OMG - August 2020

Pattern cut & ready to assemble

My #onemonthlygoal for August is to complete the black and white cotton skirt that has been a PIG (project-in-a-grocery-bag) since at least last summer. Maybe I can get it put together so I can wear it before this summer is over.

This month I will also be working on quilting my scrappy Irish chain quilt as it is what came up for the UFO Challenge. 

Sunday Stitching Post #15

I spent this past week with my niece, much of it at the beach, so almost no sewing got done. (It was a great week though!) I managed to miss the deadline for posting my OMG finish for July. I did complete my goal several weeks ago which was to finish my bargello quilt. The UFO challenge project for July was my Guild Mystery Quilt which I got out, selected quilting thread for, and began quilting it. Not much progress, but some.

Bargello quilt finished and hung up

2020 UFO Challenge

Even though the year is half over I have decided to compile my list of unfinished projects and join in the 2020 APQ UFO Challenge.  The goal of the challenge is to get some projects finished, or at least worked on, and I figure moving forward (potentially) on 6 projects is better than none. I checked to see what numbers have already been pulled for the year and made my list using the remaining numbers.
Watch for updates here on the blog and on my instagram under #APQResolution.

My UFO list (with next step)

3 - Flower Boxes Quilt (backing needs to be pieced)
4- Black dress (cut out the pieces)
5 - AQG Mystery Quilt (ready to be quilted) JULY
6 - Light/Bright Stars Quilt (ready to pin baste) OCTOBER
8- Scrappy Irish Quilt (quilting has been started, quite a bit still to do) AUGUST
10 - Red Knit Jacket (pattern is cut, needs to be assembled) SEPTEMBER

The number for July is 5 so I will be working on my AQG Mystery Quilt this month.

Mary's 2018 Project List

Here is my list of projects for the 2018 Making Forward Progress Challenge.

1. Pink Beer Skirt [June 2018]
   This is a super cute piece of fabric I bought last fall (at Paradise Quilting in Concord, NH) and it is currently in a bag with a pattern waiting to be made into a skirt.
2. Summer Jelly Roll
   I got a really bright, fun, summery jelly roll as a gift from my husband and I need to figure out a quilt to make with it. It is in a bag with a possible pattern idea and some extra yardage I got that matches the jelly roll. 
3. Mushroom Apron [October 2018]
   When I was cleaning out stuff in my sewing room I discovered this piece of muslin which I embroidered with a cute toadstool design (possibly when I was a teenager as that was the last time I did that kind of embroidery) and, based on the note in the bag with it I was planning to sew up into an apron. The embroidered bits are there, not sure what else needs to happen to create an apron from this, but I like the embroidery so want to do something with it.
4. Red Stretch-Knit Cardigan [March 2018]
   At this point this is a piece of cool red fabric and a pattern in a bag.
5. Tropical Quilt [November 2018]
   A huge paper-piecing project that I have been chipping away at for quite a few years now. I have 3 more blocks to paper piece, all the blocks need borders (curved piecing!) on them and appliqued centers added. There is another layer of applique after the blocks are assembled. My plan at this point is to assemble the blocks into 2 ''tops" and use one on each side of the quilt because otherwise the quilt will be too huge for me to use anywhere.
6. Light/Bright Stars Quilt [April 2018]
   The center section of this quilt top got finished last year, now I need to design the border. I fear there will be math.
7. Vegetable Quilt [July 2018]
   This got pieced in 2016, I began quilting it in 2017. I'm hoping to finish quilting it and get it bound and completed this year.
8. Rainbow Strings Wall Quilt [Feb. 2018]
   I came up with an idea for a string quilt which I sketched out and cut the foundation squares for. That is as far as this has gotten.
9. Floral Shopper [Sept. 2018]
   This was on 2016's UFO list, and 2017's project list. If it doesn't get done this year I am abandoning it.
10. Batik Jelly Roll Quilt [Aug. 2018]
    I finished this quilt top in 2017 and now need to decide on a backing and quilt it. 
11. New York Beauty Chunky Mini [May 2018]
    I bought Linda Hahn's NY Beauty Simplified book years ago and then my friend Heidi gave me the chunky mini kit  (templates and paper for foundation piecing) that goes with it. I want to make a NY Beauty Wall Quilt from this. I have the book, the kit, and a print fabric I want to use. Not sure exactly how I will arrange the blocks or what else will go in it, but I put the book, the kit and the fabric in a bag so now it is a project.
12. Castle Cross Stitch [December 2018]
    I began cross stitching a kit from my Mom's stash of unfinished projects for my friend Amanda. It is a castle and I began working on it last fall. It is coming along OK so far, but there are a LOT of stitches to be counted here so it could use a month when it is the focus.

Forward Progress 2018

During 2017 a few of us challenged ourselves to make Forward Progress on a dozen projects and a great deal of progress what made! Once again I will be hosting this challenge and invite you to join in. Here is how it works:

• Between now and the end of January 2018 you will need to make a numbered list of 12 projects and publish it (on your blog, Facebook, anywhere it is publicly visible). The list should include a little info about what the project is and where you are with it now. Link that list to this post so we know who is participating and what they are planning. 
• Beginning on January 31 I will draw a random number between 1 & 12 on the last day of each month and that will determine the project from your list that you will work on in the coming month. The blog post that announces the number will include a linky where you will submit a link to your post (on your blog or Facebook) about that month's project -- where it is starting out, what you hope to accomplish, etc. and then you can post again at the end of the month to let us know how things went. If you prefer to link just once a month that's OK, but please let us know where you began as well as how far you got. 
• In January 2019 we will all (hopefully) have made a good amount of forward progress on a bunch of projects. 

If you need help figuring out how to link to a Facebook post, check out this post from Lisa. 

Let's see how much progress we can make in 2018!

Mary's Forward Progress Start: February

My Forward Progress Project for this month is my Arkansas Star Totebag. The plan is to sew the Arkansas Star from Carol Doak's Simply Sensational Nine Patch Stars and then use the block in a tote bag. I came up with this plan when I first got the book (5+ years ago). I cut out all the pieces for the block and have them all grouped in bundles for the paper piecing. I also have additional yardage to use in making the bag. To move this project forward the very next step (VNS) is to print the paper piecing foundations. My goal for this month is to piece the Arkansas star block. If I can also work out the design for the tote bag to go with it that would be great.

Tbe block and the bundles of cut pieces to make it

Mary's 2017 Project List

Here is my list of projects for the 2017 Making Forward Progress Challenge.

1. Light/Bright Stars Quilt
   The main part of the quilt is designed and most of the units are sewn for that. I need to finish assembling the rows and then design the border for it. This was going to be a pattern, but the assembly is proving complicated to explain so it may or may not end up as a pattern.
2. Tardis Skirt
   I have fabric and a pattern in a bag ready to cut out.
3. Flag Quilts
   I have lots of squares cut for this and half-squares sewn. I need to assemble the units into rows and make the star block for the corner. I probably have enough pieces cut to make more than one. This is also an in-progress pattern so I need to figure out what needs revising in the last draft of the pattern.
4. Sunny Lanes Christmas Quilt
   All the 5" squares are cut from Christmas fabrics (this is a pattern from the Nickel Quilts book) and I need to start assembling units.
5. Arkansas Tote
   This is a paper piece block (called 'Arkansas') for which I have all the pieces cut out and which I plan to put on the front of a tote bag. 
6. Bathrobe
   Last year I cut out the pattern for a new bathrobe for myself. I need to actually put it together.
7. North Woods Quilt
   I made this quilt as a wedding present for my husband 16 years ago. At the time I tied it (and got it done before the wedding) but it would be better if it were quilted. I took it apart last year and have been waiting for T to decide if he wanted it hand or machine quilted. He has chosen machine (in the hope it will get done in our lifetimes) so I need to get batting for it and proceed with basting and quilting.
8. Book Purses
   I have a bundle of various book-themed fabrics that I want to make into small purses, not sure how many until I get the fabrics grouped together. 
9. Butterfly Quilt
   This is a stained-glass quilt pattern that I put together last year and now need to quilt. The quilting is creating the "leading" in the design.
10. Vegetable Quilt
    This is another quilt top that got assembled last year and now needs quilting. It is basted and ready to start custom quilting on.
11. Irish Chain
    This is my oldest UFO. I have been working on hand quilting it since sometime in college. I worked on it a little in last year's UFO challenge, but there are acres more of it to be quilted.
12. Batik Jelly Roll Quilt
    This is a quilt top I designed for a single jelly roll and which I made in Christmas fabrics before. I want to make it in batiks and neutrals. I have all the strips collected.

ALTERNATES -in case I have finished the project listed for a particular number by the time it is drawn (why not be optimistic?) 

• Tropical Quilt
  A huge paper-piecing project that I have been chipping away at for quite a few years now. I have 4 more blocks to paper piece, all the blocks need borders (curved piecing!) on them and appliqued centers added. There is another layer of applique after the blocks are assembled. I have no idea what I was thinking when I took on this monster.
• Floral Shopper
  This was on last year's UFO list and is still unfinished.
• Convergence Quilt
  The center of this quilt is done. I need to figure out what kind of borders it needs.

Making Forward Progress Project Lists

If you want to participate in the Making Forward Progress 2017 Challenge please create your list of projects (numbered 1-12), post them on your blog (or Facebook, or whatever) and link the post below.

This linky will close at midnight on January 31. I will post the first forward progress number, with a linkup for posts about your progress on that project on February 1. After this month the linkup for the month will go up on the last day of each previous month.

Making Forward Progress in 2017

During 2016 I was participating in the #apqresolution challenge to complete UFOs (unfinished objects). I did find this a somewhat motivating tool and got some UFOs finished, as did some of my friends who played along.
However, I felt like the goal of completing UFOs wasn't really what I wanted, and the UFO part of it was limiting. For 2017 I have a different plan. 
Between February 2017 and January 2018 (because why must a challenge begin in January?) I am challenging myself to make forward progress on a project chosen by a random number draw. During the coming month (January 2017) I will come up with and post a list of 12 projects (mostly quilting, some other things as well perhaps) that I want to make forward progress on this year. I will draw a random number on the last day of each month and that will be the number of the project for the next month. If anyone would like to join me in this challenge (your projects don't need to be quilt related) please leave a comment. If there is interest I will set up linkies where we can share our goals/progress each month. 
Let's see how much progress we can make on our projects in 2017!

UFO Report: January 2016

My January project for the #APQResolution UFO challenge was a veggie wall hanging kit.  Progress on this UFO included:

• Thinking about and sketching out various designs for these appliques -- I love the individual veggie appliques but am not excited about the way the kit suggested putting them together as one big still life
• Buying the fusible for the applique
• Tracing a lot of veggies onto the fusible

Veggie shapes traced onto fusible web

Some of the block layouts

• Picking out fabrics and prepping the applique pieces for 6 different veggie blocks
• Working out a layout the 6 blocks will fit in

The next step is to assemble the blocks I worked out. I also need to buy the cucumber fabric I saw on Thursday (and should have bought then) to use for sashing. I did not finish this project (not even close)  but I did make a lot of progress and now I have a plan for a veggie quilt I am excited about. 

All the veggie appliques for the revised quilt design

UFO Challenge: January 2016

The number for January's UFO in the APQ UFO challenge is 2 which means I am working on the Autumn Wall Hanging applique kit this month.

I bought this kit many years ago at a Quilt Show and it has been untouched in a drawer pretty much ever since. It includes applique patterns for the various vegetables and fabrics to use for them. There is a photo of a finished quilt in the zip-bag, but I don't know if it came with the kit or if I took the photo at the show and added it.

UFO #2  as of January 1, 2016

I will need to choose background fabric (maybe a pieced background like Piece O' Cake designs uses?) and borders. I also need to decide if I want to follow the picture or arrange the items differently (knowing me and patterns differently seems likely). These veggies may end up in separate blocks rather than one big group, I haven't decided yet. Before I can get started I will need to pick up some double sided fusible as I seem to be out and I want to do this as machine applique.

2016 UFO Challenge

The UFO challenge at All People Quilt (APQ) asks you to list 12 Unfinished Objects from your collection and to commit to working on one of them each month during 2016. Which one you work on each month is determined by a random number draw on the first of each month which is posted on APQ. Photos and posts about everyone's progress are connected with #APQResolution.

Here is my list of 12 UFOs (selected at random from the list of 27 that I came up with when I started looking for my UFOs):

1. APRIL: French print apron (currently fabric in a bag with a sketch)
2. JANUARY: Autumn wall hanging applique kit (bought, never started)
3. MARCH: Fairy frost geranium quilt (ready to quilt -- set aside because I couldn't decide how to quilt it or what color thread to use)
4. JULY: Irish Chain (is being handquilted -- has been in progress for decades)
5. FEBRUARY: Pillow covers for back porch chairs (fabric bought this past Thanksgiving weekend, nothing else done)
6. AUGUST: Halloween tote bags (bought great fabric for these, need to work out design)
7. MAY: Butterfly stain glass quilt kit (bought, never started)
8. OCTOBER: La Vie en Rose quilt (a box of fabrics and some sketches at this point)
9. NOVEMBER: Chair of Bowlies cross stitch (began this in the early 1990s and still haven't finished it -- cross stitch may not be my thing)
10. JUNE: Chocolate Cherries Bargello (need to finish machine quilting it)
11. DECEMBER: Floral shopper (pattern is cut out, need to assemble it)
12. SEPTEMBER: Strawberry Lap Quilt (ready for basting -- got put in a bag and forgotten about ages ago)

Now that I plowed through all my bags and piles I may get motivated to jump into one of these projects even before the corresponding number comes up. In case that happens I am adding 3 alternate projects. If I have already finished the project listed above when it comes up to work on I will substitute the next project in this list:

1. Arkansas star tote bag (paper piecing fabrics cut out and in bag with fabrics for the tote)
2. Northwoods Quilt (needs to be basted then handquilted)
3. Bathrobe (fabric and pattern in a bag)

This looks like it could be a very productive year! 

Finish Along - Q3

In April I decided to link up with the Finish-Along at The Littlest Thistle for Q2. By July 6th I was going to finish 5 projects. I only managed one finish. I made progress on the zoo baby quilt and worked on 3 purses but haven't finished any of them yet. On a positive note LOTS of other people in the Finish Along completed LOTS of beautiful projects which you can check out at the Q2 Finish Linky Party.

I am going to give this another try for Q3 and make a list of projects I plan to finish between July 14 and October 6. Most of them are from last quarter's list.

Here is my finish list for 2014 Q3:

• Complete the zoo baby quilt (ready to bind)
• Make green skirt (fabric + pattern in a bag waiting to be cut)
• Make yellow & gray skirt (fabric + pattern in a bag waiting to be cut)
• Complete William's quilt (pieced and still awaiting pin basting)
• Finish three purses (all started and at various stages of completion)
• Complete one flag quilt (I have pieces cut for 2-3 of these)

Finish Along - Q2

I decided that setting some goals to finish some stuff would be good for me so I am linking up with the Finish-Along at The Littlest Thistle. I need to declare projects that I will finish between April 2014 and July 6, 2014. I don't want to be too ambitious as quilting is fun and I don't want to ruin that by having too many deadlines. However, a little accountability is a good thing.

Here is my list for 2014 Q2:

• Complete my Guild Mystery project (partly quilted -- need to show in April)
• Complete William's quilt (pieced and awaiting pin basting)
• Make one purse (I have several started, I need to finish one)
• Complete the zoo baby quilt (basted and ready to quilt)
• Make green skirt (fabric and a pattern in a bag waiting to be cut)

30/30 Wrap Up

Tropical Whimsy Block #4

Berry Barn Designs hosted a 30/30 challenge (sew 30 minutes a day for 30 days) this month and I really enjoyed it. My goal was "to spend 30 minutes each day working on a sewing/quilting project that appeals to me that day. I have some ongoing quilt projects that I might work on, a couple of spring skirt patterns I want to make, and I might start working on a new quilt design." and I kind of accomplished it, but officially I did not because I missed a couple days and didn't get any farther than pre-washing fabric for the skirts. 

However, I did enjoy more sewing time this month than I usually manage (and all time spent sewing is "me time" in my book) and got a ton of stuff done. 

•  I got several quilts to the point of hand sewing binding (pictures when they are all done) including a long-time UFO, Sam's quilt, and a baby quilt I hadn't even started 30 days ago
• I paper-pieced 3 circles for my Tropical Whimsy quilt
• I am almost finished quilting my AQG mystery quilt
• I got all my sleeves and labels sewn on my quilts for my Guild Show



Quilting in Progress on AQG Mystery 2014

• I visited other 30/30 participant blogs (and was inspired by all the beautiful work) and had lots of new visitors here at Urban Quilter

30/30 Challenge - Day 28

Tree in Winter with a 3rd place

I spent at least 30 minutes on sewing projects each day this week and last weekend (Saturday and Sunday) were super-quilty as I spent them at my Guild's quilt show. One of my quilts, Tree in Winter, won 3rd place in the miniatures category (viewer's choice) which was cool. For the record, it is hanging upside down. 

Despite sewing 30 minutes each day I didn't really accomplish much. I worked on hand sewing bindings which may be done some day; I decided on fabrics for a schnibble (Plan C from 2008) I will be starting soon; I started quilting my Guild mystery quilt and I finished another paper pieced circle (I will put a picture of it on my 30/30 wrap up post). 

Vote in the Pantone Quilt Challenge

Play-Crafts and On The Windy Side hosted the 2014 Radiant Orchid Pantone Quilt Challenge and you can now visit the linky party to see the quilts and vote for your favorites. Personally I voted for the ones in each category that I thought were the most fabulously purple, but other theories could apply. Voting will be open until Thursday (March 27th) at 11pm PST.
I love radiant orchid! I didn't participate in this challenge, mostly because I only learned about it a couple weeks ago and the quilts needed to be started in 2014 to qualify so the purple syncopated ribbons and the purple/cream quilt I just put into the AQG show are both too old. 

30/30 Update - Day 22

Paper piecing for Tropical Whimsey Block #3

I missed one day of sewing for the 30/30 challenge this week, but I was able to sew for several hours a couple of days, so overall it was a good week. Once again I did bits of this and that each day.

• Put labels and sleeves on stuff for the AQG Quilt show (which starts today!)
• Put binding on the baby quilt
• Hand sewed binding on Sam's Quilt
• Worked on my paper piecing over several days and finished another circle
• Picked out fabrics from my stash for the Sassy Quilter's Triangle Quilt Along

30/30 Update - Day 15

Progress was made this past week on each of these projects

The first half of the 30/30 challenge has been great. This past week was full of different projects each moving ahead a little bit. I "sewed" for 30 minutes (or a bit more) every day this week. 

• I prewashed fabric for a bathrobe (flowered fabric on top of the pile) and a skirt
• I pin-basted 2 quilts (a baby quilt and my AQG mystery)
• I handsewed binding (2 sides done!) on my Syncopated Ribbons Quilt
• I made the backing for William's Quilt
• I finished quilting by Black and Colors Quilt (which needs a better name) and added the binding
• I started quilting the baby quilt one day and finished it the next.

My 30/30 Goal

Sarah at Berry Barn Designs is tackling her 2014 goal to "sew more for me" by carving out 30 minutes for 30 days. I decided that since March is my birthday month I would join her and as a gift to myself make time to sew every day for me. In February I participated in the DAGM20 challenge at Quilting Hottie Haven which focuses on finishing UFOs. I enjoyed that and got some stuff cleared out that had been hanging around too long. I love that the focus of the 30/30 Sewing Challenge is "me" time!
The first step in the challenge is to choose a goal for your 30/30. Mine is to spend 30 minutes each day working on a sewing/quilting project that appeals to me that day. I have some ongoing quilt projects that I might work on, a couple of spring skirt patterns I want to make, and I might start working on a new quilt design. 
There will be check-in posts each Saturday with linkups at Berry Barn Designs between now and Monday, March 31st  so you can see what all the other participants are doing in their 30/30 time.