For some reason I am unable to upload photos to today’s blog post.
When I posted on December 30, I listed what I wanted to focus on for 2018. Now that we are one month in to 2018, I have noticed that my focus needs to change a bit in order to meet my goals, and work on some of my WIPs from years past.
For stitching, I stated I wanted to work on 12 projects that included 7 current WIPs and 5 new starts (2 large and 3 small).
I started Oscar’s Corsage on January 1 and stitched exclusively on it for 4 days. I ran out of fiber! A trip to Vegas was coming (where I purchased the design and fiber January 2017) so I put it aside to see what I could find during 2018’s trip. Success! While the fiber has a different dye lot number, I doubt I will be able to tell where the new fiber is stitched, once I get back to the project.
Since I knew I was starting a new design on January 12, I switched over to a WIP, Death by Cross Stitch, and stitched on it for 6 days. I am still loving the fiber/fabric combination. I had intended to stitch it strictly from my tablet, but for some reason started out on paper. I am now trying to decide if I want to switch over to my tablet for the chart.
I drove to Vegas on January 11 and was too tired after dinner that evening to stitch. This would be the ONLY day during January that I did not stitch!
Friday, January 12, I went to Stitcher’s Paradise and purchased the fiber I needed for Oscar’s Corsage (and grabbed another – of the same dye lot – for Forest Flower), the overdyeds and DMC I did not have in my stash for Let Freedom Ring, Glendon Place’s Tiramisu (that I cannot find, but have the fiber kit for), Kathy Barrick’s Repeat the Sounding Joy, and a NPI to replace the one I swiped from another project to finish Book of Spells. That evening I started Let Freedom Ring and 20 days later I had to make myself put it away to start my planned February 1 start! I love this design so much!
Yesterday I started Chatelaine’s Desert Mandala after spending 2+ hours futzing around with my table because I could not get the highlight function to work on my ezPDF Reader Pro app. I have had this design in my stash for 3+ years and almost struck it from my 2018 list because I was so aggravated with the app. LOL
This puts me at 10 current WIPs, 1 planned small new start (Adam & Eve), and 1 empty slot on my list of 12. I am thinking of starting Adam & Eve on March 1.
My sewing machine time has had the most mental focus. I am happy to say that I have sat at it several times and actually sewn! I started a new tablerunner that I am working on at sew-togethers (right now we are meeting every Tuesday), I sewed the binding on to the 4-Patch Charm quilt (still needs to be turned and stitched down on the other side); and completed a community service quilt flimsy for my guild chapter.
As to my other goals – Even though I am not starting it yet, I have decided to switch Swoon for Bonnie Hunter’s latest mystery On Ringo Lake. The color scheme I was looking at for Swoon will be perfect for ORL.
I have also decided to replace Celtic Solstice with En Provence. This will fit better with my long-term plans of making quilts for all of my mother’s grandchildren. If I remember correctly I have all the pieces done to make the blocks and sashing, I just need to piece them, and I’ll need to piece the neutral border. Celtic Sostice will be for another grandchild, but I am trying to give them in the order the kids were born 😉 and it is more suitable to a boy.
I decided to not participate in the Scrap Attack. I also am not worrying about making any monthly quilt-related posts. If they happen, they happen. I am working in my room every day for about 20 minutes before I sew. I want to sew every day but there are other fun things that are getting in the way, like going to the movies with Mister. If I do not sew in the morning, I do not sew that day and being “desert dwellers” we tend to do things outside the house in the mornings.
I also visited Quiltique while in Vegas and brought home a few more black/white, white/black FQs, and some brights to go into a future quilt that I have been gathering fabric for a couple of years; 3 quarter-yard pieces of fabric to make qsnap grime guards; a deeply discounted charm pack of Laundry Basket Southern Exposure and a cupcake recipe FPP pack (which I have already started into a tablerunner); and, a cute pattern to make FPP zip bags with scissors, spools, and buttons on them.
Except for the aforementioned zip bag pattern, everything I bought in Vegas was on a list, and it all stayed within my budget. I’m super pleased by that. I went to JoAnn’s the other day and walked out with 2 DMC skeins needed for Let Freedom Ring. I told the cashier that was the cheapest trip I had ever made. I am having no problems so far keeping to my needle-related spending goals, and am confident February will be a success.
Tomorrow I will may be doing my first flosstube. I am joining up with my BFF, who does them frequently.
