February 5, 2013

Some weeks are busier than other weeks and I am grateful that I have set aside one hour on Tuesday to work on my projects. This week I was able to work on finishing a block for Thomas' Double T quilt. It's a block made up of St. Patrick's Davy fabrics. His quilt is called a charm quilt. I am using the same background fabric and every "T" is a different fabric. Some of the blocks tell about his life. Like the block that is made up of 4 different snow flake fabrics. Thomas and his Dad had gone on a snow camp out and had gotten caught in a blizzard with strong winds. In the morning all of their tents had  been blown down and covered with snow. They came home quite chilled and feeling like they would never do that again. I created a block to remember that experience.   

March 12, 2013

Today I finished cutting out all of the background fabric pieces. Wahoo!!! Then I went hunting for the packets of printed fabric I had received when I was a part of a fabric club. I found them in the big chest in Mitchell's room. I pulled them all out and stacked them on the ironing board. Now I am ready to start cutting out the printed fabrics next Tuesday. One Hour on Tuesday has helped me get focused and see some progress. It's a simple concept and for now I look forward to my one hour on Tuesday.  I've done this kind of thing before when I wanted to accomplish other tasks like yard work. I committed to working out in the yard for 30 min. a day. Little by little I was able to get on top of the yard work. Ironing is another area where I have set goals like 5 shirts a day. In a matter of days I was on top of the ironing. I feel like my quilting projects will require more time but for now this is what I can do.

March 5, 2013

Today I came up with a plan!! I had run out of the background fabric but had bought some more fabric that I thought would work. So I found the fabric I had bought and came up with a plan to cut out all the background pieces. I had to cut out 400 small triangles and 80 large triangles. I cut the strips and started to cut the large triangles and got them all cut out. Then I started on the small triangles and cut out about two thirds of them. Then I was done for the day. When I am done cutting out the small triangles I plan to find the stash of printed fabrics I have and start cutting out the large and small triangles of them. Tom's quilt is a charm quilt of "T"s where each "T" is a different fabric. I have 20 more large blocks with four "T"s in each block so I have 80 different pieces to find. When I am done cutting out all the fabric then I will start sewing them all together. I hope in the end it will make the process go faster. My only regret is that Tom isn't here to pick out the fabric he likes.  I would also like the pieces of fabric to reflect his life. I'm going to keep pondering this.

February 26, 2013

On Tuesday I was able to work for an hour on Tom's quilt. I have run out of the cream back ground fabric so I had to hunt for the fabric I had bought to continue his quilt. I found it and started to sew the remaining cut out colored pieces with the last of the original background fabric. I was able to finish 3 six inch squares and then ran out of time to cut out more background fabric for the 4th six inch square. So there you have it. I have more background fabric to cut out before I can continue. Every week I get just a little more done and actually feel enthusiastic about at least having one hour on Tuesday to focus on these projects. It is a gift I give myself.

February 19, 2013

I love having this time comnitted to accomplishing my personal projects. On Tuesday I was able to almost finish cutting out two more blocks for Tom's quilt. I figured out last week that I need 22 more blocks to have enough for the top for a queen size quilt. So I thought if I only got one block done a week it would take me way too long so I'm hoping on finishing two blocks a week. In the next two years I want to finsh 3 quilts. Tom's is well on its way. I bought a kit for Joseph's quilt. I had him look at it from a magazine I received in the mail and then ordered it. I have started to cut out some of the pieces and at least have a plan. Daniel's quilt,, who is on his mission right now, is still in the dreaming stage. I used to walk him to elementary school throughout the year and when the geese would fly over head going south in the fall fior the cold winter months  and then flying north in the spring  we would look up and love the sight and sound  of them. So my plan is to have a season in each corner with blue, cloudy, gray skies in the middle with "flying geese" units flhying in the sky. I love thinking about it and need to draw it out.  So as you can tell I have my work cut out for me. But at least I'm moving forward everyweek with my One Hour on Tuesday! 

I was able to work yesterday in an hour that was cut up into small pieces. I knew what I wanted to accomplish so when I got some time I ran upstairs and sewed a little bit more until I was able to finish the remaining 3 six inch Double T squares and sew it into a finished block. It is all pressed and added to the growing pile of finished Double T 12 inch squares.  I sat down and figured out how many more squares I need to make the top. I need 22 more squares. so... I better get busy. There won't be any sashings it is just one 12 inch square next to the other. I need a total of 49 squares. Every "T" is a different color with no duplicates. I discovered a duplicate and am planning on replacing it. This has been a fun quilt. Some squares relate to specific incidents of Tom's life. It's fun to see it come together. I also looked at next steps for Josephs quilt. I'm making progress.

've been successful working for one hour on Tuesday. But now I need to figure out how I can write my post in a timely way.  I don't know how the italics got set but it seems that that is how  I will write my latest post. I'm really quite proud of myself. I've had a dickens of a time getting into  my blog and finally figured it out but had  to set a new password.  I am going to try really hard to enter my post sometime before the next Tuesday. This entree is at the ninth hour on Monday. Last
Tuesday I was able to cut out all the pieces I needed to put together the remaining 3 six inch squares of the Double T square for Tom's block. I'd like to put the whole square together tomorrow. Actually I'd like to finish one block a week. While Daniel is on his mission I'd like to finish Tom,Joe and Daniel's quilt. I'm going to have to put in more time. Let's see what I can get done tomorrow in one hour on Tuesday. 

January 29, 2013

Last week was a great week and I found some time on my hands on Thursday. What to do?  I asked myself if I would compromise my plan for "One Hour on Tuesday" if I picked up the project and with free time continued working on it. Well... I decided to finish the top of the quilt I was working on.  The beauty of my plan for me is that I feel like I have direction. I'm accomplishing long lost goals. And it feels good. I will add pictures as soon as I learn how to download them from my camera. This is really not a quilting blog although a lot of my current projects revolve around that interest. You know, just setting aside the time to get things done is getting me more organized and focused so that when I have some spare time I know right where to go.  I took time before I started this to set up a space I could call my own. It's right by a window. I've hung a piece of stained glass in the window that is beautiful to look at and inspires me. I bought bins to put my projects in which are stacked by the wall.  So this week on Tuesday I pieced the backing for the Butterfield quilt and cut out the pieces for my son tom's quilt called the "Double T" It takes four six inch squares to make the block and I got one six inch square done. I hope to complete one full square a week. Here goes...

January 22, 2013

I've had an interesting week. I was so excited after accomplishing so much last Tuesday that as the week went on I really wanted to go back to my sewing room and keep working on my latest project. But then I felt like I wouldn't be true to the plan to only work one hour on Tuesday so I realized that there were other projects that needed to be accomplished that I could turn my attention to so I headed to the laundry room and cleaned up the counter and sorted things that needed to be thrown away, given away and put away. I guess my first choice would have been to go work on my latest quilt project - my first love but also an easy out from accomplishing other things. So again I found out that when I do the thing I love I become more productive in other areas of my life.   

Today I took the first hour that came and went to work. I had a violin lesson that got canceled from 8:45 to 9:45 am so I wrote a thank you to some friends and then headed upstairs to sew on the final panel of three squares to my sister's quilt.  I cut out the first border of black and sewed it in place. The final thing I was able to accomplish was to cut out the next border print. It's all waiting on the sewing table for next week.  It feels so great to actually be moving forward.

I have a new responsibility which gives me the opportunity to minister to the families of my Congregation. So I headed out to visit a family that has been through a lot in the last 2 months. I felt enthusiastic and energized to go do this work and it turned out to be the husbands 75th birthday. I took some divinity I had made a few days ago and it turned out to be his favorite homemade  candy. One good thing leads to another and I feel like I'm on the right track to accomplishing so many good things. I think when you feed yourself you are more open to promptings to reach out to others.

January 15, 2013 Today I got started...

Today I stared my first blog.  I named it One Hour on Tuesday because I have so many projects that I want to get accomplished and I decided that I would commit to one hour on Tuesday and see how much I could get done. I know from my past experience that when I spend time creating I am more effective in the rest of my life. I am happier and get more accomplished.  I think it is has more to do with living my dreams and satisfying the creative cravings I have.  So here goes.

Today I set aside the hour of 1-2 pm  and this is what I accomplished.

I have a quilt I want to make for my sister that represents the eight states they have lived in. On Christmas four years ago I gave them the finished state blocks representing where they have lived and promised them a finished wall hanging.  I made a black letter B to put right in the middle and surrounded it with the eight states they have lived. in. Today I added the sashing between the three rows of three blocks each and have sewn two of the rows together. I had to stop with one row left because my violin student arrived. One time when I went into the laundry room to press a seam I saw that there were two articles of clothing that needed pressing so I pressed the pair of pants and the dress shirt for my son and then went back to the sewing room to work on the quilt. I have posted pictures of my progress and even the ironing. Writing about it will help me be accountable and keep me moving. Just thinking about what was done today makes me smile. So here's to One Hour on Tuesday!