DAGMT2014 - Week 4

The Plan: Sew for at least 20 minutes each day in February.

The Week: I spent 20 minutes working on stuff out of the mending bag 2 out of 7 days this week and emptied it out. I put the bag away and hereby resolve not to let mending pile up again. (We'll see how that goes!)  I finished piecing the baby quilt I started last week and pieced the backing so now it is ready to baste. I finished quilting Sam's quilt and am working on sewing binding on. I also got all the block kits cut for my paper-piecing project and have made sleeves and labels (not yet attached) for the quilts going into the AQG Show. Overall a very productive week. Obviously I sewed for more than 20 minutes on several days. 

DAGMT2014 in Review: I managed to spend at least 20 minutes most days sewing which was excellent and I did get a lot done. Keeping in-progress projects out and ready to go for the next time helped with getting more done, as did thinking about what was next when I wrapped up each day.  A lot of days I was able to work more, but the days I only got in 20 minutes of sewing were good for stuff like mending and cutting. I also discovered several new quilting blogs to follow and had a few new visitors which was nice. Overall a February well spent. 

DAGMT 2014 - Week 3

The Plan: Sew for at least 20 minutes each day in February.

The Week: I spent 20 minutes working on stuff out of the mending bag 4 out of 7 days this week and have it almost empty. One day I cut fabric for a baby quilt during my 20 minutes and one day (Friday) I didn't get any sewing done at all. Last Saturday I didn't sew at all, but I cleared out the mountain under my drafting table so am counting that. Beyond my 20 minutes I worked on Sam's Quilt and have nearly finished the top for the baby quilt. A pretty productive week I would say. 

Goals: Next week I want to finish up the stuff in the overflowing basket of 
mending projects during my daily 20 minutes. Beyond that I will work on whatever jumps out at me on a given day.

DAGMT 2014 - Week 2

The Plan: Sew for at least 20 minutes each day in February.

Feb. 8 - I sewed for 30 minutes today. I was getting tired of cutting for my paper piecing project so I pulled out a totebag project that has been in my project pile for years and got the pieces sorted out and the pockets made. A trip to the fabric store earlier in the day (to get fabric for a baby quilt) included buying the fusible fleece I will need to finish this totebag, so I hope to do that this week.

Feb. 9 and 10 - Spent 20 minutes each day working on the tote bag.
Feb. 10 - Did not get any sewing time in at all.
Feb. 11 - Feb. 14 - Spent 20 minutes each day working on the tote bag which is now finished and ready to give to the person I made it for.

Ladybug Reversible Tote Bag

Goals: Next week I want to work on getting through the overflowing basket of mending projects during my daily 20 minutes. This won't be much fun to work on, but will be awesome to be done with. I also want to go through the mountain of projects/fabric/not-sure-what that is under my drafting table and see what can be done about it all. That won't be part of my 20 minutes a day as it will take a chunk of dedicated time and attention to get through it.

DAGMT 2014 - Week 1

The Plan: Our hostess for this project, Beth, contends that by sewing 20 minutes a day, every day, you can get a lot done. During the month I plan to track how much I actually manage to accomplish in each day's 20 minute block.

Feb. 1 - Finished enough white units for 1 flag quilt (in 20 minutes). Since it was Saturday I had more time to sew and I also got red units and white units for 2 more flag quilts made and started putting together the blocks for the quilt I am making for my nephew William.

Feb. 2 - Assembled the top half of the center section of William's quilt (in 20 minutes). Put in another 40ish minutes and finished the center section and put the  top and bottom border pieces on the side sections.

Feb. 3 - Assembled the 2 side sections of William's quilt (in 20 minutes). Spent about another 15 minutes cutting and piecing strips for the side borders.

Feb. 4 - Put the side borders on William's quilt (in 20 minutes-ish).

Feb. 5 - I am making a huge (for me anyway) quilt with multiple different fabrics in each of 12 paper pieced blocks. Today I cut 2 of the fabrics into the pieces I will need for the blocks. The various pieces for each block go in a zip-top bag as I cut it so I will end up with 'kits" for paper piecing each block. I got 2 of the fabrics cut today (in 20 minutes). I put in another 40-ish minutes and got another 5 of the fabrics cut.

Feb. 6 - Cut 3 fabrics today for my block kits (in 20 minutes).

Feb. 7 - Cut 2 fabrics today for my block kits (in 20 minutes).

This week I visited a bunch of participant blogs and added them to my blogroll so I can keep up with their progress during DAGMT2014:
One Krafty Kitty Momma
Arts and Socks
Seriously I Think it Needs Stitches (great name!)
Colleen Quilts Too!
Plum Jam (check out the cool sea horse in her banner)
Little Bits and Pieces
One Quilting Circle
Shauna's World
Quilting Bibliophagist

Drop and Give Me Twenty Challenge

Usually the crazy challenges I sign up for involve reading, but this one is a quilting challenge. Quilting Hottie Haven is once again hosting the Drop and Give Me 20 challenge which asks us to quilt for 20 minutes each day in February in an effort to work through the piles of UFOs most of us are surrounded by.

Here is my official statement:
"I, owner of too many in-progress quilt projects, am joining Quilting Hottie Haven's third annual DaGMT event, and pledge to quilt for at least 20 minutes every day of the month of February, 2014. In doing so I hope to finish some of the many quilting projects piled under my drafting table and I think Beth Helfter is brilliant for coming up with this concept and inspiring me to join."

My plan is to put in my 20 minutes of sewing each day, mostly right after I get home from work, and post an update on my progress at least weekly.