Joining the Get It Done!

Wow,   Tomorrow is the March 1st and I have only finished one project this year...

I think I need to step it up a bit, because I know when summer comes, I will be in the garden and not quilting, unless it is raining.   

To help with that I am joining Judy's Get It Done and hopefully that will help keep me on track.  There are so many projects I like and want to do, have started and want to finish, that I tend to get distracted a little.  Okay, a LOT actually.

My list of finishes don't include much since it was just one February BOM.  I am working on finishing some potholders but only three are done and seven more to go.  I will count that as a finish when they are ALL done.

So this month I plan to FOCUS.

For March the focus is to get these projects completely finished.  Since I started tracking how many hours it takes me to make a quilt, I am going to take a guess at how much time I think each of these will take.

• Potholders ~4 hours
• January BOM ~2 hours
• Art Quilt from a class I am taking on March 2.   ~15 hours but really no clue.
• March BOM  ~5 hours
• Nephew's Quilt ~8 hours 

To finish piecing a spring Mystery quilt from last year. ~8 hours

And to get Easy Street pinned and ready for quilting. ~4 hours

This is about 11-12 hours a week of sewing.  I think I can manage that for March.

Check back in a month and see how I did...

Side tracked and Easy Street progress

I had company last weekend so I didn't get as much done as I wanted to, but still made some progress

I finally finished putting together the blocks for Easy Street and I am ready for the borders, but this puppy is much bigger than I am used to dealing with.  I have the borders cut and sewn together end to end and ready to cut to length.

I need to lay the quilt out to measure for the border size, but I need everyone out of the house before I can do this safely since I need to lay this on the floor.   They have the tendency to let the dog in, and this time of year wet muddy feet running across my quilt would not be good.

But before I do this I need to clear out some other leader/enders and partially done stuff that I keep knocking over or on the floor when I am trying to deal with this quilt.

So I decided rather than just pack that stuff out of the way, I am going to finish them and get them out of the way for good.

So here are 3 of the potholders I finished and 8 more that need finishing.  I will have some Christmas gifts ready early!

And hopefully soon I will get a chance to lay out the quilt to measure for the borders.

First finish for the year

Well I finally have my first finish of the year.   It is part of the BOM and I started and finished the February block.  I still haven't completely finished the January block because I haven't stopped at the store to get buttons for the snowman.   I should be able to stop and get them this week and get that one finished as well.

I had my applique class this today.  Working on the satin stitch.  I don't need to class so much to learn as I need it to get motivated and for the practice.  I haven't really done much applique work.   Right now applique seams to be the roadblock that is preventing me to finish some quilts I have.   I am hoping this series of classes which teaches different techniques for applique will help me over come what ever it is that is preventing me from finishing these.   I think the roadblock is the fear of messing it up.   

Anyway this is what I have finished so far with satin stitch applique.  Next month will be covering how to taper the points.

Now with those done for this month it is back to my Easy Street and putting those blocks together and adding the border.

How many hours does it take to make a quilt??????

Did you ever wonder how many hours it takes you to make a quilt?  

I don't want to know for money purposes, since I make quilts to give away.  I am looking at it more as a reality check on my time.  How much time I have to quilt and how long it takes me to make a quilt.  I have a tendency to over commit on my time and under estimate how long I think it takes me to make something.  This usually results in me not completing the quilt and then since I didn't finish it in time, I just leave it as a UFO.   Working full time and volunteering to help with my son's activities doesn't help, but I am hoping to retire someday in the future.

I know a lot of this depends on skill level, how complicated the pattern, how elaborate the quilting, whether it is hand or machine, (mine will be mostly machine), etc...    I guess I am more interested in it from the stash and wish list perspective.  Is my stash so big I will never be able to sew it all in my lifetime or is there hope for me and I can allow myself to buy more if needed?   Is my UFO/wish list so long that I will never be able to make them all (and thus start donating those I don't really love) or is it a manageable size especially once I retire.

I notice some people in different groups I belong to and blogs I read, that seem to be super fast, jet setting quilters and crank out numerous quilts and projects all the time.   I get exhausted just thinking about that.   I know I am not the fastest quilter in the world, but I feel like a complete slow poke when I see what they accomplish.  So I am curious on how many hours does it really take me and how much time do I really have to quilt?  If I had more time, would I be able to get as much done as they do or am I really that much of a slow poke?

So I plan on starting to track this.   I already know I won't be completely accurate, since tracking my time is not my favorite thing to do and I don't want to make this a huge burden.  But I am curious from a time management perspective on what it really takes me to make a quilt and more interested in a ball park estimate.    So the next time I say I am going to make that quilt, I have a better idea on when I will actually have it finished.

Easy Street Blocks are Done!

I was hoping to be further than I am, but I had other commitments last weekend and spent half of this weekend painting.   But I finally have all the blocks done for my Blue/Teal Green Easy street.  That is such a nice feeling and to see that box where I stored the smaller pieces empty, makes it feel like I am really busting some stash.  Now I just need to put these large blocks together and add the border.

I still think it looks too busy because of too much black in the black on white.  That seems to distract from the pattern.  Oh well.  Live and learn.   

But I do have to say my seams are matching up pretty well.  There are a few that are off, but most are spot on.  The only thing that isn't mostly spot on are those flying geese.  Way too many have their wings clipped.  Given how many I made I don't think the no waste method is for me.   I will have to try a different method next time.

Now on to some applique blocks for a class I am taking first before I can finish this.

I also found that I need to figure out how to get a bigger design wall if I make many more of these bigger quilts.  Running out of room on this one.