July Goal Setting

Time to decide on my monthly goal for:

For July, I'm going to make the back, quilt, and bind the quilt I made for the Hello Sun QAL of last year.  I just finished this quilt top last week, and now I'm set to jet to get it quilted.

You all convinced me that the rainbow fabric pictured below is the right choice for the binding, and so that's what I'm going to do.  I'm still awaiting delivery of the fabric for the back, but I expect that any day now.

And I almost never leave a quilt with its original name, so I'm renaming it.  Since I anticipate this being a baby quilt some day--for somebody--I think "You Are My Sunshine" is a good name for it.

You can find the goal setting party for A Lovely Year of Finishes by clicking on the banner at the top of this post.

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Also, it's time to think about the progress I made on my June goals and set some new July goals for:

My June goals included:

1.  Quilt and Bind the Love Me, Love My Cat quilt. Complete!

2.  Add three more rows to the Salt Water Taffy flannel scrap quilt. Complete!

3.  Make a doll quilt for the June doll quilt swap.  Complete!

4.  Start my June NewFO project.  My default project was this quilt, but it turned out to be more challenging than I anticipated.  I blogged about it right here.  Ultimately, I decided to set this project aside until the frustration of a bad beginning subsides.  I'll pick it up again in a few weeks.

Instead, I decided on a different quilt called The Birds Return, which is the cover quilt of this book by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes.

For June, I completed the first vertical row:

5.  Make two blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Complete! 

The blue and yellow ladies on the left are the latest to join the party.

6.  Add the borders to the remaining Vintage Miniature Sewing Machine blocks. Complete!

7.  Sew together the completed blocks for the Hello Sun quilt top. Obviously from the image above, Complete!

8.  Make some more progress on the Hearts table runner.  Complete!  I finished the quilt top on Saturday.  Except now I need to take it apart and fix those two heart blocks that are turned 90 degrees.  I can't believe I didn't see that until I posted the picture.  Duh.

9.  Make the next blocks for the Mumm's the Word sampler by Debbie Mumm.  No progress.

10.  Add borders to the White Trees quilt I started a while back.  No progress.  I'm postponing this one for a few months.

11.  Add borders to the True Hope quilt.  No progress.

12.  Make two more blocks for the Yard Art quilt.  No progress. 

I didn't achieve all my goals, but I'm still happy with what I've accomplished during June.  So, what am I hoping to accomplish during the month of July?

1.  Non-Negotiable:  Quilt and bind the "You are my Sunshine" quilt pictured at the beginning of this post.

2.  Non-Negotiable:  Complete the quilt top for the True Hope quilt pictured above.  All it needs now are borders, and then it will be ready for quilting.  I'm trying to complete one quilt top per month, and then I want to quilt it in the month that follows.  That's why I'm postponing completion of the White Trees quilt.  I'll set that goal for another month.

3.  Non-Negotiable:  Start on my July NewFO project, which happens to be the "Strawberry Time" table runner that appeared in the April/May 2011 issue of The Quilter magazine.

I have some cute fabrics picked out for this one!

4.  Non-Negotiable:  Complete my July Doll Quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap.

The theme for the July Doll Quilt swap is "Stars and Stripes", which opens up a host of possibilities.  I have it narrowed down to about five possibilities now, and I'm looking forward to making this quilt.  The theme has me kind of excited.

5.  Non-Negotiable:  Complete last month's goal of adding the apple blocks to the Mumm's the Word sampler by Debbie Mumm, pictured above.  My goal is to add the apple blocks you see on the right and left side of the image, kind of in the middle.

6.  Non-Negotiable:  Make two more blocks for the Yard Art quilt pictured above.

7.  Optional:  Make the next door for the Doors of Ireland quilt I've been working on.  This is the door I've selected:

8.  Optional:  Make the next cat for the Folk Art Cats quilt I've been working on.

So far, I have completed the three cats in the bottom row, and the first one on the left in the top row.  I was trying to do this as a block of the month when I started it, but I'm afraid I'm hopelessly behind.  Now I'm just making them when I get to them.  The rest of the blocks seem less seasonally oriented than the ones in the bottom row, so it works out just fine.

And that's it on my July wish list.  My goals are a little less ambitious than they have been during the winter and spring months.  With weather getting warm and nice, it's time to spend more time outside.  Also, I have a busy July ahead.  

At the beginning of the month, we'll be camping on the Oregon coast.  Then I'll be spending the 4th of July with my family down on the east bank of the Willamette River, watching the fireworks.  Then the following week, my friend Lisa from southern California is coming for a three day stay.  Lisa and I have been friends since the 7th grade, although we had some intervening years when we lost track of one another.  We don't get to see one another nearly often enough, and so I have some big plans for her visit to Portland.  Lisa and I were both in the band in high school along with another friend, Carla, who also lives in Portland.  The three of us are planning to get together and get paint the town red, er, gray.  (White?)  There was a time when we could have painted the town red, but now we're all old.  (And just for the record, Carla and Lisa are much older than I am.  [stifles a snort])

The goal setting party for Year of the Finished project won't go live until after this posts, so I'll have to come back and update it then.  (I said I would do that last month, and then I forgot.  Doh!)

This time...I remembered:  Check it out right here.