There's nothing like being prepped.............

I did a stupid thing yesterday. I was walking Miss Lexi in the forest and I see that some enterprising kids are building themselves a mountain bike trail. Not cool. So I dismantled their handiwork and in doing so, I picked up a big log or something that hit me right in the lower back. I paid for that move all day. Even painkillers didn't kill the pain. GRR!  Much better today, but stupid, stupid, stupid!!!

Anyway - enough about that - let's see what I got done at Monday sewing. Remember - my focus is on those UFOs. There is no deviating from that agenda. Those projects need to be done.

The first project I worked on was Vintage Moments. I taught this class TWICE and still never finished my quilt. I got the last piece of the sawtooth border sewn on. Then it was time to make a decision for the last border. That monochromatic green or the striped fabric I used to make the stars. A mutual decision was the dark green. The borders were cut and two of the four border pieces got sewn on.

The last border is almost on

This is what the project box looked like. A LOT of stuff in there including THREAD. 

Stuff in the project box

 I pulled out all the fabric. Yikes - once I get all my UFOs completed (HA HA HA), I imagine I'll have a LOT more fabric and thread and tools. Anyway  - all the fabric except the strip which is needed for the binding was put away.

Fabrics have been refiled in the stash

I found some bits and pieces of leftover blocks. Obviously, counting is not my strong suit. And there was one border that I had to recut a second time as it didn't fit well the first time around. 

Leftover bits of blocks

Then it was time to deal with the backing. Oh, I should mention that I put the borders on at Monday sewing, but when I got home, I decided I needed to get myself prepped for the following Monday. So I went through the Monday sewing bag. When I got to the Vintage Moments, I thought it was time to get this in order.

I had dug through the stash and found a bolt of this green/yellow flannel. Yes - there is plenty for the backing so it went into the wash. I like to wash my flannel backings if the top is NOT flannel.

Ready for the washer

This is how it came out of the dryer. Looks like a swaddled baby. And it still looks like that. I haven't had time to unroll it. That's OK - the backing is going to have to wait for another day.

The quilt backing after being in the dryer

Obviously, the pattern for the Vintage Moments quilt was in the project box, but I found another pattern as well. Probably given to me by someone???  No idea.

Two patterns in the project box - one belonged, the other did not

Remember those bits of blocks? I forged ahead and applied the centers to all the fans. Why not? If I didn't do it then, it was just going to become clutter hanging around the studio. So the centers got applied to all 11 blocks. Seven of those blocks are extra. I cut the corner piece as well and sewed that on. Hey - I was on a roll. But they are DONE and that feels great. I think my "prepping/cleaning up" took three hours once I arrived home. But three well spent hours.

Seven fan blocks - DONE

 Four of the eleven blocks are for the corners of that last border and I didn't want the square corner on them so they only had to have the center appliqued in place.

Corner blocks for the last border

Now there are just two border strips to sew on the quilt and the quilt top will be done. The binding and backing need to be made and it's ready to be checked off the list. I was hoping to get it done by this weekend, but I won't be able to. Doesn't matter - I'm very happy with the progress and this one is almost done.

The thread, the orphan blocks and all the fabric are now resting in their respective (and proper) homes.

While at Monday, I did work on The Farmer's Wife project. I got 5 more blocks completed including one dreaded paper pieced block.

Five blocks for The Farmer's Wife project

 When I got home, I put those blocks away and made sure that everything was prepped for the next Monday sewing day. I had to cut a couple of missing triangles. There are 21 blocks left (of 111). I'm super excited about that. The goal - I should be finished the blocks by the end of September and then I have to figure out what to do with them.

I used up all the red squares for my ender/leader project so I cut more of the red squares when I got home. Those two stacks look pretty equal so hopefully, I won't have to cut more, but if I do, the red fabric is in the bag. Nothing is going to stop my productivity.

Ender/leaders prepped for Monday sewing

I still had the entire afternoon ahead of me at Monday sewing, so I pulled out the next project. I had started to work on this one a while back. It's also on the UFO list. What's funny is that this was supposed to be one big quilt when I started it, but well - I don't do big quilts anymore. And yes - there are enough blocks made to make THREE quilts. This is becoming a common thing!!!  I guess I can keep one for my scrap quilt trunk show and give two away. That's perfect. 

Fall Leaves scrappy quilt

One of the tops is almost together - I think it just needs one side border of sashing. And this is what I completed for the second top. It's almost together. Yes - that's my helper again.

Second scrappy leaves quilt top - almost together

I needed to cut more sashing strips so that got prepped as well. 

More sashing is cut

I'm super ready for Monday. The Vintage Moments likely won't go back - I can easily finish that off here. But The Farmer's Wife and the Scrappy leaf are in the Monday sewing box. I figured I was going to need something else as well, so I dug out blocks for Winter Wonderland (also on the UFO list). That's the redwork embroidery one that I'm working on. I have the blocks for the outer border all cut out, so that's in the Monday sewing box. The embroidery is on the kitchen table to be packed into my backpack so when I'm on the plane tomorrow (yes - going away again!), I'll listen to my audiobook on the plane and do some stitching.

Now if that isn't focused, I don't know what is. But I swear - it's all about the prep. The more prep you can do for your sewing days, the more progress you'll make. And it's way easier to do the prep at home in the event you are missing something than arrive at the sewing day and not have enough fabric or whatever. Prepping is key to successful sewing.

I've got THREE urgent things that need to be done TODAY so that's going to be my focus. Thankfully my back is feeling better. There is nothing worse than trying to work through the pain. I had no choice - I just sucked it up. I was going to walk to the library to get some books, but decided that I would take the car instead. Well, as I walked from the car to the library, my back liked that. Great - I should have walked the entire way!

On that note, it's time to get to work!!

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!!