Before I completely flaked out, I did get some things done. All through April and May I had been attending BOM Rehab hosted by Sinta at the Pink Pincusion blog and in the later weeks had worked steadily on the border blocks for my Civil War Chronicles BOM. I am pleased to say that not only did I get the blocks done but I also got the top finished by the first week of June.
Yes, it's a big 'un!! The quilting of it was already on my UFO list for this year's Patchwork Times UFO Challenge because I had originally expected to complete this in December of last year, so we'll see if its number will come up in the near future. I have been entertaining ideas about how I will quilt it and look forward to getting that to a finish before the end of this year.
And speaking of the UFO Challenge and BOM Rehab: Judy had pulled #12 for the June PTUFOC and for me that is the Jan Patek House & Garden BOM that I had signed up for in the Fall of 2010 (and the last BOM I have in house). I had hoped to spend June starting it as well as catching back up on the Heart & Home Wool BOM that I had led off Rehab with but when I went off the rails that desire went with it. I am now ready to get back on track for this to be my weekend work. Look for future posts where I begin work on these two and rejoin the BOM Rehab group.
Another commitment I had made was joining the String Thing Along to work on my Denim Blue Lagoons project. I had thought that maybe working on this wonky project with my sons would be a quick start for the summer. But I have to admit as the school year came to a close and they started their summer vacation, it was a lot harder to get in gear than expected. Just before I went AWOL I had them sew up enough strips sets and I had de-boned and cut up enough denim jeans to make one third (five rows) of each of their quilt tops.
While I really want to get these done for the fall (they will be HEAVY quilts), I'm going to let this one rest awhile so I can I FOCUS (there's the quilt word of the year again!) on other tasks.
I also see that the last time I had posted about my Autumn Double Wedding Ring project was back in April. I had really worked on this for a good clip and at the time thought I'd bring it to a top but then got distracted by all the other commitments I did or wanted to make (more on that in a few). But I wanted to note here that in the second week of May I did get those last two rows done and cut the half and quarter block pieces that will be inset between the rows to create a straight edge to attach the outer border to. This has been sitting on my design wall ever since.
Even as I took on other projects, I really wanted to get back to this one. The next step for this is to put all the rows together to form the center of the top. After that, it's cutting the outer border, adding applique to it and attaching that to finish the top. The DWR Chat Group at Connecting Threads-Quilt With Us has been very active lately, so I hope to get to post on this there when I get back to working on it.
Another thing that led to burn out was realizing that two other commitments I wanted to take on were just not going to get done. The first was that I had purchased a wholecloth kit that I had planned to hand quilt for my own Jubliee Quilt Project.
Since my Jubilee year was actually last year, my goal was just to get this one started for the first anniversary of my Jubilee year by my birthday in May. But as the date got closer and closer and the projects piled higher and higher, I realized with some disappointment that there was NO WAY I would get to this one! So it is shelved for the time being, perhaps even for the year. Since it is also one of the last four projects on my original Bucket List, maybe tackling those can be a FOCUS for next year?
Another thing I had to delay was my plan to work on Barbara Brackman's Civil War Block of the Week blocks from 2011. I've done many projects with Civil War Repros in the last two years (you can click on the label link on the sidebar to see them all) and have really enjoyed delving into the history of this period through the quilt projects, t.v. shows and reading. My plan was that after I had finished the Civil War Chronicles top, I would use all the accumulated scraps and remaining yardage I had collected (o.k. and maybe even buy a few more pieces if needed) and make a few of Ms. Brackman's blocks each week in the hopes of having all 52 done before she took then down, which I thought would happen in July. But the Chronicles top took longer to complete than planned and once again, as the July deadline got closer and closer, I realized that I just could not fit in another task. The good news is that it now says on the blog that the blocks will be up for the rest of the 2012 year. Since working on these is also on my Patchwork Times UFO list, I will wait until that number is called to FOCUS on this. The back up plan is that Ms. Brackman will have a book on the blocks coming out in 2013 that I definitely want to get. So if I do not get the blocks done by the end of this year, I will wait for the book and work on them then.
So I think that brings me up to date. I am looking forward to getting "back on the horse" on all of these projects. Watch for news on them in upcoming posts!
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