Smash My Stash # 4: Setting Priorities

Smash My StashPicking up where we left off here, here, and here

Making A List

When I first decided 2016 was going to be my year to begin reducing my inventory (Smash My Stash), I felt it was necessary to make a list of everything I had, categorize it, establish a plan of attack and then return each of the items to storage. My next plan was to share the list with YOU. By the time I had my enormous list of UFPs (unfinished projects) written down I realized it was slightly too large and way to boring to share with anyone but myself. Nobody wants to read a list that extends beyond one hundred items.

One Hundred Weeks or More

With that volume of projects, if I successfully completed one each week, I would have enough to keep me going through all of 2016 and the better part of 2017. For some of the projects a week would be more than enough time to finish. For others a seven-day goal would be way too ambitious.

Prioritizing

Even though it didn’t seem so at the time, making the list was much easier than the thought process I went through to prioritize it. Much contemplation went into separating out the things that must get done from the ones that could stand to be moved to the bottom of the list.

At the top and glaringly obvious were:

IMG_3290_NewOne of the blocks in the Heart & Home Quilt

Once those are complete I think I will work on a few of my smaller projects.

If I add up all of the above items the total count comes to fifteen. Fifteen is not a small number.  To start the ball rolling I have chosen to finish Mr. J’s cathedral quilt. See photos below.

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IMG_8776Mr. J’s Quilt Top

So glad you decided to come back for round four. Be watching for the next edition in my series Smash My Stash!

Cindy Anderson

A Look Back at January

Before I completely say good-bye to January here were some of the highlights

A Lovely Year of Finishes

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Tick-Tock

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A Fabric Bundle

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Sandy Quilt # 2 Update

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The Composition Cover

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Heart and Home Quilt Update

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Take A Look at This

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and This

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Sandy Quilt # 2 Finished

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Daisy Cafe & Cupcakery

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Just imagine, that’s only the highlights!  January was an incredibly busy month.  One can only guess what February holds in store.  I look forward to unfolding its pages.  See you soon!

Heart & Home Quilt Update

Welcome to WIP Wednesday!

I’ve been participating in this online accountability forum since last summer.  Along the way I have shared a plethora of projects.  Some of those items have long since been completed and then again some of them are still hanging around.

One of My Favorites

One of my all-time favorite WIP projects has been by-far the Heart & Home quilt by Heart to Hand.  This lovely wool quilt has been hanging around in my to-do basket since early last year.  Slowly, ever so slowly, I’ve been plodding along.  I’ve had two occasions when I’ve actually spent the better part of an entire day focused solely on this quilt.  The first was during the Madison Modern Quilt Guild‘s sewing day in December and the second was last Sunday.  If my hubby hadn’t been out-of-town the majority of the previous week I probably would have participated in the Madison Modern Quilt Guild’s sewing day on the 19th.  My hubby assured me it I stayed home with him all day Saturday he would afford me a day of uninterrupted sewing on the 20th.

Much Was Accomplished

By the time my hubby had filled our home with the most amazing aroma of home-made chicken soup my day of progress on my Heart & Home quilt had come to a close.  As I switched off the light on my Pfaff sewing machine I paused to admire the almost finished blocks.  All that’s left to do on all but one block is the hand embellishments.  Pictured below are the blocks I worked on.

Block # 6 (Hand stitching left to do)

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Block # 7 ( Hand stitching left to do)

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Block # 8 (Hand stitching left to do)

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Block # 9 (As you can see I still must stitch down the applique pieces)

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Block # 10 (Hand stitching left to do)IMG_3290_New

Block # 11 (Hand stitching left to do)

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Block # 12 (ALL DONE!!!)

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Once I complete the miscellaneous tasks on these blocks I can finally sew them all together.  I can’t wait to make it to that point.  You can be sure I will share an update when that finally happens.  Until then I’ll keep working along.

That’s it For Now

My WIP update is now finished.  I have linked up with Freshly Pieced.  Make sure you visit her blog to see what everyone else has been doing.

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced