Vacations are wonderful things and we all need them whether we actually go anywhere or not. A staycation can be just as relaxing and refreshing as traveling. But one thing that's true about these breaks is that there seems to be a lot of work on the front end to get ready and on the back end to get everything back to normal. Nowhere is that more evident for me than the blog. Today I believe that I'm finally catching up with my UFO update post.

I was determined to get SOMETHING done in August and this baby quilt was the perfect project. I made the top several years ago so I just had to quilt and bind it.

I picked up some lobster fabric just because I was in Maine. I'm going to make some new potholders with them because, really, you only need so much lobster-themed stuff around your house! I found that fish fabric and had to get some for Chris. Most fish fabric has images of lake fish like trout, because they are so pretty but Chris likes off-shore fishing and this fabric has all of the fish that he likes to fish for. I'll have to let this one sit for a while until I decide what to do with it. The 12 fat quarters are all Maine-themed and I think I'll make myself some placemats with them.....eventually.

After I finished the projects that I brought with me I was looking for something else to make. I was in the kitchen and saw this.

That's one sad cushion and I though maybe I could make some new cushions for these chairs. I'm sure that it's impossible to find cushions for these chairs because the seats are smaller than normal.

Laura and I headed for the fabric shop (again) where I searched for some appropriate fabric. The owners of this house are understated so bright prints or giant blue and white lobsters (my only options) weren't appropriate. I had to settle for khaki canvas.

Here are the finished cushions. I overstuffed them because I know that they will flatten out some over time. The stuffing is from 2 Wal-Mart pillows ($5), the fabric was less than $15 and the buttons less than $5. The owner of the house was thrilled. He's apparently been looking for cushions to fit these odd-sized chairs for a long time. So that was my good deed for the month.

I also quilted 4 more veterans quilts in August, bringing my total to 16.

Here are my stats at the beginning of the month:

My starting goals for 2018 were:
Starting UFO 15
Finished YTD Goal 12
Started YTD Planned 6
Ending UFO Goal 9
Veterans YTD Goal 40

Here are my stats after August:

Starting UFO 15
Finished YTD 3 (Goal 12)
Started YTD 6 (Planned 6)
Ending UFO 18 (Goal 9)
Veterans YTD 16 (Goal 40)
Fabric Postcards 57
Pet Beds 2
Garment 2
​Placemats - 4
​Chair cushions/pillows - 3
​Quilted for others - 2

How are you doing with your goals for the year?

Given that I dyed over 400 yards of fabric this month, I'm pretty pleased that I accomplished anything! I finished Stars At Sea.

And quilted 2 quilts for Mom. 

My primary goal for August is to quilt and bind this baby quilt for a baby that's due in 2019. It will make me feel like I'm actually accomplishing things to have a gift read so early! I have a few veterans quilts that I'll try to get quilted but I'll be away half of the month and am taking my sewing machine with me. Maybe I can get the Antelope Canyon top together.

My starting goals for 2018 were:
Starting UFO 15
Finished YTD Goal 12
Started YTD Planned 6
Ending UFO Goal 9
Veterans YTD Goal 40

Here's where I stand at the end of July:
Starting UFO 15
Finished YTD 2 (Goal 12)
Started YTD 6 (Planned 6)
Ending UFO 19 (Goal 9)
Veterans YTD 8 (Goal 40)
Fabric Postcards 57
Pet Beds 2
Garment 2
​Placemats - 4
​Quilted for others - 2

There's no way I'll hit my UFO goal but I'm fine with that. Conceivably I can get it back to where I started the year and, given my dyeing schedule and arm injury, that will be a fine goal.

​I hope you are making better progress on your goals!

Oh what a month! I had big plans and all were dashed when I injured my arm at the beach and that meant the end of longarm quilting for a few weeks. The few weeks turned into more like 5 or 6. I am finally going to be able to get back to it and am going to quilt one of Mon's quilts and my Stars at Sea quilt before loading Lost My Marbles again. So I might have 1 finish for the month.

But what I accomplished in June was two NEW projects! I started Loony Moony to applique shibori moons on a hand dyed background. I also started another flower applique project. These have kept me busy while I couldn't sew or quilt.

Meanwhile my friend, Marcy, quilted 8 veterans quilts for me!

My starting goals for 2018 were:
Starting UFO 15
Finished YTD Goal 12
Started YTD Planned 6
Ending UFO Goal 9
Veterans YTD Goal 40

Here's where things currently stand:
Starting UFO 15
Finished YTD 1 (Goal 12)
Started YTD 6 (Planned 6)
Ending UFO 20 (Goal 9)
Veterans YTD 12 (Goal 40)
Fabric Postcards 57
Pet Beds 2
Garment 2
​Placemats - 4

Clearly things are going in the wrong direction! I don't expect that to get much better either and I'm OK with it. I do know of one more project that I want to start but that will probably be this fall before I can start it. Meanwhile my main focus is on getting ready for the AQS Virginia Beach show and I have about 400 more yards of fabric to dye to be less stressed about that. My 2 new hand sewing projects are about all I have the energy to do when I finally sit down in the evening. I might make some great progress on both this summer and fall.

How are you doing on your UFO projects? 

Well, May sure went by quickly and I don't have a lot to show for it! The big news of the month was finishing the applique quilt top.

I know I just shared this photo a few days ago but I just can't help taking another peek at it! After all, we all know that it's going to be a long time before we see it on the quilt frame. I don't even have one whiff in an idea for how to quilt it.

Now I'm moving on to find another handwork project and I'll post about that later. You will not be surprised that it's likely to be TWO new handwork projects. (Don't strain your eyes with that eye roll you just did!)

I've made a little progress on some other projects but I'm still weeks away from a finish. Now that I hurt my arm there will be no sewing or quilting for another week or so. I can start dyeing again this week and work on my mosaic wall so that's where I'll focus.

Meanwhile I've recruited my friend Marcy fro some quilting. She wants practice and the machine is open for a couple of weeks so she's going to do some veteran's quilts for us. Yes, I will be counting them in my stats for June.....after all, they will be quilted on my machine. That's the excuse I'm using so I'm going with it.

My starting goals for 2018 were:
Starting UFO 15
Finished YTD Goal 12
Started YTD Planned 6
Ending UFO Goal 9
Veterans YTD Goal 40

Here are my current stats:
Starting UFO 15
Finished YTD 1 (Goal 12)
Started YTD 4 (Planned 6)
Ending UFO 18 (Goal 9)
Veterans YTD 4 (Goal 40)
Fabric Postcards 57
Pet Beds 2
Garment 2
​Placemats - 4

If you are tracking your own projects I hope you had better results from your May!

Well, here we are with another month with no finishes! My biggest accomplishment for April was helping Mom move and, while it was a lot of effort and time, it was the smoothest move either of us could have expected.
I also made a big decision in April to vend at the AQS show in Virginia Beach in October. That means twice as much dyeing to do between now and then. I'm getting into a new routine but the first 2 weeks took a little getting used to.
​On the project front, I've been making a bit of progress but nothing is done.

I finished the applique borders and I'm ready to attach them to the quilt and applique the 4 corner blocks.

The Stars at Sea top is done and I've started piecing Antelope Canyon

A new Pleiades quilt is underway

Lost my marbles was moving along at a great pace until I had a giant TMJ flare up this past weekend so I haven't worked on it in a week. 

I want to get all of the little marbles done and then I'm going to take it off to catch up on veteran's quilts and to quilt Stars at Sea. Then I'll reload Marbles and finish it off later this summer.

I also cut one more project, Indonesian Scraps, that I'll work on as one of my travel sewing projects.

I did finish one project when I got another tunic made. I have fabric for a few more and hope to finish another one in May.

My goals for May are lenient.  We have a family vacation at the end of the month. So it's a 3-week month for me. I want to :

- finish the small marbles on Lost my marbles
- quilt Stars at Sea
- quilt some veterans quilts
- cut out the rest of the blocks for Pleiades II
- work on the mosaic beaded wall

These are very achievable goals as long as I don't have any more TMJ pain or some other little surprise.

My starting goals for 2018 were:
Starting UFO 15
Finished YTD Goal 12
Started YTD Planned 6
Ending UFO Goal 9
Veterans YTD Goal 40

Here are my stats as of April 30:
Starting UFO 15
Finished YTD 1 (Goal 12)
Started YTD 4 (Planned 6)
Ending UFO 18 (Goal 9)
Veterans YTD 4 (Goal 40)
Fabric Postcards 54
Pet Beds 2
Garment 2
​Placemats - 4

It includes the fish postcards that I made earlier this month.

There's good new and there's not so good news.

I finished 4 projects which is great but none of the 4 were planned! I also cut out one more quilt with the Indonesian batik fabrics.

I didn't finish anything on my UFO list but I'm making progress on the Lost My marbles quilt, the applique quilt and the mosaic wall. So I'm calling the month a success!

My starting goals for 2018 were:
Starting UFO 15
Finished YTD Goal 12
Started YTD Planned 6
Ending UFO Goal 9
Veterans YTD Goal 40

This month I finished 1 garment(!) 2 postcards, a set of placemats and started 1 more quilt!

That leaves me with these stats:
Starting UFO 15
Finished YTD 1 (Goal 12)
Started YTD 3 (Planned 6)
Ending UFO 17 (Goal 9)
Veterans YTD 4 (Goal 40)
Fabric Postcards 45
Garments 1
Pet Beds 2

I do not have any expectation to finish anything in April. I'm helping my Mom move and get settled in her new apartment and I have a LOT of dyeing to catch up on when my new 2000-meter order of fabric arrives next week. My goal is to get the rest of my marbles quilted and to get my applique borders done and sewn to the quilt so I can finish up the 4 corners. I've ordered some more batik rayon so I might make another summer top.

I hope you are doing better with your UFO projects! I know that I'm adding 1 more to my list for my travel sewing projects but I hope to stop after that and finish some things this summer. If you want to track along with my you are welcome to leave a link or your status int he comments.

Thank goodness for the Maine quilt! I have my first finish for 2018.

My starting goals for 2018 were:
Starting UFO 15
Finished YTD Goal 12
Started YTD Planned 6
Ending UFO Goal 9
Veterans YTD Goal 40

This month I finished 1 quilt, quilted 4 veterans quilts and started 2 new quilts: Stars at Sea and Antelope Canyon. Both of those will probably be done this year but I'm in no hurry. I already know that I'm going to cut out one more quilt soon with the new Indonesian Batiks.

That leaves me with these stats:
Starting UFO 15
Finished YTD 1 (Goal 12)
Started YTD 2 (Planned 6)
Ending UFO 16 (Goal 9)
Veterans YTD 4 (Goal 40)
Fabric Postcards 34
Pet Beds 2

I'm heading in the wrong direction but I"m not going to worry about that yet!
In March I want to make a new set of placemats, make some progress quilting Lost My Marbles (the brown drunkard's path) and cut out the Indonesian Batik quilt. I night even be able to make more progress on my applique project or look at one of the smaller projects that I have on the UFO list.

Time to check in to see if I actually accomplished anything in January!

My 2018 goals are:
Starting UFO 15
Finished YTD Goal 12
Started YTD Planned 6
Ending UFO Goal 9
Veterans YTD Goal 40

For January I didn't finish any quilts and almost started a new one. I'm really holding off on starting Antelope Canyon until I get the Maine quilt top done. But mostly in January I've been working on getting my classes and booth ready for Birds of a Feather next week.

But I did make 34 fabric postcards.

Last night after I finished my booth prep list for the day I had a couple of hours to fill so I emptied my overflowing scrap bin to make 2 dog beds for my friend, who is now a board member of Richmond Animal League.

So, YTD here are my stats:
Starting UFO 15
Finished YTD 0 (Goal 12)
Started YTD 0 (Planned 6)
Ending UFO 15 (Goal 9)
Veterans YTD 0 (Goal 40)
Fabric Postcards 34
Pet Beds 2

What are your goals for the year?​

Time to wrap up and plan ahead. I ended December with a couple more finishes. I quilted several veterans quilts and the one above was my last one.

That quilt is still on the frame because I'm filling the edge with trees for next year's postcards. 
This quilt brought my total for the year to 39 against a goal of 40. I did include all of the quilts that were quilted on FloMo, even those by Marcy and Tina. There are 4 more that were quilted by Tina on her machine. Since I only have one top left in the closet to quilt I'm really happy that we are pretty much caught up.

I also finished Parasol this month. I was determined not to finish the year with this one hanging over my head. I do still need to do a label but we're calling it done!

Here are my stats for the year:
​Starting UFO 19
Finished YTD 17 (Goal 11)
Started YTD 13 (Planned 6)
Ending UFO 15 (Goal 14)
Veterans YTD 39 (Goal 40)


It's interesting to compare these stats to 2016:
Starting UFO 24
Finished YTD 7 (Goal 14)
Started YTD 3 (Planned 6)
Ending UFO 20 (Goal 15)
Veterans YTD 40 (Goal 40)

I started and finished 10 more projects in 2018 than 2017 and I'm down to 15 UFO projects. I think that's the least ever since I started quilting!

For 2018 I have the following UFO projects:

Actively In Process
Vintage Flower appliqué (blocks and inner border done, need to put together the rest of the top and applique outer borders)
Maine sunprinted quilt
Second mosaic wall section - beaded curtain
Mosaic backsplash

Ready to be quilted (have backs)
Baby Drunkard’s Path
Brown Drunkard’s Path 
Kaleidoscope Block of the Week (Jackie's Choice)
Postage Stamp Quilt (the oldest UFO)

Tops/Projects In Some State of Progress 
Shibori dyeing series (need to decide if I'm doing anything with them)
Flower appliqué on green wall hanging (need setting plan)
Blue vintage flower applique (after the big vintage flower applique)
Dark red screen printed fabric (in gold) for placemats
Coming Home sun prints for wall hanging
Red leaf prints for wall hanging
Blue scrappy tumbler quilt

The next project to come off the long-term list will be this one. These are blocks that I hand appliqued and they were inspired by a project that Deb levy made using Go! Cutter shapes. I used this project to learn how to hand applique. I don't really have a use for these blocks so I'll either make them into 12 placemats or a small donation quilt. This will be the next project that I work on while I spend most of my time with FloMo catching up on some of the tops.

​

The list of projects that I want to do remains the same as last year:

Projects I Want to Do (not counted)
New symmetry quilt
new Quilt Along project 
QOV/veterans mystery quilt 
New guest house quilt


Here are my goals for 2018, I want to end the year with less than 10 UFO projects

Starting UFO 15
Finished YTD Goal 12
Started YTD Planned 6
Ending UFO Goal 9
Veterans YTD Goal 40

Sometime things go as planned and sometimes they don't. 

This was a don't month but not a total failure.

There seems to be a vicious cold going around our area and both Chris and I caught it. For me it's been the entire month so I did not finish 3 project like I wanted. A cold doesn't put you totally down (except for 4 days) but it does sap your energy. That meant that I wasn't in the mood to stand at the longarm. Instead I decided to get working on my Christmas postcards. I finished 2 of 3 sets and I consider that a big accomplishment. The third set will be done this weekend. I don't track postcards are part of my project tracking. That would really get things out of hand.

My only finish for the month was this ornament kit and, honestly, I'm thrilled and calling November a big success. I also didn't start anything new so that's good too!
Here are my numbers:
​Starting UFO 19
Finished YTD 15 (Goal 11)
Started YTD 13 (Planned 6)
Ending UFO 17 (Goal 14)
Veterans YTD 31 (Goal 40)

So I'm down 2 for the year so far and I have serious hope to finish 2 projects in December. Both are easily completed. That would get me down to 15 at year end, one short of my goal. Maybe I can find some other small UFO to finish to get to my end game. 
Regardless, I'm better that I was when I started tracking and had something like 28 UFO projects!

Tracking my projects is really helpful for me so I'll keep it going in 2018. If I can get this list to less than 10 I'd be incredibly happy.

How have you done on your projects? You are welcome to link up or leave a comment.