Procrastination and a Looming Deadline

It's Saturday morning and I have the day set aside for quilting. In 5 days, I will be heading to Idaho to finally meet my youngest grandson. Harper was a long wished for baby. Many prayers on behalf of his parents were answered when he was born 6 months ago. Many prayers of gratitude were offered since. But we just haven't been able to get out there to see him. 

I have been planning his quilt since we found out his mom was pregnant. I have been working on it since December but I just haven't gotten it done. Partly because all my weekends have been tied up. Partly because I have been soo busy at work. Partly because my Studio was a mess. But mostly it's due to procrastination. 

Why have I been procrastinating? The top has been ready for a couple of months. The back has been done for over a week. I cut the batting 3 days ago. Why isn't it on the long arm already. 

I haven't used my long arm since the last upgrade.  I kept reading about problems people were having since the last upgrade. That made me really nervous. I did find and print out the instructions for setting up a pantograph in the new system. So I am going to use those to get my pattern ready on my Quilting laptop before loading it onto the tablet.

I also hadn't found a Pantograph that I wanted to do. Since it's a Winnie the Pooh Quilt, I was looking for something with bees.  I did find a couple that would work but nothing that sparked for me. I kept looking despite having ones that would work.  I did some google searches for digital quilting patterns and found the perfect E2E on Wildflower Quilting. What a great site with lots of cute patterns. And for those of you who are Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, They has temple stitching patterns (also other church motifs).  Any way I found the perfect E2E for this quilt.  It's simply called Honey e2e. 

 Now it's time to screw up my courage and get this quilt on the machine.  I am so looking forward to finishing and taking it to my precious little grandson.

What is keeping you from finishing a project?

Almost 3 Weeks Later

Still too busy at work, so not a whole lot of progress on anything. Work is really busy and I am getting home later than I would like. We did hire on one tech, we have a temp we are training, and my supervisor should be back on Monday.  Hopefully, I can start working 8 hour days instead of 10-12.

I did get the labels on two quilts, which equals 2 finishes posted to the Queen of UFOs group.  I got the backing made for 2 more quilts. I hope to get one quilted this weekend. I really need to get one done before I head to visit my new grandson at the beginning of August. He will be 6 months old by the time I get to meet him. I need to have his quilt done before I go.  I actually found the perfect E2E to use on it. I just have to remember how to import it into Quilt Path.

I am planning a couple of Relief Society Activities that will be English Paper piecing. I learned from a blog that PaperPeices.com will send you free samples to learn EPP. I went to the web site and requested 16 samples. They didn't even ask what for.  I found some really cute ornament patterns at PaperPieces.com. I hope to get the women on board with making them for table favors for the Branch Christmas party.

I did start stitching the blocks for my granddaughter, Izora's, quilt.  I am doing the same pattern for her that I did for her 2 older sisters, Ribbon Dance by Missouri Star.  I also used a 1930's print similar to her sisters' quilts. So all of their quilts are coordinated.  I got all of the HST's done. Now I am trimming them up before I assemble the blocks.

Perigrine found another tub of fabric a few weeks ago.  A good deal of it was scraps. So I have been sorting and trimming scraps. Which fits into my Declutter challenge group. I do find cutting fabric to be very relaxing, which gets me in the right frame of mind for work.  I am still trying to do my morning routine. Finding that bin did get me to thinking. I don't see some fabric that I remember having. I think there is another bin hiding somewhere, if not two.  I have a lot of fabric.  I really need to be sewing from my stash.

Have you looked at your stash lately? Are you sewing from it? What are you working on?

Too Busy to Sew

This past week has been a whirlwind of activities. The trip to Chicago went well, I learned a lot at the the technical forum. I also enjoyed the training at company head quarters. I learned a lot there as well. What I didn't have was much time to do anything else.

Unlike past trips, I did not get to just head up to my hotel room after the day's meetings. There were meals, happy hours and social networking taking place every night.  Plus the co-workers that live in the area were determined to keep us entertained. I maybe got 1 hour in the hotel room each night. That was mostly tied up talking on the phone with my husband.  

I was going to stitch on the plane or in the airport but on the way out I discovered I didn't have any needles in my bag. Apparently the magnet I had my needles and threader on fell out before I packed it. So the first day I just chatted with my travel partner. When I got to the hotel I tried to find a sewing kit. The gift shop didn't have any. I ended up asking at the hotel desk on the second day. They gave me a travel sewing kit. So I was able to stitch in the evenings. The flights back and airports were so crowded that I didn't dare try to sew for fear of stabbing someone.

I did managed to get one Hexie flower stitched together and start another one. Not much progress for a week. But at least I did stitch a little bit. I have been home 2 days that have been filled with trying to track down my bag, running errands and going to church. I am exhausted from my trip but I hope to at least get a couple of labels on some quilts.

Did you stich everyday?