March progress and April Goals

This has been a very poor month for sewing around here, but for good reasons :D My husband has been home on holiday for two weeks and my youngest son is back from University for Easter; so lots of lovely family meals and trips out, but no sewing!

March progress:
Birds of a Feather: I have finished stitching block 2, I love this quilt, it is such a fun project to work on and I am really happy with my colour choices, especially the gold backgrounds, they are so way out of my comfort zone!

SDW Sampler: I have not worked on this in over three weeks, I agreed with my SAL friends that I needed a break from it and I am so glad that I did, I am now excited about picking it up again next week. I did finally manage to finish the church :)

I have also made a few more DJ blocks, setting aside one day a week for this is really helping

The highlight of the month sewing-wise has to be the day course that I attended at the Royal School of Needlework. You can read all about it HERE I did manage to finish the class project a few days later

April Goals:
I have signed up for the more advanced two day silk shading class in August, so I really want to practice more of this technique, I will start with this kit I bought a couple of years ago:

I really want to continue work on my SDW Sampler and start Manifesto! I am still waiting on longer bars from Needle Needs - their product is fantastic, their customer service leaves a lot to be desired!!

I will also try to finish block 2 of Vintage Valentine and I may even finish block 1 for the Caswell Quilt, I only have a little applique to finish off and then I want to add some embroidery details.

I will continue with Dear Jane Wednesday and I really think I need to have set days for some of these other projects too!

If that isn't enough, Jasper still likes his 2 hour daily walks and play dates too :D

February Review & March List

It's the 1st of the month again and time to see how much I actually achieved last month.

SDW SAL

I have continued working on this every week, except for this week as my husband has been on leave and I have not picked up a needle!

Vintage Valentine

Block one is complete and I am pleased how it turned out, I will work on Block 2 in April

Birds of a Feather

Block 2 prepped and all ready to start stitching :)

Dear Jane Wednesday

Hmmm started off well, but have missed this week and last

Easy Street

Have not even looked at this :(

I have also started two new projects this month, I have a really bad case of startitis at the moment! 

Block 1 of The Caswell Quilt is almost complete and block 2 is ready to stitch

And today the last of my crewel wool arrived for Manifesto :)

March Goals:

• Continue to work on SDW, maybe I can finally finish the church!
• Start Manifesto!
• Stitch Block 2 of BOAF
• Prep Block 2 of VV for April stitching
• Finish block 1 of Caswell Quilt

I think these are achievable (famous last words!) 

We have just been for a very long, very muddy walk and Jasper currently looks like this, the floor doesn't look much better...

January Review and February List

I have been making really good progress on all my WIP's since starting a blog! I think I feel some responsibility to work on them if they are publicly published!

January Progress Report

SDW Sampler SAL 

Making good progress with this sampler and loving our SAL!

Quiltville Mystery Quilt Easy Street 

Still piecing the top - have been distracted by embroidery :)

Vintage Valentine

I am half-way through appliquéing block one, I decided I don't like glue basting!

Birds of a Feather 

Block one complete - I love this quilt, don't know why I waited so long to start it!

Dear Jane

Still managing to make one block a week at least

In addition to working on all these projects I have also completed a major tidy up of my sewing room and revisited a hibernating project.

February - The List

• Continue with our wonderful SDW SAL
• Finish VV Block 1
• Prep BOAF block 2
• Continue with DJ Wednesday
• Finish piecing Easy Street

I will see how I manage, the list is very fluid which is just as well as there are many distractions around here :)

2013 - The List!

Several of my blogging friends have posted lists of the quilts and projects they want to work on in 2013. One of the many(!) benefits of blogging is that it has helped me to focus on my projects and to keep track of my WIP's !  I have three different categories of projects, those I want to start (too numerous to list!), those in progress, and some which are hibernating. I will try to update this list each month  and reserve the right to change it as I get distracted!!

Current Projects - 2013 Target
SDW Sampler SAL - finish stitching by end of the year
Quiltville Mystery Quilt Easy Street - quilted and bound by end of March
Vintage Valentine - Keep up with monthly assignments from Yahoo group - start February
Birds of a Feather - Keep up with applique challenges from Yahoo group - start today - Hurrah!!
Welsh Quilt - finish hand quilting
Barbara Brackman's Grandmother's Choice BOW - quilted and bound by end of May
Dear Jane - make one block per week
Russian Sunflowers - long term hand piecing project - keep working on it at quilt group

New Projects
Irish chain quilt in blue & white
Jane Austen quilt - a replica of the quilt made by Jane which I saw at Chawton
Burnt Quilt by Di Ford
Butterfly Garden - applique & Stitchery quilt
something with the 1930's fabrics I received/bought for my Birthday