2019 Finish-A-Long 2nd Quarter

This post is for the Finish-A-Long and it is a good way for me to recognize just how many projects are waiting for me!
This is the list - 2 pages!

27 UFO's.  UGH  But, hopefully, that is about to change. I hope I have managed to put photos up of all of them.  I tried! This is Busy Bee, Patchabilities "Welcome", Cornerstone and Squared Off.

 Heartland block of the month from 2018

 Joannes' Thimbleberries - sent to me by my cousin's wife so that I can finish it for charity.

 The backside of City View - a kit from Connecting Threads

 Surrounded 16 patch

 Field Day

 Happy Blocks for charity

 Hourglass, pattern from Missouri Star

 Surrounded 16 patch quilt top

 Iceberg by Villa Rosa

 Ready to Bloom by Connecting Threads

 Stargazer quilt top

 Kansas Troubles- blocks are from Joanne with the extra fabric needed to complete.

 RCS 2018 blocks of the month - both strip piecing and rail fences.  Sparrow blocks made with polka dot fabrics, and more log cabin blocks for Quilts of Valour

 Kid's Happy blocks with extra fabric

 30" table topper from Connecting Threads

 French Braid table runner

 L-7 quilt top

 2 - 16 patch purple and teal quilt tops

 Gingham from Connecting Threads

 Kid's woodland fabrics for a preemie quilt and Something Positive

Showbiz by Villa Rosa.
And, there you have it... all my UFO's and am really hoping that I can cross a few of these off the list by the beginning of July!
Thank you to the organizers of the 2019 Finish-A-Long.

"I think I can"... be back on track with my quilting?

Wow, almost a month without posting.  It has been a long month.  My husband is struggling with his energy levels and we are waiting (not so patiently) for a variety of appointments with specialists and for testing.  This week will be busy, ending with Easter.  A new beginning and hopefully, some answers.
So, I have been gardening and helping outside when it isn't raining and also playing tennis when the courts are dry.

A greenhouse got put together and manure was collected from our farmer friend, Fred and two trips later, we have good 'stuff' on all the gardens.

My front yard looks good although with the recent rain, the grass now needs cutting.  But, recent rain is impeding my progress on that job!

Busy Bee by Villa Rosa is up on the design wall... waiting!

Heart blocks for the catastrophe in Christchurch, New Zealand were made and I took them to the FVMQG to be mailed off with the contributions from other quilters.

And tennis on a cold but dry day.  Dress warmly!!

And a badly needed pedicure - taking care of the essentials before I get into my quilting.

Then finally, a finish!  This preemie was made from charm squares, a January challenge from my Heartstrings Yahoo group. Better late than never?  Now I have Feb - Apr to catch up on.

Yippee!  The log cabin blocks made last November are now a finished quilt.  These blocks are the 2019 featured project of QOVC and CQA and are being made across Canada to end up in finished quilts for injured military.  For more information, check out the home page of www.quiltsofvalour.ca and all the details of making the blocks are there.  Great project to work on alone or in a group of friends.
My next challenge was to organize all my current projects in various stages of completion.  It took me a few days to find them all and list them.  I am going to join in on the 2019 Finish-A-Long. I am going to do a second post this morning with the list and pictures of what I want/need to accomplish.

I am now up to date with my CQA 52 blocks in 52 weeks.  Week 13 is done!

St. Patrick's Day and more tennis than quilting

It has been a long week with our annual tennis tournament that our park/tennis club hosts.  And we had rain.

  And wind!  But we ended with fabulous weather and a win for my partner and in the consolation round at our level. Worth giving up quilting for?

And, I won a raffle basket of wine and wine drinking supplies. 

On the rainy day, I got caught up in a few of my blocks and projects. I made my block this week for the Canadian 52 blocks in 52 weeks.

And these are my finished blocks so far.

I did NOT make my Sparrow block of the week... I didn't like the block that they sent out and my quilt is going to be plenty large enough without making all 50 blocks so I can afford to be choosy.

I did get my City View quilt top made from a kit from Connecting Threads.

And my green rainbow scrap challenge blocks are done.

I am in another tennis tournament this week but it is hosted by another park so I just need to show up and play... no volunteer work required.  Hopefully, my house will get much needed attention, laundry will get dealt with and I will have time to work on a few new projects... or finish up some that I started awhile ago. 

March, where did you come from?

Somehow, I missed the first 10 days of the month and have nothing to show for the time I spent at home and when we returned.  I have played a lot of tennis but that is only a couple of hours a day and where does the rest of the time go?  I will admit, I have done quite a bit of reading but still... an hour a day at my machine is what makes me happy and that hasn't happened.

The view of Mt. Baker, at home, was quite stunning. My husband was quite bored with the cold weather so he started vehicle shopping via the phone and eventually we visited some car dealerships and that took up a considerable amount of time.

This came home with me and it has plenty of room in the back for an ironing board, sewing machines and a sewing chair for retreats.  All important items that had to fit to meet my requirements.  Lots to learn with all the new electronics and touch screens.  I am keen to figure out how to listen to my quilting podcasts on the sound system.  But after it found a place in my garage, we left to come back to the warmth and sunshine.

Here we go again.  At least we are travelling with carry on luggage only which makes it much easier to board and walk out of the arrival airport quickly.
While we were home, I made a prototype of a scissor case that my guild is going to do a swap with.  Fun, easy and quick to make.

When I arrived back in our winter home, I wanted to make thank you gifts to the women on my tennis team.  I have been their captain for a few years and this year was one of the easiest and best of all. So, this is what I made for them.

And I started a kit from Connecting Threads called City View. I am not very far along but hopefully, this week will see more progress:

The binding is made for both this one and one that I took home with me.

Three blocks were made for the CQA 52 blocks in 52 weeks and now I am up to date... I think and hope.

Then I worked on my blocks from Sparrow Quilting which is 50 blocks in 50 weeks. 
Again, I think I am up to date.

So, this week, I will have two new blocks to make, one for each of the weekly blocks I am making.  I hope to get City View stitched, cut up, and stitched again into a quilt top ready to take home for quilting.
I do have a table runner that has been sitting here for a few years and can't figure out what I did with the binding but hopefully, can get it quilted and bound.  That would turn a UFO into something useful?
And I want to get to work on my Quilter's planner blocks which I haven't even started yet but I have the fabric pulled.  It is only mid March... only 3.5 months behind? 
However, I am in a tennis tournament this week where I will be playing plus volunteering in the kitchen and on the grill.  Sadly, rain is predicted which will mess things up.  And the week following in another tournament but that is out of our village so no volunteering required, just show up, play and hopefully win!
Enjoy your March.  Cool here in Arizona but this time next week, we are supposed to hit the 90's!!  From sweatpants to shorts, jackets to tank tops! 

A return to the land of snow and rain.

Not much to show this past week.  I did clean up my sewing room and pack projects into a suitcase to bring back to the land of rain and snow.  Yes, we are 'home' for awhile because of my husband's health.  He has Peripheral vascular disease and apparently no pulse detected in his legs lower than his pelvis.  So, we await tests. And here in B.C. waiting for tests is exactly that... a wait. We will find out more next week after the requests are submitted to the hospital but apparently, it could be anywhere from April to June.

This top got completed.  An interesting pattern and done in 'round's so to speak. 

I have enough four patches left to make a small quilt.

When I woke this morning, this was our view:

It is now raining and not a pretty sight. 
So, it is perfect weather to be sewing, quilting and binding.  But, am having a hard time adjusting and getting anything done!

Trying for an hour a day in my sewing space.

I seem to have too  many days when I don't find time to wander in and sit at my  machine but am making an effort to find an hour either mid afternoon or right after dinner to make some progress on projects.
Once a week is the 50 blocks in 50 weeks with Canadian Quilter's Association and I am keeping up.  These are 6" blocks, finished and so far, four weeks, four blocks.

And, my yellow RCS (rainbow colour scraps) is done for February.  Simple blocks made by stitching 5 rows of 2.5" strips together, cutting into 10" squares, matching up with white 10" squares, stitch around the perimeter and then slice crosswise in both directions.  Easy, peasy half square triangles.  Red last month and yellow for February.  Done
Plus, more 12.5" blocks completed for Sparrow Quilts, 52 blocks in 52 weeks.  It is week 14 and I have twelve blocks completed.  

I managed to get my Missouri star project done but not pressed yet.  I didn't get my hour, didn't even get 5 minutes in my sewing room today.  But, pressing will get done tomorrow and the top will get packed away to be taken north for finishing.

I started a new project this week.  Country Blooms, a kit from Connecting Threads.  I have my strips sewn, cut into blocks and then the blocks stitched into four patches.  Two rows are done and there are many more to stitch. 

The star quilt is ready for quilting and binding.  The binding is made and that is as far as I got. Maybe if we get a rainy day in Arizona, it might happen? It really isn't needed until next December or January as a winter table topper but would be nice to cross it off the list.

Gorgeous sunsets in Arizona but try as I may, it is not possible to get a great picture of the deep magenta skies as it gets dark.

We are busy juicing our oranges and filling the freezer with fresh juice with no preservatives and ready to be consumed next fall.  So sweet and delicious but feel so bad filling the trash can with the orange peels... there is no composting available here so everything goes in the garbage.  Such a shame.

This week has a short list:
1. Quilt the star table topper and bind
2. This week's blocks for both 50 and 52 blocks of the week
3. Stitch the blocks for Country Blooms
4. Tidy up my sewing room before my trip north to be home for some medical appointments.

New month with new goals.

I ran out of time in January.  Even though it is only the end of January and beginning of February, our social calendar is full with lots of activities.  There was a surprise birthday party for a friend with over 100 people attending, a thank you party last weekend here at our house, and a great tennis activity yesterday with the Canadians versus the U. S. players.  First time in three years, Canada lost!  We will return next year with more effort to get our trophy back.  And then impromptu parties happen and today, it rained.  But the necessities of life get in the way as well.. so today was grocery shopping and some laundry.
 My husband and his Canadian partner playing against some U.S. players. Cloudy day but warm and perfect for a tennis tournament.

I did not cross anything off my January goal list and it looks the same as last week.
However, I did finish my blocks for "Out of Time", a Missouri Star free video and pattern.  Simple as the blocks are, it seemed to take forever to make, probably because I didn't spend any time on Wed, Thurs, Fri, or Sat in my sewing room?

This is large enough that it won't need borders.  Hoping to get the blocks sewn together so I can empty my design wall..
I did stitch up my Sparrow block for the week and while this is week 13, I have 9 blocks made.  I am ok with that because I am choosing to make the blocks I like.  This week was called Firecracker.

I did change my mind about my blocks for the Rainbow scrap challenge and made these.  The blocks from last week will get donated to Canada Stitches and I will send them all that I made.

The oranges and grapefruit on our trees are ripening and time to start picking and juicing.

So, not a great progress report but maybe, if the weather stays wet and cool, I might get more time in my sewing room?