July Progress and August Goals

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.