, and I have to have several going on at once. 

Right now, I have the Farm Gal’s Folly project (which may be doomed to failure), A Punch of Piccadilly (leader-ender project), my Double Star Creams quilt for the master bedroom (this may also get changed), a skirt, and a dress in the works.  That doesn’t include some other projects I haven’t started but need to work on soon.  But I’m tired of all of them. 

What do I want to do?  Why, start on The Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt, of course.  I got the book for Christmas last year, and I want to work on it NOW.  Alas, I know I shouldn’t.  But I really, really, really want to.  I’m going to try and be a good girl and leave it be until January 1, 2011.  I’m going to make it a project for next year.  Two blocks a week, some weeks three, finishing it by the end of the year. 

For now, I guess, I need to get back to making flying geese, 4 and 16-patches, and double star blocks.  And finishing the skirt and sewing the dress.  *Sigh*

Double Star Creams

This is an ongoing project that I try to work on in between other projects.  I usually refer to it as the master bedroom quilt, but really, it is a variation of this Double Star quilt designed by Lila Scott from the October 2005 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting (sorry for the really bad picture).

 I started collecting fabrics then, thinking I would make an all-white/neutral quilt for my "trousseau", if you will.  (I read a lot of Little House on the Prairie and similar books growing up . . .).  I switched the original design from a throw quilt to a quilt big enough for our queen-sized pillowtop mattress, and I changed the borders.  This is my EQ6 drawing that I did this past winter when I decided I really needed to finish this project.

Double Star Creams copyright 2010 Rachel Ashby, Farm Gal Designs

There's still a little fudging to be worked out on the outer border to get the pinwheels completely square, and the inner border will be strip pieced (not blocks), but it's a good start.

Obviously, I got the idea for this project in Fall 2005 when I was engaged, and have been working on it (or not working on it) since then.  I finally decided I was tired of it sitting and made the decision to finish it.  My goal is to have it completed by the end of the year (12/31/2010).  Completed as in quilted and bound - completely and utterly finished.  That means I have a lot of work to do, especially considering the other projects I have going on or want to do this year as well.

I had done some of the basic piecing a while ago, and this weekend pulled the bag out and did some more.  I had several blocks with the quarter units done, so all I had to do was attach them to the center square.  I've finished 9 blocks of those and worked on more of the quarter units for additional blocks.

 A couple of individual blocks (some of the better planned ones).

 I decided I'm a masochist, because what person in their right mind picks a double star block with partial seams for one of their very first quilt projects???  I loved the idea of the all white/neutral quilt when I started; now, I kind of hate it.  But I'm determined to finish it so I don't feel guilty, and I'll probably like it when it's finished.  I figure it will make a nice spring/summer quilt for our bed.

I have 13 of 42 double star blocks complete.  And I haven't even counted how many pinwheel blocks I'll need yet.