Make-A-List Monday - Eleven Days & Counting.....

Hi, all!

Here it is, the beginning of the week again and time to set a plan for the days ahead.  I truly appreciate all of you who put up with my list posts and encourage me along the way - it's probably the only reason I get anything finished at all!  Especially this week, as I am now eleven days away from the beach - and boy, am I ready!!  It's been about fifteen months since we went, because of the adoption - having to be on call for babysitting took away our ability to plan vacation time.  I wouldn't change that for the world, but we are SO ready to dig our toes in the sand and veg out!  But there's still eleven days between now and then that shouldn't be wasted....

So let's see how last week's list went...

1.  Make another 1-hour basket for a baby shower gift.

Done!  I'm finally happy with the changes I made to this pattern - it looks exactly like I want it to look!

2.  Make a blankie to go in that basket!

Done!  This was so simple - just two squares of super-soft flannel, bound all around the edges with some simple striped cotton binding.  I highly recommend it as a baby gift!

3.  Come up with a final design for the wedding dress quilt.

I'm still working on this.  I was going to try something on the pillow I have to make out of the same materials, and carefully marked all my guidelines with a disappearing marker.  Unfortunately, by the time I got around to working on it later that evening, the high humidity had caused all the lines to disappear!  And I haven't gotten around to re-marking it yet...

4.  Cut more scraps - mine or the ministry's.

Done!  And cutting those scraps put me in the mood to do some scrappy sewing - resulting in my finish of this morning...

5.  Make more blocks for the retirement quilt.

Done!  I've completed 50 more blocks, giving us about 200 to start with.

6.  Work on Nathanael's Christmas stocking.

In progress!  It's going to take a while to finish this one, so it will crop up on the list probably from now until Thanksgiving, unless I get a burning desire to stitch stitch stitch!!

7.  Make the HSTs for my vacation quilt.

In progress.  Since I have the blocks all bagged up individually, I pull out each block's HST fabrics, sew them up, cut them apart and put them back in the bag.  After I've done a big pile of them, they go to the iron and cutting board to be pressed and trimmed.  I think I've done about 70 blocks' worth or so of them so far.  Doing them a little at a time makes it much less boring!

8.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that arise.

Actually, this was the easiest thing on the list this week because we didn't have any requests.  Thankfully, the needs seem to slow down during the summer, giving us a chance to catch up and catch our breath!!

And because I had a burning urge to do a few different things, 

I made a purse.....

and I started a new blog feature - 

What's On The Bookshelf Wednesdays!

The first book I reviewed was the book that got me headed down the path of charity quilting - a gift from my daughter called Quilting For Peace.  You can read the review here.

Each week I'll be reviewing a book - some new (and maybe not even available yet), others treasures that I found buried on my bookshelf that may have gotten lost in the shuffle of "new and improved".  I promise that any book I review will still be available for purchase in case you decide you must have it!

This week's book is a treasure for free motion quilters and wannabes!  Be sure to come by and check it out on Wednesday....

And now, here's what's on my horizon this week...

1.  Make a back for and quilt the second scrappy green quilt top.

2.  Complete the HSTs for the vacation quilt.

3.  Work on the wedding dress quilt project.

4.  Work on Nathanael's stocking.

5.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that arise.

I'm going to keep the list short this week because I really need to work on all of these things, and without too much distraction.  It's much easier to put off the less-than-fun list items in favor of the ones that tickle my fancy that day!

Strangely enough, I also have a burning desire to clean my house - probably because my daughter has hers looking lovely since they just put it on the market.  That kind of thing is contagious, you know?  So I'll probably spend some time this week doing some deep cleaning... (I can't believe I'm saying this!  Let's hope my husband doesn't read this post - just in case I fail to follow through!)

And here's a heads-up - Wednesday, July 1st is the beginning of the fifth annual Scrap Quilt Challenge over on Shannon's blog, Fabrics N Quilts!  You can enter any scrappy quilt you've made since the end of last year's challenge (October 15, 2014).  There are some guidelines, short and sweet, a minimum size (45"x60"), and your quilt must be finished, not just a top.  But I bet a bunch of the Hands2Help quilts this year were scrappy!  So go check out the guidelines and look through your pictures or quilts - find some quilts to enter!  There are prizes, blogposts by guest bloggers, and I believe Shannon even said something about a mystery quilt to give you a head start on next year's entries!

So now the question is - - - what are YOU working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah