Stories from the Sewing Room

Here we are at the start of another month. It's time to pick a goal. 

New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  To join, share a photo of your project plus some words about what you want to accomplish in a blog post or Instagram post and add that photo to the link up.  Return at the end of the month and share your results.  (Results link up opens for the last 7 days of the month.)

Looking at what I would most like to get done, I need to choose between making additional progress on the race car quilt or binding my Pink Grapefruit in Blue. 

I still need to make all of the outer border blocks and add one more border in between the existing top and those pieced blocks on the race car quilt.

I have most of one side stitched down on the binding on the Pink Grapefruit in Blue quilt. It's hard to find motivation to sit there and stitch in the evening after I've worked all day. My goal this month will be to finish stitching the binding. 

Now it's your turn to link up. The link up will remain open through September 7.

The One Monthly Goal accomplishment link up will be available on September 24.  Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can find the OMG link up from your blog--just copy and paste this link into your post:  

Stories from the Sewing Room One Monthly Goal September Link Up

Guess who almost forgot to make the link up post? Yup, that's me. 😅 Coming in on time, but at the last possible second, here is the post!

This link up will remain open until August 31 at 11:55 pm EST.

I have counted out the number of units and corners needed for each color way of the blocks. If I ever complete all the binding that's in my work queue, I'll start working on these. 

Won't you join me in setting a goal for August?

New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  To join, share a photo of your project plus some words about what you want to accomplish in a blog post or Instagram post and add that photo to the link up.  Return at the end of the month and share your results.  (Results link up opens for the last 7 days of the month.)

This month I am hoping to make any amount of progress on my race car quilt. I don't really want to work on it, but I'd like it to be done and out of my life, so... 

There is an additional inner border to be added and a border of pieced blocks as well. I am working on the pieced blocks first because my quilt has been consistently smaller than the measurements given in the pattern. My thought process here is that I can adjust that other border if needed so that the pieced blocks fit. 

It's time once again to share your finished goal for the month.

This link up will remain open until July 31 at 11:55 pm EST.

This month really got away from me and I realized Tuesday that I needed to work on my post for Friday (and really, Thursday night since it goes live at 12:05 am). That was apparently the motivation I needed to start working on this project. Tuesday I fixed the parts of the blocks above that needed addressing and sewed them together.

I trimmed the panel to the correct size and then fudged it a little so that I didn't have any of the white showing. I find that a lot of panels that come through here tend to be parallelograms. This one was fairly on-grain, so that was nice. 

I cut and created the other borders.

As of Wednesday night, I made it this far. Everything lined up nicely except for the border I cut 1/2" too long. Oops! Just two borders remain. 

While I don't think I can fully finish this quilt before the end of the month, I feel pretty confident I can get the last two borders on and get it quilted. 

Now it's your turn to share your finish (or your progress if you didn't quite make it to the finish line).

Take a few minutes to visit others, offer encouragement, and make new friends!

This link up will remain open until 11:55 pm EST on July 31. Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can find the OMG link up from your blog--just paste this link into your post:  

Stories from the Sewing Room July One Monthly Goal Finish Link Up

Please join me in selecting a goal for July. 

New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  To join, share a photo of your project plus some words about what you want to accomplish in a blog post or Instagram post and add that photo to the link up.  Return at the end of the month and share your results.  (Results link up opens for the last 7 days of the month.)

This month I would like to make progress on my Forever Neverland quilt. I currently have three star blocks sewn and 11 that are laid out, ready to sew. After that, it's time to start assembling the top. 

Now it's your turn to link up. The link up will remain open through July 7.

The One Monthly Goal accomplishment link up will be available on July 25.  Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can find the OMG link up from your blog--just copy and paste this link into your post:  

Stories from the Sewing Room One Monthly Goal July Link Up

Another month has flown on by. Did you complete your goal?

This link up will remain open until June 30 at 11:55 pm EST.

After failing to finish my May goal, I decided to go easier on myself this month. My goal was to make any amount of progress on the race car quilt. I am happy to report that I added one more set of borders to the quilt (only a few days ago). 

I have started working on the 34 pieced blocks. I discovered that the pattern had me making one more strip set than was needed for each color way. I suspect that these blocks are going to be fiddly and tedious and may take me multiple months to complete. BUT...I am a step closer to being done. 

New month, new goal? 

New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  To join, share a photo of your project plus some words about what you want to accomplish in a blog post or Instagram post and add that photo to the link up.  Return at the end of the month and share your results.  (Results link up opens for the last 7 days of the month.)

What do I want to accomplish this month? What is actually realistic? I have six projects left on my PHD list plus one new start this year that needs to be completed in 2025. I also have to make 15 of the same item for a guild program. While that task must be done soon, it's probably not the best pick for OMG since I can't share it until the end of the year. 😆

Four of my six projects are things that need to be quilted. That seems unlikely to happen this month. That leaves either the race car quilt, the alligator quilt, or the new start. Or I could go completely off the rails and choose something totally new. Hmm. It's tough to stay on task. 

I think I'll pick making any amount of progress on the race car quilt. It needs two straight borders plus a pieced, block-based border in order to finish the top. At a minimum I'd like to get the next border on and start piecing the blocks. My quilt's been measuring 1/2" smaller than the pattern pretty consistently, so I'll need to wait on the fourth border until I get the blocks pieced so that I can adjust if necessary. 

Ideally I will get my guild project done too. You'll just have to take my word on that one. 😏

Now it's your turn to link up. The link up will remain open through June 7.

The One Monthly Goal accomplishment link up will be available on June 24.  Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can find the OMG link up from your blog--just copy and paste this link into your post:  

Stories from the Sewing Room One Monthly Goal June Link Up

It's the first of May, so that means it's time to choose a new goal for the month.

New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  To join, share a photo of your project plus some words about what you want to accomplish in a blog post or Instagram post and add that photo to the link up.  Return at the end of the month and share your results.  (Results link up opens for the last 7 days of the month.)

Looking over my list of to-dos, I am feeling motivated to check off another of my to-be-quilted tops. I'm down to four, which just really feels amazing. I think this may be the least amount of unquilted tops I've ever had. So...which one to choose?

It's going to be Pink Grapefruit in Blue this month. The pattern (Pink Grapefruit) is by Coleen Merte and I took a class with her through the quilt guild in November of 2019. You can read more about this quilt here.

I added the "in blue" to my title because I made my quilt in blues and greens. This is another quilt that I thought I'd like to custom quilt, but while I love the fabrics, I don't really like my finished quilt top and don't want to invest the time. In fact, I recently purchased a separate backing fabric so that I can save my beloved backing fabric for a (tbd) project that I am in love with.

My goal this month is to get this project quilted. 

Now it's your turn to link up. The link up will remain open through May 7.

The One Monthly Goal accomplishment link up will be available on May 25.  Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can find the OMG link up from your blog--just copy and paste this link into your post:  

Stories from the Sewing Room One Monthly Goal May Link Up

It's time to share your April progress.

This link up will remain open until April 30 at 11:55 pm EST.

Want to see everyone's goals? Check out the April goal page. 

My goal was to finish binding my Melodic Mystery quilt. With a week remaining before the finish link up opened, I still had one full side to go. Would I finish in time?

I'm proud of myself for getting it done ahead of the due date!

Melodic Mystery was Meadow Mist Design's 2022-2023 mystery program. My top is made from batiks and white Kona. The back and binding are also batik. The front and binding were all made from stash/leftovers from previous projects. I purchased the backing. The quilting design I used is Pluma from Jess at Longarm League. My quilt finished at 67" square.

Now it's your turn to share your finish (or your progress if you didn't quite make it to the finish line).

Take a few minutes to visit others, offer encouragement, and make new friends!

This link up will remain open until 11:55 pm EST on April 30. Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can find the OMG link up from your blog--just paste this link into your post:  

Stories from the Sewing Room April One Monthly Goal Finish Link Up

Join me in setting a goal for April.

New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  To join, share a photo of your project plus some words about what you want to accomplish in a blog post or Instagram post and add that photo to the link up.  Return at the end of the month and share your results.  (Results link up opens for the last 7 days of the month.)

Very little has changed in my sewing status from March 1 to April 1. I didn't work on either of my secondary goals last month, but I did quilt and start binding my Melodic Mystery quilt. My quilt top and backing are primarily batik and I'm finding that the batik I'm using for the binding is a bit challenging to stitch through. I got one side stitched down during March. So my goal for April is to finish binding this quilt. 

Now it's your turn to link up. The link up will remain open through April 7.

The One Monthly Goal accomplishment link up will be available on April 24.  Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can find the OMG link up from your blog--just copy and paste this link into your post:  

Stories from the Sewing Room One Monthly Goal April Link Up

It's time to share your February progress.

This link up will remain open until February 28 at 11:55 pm EST.

My goal this month was to quilt something from my PHD list. I fully finished my Runway Quilt #2. 

I quilted it with the Infinity design and Limerick (green) thread. I opted for machine binding since I was unhappy with all the shadowing issues I had. Runway measures 55.75" x 66.25".

Happy New Year! Thanks for joining me for another year of easy goal-setting and encouragement. Be sure to grab a button over in the side bar. The logo is updated for 2025. 

New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  To join, share a photo of your project plus some words about what you want to accomplish in a blog post or Instagram post and add that photo to the link up.  Return at the end of the month and share your results.  (Results link up opens for the last 7 days of the month.)

My goal for this month is to bind my Bedford Tiles quilt. I finished quilting it yesterday! I used the Echoed Swirls design from Jess at Longarm League and made it as big as I could get it while still fitting in the throat space. It took me two days to stitch out on a 59" x 72" quilt. 😬

I made a Frankenbatting, which for some reason ended up really, really out of square even though I trimmed and squared while I constructed it.

I have the binding sewn to the front, ready to stitch down. I did not take the time to line up the stripes on the binding.

Now it's your turn to set a goal. 

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate. And Happy Hanukkah as well. It's time to share your December progress.

My goal this month was to finish my Batesville BOM. This quilt is actually called Jamestown BOM and the block patterns were by Marti Michell. I got the block fabrics and instructions during a shop hop and purchased a setting kit from one of the shops. Here is my version after quilting and before binding. 

And here is the finished quilt, 17 years after starting it.

And the pieced back.

It feels great to have this one off my to-do list!

Now it's your turn to share your finish (or your progress if you didn't quite make it to the finish line).

Take a few minutes to visit others, offer encouragement, and make new friends!

This link up will remain open until 11:55 pm EST on December 31. Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can find the OMG link up from your blog--just paste this link into your post:  

Stories from the Sewing Room December One Monthly Goal Finish Link Up

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

I hope everyone out there is safe after last week's hurricane.  Join us in setting a goal for October.

New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  To join, share a photo of your project plus some words about what you want to accomplish in a blog post or Instagram post and add that photo to the link up.  Return at the end of the month and share your results.  (Results link up opens for the last 7 days of the month.)

I've been choosing goals from my PHD list this year because otherwise I tend to have a very short attention span on projects, jumping from one to another to alleviate boredom or frustration. I mean, have you seen my WIP list? Sticking to my PHD list gives me the following options:

RSC quilt:  I was really hoping to have the RSC quilted and bound by now. September threw us a few curveballs and I didn't have much time or bandwidth for personal sewing. I'm still working on piecing the backing from stash. 

Backing in progress with my ca. 1999 fabrics.

Batesville quilt: I'm kind of dreading the this one even though it won't be that bad to finish. This project dates to 2007.

The entire setting needs to be cut and sewn.

One item of clothing: I just bought a new serger/coverstitch machine so I need to learn how to use it soon and also overcome my fear of fitting to achieve this goal. Oh, and address the pesky re-stuffing of the dress form since it doesn't accurately reflect my bust, which is my problem fitting area. 

Bedford Tiles: We had a guild workshop on this quilt this year. I've been thinking a lot about how I need to say no to quilt alongs and things like that because they aren't always things I would have chosen to make on my own and I tend to end up with a lot of partially completed projects. I do actually like this quilt so far and am looking forward to seeing it finished. 

The sashing, cornerstones, inner, and outer borders need to be added.

My goal: I'm having a hard time deciding which goal to pick this month. I think I'm going to go with one item of clothing and hope it fits. 😬 I'm considering the Itch to Stitch Montana shirt--it comes with options for different cup sizes, so I thought it would be easy. I looked up a few reviews of the pattern and it's labeled as "advanced". Maybe I need to start with an easier knit top? One item of to-be-determined clothing....

Now it's your turn to link up. The link up will remain open through October 7.

The One Monthly Goal accomplishment link up will be available on October 25.  Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can find the OMG link up from your blog--just paste this link into your post:  

Stories from the Sewing Room One Monthly Goal October Link Up

 It's time to share your finish for the month.

This link up will remain open until September 30 at 11:55 pm EST.

My goal this month was to assemble my RSC blocks into a top. I did get that accomplished. I added skinny sashing strips between the blocks and a 2.5" outer border because I thought I could preserve my points better. That only works when you actually left yourself 1/4" from the points to work with. I had quite a few that got chopped off. Oops. 

The free pattern I used is Strippy Slab Star from mmm quilts.

My top needs to be pressed. You might have seen my last post (if not, scroll down; it's the post immediately behind this one) where I was discussing making a back from my 25-year-old fabrics. The top got mangled on the floor while I was working and then all wrapped up in the backing fabrics when I needed to move it quickly so that I could work on someone else's quilt.