September ReCap and October Goals

Tree skirt quilting--goal #6 for October

A recap of my September goals follows. I did finish the quilting on my challenge quilt which was goal number one. I totally finished the project which was TERRIFIC. I did begin the quilting on my Santa tree skirt. Hand stitching the back to the project took much longer than I had anticipated. That was goal number two. 

Goal number three was to make a challenge block. I did! Goal number four was to purchase more fabric and piece the last two squares into the lone star top. I purchased the fabric and have pieced the squares into the project. I have a top!

Challenge block

Goal number five was to get the center of my tea quilt into fabric. This didn't happen. 

Goal number six was to decide about making a baby quilt for charity. I went for it and have blocks made. 

Goal number seven was to make progress on the churn dash blocks with the farm theme. Miss J has spent a few sessions stitching sashing. She is spent at the end of the school day, so we will be making sew dates once her soccer season ends. It will be fun to spend a weekend morning or afternoon with her. 

Lone Star

Goal number eight was to finish the Frolic border and attach it to the top which I did. 

Goal nine was to catch up with the temperature quilt and stay on point with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. My fabric for the temperature quilt arrived.  I did make the August and September blocks. I've posted a photo of those two months! My ghost sewer stitched all of the orange strings blocks for September. Goal ten was to finish the handwork on the log cabin block which I did. 

Goal eleven was to quilt a day on Thomas and I actually quilted two days. I've now quilted seven quilts for the charity group. A guild member decided to purchase him so sadly, he will be moving to another location likely by the end of the month. I hope that there will be a send off party for him. 

August and September Temperature quilt

I completed ten of my eleven goals in September. I call that a great month! I also trained 51 participants in the American Heart Association Basic Life Support CPR program. 

To help me focus more on finishing, I joined Darlene at Devoted Quilter for her 100 day WIPs Be Gone challenge. You too can join. Check out: #wipsbegone2021 on instagram. For the first 25 days my plan is finish the challenge quilt, get the baby quilt quilted and at least make a top of the tea quilt. I am finding that actually working on the project makes it easier to get it to the finish! 

My plan for October is to:

1. Turn a couple kitchen towels into gifts. How odd will it be if the carrots are upside down?? I'm planning to cut them in half and add a contrasting fabric to the cut edge that will include a button so the piece can be secured over a towel rack or an oven door. Hmmmm, I might hem the new bottom edge. . . something to consider!

Baby quilt for charity

2. Finish the charity baby quilt. The flannels are mostly scraps. I pulled a backing from my stash and I've cut the binding.

3. Work on another small hand stitching project. 

4. Piece the backing for Frolic, piece the batting and get it to Christie to longarm. Last week, I did purchase the batting. I'm using wool.

RSC September blocks

5. Piece more string blocks from the January Saturday Workshop class that I taught. 

6. Finish the Santa tree skirt. I've begun the quilting and have selected a label.

Some October projects 

7. Piece the top for the "For All the Tea in China" quilt. Gertie's thought was to appliqué the Chinese word for tea on a background. Gertie is my inner squirrel. 

My thought was to use the crazy pieced blocks of silks. I pieced them for a border for another project. That project rejected them. It would be good to use them in this project since I purchased some of the silks in China when I traveled there about 2009. 

Tea quilt--The OMG

This is going to be my one monthly goal. Check out other peoples' goals at  Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal October Link-up I appreciate Patty having this link up as it has helped me make progress on languishing projects!

8. Continue glue basting the Butterfly. I haven't worked on this project in at least a quarter.

9. Keep up with the RSC and Temperature quilt. My ghost sewer has started piecing the lime green blocks which is the color for this month!

10. Begin a new baby quilt.

11. Work on piecing the flannel bear paw quilt. 

12. Begin collecting fabrics for the next Bonnie Hunter mystery.

13. Determine the borders for the lone star quilt. It is square and I'd like it to be rectangular so it could live on a bed!

14. Help Gertie, my inner squirrel, with a party on October 29. Stay tuned. Gertie tells me it is going to be FUN!

Again, I listed a lot of projects which is good for variety. I hope that I can continue forward progress! I'm also linking to Cynthia at Oh Scrap/Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework.

Regarding COVID: 

Worldwide: 219M cases; 4.55M deaths. United States: 43.6M cases; 701K deaths. Oregon: 332K cases; 3,815 deaths

In the United States, deaths have surpassed 700,000. According to a media report, the last 100,000 deaths came at a time when vaccinations were available for people over 12 years old. The majority of the deaths are unvaccinated people. Researchers believe that those vaccinated who contracted COVID were exposed by an unvaccinated person. An epidemiologist said that 90% of the deaths might have been prevented had there not been such a resistance to vaccinations. It is sad that so many families have lost someone close to them. 

In Oregon, the NW Quilt Expo show management reported that about half the number of people attended their show and that they broke even. (The show was last weekend.) Sixty one percent of the population is fully vaccinated and 66 percent of the population is partially vaccinated.