Yet another UFO strategy...

I've tried a number of different strategies and resolutions and challenges to get my UFO's done and out of the drawers, bags, and boxes.

On Monday, I was listening to the January 6th APQ podcast on my iPod on the way home from a day of outreach.  In this episode, Pat Sloan interviewed Jennifer Keltner and she discussed the "48 Hour Challenge" issued to the staff of American Patchwork & Quilting last year.  In this challenge, they HAD to take an hour out of their work week every week to work on a quilting project, for a total of 48 hours over the year.

Okay, so .... follow me here... one thought led to another, and it occurred to me that I could fit an hour of quilting into my day (pretty much every weekday) before work.  Instead of surfing facebook and watching Dog the Bounty Hunter, I could spend one hour drinking my morning mug o' tea, listening to the local CBC morning show on the radio, and devote that hour to working on a UFO.

I also decided that I would only work on the UFO for ONE WEEK -- although I will carry over to the next day(s)/week(s) as long as I like, until it gets boring again.  And then switch to a different UFO the next week.

So, I started with the top of the pile with "A Grateful Heart". No sense in over-thinking this.  I had about 1/4 of the blocks pieced, and a stack of FQs set aside to do the rest. I'm not sure exactly why I lost interest in this project.  Tuesday morning I made this block:

Today I made three 4" Economy blocks, and some HSTs and flying geese.  Tomorrow I have another 12" block in the plans.

I started this sampler project about four years ago. It's from the Winter 09/10 issue of McCall's Quilting magazine.

Weekends generally get some more dedicated sewing time, and I will allow myself to do whatever I want - - recently I've been enamored with small sewing projects that I've seen on Pinterest, but I'm not sticking to any hard rules for the weekend.

Such a great sewing day!

Remember when you were a kid, and excited about Christmas?  You'd be awake in the middle of the night, wishing and wishing morning would come?

That was me this morning.  Laying in bed, thinking about starting to sew.

I had a blast yesterday.  

I made a fabric box for my knee highs - - a little disappointed, because I didn't use heavy enough interfacing.  Oh well, it will still work.

I also figured out how I'm going to finish off Virginia Bound.

I'll take the light border off and string piece blocks - - triangles a la Dear Jane!  I measured, and sketched, and prepared paper backings.  Looking forward to some more mindless string piecing.

I also cut hexie papers for Grandmother's Flower Garden while watching "Bates Motel" last night.  

But the project that had me awake before the birds this morning was a cushion that I'm anxious to start.  I dug through my bucket of crumbs and box of strings to pull out "low volume" prints.  Now I have to figure out how to piece "a slab".  I'm anxious to get started!