Design Wall Monday and Goals for Week 5

On the design wall today are all the blocks for the 2005 BOM, a sampler I've named Ameliorate, using reproduction civil war fabrics. I finished the last block late Sunday and then played with a few layout. The first layout is just the twelve blocks in rows. With the second layout, I will need to make another block and some fillers. With the third layout, I would need to make a medallion center and would probably make another block on point within the center block. I'm leaning toward this third layout right now.

Reviewing last weeks goals is a little disappointing. I have not been able to find the backing fabric for the Baby Bow Tie Quilt. I may have to buy new fabric for it, but I'm not going to do that until I have opened every box in the attic, and there are still a lot of them. I'm not going to spend any more time looking for it now. I'll just move on to the next UFO. I also haven't made any progress on the design wall. I am meeting some resistance from Hubby about finishing the wall, which makes sense considering we don't have any cabinets in the bathroom and still have a utility sink in there. The only goal I completed was finishing the last three blocks for the sampler.

I think these are realistic goals for the coming week:

1. Decide on a layout for the sampler quilt. The fabric I have in my stash may be the determining factor in that. I know I have some blue civil war reproduction fabric and that may be all there is. I'm afraid I will need to buy more of the off-white background fabric. It's Moda so I should be able to find some.

2. Clean up the Snowball Blossom quilt. I noticed some threads that need to be clipped and I don't think I tacked the corners on the binding.

3. Make a label for the Snowball Blossom quilt. I was going to leave it until I had someone to give it to, but I think I want it done and finished.

4. Attempt a sweater makeover. I have a hand-me-down sweater that I like except for one thing - when I washed it (apparently for the first time) - the sweater shrank but the zipper didn't.  So now the zipper is wavy and unattractive. First step is to remove the zipper. Also, the sleeves are too long and not just fashionably long, more like orangutan arm length. I'm not sure there is a fix for that, at least one that I am capable of doing. I don't knit.

Linking to:
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
BOMs Away at Katie Mae Quilts
To Do Tuesday at Home Sewn by Us
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter Midweek Makers at QuiltFabrication

Weekly Reports - January Success

I only used a little fabric this week with the sashing strips of Snowball Blossom But a little is better than nothing, so I'll take it. I did manage to get quilting time in every day even though one day was repair work. Yesterday I planned to stick something in the oven and stitch while it cooked, but I hadn't considered washing dishes and prepping for the next thing to put in the oven. So I barely got in quilting yesterday and wouldn't have if one of our guests hadn't been a quilter. After we had a short show and tell before she left, I sat down for a little "Me" time.

Linking to:
15 Minutes to Stitch at Life in Pieces
Sunday Stash at QuiltPaintCreate

Snowball Blossom

Design Wall and Week 4 Goals

When I was looking around for the next UFO to finish, I spotted this Baby Bow Tie quilt top that I had recently unpacked. When I looked back on my blog, I saw a post that said I was putting it away with backing fabric. So where is that fabric now?

So I took that down and found a UFO that I can actually work on. This is a BOM sampler from 2005 that I named Ameliorate with nine finished blocks and three unfinished.

My goals for the week:
1. Find the missing backing fabric, and if it is sewn into backing already, prep it and send it off for quilting.
2. Make the final three blocks for the sampler quilt and decide on a design for the quilt. I started this as a beginning quilter so some of the blocks may need some help.
3. Buy sheets of foam board for a new design wall. I'm not sure if I want to cover them with polyester batting or flannel. I'm tired of blocks falling off the current flannel sheet.

Linking up with:
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
BOMs Away at Katie Mae Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
To Do Tuesday at Home Sewn By Us
Midweek Makers at QuiltFabrication

This Week in Stitches

It was a busy week here and will be busy in the coming week too. We are hosting the amateur radio field day again this year and it will be next weekend. I've been trying to tidy up the living space and do some deep cleaning, along with baking cookies and doing some batch cooking. Sitting around talking makes men hungry. I thought I would spend yesterday quilting, but Hubby had a ham event and the constant shouting (he doesn't think it's shouting, but it is) gets on my nerves. But it is over and I have the space reserved today.

I managed to get in 15 minutes each day, but most days, that's all it was. It makes the report look good, but there isn't much different on the design wall.

I made a couple of borders for the quilt I'm working on, so used just a little fabric. If this year is nothing but finishing UFOs, I don't think I'm going to make my usage goal again this year.

I'm late getting my post done today and will be joining these linkups:
15 Minutes to Stitch at Life in Pieces
Sunday Stash at QuiltPaintCreate