Time Bandit

My goal to finish a quilt each month this year should mean I've got nine quilts finished. Instead, I have finished six quilts, five of which were on my WIP list. Ouch.

My goal to finish a block each day this year should mean I've finished 273 blocks. I must have needed a good laugh to even point that out... But also, I haven't been totally unproductive. Although I haven't met my goal, I have finished 96 blocks so far this year. Wow! Actually, now that I've counted them, I don't feel as bad!!! If I sat down to the sewing machine one snowy night to work on HSTs for number 13 on my WIP list, I could actually catch up!!! That's SO tempting...

I wanted to bring my WIP list down to single digits by the end of this month. I finished two quilts this month (plus one not on my list), and I've finished three quarters of Lizard Toes, which I've been doing as a quilt-as-I-go project. I've unofficially counted each quarter of Lizard Toes as a notch in my personal tally because it's so huge and to keep from being discouraged. Now that gardening season is nearing its annual end, I'm happy to be able to spend a little time at the sewing machine and the longarm again, and that counts for something.

Overall, I didn't add too much (in my opinion) to my WIP list so far this year. I wish I could say I also haven't added to my stash... Ha ha ha!!! On the bright side, I have used up some of my scrap stash for mending, a tablecloth for my work station at home, a baby quilt for a niece due in the next couple of weeks, and a new scrappy quilt top I haven't added to my WIP list yet because I don't have photos yet. Plus, my goal is to make my list shorter, not longer.

The finish I'm sharing today is the baby quilt I whipped up from scraps when I learned, almost at the last minute, one of the new babies in the family is going to be a girl instead of a boy. I love my butterfly scraps, and I think this quilt turned out so super duper cute.

In addition to the Ravelry challenge I've been participating in for several years now, I'm also joining Devoted Quilter's 100-day WIP challenge. Which means I'm trying to get more serious about commiting to actually finishing some WIPS (and not just quilts!!!) this quarter!!!

Here is my WIP list for the Ravelry Autumn Quarter:

1. Hawaiian Punch

2. Lizard Toes

3. Hexie Booboo

4. Tickled Pink, the Sequel

5. Teal Shadows

6. Goodbye Hollyhock Road

7. Snowflake Strip Bar

8. Green Floral Batik Postage Stamps

9. Giant Dahlia

10. Showcase

11. Venetian Squiggles

12. Moda Blockheads

13. Tiny Triangle Leftovers

14. Matthew's Quilt

15. Green Batik Leftovers Quilt-As-You-Go

Linking up with Alycia Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

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Wordless Wednesday

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Too Late

I was SO excited to capture this shot through my window! The following weekend, I bought some clearance coneflowers, hibiscus (that don't survive our winters), red hot pokers and blanketflowers to put in the landscaping bricks I've been using in my terracing project.

I planted the new acquisitions right away. I was hoping like crazy to capture more sweet hummingbird shots through my window while I work.

Alas, I guess I waited too late in the season. I haven't seen or heard a hummingbird since. I think they've flown south for winter. You can darn sure bet I will have more red, pink, purple and blue right outside my bedroom window next summer!

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No Flake Monday

I've frogged and reworked the sixth round of this snowflake about 18 times so far, and I think I've finally got it the way I want it, but I still have to figure out the seventh round, and the pattern is not written yet. Lizard thought I was trying to make skulls for Halloween. Hmmm... maybe I should go back to the drawing board!

Here is my inspiration from Alexey Kljatov. Isn't this a beauty?!?

How would you crochet this spoke???

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Friday Funny

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Practice Makes Perfect. Eventually.

The quilt I'm calling Opposites because it's black and white on the front and super colorful on the back has a ton of negative space -- if I quilt it from the front. I thought it would be the perfect quilt to practice my longarming.

I'd watched a YouTube video that encourages beginners to keep going, even when they make mistakes, because it takes a long, long time to be perfect. I learned I need to do more than practice drawing shapes, which I have done. I need to practice putting my whole arm and body into the drawing.

So that's exacty what I'm doing.

Sometimes what I'm doing looks okay.

And sometimes it looks pretty darned sloppy.

The worst part was accidentally catching my leader into an impromptu quilt sleeve around the back bar of the longarm frame.

Now I have a bunch of thread ends to bury and a bunch of short areas to redo, which will require even more thread ends to bury.

But knot practice is good, too, right?!? Ha ha!

Linking up with Alycia Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

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