To Do Tuesday: Two Down, Now Four To Go!

 We are now full on into January and so far it's been a productive one!  I'm checking in again with Carol's "To Do Tuesday" over at her blog Quilt Schmilt (I chuckle every time I say that, LOL!) hoping the productivity good vibes will continue this week.

So last week's list was short and everything got accomplished as planned.  I had two goals:

1.  For Quilting:  Make the next top for another member of my community garden's Steering Committee:

From this....

....to this (backing is on the left)!

Forgive the cropping but still trying to hide these a bit until they are gifted.  The good news is that I went from the fabric piles in last week's post to a finished top and backing that includes the label area too!   I lucked up in that the backing fabric was already in stash and there's enough of it leftover for another project (I see another 3 Yard Quilt in my future!).  

BTW:  If you are a fan of the Fabric Cafe 3 Yard Quilts, did you know that today they premiered their new "5 Yard Quilts" book?  Whereas the 3 Yard Quilts make a lap quilt to start (although there are also instructions in the patterns for enlarging them), the 5 Yard designs will make Twin and Queen/King quilts!  Check it out if you haven't already done so!

I also have batting for this:  I have a package of my favorite (at the moment) cotton batting but it's a Twin so there would be a lot left over if I use that.  Then again, I might be able to take those leftovers and combine it with a bunch of scrap pieces I have of that same batting and make a Franken-batt for the next quilt I still have to make.  However, I also have three big pieces of another batt that would make a Franken-batt just about the size I need.  However, it's a polyester batting and I'm debating on whether I'd rather the easier piecing together of the polyester or the heavier weight of the cotton.  Decisions, decisions!  

2.  For Cross Stitch:  Make a mini wall hanging for my kitchen

Stitching completed and FFO'd

 And hung in place!

Also done!  I had finished the words in the center prior to working on the quilt and thought I'd be able to work on stitching the rest of it a little each day along with working on the quilt.  However, once I started in on the quilt work, I'd get to the end of the day and was too tired to stitch.  So I wound up wrapping up the cross stitching over the weekend after the quilt top and backing were finished.  It is a simple stitch so a few hours of TV with the hubby helped get it done and yesterday was spent on the finishing.  

I even finally, pulled out my serger and used it to secure the edge of the trimmed cloth before I laced it around the back of the hoop!  I am happy I reacquainted myself with that machine so now I can finish the edges of any cross stitch cloth I buy instead of using painters tape for that.  

So what's on the agenda for this week?  Normally I am the queen of "Too Long To-Do Lists" but getting last week's short list done means I should keep trying that and see if it holds.  So this week I'm going with a "flexible" four items:

Quilting

1.   Layer, baste and quilt the Committee quilt top.  What's good is that I attended Bea Byrne's January Quilt 'N Learn workshops Thursday - Saturday and picked up designs to use for this from a couple of workshops.  Tracey Browning who hosts the online Machine Quilting Academy, covered transforming a large stipple into a great ribbon design:

If I can doodle it, I can stitch it!

I also saw a great quilted heart design in another workshop (I can't remember which) that I think I will do in the center of this quilt.  The plan is to echo it and do some Ribbon Candy between the echoed areas.  The good news is Esther Frenzel of iPatchandQuilt (and who I learned about in last August's Free Motion Quilting Summit is doing a free "Ribbon Candy" workshop series on her site over the next few days so I'll get some training and practice on that too! 

2.  Start the next committee quilt.  

For this one I have fabric bundled and want to start the design process.  I'm not rushing it though, if I wind up focusing on the other things on the list and don't get to it, I don't have a problem with the real focus on it waiting until next week.  

3.  My friend's memory quilt.  

I've pulled out the box of fabrics because I have to start the design process if I am going to have any chance of meeting the deadline of her birthday next month.  

Cross stitch

1.  As I had noted in my last post, I had planned to start on another decorating piece for the New Year which was not the one that I just finished.

Pattern by Needle Bling Designs

I have long wanted to do a series of quilts with the theme of "Home" and since I've started cross stitching have found a few designs I like in that craft too.  This one helps me fill out another decorating "hole".  I used to have two antique quilt blocks hung by the quilt display rod at our entry stairs:  

The two frames on the left.

They are Hexagon Flower blocks actually made during the Civil War era that I purchased in the gift shop of a quilt exhibit I had attended years ago.  They were perfect when my Civil War reproduction quilts were on display in this spot.  However, in recent years I have used this area to display other types of quilts so was interested in having something else to display here.

The great thing about this cross stitch piece is that the theme and style of it will work no matter what quilt I put up.  The challenge though is that the pattern I'm working from is laid out horizontally and I will have to either reformat it to a vertical orientation or stitch it as three separate images to work in the frame I purchased for it.  

So my expectation is that this one will take a little thought to get it set up.  I'm hoping that this won't turn out to be a project that puts up road blocks that will disrupt the good intentions of my short project list.  Let's see what happens....  

I'm done so go back over to Carol's at Quilt Schmilt and see what everyone else has planned for the week or even better share your crafty plans too!