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!  

Quiltville Mystery Season: The Reveal Is Out!

Well fellow Quiltville mystery fans, it looks like this year's season is now done!  Bonnie has posted the final part of the mystery and the new quilt has been revealed! 

I won't spoil it for you: go on over to her blog here to see what the final quilt looks like.  While you're there, pick up the finishing details for Part 9 and other parts you may have missed since she doesn't say in the post how long the mystery links will stay up.  Bonnie is headed out of town so if you have questions you better ask them fast!  She will be flying out to Los Angles on Tuesday to pick up her flight to Australia so may be out of touch for a while.  

BTW, if you've ever been curious about just how many mysteries Bonnie has done and when they premiered, check out this Facebook link where you can download a list (in Word format) of all the mysteries up to 2023.  

As for me, despite the fact that I had planned to have only one thing to focus on for this year's mystery season, I never got a chance to get to it!  I should have known that when I picked up Part 7 and in the instructions those that are doing this one had to start combining units that were constructed in the earlier parts, things were getting close to a finish.   I had hoped today's post wouldn't be the last and I might finally start layering my "En Provence".  

As I noted before, I had finished the top all the way back in 2018 and made up the backing in 2023.  In the first post I did about "Old Town",  I talked about how you don't have to color the mystery quilts the same way Bonnie does.  While my "En Provence" followed her color cues to the letter, check out this one that took a really innovative approach to the color choices and placement.  Even Bonnie didn't recognize it as her design at first!

Now that the mystery season has passed and the New Year is underway,  I have other priorities afoot so I think I will just stash this one once again and wait for another opportunity to work on it.  Although I want to more frequently work on quilting my quilts this year,  I still don't have even a "concept of a plan" for quilting this one since that was supposed to be determined when I layered it.  

Speaking of other priorities,  I also didn't get to the binding for the Steering Committee quilt that I finished quilting on Wednesday.

So with the mystery quilt layering now off the agenda,  I can focus on the binding task today -- that is after I get the laundry done.   After binding that one, I think I will also pull out the fabrics for the next Committee quilt and start work on that layout.  

The other priority with an immediate deadline is that I want to finally work on a friend's memory quilt.  Her and her husband have birthdays in February and I've already gotten him a gift so if I could finish her quilt that would be hers.  I know I'm not usually good with such tight deadlines but I might as well start pushing organizing myself to get better at that for 2025!   I think with the right amount of focus,  I could finally get this project done.  Another goal for 2025 is to move a lot of things off the back burner so getting that project done would be an ideal example of that.  

So posting this now then heading out to do laundry and then I can spend the evening binding.  Sounds like a plan!

7 Days of New Year's - Day 2: Cross stitch continues....

Taking a late dinner break to check in:  As of now, more progress has been made on my MIL's Christmas (New Year's?) gift which I'm still hoping to finish tonight.  I've managed to add the additional line of text that I wanted since my MIL doesn't cross stitch but the sentiments of the design apply to both it and our shared love of quilt projects.  

It took me longer than I expected to pick and count out the spacing of a suitable font.  Early in my cross stitch journey,  I had picked up this ebook that I thought might be useful in the future if I wanted to design or add text to cross stitch projects:

Having already purchased an 8"x10" frame for the finished piece, the challenge was to pick out a font that would not add much to the stitched height of it since I already expected the margins of the finished piece to be tight in the frame I had purchased.  The letters I chose were only two squares high and I thought were also that wide.  However, I missed that the letters "T" and "I" actually needed an additional square of width.  Luckily I realized that as I started on the word "Quilting" so only had to rip and re-do the beginning of the line once I re-counted where I had to start stitching to accommodate the additional spaces.

I had also tried putting the unfinished piece into the frame last night and it became clear that it wasn't going to fit because of the thickness of the Aida cloth I am using.  I was afraid I'd have to shop for another frame but fortunately,  I had to go do some grocery shopping today and while out stopped at the local dollar store.  There I saw an 11" x 14" artist canvas and some decorative signs that inspired a new approach to the finish.

The original intended frame and the new canvas.

The plan now is to add some fabric borders to frame the piece and mount it onto the canvas as a backer board, padding it with some batting.  I'll punch some holes and seal them with grommets then add a pretty string for hanging the piece.  But first I've got to get the top border stitching done!

Oh, and a quick quilting note:  Bonnie Hunter has posted the next two parts of this year's "Old Town" mystery!   Part 6 was posted early on Monday and Part 7 posted today.  I had hoped to be working on my project for the mystery by today which is quilting my "En Provence" but clearly that hasn't happened yet.  In Part 7 they are starting to assemble some of the parts made to date into larger blocks so hopefully there's still time to get my own  project underway before the mystery ends!  

With this posted, I'll finish eating and get back to stitching!

Quiltville Mystery Season Starts TODAY!

It's that time of year again:  It's time for Bonnie Hunter's annual Quiltville mystery quilt!  This year's project is called "Old Town".

It is inspired by the sights and sounds of Krakow, Poland that Bonnie visited last year.   Even though the colors were inspired by her trip, as always you do not have to make your version in only those colors.  I always look forward to seeing how creative people get with their mystery color choices.  You can follow what other mystery quilters are doing on the Facebook page for the mystery here.

Bonnie will be leaving to travel to England on the Friday after Thanksgiving which is when the mystery season usually starts so she is posting the first part of it today.  If you haven't already done so, also pick up the Introduction post with the fabric requirements here.  

As Bonnie notes, be sure to pick up and download the mystery parts each week and save them to your computer or phone.  Once the mystery is completed in January, she will remove the instructions from her blog.  After the mystery is over, you can still get the full pattern by purchasing it in her Quiltville store when she releases it.  

As for me, my mystery season will be just like last year's:  I will be trying to finish up one of the tops I still have to quilt.  I've settled on finishing "En Provence".  I completed this top back in 2018.

Top

Prepped Backing

I had made up the backing back in January of last year so all that's left to do now is to layer it and do the "quilt whispering" to decide how to quilt it.  Not always an easy task for me, LOL!  However, I really want to be quilting my quilts more frequently in the coming year as I have a lot of accumulated tops and want to make space for all of the accumulated project kits I have set up.  Which brings to mind this hilarious "Bonnie-ism" I saw on Instagram:

Or at least I hope so!

I had originally planned to quilt up my "On Ringo Lake" mystery during this period because the colors of it are similar to what is being used for "Old Town".  

Top and Scrappy Backing

However, it has a scrappy back and I have some new quilt hangers that should arrive soon that I want to  try using.  I am trying to fix up my younger son's former bedroom into more of guest room rather than the junk depository storage space it's functioning as right now.  The hangers are made to be used with a hanging sleeve, something I don't typically add to my quilts.  It will be easier to blend a sleeve into the back of "En Provence" hence why it tops the finishing list this round!   

Are you participating in this year's mystery?  Have you done one of Bonnie's mysteries before?  They are a lot of fun and there is no pressure to get it done by the end of the mystery period.  Check it out as well as what everyone else is doing and consider joining in on the fun!  

February Recap: Part 5 - A Little Finished Or Not Friday Reporting

Happy March to all who are participating in this week's "Finished Or Not Friday" session hosted by the lovely and gracious Alycia of Quilty Girl (and Quilts of Valor)! 

I have two contributions for this last report on the things I worked on in February:  one is "Not Finished" and the other is a very important "Finish" for me!  

Almost A Flimsie

In my last post I talked about attending the big Quilt Con show during a visit to my MIL in North Carolina.  Once that weekend of modern quilts and excitement was over, it was time for my MIL and I to get back to our mini quilt retreat and working on some of our own projects.  

In that post about the show, I talked about using scrap strings to make a cover for the little notebook I used to take lecture notes.  The reason I had those strings along with me on the trip was because I brought this project with me to work on.

It is Abigail Dolinger's "Scrap Vortex" design that originally appeared in McCall's Quick Quilts June/July 2019 but can also be purchased as an individual pattern.   I've long liked this design and was encouraged to finally start it in order to try to participate in Emily Bailey's (of Aunt Em's Quilts) strip quilt challenge that had an early March deadline.  

I had gathered fabrics for the dark corner squares and the first two solid fabric borders but had problems finding a fabric for the third border.  Actually, I found one I really liked in my stash but of course it wasn't enough for what I needed and I couldn't find more of it.  So I was hoping to find an alternative at the show.  Luckily I did!  

The medium gray calico was the fabric I had originally hoped to use for the third fabric border but found the replacement fabric below it in the GE Designs vendor booth at the show.  I then hoped to finish the top before we left NC but only got this far with it by that time.  

Still hoping to make the challenge deadline, I continued work on it once we got back home.  Unfortunately I didn't get it done in time and I still have three sides of the last string border to add at this point.  

And of course, as often happens with scrap projects, it feels like I've still barely made a dent in the string stash!!

A Long Awaited Mystery Finish!

As I had talked about in this recap post, the big task for our little quilting retreat was to try to learn to use the computerized Pro Stitcher Lite software on the Handi Quilter Moxie long arm my MIL had purchased during the shop hop we did on our last visit back in the Fall.  You know how they say two heads are better than one?  Well it must be true because we got some done!  We stitched two of hers...

....and I got one of mine done!  

Long arming done and edges trimmed

This is a big thrill since this top, aptly named for the mystery as "An Oldie But A Goodie" is just that!  I made the top all the way back in 2014 for the last mystery hosted by the Planet Patchwork website before they shut down.  It has been sitting all this time and now it is a lovely and bound finish!!

All that's left of the pretty binding fabric.

I did learn some lessons about long arming through this process.  Loading a quilt on a frame is less time consuming than pin basting but you really do need all that excess batting and backing around the edges of the top both to help with tensioning and to provide space to test your stitch tensions and patterns.  

Setting up your desired pattern to stitch out on your top how and where you want it (in this case,  I chose the "Baptist Fans" stitch pattern) and learning the mechanics of advancing the quilt, basting it for each advancement and resuming a design if the stitching is interrupted or you need to change bobbins, all take practice to master.  

Bonus lesson from the Quilt Con Show:  We had checked out the Wonderfil Threads booth, particularly their DecoBob 80 and Invisifil 100 Weight threads.  Oh boy, those threads are a wonderful alternative to using monofilament thread on multi-colored tops!  

After seeing the quilted samples in the booth, I purchased two spools of 100 wt. in Beige and light Gray and a spool of the 80 wt in a medium Gray planning to try them out on the "Over/Under" quilt I had struggled with quilting using monofilament last year.   

However, I wound up using the Beige 100 wt. for this quilt and thought it stitched out beautifully over all the many colors of fabrics I used in this top.  My MIL had purchased pre-wound bobbins in the 80 wt. which they carry for all different classes of long arm machines and that was used for this quilt too.  

I used about 1-1/4 bobbins to stitch out the Baptist Fan pattern on this 47" x 60" quilt.  I definitely look forward to stocking up on more of it!  Fortunately, they gave us a list of dealers that sell it in NC and at least one of the shops usually participates in the "All Carolinas Shop Hop" in the Fall which is when we'll be returning for our next visit.  I will definitely have a wish list with me then!  

So that wraps up my doings for February and I am thrilled that it coincided with the first FONF report for March.  Now I can head back over to Alycia's to see what everyone else has going on as the Spring rains come in and prepare the way for the flowers we will see before long!

To Do Tuesday: Focus on the BOM Blocks

It's time again to join the group over at Carol's Quilt Schmilt, the hot spot for "To Do Tuesday" reporting!

The goal for my quilting this past week was to get back to working on blocks for a UFO challenge project, a mystery quilt and a raffle quilt.  I only managed to get some work done on two of those. 

UFO Challenge:  Scrappy Figs 

I had started making the "Christmas Figs" sampler quilt using a scrappy mix of Fig Tree fabrics back in 2020 as a personal BOM project.  Pandemic projects disrupted that along with the projects that followed in the subsequent years.  I am hoping to finally bring this one to a finish this year and had eight more blocks to piece before I could make it into a top.  This week I got to a little under half of them done with three more blocks finished.

Each of these involved fairly intensive piecing so I was thankful that I was able to put my Accuquilt Go! cutter into service to help cut parts for the blocks.  The "Bow Ties" block on the right isn't true to the pattern.  The patterned block consisted of 4" finished Bow Tie blocks in a 4x4 set for a 16" finished block.  

Joanna Figueroa designed her version of the blocks to be made with the "sew and flip" technique to form the center triangles of the Bow Tie.  I am not a fan of "sew and flip" and avoid it whenever possible.  Usually, I would rather cut an angled edge off of a square using either an "Easy Angle Ruler" or a "Folded Corner Ruler" and then stitch an appropriately sized HST triangle to it using a regular 1/4" seam.  This is exactly what I did to make the points of the "Star" block and for the tree trunk center.  For the Bow Ties, I didn't even need to do that!  

I have Bow Tie die sets for 6", 4-1/2" and 3" finished blocks purchased on clearance some years ago.  The closest I could get to a 16" block was to use a mix of 3" and 6" blocks which left me with three less blocks to make than patterned and a 15" finished center.  To bring it up to size, I then added a 1/2" finished coping border in the background fabric around it.  There are other blocks in the original quilt design that also make use of those kinds of borders (such as the "Tree" block also made this week) so it won't look odd among the sampler set.  

Since this block in particular is effectively 13 blocks in one, being able to die cut all the parts and then just sew seams -- as opposed to marking sewing lines and trimming off bonus triangles after -- was a time saver!    

Leader/Ender Mystery and Other Project Blocks

With all the sewing I had to do for the BOM blocks, I was able to use the "Log Cabin" blocks I need to make for Quilty Girl Alycia's new Quilts of Valor Mystery called "Stars Like Spaghetti" as leader/ender piecing.  

The Log Cabins are for the first clue of the mystery and I still have four more to make.  Clue #2 has already dropped and Clue #3 drops tomorrow.  

With so many seams to sew, it still took throwing in a few more blocks to get everything through the machine.  So I was also able to make another "Striped Squares" block for a really old UFO project I have wanted to make since the very early days of my quilting.  The scrap blocks with the diagonal strip in the middle are made from a free McCall's Quilting pattern called "Scrappity-Do-Dah".  So four projects for the work on one!    

Related:  Charity News!  When I went over to Alycia's blog, she mentioned in a recent post that details for the 2024 Block Drive for the Quilts of Valor Foundation have been posted.  They are looking to receive "Ohio Star" blocks and you can pick up the pattern for them here.  Additionally this coming Saturday, February 3 is a "National QOV Sew Day".  If you have a local group or shop that hosts these events, you may be able to go there to submit or even make blocks for the cause. 

No Love For the Raffle Quilt

The plan for this had been to stitch down the applique flower motifs that I had added to three of the basket blocks when I last worked on this a year ago:  

However with all the work on the other blocks, I didn't even get to that.  What I did do however, was to take a good look at the top and consider whether to add more.  The more I looked at the layout I found that I wanted to keep it as symmetrical as possible and adding more just complicated that.  So the good news -- given that I haven't made any progress on this so far -- is that I am okay with settling for what I have.  Ironically, I also have another applique project that will be a "New Start" but didn't get to that either.  So I guess February will have to be the month for applique!

And Let's Not Forget Cross Stitch!

Oh and last but not least, I did make progress with almost daily stitching on my latest cross stitch project:

Last week....

As of Today!

I'm hoping to finish stitching this one up by the 31st or at least by the end of the week!  

As always I will be heading back over to Quilt Schmilt to check out what everyone else is working on.  Hope it's been a good week for everyone!

Finished Or Not Friday: My Travels Down The "Old Tobacco Road" Are Now Complete!

It's that time of the week when we all gather at Quilty Girl Alycia's to see what everyone has worked on this week:

New Year, new button!!

Today, I am posting my second Bonnie Hunter Quiltville mystery finish in as many months.  I had hoped to get it done before the end of the most recent mystery season but as always, better late than never!  BTW, hopefully you have checked out the reveal of Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery, "Indigo Way" before she removes it from her blog.

With all the recent bad weather it's hard to get good full shots while staying inside.

This is "Old Tobacco Road" Bonnie's 2008 mystery.  If you like this one, it is still up on her website on her "Free Patterns" tab.  I had liked this design from the beginning but it took me until 2018 to get myself together enough to start on it.  This is also another mystery quilt that is true to Bonnie's esthetic where all the blocks for it were made from scraps.  

When I originally set out to make this, it started as a "travel kit".  The year I starting pulling fabric together for it, I thought I would be traveling to help a friend during an illness.  Fortunately my friend was able to get through her treatments without needing the extra help.  I still wound up starting this while traveling -- this time in October of 2019 while visiting my MIL and her husband who was ailing at the time.

From fabric picks to travel kit!

It is safe to say that in times of stress, quilting is a haven!  Later, I continued work on this as my mystery season project during Bonnie's debut of the "Frolic" mystery that year.  For that mystery, they had to make Pinwheels and Flying Geese and combine them into blocks so I was able to do the same for this one!

After "Folic" was revealed, I started laying out the blocks on my design wall to start putting together this top.  That was in February of 2020.  

Well, we all know what happened after that!  I did finish piecing together the center in the early days of March but after that it languished in favor of working on all the great pandemic projects and quilt alongs that were offered to keep us occupied during the quarantine.  

So it wasn't until January of 2021 that I finally put the borders on it with some debate about whether to just end the front with the Flying Geese border.  I saw many OTR's finished that way that looked really good.  However then I saw a pretty fabric I liked and that swayed my decision to go with the additional outer fabric border just as Bonnie had.   

Second border or not?  I chose Yes!

Another year went by before I worked up the backing.  That was because this project was pulled as my UFO Challenge number in March 2022 and I was also piecing another scrappy backing at the time (for another Bonnie quilt actually). 

And some leftover Flying Geese were just enough to help fill out the back.

Well, then it "simmered" for yet another year after which I was determined to get try to get it done during 2023's "Indigo Way" mystery season.  However, I was also working on finishing up "Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll", another Bonnie project that was just as old and since it still needed piecing, took priority.  I even ran out of basting pins so had to wait until "Boll" was finished being quilted in order to layer this one!   

Once "Boll" was done, I spent the next two weeks quilting this and then thought that last week, I'd get this bound and completed.  Except, I pulled out the project box only to realize that in all this time, I had not made any plans for the binding!  Fortunately I keep a journal while making my projects so in those notes, I saw that the yardage I had purchased for the front outer border and part of the backing had been split and put with another project to use for its backing as well.  At first I was reluctant to use that fabric since the other project is on my UFO Challenge list for this year so I might need that backing at some point.  

I then thought I had enough excess backing around the edges of this that I could instead finish the edges by turning the backing to the front.  I have done it before but I guess I needed to have taken some notes on that because it did not go well this time.  Needless to say, the backing from the other project then got immediately sacrificed in favor of cutting binding strips so this could get done now, LOL!!  The good news is I only took about a half yard from it so there still should be plenty to finish the backing for the other project when the time comes.

So lessons learned:  when you have a long-term project, take good notes and have a checklist of your supplies from the start!  Now that this is finally in the can, I can hop back over to Alycia's and check out what everyone else has finished up during this cold and stormy week!

To Do Tuesday: A Little Forward, A Little Stopped.....

Joining in again -- albeit a little late -- for "To Do Tuesday" over at Carol's "Quilt Schmilt" blog (and I have to chuckle every time I say "Quilt Schmilt" -- too cute)!

It took me so long to check in because it took so long to finish this up:

"Old Tobacco Road" one of the early Bonnie Hunter mysteries is finally done!  This was top of my list for last week because I was really close to finishing it.  

I thought  that I could finish the quilting of the last two outer borders and then apply the binding and call it done by the end of the week.  Instead the quilting took right up to end of the day Thursday so I didn't get started on the binding until Friday.  That too went awry for a number of reasons so the binding only got finished a little while ago!  Now that it's done, I'll review the full finishing story at the end of the week.

Needless to say that means I didn't get any work done on the other two projects on my list for last week so work on those (two Raffle Quilts for my community garden's season opening and a BOM using Fig Tree fabrics) can now proceed during the rest of this week.  Let's hope for a better report on those for next week!

Ironically something that I had not put on my list did get completed -- well at least the stitching:  

This was my very first cross stitch piece that I started back in February of 2022 in the hopes of having it ready for Valentines Day that year.  CS-newbie that I was, it is now not a surprise that I didn't get it finished.  In hindsight, stitching with Silk floss on 18ct Aida is not the best first project!  I had stopped working on it in March figuring I'd finish it up for the holiday the following year.  

Well that didn't happen until this year (and many projects later) when I finally resumed stitching on this last week figuring on getting a slightly earlier start on it this time for the holiday, LOL!  At first I only got in a few more stiches because I was so focused on the quilt project.  However, when the binding problems hit, it felt better to just go do some cross stitch instead to blow off steam.  As seen in the picture, I also shopped for finishing supplies this weekend so getting this "fully finished" (as the cross stitchers say) now also goes on the list for this week.  

So here's hoping that the rest of the week I can relax a bit and get a few bite-size parts of these projects done.  Looking forward to seeing what others have worked on this week so will be checking out all the goodies over at Quilt Schmilt and see how the middle of January is treating everyone!

To Do Tuesday: Two Reboots for 2024

I learned about a new link up last week so this is my first time checking in for Carol's "To Do Tuesday" at her "Quilt Schmilt" blog:

It looks like Quilt Schmilt attracts a fun group!

I am trying to be mindful of the things I want to get done both this year and this month.  Doing so was helpful in getting a lot of things done last year so I'd like to continue the trend.  

A Reboot From 2023 That Is Now "Close to Finished"!

So far for the start of the year, I am finishing up the quilting of my "Tobacco Road" mystery quilt:

This is one of the early Bonnie Hunter mystery quilts issued all the way back in 2008 but I didn't start mine until 2018.  I finished piecing the top in 2021, made the backing in 2022 and layered and started quilting it at the close of 2023.  

I'm down to stitching the cornerstone blocks and the outer two borders then I can move onto the binding.  This one should be done by the end of the week.  Not bad, only one week past the end of the latest mystery season!  BTW, have you taken a gander at the scrappy loveliness of Bonnie's newest mystery quilt "Indigo Way"?!?

Reboot#1:  Garden Raffle Quilts

The first of the reboots for 2024 is actually two quilts:  I've pulled the storage box back down for the raffle quilts I want to make for my community garden's 2024 Season Opening Day.   

Here they were when I packed them up last April.

Technically these have a firm finish deadline.  Well, firm in terms of this year I really want to get them done!  I had originally started them in 2022 and did more work on them last year.  The last time I worked on these, I had finished the top for the light version and left off debating the addition of some applique elements to it.

I still have to finish up the applique blocks for the dark version and assemble all the blocks into a top.

Our garden's President has invited me to the Steering Committee meeting where they will start planning for this year's event.  We always hold the season opening day on the Saturday closest to Earth Day.  It's on Monday April 22nd this year so we'll probably open on Saturday April 20th.  Our garden's Event Coordinator passed away last year so we are still determining who will fill that role in organizing that and other events during the year.  More than likely, we will all have to "pitch in" on the tasks for the foreseeable future.  

I would love to be able to take the tops to the meeting at the end of this week and give them a "preview" of them.  If I show them to the Committee, that will really "commit" me to the project and then I'll have to stay on them this time around until they are finished, LOL!!     

Reboot #2: The Scrappy Figs BOM

My "Scrappy Figs" project was one of the things left undone on my UFO Challenge list last year.  I was introduced to this project back in 2018 when Pat Sloan had done a sew along to make Joanna Figueroa's "Christmas Figs" quilt.  Pat had sewn up two versions of it:  one in the patterned Red and Green and one in Blue and White.  

Watching Pat's daily video at the beginning of December, I was surprised to find that she had also not finished those two yet!  She put it on her December "To Do" list to finish them and that prompted me to think about trying to at least finish my blocks for it by the end of the year too.  

I had loved the original quilt design but didn't want to do it in Christmas colors.  That inspired me to do it in a scrappy mix of Fig Tree fabrics which was something that I had always wanted to stash.  I had started this project as a personal "Block of Month" all the way back in 2020 but the pandemic and all the wonderful pandemic quilt alongs that year meant I got off track on it.  

Pat only needed to bind her Red and Green version to finish it and still needs to get the Blue and White one quilted.  For some reason,  I thought I had twenty-five blocks to make for this project which is what I had put on my UFO list.  However, reviewing the pattern book again I see there's only twenty blocks in the original design although it does call for making some cornerstone blocks that I don't know if I will be including in mine.  I have twelve of the twenty blocks needed so only need to make eight more.   

When my DH and I visited my MIL back in October, I was able to stock up on a whole bunch of new Fig Tree Fat Quarters during the "All Carolinas Shop Hop".  The Quilt Lizzy store in Warrenton, NC was closing its brick and mortar shop to go fully online so the sales presented a phenomenal opportunity to stash some more!

The Fig Tree FQs are on the right but a lot of Grunge was purchased on this trip too! 

Getting back to work on this now gives me an opportunity to incorporate the new Fat Quarters into my existing stash and scrappy design. 

As always big plans for the month and big hopes for staying on track!  I'm looking forward to regularly checking in with those making "To Do Tuesday" lists so we can help each other stay accountable!