What a crazy month March has been. It's been crazy for everyone so I don't need to rehash any of that here. But I will share one little story from last night (I'm writing this Tuesday evening).

My husband occasionally gets vertigo. He has some meds that work great but twice now it's gotten severe and he can't keep the meds down and can't stop throwing up. That means that we get a trip to the ER. I'm only telling you about it to tell you how things have changed at the ER. NO ONE other than the patient is allowed past the front door. They have a table there to greet the patient and send the rest of us back out the door. My waiting room was my car in the parking lot. Honestly, I was pleased by that. I didn't really want to go in there anyway. I had my crochet and an audiobook so I was good. I was able to call in to get updates but otherwise I just waited outside. There wasn't a lot of activity at the ER either. In 3+ hours of waiting I saw less than 10 people come in and half of those arrived in police cars or ambulance. Chris said that they had stringent protocols in the ER so he felt very "safe". But I still made him Purel his hands in the car and shower when he got home. I would not be surprised if this isn't the new protocol forever. In general, I was impressed and all the nurses were very friendly.

Now back to March. With all this time on my hands it was a really productive month!

I finished:
Penguins on Ice
Quilted a baby quilt for a friend
A crochet baby blanket
2 sets of coasters
over 40 masks 
7 postcards

Then I finished one more set of coasters yesterday and I've made great progress on the next baby blanket. These coasters are made with the scraps from the Groovy quilts. I didn't have enough fabric to make a bowl so these will just be a loose set of 4. The baby blanket should be done this week.

I also accomplished some major cleaning out of the sewing room.

Here are my current stats:

​Starting UFO 12 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 4
Started YTD 1
Ending UFO 8
Veterans quilts made - 2
Veterans quilts quilted - 13
Fabric Postcards - 8
Pet Beds 5
Garment 
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 2
​Crochet projects - 3

I can't believe I'm down to 7 UFO projects! If I get the last mosaic wall grouted this month I'll be down to 7. That's wild.

My goals for April are:
- piece the flower applique top and start quilting it. The postage stamp quilt will be postponed a little longer
- make the symmetry cat quilt top
​- finish the Pleiades II quilt top
- grout the last mosaic wall!

And then I want to start a new quilt and maybe make some cheery postcards to send in April.

February didn't have quite the productivity of January but it was still a great month. I'm most pleased that I got these 2 Hunter's Star veterans quilts made.

My goals for February were:
- finish the UFO flower block placemats (DONE)
- 4 - 6 more veterans quilts (DONE)
- start quilting one of my larger and more intense quilts (NOT DONE - have to find black batting)
- start a quilt using my shibori blocks  (STARTED)
- start a symmetry cat quilt for my SIL (not started but planned) 
- while working on the cat quilt resume piecing the Pleiades II (not started)
- quilt and bind the autumnal veterans Hunter Star quilt (DONE plus the gray one)

I've decided to wait until the shibori penguins are done before I start the symmetry quilts

I quilted one more veterans quilt than my goal, and for the moment, I'm all caught up. As soon as I can find a black king size batting I'll get the postage stamp quilt loaded and started.

I finally finished the 12 placemats that are made from UFO applique blocks and my new/old hobby, crochet, is getting a lot of attention. Mom and I made a comfort quilt for a friend's mother and I chopped up the leftover batting from the veterans quilts and made 4 more dog beds.

Going through the quilter's estate this month inspired me to take a long look around my own spaces so I'm in major purge mode. I've started with purging fiber art supplies that I will no longer use. A couple of my friends are in a fiber art group so I'm going to see if they want any of the stuff.

Right now I'm working on taking 5 - 10 yard samples of all of my yarns. that's all I'll need for using in postcards and the other art quilters can get lengths of each for their own collections.

Then my friend, Estelle, mentioned that she was going to make some more fabric-wrapped cord bowls and coasters and now I'm tackling this pile of fabric strips.

So here we go on a set of coasters for a gift for someone moving into a new apartment.

Plus there's another baby blanket underway!

My goals for March are:

- finish the Penguin quilt top
- piece the flower applique top
- plan the quilting for the postage stamp quilt
- finish cleaning out the sewing room
- make another baby blanket
- start the symmetry cat quilt
​- work on Pleiades II 

I don't expect any finishes in March but I'm sure I can make some good progress.

I started 2019 with 18 UFO projects and had it whittled down to 12 by the beginning of this month. With Groovy and Jackie's Choice that list is going to briefly be at 10. I don't think I can expect better than that because you can squash the desire to start new projects for long.

My goals for January were:
- quilt and bind Groovy 2 - DONE!
- make placemants with some flower applique blocks because they will never become a quilt - in process
- quilt 4 - 6 veterans quilts - 6 DONE!
​- load Jackie's Choice and start quilting - FINISHED THE QUILT!

These are the 6 veterans quilts that are quilted and I cut out at least 6 more veterans quilt kits. I don't count those in my project list because they are really just sewing for quilt club and travel. Worst case I can always give the kits to members of our club to piece. I'll just tally them as completed.

The other thing that I'll only be tallying as completed is crochet baby blankets. I used to crochet a lot in high school and when we went to Nashville in December I was looking for a project to do in the car. I have to have something to occupy me or else I become a horrid passenger. I do know how to knit too but I enjoy crochet more. On that trip I used some leftover yarn to crochet a dish  cloth (it took about 4 tries before I got the hang of doing it again). It was fun to do but I know I will not like using dish cloths like that. I decided to try baby blankets. I can donate them to local charities and they will be great for the car and TV. Maybe I'll start another blanket stitch applique project at some point but this will hold me for a while. Yarn from Walmart and a free pattern and I'm on my way.

I also got one pet bed made in January and should have several more in February.

Here are my ending stats:

Starting UFO 12 (18 in 2019)
Finished YTD 2
Started YTD 0
Ending UFO 10
Veterans quilts made - 0
Veterans quilts quilted - 6
Fabric Postcards - 0
Pet Beds 1
Garment 
​Placemats -
​​Quilted for others - 0

In February I do plan to start a couple of new projects but my main goals are:
- finish the UFO flower block placemats
- 4 - 6 more veterans quilts
- start quilting one of my larger and more intense quilts
- start a quilt using my shibori blocks (already on the UFP list)
- start a symmetry cat quilt for my SIL (a new project)
- while working on the cat quilt resume piecing the Pleiades II
- quilt and bind the autumnal veterans Hunter Star quilt

It's a lot but I'm going to have one whole week alone in February.

I had 4 goals for December:
​- Finish Groovy 2
- Finish Dog Gone Cute
- Finish the sun print veterans quilts
- Grout the backsplash mosaic

I am thrilled that I completed 3 of the 4! I know that Groovy will get done in January because I'm about to get started quilting it. The rest of the month was spent getting my Christmas postcards done.

I started tracking my projects in 2016 and had 23 UFO projects at that time. It was pretty overwhelming. I'm much happier with a list of only 12 and that I reduced the list by another 6 this year. I don't ever expect the list to be zero but I'd love to see it under 8. That's doable if I can control new starts.

Here's how I ended the year:
Starting UFO 18 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 15
Started YTD 9
Ending UFO 12
Veterans quilts made - 9
Veterans quilts quilted - 40
Fabric Postcards - 152
Pet Beds 12
Garment 
​Placemats -
​​Quilted for others - 4

The UFO list only includes quilts and mosaic. Veterans quilts, postcards, pet beds, placemats, etc are just bonus. It was a big year for bonus projects!

Here's what's left on my UFO list:

Second mosaic wall section - beaded curtain
Pleiades II symmetry quilt
Blue vintage flower applique - started June 2018
Loony Moony - started June 2018
1 Groovy quilt
Kaleidoscope Block of the Week (Jackie's Choice)
Postage Stamp Quilt (the oldest UFO)
Vintage Flower appliqué (top finished in May 2018)
Shibori dyeing series (need to decide if I'm doing anything with them)
Flower appliqué on green wall hanging (need setting plan)
Dark red screen printed fabric (in gold) for placemats
Red leaf prints for wall hanging

I'd love to say that I'm going to do all of these in 2020. It would only be 1 a month but I know that at least 4 of these are going to be intense quilting projects and I'm slow as molasses at custom quilting. But I can easily cut this list in half. I have 2 new projects planned already but I'll try to at least finish one before each start.

For January my goals are:
 - quilt and bind Groovy 2
- make placemants with some flower applique blocks because they will never become a quilt
- quilt 4 - 6 veterans quilts
​- load Jackie's Choice and start quilting
​

I had grand goals and didn't quite get them all done. But it was still a good month and I'm happy with everything I got done. Here's were I sit with the goals I had:
- grout both mosaics - haven't done this yet. I did buy the grout for the backsplash but I have to do it when I can leave the windows on the basement open for a few days. The grout off-gasses so I have to ventilate. Hopefully it will get done soon.
- 4th of July quilt - done!
- both Groovy quilts - one is done and the other is under construction
- Dog Gone Cute quilt - hope to get it quilted this month
- sunprint veteran's quilts - had I taken these on my Thanksgiving weekend trip as planned they would be done. I'll get them wrapped up this week
 - Plus the 80 Christmas postcards. - I didn't expect to get all of these done in November, but I did. I'll be posting them later this week.

Here are my number through November:
Starting UFO 18 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 12
Started YTD 8
Ending UFO 14
Veterans quilts made - 7
Veterans quilts quilted - 40
Fabric Postcards - 64
Pet Beds 12
Garment 
​Placemats -
​​Quilted for others - 4

By the end of December I will have added over 80 postcards to the count and might have my UFO number down to close to 10. My goals for the month are:

- Finish Groovy 2
- Finish Dog Gone Cute
- Finish the sun print veterans quilts
- Grout the backsplash mosaic

If I can get those down I'll end the year with a record low of 10 UFO projects. At this point I want next year to be about tackling some of my more involved longarm quilting projects. I only have 2 projects that I want to start but I won't cut into either until these last 4 projects are done, even if it's not until February

As I look back October wasn't a particularly productive month but that's no surprise given the 10-day cold. I did eeek in one last finish (of sorts) before the end of the month. This is a quilt that my friend Anne made. Before you ask, this quilt was based on an original quilt by Lisa-Marie Sanders and we had to get special permission to make this one copy. If you have to have your own crab quilt you might be able to get in touch with her here.

I posted it a few weeks ago asking for help with quilting ideas. We liked the idea of an overall watery effect best so that's what I did. The thing I care about most is that it's done! Now I can move on to other things on my list.

My goals for October were:
- Finish 3 "Paula" quilts - I finished "I'm Not a Snowflake" and "Where in the world is my cat?" I did start a 3rd one and got it through quilting. Benartex didn't have room for it in the booth. I completely forgot about is so I'll share it next week with the story about what happened to it.
- Quilt 4th of July - no progress
- Grout the mosaics - no progress
- Finish the 2 sun print veterans quilts - the second quilt top is done and both are ready to quilt
​- Start Christmas postcards - I did get them started. I even have ideas for all 3 designs so I'll be getting back on these very soon.

But I spent most of the month on a new project which is becoming 2 quilts. That's the ice dyed quilts. The small one is ready for quilting once a back is dyed. The big one is ready to piece.

I also started a Hunter's Star veterans quilt. I'm not counting that in my stats until it's finished. It's my project for CSQ sewing days.

Here are the current stats:

Finished YTD 10
Started YTD 8
Ending UFO 16
Veterans quilts made - 7
Veterans quilts quilted - 40
Fabric Postcards - 64
Pet Beds 12
Garment 
​Placemats -
​​Quilted for others - 4

I'd really like to knock out some projects to close out 2019. I've reviewed my list and I think if I focus I can finish all of these projects:

- grout both mosaics
- 4th of July quilt
- both Groovy quilts
- Dog Gone Cute quilt
- sunprint veteran's quilts
Plus the 80 Christmas postcards. 

It's going to take some discipline but I think I can do it. That could get me below 10 UFO projects for the first time ever.

Look what came home with me yesterday! 

My Mom's former neighbor, and quilting buddy, died a few months ago and her husband is starting to tackle her sewing room. She had 5 machines and I decided that I could uses this one as an extra travel machine. When my friend, Laura, travels with me we tend to fight over sewing machine access. Now we will both have one. It wasn't very expensive and I've already tested it out. It makes a great stitch! In a few weeks he's going to have a heck of a yard sale of her fabric. We will not be going back to Farmville for that because neither of us need more fabric. But I'm happy to have this sweet little machine.

(The quilt just in the corner of the photo is one of the "Paula" quilts so there's your sneak peek!)

On to project accounting. I really don't have a lot to actually show for what was a really productive month.

Here are the starting stats:

Starting UFO 16 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 4
Started YTD 3
Ending UFO 15
Veterans quilts made - 7
Veterans quilts quilted - 40
Fabric Postcards - 57
Pet Beds 6
Garment 
​Placemats -
​​Quilted for others - 1

Here's what's happened in September:
- I've finished 2 of the Paula quilts (one needs a sleeve and both still need labels) and I started a 3rd one. She only wanted 1 quilt but once I got inspired I couldn't stop. But I'm going to count then as 3 starts for September. They will all be finished by October 14, the day before they are to be mailed.
​-  Crazy lady postcards so that's 7 more for the year
- Quilted 2 baby quilts for Mom
​- Finished the 4th of July top. I bought this backing for it yesterday
- Finished 1 of 2 veterans quilt tops
- Got a new quilt idea that involves ice dyed blocks that my friend, Anne, and I are going to start on this week!

I still haven't grouted the mosaic sections yet because it's still too hot but supposedly fall is finally arriving this week. So as soon as the Paula quilts are done that's the next thing on my agenda.

My current stats are:
​Starting UFO 16 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 4
Started YTD 6
Ending UFO 15
Veterans quilts made - 7
Veterans quilts quilted - 40
Fabric Postcards - 64
Pet Beds 6
Garment 
​Placemats -
​​Quilted for others - 3

My goals for October:
- Finish 3 "Paula" quilts
- Quilt 4th of July
- Grout the mosaics
- Finish the 2 sun print veterans quilts
​- Start Christmas postcards

Let's face it, my progress report is for me and no one really cares about it so let's have the important information first! These are the winners of the giveaway week drawings. There were over 700 entries every day. That has to be a record!

I've notified all of the winners but if you see your name on the list and haven't received my email just get in touch with me.

Monday - bag os scraps - Sandra Solberg
Tuesday - Reflections - Bernie Crawford
Wednesday - greens - Lynn Morhous
Thursday - blue and orange - Margaret Griffiths
Friday - wide blue - Caryn Sakaguchi
Saturday - waste fabrics - Kristin Farwig

Congratulations to all of the winners and thank you to everyone who entered.
​

My goals for August were simple. I knew I'd be gone for 2 weeks so my goals had to be modest:

- Finish the puppy quilt top and get backing fabric ready
- quilt 4 more veterans quilts
- work on 4th of July quilt 
- plan a project for another of my UFO items. I'm feeling some placemats coming on from a set of orphan blocks.

I'm pleasantly surprised that I actually got all of these things done! The puppy quilt top was the big accomplishment. It can now move to the to-be-quilted pile. I also quilted 4 more veterans quilts and have completed my personal goal of 40 for the year.

Yesterday between border sewing sessions I decided to look around for something to sew after the dog quilt is done. It's not difficult to find something new to sew! I have loads or projects that I want to do but I also still have over a dozen projects on the UFO list. I looked at a couple of see if I might be able to do something fast with them to get them done. Plus I want to grout the mosaics and start my Spirograph floor cloths in September so I need a couple of quick and easy sewing projects. Here's what I came up with.

It's been a couple of years since I've done any sunprinting and one reason is that I still have a stash of sunprinted fabrics. This is one of those stashes. I sunprinted these in an autumnal color palette because I intended to make a wall hanging with them. But I'm in quilt mode, not wall art mode so it's time to do something else with them.

I had set aside these fabrics to put with them so I think I'm feeling a couple of autumnal veterans quilts. I'll need to wash the sun prints to get out the excess paint and soften them up but I think I can make at least 1 nice veterans quilt with them. Maybe 2!

These blocks are the blocks I made when learning to applique. I never really had a plan for them and they've just been sitting in a basket for years. It's time to use them for SOMETHING. These aren't tight for a veterans quilt. But they will be great for placemats and placemats make great Christmas gifts.

I had this stack of fabrics with them. These are the fabrics I pulled my applique fabrics from. I think I envision the blocks set in a bright checkerboard frame. The blocks are different sizes so I can use the checkerboard to get each piece to the right size. I'll ponder it more until I start on them in September.

​But at least I have some things to work on when the puppy quilt is done....probably tomorrow!

I'm getting smarter about setting goals for the month. My goals for July were much more realistic than usual. Maybe my new strategy is to set the bar low and overproduce!

My goals for July were:

- finish both mosaic walls - the mosaic part is done but I didn't factor in that it's summer and I can't open the windows. I'll have to wait until September to do the grouting but I'm happy that I got the fish backsplash mosaic done.
- one EQ lesson -  I actually did 2 EQ lessons but there's not enough to share to really make a post. But I learned a couple of new things! I did play around in EQ a lot this month designing the puppy quilt and some quilts for the new Paula Nadelstern fabric samples that I'll be making in September.
- make something with the blue quilt - I made 3 somethings with that blue quilt! I turned it into 3 veterans quilts and even wrote a tutorial for one of the designs.
- start something new! - I started and made great progress on the puppy quilt. I feel like I will absolutely get this done by the end of the year.

But my big accomplishment for the month was quilting veterans quilts. I even got 2 more done this week.

Both of these were made by my friend, Patty. She kindly makes a couple of veterans tops for us each year and sends them to me with binding already cut.

She used some fun flannel sports prints and I got to use my wavy cross hatch again. I have missed doing that fast quilting motif but I haven't had good candidates in a while. It was perfect for these 2 quilts.

I used a pretty pale blue hand dyed fabric for the backing. I quilted several other veterans quilts in July so my total for the year is up to 36 and that doesn't include the 7 that I've made on my own. I commit to do up to 40 so I'll get the last 4 done in August. After that I'm not committing to any more veterans quilts for the rest of the year. It's time to get some of my own quilts done.

I also made nine more postcards and I have more to finish in August.

Here are my ending stats for July:
Starting UFO 16 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 4
Started YTD 3
Ending UFO 15
Veterans quilts made - 7
Veterans quilts quilted - 36
Fabric Postcards - 43
Pet Beds 6
Garment 
​Placemats -
​​Quilted for others - 1

My goals for August are:
- Finish the puppy quilt top and get backing fabric ready
- quilt 4 more veterans quilts
- work on 4th of July quilt (it will get a lot of attention while on vacation)
- plan a project for another of my UFO items. I'm feeling some placemats coming on from a set of orphan blocks.

​I'll grout the mosaic walls in September.