March One Monthly Goal is Sliced Up!

I was excited to see that the March UFO draw number is 4!  My #4 is my Sliced Snow Globe Quilt.   This baby has been in the works since before 2002.  I made it as part of a sliced quilt challenge with 5 other ladies around my state.  We each came up with a picture to recreate, sketched out the pattern, sliced it up, and mailed off a section to each other.  Basically, each quilter made her slice completely independent of the others.  One lady didn't do her section for mine, and so years later I finally did it myself.  I made the section with the boy on the sled and the bottom half of the far right slice.  A lady named Beverly made the tops of the houses in that slice while I did the bottom of the houses all the way down.

Deciding how to finish off my circular beauty took several years of pondering.  One day I came across these beautiful paper pieced houses and I was in love.  They had to be my border.  I tried to put the border on just the top and bottom of the quilt but didn't love it.  I spent a good part of last year finishing all the houses and getting the top done to my satisfaction.  Now it is time to quilt and bind this baby. 

I am linking up with One Monthly Goal on this one.  I will quilt and bind this one for March.

A flimsy that has been waiting for 16 years!

Sliced Snow Globe is a Flimsy!  I am more excited about this quilt than any one I have done in some time.  Those houses took me forever and motivation to do them was slow.  I am tucking it away until next year to quilt.  

I also cut out the bees that will go with my flowers.  Trust me,  They look pretty cute with eyes and a smile as shown in the pattern book.  I will be doing a quilt retreat next weekend where we will work on these.

I am linking up with:

Needle and Thread Thursday
Midweek Makers
Let's Bee Social
Esthers' WOW

Report on my wonderful trip visiting family last week!

I have returned so refreshed from my visits with family this past week!  No one in my family lives close to me, so I have to road trip to see them.  In my travels I visited my parents, brother's family, and both of my sister's families.  I also visited a cousin and both of my daughters and grand babies.  I have one other brother, and I visited his wife and daughter last week.  

I also have some quilt progress to show.

Sliced Snow Globe is almost a Flimsy!  I plan to finish it today!

I helped my sister start a heart quilt.  I mostly just cut a little and pressed for her on the last morning I was there.  She is making this for her in-laws to tie and give to the next niece/nephew that gets married.   

She also inspired me so much with her bathroom remodel.  She took these oak cabinets that were a bit dated and put a gel stain on them.  I fell in love and plan to do the same to my bathrooms.  

I also made the bird blocks that go with my flowers. This is called Chicks in the Garden.  It is a crazy bright quilt, but I love it.  

I am a bit sad that the beaks don't show up.  I didn't do a good job of picking them.

While visiting my cousin, I fell in love with a quilt on her design wall and came straight home to rummage through my stash to make one for myself.  Below is her quilt and the fabric I found to make the main blocks with.  

The best part of coming home was to a finished house.  Our home had cream colored siding that had holes all over it due to a hale storm.  We have since done stucco and rock.  I just LOVE IT!  We are saving to remove and put on a new deck, so please look beyond the ugly deck for now.  The trim (facia) that goes next to the roof is not complete yet either.  

Can I just add that it is super stressful picking stucco colors and rock.  You just hope so much that it all matches and looks good when you are done.  In spite of my worries, I am more pleased with our choice that I ever imagined.  I LOVE IT!  It is also hard to decide where to put the rock.  Our house can be seen from three sides, so we felt we needed to do the front and sides but not the back with rock.  

I am linking up with:

BOMs away
UFO Busting
Moving it Forward Monday
MCM

July One Monthly Goal

July is here and half of 2018 is gone.  I LOVE July and especially this July because my son, who I have not seen for two years, is coming home.  He has been in Germany on a church mission.  His best friend just returned from his mission last night and I cried when I visited him.  It will be a grand reunion!

My One Monthly Goal is to piece and quilt a small one for a friend's Christmas present.  Yes, Christmas in July it will be.  I have not yet even cut a piece of fabric for it, but it will be a red, yellow, and blue version of this quilt.

I did finish my One Monthly goal for June but forgot to link up.  Oh well. 

I always have other goals as well.  I am going to list them, but I am not going to push super hard to really get them all done.  If I do, I do.  If I don't, I don't. It is more of a wish list because I want to spend some time with my son and do some house work.

1.  I want to paint both of my bathrooms.  The paint is beginning to peel and needs a refresh.

2.  I want to stain the bathroom cabinet in the back bathroom.  If I like it, I will do the main bathroom.  Now, I don't even like doing this kind of work, but I visited my sister last week and fell in love with what she had done to hers.  It inspired me.  I ordered the product just yesterday.  

3.  Complete my Sliced Quilt top.  I finished the last paper pieced house just days ago and began assembly.  I have now renamed it the "Snow Globe Sliced Quilt".  I know I can do this goal because it only needs four squares of fabric added to the four corners.

4.  Quilt and bind Sweet Cherry Orange.  This was a Stashbee Quilt.

5.  Complete my Chicks in the Garden quilt top.  I know it is wild and bright, but I like it.

6.  Quilt & bind Chicks in the Garden

7.  Cut the bees to go with the flowers I made last month

8.  Sew the trees and assemble my Bear Paw Quilt.

9.  Keep up with Block Lotto comments as I am hosting this month.  Here are the blocks we are making.  

10.  Keep up with my family round robin.  I just returned home with it yesterday.

11.  Add my June section to Pieceful Country

Deana: two more houses done

I am so pleased to have two more houses done for my sliced quilt borders.  These are smaller than the others I pieced, but that tree on the right side took a whole hour for each block.  I also had some mess ups and picking and restitching getting the red house stripes to all go the right direction.  There is still one piece turned wrong and I am not fixing it.  

I love these houses though!

This is the direction I am headed with this quilt.  There will be a few more borders to sort out, but this is the general plan.

We have had a super dry, warm winter and are in desperate need of moisture to sustain us through the summer and fall.  I woke up to February snow.  It is lovely.  Here are some photos of my back and front yards.

I am linking up with:

Freemotion by the River
Main Crush Monday
Move it Forward Monday
Let's Bee Social
Finish it Up Friday

Deana: weekend progress = two finished churches

Wow!  This paper piecing project is taking W A Y  longer than I anticipated.  It is a good thing I got a start on it right at the first of the month.  It is my One Monthly Goal to get this top done.  Last week I thought there was no way I will make it.  This week I am thinking I can.  

These paper pieced patterns are by "Quilt Art Designs".

 Here are my churches with the houses I pieced earlier in the week.

I have two more houses really close to done that I hope to post in a day or two and then two more that are not started.

Let's take a look at my design walls.  I have two in my sewing room with a total of three projects on them.  On the left is my son's medallion quilt with only the middle done.  I want the top done by July when he comes home from his mission in Germany.

On the right is my sliced quilt challenge that goes with the houses I am paper piecing.  I think they are going to look good together.

Below is my Diamond Hill quilt awaiting the borders that need to be appliqued.  This quilt is on my list to finish this year as well.  You can see my other house and church on the side next to it.

Today's linky parties include:

BOM's Away

Monday Making

Esther's WOW

UFO Busting
Show N Tell Monday with Bambi

Deana: preparing to paper piece my winter town

Well  #1 which was drawn for February is my Sliced Quilt Challenge.  It is about time I finished this one.  I have selected the fabric for paper piecing the big red house and the church.  I will make two of each, one for the bottom row and one for the top.  One house will be red while the other will be brown and gold.  Both churches will be grey with red trim but not the same fabrics.  I don't want them identical.  They will go on top and bottom of the round quilt shown below.

I have also cut out all the pieces and started to color in some sections.  Coloring them helps me to not mess up as easily.

I am linking up with:

BOMs Away
Show N Tell Monday with Bambi
Monday Making

June Goal Follow-up

Hello Blogland!  How did your quilt progress go for June?  I did ok.  As usual I didn't quite meet the mark on all of my goals, but I am pleased with what I did accomplish.  I usually set the bar high and get more done as a result even if it is not everything on the list.  Over the past three years I have gone from about 15 UFO's to 6.  That is pretty good progress.  Of those UFOs a few are quilted but many are just tops done.  I don't feel bad about that though because I have been quilting other people's quilts more than my own.

Well here is the run down on June:
GOAL #1:  I am linking this to Patchwork Times June draw.  It is also on my 17 for 2017 list.

Complete my #7 draw from Patchwork Times monthly goal draw.  It is to complete the little missing corner of this long time UFO sliced quilt challenge.  I won't get a complete finish on it, however, because I found the most adorable paper pieced winter neighborhood pattern online.  It won't be released until the end of the year so I'll have to wait.  I plan to piece the neighborhood and put a row at the top and a row at the bottom.

DONE!

The photo below shows how I connected the tree branches in the three slices with thread painting.  As a review,  this was a sliced quilt challenge and a different person made each slice independent of seeing the other slices.

GOAL #2 Hand stitch these babies down and wash out the glue basting.

I also hope to get the sashing on them pieced and attached.

I AM PLEASED WITH MY PROGRESS ON THIS QUILT!

I only got one more block completely stitched down but I did make a lot of progress on the others.  I also assembled the two blocks that are done with the sashing and got all the final diamond pieces cut and ready to sew.

GOAL #3

My "One Monthly Goal" for June is to quilt this gorgeous star quilt for my sister Felicity.  It has been basted for two months now and is so ready for my attention.  

DONE AND DELIVERED!
This was also on my 17 for 2017 list.

GOAL #4

Finish blanket stitching, borders, quilt, and bind this baby quilt for my other daughter who is getting a baby in July.

DONE AND DELIVERED!

GOAL #5

Get borders on these two quilts to prepare them for quilting and baste them! (Jodi's Lattice - on my 17 for 2017 list)  and Mom's Quilter's Garden.

I MADE PROGRESS BUT DIDN'T FULLY ACHIEVE!

I did get the borders on both quilts and have one of them half basted.

GOAL #6
Finish piecing Christmas Log Cabin.  

NOT COMPLETED BUT VERY CLOSE!

I got all of the blocks made.  I need to assembly the newly finished blocks and add borders to complete it.  This is also on my 17 for 2017 list.

GOAL #7

Crochet around the edges of two receiving blankets.
DONE!

GOAL #8

I also hope to quilt and bind my Star Crazy quilt.  It is basted and ready for some machine time.

I DIDN'T EVEN TOUCH THIS ONE!


I am linking up with:

Moving it Forward Monday
Freemotion by the River
JUNE 17 FOR 2017 PROGRESS
Midweek Makers

On a side note,  I was browsing blogs and found the cutest quilt blocks ever called Shop Hop!  Those blocks are a MUST HAVE for me!  You should check them out up close.