WIP Wednesday: Reality Check

It seems like a good time to weigh in on my progress towards March Goals on my sidebar and admit that, once again, I'm not going to meet all of my goals. I have been pushing myself while setting these but I do hope to actually achieve them one of these months!

Not Going to be Done:

Goals 2,3 & 4. My LAQ is 2+ weeks behind on her estimate for my Spring Flowers and Shabby Strings tops and hasn't given me any indication as to when she will get to them.

If you look closely at these pictures you will see why Four Patch & Friends has stalled out once again.  First I had a delay with the mail order inner border fabric, then I wasn't sure about it once it arrived and finally found the perfect fabric.

Yes, I had one of the background pieces flipped backwards. In a block in the middle of the assembled top. These kind of things I just have to set aside for awhile. And, to make the ripping especially painful, I must have been doing some paper piecing before I assembled this section because my stitches were tiny!

Will be Done:

Goals 1,5,8,10 &12. My Christmas stockings are back on track as I posted yesterday, my Star wall quilt is ready for binding, my RSC13 blocks are 80% done and my "And Sew On" block will take an afternoon. The pincushions for my HGTV swap are due by 3/31 and my day for the Stitch Me Up Embroidery Blog Hop is Wednesday, March 27th. These are fun projects!

Should be Done:

Goals 7, 9 & 11. My Nancy Halverson table runner, the Theadbias QAL table runner and my FMQ goals are all doable in the next 12 days. I just need to get serious about them.

Not on List but Done: 

I finished piecing this Patriotic 9 Patch UFO yesterday and it will go on my goal list for Q2 finishes.

Bright Blue Strings is also pieced and I'll look for some backing fleece today after I take the J-cats home.

And, when I really start feeling frustrated about my lack of progress on March Goals I just open a drawer or two...

It was so worth it!!! ;-)  If you missed this post - click HERE. I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday@Freshly Pieced.

Yet Another Snowy Monday

I've lost count of how many snow days and late start school days we have had this winter... today schools are closed again. This is the view from our kitchen window!

Spring is going to come late this year but I've got lots to do in the quilting room so I'm not going to complain too much. Yesterday I felt like assembling some tops so I pulled out some UFO blocks from my drawer and started laying them out.

I had some patriotic 2.5" strips left over from my Patriotic Squares quilt for Quilts of Valor so I had used EQ to design a simple 9 Patch quilt. I don't know what it is about 9 Patches exactly but they are one of my favorite blocks. The string blocks are from an HGTV Quilting Forum Swap, I had requested shades of blue for the center strip and bright gender neutral colors. It's always fun to play around with bright strings on a grey day!

On Saturday I finished quilting this wall quilt which is one of my March Goals. I think I have more of the cream star print for the binding, I don't recall the name of this pretty fabric line so I'm hoping I'll find it on the selvage. The pattern is "Little Charmers II" by Anka's Treasures.

I'm linking up to Let's Get Acquainted@Busy Bee Quilts and Design Wall Monday@Patchwork Times.

First Friday Finish of 2013

I had a wonderful surprise on January 1st when I was browsing the HGTV Quilting Board and saw these pictures and a private message about them. Bonus UFO finish!

 Love this panto with stars!

I first became aware of Quilts of Valor (QOV) in 2008 via Alycia Quilts. Alycia was active in some of the online groups I belonged to and was passionate about this cause. I had a collection of patriotic 5" charms and 2.5" strips from swaps and used a pattern called Square Illusions from the book "Quick & Scrappy Quilts: McCall's Quick Quilts Favorites" to piece the top that year.

I came across it this fall in my UFO Collection after I'd been reminded of QOV through the HGTV Quilting Board. I sent it along with backing fabric to Mary Ann Cain who volunteered to quilt it. Here are a few pictures taken before I mailed it showing some of the great fabrics.

I'm linking up to Link A Finish Friday, Finish it up Friday, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop and TGIFF..