Thursday, October 1, 2015

Get It Done! September Recap, October Goals

It's October already?!?!  If I thought the summer went fast, this month seemed to go even faster.  This means the end of the year is now in sight.   If I'm going to finish all the things I want to complete by the end of the year, I need a better plan for tackling the "To Do" list!  Here's the review of the largely UNDONE list from September:

1.  To Be Quilted:  I have a few options here: I still have my Chronicles BOM, the last of the initial Civil War projects left to complete and something I already have ideas in mind for custom quilting.  However, I also have two partially quilted projects that I'd love to get finished that have much simpler quilting plans so may be easier and quicker to complete. 
 
 
NOT DONE, not a one!  However,  I'm really inspired to work on my quilt stitching after seeing the really beautiful quilting on the quilts in  Mary Kerr's "Quilt As Desired" gallery exhibit at the NEAM show this past weekend (and more on that in a later post). 
 
2.  UFOs:  Like last month, the big priority Fall project that I want to bring to at least the flimsie stage before the summer ends is my Autumn Double Wedding Ring. I know I said this last month but this will be the month to get that done!  Even better, I love to hopefully layer it and maybe even quilt it.
 
 
NOT DONE, and I was really looking forward to working on this one.
 
3.  Wool BOMs:  Xmas ornaments.   I really need to move on this to stay on track for the holidays so the big push this month is to bring these ornaments up to date.  I really want to stay on track and have these are ready for the tree in December.
 
 
 

 
O.k., at least this got DONE!  Finally brought these all up to date.
 
4.  Hand Work:  As noted above, hoping to once again to get back to the QAYG project.  It will be good for Fall hand work and I'd love to try to get this completely done by the end of the year.  I'm want to try to get eight blocks done each month (two per week) until the end of the year.
 
 
DONE, sort of.  I did get these three done two weeks ago (but not on a Sunday for Slow Sunday Stitching) and it wasn't as many as hoped for the month. 
 
5.  Gift Quilts:  The Baby Quilt.  I saw the Grandmother and now that I have some design guidelines, I can now start making definite (but flexible) plans for the project.
 
 
 
NOT DONE, didn't even get to think about it. 
 
6.  WIP:  As noted above,  this month I actually want to finish up a display piece -- adding the Lincoln/Obama embroidery piece to my old Spontaneity quilt. 
 
 
NOT DONE, not even close!
 
7.  QOV:  I'm thinking about joining a guild this Fall and one of their requirements is that members make one charity project a year so maybe I can accomplish something in this category through that process.


 NOT DONE, and while I did join the guild, it turns out the service requirements don't include QOVs so I will have to continue to try to motivate myself to make one of these.

 
8. New Category - HSY:  My Hussy ("Haven't Started Yet") project for this month is my Halloween Quilt project.   Just last week I got another query from someone interested in getting one of the patterns so I'd like to finish this one up once and for all so that I can pass it along to another quilter. 

 
Nope, NOT DONE either!


So, for the October Goals I've got a few definite deadlines which means I've got some real priorities that I have to really focus on.  I will, however, keep the other things on the list just to keep abreast of them or in the hopes that some "extra" beyond the priorities can also get done this month.  

1. WIP:  My "Confetti" scrap quilt.  There's a scrap quilt contest being held by Fabrics 'N Quilts with an October 15 posting deadline.  The scrappy parts for this had been made as "leaders/enders" for the past few years and during September I found background and border fabrics for it (which I've already started cutting out) so now it's time to put the "pedal to the metal" and "'git 'er done"!  If I have time, the extra in this category would be to also finish the update of a display piece by adding the Lincoln/Obama embroidery piece to my old Spontaneity quilt.

2. HSY:  Now is the time to get my Halloween Quilt project done.  I really want to get this finished this year and on the bed for the holiday.  The good news is that I can start the blocks for this as leader/enders while I'm putting the top together for the scrap quilt in #1.

3. Wool BOMs:  Xmas ornaments.  Now that these are up to date, I want stay on track so these are ready for the tree in December.

4. Hand Work:  Now that I finally got back to the QAYG project, this is another project I want to keep on track and try for a year-end finish.  It will be good for Fall hand work so as before, the goal is to try to get eight blocks done this month (two per week) and until the end of the year.

5. UFOs:  As before, the big priority Fall project that I want to bring to at least the flimsie stage is my Autumn Double Wedding Ring.  The extra in this would be to also get it layered  and maybe even quilted but given past performance I'm not holding myself to that!

To Be Quilted:  I have a few options here.  I know I won't get to them all but if I can get one done or even started it will be a plus:
   A:  my "Paisley Park" crumb quilt because it could also be entered into the Fabrics 'N Quilts contest. 
   B:  I still have my Chronicles BOM, the last of the initial Civil War projects left to complete and something I already have ideas in mind for custom quilting.
  C:  My Heart & Home Wool BOM wallhanging (last seen here) which I want to finish and put up for Fall decorating.
 
7.  Gift Quilts:  The Baby Quilt.  At most I'd like to (just) make a final decision on what I will make for this.

I've taken the QOV category off the list until I see what I can get done over the next two months otherwise there's always next year!  I already plan to add the quilting of my "High Strung + 2" Christmas quilt to the list for November and/or December.  This time I'm going to try to set weekly "To Do" lists to better try to meet my goals so I'm not as easily distracted or diverted by the day to day things that pop up. 

May the "To Do's" fall off the list like the leaves will fall off the trees!!
 

1 comment:

Karen said...

The Double Wedding Ring colors are oh so pretty.