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 Clarie 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"!