We Now Return You To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming.....

Well it took a whole lot longer than I'd planned but I've finally got back to my machine!  We moved into our new place at the end of February.  We've been here almost two months now but there are still many boxes filled with stuff still to be unpacked and furniture and fixtures still to buy or install.  It will be a while and fortunately there is no rush.

But my quilting space has been set up.  When we moved in it looked like this:

 

































Now it looks like this:

I am in the front part of our Dining room although my husband's take is that the rest of the family is just renting the Dining room from the quilt space!  I have a bit more space than the half bedroom I used before but I've definitely got to get back to my UFO pledge for this year -- I've got more stuff than I have space for (imagine that!) so the plan remains to prioritize working on things in house to pare down and make more room for everything.

But to do that, the first challenge is to get back in the groove which has also been harder than expected.  Even after I had set up my machine and got most of the basics unpacked, I just couldn't sit down and get started.  So I did what I always do in this situation:

I read my quilt books and journals as I unpacked and shelved them and my magazines as they were forwarded to the new address (and updated my mailing information in the process).

I went to the American Folk Art Museum's Red & White Joanna Rose quilt exhibit at the Park Avenue Armory.....

 

...and while there bought another book and finally joined the museum as I have wanted to for a few years.

I caught up on two months of blog reading (over a 1100 posts!) and began making a new list of all the projects I needed to catch up on, ideas for things I want to make for display in the house and all the new projects I have been enticed by from all the blog reading.


But what has finally gotten me back to the machine is a charity request.  It is an easy one, the Moda Fabrics call for "Just One Block" -- star blocks to be sent to be made into Quilt Of Valor quilts by the Moda staff.  This is a good one for me.  I've long wanted to do a QOV quilt and have a collection of Red, White & Blue fabrics but have never been able to get moving on it.  I figured this was an easy start since I only needed to make the blocks, someone else will make the quilts!

Of course when I went to the R/W/B stash I had plenty for the stars but realized that I was short on suitable tone-on-tone lights that they wanted for the backgrounds.  So I got to do that other tried and true Quilter's Block fix -- a trip to Hartsdale Fabrics, my LQS.  Even after that, I still dragged my feet a bit until I re-read the instructions and saw that the blocks needed to get to them by May 1st.

So I had to get it in gear and 'er done!  And they are:

Just have to add my name and state and mail them off!

 Now let's just hope I can keep up that momentum.  I'm still committed to getting something done for Myra's "PHD Challenge" which ends in June and would like to have something to post for Amy's upcoming "Bloggers Quilt Festival"  in three weeks. 

So to all celebrating, I wish you a Happy Passover, a Good Friday and Happy Easter!  Enjoy your weekend!!