What, already the end of the month ...

I can not believe it, already the end of the month. We have had a busy celebratory month both in the touristing arena and for me, the sewing and knitting arena. I sew when we are in site and knit while riding in a car, so lately I have accomplished a lot there (at least for me).

First off, we have the new UFO Number Game announced. Yup, here they are: Low number is #4

Other number is #41. Oh yeah, my #4 has been finished - so will replace it with #6, DS#1s quilt. I do not have high numbers which gives me more time to work on #1, OUR Quilt, to bring it to a finish as well. At least to the flimsie stage would be nice. February's numbers, #7 - got lost in the shuffle, and assigned #3, Mom's Quilt, to replace the lack of the high number - completed as a UFO to move me down the list. 

Remember the toque that I made? Well, it was made initially for DH but it is slightly snug on his head so it became a donation for my Mom's senior's group. But first I have to make a set for it. That means mittens and a scarf. Driving around Louisiana this last week, I started the mittens.

After many false starts and a couple of Mr Rippit's down to the ribbing, I have finally got it the way that I like it. I like the colours but am not sure if they are what a teen would like.

DS#1s quilt is giving me a pretty good learning curve. I am making a pattern called "Magic Cube" from KwiltArt. It is a pattern that I bought in Houston and got started right before the New Year so that it would be a good UFO to have.  I changed the colorway however, to  on a black background.
The learning curve involved the sewing of the triangles that made up the cube in the centre so that there was no "tenting" at the joins of all 6 triangles. Had yet to master that. IT came together beautifully and there is no "tenting" - so that is another skill that I have finally mastered.

The radiating spokes are also coming along once I figured out that the freezer paper method should have been drawn in the reverse. All is ok though, it will be reversed, but who will know - only me!

 The cutting instructions are very vague and after reading them numerous times, I still had to revamp what I was doing. They are coming along just fine now and should have all four sides completed in a couple of days of sewing off and on. The name for this quilt still has not come to me. Guess it needs to flow a bit more and get put together for the inspiration.

OUR Quilt has progressed with the completion another block last evening. Once again I thank my guardian angel that all the seams and points lined up. This is going to be a majestic quilt once finished and am hoping for it to be on the bed by the Christmas season, including pillow cases.

And to a new start this year, the 365 Challenge. These are definitely hard to get my fingers wrapped around. They are so little and I often have trouble working the very small pieces. I collect the patterns as they come out but have little towards completing the blocks and catching up. So much of the time was focused on completing the quilt for Mom and after, I never got back into doing them. My next JOT will be to cut out some of the blocks, ready to sew together.

I did finish up DGDs 2nd (requested) pillow case, which now needs to get put in the mail. I have decided to use up a lot of the 2/3yds of fabric that I have and make pillowcases or maybe the pillowcase dresses for African children. And from what I saw in Africa, some of those little girls could use them along with a pair of panties. 

On to more sewing ....    

The end of January, ALREADY!

The older I get the faster that times seems to fly. Is this true or is it just a conceptualization of perspectives? Whatever it is, there is no disguising that we are already at the end of the first month of 2016, with very little to show for it.

A date with the surgeon and the subsequent post-operative sequelae has led to a very non-productive rest of the month, after our foray to New York City. Drugged and unable to concentrate for any great length of time  is a very disconcerting  feeling. So, away go the drugs and I will deal with the pain. It has slowly abated to where only an occasional tylenol is needed. Yeah! My head is finally clear and I am raring to go again, although still house bound and unable to walk more than a short distance at one time. This date also meant that I had to learn how to start and stop my sewing using the Stop/Start button rather than the foot pedal. Can't put the pressure on my foot like I would normally do. All in all a completely new learning curve. LOL You should see me when I forget to hit the Stop button - the air definitely turns blue.

As soon as I get mobile, I want to go to the storage unit and see if I have any wool that is adequate and in a great colour for DGDs socks. If not then I need to order some. They might get completed for Christmas. LOL

the end of 2015 brought us to the end of the year's Row by Row Experience. And what a year it was: We ended with >1900 row patterns, collected by our little roving band of quilters. We were a busy group. And January brings us to the new "Experience", with a whole new theme:

Home Sweet Home

Oh the possibilities here. I even found some very neat fabrics for backings already. Hmmmmm did I already order them? So now back to business of organization.

I have managed to get a few of the tiny blocks (3 1/2" unfinished) completed for the 365Challenge out of Australia. As I had wanted to use up a jelly roll that I had available, I started off with it. Even though we are currently only doing the dark palettes at the moment, I am so dissatisfied with how they look. I will continue to work on them at least until I get some lights to put with them before I make a final decision about them. For me, they are simply too drab and blah.

 Maybe it is because the colours are more conducive to bigger blocks than smaller ones. 

I have managed to cut and prepare 4 more of these little suckers and still the colours do not talk to me. I will keep chugging along.

I did manage to get some focal fabric and matching strips cut for a table runner that I would like to have for Mardi Gras on Feb 9. This is fabric that I had found and purchased last year while in New Orleans. I will make a redo of the Jinny Beyer's 2014 Row by Row. 

And then we have the new numbers out for the Numbers Game.

Low number is #7 

Other number is #21 

On my list, #7 is DS#2s quilt which means a Star Wars quilt. I have the started fabrics in the storage unit and I know that I need more so this will be an ongoing endeavor, probably in the Fab4 for the month. And again, no #21. Using this as an extra bonus, I will continue to work on Mom's Quilt in order to get it completed.

To end the month I found myself ordering some more supplies. The Benetrex Fossil Fern fabrics have appealed to me for a long time now and I finally bit the bullet. Craftsy had a flat of the complete medley in FQs on sale for half price. So there you have it! Now to find the Star Wars fabric that I need to get that one done.

We are now ensconced in a park for a week where I can get out Miss Betsy and go full speed ahead.

2016: Another attempt

Happy New Year!

New Year's Day: a new year and a blank page to write on. Gone are the half finished saved blogs of last year, gone are the downer days, gone are the not so charitable thoughts, and not so gone are the UFOs of quilting and other 2 Busy Hands endeavors. Today brings all anew and it will only be what I make of it. So here I am, a blank page staring me in the face asking to be written on and I am only being positive.

Now remember, positivity is my word this year. So 2015, in a positive vein, what hapened in the world of Shirley's 2 Busy Hands?

As always, travel is a big part of our life and we did a great amount of it, both large and small. Why even a day trip can be exciting and give one a major experience. And in this context, my 2 Busy Hands often took a back seat and yet, always with a project near at hand.

The positive that came out of devastation, a fire in the storage unit where I keep my stashes, allows me now to downsize and update. What more could one ask for? Oh I lost some favourites but I will soon have more favourites and new challenges.

Like last year, I will once again join in the Stashbusters' UFO Challenge, even though I have only those projects that just happened to be in the RV at the time. I had cleaned a lot of them out so the number is low. Along with the UFO Challenge, I will also limitedly partake of the Numbers Game. And guess what, the low number is a number that I happen to have! I will always have a low number as they are between 1 and 10 but the higher ones I will find myself working on the last one for sure. For January, this month, the numbers are

3(small) and 51(large). 

My list contains:

	Description	Date started
1	OUR Quilt - Sampler queen	2014
2	Row by Row x 2	2014
3	Mom's Quilt	2014
4	Halloween/T-Day table topper	2015
5	NYB	2015
6	DS#1 Quilt	2015
7	DS#2 Quilt	2015
8	DIL #2 Quilt	2015
9	DGDog #1 Quilt Toby	2015
10	DGDog #2 Quilt Buddy	2015
11	Dash Cover	2015
12	Row x Row x 2	2015
13	DGD 2nd pillowcase	2015

Some of these from 2015 are very recent additions. [snicker, snicker] Of course, the fun begins as I try to do something about this list. Photos? Can I be persistent in posting them? We shall see. It is one of my "want to do's for this year.

And then, to make things even more exciting and jumbled up, I joined or at least committed to being a part of a 365 [day] Challenge out of Australia.

 This is a small part of this quilt. It is supposed to be 90" square when done but I am thinking mine will no dobt be smaller.

I am already a little late in that I just downloaded the information and decided on the colours. But the early blocks are simple ones and I will be able to get them done real fast to catch up. Of course, me thinks I will always be playing "catch up", starting this next week. We are heading out on our first jaunt of the year - a trip to New York City with our granddaughter Brooke.

As well as quilting I have UFOs under the headings of knitting, needlework and cross stitch. I will never ever want for a project, that is for sure. Some are large and others are small and portable. These go along with me when we travel. I did manage to finish up a 2015 knitting UFO - a toque and even putting a pom pom on it. Now I have to wait for more yarn to make a scarf and a pair of mitts. This will go to my mother for her charity senior's knot group that give to underprivileged children in her city. The children live in a very cold area during the winter and often go to school without any covering and warmth at all. This helps out a bit. Now to finish up a cold weather coat shawl and a brightly coloured spring/fall sweater (finally got more yarn right before Christmas).

I had numerous needlework UFOs but am unsure how many I actually have left here in the RV. I do know that the Christmas Crackers are here so they will be done before anything else. That will get a nice little pile out from beside my Laz-e-boy.

And last but not least, I will keep track of expenditures and busting. 

Can I do it? I will certainly give it a good try......

April and "homeless"

Trying to keep abreast of the various projects on the go while being "homeless" is hard, very hard. The sewing machine is being carried in the back seat of the car but rarely sees the light of day. The projects found in the "sewing bag", a non disposable shopping bag to be exact, are incomplete as are the supplies that were brought to accompany them. The needlework is all about finishing what I have brought in the way of threads and then going on to another, leaving the unfinished in a state of flux. And the knitting is done haphazardly. You see, our home, the RV, is currently in the shop, for what started out as yearly maintenance. We are unable to live in it as we normally do because it is inside the shop, not in the parking area. Thus we are doing car trips and hoteling it, hence the sewing lament.

The numbers game continues and according to the Yahoo group many are forging ahead quite happily. As for me, there is no progress to be reported. And now there are 2 more numbers to work on for April.
-> #4, the  "I Believe in Family" wall hanger - heck, I don't even know where this one is at the moment.
-> #32, not that I have a #32, so it is the last on the list, the Christmas Tree wall hanger. I know where this one is but, unavailable due to living circumstances.
And now, YIKES, the May numbers are out:
-> #9, "Paris in Spring" the backing incorporating the row by row for my friends quilt World Travels
-> #88, and no, I don't have one for #88 so will have to choose one of the previous months selections to work on

And then I also need to work on Christmas Toys and OUR Quilt from February, finish a block from Rainbow Jane from March, and heaven knows what other projects that are on the go, such as the Jinny Beyer Row by Row and the sample for World Travels to name but two.

I did get my Canadian Santa x3 back from the finisher. Not exactly as I had wanted but cute nonetheless. Guess I need to learn how to do this so as to be able to translate my ideas more accurately. (photo) If I want to use them for a Christmas gift, I had better get busy with the American ones now and followed by Mrs. Santa.

Maybe I will get to do better in May. They promise us our RV by the middle of the first week in May....

Aaaaaargh! Update down the road....

Stashbusters Numbers Game

Every year I rejoin the Stashbusters UFO Challenge as it invigorates me to finish some of the projects that I have on the go. 2015 is no different. What is different is the addition of a Numbers Game this year. In this challenge 2 numbers are drawn at the beginning of each month and those are then the corresponding UFO projects as listed that you work on for that month. You don't have to necessarily complete them, but you do have to work some on them. What a great incentive for people like me.

January's numbers were give a few days early because of the holidays. These numbers then were #8 and #35. For me this was my Spicy Spiral UFO for #8. This was a revisiting of a UFO that was color coordinated for our previous RV. So I added a coordinating color from the newer RV and renamed it Old Meets New.

As I didn't have a #35 listed, the last number listed takes it place and for me that was #25, the microwave bowls for DGD which she should have had for Christmas. Great way to push me to get her bowls done and sent off to here. They were completed and off within a week of our return from the cruise (with her).

And then came February's numbers, #2 and #64. Again as my UFO list doesn't go as high as this, I was designated to work on the last listed one which is OUR Quilt - a sampler quilt  made out of a red/silver/grey/black medley.

 So far I have made 6 blocks out of a total of 16 blocks. Just a few more to go here. This will be a holiday quilt for our bed and as such will be a slightly oversized queen size. Luckily for me it doesn't have to be completed until the end of November.  

#2 on the other hand happened to be a quilt,  Christmas Toys that would be found in the storage unit, not the RV. Lucky for me I knew exactly where it was in the unit and we were already scheduled for a couple of days of cleaning and revamping in it. So I was able to get it out and bring it. Horrors on horrors, I found that it is simply too small to be anything but a baby cuddle quit. I sure didn't realize that was how small it was when I was piecing it in Panama in 2010. Up it went onto my makeshift design wall (hanging from the valence in the main area of the RV) for reviewing, mulling and planning.  And to add insult to injury, not only did I find the flimsy, but I also found 2 more panels each different presentations of the same venue along with the coordinating fabrics. 

 Guess I will simply cut up the coordinating fabrics and make kits out of them and hence they will become UFOs for next year if I don't get them done this year! They will stay here in the RV with me at least until I either start to work on them or they begin to irritate me. Then they will be returned for awhile to the storage unit.

And now, here we are in March and 2 more numbers have presented themselves; #7 and 17. Well, #7 was completed in December (DGS#1s quilt, a Christmas present) and I never took it of my list. So once again I am going to be replacing it, but this time with continuing to work on February's numbers My #17 is my Rainbow Jane, a very longterm project as the blocks are small and often using techniques that I am not overly thrilled with. This is something that I can work a little on but here again, I only have one of the 24 BOM kits that make up this quilt here with me and no trip to the storage unit in the foreseeable future. I think that I have completed maybe 5 or 6 of the 225 in total. Yes, when I looked it up, it was 5 completed blocks, 4 blocks and 1 triangle.  

 This doesn't show the finished triangle so I have to now update the Rainbow Jane blog as well as find the photo of the green "spanish moss" triangle and put it into the template. I will be able to work on the ones that I have here with me and that will work for this part of the challenge. Both surely won't help me finish up a UFO however. 

Interspersed between working on the Numbers Game, I also worked on other UFO's and projects. The Main one for me was to finish up Danny's Request[ed] quilt. He wanted one that wouldn't get too dirty, or at least show that it was dirty when he came in from bicycling and sat on the beige la-z-boy. This one, per request, had to cover the whole chair as well as the foot rest so that he could rest his "sweaty sunscreeny legs" on it. It became a 60x90" Jelly Roll Race, quilt-as-I went, interpretation. As I found the colure rather dull and dreary, I added splashes of brilliant strips in his favorite colors of lime green and pinks. 

 Oddly enough, however, these colors go great in our bedroom. This is good as I still have 2 jelly rolls of the same colors left and will now plan an everyday quilt for the bed.

After having completed DHs quilt,  my main focus in the UFO Challenge turned to DGS#2s quilt. Today I got it to the flimsy stage and will get it off to the longarmer in the morning, as it is way too big for me to tackle on my Miss Betsy easily. It is 52x88" as DGS#2 is now 6'4" and still growing at 16y/o. (Way too long for me to hold up and show the true length of it - me at 5'6").  The original pattern was called Bohemian Quilt by Joanie Holton & Melanie Greseth of Tailormade by Design (found in Quiltersworld, Winter 2014). I am unsure yet as to what I will call it, but it has to be something that suits both the style of the quilt and my DGS#2.

As I go along, working on the not identified numbers but listed UFOs, I find other quilts in some state of having been worked on in the past and keep adding them to the list. And so it goes, working towards the end result in the Numbers Game and UFO Challenge and that is to reduce the numbers of UFOs and subsequently the stash. 

As a no-buy rule does not apply in this household, I am sure that I will accumulate more stash before the year is out, even though I try to pick a project that is stash oriented first. Think that I will have to start keeping tract of the "in vs out" and see if I am reducing any at all.