End-of-Month Report for November and NewFO

November wasn't so great for me, with Koko's leaving us, but let's see what I accomplished. 

Thanks to the folks who host these parties that greatly boost my motivation in my quest to finish up every UFO and NETY in my closets.

Linking to:

 

UFO's: Two complete finishes

I'd planned on finishing up Koo Koo Puff and A Barbeque with the Squadron - both a big, fat NOPE!!

✓ But my third selection was Kelly's 1930s quilt, and YES, I finished it!   All the hand quilting is in there, and the scalloped border is all stitched down. Not a quick task at all. Still need photos and a write up.

✓ Then I threw in one of Kelly's Joseph Smith quilts for an unexpected UFO finish. I'm really happy with how the quilting turned out, and this is another write-up waiting to happen. The family loss and a Thanksgiving trip over the mountains to Grandfather's House have taken away blogging time lately.

(both of those are blogged here: Two November Finishes)

And my DECEMBER GOALS are posted here



WIPs:

✓ Double Wedding Ring has 73 rings complete, so I kept up with my goal on that. Less than 2 rows to finish.

Rainbow Jane - I know now how I will quilt it, but I did not get any guidelines put in.



✓ NewFO:

I love Barbara's NewFO parties each month, and they're really helping me get these kits pulled out of stone-cold status and on their way to becoming quilts before my youngest is out of high school.  ;D  Lots of other fun projects emerging, so take a fun  stroll through the other links!


I had the best time with this one. Braid quilts turned out so easy to put together that I got the entire flimsy constructed!!  LOVE THIS! And I'm calling it "Plums in November."  I went comfort shopping when Koko died and got the backing and binding for this at the local quilt shop. I also was bad and bought a kit for a modern quilt which will be my next NewFO.

Plums in November flimsy:  (something like 75 x 90)

 

The kit didn't include enough fabric for the end triangles, but I found some Stonehenge in my stash to use there. I think it worked fabulously.

 

 

The kit fabric was like the lightest marble near the center squares, so I'm actually happier with the effect of this substitute than the original would have yielded.

SUPER itchy to quilt this one!!!!

(The backing is a nice plum batik with a wee bit of perkiness and plummy shapes. The binding is a slightly less perky plum that pulls together perfectly with the darker shades in the border fabric on the front.)

 BOMs:  Not bad, just went off-roading with this category for the month.

I did not keep up with all four slots. I didn't feel like it, and Hello, Moon isn't out just yet. I did finish everything on both of Kelly's BOM tops, and then quilted one of them and finished it. I did do 4 sets of work on the Holiday Tidings BOM that I pulled into the active loop this month. Nothing on Ruffled Roses other than some basting of a few applique pieces. Fully expect to go "off-road" again for December. Who knows what will happen, because I'll choose as I feel each Sunday instead of looking at the "schedule."


 Community Sewing: Nope. I did not make those wheel-chair blocks.   Maybe next month.


So - altogether, not a power-house month, but not a bad month, either. http://catpatches.blogspot.com/2013/11/november-newfo-linky-party-and-giveaway.html

BOMs Away - 11/25 - Holiday Tidings, RIP Koko

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.
This week's link-up is at the bottom of this post.

 
Hopefully this was a better week for you than it was for me. My poor Koko's old body just couldn't do it anymore, so we lost him on Thursday. It probably sounds strange to say, but I bet a few of you understand when I say he was the very best friend I've ever had, outside of my husband. He also was one of those very rare cats that I could swear was a ministering angel in a pet's body. If you've ever had the profound privilege of knowing one of those animals, you know what a treasure these guys are. I can't adequately explain it, but if you've known one, you understand what I mean. It goes far beyond a normal sweet pet.

Rest in peace, Kao Ko Kung. And thank you for the honor of being a part of our family for the last 16 years.

 

 

The only BOM I felt remotely like working on was Holiday Tidings, even though I've already done it this month. Probably because the holidays mean the college girls will be home again soon, and that soothes my aching heart.

Months 4 and 5:

 

 

 

 

What BOM work have you been able to get finished lately?

~*~*~*~*~

 Any projects broken into weekly or monthly units are welcome in addition to true BOMs.   Share your eye candy and show off your progress since the last time you linked up! There are some wonderful monthly and weekly projects going on out there.

 

BOMs Away - Nov 18 - First One All Quilted!

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.
This week's link-up is at the bottom of this post.

 

No "Hello Moon" yet, which was perfect, as I just wanted to knuckle down and finish the quilting on the first of Kelly's duo -  (YES!)

Sorry this is a little late going up - had to take a 5-hour break to take this sweetheart to the pet ER.

Poor guy's in hospital overnight for rehydration and antibiotic treatments. Numbers show that his old, old kidneys are only working about 1/4 capacity. Contemplating his mortality is a real bummer - he's one very special cat and has been my Best Bud and nightly teddy bear for many, many years.

It's getting to be a busy time of year - 

what BOM work have you been able to get finished lately?

 

~*~*~*~*~

 Any projects broken into weekly or monthly units are welcome in addition to true BOMs.   Share your eye candy and show off your progress since the last time you linked up! There are some wonderful monthly and weekly projects going on out there.

 

BOMs Away Monday - Flimsies Report!!

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.
This week's link-up is at the bottom of this post.

  

 

Yeehaw!!  Kelly's two Joseph Smith quilts are now full-fledged flimsies:
 

It's funny how doing something out of love for the other person changes your feelings about the work itself. This is totally not my style or fabric scheme, but I have really enjoyed working on these for more than the past year for her. They do have a fun heritage symbolism for each of the monthly block choices, which I'll write up when I've finished the quilting for one of them. 

Longer-term followers know that my cousin Kelly passed away a couple of years ago - far, far too young to do so, too! She and I were long-distance quilting buddies and had been working on a dual BOM game with each other wherein each of us chose a project and did a double set of each month's block. We kept one block and mailed the second to the other. At the end of the year, we would each have twin quilts of what the other also held, one of my choice, and one of hers. This project was her choice. But she died before we finished our game.

When I went back for her funeral, I rescued every WIP I could identify from her sewing room. She had everything nicely organized, so it was easy to find the blocks she had already done for these, the entire pattern set, and all the fabrics she'd bought for it. Most of those were already designated for certain blocks, but I did have to fill in her choices on some from the box full of additional reproduction FQs she had with this project. The fabrics are all reprints from the 1830s-1840s.  I didn't find yardage for the borders or backs, so I had to order those online last week. It was a little nerve-wracking to shop for borders without being able to see them in real life against the quilt centers. But honestly, to me the collective piece is pretty frenetic to start with, so it would have been hard to stick in that era and not work somehow. I think she would be pleased with the result - I made an effort to shop from her eyes rather than my own.

Now that I helped Scott clean the guns after making him happy with a family trip to target shoot zombies at the range, I'm going to get him to help me pin-baste the first of these tops so I can try to quilt it in time to ship to one of her family members for Christmas. It's a fair trade, eh?   ;D

So, what BOM work have you been able to get finished lately?

 

~*~*~*~*~

 Any projects broken into weekly or monthly units are welcome in addition to true BOMs.   Share your eye candy and show off your progress since the last time you linked up! There are some wonderful monthly and weekly projects going on out there.

 

BOMs Away - Something New!

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.
This week's link-up is at the bottom of this post.

 

 

It's supposed to be a Kelly-BOM week, but the only piece of reproduction yardage I have will not work for the borders of her tops, and I'm waiting for the fabric order I put in to finish these quilt tops. I felt that was an acceptable purchase to make despite my fabric diet for the year. I *might* just be able to finish one of these in time to gift it to someone in her family at Christmas.

 

So in the meantime, I went into the Deep Storage and pulled a seasonal BOM that's been there since - are you ready??? - 2000!!

 

 

 

 

How could that happen? Well, thinking back, that's the year we started homeschooling, so I had two bright kids - 3rd and 1st grade - to coordinate all their academics, we were extremely active in competitive sports and concert piano music lessons (which is what prompted the homeschooling to start with), and we had horses. On top of that, Scott was deployed to Korea unaccompanied for a year, so all quilting activities flew right out the window. I did keep buying the BOM packets each month, but only the first one ever got done.

 

So I had a bootbox full of 11 unopened packets, 3 star blocks, one small portion of the holly swag on the top row, a baggie of fabric scraps from month 1, and a baggie of the ribbon piece from month 1. (I will wait until that row is fully pieced and then do the whole ribbon at once.)

 

 

 

 

Thanks to a 5am boinked-awake brain and the intentional Time Change Sleep In plans of the other family members, I got a good block of sewing time today. So I did months 2 AND 3 this morning.  :)

 

And I have this much of a quilt top so far. 

 

 

 

 

I have to say, this is the BEST written BOM pattern I have ever encountered. It is so easy to follow. Which is nice, because the duo of tops I've been finishing for Kelly on these First Sundays is the WORST written pattern I've had to decipher. Very cool concept and lots of super neat historical material coordinated with each month, but man was it time-consuming and confusing to figure out the cutting directions.

 

So, what BOM work have you been able to get finished lately?

 

 

~*~*~*~*~

 Any projects broken into weekly or monthly units are welcome in addition to true BOMs.   Share your eye candy and show off your progress since the last time you linked up! There are some wonderful monthly and weekly projects going on out there.

November Goal Post

 Time for the magical progress-making guidance list for the new month!

 

[Don't forget, I over-pack mine on purpose with small identifiable steps, so this is not as overwhelming as it seems.]

 

UFOs -

 

• Koo Koo Puff - Gets first dibs on the finishing goal this time around. He needs all his topstitching and thread painting, then to be quilted (I think I want to trapunto him), and then he'll be mounted on his art frame. Good thing he's little!

• Kelly's 1930s - Finish the last of the hand quilting! Only about 1 square yard's worth of straight lines in the wide border.  I'm not going to kid myself into thinking I can also finish the scalloped binding by month's end, but maybe I can get a start on it. . .

• A Barbeque with the Squadron - Let's get the backing made and pin-baste this sucker so we can get another large UFO shot down by year's end.  :)

 

WIPs/NewFOs -

• 25th, Baby! - Try not to cry again. Aim for finishing 70 rings - it's almost time to work in those longer joining seams. Just think: So far you've finished enough for a double size quilt!

• Rainbow Jane - Figure out the new quilting for the triangles and put in the guidelines.

• NewFO - There is definitely one last quilting box somewhere that I haven't unpacked from the move. Really hoping it's just tucked somewhere behind stuff and not actually lost! But this is the second NETY that's come up missing, and I remember exactly where these were in the old house in Florida - on the same case, too. Sooooo - the work I REALLY wanted to do on That Bad Boy has to wait for yet another Veteran's Day.  Instead, I've dug out an untouched kit with roughly Thanksgiving colors. It will be fun to try out the French braid style.

 

 

 

BOMS -

• Kelly's Heritage - Finish assembling these two tops!
• Hello Moon  - Stay on schedule
• Ruffled Roses - Finish cornerstone 4. Attach all the border sections and applique the roses that overlap the seams.
• Open Slot - Choose one to pull into Selvages' vacated slot! Maybe Fall All Around or Garden Friends. . . or My Renaissance. . .

COMMUNITY SEWING -  Make a wheel-chair quilt kit's blocks.

PRIORITIES -

FMQ Station - Koo Koo Puff, then BBQ
Piecing Station - 25th, Baby!; after daily quota, go to wheel chair blocks, then French Braid
Hand Station - Kelly's 1930s, then Ruffled Roses