WIP Wednesday: All Systems Go!

2 of my 3 workstations are busy this week which means the 3rd will be revving up soon.

Piecing Station:

On Monday I pulled out the pieces of another UFO on my Q1 Finish Along List - Picnic in Serenade - and got busy. This quilt is from Kim Brackett's book Scrap-Basket Sensations and I just love her designs. I have all of her books and would love to sew numerous quilts from each one. I started this quilt in 2013 as a part of my UFO Reward System (finish 10 UFOs - start a NEW quilt!).

My design wall is looking fresh and fun don't you think? This is my 1st project using Kate Spain fabrics and it is seriously making me want to dive into the stack I've accumulated in the last 2 years. Love her too!

A quilting habit I'm trying to change this year how I do my cutting and keep tabs on my projects. I usually have a short attention span and get bored easily. And, I'm always wanting to get to my favorite part of quilting ASAP - piecing! Which means I never cut the pieces for an entire quilt at the beginning. I'm OK with that initially because I do like to make a few blocks right away to make sure I'm loving the pattern, the fabrics I'm using and how the blocks are coming together.

But once I'm sold on the project I want to do ALL of the cutting, put together a plan of how I'm going to build the blocks and create packets of parts for each step. Since I'm not a start-to-finish quilter this will help me to better manage multiple projects when I lose steam on one and jump to another. Instead of writing random notes about my project that end up being lost I am keeping them all in my new Quilting Journal. You can download these fantastic project pages by Taryn@from Pixels to Patchwork HERE.

Sandwich Shop:

I've started making backings and added Blue Slabs on Yellow to my list. Today I plan to finish the backings for the other 2 Crossroads quilts, sandwich them all and get ready for a mini-marathon of quilting to round out the month.

Quilting Station:

Ready and waiting... I gave Mr. Juki a good cleaning and oiling on Monday before using him to do some of the piecing on Picnic in Serenade. I don't like to play favorites with my machines because they each do their thing well - but sewing with my Juki TL2010 is just such a pleasure! The solid feel of the machine, the beautifully even stitches, the no fuss, no muss ease of use... I could go on and on. Needless to say I'm itching to turn my flimsies into quilts soon.

My assistant Elsa is adapting to the new setup as well. This pic was taken from the doorway of my Quilting Room and the Sandwich Shop is down a hall to the left. I like to get up and move around while sewing so I generally keep my ironing board in our laundry room inside the lit up doorway across our family room.

Elsa will follow me between rooms for awhile and then she often settles here to nap and keep an eye on my comings and goings. We have in-floor heat in our lower level so it's also a cozy place for her. Our frigid weather is back in full force but as you can see I'm quite content to stay inside and sew.

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday@Freshly Pieced.