all it takes is a little focus

Last week as I was starting to think about the glorious days that were coming up for Stash Bash. I was starting to plan my projects and other things I wanted to get accomplished both before and during this retreat. My before list became daunting -- with swapping, prepping projects, making sure i had all the things I would need. I went to my husband and told him that I would be locking myself in my sewing room for the weekend and interruptions were to be minimal -- there would be no car group activities for this gal.

My sewing extravaganza started with a very lengthy list -- but I has Thursday and Friday evenings as well as the weekend, so I thought lets see how much I can accomplish. There were only a dozen things on my list.

I knew there were things of priority on the list like getting the items finished for swapping at stash bash -- that's 4 items of the list so I started on those and knocked them out pretty easily (but you'll have to wait on photos for these till after they are gifted. 

I did make a sew together bag for my secret sister and in the course of making it determined that this was a bag for me. When I showed it to hubs his first reaction was "oh good you've finally made one for you" -- so you know i had to keep it. My partner is still going to receive a very nice bionic gear bag that had been gifted to me but it wasn't in my style and it fits her maybe better than the sew together that I made.

I got my Schnitzel and Boo Mini top completed and so I went ahead and basted it so I wouldn't have to do this after stash bash.

Later in the weekend I picked it up going through my pile of things to quilt and completed the quilting and even found some scrap binding to attach -- still needs to be turned, but i needed some hand projects for the retreat.

Saturday and Sunday were all about the quilting -- with a few interruptions for some out of the house time and down time. (OK maybe one car group outing -- but it's Nick's and they are SO GOOD!!) 

I managed to get all 3 other quilts quilted and the binding made by the time I went to be bed Sunday night. I even attached the binding to the Accuquilt mini -- also still waiting to be turned.

Here'e the list after the marathon of sewing -- nearly complete!!

The only things on the list I didn't complete was cutting more of the Tula blocks -- though right now I have about 20 more cut ready to be sewn and only 38 more that need to be cut out to have all 70. I can work on this some each night before leaving but I doubt I'll get all 70 cut before Thursday morning.

I also haven't cut out or made fabric bins yet -- I still want to make these for all the ladies but this might not happen but we will see.

I'm nearly done with the packing as well -- I kind of packed as I got things ready this time and had to make sure that I had all my rulers and tools for working on some of the projects that will be going with me.

So overall a very successful weekend and I feel very prepared for the weekend ahead. Still more packing and a few last minute things to pick up (like thread) but my list of projects to take and hopefully complete is continuing to grow but still looks rather manageable.

There are 10 projects on the list and I'm taking 4 quilts to bind -- some are top assembly (A), some are make blocks (B), some are to start (S), and the binding is of course to complete (c). I'm also taking a few different bundles of fabric in case I can't get inspired by or stay focused on any of these projects.



The start of this week is going to be a busy couple of days but this weekend will be AWESOME!! I'll be leaving Thursday morning with a stop at my friend's shop The Quilted Thimble Cottage in Belmont to pick up some of Heather Ross' Tiger Lilly and then off to Greenville, SC for the weekend. YAY!!