ALYoF: February Progress Report and Goal Setting

January is over and we're into the shortest month of the year. I had a huge list of to-do's for January, and while I didn't get through all of them, I made a pretty good dent. Here's what I had on my agenda for January:

1. As my goal for ALYoF, I'd like to quilt and bind the Vintage Miniature Sewing Machines quilt. Complete!

2. Make the flower applique for the Cornflowers table runner. Complete! The top-stitching is finished as well. It just needs some prairie points at each end, and it will be ready for quilting and binding.

3. Remake the first block for the Forest Giants quilt. No Progress. I took this off the list for January since my genius quilting friend from high school Marei is coming for a visit in April. She has some ideas about how to accomplish this without templates, and I'm going to hold her hostage be her hostess while she teaches me.

4. Make two more blocks for the Yard Art quilt. Complete!

5. Make the next blocks for the Pony Express quilt. No Progress. This quilt has some baggage attached, and so it generally gets moved to the bottom of my priorities list.

6. Make the next door for the Doors of Ireland quilt. No Progress. Still want to get this one done soon.

7. Make the next block for the Folk Art Cats quilt. No Progress, but ditto for this one.

8. Start on Block 2 for the Wind in the Whiskers quilt. You'll notice I said "Start", and so Complete! Working on this one right now. As I'm writing this post, I have the first of the appliques made.

Also on the list, my January NewFO project, which is this "On A Roll" wall hanging. Complete! The top is finished. It just needs quilting and binding now.

And, finally, make the first block (blue) for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Complete!

So...not perfect, but not a bad showing for January, especially considering I was gone from home for almost a week.

February being a short month, I'm going to try not to get overly ambitious. Think I'll make it? I fear not, but here goes. These are in no particular order.

1. For my February commitment to ALYoF, I want to quilt and bind this Strawberry Tablerunner.

And this is the project I'll use to link up to the linky party for February goal setting at:

2. For a while now, I've been trying to quilt and bind one quilt and finish one quilt top each month. This month I want to finish up a quilt I started a while back. The blocks have been done for months now, but I need to sew them into a top and make the back so that I can get it quilted before June. It's my son Matthew's graduation quilt. He will earn his degree in engineering in June, and so I need to get going on this. I call this quilt "Intel Underneath". Matthew has just completed a one-year internship with Intel, and now he's back in school to finish up his degree. And I am one proud Mom, let me tell you!

There are 16 blocks in this quilt, and the image above shows four of them. This will be my configuration and then I have some other fabrics to add to the top and bottom of the quilt to make it a Queen size. The image is a little blurred, but that is printed circuit board fabric in the largest squares. I have some computer keyboard fabric to add to the top and bottom. As for quilting, my goal is to take the long-arm class at a local quilt shop and then rent some time on the machines. I want to have this as my first "solo" project after I learn to use their machines. And this would qualify as my "Something New" for the "Something Old, Something New Challenge". It's two goals for the price of one.

3. Complete section two of the Wind in the Whiskers quilt. You can see what I have so far in the image further up this post. Here is what the section will look like when it's complete...at least this is what I hope it will look like. One never knows. Since I'm making the whole quilt rather than individual wall-hangings, my section will not have the borders on it.

4. Complete this wall-hanging from a new technique I learned in a workshop in January. I call this "A Rose is a Rose is a Rose". It was the name of a perfume I wore on my wedding day...something cheap, but it really smelled like roses! Anyway...I want to stack these three roses I made using a new free form cutting and piecing technique and turn them into a wall-hanging.

5. Make the next door for my Doors of Ireland quilt (pictured above).

6. Complete the next block for the Folk Art Cats quilt (also pictured above).

7. Piece the next section for the Gardener's Journal quilt. I have the next set of embroidered blocks finished, and now they need to be pieced into the quilt. Here's the quilt as it stands so far:

Also, I want to start my newest project in the NewFO Challenge, which is this little quilt called Duluth Trees:

I may change my mind and do something else, however. I saw a picture on Facebook the other day that I think would make a seriously cute quilt if I can pull it off.

Also, I have a project picked out for "Let's Book It"...this Christmas tree scrappy wall hanging:

from this book:

In keeping with the NewFO Challenge philosophy, Let's Book It only requires starts...no finishes...and so my goal is to just get started on this. Matthew and I are going to try to add some blinking LED lights to the tree once I have the top completed.

Lastly, I want to make a block for this month's Block Lotto, and the next block for my project in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. This month's color is pink.

So, what do you think? Have I succeeded in keeping my list manageable for this short month? Ha! I think not. But as I always say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Having a long list definitely keeps things moving along in the sewing room.

What's on your list for February?