September Goal Setting

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Another month has come and gone, and it's time to start reviewing my goals from last month and setting some new ones for September.

My goals for August were scaled back some, but apparently not enough. I only got part way through my list. Here's what I was hoping to finish during the month of August:

1.  Quilt and bind the True Hope quilt. Complete! This one is off to my cousin Rebecca, and I'm told she has it now and is enjoying it. 

2.  Complete the apple blocks for the Debbie Mumm sampler Complete!

3.  Complete two more blocks for the Yard Art quilt Complete! I had to fix a block I made wrong from before, and now that one is fixed too.

4.  Complete a door for the Doors of Ireland quilt--No progress.

5.  Complete another cat for the Folk Art Cats quilt--No progress.

6.  Catch up on the Rainbow Scrap challenge Complete! And I'm loving how this is looking.

7.  Finish the Wonky Houses wall-hanging quilt top. Complete!

So, not a bad showing for August. I knew it would be a busy month because canning fruits and vegetables has taken priority over sewing for the month.

September will be busy as well because we are leaving on a three-week trip to Colorado. I'm intentionally keeping September's list short because I'll have to accomplish all of it in the first week of September, all the while getting the trailer ready to go on our trip.  Here's what I'm hoping to get finished in September.

1. Quilt, bind, and complete the Wonky Houses wallhanging (pictured above).

2. Finish the White Trees quilt top. I still need to add borders, but then it will be ready for quilting during the month of October. This being a winter quilt, I'm hoping to post it for the online winter quilt show, assuming it's going off this year as it has in the past.

3. Finally, I'm putting my September NewFO project on the list as well since I'll need to have this ready to go when we return from our vacation at the end of the month. Can't be late with the NewFO linky party, now can I? My official September NewFO project is a second try at the Pony Express quilt. 

I blogged about my disappointment with this pattern right here and then updated it right here, after corresponding with the designer. As I said in my update, I still like this quilt, and I'm especially fond of quilts that teach us something about history. The history of the Pony Express included with the pattern is nothing short of fascinating. So, despite my disappointment with the pattern, I still want to make the quilt, and I'm going to substitute other blocks where necessary. It doesn't look all that hard to do. My goal for September is to do the center "house" block, and I already have a substitute block pattern at the ready. The rest of the blocks are traditional, and so I should be able to make it work by hook or by crook. And just as I typed those words, I started wondering what the heck that means anyway. (You know how I get sort of crazy that way.) So I checked it out. Here's what it says on The Phrase Finder:

"Suggestion number one is that 'by hook or by crook' derives from the custom in mediaeval England of allowing peasants to take from royal forests whatever deadwood they could pull down with a shepherd's crook or cut with a reaper's billhook. This feudal custom was recorded in the 1820s by the English rural campaigner William Cobbett, although the custom itself long predates that reference. 

"Another commonly repeated suggestion is that the phrase comes from the names of the villages of Hook Head and the nearby Crooke, in Waterford, Ireland. Hook Head and Crooke are on opposite sides of the Waterford channel and Cromwell (born 1599, died 1658) is reputed to have said that Waterford would fall 'by Hook or by Crooke', that is, by a landing of his army at one of those two places during the siege of the town in 1649/50.

"A third suggestion is that the phrase derives from the career of Sir George Croke, a celebrated English judge. Croke (or Crook) was on the bench in the reign of Charles I (born 1600, died 1649) and became popular for his refusal to accept the legality of a 'Ship Money' tax imposed by Charles without the consent of Parliament. It was commonly said that ship money "may be gotten by Hook [that is, by force], but not by Crook".

"It's worth saying at this point that suggestions two and three look dubious. Both have clear links to 'by hook or by crook' but refer to events that are later in date than the phrase's first uses in print. There are other suggested theories too and, although 'wood gathering using hooks and crooks' isn't a provable derivation, it has to be a strong favourite.

So there you have it. And did you notice how easily I distracted you from the fact that my list of to-do's for September is uncharacteristically short? I'm very sneaky that way. But that's it. September will be a short month, but even shorter for me since I'll be away from my sewing room.

And with that said and done, let's go to some parties. I'm linking up to:

And on Thursday, I'll be linking up to:

What's on your to-do list for September?