Too many different kinds of UFO's

I know that most of us probably have several ufo's in our sewing rooms. I know that I do.  Not only do I have quilt ufo's I have knitting ufo's, stitchery ufo's and wool applique ufo's.  Over the holidays I did some cleaning in my sewing room and was really amazed at the number of ufo's I had and the different kinds.  My goal this year is to get them finished, at least some of them.  One month into the new year and I have finished one quilt, this quilt has been in my finished but not quilted stack for at least 10 years.  I had just never gotten around to getting it quilted.  Leisa did a great job quilting it, but I hope my piecing skills have improved some since I made it.  Some mistakes just don't quilt out.  It is a pattern from Pat Wys at Silver Thimble.

This stitchery project was started two, maybe three years ago, it is a table runner from Pat Wys's Christmas book.  I finally finished the embroidery this week, now just to get the backing on it and put it away until Christmas. 

Valentine's Day will be here soon

Just realized that Valentine's Day will soon be here.  Finished these wool bowl fillers earlier this week,pattern is from Cheri Payne.  Added some extra stitches and keys to a couple of them.  Instead of filling with stuffing, I used a combination of cedar shavings (left over from some of my DH's woodworking projects) and lavender.  I plan on using them after the holiday in my closets to help keep moths at bay.  Now need to get out all of my red and white quilts.

Amazing what you can find

 Last week we had two snow days, I definitely used them to my advantage.  Did some sewing and some cleaning in my sewing room.  I did more sewing that cleaning.  I did set aside an hour or so to clean.  I was cleaning out a drawer in my sewing cabin and found this sewing machine mat kit that I have had for several years.  I also found the cute piggie fabric that my friend Kristie gave me to use for the mat.  I don't know why I had never made it, it only took a few minutes.  Now I have one less project in  my cabinet and a new mat to take to retreats. 

Snowballs on a Snow Day

 Today was a snow day, the second one in two weeks.  Snow days don't bring the dread that they once did, you knew if you had a snow day you would have to make it up later in the year.  No More, we now have digital learning days.  Students have online work to do and if we don't have a classroom we have to watch training videos and take a quiz.  Did that first thing this morning then headed to the sewing room.








 I decided to work on the snowball blocks for the
Temecula Quilt Company scrappy snowball sew along.  I was a week behind and wanted to get caught up.  I am using fabrics from my stash for
the snowball blocks.  Each week you should make 8 light blocks and 8 dark blocks. 

After finishing my snowball blocks I finished up my flying geese for ORL by Bonnie Hunter.  One good thing about making this after all of the steps have been published you can skip around.  I decided to make all of the flying geese at one time.   Mine are cheddar and brown with neutrals.  Only thing left is to trim them up.  Hopefully can do that tomorrow, another SNOW DAY.

One more name completed, and I am in love

Just finished "Donner" only 5 more names to go. Trying to decide if I want to do "Rudolph" in the same blue/grey shades or if I want to do it in red, all of the background fabrics are different shades of greys.  Red would definitely make it pop, but don't know if I want it to pop that much. This is part of the Dash Away All quilt.  In the pattern the names were regular needle turn applique, but I decided to do mine in wool.  I am also going to do the branches in wool, the rest of the quilt will be cotton.

Donner is ready to join his friends.

Now for the I am in love part, I am so excited to have discovered this starch, actually I didn't discover it my friend Margo do. She had Publix order her a case, I am so glad that she did.  I purchased one bottle from her, and I already know that I will be getting more.  Absolutely love it.  This is what I used when cutting and pressing the pieces for Clue 1 of ORL from Bonnie Hunter.  This made the cutting and sewing so much easier. 

Clue 1, at last

I always look forward to Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt in November.  However, I never get to start on it until after the first of the year.  I am always diligent about printing each and every clue and putting them aside in a special notebook.  Since I had an unexpected day off today, I decided to get started on it.  I finished the first clue, love the way it is looking.  I switched up the colors a little, I am totally using my stash,  I decided to go with repros in blues, cheddars, and shirtings. 

Christmas Vacation Ends

All good things must come to an end, and so does this Christmas vacation, back to school tomorrow. (unless I win the lottery tonight). Every year I have these huge plans of everything I want to get done over the winter break and this year was no different.  I should know by now that 90 % of the things I want to do aren't going to get done.  Maybe my word for the year 2018 ORGANIZE will help me plan better in the future.  I have always be terrible at keeping a planner/calendar either paper or digital.  I am hoping to do better year, it isn't a resolution, just a plan.   I have always had problems being organized but the last few years it has just gotten out of hand.  I have got to do better.  I decided if I had a nice planner that would be a good start.  I bought this one a few weeks ago on sale at Michael's.  I picked this one because it had not only a calendar but additional pages for making lists and notes.  I  spent part of today making notes of all the important dates that I already know about for the year, including all of the important birthdays.  Wish me luck.

I could only do so much "organizing"  I was almost finished with this scarf and decided to finish it.  In a way that goes with "organize"  I am trying to finish some of my UFO's this year.  If I could get some of them completed I would have more room to organize things!!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, may 2018 bring you much happiness and joy.