Motivational Monday updates from the weekend

I'm not sure what the scoop is, but I'm tired! I know that my sleep routine is out of whack. I'm normally in bed by 9 and sometimes awake until 10 and then up at a ridiculous hour. I went to bed later at the retreat and I'm so TIRED. On the last night, I didn't get to sleep until around midnight. I was so tired on the way home that I wanted to fall asleep in the car. Thankfully I wasn't driving. I fell asleep on the couch when I got home - didn't even bother to unpack. Well, I sort of unpacked. Then because I had a sleep on the couch, I couldn't sleep last night so I slept in this morning. I've got to get back on track tonight - this sleeping business is not productive. I mean I need to get to my normal sleep patterns - trust me - I get a full 7 - 8 hours a night of sleep!

So - I've only got a few pictures of what got accomplished this weekend and hopefully, the rest will happen tomorrow.

It was a super productive weekend. Not only did I get a lot done, but I got things done that had been hanging around for a long time and that feels good.

Let's start with what my bag looked like when I left the house.

The orange bag is my Monday sewing bag. I didn't need it and I knew that but it had my sewing tools in there. I really should have transferred the little toolbox to the other bag and I could have eliminated one bag.  So yes - technically I took ONE bag of projects. And I think that bag is smaller than a laundry basket - just saying Tish!!!

Two bags of project taken to the retreat

 I'm a bit of an anal person and when I go to these retreats, I like to put the finished stuff into another bag to keep it out of the "still to do" project bag.

Here are my DONE bag and the "to do" bag when I got home.

Completed projects on the left and "to do" on the right

I think I packed very well. I still have about three projects in the project bag that I didn't touch, but that's way better than I used to be. I sorted through what was left and there are a couple of projects that need to be worked on this week and I left the rest for the next retreat in a couple of months. I think there are three projects for the next retreat. What I need to do is put those three projects ON TOP when I'm packing for that retreat so they don't keep getting put to the bottom of the list. There is one project that has been on MANY retreats and it's actually on my list of UFOs for this year. I might even get to it on a sewing day.

Not much left in the projects bag

 Matter of fact, there are a number of sewing days at my house before the retreat. I should just keep working on this bag on those days so I can start fresh for the next retreat.  Yep - good plan.

So what actually got done? I didn't get a chance to get all the pictures but here is a couple of things that I finished or advanced to the next stage.

One more block is done for the pixelated apple quilt. This block has been hanging around since November. It was partially together as I had posted in an earlier post. Now it's done!

Pixelated apple block - DONE

 Here's what the quilt looks like so far. You can tell I still have a long way to go. But after laying them out, I think I know which block I'll sew next so I can get those four blocks together.

Three blocks for the pixelated apple quilt

 I had all the fabric in my project tote as well in the event that I wanted to work on another block which I didn't get to. I still have to cut a few more red squares, so I'll get those cut tonight and be ready to lay out the next block. It makes a good ender/leader project. And all those little seams are twirled on the back so that thing is going to lay perfectly flat!

The other thing I worked on was the Bonnie Hunter Celtic Solstice mystery. I think there are 49 blocks in the quilt. 25 of one and 24 of another. I had the 24 blocks done and all the components of the 25 were together. I made one block yesterday morning.

One block for Celtic Solstice

 After making the one block, I realized that I couldn't go any further. Why? Becuase I wasn't sure which direction to press the seams. You see it's the alternate block and the seams need to nest with the other block or I won't be happy.

Two blocks for the Celtic Solstice mystery

 I took a guess and it was the right one! But I didn't dare go any further and I didn't even press those last two seams in the event that they were incorrect.

Seams nest together!

At the last sit n sew day, I worked on the one set of blocks so the second set of blocks will be my project for the next sit n sew day which is this weekend!!

That's all I can show today - I have lots more which I hope to get pictures of tomorrow. Since you can imagine that these two little projects didn't take up all the space in the bag. Which they didn't, but a bag of components, a bag of squares - that all takes up space. 

I'm off to Monday sewing today. I'm excited and this time, I'm attacking the projects in the orange bag. It's going to be easy to get all these UFOs done with all this scheduled sewing time. I get so much done - way more than when I'm sewing at home. And these days, most of what I sew at home is for deadline stuff - work stuff. The sewing days are fun and if you're prepped which I was, you can get loads done! If you're in the neighborhood and interested in a casual sewing day, send me an e-mail and we'll see if we can work out something for you.

On that note, I'm off.

Have a good day!

Ciao!