To Do Tuesday - Two Days Late!

 I missed  the last two weeks of checking-in with Carol over at "Quilt Schmilt" for "To Do Tuesday".  Now due to technology problems,  I'm two days late to review how August finished up and to set up the agenda for September!

The past couple of weeks were as productive as the weeks that started the month but as always when they were done, there was still more to do!  

I also had a slight interruption as I decided at the last minute to sign up for this year's Free Motion Quilting Summit hosted by Mary Davis of Mary Go Round Quilts.  I had enjoyed last year's summit and picked up quite a few new stitch pattern ideas so joined in while the early registration discount was still in effect.  I'm glad I opted for the "All Access Pass" as I still have some videos from Day 2 and all the ones from Day 3 still to watch.  

So the things I was able to accomplish since my last To Do Tuesday report were as follows:

1.  Add the borders to the QOV top by adding "filler" to the strips sent in the kit.  That got done although it took way more days, time and thinking than planned!  

Then last week there was more to do here as I seemed to have messed up that lower right corner of the borders as you see in the picture.  I don't know why but that was the only border section like that and it was pretty wavy so had to be be opened up, trimmed and re-done.  I also pieced together the binding strips that were provided in the kit which was an easy enough task.  

I contacted the guild's charity quilt coordinator for instructions on where to send it and checking the tracking, see that it arrived in North Carolina on Tuesday.  Next it will be passed on to the guild's longarmer for quilting.  

After it's quilted, my MIL will probably put the binding on it unless they can wait until we go down to visit her in early October for me to add it myself.  The guild's QOV presentation event is in November.

2.  Continue the "Alaska" BOM block making.  

Did well on that too!  As before, I continued to sew up the blocks as I worked on the QOV top.  The good news is that I got them all done for the second month of this self-directed BOM!  

I also sewed up the four scrappy blocks I also cut out.  

So looks like I made the month-end deadline ahead of time for a change!  

3.  Focused on getting the QOV done and on the "Alaska" blocks, I'm not sure if the "Gathering A Garden" backing will get a push this week.  

Well contrary to expectations, once the QOV top was off the design wall, I did finally make  the backing for the "Gathering Garden" top that had been completed in July . 

I basically mimicked the front layout using strips to create the pieced backing.  The light strip will also serve as my label area.  I also already have a simple quilting plan for it.  However, I don't know if it'll move any further forward since I now have two deadline projects I need to work on.

4.  I have now gone back to working on my "New York Skyline" cross stitch project. 

Definite progress on that:  I now have two pages of the pattern completed on this one!   

I still have three more pages to go and figure each will take at least a month.  This means I should get this done by the end of November and then hopefully can display it before the end of the year.  

Speaking of which, I also did some more shopping at my local At Home store that is closing and was lucky enough to find the perfect size frame for this!

A $10 score that I'm hoping to mount the finished piece onto the board in the frame.  What I'm not sure at this point is whether I can do that and still have it under the glass or will have to remove it.

So moving forward for the start of September:

1.  I now need to get September's "Alaska BOM" blocks cut and ready for leader/ender sewing.

2.  I will resume stitching on my "New York Skyline" cross stitch project.  However, once again I won't be "monogamous stitching" this month because I have something new I've decided to add to the cross stitch rotation.... 

3.  Continuing work on a new holiday cross stitch project.

The Fat Quarter Shop had done a Quilt and Stitch Along for "Christmas In July" called "Up On the Rooftop".  While I downloaded the free patterns, I hadn't planned to do either since I already have two Christmas quilts that need quilting and had finished last year's "Letters To Santa" cross stitch for CIJ this year.  

However, thinking now about how things will be displayed, I realized that another piece that could go along with "Letters" would help fill the space where I want to hang it.  I also plan to incorporate the "Patchwork Bow" I had made for Melva's "CIJ Blog Hop" into the display as well.

What pushed this to the forefront was that the "called for" fabric was the same used for "Letters" and I had enough of it left over to make up the new one.  Once I saw the finished design, I liked that it seemed like a relatively quick and easy stitch.  I also liked the look of the Classic Colorworks "fancy floss" it was stitched up in.  I like hand dyed flosses but since they are more expensive than DMC I need good reasons to stash them.  Needless to say, this seemed like a good enough reason, LOL! 

Once the threads arrived, I got started on it during the last few days of August and did a little more on Labor Day.  

4. Make a quilt to raffle at the community garden Art Show.  

At our monthly meeting two Saturday's ago, the President of our community garden announced that they'd like to try to hold another of the garden's Art Shows and want me to participate.  A date hasn't been formally set yet but I've thought about my display theme which will be "Fall Quilts".  

Everyone would like me to sell quilts but it's too short notice to think about making something for that.  However, I can make another "9 Fat Quarter Disappearing Nine Patch" to raffle off like last time.  It just so happens that I already had a fall themed FQ bundle that I purchased on a Shop Hop back in 2023.  This design is quick to make and hopefully to quilt with tips from the Summit so I could be ready for when a show date is announced.  

5.  Start work on the Children's Tumbler quilt for the North Carolina guild's donation efforts.  

I had picked up the set of pre-cut tumbers shown above from the Charity Coordinator back in February.  While down there I also got the backing (on the top right).  I had also purchased a light fabric to make more Tumblers and another for a coordinating border fabric.  Unfortunately, I decided to use those in another project so then had to purchase the replacements shown.  

I have the same Accuquilt die that was used for the pre-cuts so plan to cut more out of the light fabric and work out a pleasing arrangement in EQ8 while I work up the raffle quilt on the design wall.  I want to get this one made up and quilted so I can take it down with me in October completed and ready for donation.   I feel like it's a doable project but it means I have to plan it out in order to be sure to stay on track.

So with a list slightly longer than in the past few weeks, I'll stop here so I can amble back over to Carol's Quilt Schmilt and check out the plans everyone else has more promptly posted for "To Do Tuesday" for the coming week!