A Lovely Year of Finishes - September Completes

I know I have one more day, and could probably get something else done on my list, but I'm calling September done.  I got lots done and nothing done.  Makes lots of sense right.  I got lots done, in that I worked on things, but nothing because so many things are still in progress.  But here goes, time to review my list.

1. Bee Blocks. Done!!! This was my main goal and they are done and have been taken to the post office. Yeah I even made it before the last day of the month (ok just one day early, but I will take it). I liked both blocks this month and see me making quilts with them in the future.  For the Stash Bee I did Pineapple blocks for Grace and these were easy and made big blocks, so a quilt should come together quickly. For the Bee Hive I did a Jagged Little Pill block for Tori. Now I had this one all put together and posted on FB when I was told I had done it wrong. I had to take it apart and put it back together, but I still love the block.

2. Midnight Mystery QAL. I am all done with this month's instructions and am anxiously awaiting the next set that should come out on Thursday of this week.  This month we did square in a square blocks and they were fun and easy to do.  I used my bloc-loc flying geese ruler to trim them which made the trimming fast.

3. Turning Twenty BOM Stars. I've completed both sets of stars. I'm learning something pretty important along the way and that is I don't like little blocks. I'm loving the 12" blocks, but the 6" ones are killing me. I still can't picture in my head how this is going to work, but I'm still loving all the Miss Kate fabrics.  Here are the last set of blocks, I've already put the ones from earlier this month into my box.

4. Trey and Jess's Tree Skirt. Well I opened the jelly roll and started grouping strips together, but that is it.  It is going to have to be tops on my list for next month.

5. Dog Gone Cute Quilt. I have the four blocks I'm using done. But I want to add more sashing around them. I used different background colors on each block and I want to sash them first with the background color that matches the block and then a yellow that I'm also going to use for the back of the quilt. I had hoped to have the first layer of sashing done by today, but it just ain't happening.

6. Cross Blocks. I actually got 21 more blocks done.  I'm getting closer and closer. I've got my list of colors to make and I'm slowly whittling them down.  I cut the blocks early in the month, so I could sew on them in between things, which really worked well. The other 3 are duplicates of one of the centers shown, and so I skipped photographing them.

7. Memory Quilts. Very little progress, but I did do some organizing on them.

8. Sharla's Machine Cover. Done, complete, finished!!!!!  Yeah, it feels so good to totally finish something. So many of my projects are on going things, that I forget that sense of accomplishment when something is totally done. It even looks good covering my machine. I think we may have made it a little wider than needed, but it will work.

9. Flying Geese/Tic Tac Toe Blocks. I've made some progress on both of these, but one more than the other. I've sewn enough geese for 7 more blocks.  I have them put together in their sides, but I want to wait until I have more until I put the two sides together.  I will say flying geese are fast becoming my favorite block to make.  I've also cut the fabric for 7 more tic tac toe blocks, but haven't done any sewing on them yet.

10. Quilt something. Well I did quilt Sharla's machine cover, but I was hoping for more. That was the only thing quilted this month.

So I'm saying I finished or made good progress on 7 out of 10, which for me is a major win.  Next month I'm going to have to focus on a couple of things left on the list, but hey, I'm very happy with what I got done. Plus aren't those geese just too cute!!!!  Today I am linking up with Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Designs and Shannon of Fiber of All Sorts.

Sunday Stash #145

Hello world, I hope you are having a wonderful day. I've been a busy little beaver this month, doing all kinds of things. Not accomplishing too much, but having a good time. Today I'm going to show you some of the things I purchased recently.  Last year I did the piggy bank challenge, and when I counted up my money in July, I knew one of things I was going to purchase was Eden by Tula Pink.

I admit I'm a true fan girl of Tula Pink, if I had to choose one designer and that was the only designer I could ever purchase fabric from it would be Tula. I love everything she does, some I love more than others, but I love it all. In fact I actually purchased 2 bundles of Moonshine, so I could have one to make into something on it's own and have the other to add to my FQ stash to mix in with other projects.

When I first saw photos of Eden, it couldn't have been more me, purple, pink and green are my jam!!! Then I found out it had elephants and I was sold. I have been waiting with baited breath for it to be available in stores. Then I had to take all my coins and deposit them in the bank (I didn't do it until time to buy so I didn't buy something else instead). And I am so glad I waited.

Now that is a pretty pile of fabric, plain and simple.  I know everyone is love the crouching tiger fabrics and I don't blame them at all.  There is purple, burgundy and teal tigers, but if you know me at all you know that my favorite is the......

Purple, but I love the other colors as well. And as much as I love the tigers, they aren't my favorite fabrics of the collection. I've always had a thing for elephants, and this bundle has 3 elephant fabrics. The pink and blue are wonderful, but the orange/pink is my favorite.

There are other prints in the set that I really like as well...ok I like them all, but I will say a few are my favorites.  I have no idea of what I'm going to use these to create, so for now they are in my petting pile.  I just look at them and pet them and that makes me happy.

I've purchased more, and so has Sharla, but I'm going to spread out showing them too ya'll for a little bit.  We've both said we have to stop purchasing fabric, but as soon as we say thank we find something else we want.  But hopefully we will hold off until we get some of the projects we already have completed.

Today I'm linking up with Sunday Stash #145 @ Molli Sparkles.

A Lovely Year of Finishes - September Goals

I have a rather large to-do list this month. Ok I know I have a large one everyone month, but for some reason things keep jumping onto my list faster than I can get things completed. As always, the first item is the main one that I want to accomplish, but having a list really helps keep me focused.

1. Bee Blocks.  I have two this month, the Stash Bee is a pineapple block using low volume, grey, black, blue and teal.  I've not ever done the method recommended so I'm anxious to try it. The Bee Hive is a block called Jagged Little Pill and looks like lots of fun, it is white, aqua and green.

2. Midnight Mystery Quilt. We got the September instructions and it is to make square in a square blocks. I did one to test to make sure mine would turn out the correct size, and it did. So now I just need to do 33 more.

3. Turning Twenty BOM Stars. We will get instructions for 2 different blocks done in two sizes. I'm all caught up with this BOM and I want to stay that way.  We get the first instructions on the 7th, so I'm hoping to use Labor Day to do a little BOM sewing.

4. Trey and Jess's Tree Skirt. They asked me last Christmas to make them a quilted one, and I've got the fabric and just need to get started. My goal is to get it all the blocks made this month.  If I get more done, great, but I need at least the blocks made.

5. Dog Gone Cute Quilt. I've joined the QAL called Dog Gone Cute and my day for the blog hop is October 20th. I'm doing a fairly small project, it will be a small quilt representing Cooper, Tucker, Zoey and Hollywood.  I tested the small block last week and decided I wanted to do the bigger blocks. The quilt is my remembrance quilt for Cooper and Tucker, and I've added Zoey and Hollywood so I'm not totally sad when making it. Here is the test block I did.

6. Cross Blocks. I want to get 20 more blocks done this month. If I can get them done it will make me about 84% done with the blocks.  I've gotten some cut, but I don't know that I have twenty cut yet. I'm being more selective because I'm trying to make sure I have a good mix of colors. So I have to makes sure I don't cut too many of any one color.  Last month I did lots of yellow blocks, this month is will be more green and purple one.

7. Memory Quilts. Can't take this off the list until they are done. I want to make progress even if it is slow progress.

8. Sharla's Machine Cover. I need to get it quilted and sewn together. Maybe it will also be a Labor Day project.

9. Flying Geese Blocks/Tic Tac Toe Blocks.  Just like my cross blocks, I want quilts larger than I would get if I only used the bee blocks I received. So I need to make some more of each of these. My hope is if I can make one or two of each each month then they will add up and I will be able to finish these before the end of the year. I think I'm going to do something like I did with the cross blocks and cut a several blocks, so that I can always work on them in between other project.

10. Quilt something. I need to get back to quilting. I miss it and they are stacking up, well not really, I've not finished many tops this summer, but I still have a back log that needs to be finished.

That is it for this month. I'm really hoping I have lots and lots and lots of photos to show ya'll at the end of them month and I've finished all 10 items (or at least make lots of progress on them). I am linking up with Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Designs and Shannon of Fiber of All Sorts.

Thankful Thursday - 09/03/15

I thought it was time to do another Thankful Thursday post, because it has been a while and I do have lots of reasons to be thankful.  I am a firm believer that if we stay in a grateful state of mind, we are much happier all around.  So let's get started on reason I'm thankful today.

1. Air Conditioning. At the beginning of August we had some air conditioning issues, and went without air or limited air for about a week.  Let's just say Texas, August and no air conditioning is not a combination that is pleasant. But it is now fixed and I am a very happy girl.

2. Bee Blocks.  I know I listed this last time, but I was queen of a different bee for August and I've started getting my blocks. I am even blessed enough to have a couple of friends from other hives crash in and send me blocks.  Who doesn't love extra blocks...not me that is for sure.  I can see this quilt coming together.

3. Holiday Weekend. I am for four days this coming weekend. Which is a pretty rare thing for me, and I'm ohhh so excited.  I want to get some things done, including my Midnight Mystery square in a square blocks (that I just got instructions for today) and my Dog Gone Cute blocks.  I worked on one block this week as a test to see if I wanted to do the small blocks or the large blocks and I've decided on the large blocks.  But I can say the small one wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, it was actually a lot of fun to do. Here is my practice block of Zoey.  I'm going to do a mini quilt that has Cooper, Tucker, Zoey and Hollywood. 

4. Hollywood. Not the city but the fur baby. It has been a rough couple of months for Hollywood. He and Tucker weren't the best of buddies, but he knew something was wrong when we lost Tucker and then he got sent home from doggie day care, twice because of worms. Both times meant a trip to the vet, which he really dislikes.  He doesn't do well with strangers and strangers that want to put in on a cold metal table and poke him are the worst. But he is feeling much better and tries his best to be lap dog to make up for Tucker. I'm not sure what I would do without him sleeping on my feet daily.

5. My Crockpot. I have used my crockpot more than ever this summer. On average I would say I've used it between 3 and 4 times a week. It allows me to fix dinner (or a major portion of it) without heating the house with the oven or stove top. This summer we've used it to fix ribs, ham, roast, but also things like hash brown casserole, chicken spaghetti and red beans. Some dishes have just been ok, but others have been really good.  I've been regularly searching Pinterest for recipes and even started a board of only crockpot recipes.  I can't wait for cooler weather because I've found lots of soup recipes I want to try.

Well that is my list for today. I could easily extend the list even longer, but for now I'm happy listing the top 5 things I'm thankful for at the moment.