July Progress Report and Goal Setting

Looking for the June NewFO Linky Party?

Click right here

Here we are at July 1st, and the year is half over already! Sheesh, the time does fly by, doesn't it? My June sewing adventures went better than expected with the timely return of Big Bertha. And she is feeling fit as a fiddle, handling the remaining quilting on We are the World with aplomb. I wasn't sure I would get it finished before the end of the month, but I did.

July is going to be a very busy month, and so I'm doing my goal-setting accordingly. But to stick with June for a bit, here's how I did with last month's goals.

Quilting and Flimsies

1. I still want to finish quilting one quilt per month, and I'm really hoping to finish up "We are the World"  this month. I'm very happy to call this Complete!

It still needs a label, and while I was sewing the binding, I discovered a small section where I'd missed quilting it. That should take less than five minutes...the label a little longer, but then it will be on its way to its intended recipient. I might decide to wait and take it to my guild meeting in July for show and tell. Haven't showed or telled anything there yet.

2. Since I didn't make any progress on the "Good Morning" quilt during the month of May, it remains my quilt top to finish for June. Complete! And I've given this quilt a new name: "Where Angels Walk". (You can read my blog post here for an explanation of that name.)

Monthly Challenges

3.  For this month's "Let's Book It" Challenge, I'd still like to get a start on the Aspen Tree from Jean Wells book that I committed to last month.

Finishes aren't required, and so this challenge is Complete! This is the beginning of the Aspen Tree wall-hanging

from this book:

This quilt has a new technique challenge for me. Jean Wells calls it a portrait quilt because the tree will be bound and then stitched to the background fabric, which is in turn, sandwiched, quilted, and bound...sort of a floating quilt within a quilt frame. When I work on it again (soon, hopefully), I'll start that process.

4. As my "New" project for

I'm taking a thread painting class from Oregon's own Helene Knott this month. No Progress. But it really isn't my fault. As it turns out, I was the only one signed up for the class, and so it was canceled. That's okay though because Big Bertha was still under the weather and in no condition for traveling. Better luck next time.

5. I have a partner in the Doll Quilt Swap this month.



This goal is Complete! Optional theme for June was "In the Garden" and I made this quilt for my partner. I'm calling it "Pretty Posies".

If you like this quilt, you can find the free pattern right here.

And that will also serve as this month's NewFO.

But, as it turns out, I didn't need it because I totally forgot that I needed to finish the top for my guild's Initially Yours challenge to make a quilt representing our initials. My BS quilt is this "Blooming Sunflower" that still needs quilting and binding.

Since I left it off the list, I'm saying I get Bonus Points for that.

6. This month's color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is yellow, and so I'm planning to make a block for that. No progress.

I usually do these two months at a time, and so that will go on my list for July.

7. I may or may not make a block for my guild's block of the month. No Progress. Of course, I could focus on the positive and emphasize the "may not" part of that goal. If I do that, then I could call it Complete! How's that for logic?

8. I may or may not make a block for this month's Block Lotto. No Progress. And ditto what I just said in #7. (The woman is always thinking.)

WIP's

9. For June, I'd like to focus on the Folk Art Cats quilt with a goal of finishing all the blocks. No Progress.

Since I forgot about the Blooming Sunflower quilt, I spent all my time making that quilt this month. Looks like the cats will have to wait at least one more month. Since July is going to be devoted to quilting, I'm thinking they might not get their shot at being finished until August.

* * * * *

As for my July goals, it's going to be a very busy month. We have the Fourth coming up right away, and then on the 9th, I'm heading down to California for my high school band reunion. (I wrote a blog post about that earlier. If you're into marching bands, have a look right here.) I'll be there until the following Monday, and then Mike and I are going to try to get in another weekend camping trip. Then on July 31st, I'll be heading up to Tacoma for the Association of Pacific West Quilters Symposium. (If you're curious what that's all about, you can read about it in my post right here.) So, clearly, a busy month, and I'm going to scale back my goals accordingly...at least, I'm going to try. It never seems to work very well since my eyes are always bigger than my calendar.

Quilting and Flimsies

Mainly, I'm focusing on quilting and finishing in July. I would dearly love to finish these quilts:

1. Quilt and bind "Where Angels Walk", pictured above. This one is going to be a gift, and I need it ready by mid-August, so I need to get it finished up soon.

2. I need to quilt and bind Blooming Sunflower (also pictured above) because it's due at my guild challenge in August.

3. Also, I would like to quilt and bind "Happy Campers" so that we can hang it in the fifth wheel before we head off to Minnesota on August 31st.

4. Depending on how long those take, I'm hoping to quilt and bind Joseph's Quilt this month. Not sure I'll get that far, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Also, it's time to get my quilts ready for entry into this year's Oregon State Fair. I'm entering the Snow Birds quilt that I entered in the Stitches in Bloom show in January. 

That one is ready to go, since it's been in a show already this year. As I'm writing this, I think I might also enter Love Me, Love My Cat as it too was in a show this year and is ready to go. What the heck, right? I'm a glutton for punishment.

5. This one is not ready to go, but since it seems so well-liked in Blogland, I'm hoping the judges at the fair will like it too. It needs a label and a hanging sleeve, and so I'm putting that on my list of goals.

6. Ditto for "Shine On"...a label and a hanging sleeve. This is a small quilt, and so that won't take long.

7. And that's already a lot, but if I can get everything else done, including the stuff below, I'd like to get this flimsy pulled together for quilting at a later date. It's been on my list for quite some time, and I'd like to get it on the road to being finished. This is "Hello Moon", but I have another name in mind for it that will make more sense once it's finished.

I know how I want to set it...just need more hours in the day. At least it's on my radar screen now.

Moving on, here's the rest of my list.

Monthly Challenges

8. I'm behind on my Dream Machines for the

I need to make two blocks this month: one yellow, and one red, which is the color of the month in July. It works well to do two at a time since I can cut the pieces for the two blocks at the same time.

9. I want to make a small project for the Let's Book It Challenge

A small quilt from this book, but I haven't nailed down the project yet:

And since I've never actually tried designing anything in particular with my decorative stitches, this will also serve as my "new" project for

10. I have a partner in the July Doll Quilt Swap, and so I'll need to make a quilt for that.

The optional theme for July is "On My Bucket List", and I know just what I'm going to do already. And this will also serve as my NewFO for the July NewFO Challenge.

11. I'd like to participate in this month's Guild BOM: This star block from Cluck, Cluck, Sew.

We are making our blocks in Red, White, and Blue.

12. I may or may not make a block for this month's Block Lotto. My plate is pretty full already, and so I don't know if I'll get to it. Since I didn't make last month's block, I'd like to participate this month.

WIP's

Yeah. I think my plate is full. Not planning anything here. And so I'll just go right ahead and mark this one Complete!

And that's enough, don't you think? Not everything needs to be completely finished, but I like to give myself plenty of wiggle room, and so I'm shooting for getting my August must-finish's done in July. 

Oh, and before I forget, July is my Blogiversary month. Look for a great giveaway to celebrate my 4th Blogiversary on July 13th! (Incidentally, I read some of those original posts. They seem pretty funny to me now since I hadn't yet found my "voice". On the other hand, I don't sound so different to myself either. If I'm feeling brave, I might link to some of them just to give you a taste of "Cat Patches: The Early Years".)

What's on your list for July?