Quilt completed.

Saturday the weather was very chilly with occasional rain. I had thought about doing some gardening but after just a short time outside I decided I had pressing commitments indoors. With my main machine back from its spa break, this was the perfect weather to give it some exercise. I wanted to quilt the blue donation quilt made in January. I'd already made the quilt sandwich so once I'd identified the thread I wanted to use I was ready to start. I used a blue Guterman cotton thread 50 weight for both the bobbin and the top thread. I had decided to use straight line quilting. As it's a child's size quilt it didn't take too long to quilt. Next I add the binding and by the end of Sunday the quilt was finished! I used the same fabric as the backing for the binding. I need to take another photo of this quilt as the one on the camera is blurry.

Yesterday I started adding the already made 'flowers' to the Grandmother's garden quilt and today all of the completed ones had been added.

Today I started prepping hexagons to create the remaining flowers I need to complete this round. I have some other orange fabrics if needed. I also need to find a thimble as there is a lot of hand stitching to do and the tip of my middle finger on my right hand is already sore. I don't usually use a thimble but sometimes you just have to.

Yesterday was a fun day. Older daughter and family came to share a festive dinner. I had cuddles from both grandsons and enjoyed chatting with my daughter and son in law. Older grandson played with the Lego that my son has. Grandson enjoys using his imagination to build things but also likes playing with his uncles large Lego models like this crane.

It's currently on the top of the dresser so that it's available when grandson visits. He had fun yesterday testing how much weight it could lift. Mmm I must dust that top shelf!

Later in the evening I finished the left side of the cardigan I'm knitting. I'm using two balls at a time and knitting two rows from each ball. I'm enjoying how the colours are working out. All the other balls will give the same mix as the back of the cardigan but the two I used for the left front have created a very different look. Back on the left and left front on the right.

If you have been following my blog for a while you will know that I have a lot of projects on the go at any given time. I decided I needed to know how many I have and to start finishing some of them. I decided a spreadsheet was needed but in order to set one up I needed to know all my projects so I grabbed a pen and paper and started writing them down.  Once I'd identified as many as I could remember I looked in my storage places and found a few more I had forgotten. I decided to categorise them by quilting, sewing, knitting and crochet, embroidery and other crafts. I have identified 9 quilting projects, but I finished one yesterday so 8 in progress. There are 11 sewing projects at various stages. These may be dressmaking or curtains etc, so anything requiring sewing but not quilting. Knitting and crochet I have 6 projects, embroidery counts for another 9 and other crafts stands at 3. A grand total of 38. There are 2 projects in the knitting and crochet, 1embroidery project and 1 sewing project not started but recorded in the final number. I've included them as I have all the materials I need to work on them so may get too excited and decide to make a start on them. So there are 34 I'm currently working on.

The number of projects in progress is not as crazy as it sounds. I don't have a dedicated sewing room and use the dining table as my work space. Therefore I have to clear everything away for the 4 of us to eat dinner. I am also still working 4 days a week and by the time I get home I don't have the time or energy to work on a big project. Knitting and embroidery wins in this situation. My older daughter and children will often come to visit during the weekend if her husband is working so projects that can be picked up and put down easily are needed so I can stop what I'm doing to join in a game or read a story. My final reason is I get bored easily if working on one thing, particularly in the early stages of a project. Once the end is in sight I will work on it exclusively if possible until the finish. 

So why not join me in identifying how many projects you have in progress, how you like to work on your projects, and how you keep track of progress on each project. I know that Barbara from Cat Patches uses a white board for tracking projects and will put quilt tops into a pile to wait for the quilt sandwich to be created and then move them onto the quilting stage.  She also slots small quilts in when time is limited and she has hand stitching time in the morning. I'm envious of the organisation involved and hope to devise a better way of working on projects when I eventually retire.

This evening Lucy, my younger daughter, decided she needed a walk so we walked to the common with the two dogs. The weather has warmed up a little today and the sun was out. As ever, I was on the look out for bluebells or other spring flowers. As we walked through the wood area there were a lot of bluebells coming into flower. We let Missy off her lead and she enjoyed the interesting sniffs.

That's all for now as dinner is almost ready. I'm hoping to start cutting the blocks for the frog quilt tomorrow but this evening will be some embroidery.

Take care

Lyndsey