July continued with a focus on veterans quilts for piecing and quilting the vintage flower quilt. This veterans quilt is that last one that I finished in July.

With these 2 finished earlier in the month, my total for the month is 3 new veterans quilts. I have a huge stack in the living room (from Country School members) to get delivered to our VA hospital contact later this week. This week I'll work on some quilt kits from the stack of patriotic fabrics that I acquired recently. I'll take those kits on our vacation trip.

Two crochet projects were finished this month and both are gifts for friends. That brings my total to 10 for the year.

Of course THE big project for the month is the pizza oven mosaic! This was not an easy project but Anne and I had fun doing it and we are both really pleased with the result. It was pretty inexpensive too because most of the tiles were free!

My other big project for July is quilting the vintage flower quilt. It's about 60% done and I took it off for a break to quilt a few veterans quilts. I'll have it back on the frame later this week but I don't know if it will be done by the time we leave for vacation.

I didn't actually meet most of my July goals but I'm not unhappy with all that I did get done:
- quilt the vintage flowers quilt - 60% done
- make more pet beds - will do that this week after I trim the last of the veterans quilts
- finish a couple of veterans quilt tops - done!
- design a new piecing project - an idea is coming together and I'll get fabrics dyed before I leave for vacation.
- start the Spirograph floorcloths - it's too darned hot. This will have to wait until September

My August goals all center around vacation:
- cut some veterans quilt kits to take to Maine
- dye fabric and plan a large quilt also to take to Maine
- make and deliver pet beds before we leave
- continue quilting the flower quilt
- plan some crochet projects for the long car ride

Here are the stats for July:
Starting UFO 12 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 6
Started YTD 2
Ending UFO 5
Veterans quilts made - 9
Veterans quilts quilted - 24
Fabric Postcards - 26
Pet Beds 5
Garment 
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 4
​Crochet projects -10
COVID masks - approximately 180
​Tea towels for WHEAT fundraiser - dozens!
Mosaic pizza oven

When I look back on the month of June I see mostly a repeat of May with a focus on veterans quilts. I've been talking for weeks about my lack of inspiration to start a new project. I think that this multi-year focus on winnowing the UFO list has become too much of an obsession. Now I don't want to add to the list! I also don't have any need for a new quilt. I've made quilts for most of my family and friends (the people that want one) so focusing on veterans quilts is a fine focus for now. But I think I'm going to pull out one of my drawers of hand dyed fabrics and pick a block and start making a tonal quilt. The blue drawer is pretty full and there are lots of red/orange/yellow fabrics too. I'm also considering something foundation pieced like one of Karen K Stone's patterns.

But I'll also keep making veterans quilts. There are the 2 I finished in June. I have another top made and 2 more kits cut out.

I also finished one crochet blanket, quilted a quilt for Mom and started 2 more crochet projects! The yellow/gray one will be done tomorrow.

Here are my stats for May:
My May stats are:
​Starting UFO 12 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 7
Started YTD 2
Ending UFO 5
Veterans quilts made - 6
Veterans quilts quilted - 14
Fabric Postcards - 18
Pet Beds 5
Garment 
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 3
​Crochet projects - 7
COVID masks - approximately 180
​Tea towels for WHEAT fundraiser - dozens!

Of my goals I did everything excep planning a new quilt project and starting the Sprigraph floorcloths.

Here are the stats for June:
Starting UFO 12 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 6
Started YTD 2
Ending UFO 5
Veterans quilts made - 6
Veterans quilts quilted - 24
Fabric Postcards - 18
Pet Beds 5
Garment 
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 4
​Crochet projects -8
COVID masks - approximately 180
​Tea towels for WHEAT fundraiser - dozens!

For July my goals are:
- quilt the vintage flowers quilt
- make more pet beds
- finish a couple of veterans quilt tops
- design a new piecing project
- start the Spirograph floorcloths

May was a really productive month, especially considering that it included a week of vacation. It ended on a high note too with quilting 6 veterans quilts this weekend. The red/white/blue ones were kits that I cut and Peg pieced. She's even doing the binding!

Peg also pieced the purple/green and scrappy Kaffe ones. You may remember me talking about our quilt club getting a huge stash from a quilter who passed away recently. Her name was Pamela and she had a fabulous stash of modern fabrics, including a lot of Kaffe. Members have been making lots of things from her fabrics and that's where these 2 quilts came from. There's tons more fabric that Peg is trying to distribute but that's come to a halt since March.

The last 2 quilts are from Becky and Mom. We're going to have a nice big stack to deliver to the VA Hospital soon and, yes, they are taking them. I expect that they have some sort of procedures to quarantine them for a week or so before gifting them.

May was a big month for me with 2 big projects finished: the mosaic wall and Corona Cats quilt.

I also finished 2 crochet blankets, quilted a quilt for Mom, made 2 of my own veterans quilts, dyed and printed a boatload of tea towels for a fundraiser and, the big one, I cleaned the basement for the first time in 2 years. It was a great month.

My April Stats were:
My current stats are:
Starting UFO 12 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 5
Started YTD 1
Ending UFO 7
Veterans quilts made - 4
Veterans quilts quilted - 16
Fabric Postcards - 13
Pet Beds 5
Garment 
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 2
​Crochet projects - 5
COVID masks - approximately 180

My May stats are:
​Starting UFO 12 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 7
Started YTD 2
Ending UFO 5
Veterans quilts made - 6
Veterans quilts quilted - 22
Fabric Postcards - 18
Pet Beds 5
Garment 
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 3
​Crochet projects - 7
COVID masks - approximately 180
​Tea towels for WHEAT fundraiser - dozens!
​
I really didn't feel like I did so much last month but I'm glad I paused a minute to reflect on what I actually did accomplish.

For June I also have another vacation planned to do some hiking in Tennessee but I 3 weeks that I can be productive with. I want to accomplish:
- quilt Mom's second quilt
- load and start quilting my pink/yellow vintage flower quilt
- piece some veterans quilt tops from the 5+ kits that I have cut
- plan a new big quilt project
- start the spirograph kitchen floor cloths

Occasionally I think that I should stop doing this post but then I have a month like April and I'm glad that I sit down and take the time to look back and I'm actually surprised. April, it turns out, was a really good month.

My goals were pretty simple because I knew I'd be doing things like making masks and dyeing tea towels (my COVID contributions). Here's what I set as my goals:
- piece the flower applique top and start quilting it. I did get it pieced and eventually got some batting but needed to hold off on quilting until the mosaic was done because of the mess near the longarm.
- make the symmetry cat quilt top - I need to add 2 borders and then it will be ready to quilt
​- finish the Pleiades II quilt top - I completely changed direction on this and turned it into a veterans quilt kit
- grout the last mosaic wall

I can't take the full view photos until I move the fans out of the way. That will happen this weekend for sure because the basement is about to get a serious deep cleaning. But here's a teaser photo to prove that I did it so I can count it as an April finish. That's the BIG accomplishment of the month and it marks the end of my mosaic hobby. I really enjoyed doing these walls but I just can't do these hobbies that involved a lot of VOC emissions. It's the same reason that I do almost no fabric painting anymore. I just can't handle the fumes. But I'm glad I did all 3 projects and they make me really happy when I'm working/playing in the basement.

But in terms of time investment, April was all about community service. I started making masks in March and continued well into April eventually making over 180. Then I quilted 3 veterans quilts and now I'm in the middle of dyeing and selling dozens of tea towels to raise funds for our local food pantry. I've already sent off $480 in checks to the organization and I have loads more to dye and sell.

I finished 2 veterans quilts of my own this month and finished a new top. After my cutting marathon this week I have a total of 8 veterans quilt kits cut out and ready to piece. I want to spend most of May quilting so I'll probably limit my sewing time to veterans quilts. I don't really have excitement for any particular new project at the moment but hopefully something will gear up in my little brain soon.

Finally, I finished 2 crochet projects. Both of these will be donation blankets as soon as some of the local charities start taking them again. In only have 7 UFO projects! I didn't think I'd ever hit a number that low.

My March stats were:
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

My current stats are:
Starting UFO 12 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 5
Started YTD 1
Ending UFO 7
Veterans quilts made - 4
Veterans quilts quilted - 16
Fabric Postcards - 13
Pet Beds 5
Garment 
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 2
​Crochet projects - 5
COVID masks - approximately 180

My goals for May are:
- dye and sell another 4 - 5 dozen tea towels
- Quilt 2 quilts for Mom
- Quilt 2 of my own veterans quilts
- Start quilting the vintage flowers quilt
- Quilt and finish the cat quilt.

That means a lot of time down in the basement and I'm cool with that because I have some very nest mosaic walls to look at there.

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.