DaGMT 2013 Pledge

Happy 2013, everyone!

I haven't been doing much sewing lately, so my UFO Brain Dump is pretty much unchanged.  In an effort to continue making progress on this, I'm eschewing all swaps, bees, and lottos for the time being, but I am joining Quilting Hottie Haven's Drop and Give Me Twenty! challenge.

No, I will NOT be doing any pushups!  Rather, for the month of February, I'm committing to quilt at least 20 minutes a day, every day.   This is organized by Beth, on her "fun" blog, and there are link-ups and prizes and a flickr group and whatnot and it's open to all, so join in! 

Herein is my DaGMT¹ Commitment:

I, Recovering Perfectionist (aka Funky²'s Mama, aka Jennifer), being of iffy mind and don't-even-ask! body, do solemnly vow to sew (or quilt or iron or cut) for at least twenty (20) minutes each day in the month of February 2013.  I do not set any specific goals³, but my hope is to make noticeable progress on one or more of my many UFOs, with preference given to finishing existing projects.  (I also vow that Beth Helfter is brilliant for coming up with this concept and inspiring me to join.) 

This may (or may not) also mean that I'll be posting more on this here blog.  I also may be doing a 2012 wrap-up post and some more detailed descriptions of the UFOs, but we'll have to see.

¹ Is anyone else hearing "Dang Gummit" when they read the acronym, like we've fallen into a Li'l Abner comic strip?
² Rest her furry little soul!
³ I have enough of those at work.

Design Wall Monday: Grandma's Flower Trellis

(My first time on the Monday design wall! Hi, everyone!)

What's especially pleasing to me is what's NOT on my design wall anymore, which is my CMYKitty quilt, which is ready to be quilted (i.e., folded up & stored in a box).

Anyway, this is my Grandma's Flower Trellis quilt, which needs another 10 blocks and can then be assembled! I already have the White/Green HSTs, so I just need to pick & cut some more pinks.

Check out what other folks are doing this week at Judy Laquidera's Patchwork Times.

UFO Brain Dump

Hi, quilters! Have any UFO's? Well, Leah over at The Free Motion Quilting Project has started UFO Sunday, and I'm joining in. (The "Brain Dump" idea is from David Allen's Getting Things Done.)

I haven't figured out how I'm going to tackle these. There's a method for paying off debts called The Snowball, which basically says you should pick the loan with the smallest balance or the highest interest rate, pay the minimum on all the other loans, and put as much as you can to this one. Once it's paid off, move on to the next larger/lower rate and continue.

As I look over my list, there are some that are pretty close to being done, there are some that would benefit from a concerted effort, but then there are some that I kind of like doing a block or two at a time. I don't know, I'm pretty exhausted just looking at this (and I haven't found the courage to count, BTW).

Anyway, here's what I believe to be a complete list of my UFO's. They're in approximate order from oldest to newest. I'll try to flesh them out / sort them in some meaningful order / annotate in the days & weeks to come.

• CompuServe Mystery Quilt
• Blue/White Log Cabin
• Teal/Burgundy Dragonfly
• CompuServe Geography Swap
• CompuServe Cat Block Swap (1994)
• Curved Log Cabin for Mom & Dad
• Veggie Slide Show
• Hand-Me-Down Rust/Green
• Tessellating Fish
• Veggie Disappearing 9-patch
• Muted Slack & Slash Pillow
• Blue Yellow Brick Road
• Blue Yellow Brick Road Pillow
• Orange Twinkling Star
• 12 Months Sampler
• CMYKitty
• (x+1)(x-1) = x²-1 (Solids)
• Checked Columns (Solids)
• P2 Modern Solids Quilt Along
• Modern Solids Mini
• Grape Tessellating Spirals
• Bali Pops Trip Around The World
• Storm At Sea
• Batik Repaired Rainbows
• Morris Blooming 9-Patch
• Jelly Rolls
  • Stonehenge
  • Connecting Threads
  • Cool Batiks
• Farmer's Wife
• Teal & White Wonky Checkerboards
• Ugly Lotto Triangles
• Log Cabin Star of David
• Mini Ocean Trip Around The World
• Paper-Pieced Autumn Triptych
• Green Stained Glass Mini
• 3x6 Swap Blocks
• Curved Block Lotto blocks
• Tessellating Leaves Mini
• Orange Big Block
• Solid Mini Broken Rainbow
• CompuServe Christmas Swap
• Brown Mini
• Purple Tessellating "Crosses"
• Mini 4-Patch
• Sherry's Roman Stripe
• Miscellaneous Blocks
• Mini Tokyo Subway
• Scrap Quilts
  • Chimney & Cornerstones
  • Disappearing 16-Patch
  • 4-Patch/Double 4-Patch
  • Ticker tape
  • Self-Mitered Strips
• Sock It to Me!
• CMY Pillow / Wall Hanging
• Grandma's Trellis
• Grandma's Jelly Roll 1600
• 6" Blue & White Stars

FNSI - Sept 2012 - CMYKitty

Finally!  Made some real progress on this--it's now ready to quilt (it's in 4 pieces because I'm going to try Marti Michell's quilting in sections method... just as soon as I find where I put the book.)  :)

FNSI Checklist

• Nutritious dinner of Triscuits & x-tra sharp cheddar cheese: consumed 
• Hair: pulled back 
• Hands: washed 
• Refreshing beverage: 1/2 drunk, remaining available as needed 
• Cat: heading to kitchen to get herself some dinner 
• Headphones: Missing. Dang. OK, scratch podcast plan
• Castle rerun for background noise: queued up on TiVo

I'm going in! Cover me!

ScrapHappy Saturday - Yellow

(1st picture shows colors better; 2nd shows quilting better).

So, I actually started this last Saturday, continued to work on it through the week, and finished it up Thursday, but my camera had gone on walkabout, so the pictures, at least, are from today.

I didn't think I had too many yellow scraps, which was accurate (the finished size of this is only 15"x15"; each log is 1/2" wide), but I did have a pretty good variety, since I'd bought a couple of charm packs to round out my yellows for the Tokyo Subway Quilt (alas, still a UFO). Background fabic is just unbleached muslin -- I'm a little sorry I didn't use white, since yellow and white quilts really sparkle, but I've been using white as a background a lot lately, and I just felt the need for something different.

Everything was sewn/quilted by machine, and the circles for the quilting were taken from my cappucino cup.

Check out what other folks have been doing at soscrappy: ScrappyHappy Yellow Day.

Enthusiastically Creative Kid is Enthusiastic, Creative

A 9 year old boy - who built an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad’s used auto part store - is about to have the best day of his life.