To Do Tuesday: Getting Things Done Before A Trip

February feels like it's moving fast for me!  Thankfully linking up for "To Do Tuesday" hosted by Carol over at "Quilt Schmilt" helps me keep track of it all.

Part of why I feel the month is going so fast is that we will be leaving for North Carolina at the end of this week and will be gone until the start of March.  So I have things I want to get done or at least in place before then, things I need to prep for the trip and still have to gather the things I want to take on the trip to work on while down there.  As usual, alot of balls to juggle in the air in the meantime, LOL!  

Last week I had a long list but managed to hit most of the things on it so feel good about that.  Those things were:  

1.  Work on the stitch pattern samples for "Modern Twist" and maybe start the actual quilting on it.

I did manage to get that done with the quilt sandwich I had made up last week.  

I'm doing this for my "Modern Twist" project that was a Planet Patchwork mystery from all the way back in 2013.  As I said last week, my plan for the longest has been to stitch what I saw as "pipes" in the design with "water motifs.".  Over the years I came across a number of interesting stitch designs and up until now the hold-up was not being confident about stitching them up.  Fortunately I had a "Duh!!" moment and realized that I could do a practice piece to try them all out.  

The results were mixed:  many of the patterns I liked I just couldn't quickly get comfortable doing or didn't give the effect I hoped for.  However I did pick out two to get started with and have already worked on stitching out one of them:

I had stitched the peach areas the last time I worked on this in 2016.

I still have a few more of these sections to do with this motif and will work on spacing it out a bit better.  

I had hoped to get this whole quilt done before we leave but now a lot of creative ideas are starting to pop up about how to also stitch the olive background areas.  So I think I'll take this one with me and try to finish it up while away.  I really want to get this done by the end of the month as it was slotted in as my UFO Challenge pick for February.

2.  Piece the next "Alaska" BOM block.  If it doesn't take too long, maybe I can also cut out the next block as well.

Another thing that got done!  It helped that I only needed to make one block.  I'll also note that in order to complete the stitching for this block, I needed a "leader/ender" to push the last few parts of it through.  In past months I have been working on trying out other new designs featuring Kaleidoscope blocks so usually had one of those to use for that purpose.  However, since I was behind on working on this, I instead used a block from a scrap project I also have in the works. 

The scrap project is "Magic Cube" a pattern I got off of the Quilting Daily website but had originally been published in McCall's Quilting magazine.  Ironically this project took over for another scrap project that I was going to do:  an actual "leader/ender" project that had been one of Bonnie Hunter's challenges from back in 2019.  

When I realized that the Shoo-Fly blocks I had been making for her design was the same size as the ones needed for the "Cube",  I switched the six blocks I had made to date to this new project.  I need way fewer of these blocks for the McCall's quilt and loved that I could also use up some of my bag of strings making a center Lone Star and borders for it.  

I fortunately had a block ready to be pieced that I could push through the machine along with the BOM block.  That done,  I decided to organize the project and took the time now to sort and cut the scraps I had put aside with the pattern and set up more block sets with them.

Not all the sets have pieced HSTs ready, for some they still have to be sewn.

So now I have a bunch of block kits to use for whenever I need another "leader/ender" in a pinch!   

However, I haven't had a chance to cut out the next block for the BOM (that is blocks since I need four of them) and don't know if I can get that done before I leave.  Given that the block I pieced was actually last month's block,  I will also have missed making blocks for this month so will see if I can double up for this project for March when we get back.

3.  Work on the layout (and piecing?) of the QOV top.

Unfortunately, I did not work on this one.  The problem for this is that I realized maybe too late that I need a background fabric for this design and of course now have a specific idea about what I want for that.  So this might travel with me so I can do some in-person shopping for it while in NC.

4.  Continue the "Year of the Horse" cross stitching.

This also has moved forward!  I would still like to get this done before we leave but we'll see if that happens.

5.  Continue stitching the "Hexie Snowflake" blocks to their backgrounds.

The quilt behind it is appropriately enough called "Snow Day"

This too has moved forward and has actually gone better than expected!  Yes, it's "slow stitching" but also rather satisfying to do.  I've gotten the center and two spokes of this block stitched down and I think I can finish off the other four spokes before we leave.  Even if I don't, finishing it can be my "car stitching" on the drive down.  

I've decided to take this whole project along on the trip and try to finish stitching all the blocks and possibly get the top assembled while away.  This is supposed to be a Blue & White wallhanging for winter so I'd love to have it to a top by the time we return.  Then if  I can quilt it up quick (famous last words!),  I might still get to enjoy it for a month or two before Spring quilts have to start going up!   

6.  Start the "Mini Quilt Retreat" packing for our trip.  

Now this I haven't started and now it's crunch time!  As I noted last week, I have gifts for my MIL and two of her friends who are all also quilters and I need to make up something to go with one of the gifts.  I'm pretty sure I can get that done in the next couple of days.  

What I'm less sure about is the "something special" I had wanted to make for myself for the trip.  The good news is that I can conceivably also take that with me to work on as we'll be there for about five days before I need it.  However,  I do have some concerns about if I have some fabrics in house to fund it.  That said, that too can be something to shop for while away.  

So for this week's agenda more of the same:

1.  I will continue quilting "Modern Twist" until we leave then it will travel down with me and I will continue work on it down there.  

2.  I might still try for at least cutting out the next "Alaska" BOM blocks but that will depend on if time permits before we leave.  Worse come to worse, work on this project will wait until our return.  

3.  Working on the layout of the QOV top will likely be another "take with" project but I may start some of the cutting for the other parts before we go.

4.  Continue the "Year of the Horse" cross stitching and hopefully complete it before we leave.

5.  Continue stitching the first "Hexie Snowflake" block to its background.  The rest will be packed up to travel. 

6.  Make up the accompaniment to the gifts for my MIL and her friends.  

7.  The "something special" I wanted to make for myself for the trip will have to travel down with me and it's still a question if I can get to that one while away!  

8.  Lastly, I have no choice but to get the packing done for the "Mini Quilt Retreat" for our trip as it's almost time to go!

I hope you had a short list of "To Do's" for last week and managed to get many things crossed off of your list.  I will find out when I catch up on the "To Do Tuesday" posts at Carol's "Quilt Schmilt" on the drive down.  It'll be another thing to keep me entertained while we're on the road!  

To Do Tuesday: Looks Like It Will Be Another Busy Week....

Checking in for the start of February with this week's "To Do Tuesday" hosted by Carol over at "Quilt Schmilt"!

Okay, much like I feared last week, a long list meant I didn't get as much done as hoped.  However one really good thing did happen,  I finished a quilt!  So reviewing last week's list:  

1.  At the end of last year, I had plans to finish  finish quilting my "Over and Down Under" quilt that I had started back in 2023 for the annual "Sew a Jelly Roll Day".   

The good news is that got done!

The details on that finish can be read about here.

2.  The UFO Challenge number pulled by the Quilted Forest was #4 which on my list is to finish the quilting for my "Modern Twist" quilt.  

Unfortunately, finishing "Down  Under" took more time than expected so I didn't get to the quilting on "Modern Twist" just yet.  However some forward movement was made on it.  Actually part of the forward movement had to do with the "Down Under" quilt! 

Finishing "Down Under" had actually been a holdover task from the list of things I had hoped to clean up by the end of 2025.  Because I thought I'd get that done early in January,  I didn't put it on this year's UFO Challenge List.  However once it did get done,  I decided "WHY NOT put it on the list and call it a Challenge Finish for this year?!?".   So I updated my list...

 ...and made "Down Under" the #4 project picked for last month.  As noted last week,  I am following the number picks made by the Quilted Forest on YouTube.  

For February, they picked #6.  I had something else slotted in that spot on my original list but decided to move "Modern Twist" into that spot and moved the project that had been in that slot ("Lady Claire Box Trot") to another spot on the list.  "Claire" is a true UFO (top and backing made and quilting planned) so I bumped a "Hussy" (HSY = Haven't Started Yet) project that was on the list and put "Claire" in its place. 

I also figured I had a better chance of still getting "Modern Twist" done this month since it is already layered and partially quilted.  We will be going away to visit my MIL in North Carolina for the last two weeks of the month so with only two weeks to work on it while still here, a "partially quilted" beats a "flimsy" every time!

The holdup on finishing "Twist" has been that the quilt design reminded me of "pipes" so I always wanted to try to stitch a variety of "water motifs" in the various lines and columns of the quilt.  I picked out a bunch of potential stitch patterns but admit that just thinking about them in my head wasn't working to push me to actually stitch them out!  So this past week I decided to make up a quilt sandwich that I could use to test the designs first.  So at least that got done!

I liked this stripe fabric since as it can mimic the different widths of the areas I'll need to stitch on the quilt.  I also have a printout of the quilt top that I can sketch the designs onto once I've determined which ones I feel comfortable stitching out.  

3.  I just barely had gotten my blocks for December done for my "Alaska BOM".  I had held off making a set of pieced triangle blocks last month as I got to working on the blocks late.  Now here I am again but do I have another easy set of blocks to work on since once again I am short on time?

Yes and no to this one.  I've cut out the one block in the design that I only need to make one block for.

However, I didn't get to stitch it up yet.  Also since this means I didn't make any blocks for January,  even if I get this done I'd really like to also make another block for February.  I do have another block that I only need to make four of but I'll have to see if I can get to that after I get this one pieced.  

4.  My MIL's (well also mine since I joined it last year) guild has a very active Quilts of Valor ministry.  This year they are looking for members to submit tops all through the year so the finishing work can be distributed throughout it.  I wanted to try to have a top ready to bring for our upcoming trip.  

This is the one I had hoped to continue work on but nothing more was done on that front.  This might wind up traveling down with me to be worked on while there.

5.  Oh and the last thing is to get back to my Cross stitch!!  

I had hoped to encourage myself to get back to last year's "NY Skyline" project by warming up with another "Year of" piece in celebration of the Chinese New Year (I know, I know that's crazy crafter logic!!).   

I did make some progress on the "Year of the Horse" piece.  I might have gotten more done except I also picked up another hand work project that I wanted to get back to.  

With all the wintery weather surrounding us,  I have surrounded myself with Blue & White quilts for this season.  I usually hang a piece at the top of our entry staircase but right now don't have one in that color scheme the size to fit that space.  

Back in 2021,  I had started a four block version of Edyta Sitar's "Snowflake" EPP design.  All the Snowflakes are done and stitched together but now I need to stitch them to their backgrounds.  What I didn't anticipate was how hard it is to remove the papers from the hexies!

Whew, getting these done is going to take awhile -- winter may be over before I'm done!  I did get the first one laid out onto its background and have started stitching it down.  

The "Potholder EPP Organizer" was made back in 2020.

I usually like to do my cross stitch in the evenings while watching the news shows but have found this project good for that time period too.  So going forward,  I might do cross stitch first thing in the morning and save the hexie stitching for the evenings.  

So for this week's agenda:

1.  Work on the stitch pattern samples for "Modern Twist" and maybe start the actual quilting on it.

2.  Piece the next "Alaska" BOM block.  If it doesn't take too long, maybe I can also cut out the next block as well.

3.  Work on the layout (and piecing?) of the QOV top.

4.  Continue the "Year of the Horse" cross stitching.

5.  Continue stitching the "Hexie Snowflake" blocks to their backgrounds.

6.  Start the "Mini Quilt Retreat" packing for our trip.  Part of that is that I have gifts for my MIL and two of her friends who are all also quilters and I need to make up something to go with one of the gifts.  I also had something special I wanted to make for myself for the trip but I'll have to see if I can get to that one!  

That's it for me and another long list so I'll see what actually gets done.  I look forward to also take some time to see what the cold winter winds have blown into everyone's creative spaces over at Quilt Schmilt for "To Do Tuesday"!