I think I've finally settled into a good routine when it comes to Motivational Monday. I used to just throw stuff into my sewing bag and hope for the best. I took a HUGE bag of stuff and barely touched most of it. Now, I've got it down to one tote bag with all my tools (and seat cushion) in one bag.
The key to success on any dedicated sewing day is to have things organized. It doesn't mean that everything has to be super prepped, but if you don't have everything you need, it's a bit hard to make progress.
I've also become a VERY focused person, especially when it comes to sewing projects. A lot of reasons are behind that. I see my Mom with her hoarding tendencies, I see the HUGE stack(s) of UFOs and well - we can't let that apple fall close to the tree. Others yes, but not this one!
My goal for Monday sewing is to complete SIX blocks from the Farmer's Wife project. Here are the six blocks that I completed yesterday. There were a LOT of fiddly little pieces and it took forever. At least the blocks are cut for the remaining blocks so that is good. And I've found the project box so if I need something, I'm good with that as well.
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| Six blocks from Farmer's Wife |
I believe there are 50 blocks left - I'm behind by two blocks as I ran into difficulty with a couple of them if you remember. And there are several that I need to create paper-pieced patterns for - I hope to catch up next week. Technically, I'll be done in 8 weeks. Even though I have many more of these block type projects, just sitting there, I really need to start sewing the tops of these together. That's hard to do on Monday as I like to put the blocks on my design wall, so I'm going to have to start scheduling some time at home to get that done! I'm not sure if I'll make one big quilt with the Farmer's Wife blocks, but I think I likely will. I'll see how it goes when I get all the blocks done.
But the fact that I'm working my way through these blocks? I'm super excited and all it took was a wee bit of discipline on my part.
I sewed a few enders/leaders as well yesterday and ran out of the cut squares from the red fabric. So I cut more when I got home. I can see by the height of the fabric stacks on the cutting table, that I'm going to have to cut a bit more. That's all the red I have left. May have to find another chunk. I'm hopeful. No need to cut the exact amount - that involves wasting time counting!
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| Enders/leaders prepped for next week |
After those blocks were complete, I pulled out the next project. The maple leaf wall hanging. There are nine blocks in total and I got them sewn together as far as I could go. Now I need to applique the stem on that bottom square. All the supplies are in the Monday box so I'll be tackling that next week. The borders are also cut and in the project box. I will have to find a backing soon, but I doubt I'll get to that stage for next week.
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| Maple leaf blocks almost together |
I know - you're thinking - why didn't I have that already prepped so I could continue working yesterday? Sometimes, it's hard to have a project 100% prepped so I get the prep work done in stages. No big deal. If it takes several weeks to finish a project, that's OK. The key is to make progress on the projects that are in the bag.
Then it was onto the next project. This one is on my 2018 UFO list. It's a scrap quilt - actually, when I counted the blocks last week, there are enough for THREE quilts. I got three rows sewn together yesterday. Yeah!!!!
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| Three rows of the second scrap quilt - together |
I had to cut more sashing so I dug through the stash last night and found suitable fabrics for the sashings. Some of the sashing pieces are cut and there are strips in the project box so if I need more, it's easy to get my hands on it.
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| Project box is prepped for next week |
I'm not sure what I'm going to use for the border of these quilts. The pattern calls for the same color as the background which would be beige/cream. I think that's too much beige/cream. I may get creative and use a scrappy piano key border. That would be great - just have to dig through the stash to find more of that style of fabric. I'm sure there's more there. A lot more!!! I don't think a scrappy quilt would look good with a single fabric in the border. Oh well - more work!!!!
I'm emptying plastic bags like crazy with all these projects.
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| Empty plastic bags |
At least all the plastic bags have a home at my house. Two shelves worth in this cabinet. That's CRAZY!!!!!
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| Plastic Bag storage |
Now that I've made progress on those wedding ring quilts - I'll share that whole story with you tomorrow, I don't feel so bad working on another quilt to be given away. I got this dog quilt almost cut this morning.
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| Dog quilt - almost cut and ready to sew |
I love Quilt History books. And while I was zipping through the shelves at the Used Book Stores, I found this one. A good find. I know - I do NOT need any more quilt books. I've run out of room for them and I keep buying them. That is BAD. My one vice!
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| Quilt History book |
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| A new book |
Well, it's Tuesday and that means, I'm back to my routine. Paperwork this morning and quilting/sewing this afternoon. There's a ton to get done in both sectors, but that's OK. I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine if that's possible. And I've been ignoring e-mail for the last week so that's going to take some time to go through.
Hope your Monday was as productive as mine was. And I hope that you're finding some way to get dedicated sewing time. So many people say they don't have time as they do everything for their family or their household. I know I'm very lucky in what I do and don't do, but I'm also very selective. My floors are a mess after the girls have been messing around. Do I care? NO. There are stacks of paper that need to be sorted. I'm slowly working my way through it rather than plunging ahead. Does that bother me? NO. I'm a very selfish person - I take care of myself FIRST, then everyone else. Does that bother me? NO!
Anyway, hopefully, you work out a schedule that works for you!! Don't let others encroach on your time because the more you give, the more they take!!!!
On that note, I'm out of here.
Have a great day!!!!
Ciao!!!!
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