Olympic Challenge Wrap-Up

I really had no specific goals in mind with this. Mostly I knew I wanted to watch as much of the Olympics as I could, but didn't want to just sit and vegetate in front of the television for two weeks.

I looked through my ongoing projects and made a list of things in progress and what the next step was for each. I also came up with a couple of new projects I could potentially plan out and start.

I had no idea what I'd really end up doing. I had high hopes for accomplishing a lot on some UFOs, but didn't really spend as much time as I planned on them because of my new project.

What I did do was finish the strip pieced top and get it basted. It's ready for quilting now, but I'm really wanting to finish the purple flower quilt before starting this one.

I got one side of the border and a little more done on the purple flower quilt and talking about it plus knowing the strip quilt is basted is getting me motivated. It's on the cool side today, so a good day for some hand quilting.

The only other project I did much on was the new one. On that one I did a lot. The bias is all made, the pieces are all cut and about half of them are basted. I've cut and marked half of the background pieces and two of the blocks are completely finished. I'm anxious to get to the celtic applique, so this one is getting a lot of attention right now. Here are the two finished blocks. The leaves and vines are all made of the same fabric and the posies are different in each block.

I also want to make a quilted shade for our bedroom. I keep thinking that I know what pattern I want to use, but the fact that I'm not sitting down to figure it all out tells me perhaps I don't have the right one, yet. I'll have to mull that one over while I applique on this one. We have a nice sized window in our bedroom, but it still won't be nearly as big as most quilts that I make so should work up fairly quickly.

Looking back, I probably should have spent most of my time working on UFO's, but the fact is, I had a ball. I spent most of this year working on the toppers and quilt for my parents, and while those projects were quite enjoyable, the looming deadline took just a bit of fun out of the task.

With school starting, the days should be quieter around here and there will be lots of time for quilting. I used to be really good at working on many projects at once, but as I've gotten older I don't seem to be quite as good at that. I do usually have 2-3 that I'm actively working on, and as each catches my fancy, or gets near the end of a stage, it will get more attention.

Today, I think I'll do some hand quilting and will probably start the next posie block. I also still have some basting to do and backgrounds to cut and mark, so I may spend some time at those as well.

I seem to be out of things to say, so I'll head off, my quilting is calling me and I'm still tired from staying up too late during the Olympics while still getting up early to walk. I have movies going in the DVD player and am puttering around with the cleaning and the laundry. The end of the day should find the kitchen cleaned, the laundry caught up, and some progress made on at least one project.

That, to me, is a great day!

Happy Quilting!

Sue