Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Q2 Wedding Ring Plans

So, next month, I really want to get back to work on my Wedding Rings....so I have written up a schedule to work on something every week during the second quarter in hopes of motivating myself to get some work done on them.

Week 1 : April 3 - April 9
Sew 5 sets of As

Week 2 : April 1- - April 16
Sew 5 sets of As

Week 3 : April 17 - April 23
Sew 5 sets of Bs

Week 4 : April 24 - April 30
Sew 5 sets of Bs

Week 5 : May 1 - May 7
Sew 40 Ms

Week 6 : May 8 - May 14
Sew 40 Ms

Week 7 : May 15 - May 21
Sew CDS and CMS Units

Week 8 : May 22 - May 28
Sew curved units

Week 9 : May 29 - June 4
Make Blocks

Week 10 : June 5 - June 11
Sew Blocks together

Week 11 and 12 : June 12 - June 30
Contingency

Monday, February 27, 2017

Make A List Monday

After a great weekend, it's time to get back to work!

Here was the plan....

1. Find the blasted iron, seriously, I can't do much on some of these projects without the iron, so if I don't find it by tomorrow night, I'll have to buy another one. DONE - so, technically Josh found it, but either way, I have an iron!!!! Can't stop me now!

2. Borders on the couch quilt I made this weekend. It's an easy finish, just needs #anhouradaykeepsthecrazyaway to finish it up. Didn't get a chance to work on this one, but hopefully I can work on it this week.

3. Cutting out Broken Daisies. DONE

4. Vintage Rose - finishing up the step outs for the retreat this weekend. DONE, retreat was awesome.

5. Planning Items:



  • Plan the Q2 work plan - Bali Wedding Star weekly plan - done
  • Plan the March work plan - done
  • Update the website with newly scheduled classes - in process, I'll have this one done before the end of this week.
  • Create a design schedule for my quilt of the month for 2017/2018 - in process

I haven't been totally non-participative this week....though I didn't have a lot of time with the retreat this weekend. I did manage to finish this as part of #anhouradaykeepsthecrazyaway... and it wasn't even on the list...does that mean I get to count it????


It's the crossroads quilt by Lori Holt, from a couple of summers ago. The blocks were all made, just had to make the rows and then sew them together.

And for this week, I have just a couple of items that I want to finish up...

1. Get those borders on the couch quilt (you know the line item I totally skipped last week).

2. Finish up the quilt plans for 2017

3. Update the website

4. Sew for an hour every day on something....really on anything, it doesn't really matter. 

I'm teaching in Thousand Oaks over the weekend, so I only have a couple of nights this week to work on things, so we'll see how it goes.

What are you working on this week??? 

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Retreat Weekend....equals awesome....

So, I was at Cozy Creative Center this weekend teaching Vintage Rose. We might have had a little too keep ch fun. We sewed from 10-10 on Friday and Saturday, and 10-4 today. And now all I can think about is a nap!

Here's a couple of pics from class....









I had great intentions of taking lots of pics, but today completely slipped away from me.

Next week...2 days at Cotton and Chocolate in Thousand Oaks.






Friday, February 24, 2017

Vintage Rose Retreat Day 1

I spent today teaching VintageRose at Cozy Creative Center in El Cajon. This pattern has so many different customizations, the options are endless!

Today, we spent most of the day working on the Lonestar Rose Bud....





So excited for tomorrow, we will be working on the thorns and the centers....so anxious to see how all of the color schemes will come together!

What are you sewing on this weekend?






Thursday, February 23, 2017

What I have been up to.....

Watching - Netflix -- and some YouTube Channel of 6 guys doing crazy billiards stunts. DP something or other. Some of their tricks were amazing!!!

Craving - Thin Mints....I have yet to see any Girl Scouts this season, but I am sure that I can find some in the near future.

Doing - lots of organizing and cleaning. I'm finally mostly moved in, and it is now just a matter of getting things to their final homes.

Obsessing - over Quiltster. I seriously lose hours of time playing around with colors and designs.

Loving - the new house's proximity to the park. Penny and I have been going daily since the move.

Reading - Re-readig really -- Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace.

Wanting - a bit of a break. I'm ready for a long weekend of doing absolutely nothing.

Pinning - lots of new recipes, and some knitting, but mostly food.

Dreaming - about patterns and postit notes????

Writing - not much

Crafting - not much, though I have updated my project list and have big plans on the horizon.

Sewing - I've finally gotten my sewing room sorted out, and have been able to get back to sewing, and my sewing mojo has returned. I am super excited to get back to #anhouradaykeepsthecrazyaway 

Knitting - My Hitchhiker on MissBabs. I have finally gotten back to working on it this past weekend.  

Listening - to lots of Old Dominion, and some new crafty podcasts

Wearing - lots of my standard uniform of jeans, and tennies.

Needing - to make yearly appointments...its time to schedule doctors, dentists, eye exams and the standard yearly health checks.

Planning - lots of planning, or even lots and lots of planning. Now that the dust has settled from the move, its time to get back on the bandwagon.

Trying - some new organization processes, specifically relating to the kitchen. Not sure if I like them or not, but we'll see in a couple of weeks if they stick.

What have you been up to????


WIP Wednesday

Well, I'm making some changes to WIP Wednesday....I'm going to be focusing on some non Judy projects....starting tonight with Crossroads. I started this project 2 years ago, and made the blocks in a weekend, and then I got stuck. I didn't have a design wall, or a design floor, and so it lingered. With moving I realized that I have quite of few quilts in this position....blocks all done, and then I apparently lost the mojo and set it aside...seriously I have 11 quilts that just need a few hours to be finished....so, I'm going to be focusing on them every Wednesday. 

Crossroads


56 blocks


And after an hour.....14 quads.

Not bad for an hour.....inspiring in fact. I may have to sew on this again tomorrow, feeling motivated! 

Catherine



Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Couch Quilt

✔️Well, we've been in the new place for 3 weeks now...and I finally got around to working on that couch quilt that I've been wanting since my last move. I finally realized that I just needed something really simple.....and since one of my goals is to work through my stash, I went stash diving....and found the very last of my coconut Bali pops....and made a simple jelly roll race quilt. Quick and easy. Once I had the strips all sewn, it was time to go diving again for some borders. 


I'll cut them either later tonight or tomorrow, and a quick and easy hour and borders should be complete. So, win, win all around! 

Quick and easy finish ✔️
No new fabric ✔️
Get something done ✔️

Do you ever need a simple easy project just to help you get your mojo back?

Catherine

Monday, February 20, 2017

Make a List Monday

Can you believe February is almost over?? Just 1 more Monday and it will be March! Crazy! I'm finally getting settled in the new house, and getting my sewing area all arranged to my liking. I have a vision of how it was going to be, but in the end it just wasn't quite right....so I rearranged it, and rearranged it again...I think I finally have a good setup, that has the kind of flow that I want, so now, it's just a matter of getting all of the fabric unpacked and sorted out. In the meantime, there are a few projects that need work done before I spend any more time unpacking.

So, this week on tap is....

1. Find the blasted iron, seriously, I can't do much on some of these projects without the iron, so if I don't find it by tomorrow night, I'll have to buy another one.

2. Borders on the couch quilt I made this weekend. It's an easy finish, just needs #anhouradaykeepsthecrazyaway to finish it up.

3. Cutting out Broken Daisies.

4. Vintage Rose - finishing up the step outs for the retreat this weekend.

5. Planning Items:

  • Plan the Q2 work plan - Bali Wedding Star weekly plan
  • Plan the March work plan - 
  • Update the website with newly scheduled classes
  • Create a design schedule for my quilt of the month for 2017/2018
I'll check in next week and see how the week goes. 

See you soon!

Catherine

Sunday at Monica's

I got to spend yesterday at Monica's in Palm Desert doing a Judy Workday. The Judy Workday classes are always a bit of a mystery, you never quite know what everyone is going to be working on. Which is fun and challenging. This month was really fun because everyone was doing something different....


Prismatic Star


Bali Wedding Star

Rocky Mountain Bear Claw


Another Prismatic Star.

There were a couple of others working on papers or fabric cutting, and 1 Woodcarver's Star, which I seem to have missed getting a picture of.

I booked another 6 classes at Monica's which I will update onto the website later tonight, in the meantime, I'm working on some simple easy projects and getting the sewing room fully operational...including finding that iron that went MIA in the move....so, off to work I go!




Sunday, February 12, 2017

What I've been up to since the beginning of the year.

I had such great plans to blog and chat every week, and here it is mid February, and I'm just getting settled. I always underestimate how long changing life situations will take....but now the move it officially settled, and life is feeling more normal and routines are getting settled, it's time to talk about exactly what I've been up to lately

Watching - House of Cards on Netflix. I binge watched the entire series. Completely evil and scary and equally fascinating. Part of me wants to believe that this is all fantasy, and part of me knows that we see this stuff every day in our political system.....

Craving - Thin Mints. So far, I have resisted, but my resistance is fading and quickly. 

Doing - lots of organizing and cleaning and reorganizing.

Obsessing - about planners and planning and goals....all that start of the new year, new me thing....

Loving - all of the Bullet Journal ideas that I have seen floating around Facebook. 

Reading - Rereading The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt. we're looking at some serious production changes at work and I'm getting inspiration on building that amazing team to really become partners in excellence.

Wanting - a vacation -- somewhere warm with no worries

Pinning - lots of yarn lately. With Stitches West next week, all of the new color ways are super inspiring and exciting.

Dreaming - about revamping the business and how I really want it all to work.

Writing - not much. I have a couple of patterns in process and a couple of blog post ideas that I am working through, but nothing serious.

Crafting - home decor....with every move, I am always making new pillows and pillowcase, and new "decorations"

Sewing - not much. I seem to have really lost my sewjo, and I really need to get it back. I know part of it is not having a real space, and needing to get the house in order before the sewing room, but now that that has resolved itself, I am hoping to really get back to sewing this week.

Knitting - not much knitting either, as life has been packed for several weeks, but hopefully (repeat previous answer here)....

Listening - to Old Dominion. I picked up the album on a whim, and i really have to say there isn't a bad song on it.

Wearing - lots of sweatshirts and wool socks, it's been cold and rainy for weeks now, and I've gotten a chance to wear things that haven't seen the light of day in years.

Needing - an adventure....

Planning - a retreat for the fall, and maybe a new haircut, i'm a bit indecisive about it, but I keep coming back to it.....


Trying - a couple of new recipes this week....slow cooker pork ribs for tomorrow, and an asparagus and lemon pasta dish on Wednesday. Trying to expand my repertoire in the kitchen. I feel like the last few weeks have been the same things each week, so I'm adding some new things to the mix.

February News

I can't believe it is already mid-February!!! I had so many big plans for Q1! And very few have gone anywhere! The reality is, it has been a very eventful 6 weeks of 2017. I moved, I made some big decisions about the business and what I want to do, and how I want to do it....so look out for some big announcements in the next few weeks. In the meantime, just some checking in about sewing plans, and progress. And some teaching opportunities....

so, first....business stuff...

Teaching ---

Sunday, February 19th -- Monica's Quilt and Bead in Palm Desert

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, February 24-26th - Cozy Creative Center in El Cajon, CA

March 4th and 5th - Cotton and Chocolate Quilt Co. - Thousand Oaks, CA

March 11th - Orange Quilt Bee, Orange, CA

So, as you can see it is a busy, busy month ahead.

Luckily, I have finally gotten my new sewing space all sorted out in the new house, so I can honestly say that I SHOULD be able to sew more in the very near future. Hopefully, I can really get back to the things I need to get done. So, I'm off to sew!!! See you soon!