October Progress

Thanks to my Mom who came to help me - I was able to make quite a dent on my October goals!  Here's the progress I have made!

October Progress:

1. Commissioned Quilt - all 20 stars are completed and I have purchased the sashing, batting, backing fabric and binding fabric! 

2. September and October OLW prompts - just today I finished September's prompt, still need to do October.

3. Continue studying for flying! Four flights under my belt - so much to learn and know.

4. Photo books - I got some good deals at Shutterfly this month and finished 3 books!

November Goals:

1. Commissioned Quilt - to finish the top (sashing between stars, and border)

2. October and November OLW prompts

3. Continue to study for flying

4. Start getting ready for Christmas

5. Finish December Daily 2011

Other projects that are on my list (for me to tackle in the future):

1. Use the beautiful fabric sent to me from Jolene (Blue Elephant Stitches). 
2. Make a quilt for Olivia (I already have the fabric)
3. Joshua's baby books (put pictures in the beautiful book my friends made for us, and make him a shutterfly baby book).
4. Deal with my photos:
a) print and put in albums Sept 2009 to November 2010, and 2012 (September to present)
b) deal with the huge box of photos under my desk (2005-2009)
5. Hang up photos and artwork we have framed on our walls.

Lofty goals -- 15 minutes at a time and it will all get done =)

September Progress

So I know it's odd to start my progress report of last month's crafty endeavours with a picture of me in an airplane (flying) but I think it's appropriate.  September was my month to learn to fly - as in ground school at our local aviation academy.  3 weeks of extensive information ... I have so much to learn!  Anyway, I hope that explains my lack of craftyness ...

September Progress:

1. Commissioned Quilt - I made one square this month - 12 to go (but happily, today I've spent 2.5 hours on this project and have all the white pieces cut out, and two more stars done.)

2. August and September OLW prompts  - August is done, September I've been considering the prompt

3. Studying for ground training (I'm learning to become a pilot so I can FLY!)

4. Photo book for April and May 2012 done (Shutterfly was having a sale!)

October Goals:

1. Commissioned Quilt - I would like to have the top completed by the end of the month (might be a lofty goal as it takes me about 45 minutes to make a star).

2. September and October prompts

3. Continue studying for flying!

Other projects that are on my list (for me to tackle in the future):
1. Use the beautiful fabric sent to me from Jolene (Blue Elephant Stitches). 
2. Make a quilt for Olivia (I already have the fabric)
3. Joshua's baby books (put pictures in the beautiful book my friends made for us, and make him a shutterfly baby book).
4. Deal with my photos:
a) print and put in albums Sept 2009 to November 2010, and 2012 (June to present)
b) deal with the huge box of photos under my desk (2005-2009)
5. Hang up photos and artwork we have framed on our walls.

6. December Daily 2011.

Lofty goals -- 15 minutes at a time and it will all get done =)

August Progress

What a fun month we had, full of many cool adventures.  And I even had some time to work on crafty stuff:

August Goals:

1. Commissioned Quilt

I am sewing  a quilt out of some cherished clothing.  Each star is made out of one shirt (I have 7 that I am working with).  This month I was able to make 5 more stars - 12 to go!  I will be putting sashing around each star to make them stand out.

2. August OLW prompt
I have my photo but haven't actually executed the prompt.  Will be on my September list.

September Goals:

1. Commissioned Quilt
2. August and September OLW prompts
3. Studying for ground training (I'm learning to become a pilot so I can FLY!)

Other projects that are on my list (for me to tackle in the future):


1. Use the beautiful fabric sent to me from Jolene (Blue Elephant Stitches). 
2. Make a quilt for Olivia (I already have the fabric)
3. Joshua's baby books (put pictures in the beautiful book my friends made for us, and make him a shutterfly baby book).
4. Deal with my photos:
a) print and put in albums Sept 2009 to November 2010, and 2012 (April to present)
b) deal with the huge box of photos under my desk (2005-2009)
5. Hang up photos and artwork we have framed on our walls.
6. December Daily 2011.

July Progress

We have enjoyed July 2012 - I have made it my goal to have adventures this month with the kids - and we have!  I have also spent some time on my crafty ventures.  Here's my progress for July:

July Goals:

1. Commissioned Quilt.  I have the first two stars completed.  18 to go - thinking I may put a sashing around the stars.  We'll see.

2. May, June, July prompts for OLW.  Goals written, craftyness explored, soundtrack chosen and application for Skywings aviation academy sent.  I have accomplished what I set out to do!

August Goals:

1. Commissioned Quilt

2. August OLW prompt

Other projects that are on my list (for me to tackle in the future):
1. Use the beautiful fabric sent to me from Jolene (Blue Elephant Stitches). 
2. Make a quilt for Olivia (I already have the fabric)
3. Joshua's baby books (put pictures in the beautiful book my friends made for us, and make him a shutterfly baby book).
4. Deal with my photos:
a) print and put in albums Sept 2009 to November 2010, and 2012 (April to present)
b) deal with the huge box of photos under my desk (2005-2009)
5. Hang up photos and artwork we have framed on our walls.

6. December Daily 2011.

7. Hope Valley Quilt. 

Lofty goals ... but 15 minutes at a time I can get it all done! Go me!

June Progress

June was a wonderful month filled with exciting adventures (a wedding in Washington, a Seattle Mariner's game, a visit to see a new nephew, and baseball games), and so this is my excuse for the minimal crafty progress I have made.

My goals for June:

1. Commissioned Quilt. Start on this!  I finalized the design and now have started on the stars using Elizabeth Hartman's instructions from her book: The Practical Guide to Patchwork (Superstar pattern).  Lots of work to go on this one!

2. Baby bucket quilt for William.  This one is off the list - they have something else to use for this.

3. May and June prompts for OLW.  I didn't even look at this one.  

July Goals:

1. Commissioned Quilt.

2. May, June, July prompts for OLW.

Other projects that are on my list (for me to tackle in the future):
1. Use the beautiful fabric sent to me from Jolene (Blue Elephant Stitches). 
2. Make a quilt for Olivia (I already have the fabric)
3. Joshua's baby books (put pictures in the beautiful book my friends made for us, and make him a shutterfly baby book).
4. Deal with my photos:
a) print and put in albums Sept 2009 to November 2010 and June to August 2011 and 2012
b) deal with the huge box of photos under my desk (2005-2009)
5. Hang up photos and artwork we have framed on our walls.

6. December Daily 2011.

7. Hope Valley Quilt. 

Lofty goals ... but 15 minutes at a time I can get it all done! Go me!

May's Progress

A little late ... but still good to set some crafty goals for June.  Here is May's progress report:

My goals for May:

1. Hope Valley Quilt.  Completed the top! Have all the necessary ingredients to finish it including the binding fabric.  Had my sewing machine serviced so it's ready to go.  This project is going on the back burner for a while because of a commissioned quilt.

2. May prompt for OLW course. Still needs to be completed.

3. December Daily 2011. Print 23 days and bind book. Still needs to be completed (having some printing and procrastinating problems for this one).

4. Hang up photos and artwork we have framed on our walls.  (No work done on this one)

My goals for June:

1. Commissioned Quilt. Start on this!

2. Baby bucket quilt for William.
3. May and June prompts for OLW

I'm making June's goals short due to the fact that summer is almost here and we are going to want to be outside!

Other projects that are on my list (for me to tackle in the future):
1. Use the beautiful fabric sent to me from Jolene (Blue Elephant Stitches). 
2. Make a quilt for Olivia (I already have the fabric)
3. Joshua's baby books (put pictures in the beautiful book my friends made for us, and make him a shutterfly baby book).
4. Deal with my photos:
a) print and put in albums Sept 2009 to November 2010 and June to August 2011 and 2012
b) deal with the huge box of photos under my desk (2005-2009)
5. Hang up photos and artwork we have framed on our walls.

6. December Daily 2011.

7. Hope Valley Quilt. 

Lofty goals ... but 15 minutes at a time I can get it all done! Go me!

April's Progress

Here is April's progress report:

My goals and what I accomplished for April:

1. Hope Valley Quilt.  I got all 36 blocks completed and am very close to having the top completed!  Woohoo! 

2. April prompt for OLW course. This is complete - a photo and a letter to be read in one year.

3. Office Declutter.  Haven't worked on this lately.

4. December Daily 2011 Printed 4 more days - completed 8 days so far - 23 days of photos to print and then bind.

My goals for May:

1. Hope Valley Quilt.  Complete the top, sew together warm and natural batting, start on back (need to buy flannel, thread for quilting, adhesive, and a new walking foot).

2. May prompt for OLW course.

3. December Daily 2011. Print 23 days and bind book.

4. Hang up photos and artwork we have framed on our walls.

Other projects that are on my list (for me to tackle in the future):
1. Use the beautiful fabric sent to me from Jolene (Blue Elephant Stitches). 
2. Make a quilt for Olivia (I already have the fabric)
3. Joshua's baby books (put pictures in the beautiful book my friends made for us, and make him a shutterfly baby book).
4. Deal with my photos:
a) print and put in albums Sept 2009 to November 2010 and June to August 2011 and 2012
b) deal with the huge box of photos under my desk (2005-2009)

Lofty goals ... but 15 minutes at a time I can get it all done! Go me!

March's progress

This is  how I talk about Work in Progress (WIP) from now on ... a  monthly progress post to keep me motivated.  

Progress made this month:

1. Continue with my Hope Valley Quilt.  Up to 19 blocks made (that's 14 this month)!  I work on this is tiny little chunks of time (usually whenever I walk into the office I spend a minute or two choosing fabric or sewing a block together).

2. February and March prompts for OLW course.  Completed!

3. Continue with office decluttering and cleanup.  Continuing to work on this!

4. Work on December Daily 2011.  I've started this ... 4 days of photos printed!

5. Photo book for March to May 2011 - need to get this printed!

6. Scrapbook page for the Hunters.
7. Commissioned work: wedding invitation and retreat pamphlet

My goals for April:

1. Hope Valley Quilt.  It would be nice to get all of the 36 blocks completed (17 to go).

2. April prompt for OWL course.

3. Office Declutter.

4. December Daily 2011 (print photos and bind book)

Other projects that are on my list (for me to tackle in the future):
1. Use the beautiful fabric sent to me from Jolene (Blue Elephant Stitches).
2. Make a quilt for Olivia (I already have the fabric)
3. Joshua's baby books (put pictures in the beautiful book my friends made for us, and make him a shutterfly baby book).
4. Deal with my photos:
a) print and put in albums Sept 2009 to November 2010 and June to August 2011
b) deal with the huge box of photos under my desk (2005-2009)
5. Hang up the photos and artwork we have framed on the walls of our house.

Lofty goals ... but 15 minutes at a time I can get it all done! Go me!

February's Progress

I think this is going to be how I talk about Work in Progress (WIP) from now on ... a  monthly progress post to keep me motivated.  

My goals for February were to:

1. Start my new Master bedroom quilt.  I have had the fabric for almost a year now - Denyse Schmidt's beautiful Hope Valley line.  I am making a patchwork quilt inspired by this quilt by Jolene (Blue Elephant Stitches).
2. Do the February prompt for the OLW (One Little Word) course.
3. Clean up, declutter, and organize our office.

Progess made this February:

1. YES!!! I started  my new Master bedroom quilt (will be called Hope Vally quilt from now on).  The fabric has been  cut out and I have sewn together five of the thirty six 9 patch blocks that are needed to make the top.
2. I have worked on my February prompt ... but haven't finished.  A good goal for this week.
3. A start on cleaning up my office.  Gotta keep working on this!
4. Put my August - November 2011 and January 2012 photos in an album.
5. An actual scrapbook page about my Joel.
Overall ... I think I would classify this month as a SUCCESS!!!


Goals for March:
1. Continue with my Hope Valley Quilt.
2. February and March prompts for OLW course.
3. Continue with office decluttering and cleanup
4. Work on December Daily 2011 (photos printed and placed in book)


Other projects that are on my list (for me to tackle in the future):

1. Use the beautiful fabric sent to me from Jolene (Blue Elephant Stitches). 
2. Make a quilt for Olivia (I already have the fabric)
3. Joshua's baby books (put pictures in the beautiful book my friends made for us, and make him a shutterfly baby book).
4. Deal with my photos:
a) print and put in albums Sept 2009 to December 2010 and March to August 2011
b) deal with the huge box of photos under my desk (2005-2009)
5. Hang up the photos and artwork we have framed on the walls of our house.
6. 2011 December daily - print photos and bind book

Lofty goals ... but 15 minutes at a time I can get it all done!  Go me!

January progress ...

This January I have not had much crafty stuff to show you.  But I have been working on my to do list.  So far I have:

1. Made a baby book for Olivia (ordered through Shutterfly)

2. Printed December's photos (shutterfly) and put them in an album

3. Used Booksmart to format my 2010 and 2011 blogs into books (looking forward to getting these in the mail)

4. Printed August - November 2011 and January 2012 photos (shutterfly again.  Looking forward to getting these in the mail too!).

5. Finished the January prompt for the OLW course I am taking.

6. Finished putting together my  2010 Daily December book.

My goal for February is to:

1. Start my new Master bedroom quilt.  I have had the fabric for almost a year now - Denyse Schmidt's beautiful Hope Valley line.  I am making a patchwork quilt inspired by this quilt by Jolene (Blue Elephant Stitches).

2. Do the February prompt for the OLW (One Little Word) course.

3. Clean up, declutter, and organize our office.

Other projects that are on my list (for me to tackle in the future):

1. Use the beautiful fabric sent to me from Jolene (Blue Elephant Stitches).

2. Make a quilt for Olivia (I already have the fabric)

3. Joshua's baby books (put pictures in the beautiful book my friends made for us, and make him a shutterfly baby book).

4. Deal with my photos:

a) print and put in albums Sept 2009 to December 2010 and March to August 2011

b) deal with the huge box of photos under my desk (2005-2009)

5. Hang up the photos and artwork we have framed on the walls of our house.

6. 2011 December daily - print photos and bind book

Lofty goals ... but 15 minutes at a time I can get it all done!  Go me!

WIP Wednesday

This year my focus has changed.  I'm very focused on my house and on my health.  For my house, I'm following the Flylady and for my health I'm focusing on eating very little sugar in my diet and exercise.  I've also joined Jonathan Roche's 2011 bootcamp for the rest of the year.  Should be fun.  Anyway, back to the purpose of this post ... creativity.  Here's what is going on in this area of my life:

Quilting:

1. Bucket quilt: is finished and ready to be given.
2. Pink bucket quilt: ideas swirling around in my head.
3. A stack of beautiful fabric given to me by Blue Elephant Stitches ... thinking about what this will become.


Scrapbooking:
1. Joshua baby book
2. Romance mini
3. 2010 Daily December
4. One Little Word Course project. October project in the planning stages.  Taking photos of my word: joy.

Blog books: zero progress
1. 2007
2. 2008
3. 2009
4. 2010
5. 2011

 Photo books: zero progress
1. from 2010

 This week's stats:
1. New Projects: 2
2. Completed Projects: 1
3. Abandoned projects: 0
4. Currently in Progress: 12 (Seriously I've get to get these done).

WIP Wednesday

This week I've been focusing on keeping my house, exercising, playing with my kids ... and I've even started a bit of crafting!  Woo hoo!  I do so enjoy sewing and being creative.  This week's WIP list:

Quilting:

1. Bucket quilt for my friend Cathy's baby.  I've started on this!  Hooray!  

Scrapbooking:

1. Joshua baby book

2. Romance mini

3. 2010 Daily December

4. One Little Word Course project. September Project done.

Blog books:

1. 2007

2. 2008

3. 2009

4. 2010

5. 2011

Photo books:

1. from 2010

This week's stats:

1. New Projects: 0

2. Completed Projects: 0

3. Abandoned projects: 0

4. Currently in Progress: 11

WIP Wednesday

It's Work in Progress Wednesday again ... I've been focussing a lot on my house lately, getting organized and keeping it clean, neat and tidy, so I haven't had much crafting time ... here's what I've done lately:

Quilting:
I've started two new projects:



1. Pillow for my master bedroom. This one is one I really want to abandon -- I'm not sure I like my version nearly as much as I like Malka Dubrowsky's version from her wonderful book Fresh Quilting. I have had to keep ripping out stitches because I keep sewing it in the wrong order. GRRR. We'll see!




2. Car seat quilt for my friend's baby. Cathy had her baby boy on the 27th and I had not even started working on it. Thankfully it is HOT right now so he won't need it. Cathy had choosen a monkey - so I'm in a delemna about what to use for a backing fabric. This is a design I've adapted from the book Quilt's Baby by Linda Kopp (the quilt I'm adapting from is Monkey Business by Laurraine Yuyama).

Scrapbooking:
1. Joshua baby book
2. Romance mini
3. 2010 Daily December
4. One Little Word Course project. June Project done.

Blog books: (no work done this week)
1. 2007
2. 2008
3. 2009
4. 2010
5. 2011

Photo books: (no work done this week)
1. from 2010

This week's stats:
1. New Projects:2
2. Completed Projects: 0
3. Abandoned projects: 0
4. Currently in Progress: 12

WIP Wednesday

I have had a very productive quilting week! I finally got up the gumption (is that a word) to try spray adhesive to sandwich my quilt - and I am a convert. It's quick, easy and effective! Not one wrinkly seam and no slipping - I didn't have to rip out a single stitch!!!!! The only drawback is the cost ... but I think it is absolutely worth it for the results! Because that went so well I just powered through the quilting and the binding in less than a week! I choose a turquoise binding from my stash - my plan had been to use the scraps from my quilt but there wasn't enough, I had also thought of using another orange from my stash but I'm happy with the turquoise. It's now time to go buy sheets and a mattress cover and get Josh sleeping in his big boy bed!





On with the rest of my WIP:

Quilting:
- all my projects are finished -- which means that I have a little time to get my machine serviced. It is clicking and clacking and needs some love. So off to the sewing machine hospital it goes today -- I will miss you!
- while the sewing machine is away I have time to decide what my next project will be ... I want to make some little quilts for some babys that are going to be coming into our lives (a new cousin for my kids, and a new friend), I want to do the urban lattice quilt along, and I actually want to make another quilt for my master bedroom (even though I'm really really happy with the orange and pink one!)

Scrapbooking:
1. Joshua baby book
2. Romance mini
3. 2010 Daily December
4. One Little Word Course project. Still thinking about the June prompt
(With my sewing machine gone, this might also be a good week to clean up this list =).

Blog books: (no work done this week)
1. 2007
2. 2008
3. 2009
4. 2010
5. 2011

Photo books: (no work done this week)
1. from 2010

This week's stats:
1. New Projects:0
2. Completed Projects: 1
3. Abandoned projects: 0
4. Currently in Progress: 10

WIP Wednesday - I'm back ...

Well I have had a really busy few weeks! I had the opportunity to go to Vancouver and Medicine Hat and had a wonderful time in both places! Spring has arrived here in Red Deer and for that I am thankful! The grass is green (and I have new sod in my backyard) and there are blossoms on the trees and birds singing! I haven't had much time for crafting ... but I want to show you what I have ...

Completed:




1. My Master bedroom quilt. We have been sleeping under this quilt for a couple of weeks now! I'm really enjoying it - it's the perfect size for our bed and big enough that we don't fight for the covers (although I think we'll like it even more in the winter because it gets kicked off most nights - a duvet plus a quilt is too much in the spring!)

Quilting:
1. Lizzy House Quilt. Remains needing to be sandwiched ... only because I need to find some time to do it and I need to get over the fear of trying a new thing (spray adhesive).

Scrapbooking:
1. Joshua baby book
2. Romance mini
3. 2010 Daily December
4. One Little Word Course project. May is almost done ... I still have to do this prompt.

Blog books: (no work done this week)
1. 2007
2. 2008
3. 2009
4. 2010
5. 2011

Photo books: (no work done this week)
1. from 2010

This week's stats:
1. New Projects:0
2. Completed Projects: 0
3. Abandoned projects: 0
4. Currently in Progress: 11