January Bee Blocks

I've been busy all day trying to catch up on bloggy stuff.  Mostly Stash Bee stuff (have I mentioned that I'm the Hive Mama for Hive #2 in Stash Bee?).  Well, I'm finally all caught up and I thought I'd share the January blocks I finished for the bees I'm in.

For Rebeckah in Stash Bee:



For Megan in the BELIEVE circle of do. Good Stitches:





My blocks for Megan are all packed up and ready to be posted, I just have to find time to go to the post office!

In other news I'm going to a birthday party for my aunt tomorrow and have yet to make a present.  Let's see what I can get done last minute!  Woohoo procrastination!!!!

WIP Wednesday... er... Thursday

I had INTENDED to write this post yesterday morning but instead got caught up in a frenzy of cleaning house/ doing laundry/ baking bread/ making dinner that lasted until 8pm.  I am very happy to say though that while my Wednesday might have ended up sans-sewing and sans-blogging, I did get a LOT done, and it leaves me all day today to work on sewing projects.

Okay, onto the WIP Wednesday post!

I managed to get two of the WIPs on my list finished, as well as get 4 blocks completed for the December queen of Stash Bee.

Finishes from WIP list:

1. Repair Deacon Rick's Vestments (I currently need to cut new panels and then sew them in)  Done! (Completed 1/8/2013)

No pictures of this one.  I made a mistake cutting the lining of the vestment and then panicked.  By the time I figured out how to fix it and then actually got it fixed it was late at night and I just wanted to be done with it, so I wasn't really in the mood to try and set up a photo shoot.  It ended up being a good thing that I made the mistake I did, because the way I ended up fixing it looked much nicer than it would have looked if the way I was going to do it had worked the first time.

2. Finish sewing Steve's bookshelves (need to surge the edges and then make the fold-over pockets for the rods to go through) Done! (Completed 1/9/2013)

Here the bookshelves are installed in Steve and Jennifer's nursery

The seam where I had to sew two panels together

Stash Bee December blocks for Jackie (completed 1/15/2013):

I'm hoping to get my do. Good Stitches blocks done in the next few days, and maybe also a little free motion quilting using the Supreme Slider I bought back in September and still haven't had a chance to try out (why is it that September through December are always my busiest time of the year?)

"Finish"

If I had to pick a word for 2013 mine would probably be "Finish".

Image credit: PixelPowerDesign on Etsy

Looking back over 2012 I realized that I started a ton of things... and then never finished them.  When I came to that realization I decided that in this new year I was going to make a point to finish all the projects in my WIP pile.  I of course have many other resolutions but this is a big one for me in regards to my sewing and quilting.  I've even gone a step further and decided that until I've either finished all my WIPs or scrapped them permanently I will start no new projects.  The exception, of course, is stuff for the baby and gifts for birthdays and showers.... and curves class stuff (since I already paid for it).... and previous commitments like Stash Bee and do. good stitches blocks.

I know, I know, that's a lot of exceptions, but if you think about it it's still very limiting.  For example, I'm not able to jump on the trend and do any Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks, and I'm not able to do the Starburst quilt qal. 

Since I'm making the commitment to finish my projects I thought I'd go ahead and get something out of it (hey- why not?  I'm already doing all the work), so I'm joining up with the 2013 Finish-a-Long with Leanne from She Can Quilt.

My list of WIPs is pretty atrocious, but here we go:
1. Repair Deacon Rick's Vestments (I currently need to cut new panels and then sew them in)

2. Finish sewing Steve's bookshelves (need to surge the edges and then make the fold-over pockets for the rods to go through)

3. Sew Heike's dirndl (currently only cut out) (and can't find to take pics of-- eek!!)

4. Finish Mario blocks and turn into quilt

5. Do something with Polaroid blocks

6. Quilt Christmas tablerunners

7. Turn Stash Bee house blocks into quilt

8. Turn 12 days of Christmas blocks into quilt

9. Finish Solstice Stars blocks and turn into quilt (3 blocks finished, only 2 to go!)

10. Finish Sew Happy Geek QAL blocks and turn into quilt (I think 7 blocks are finished)

11. Quilt and bind "be Creative" wallhanging

12. Surge napkins

13. Turn Buhler's blocks into baby quilt (only have 6 blocks so far)

14. Finish Harriet's quilt blocks turn into quilt (applique on all blocks complete, but need to add some detail, then sash, border, sandwich, quilt & bind)(pic is just of the sashing, the blocks were tucked away and I didn't want to pull them out)

15. Finish brown and blue purse (need to attach hardware)

16. Bind red & black potholders

17. Sew green skirt (currently only cut out)

And I know these don't count for the finish-a-long, but each month I want to get all my bee blocks finished and mailed ON TIME.

Oh, and while we're talking about resolutions and stuff, I'd like to start using my stash more.  When I do need to start a new project I plan to try and use fabrics out of my stash and not just go out and purchase new fabric.

Okay, here we go.  Wish me luck!

(p.s. I plan on posting pictures of Christmas finishes soon.  Another resolution: blog about ALL my finishes)