Monday . . . Tuesday . . . Wednesday . . .

Monday flew by and I was surprised when the morning passed, but even more shocked when 3 p.m. rolled around.

I did normal daily chores and in between made more 9-patches and border strips for the red work quilt. I decided I needed one more row to balance out the quilt.

My 30+ sewing minutes accomplished.

I spent the afternoon running errands, getting dinner supplies and walking Rocky - He actually misses his daily walks when we don't get them in.

Tuesday

Another productive day at home. Today's 30 minutes of sewing concentrated on the outer border of the quilt. It's still in pieces but is coming along nicely.

The 85+'s have arrived and needless to say, so has the humidity. Honey Do started tilling the garden after work and only quit at my insistence. It's not a huge plot, but with this heat we decided to just do a little at a time.

Wednesday

I got some hours in at work for the first half of the afternoon. The temperature got into the 90s and I felt like a wet noodle most of the day and evening. I did start to quilt the 9-patch row, but didn't get very far. Not sure I even got 30 minutes in.

I have made really good progress on the Easter block.

This is turning into a very happy, fun little project.

That last row will go at the top of the quilt.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity and productivity.

Sew 30 Challenge and Goals

Can you believe May is already half over?? !!

This morning dawned sunny, which is a blessing. We've seen a lot of rain during March and April. I'm hoping to get some time prepping the vegetable garden for tilling - that means pulling lots of weeds. The weeds are taking over the flower beds, too.

This is my first full week home in quite a while. No work on Monday and no visits planned or scheduled. I'm excited and feel almost like I'm getting ready for a vacation :) I'll be tackling projects I haven't had time to get done.

My sewing and stitching goals for this week:

1. Redwork Quilt

I'd like to see it finished this week.

- Sashing

-Border

-Binding

2. Easter Wall Hanging

- Final stitching

- Assemble

3. Tilda Doll

- Put the doll's body together

4. Salem Witch Quilt

This is a new project that's going to take a year to do.

- draw off panel one

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity and productivity.

Sew 30 - Week 2

 This week has flown completely past me. I wasn't feeling well because I pulled a muscle in my lower back. So that forced me to take things a little easier.

The rain also helped to keep me inside and working on the quilt and other projects.

I spent time off and on working on another panel for the "cube" for the Children's program. This is time consuming and frustrating because the plastic lacing twists, but I volunteered and want to finish this project by the time study resumes in September.

I have also worked diligently on my quilt.

It is officially a quilt top as of Sunday. 
I'm linking up with Annie's Ruby Slipper for the Sew 30 challenge.

My Mother's day was fairly relaxing. I prepped as much of our meal as I could on Saturday. I waited patiently for Mom, drawing off the final Easter design . . .

We spent the afternoon/early evening looking through cookbooks, Mom was knitting on baby clothes and I was working on my Easter stitchery. It was a wonderful time and I so appreciated her making the drive and spending the time with me. That is so important for both of us to do.

I hope all my "Mom/blog friends" had a wonderful day doing what they love doing, no matter what that was.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity and productivity.

Sew 30 - Day 9

Monday, rolled into Tuesday, rolled into Wednesday. And I'm happy and relaxed.

Tuesday i did things as I felt like doing them.

I finished Tilda's dress.

Earlier in the day, I prepped the four rows of redwork into two rows.

After Rocky and I went for our walk, I spent the evening finishing the backs by hand sewing them closed. I'm very pleased with the results.

All in all a very productive day.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity and productivity.

Sewing Challenge Day 8

Monday was the last leaders' meeting for Bible study. It was a morning of mixed emotions. We're excited about the summer break, anticipation for the study of Romans beginning in September, new members, new groups and for many, myself included, sadness because we won't be returning to leadership. It was a difficult decision but my responsibilities needed to be re-evaluated and therefore, I won't be a children's leader next year. I will still have some responsibilities for service but not as demanding (for lack of a better descriptive word).

Monday afternoon was quiet and fairly unproductive. I didn't really have time to work on my quilt, so I chose another UFO - a Tilda doll that I had begun several years ago.

This pile of pins and fabric are the bodice of Tilda's "Jane Austin" dress, which you can see in the background photo. It took longer to pin pieces into place than it did to actually sew it together.

And this is her finished dress. 

The fabric was a border print piece that I received when Aunt Rose passed away. I still have a fairly decent size piece left. Not sure what I'll do with it, but I absolutely love the print and bright colors.

I still need to finish the doll's body, although most of the parts are sewn together so will just required stuffing, final assembly and then things like hair and face. Wish I would have kept track of how much time it took to do this project from start to finish. I can tell you that it's not for the faint with all those little pieces. This is why I refused to make Barbie doll clothes :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity and productivity.

30 minute sewing challenge - Day 5, 6 and 7

My date with the sewing machine didn't happen until mid-after on Friday, and was shore lived.

I spent my morning/early-afternoon at work. When I got home, Rocky needed some "me-time". He had my attention until Honey Do arrived. This is always hit or miss, but you can't blame a girl for trying.

I did manage to get my 30 minutes in quilting the first row of 9-patches. Rocky sought my attention again. This was a good time to do some hand work, so I pulled out the second block of my Easter project.

I know Easter has passed, but I don't want to put a UFO away unfinished and still a UFO. This way Rocky can occupy my lap and I still accomplish something . . . 

Until the power went out, at 8:30 p.m. I can read by flashlight for a bit, but not stitch. The estimated repairs wouldn't be completed until 11:30 p.m. A tree was responsible. 

The power didn't actually come back on until 3 a.m. when I saw a light on and the furnace running - yes, the furnace is still on. It's been cold and damp and raining for the last week or so. I was tired of being cold.

Saturday's plan - finish both rows. Up at 6:30 a.m., laundry started. I did the usual daily chores, planned and executed both lunch and dinner. In between, I worked on the Redwork quilt. I did the outer perimeters on the first row on Friday before the power went out and finished it on Saturday before Rocky insisted on his time.

It's hard to see, but the rectangles are quilted all the way around with an "X" over the red section.

I spent the evening working on the third block of the Easter wall hanging.

Sunday, I finished the second row of the 9-patches.

I also worked on the third block of Easter, and finished it.

 

Block 2 and Block 3

I can't say enough how much I am enjoying this 30 minute sewing challenge. I look forward each day to that time and am very excited and motivated to work on my projects. So much so, in fact, that I am thinking about the next projects because their time will be here very quickly and I don't want to lose my motivation.

I'm also enthused because a few things that were taking quite a bit of time are now not a factor - at least for the summer - so with that reprieve I'm better able to focus my attention on my projects.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creatitivity and productivity.

30 minute sewing challenge - Day 4

It was a very productive day, even with a morning filled with errands and rain.

I not only managed to get both rows of 9-patches resewn, but one of them got sandwiched, ready to machine quilt.

All toll, I got more than an hour with my sewing machine today. 

AND

I had time to make dinner - from scratch.

I LOVE this challenge.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity and productivity.