Goals for September, August Progress

 It's time to look ahead and set goals for the next month and look back to see what I accomplished in August!  Just so you know it's a long blog post, but there is a reward in here if you read through!

This is Lavendula - my One Monthly Goal and UFO challenge for August.  It came out even better than I imagined and I had fun trying out a new quilting design on this one.

I dug this out of my drawer of UFO's and quilted it and got it listed in my Etsy destash shop!  Yahoo, this has been sitting for a few years because it's never the right timing to get it done.  This year I did it!

I made this mini for my August Island Batik Ambassador Challenge and found out that I love Deb Tucker's Studio 189 Design rulers!  I now have a couple more ordered for future projects.

And I got this shop sample quilted (sorry no after picture for some reason, I'll have to get one later!

I didn't set a lot of goals for myself in August because I wanted to take some time to play, and so I was quite productive...maybe that should be my new method!  I completed a lot of blocks for my Crazy Jane project, which was very fun - and I got past my block of doing the applique!  So I want to plan to get the final row and at least one of the remaining borders completed in September.

My UFO Challenge and One Monthly Goal for this mont is to make a quilt out of these lovely fabrics.

I've been shuffling them around my sewing room for years, so now it's their time to become something beautiful.   Here's my mockup in EQ8.  I'm Calling it Seashell Beach for the fun Seashell fabric I am using for the border.

I got distracted by another former UFO and hope to finish that this month as well!  This is Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery:

Talk about colorful!  The blocks need to be sewn together, then I just have to add the borders and quilt it.  I have a feeling that will happen rather soon as I am quite taken with it at the moment.  I guess it is because it's such an opposite to the calm blues of the Dear Jane quilt that I've been working with, I needed to come out into the sunshine and warmth of these oranges and yellows!

I also have a shop sample for halloween as well as a kids quilt to finish for the shop, and then there is the usual Island Batik Ambassador challenge, which is not a quilt this month! 

 This month all of the Island Batik Ambassadors are making bags from By Annnie's patterns out of the new spring fabric lines by Island Batik that are starting to arrive in your local shops.  Check out their blog post and use the rafflecopter widget below to win a a quarter bundle of Island Batik beauty!  Plus many of the Island Batik Ambassadors will be hosting giveaways of their own, so you will want to follow along, starting on Tuesday!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now to check in for my.....

Here's my status as of today for Gail's PHD in 2020:

I've officially finished 12 UFO's but I'm still working on the original list, so there will be more!  I also have close to 30 other finishes, but I need to watch those projects I started over the summer...no new UFO's are allowed to be created in this process!  I feel like I am doing well getting those UFO's done, and I'm sure I still have enough to play for another year or two - but that's ok.  

Have a happy labor day weekend, hope you are planning some sewing, too!  Make sure you check out the link-ups to see what the other quilters are working on and have accomplished!

PHD in 2020 August Report

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal September Link-up

Queen's Garden - July OMG is a finish!

I've been having fun taking pictures of diffeent quilts with this hydrangea bush the last week - it's so lovely!  And the perfect match to this quilt for sure!

This fabric is Sausalito Cottage by LakeHouse and it features Hydrangeas, a touch of Paris and lots of pretty purple and green.  I also used some Fairy Frosts and tone on tone fabric that coordinated.  I totally love it!  

Can you see the shimmer of the white fairy frost?  It's so pretty!  I love the way the center blocks combine.  I decided to quilt this in an allover swirl hook design using a medium tone purple Aurifil thread.  

I used the green hydrangea print for the binding and it was just perfect!  The backing is an off white with little purple sprigs by Figo fabric.  It's always so hard to pick just the right backing!

I am working on the pattern for this, but am not ready to publish it quite yet - but I'll make sure to let you know when it's available. I'm thinking of expanding it to make a bed size quilt, so that will take a bit more design work.  But at least I've made a good start on it. 

I've really enjoyed participating in the One Monthly Goal this year, it's sure helped me get my UFO projects completed.  This is my seventh finish for the year!

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - July Finish Link-up

Welcome November!

Today I've been putting my seam ripper to good use - last weekend I worked on sewing up the blocks for a secret project.  Unfortunately half of them were sewn wrong and I had a whole lot of deconstruction to work on.  They've been sitting by my spot on the loveseat all week, so today was the day to get them taken care of because I need to finish up that project this week.  After that I ripped the front hem and horsehair out of the front of a wedding gown I am working on.  The hem was just a bit stretched, so I needed to address that.  It's all taken out and pinned, so I'm ready to hem it again.  And now the seam ripper can go back in the drawer and hopefully stay there for a while!

It was a good time, though for pondering what I want to work on this coming month.  I'm going to put this on my list for my One Monthly Goal.  I believe the pattern for this is called Peaks.  It's a pretty Christmas quilt, and it would be great to get it done this month.  I have the backing for it, so basting and quilting is definitely within reason to accomplish this month.  I know how I want to quilt the strip pieced triangles, but haven't decided what to do in the triangles yet.

Other projects to work on are my November Island Batik Ambassador challenge for the month of November.  Since I am not on the list for the blog hop this time, I will be making a challenge based on the theme Tool Time.  Should be fun, I am all about my quilting tools!  Don't forget to follow along with the Island Batik Blog Hop:  A Piece Of  They will be showing all the great new fabrics that are ready to ship to quilt shops!

I have three different custom quilt orders to work on as well, so there will be a lot of quilting going on this month!  Sounds good to me - it's my favorite thing to be doing after all.  And I am so very thankful that I get to do what I love for my job.

Speaking of which, I have a couple samples to work on for Threads That Bind as well.  I don't think I'll be bored in November.  And I have lots of fun things to blog about, so that will be fun, too!

Hope your November is happy, and just as busy as you want to be!  Why don't you make a goal for November and come join the party at One Monthly Goal?

One Monthly Goal - Savanna is finished!

It was a real race to the finish on this one because I left it to the last week, but I made it by the skin of my teeth!

Available for sale in my Etsy shop!

I couldn't resist throwing it out on the lawn for a finish picture - such a lovely fall day.  It's chilly here, but sunny.  Perfect night for the little ones to be out Trick or Treating!  I'm waiting here with my bucket of candy waiting for the fun to start while I write this blog post.

I had a good time quilting this, thought at 64 x 78 Savanna is by no means a petite quilt!  I'm thinking I spent close to 8 hours total on the quilting.  I used a variety of thread on this quilt, and emptied several spools of medium grays and blues for the bobbins.  I did the light parts with yellow thread, and used a blue poly thread for the dark pieces and inner border.  The outer border used up a nice part of a spool of green variegated thread also from my stash. The batik in this quilt is a mixture of various types that were on clearance several years ago when I made the top.  

Savanna is a pattern by Karla Alexander.  I made the quilt in a workshop I took from her a few years ago.  It was super fun, we used a special ruler for the curved cuts (Curves for Squares), which really made it very easy.  The hardest part was deciding how to lay out my quilt in the end!  I had a moment of panic about the binding, but it only took me a few minutes to find where I had saved the fabric.  Thank goodness, because I didn't have much time to spare!

Thanks to Elm Street Quilts for hosting One Monthly Goal and inspiring me to get this done!  I've already got a plan for what I want to finish next month, and I'm not going to wait till the last week of the month to start working on that one.  Can't wait to see what everyone else has finished this month!