2017 Sew-Alongs

Hello and Happy Friday, my friends.

In addition to the challenges One Monthly Goal and 17 UFOs in 2017, I am participating in two new sew-alongs this year.

The first is a Farm Girl Group hosted by Dawn at Sew You Quilt 2.  My blog friend Julierose encouraged me to join and I’m so happy she did.  The purpose is to finish the blocks from Lori Holt’s Farm Girl Vintage book.  This project is also on my 17 UFOs in 2017 list, so it is nice to have the ‘extra’ encouragement.

Dawn announces two blocks per month that the group will complete, if they haven’t already.  Participants can also make extra blocks if they wish.  I love the flexibility with this sew-along…no pressure, just fun.

January’s blocks were Milking Day and a Cow.  The Cow block is not part of the book and I don’t think - at least right now - that I want that one in my quilt so I skipped it.

Here is my Milking Day block.

I made this one when I started Lori’s sew-along in 2015.

I’ll be starting next month’s blocks soon which are Scrappy Strawberry and Patchwork Pumpkin.

The second sew-along I am participating in is a block of the month hosted by Sherri at A Quilting Life.  She posts a new block pattern on the 5^th of each month.  I’ll be using a fat-eighth bundle of Autumn Woods by Kate & Birdie for Moda.

Here is my January block.

You can find Sherri’s instructions for this one by clicking here.

January is shaping up as a successful month for me.  You can read about my OMG accomplishment here.  I’ll be sharing my 17 UFOs in 2017 progress next week.

I hope you all have an enjoyable weekend.

OMG – January 2017

My first OMG and it is a success!  Albeit a small finish but a finish nonetheless.

This mini valentine table topper was started in 2015 when Linda from Stitch Lines visited her good friend in south Florida.  Her friend happens to have a winter home very near me so I was fortunate enough to meet a blog friend in person.

Linda is the queen of miniatures and after spending some time with her I was inspired to give it a try.  She showed me how to use Thangles and gave me some great pointers.  Armed with some Kiss Kiss by Abi Hall for Moda and some Bella solids, I made my first attempt.  In spite of all her efforts, I made some mistakes but I did learn from them.

So, I am happy to say that I dusted off the kissy faces and finished my table topper for January’s OMG.  Please visit Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal January Linkup to see what others accomplished this month.

You can visit Linda by clicking here.

Thank you Linda, I hope you come back to south Florida soon!

17 UFOs in 2017

Good day, my friends.  As I mentioned yesterday, I am on mission to bust some UFOs in 2017.  Not only am I participating in Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal, I am also joining Meredithe’s 17 UFOs in 2017 Challenge at pomegranate and chintz.

The reason I love this challenge is because the participants are encouraged to at least make PROGRESS on their projects…no pressure to FINISH.  In my opinion, if you are making progress then a finish is inevitable.  Unless you fall out of love with the project.  I have one of those UFOs that I am not sure I love enough to keep it going…we shall see.

Here is my list for the entire year:

1.	Mini Valentine Quilt (also my January OMG)
2.	Butterfly Trails Label (I don’t think quilts are complete until they are labeled…why do I have such an issue with this?)
3.	Willow Weave Label
4.	Deck-Ade the Halls Label
5.	Building Blocks – finish knitting and assemble into an afghan
6.	Birdie Stitches – stitch in the ditch and make each block a mini quilt to be displayed monthly
7.	Summer Table Runner – quilt and bind
8.	Farm Girl Vintage Blocks – finish all blocks then decide which ones go into a quilt and which will be potholders J
9.	Swilly Scarf – knitting
10.	Asanagi Wrap – knitting
11.	2009 (yep, it’s that old) Saturday Sampler
12.	2016 Row by Row – doing this one before finishing 2015 because I love the Home Sweet Home theme
13.	2015 Row by Row
14.	2009 (what was it about that year?) – Thimbleberries 3s Company Quilt
15.	Sewing Machine Cover – I don’t love piping!
16.	Halloween Baltimore Quilt – I’m not sure I love this one…it may get donated
17.	Christmas Stockings – I machine embroidered names on the cuffs but now I want to add embroidery to the boots

My January nominees for 17 UFOs in 2017 are:

    ~~~ Mini Valentine Quilt~~~

        ~~~All Quilt Labels~~~

 Deck-Ade the Halls

     

    Butterfly Trails

     

        Willow Weave        

~~~Building Blocks - numbers 5, 6 and 7  ~~~

     

Just because I am busting UFOs this year doesn’t mean I won’t start something new… I’m sure that I will but the UFOs take priority.

Are you joining any challenges, BOMs or other sew-alongs this year?  If so, let me know and I’ll follow your progress.  We can encourage each other!

Enjoy your day J

Happy 2017 – An OMG Year

Happy New Year my crafty friends.  I truly hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season and that 2017 is going to be happy, healthy and prosperous for you.

My Navy son is home for the new year.  He returns to Japan on January 14^th so I’m not spending very much time being creative but I am having a great time with him here.

I have so much to share with you but I’m not going to do it in just one post.  I owe you an update on some things from the last post…waaaay back in November.  YEESH!  But today I want to share about my plans for 2017.

I’m not one to make resolutions and I haven’t had much success over the last couple of years on my personal goals.  This year, though, I am turning things around.

I’m going to start with participating in two monthly linky parties – that I'm sure will help me bust some UFOs.  The first one is One Monthly Goal (OMG) hosted by Patty at Elm Street Quilts.  The second one is 17 UFOs in 2017 hosted by Meredithe at pomegranate and chintz.

Today I’m going to share what I plan to accomplish for the January OMG and then tomorrow I’ll share my 17 UFOs in 2017.  I still have to take photos for that one.

January OMG – Mini Valentine Quilt

This is something that I want to finish piecing, quilting, binding and labeling for enjoyment in February.  I’ll share the finish (YES! I must finish) at the end of the month and include all of the details.

It is an overcast dreary day in southeast Florida today.  Could it mean we may get a break in the heat?  It certainly hasn’t felt like winter here, even by our standards.

Hope the sun is shining on you today…

Just a Thing or Two

As I was editing last weekend’s photos, I realized that I have been a little productive in the sewing room.

My friend’s church has a couple of ladies that take mission trips to Haiti, Dominican Republic and Honduras.  They deliver dresses to girls in orphanages there.  Each Monday night members and non-members of the church gather to make these simple dresses.  I have participated a few times. 

Over the last few months I contributed 13 dresses.

All of the materials come from donations.

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Speaking of donations…  a couple more helmet liners were donated to Forgotten Soldiers Outreach.  

These were sent to me from Pat in New Jersey.  She is a friend of Selina’s who, like Selina, has contributed helmet liners the last two or three years.  Selina’s package is somewhere in post office land.  She has her local postmaster searching for them.  Between the three of us, we have completed 7 helmet liners this year.

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My sister visited last month so we could celebrate my Mom’s 73^rd birthday.  

As is our tradition, we went to the Mount Dora Craft Fair.  It is pretty much the same year after year.  You can read about a previous visit here.

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I cut fabric for two laptop cases.  My daughter’s college roommate asked for one and my daughter decided hers needs to be replaced. 

I was supposed to finish these last weekend using my early birthday present...thank you SWEEEET HUBBY! 

However, there was a distraction…a nice distraction.  I’ll share about that in a later post.

Hoping to make the laptop cases by Friday as I’m leaving for Old Town Alexandria on Saturday for 9 days.  I’ll be working there all of next week.  

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It won’t be all work and no play, though.  Next Sunday morning, and the following, I’ll be taking a class at Fibre Space.  I shared my first visit with them here.  They sent me the yarn, pre-wound, in advance so I could make the swatch.  

We will be learning how to make this...

Photo from Google Search

The pattern is Asanagi Wrap by Olga Buraya-Kefeliar.  You can find it on Ravelry.  The yarn is from Woolfolk Tynd, 100% Ovis 21 ultimate merino – whatever that means.  I’ll ask for an explanation when I get to class.

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Hope everyone exercised their right and voted today.  I did my part J

Hugs!

100th Blog Post Giveaway Winner

First I want to thank everyone that commented on my last blog post for their encouragement and feedback.  You’ve given me just what I asked for J  I wish I had a gift certificate for all of you!

Counting people, twenty-one followers commented so I let the random number generator do its thing…

The lucky number today is 15!  

Congratulations to Needled Mom

Mary will receive the $25 Fat Quarter gift certificate.

Thank you all again!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day J

100th Blog Post and Giveaway

When I started my blog on June 6, 2013, the intent was to share progress on my craft projects - and maybe a little of my life - on a weekly basis.  Now that would mean today should be my 179^th post.  I’m a little off from my original goal J

I’ve made so many new blog friends but it seems like we are more likely to post on Instagram or Facebook these days.  It’s like an instant post without much effort.  Honestly, I do not really post much on the Slammin’ the Screen Door Facebook page, I’m mostly on Instagram and I see so many of my favorite blog friends are there as well.

I am not quite ready to abandon the blog.  I do have hopes of reviving it along with my creative activity.  I have been in such a slump lately with regard to sewing or much of anything crafty.  I’m going to shake myself out of this slump because I have so many projects waiting to be completed.

And because it is somewhat of a miracle – that I have completed 100 blog posts – I will celebrate by offering a giveaway.  The prize?  How about a $25.00 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop?

To enter, leave a comment on this post to let me know if you are a regular follower of my blog. And if so, let me know how you follow…  Google +, Bloglovin’, email or some other way.  Do you follow me on Instagram too?

  

The winner will be selected from comments that are received on this post only by Sunday, November 6^th at 9:00 pm EST. 

~~~~Don’t forget to change your clocks this weekend~~~~

I will use the online random number generator to select the winner sometime after 9 pm.

Now, just so you know that I haven’t been completely lazy, I want to share the latest block in my Building Blocks adventure. 

This is block #5, a lesson on cables – and it is another one that I am going to re-do.  Why?  The block is so simple that I got complacent and knitted an entire 7 extra rows!  Now, the block in the photo is my 4^th or 5^th attempt.  I’m not kidding when I tell you that I got complacent.  There were times that I knitted when I was supposed to purl and vice versa.  It doesn’t help that I do this while watching sports too.

This is November 1st and I say it is as good a time as any to jump back into my projects.

Let’s see how it goes J