October goals

At the beginning of the month I talked about the stretch goals I'd written.  One or two of you thought they might be a little too challenging.  You were right!  I finished five of the 10, though technically two are just "almost finished".  They'll be done by the end of retreat so I'm going to count them.  My goals, my rules LOL!

I will carry the rest into November.  Early next week I'll decide whether or not to add more.  Right now I'm thinking "No."

New goals

I'm back in the groove now with 10 goals set for October, as well as a new set of quilting goals for 2013.  It is definitely possible for me to achieve Octobers, though it will take some diligence on my part.  I wonder how many I'll finish?

I've listed them on my left sidebar as usual, and updated the lists of stage completions for various projects.  I'm excited to be back to visible finish lines in the not too distant future.

I got home around 3:30 this afternoon, but must head out tomorrow morning again and won't be home until Wednesday night.  I'm going to Newberg to help my daughter-in-law who is recovering from surgery.  We are taking the tent trailer so I'll have a place to sleep and have "me" time after the girls are in bed.  Fred is driving me down to help set up the trailer, and then will come back to pick "us" up Wednesday night.

This will be back to back 3-day sessions away from Fred - I'm really going to miss him!

Tour de Fibre - Day 5 - Correcting a possible misconception

If I sounded cranky and tired in my post yesterday it was caused by the heat - not by the idea of setting quilting goals.  Today was quite a bit cooler, with a high of 84.  Tomorrow we are supposed to be back to the high 70's, with no rain in sight.  Perfect weather in my humble opinion.  Those of us who live west of the mountains in the great Pacific Northwest are just not used to high temperatures, especially as they almost always come with high humidity.

I have never had any trouble setting quilting goals.  I usually always know what I want to work on for the month.  If I change my mind mid-month, that's OK.  I never allow myself to be a slave to the goals I've set.  However, the beginning of this month was different.  I looked at what I've been doing in previous months, what is out in my sewing room currently being worked on, and the many things I could start.  I loved every single thing I was looking at, and just didn't feel like making any decisions.  (I can never made decisions when I'm too hot.)

I didn't know what my goal was going to be when I started my post, I just typed "on faith", figuring I'd come up with something.  And I did - a perfect goal for this lazy summer month that is likely to be hotter than normal.  The goal appeared as I typed, and I love it.  So we will all be in suspense over what quilty things I'll be doing - me included!

(And now you know the rest of the story . . . .)

Today I prepped two more small applique quilts and have just started a third.  I've decided I need to prepare a great deal of applique to hold in reserve for days when it is too hot to turn on the iron.  I can alternate between hand quilting and hand applique, as I use different muscles for each process.  This will be much better for my hands.  These two are also small quilts from the time I subscribed to Jan Patek's small quilt club.  Once prepped this simple applique goes very quickly, and big stitch quilting is very appropriate for finishing them.  Some of them need to have the quilt top sewn together before doing any applique, so I'll spend Friday this week doing that.

My goal at the moment is to have many "applique kits" ready for me to start at a moment's notice.  A perfect result that fits right into my July goal LOL!

April Goals

I'm reminding myself to be more realistic.

1.  Finish Emily's Quilt
2.  Complete book reorganization - including the mess upstairs.
3.  Spin what I need for Hood River Fiber Festival
4.  Reorganize my fabric stash.

I found it increasingly frustrating to have the colors of my Jo Morton fabrics all mixed together.  (Yes, my new project is another for Jo's Little Women Club."  It got to the point yesterday where I couldn't stand it any longer.  Half of that reorganization is now finished, and I'm so much happier with how the shelf looks.  I think I can find what I want here!  I still have Jo fabrics all over the floors and table but they will get back on the shelves in the next few days.

Of course now that I've started, I won't stop until every shelf is neat and organized and all colors are together.  This will probably take the next week or two.

Edited to add:  the Jo Morton fabrics - three shelves of them - are all in place.  Much easier to find something this way!

5.  Complete Jo's Four Patch.  This is probably all the sewing I'll allow myself until everything else gets done.  At least that is my plan!)

6.  Finish one pair of socks (should be easy to do as I'm going on a knitting retreat next weekend).

7.  Make progress on my hand quilting.

I think these are more realistic.  At least I hope so.  If I complete them all I will turn my attention to the longarm.  If not, then Gandalf will go at the head of the list of goals for May.