Flying on my Elna

Today's Block Count: 47

My Elna is sooo much faster and quieter than I was remembering. It helped me to get so many blocks done, it was fun.

 Yesterday, I talked with my dad about my problem with my Featherweight being flashy and inconsistently powered when I'm at my Sew Days. He said that I just needed to replace the plug. So I was able to open the new plug and Spencer helped me with actually wrapping the wires around the terminals. So I fixed it all by myself 😜. Really, Spencer kind of hovered until I let him help. We joked the whole time about it, too, since he had just told his brother that I would have to ask him to help. Technically, I didn't, but I do appreciate that he helped me.

 I got 7 multicolored 4-patches made as Leaders and Enders while working on the Churn Dashes and the Wedding Quilt.

 I also got 28 Half Square Triangles for the Wedding Quilt done today as well. Because it was Elna they flew right through the machine. I didn't manage to get this Wedding Quilt done today for the One Monthly Goal, but I'm still happy that I finally got to make some progress on this quilt.

I got the last 12 Churn Dashes made today for the Long Time Gone quilt. I had a 4 that I went ahead and let be odd. The navy and grey was made with a wrong-colored leg because I somehow I lost the grey leg. The others, I used the leftover bits of strips from the other churn dash blocks.

I think I'm still low on my April Goals...But I'm calling this a good effort the last few days. I also managed to quilt one of the extra baby quilts the other day that I had sitting already basted.

Elna's Fixed

Yesterday's Block Count: 8
Today's Block Count: 8

 My baby is home. She, Elna, has been out of commission for just over 2 years. It turned out that it was a tension pulley that needed to be replaced. She is such a faster machine than my others.

She is back in the spot of most use, and my bigger Janome, Jane, has been placed on a card table in the family room, to become a designated quilt machine. It is behind a couch, so I could watch tv while quilting, and I will be able to put the big tub of batting scraps under the table as well as the quilts that are basted and awaiting quilting. It will be nice to clear up a considerable amount out of my room. It might even encourage me to work on some backings for some of the tops that are already done. It will also be nice to not have to clear off my entire desk to be able to sew. That means any papers or sets of piecings I'm working on can stay put and I will be the one to move.

 Today, I managed to finish 3 4-patches for April RSC17 and 5 Churn Dash blocks for the Long Time Gone Quilt.

Yesterday, I managed to get 2 parts done for my Fandom in Stitches block. I'm working on Sadness from Inside Out. I also got 2 RSC17 4-patches, and 4 Churn Dashes.

Tomorrow, I really need to work on the Wedding Quilt. It's the last day of the month, which means that the One Monthly Goal deadline is tomorrow.

April Sew Day

Today's Block Count: 25

Today was Epic Sew Day.

 I helped make a block for a friend for a wedding quilt for her daughter.

I also started on the quilt I'm making for the Fandom in Stitches quilt swap. I managed to get an eyeball made.

Before Sew Day, I focused on finishing the 2 blocks I was behind for the Long Time Gone Sew Along. I am quite pleased with how this quilt is turning out.

 This is what all of my blocks are looking like together. Lots of fun color variations from 1 fat quarter bundle.

I also managed to get another 22 4-patch blocks for the Multicolored RSC17 quilt this morning in between the seams of the Long Time Gone blocks.

Few more Hexies and some RSC

Today's Block Count: 6

I managed to get the second hexie flower for January and the first hexie flower for February done. I also got the first 4 4-patches for my April RSC17 quilt using multicolored scraps. Tomorrow, I'll be headed to my monthly sew day and will be taking my Fandom in Stitches swap to work on.

Got my machine running again

Block Count: 5

My machine seems to have hit a hiccup in the road. Nothing serious...just user apathy. I've been doing a bit more with my hexie quilt, but it was a bit of a shock last night to realize I had spent less than 10 minutes at my machine in a week. Some of this is due to the boys getting the stomach flu, Nate getting an ear infection, after we all had colds. My cold lasted for 12 days, and now I am on an antibiotic to try and clear up the subsequent sinus infection...and as of yesterday, I also got to add eye drops for the pink eye that was a result of the sinus infection. But I think we are all on the mend finally.

So I'm trying to jumpstart my desire to work on things again. I, of course, really need to focus on my Long Time Gone blocks. I think I've completely disqualified myself from the prizes...but I really want to be able to focus on it.

This is where I stand on the last 2 weeks of blocks for the Long Time Gone. But at least they are cut and in process. And it's still the beginning of the week, so maybe I can actually get this week's blocks done on time.

I got to go to my first estate sale with a friend from church. There was supposed to be a ton of fabric, but we went on the second day, so there wasn't a ton left when we got there. It was a giant house, and there was an entire room of yarn. Each of these sock skeins was only $2 a piece. Kyle picked out one of the purples, saying he wants purple socks.

 I've also been trying to get myself to work on catching up on the Hexie flowers I swap with  my best friend. We make 2 flowers a month...the Monsters are my December flowers, with the purple being the first one for January. The little blue ones, I think I've already counted 1 of them, but the other 2 were pieced during a Relief Society meeting last night. Now I have to prep more fabric for my travel hexies. I ran out...so I actually had to sit there without anything.

 This has not been helping my lack of machine time. This is my cutting table, and is sooo covered in stuff, I almost don't know how to start on it. I'm going to try for 10 minutes to see if I can make some progress.

 This is my hexie basket. It came in handy while the boys and I had some forced down time watching movies. The hardest part about my boys being sick...is that they don't want to rest and get better...they just want to keep running around causing disaster in their wake.

I did also cut some squares out of my multicolor scraps to use as Leaders and Enders, so my block count should hopefully be higher in the next couple of days...if I can keep myself working at my machine.

What Day is it????

Crap, I seem to have lost a week somehow. No idea how that happened. Let's see if we can't figure out what happened to the week.

 I have my fabrics pulled for the beginning of my Fandom In Stitches Mini Quilt Swap.

 This past weekend was LDS General Conference, which is broadcast and we can watch from home. So I was able to get November's Hexies done for the swap I do with my best friend, in between being kicked in the head and trying to keep the boys relatively calm...I'm definitely open to suggestions on how to keep them calm.

 My Kindergartener who fights me on homework every day has discovered that he can read Green Eggs and Ham...so he now does...constantly. Because it is reading it counts as his daily homework chore, which is one of 5 things he has to do before he can watch tv every day.

 I attempted to dye my hair blue, but given how dark my hair is...it mostly just looks black unless the light hits it just right, then it kind of looks shiny black :)

 I also was really bad at keeping it from staining my scalp, so I've joked I colored my scalp more than my hair. And that I am part scalp.

 I've been working on my Long Time Gone quilt. These are all of my blocks so far. I was late posting my Crosses of the UK blocks to Instagram, so I don't think I'm eligible for prizes anymore, but I am still enjoying it, so I'm not stopping yet. I did the rainbow block today (and the Crosses of the UK yesterday).

The one who is hosting this Sew Along also shared on Instagram today that she will be hosting the 100blocks in 100days again starting on May 7th. This uses Tula Pink's 100 Modern Blocks, and with 2 of those on my to do list...it might be the perfect time to get going on those. Check it out at gnomeangel.com

 The weather has turned nice, and it is Spring Break, so the boys keep asking to go ride bikes. This is hard for me, since the only place for them to do it is in front of the house, and the 3 year old is obstinate, and doesn't like to listen or follow the rules, so I have to be out there with them to make sure he stays out of the road. This was one of those times they were successfully getting along...riding the scooter at the same time.

I've also been slowly chugging away at my En Provence blocks. My table isn't really big enough to lay out all of a block, so I'm just winging it making sure the same fabric in one unit isn't found in the unit(s) it's touching. It's been working so far.

It also dawned on me that I hadn't even looked to see what the RSC17 color was for the month of April. Turns out, it's Multicolor scraps. So this month will be a catch up month for the Tiny Jacob's Ladders (if I can get back to those), and I will do a super simple 4 patch quilt using the multi-color scrap bin. I also know there isn't a lot in that drawer, so I'm only going to aim for baby sized this month...especially since I've fallen behind on all the rest of what I had planned for this year.

I also need to declare what I want to finish for April for OMG. This month I'm going to try to push to finish the wedding top I started. The wedding is in 2 days, so it's going to be a little late...oops.

I do hope to get it all of the way quilted and bound by the end of the month, but I am also a little more aware of my own limitations right now (and how many other things I've started), so I'm only saying I have to have the top done by the end of April. Check out other people's goals at elmstreetquilts.com.