Setting Goals....

I wish every goal I set was so quickly accomplished.  Just 5 days ago I set the goal of having my yellow and black quilt done by the end of the month and here it is 5 short days later and I'm done.  To be honest I was done two days ago.  Now I will be the first to admit since the top was already loaded on to the frame, I was a good way towards completion, but it has been quilted and bound.  And I think pretty much claimed, since Hollywood is sleeping on it and Sharla is sleeping under it.  I want to wash it so it gets that crinkled look and so I can get some of the dog hair off of it, but that will happen next Monday when I am off next. I've not gotten it onto my quilt ladder yet, because I wanted to wash it first and because Hollywood claimed it.  I'm even noting this as a Friday Finish (something I've never done before now).

It is not quite a queen size, but pretty close, it almost covers Sharla bed.  I didn't get too close because the quilting is not that great, but this one does show the dog hair and some of the quilting.  :)

And last but not least you can see the backing I chose.  It is just the yellow with the leaves in it.  I picked it because they had enough of it, and I thought it looked pretty good.  I used Signature cotton 11 Bamboo as the thread, it has a green tint, but looks good on this yellow too.

After it is washed I will try and get better shots of it outside in some good light.  But this is as good as I could get on a Friday night, when I was pretty tired.  

I've decided I need another goal for this month, so I've decided that I want to have another top quilted and bound by the end of the month.  I've picked what I call my grey/gold/cream bricks.  Yes I have such a wonderful imagination with names.  I have the fabric for the back, but still need to piece it.  So this is a little more of a challenge. Here is what it looks like right now, with the backing fabric.  It needs to be ironed and the threads all trimmed. I like the colors of this one a little better, but it is still a little muted for me.  You know me I'm a wild and crazy girl. 

I've also gone through the process of trying to list out every UFO I have.  Boy was that an eye opener. Between Sharla and I we have almost 60 projects on the list.  Now 23 of those are tops that have been completed but not quilted and a handful more that are almost finished.   So my second goal for this month is to get all my completed tops organized and put with the backing fabric for them.  If all goes well, maybe I will get one or two more tops quilted this month.  The brick quilt should go fairly fast because I'm going to do a simple ribbon pattern on it.  If I complete it quickly then I want to add the blue batik charm square quilt that Sharla pieced.  It is her Cooper memorial quilt and I know she would like to get it done.

Today, we are hooking up with……Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Link a Finish Friday, and Crazy Mom Quilts.

2014 January Goals

I have decided to try and do "A Lovely Year of Finishes 2014" hosted by Shanna Fiber of All Sorts and Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Designs.  Last year several of the blogs I follow were doing this and I thought it was great, but could never convince myself to participate.  But hey, it's not like I go to jail if I don't complete a goal, and setting goals makes me get more done.  And I have a lot to do this year.

For January, my goal is to complete my yellow and black quilt.  I made this quilt expressly as a practice quilt to use when we got the long arm quilter.  I will say it is not my favorite quilt ever, I liked the colors when I bought them, but somehow that like faded as I worked with them.  I have loaded it onto the machine, but somehow just haven't started on it.  I'm hoping this gets the mojo going.  My goal is to quilt it, bind it and hang it on my cool new quilt ladder that I got for Christmas from my wonderful brother and sister-in-law.

Some was quite happy that I put a large quilt on the frame, because that meant the batting hung down and being the blankie boy that he is, he immediately headed for it and was snoring within moments. He wasn't happy when I made him move and picked up all the excess and put it on a box.  But he quickly found his way to the bed I have for him under the frame and was snoring again.

I have lots more on my list for January, I want to do several of the economy blocks for the #economyblockalong going on Instagram.  I also need to begin de-boning some shirts to start memory quilts for a friend and her children. And that doesn't even begin to touch the stash of quilt tops I have ready or the UFOs on my list.  But for now I will be happy to complete one quilt.  Hopefully since I still have most of the month I can do it.  Wish me luck.

November/December Layouts

Ok I was on track at the beginning of November, but something went terribly wrong and the rest of November and December have gone way off track.  I had such wonderful plans, and very few of them came to fruition. But hopefully I will get more on track for 2014.  So let me end the year right by showing you layouts I made for the last two months.

To begin with I have one using Autumn Spice by North Meets South Studios.  I love the colors of this kit, they are really beautiful.  For my layout I used a photo of Callie and MawMaw.  They might have been very different but they shared a very special love.

Next up is one using A Life That's Good Value Bundle.  The flowers in this kit are awesome and ya'll know I love flowers on a layout.  The photo is from several years ago, and is of a motley crew.  But a crew that I am blessed to a part.  Even when I'm down these guys make me smile.

Now for a layout that was really fun.  Not because the photo is great, it was taken in my garage, but because of what the photo represents.  Sharla and I got a long arm quilting machine and I took a photo of the box as we waited patiently for the floors to be redone so we could get it put together.  Ok we weren't very patient.  The kit I used is After 10 Years Value Bundle and November Templatetopia.  I love templates, they make scrapping so easy and this kit is not my normal colors, but I love working with it because it makes everything look great, even a photo of a box.

My last November layout used Blue Jean Boy Value Bundle which is an awesome kit for doing boy layouts. Great colors and elements make it very easy to put together a page quickly that looks great.  I used an old photo of Cole for this one.

Now for my December layouts. First is one I did for the Recipe Challenge on the Trixie Scraps Blog and I used A Life That's Good Value Bundle again.  As I said earlier this is a great kit that is just plain fun to use. The photo is of Tom and Mecca, after all these years they are still happy together.

Next is one I did for a font challenge.  I used Triumphant Value Bundle which is a great kit because it can be used for so many different types of pages.  For this one I featured Cooper, the precious baby that went to the Rainbow Bridge in November.  I miss him every day!

Next I got to used some photos from Christmas Day of Tom's family.  The family is growing and growing. We now have Jessica (engaged to Trey) and Beau (engaged to Callie).  And I will say this, they made me laugh all day.  They are crazy but I love them!!!!  I used Picture A Family Value Bundle which is perfect for family pictures.  A great mix of colors and elements!!!!

And my last layout for December uses Spunky Monkey Value Bundle which is just a fun kit.  I didn't use any of the cute monkey elements, but they are simply wonderful.  The layout is of Hollywood, my nephews puppy.  He is a lab mix and way to big to be a lap dog, but he just refuses to believe that.  In this picture he is sitting on me.  Crazy boy!!!!

Well that is it for now.  Make sure you head over to Trixie Scraps Store and pick up these wonderful kits. They will make scrapping your pages easy and fun!!!!  I promise that things will be different in 2014 and I will blog more.  I hope to add lots of posts about quilts I complete as well.

I hope each of you has a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!