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As our Disneyland trip in late October approached I realized that The Boy had a bunch of Disney shirts he could wear from our last trip a year and a half ago, but The Girl (age 1 on our first trip) had outgrown all her Disney clothes. I knew I didn't have time to sew an outfit for each day, but I aspired to a dress and a skirt. (Oops, the skirt didn't get done.) I had previously made a Lazy Susan top for her second birthday in May, so I decided to make a Lazy Susan dress for our trip. I love that this pattern goes together so quickly and easily and I think the flutter sleeves are adorable. I had thought I'd need to layer the dress over a long sleeve shirt for the cool Fall weather, but it was 85 degrees at Disneyland the last week of October!

She had a great time wearing her dress. She even got to show it off to Minnie Mouse.

at disneyland front

at disneyland back

mickey and minnie dress

Pattern by Brownie-Goose.

Linking up to Finish Along 2014 Wrap Up Party. Here's my full list of Q4 goals.

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Do any of you have seemingly infinite quilt projects underway? So many WIPs you can't even make a list? An inability to not start new projects despite the fact that you have a million in progress? Yeah, that's me.

I also have a bunch of new fabric burning a hole in my pocket.

I've decided that I need to focus.

My attention span isn't good enough to just work on one project start to finish, so I'm allowing myself three. (We'll see how long this lasts, eh?) So here it is, my public declaration of the three quilting projects that I'll be working on.

#1 The Little Letters quilts. See, I'm already cheating... that's two quilts right there. But since I'm working on them assembly line style I'm counting them as one project. Weeks ago I pulled fabric for the next many letters. Last night I cut fabric for 16 blocks, G thought N in each color way, and I pieced most of them today. I'm stuck on N. It's hard. I'll be cutting those pieces again. :-/

Little Letters G through N pieces

Little Letters GHIJKL bluegreen

Little Letters GHIJKL brights

Little Letters M and N in pieces

 

#2 My IG Mini Swap quilt. Nothing like a deadline. I'm also super excited about this project that I designed as I went. I made some great progress on it this week to finish my ALYoF November goal of completing the top. I also created the label and prepped it for quilting. I got the recommendation for the Concepts iPad app ($7.99 for pro version) from Urban Quiltworks and installed it to try on some free motion designs before I get to work quilting it. I'm not ready to put the full view out there until my partner receives it, so here's a peek:

Basic Shapes finished top sneak peekBasic Shapes label

 

#3 The yet-to-be-named (yeah, I should get on that*) 2006 Mystery Quilt. It's pretty close to being a finished top. I'm excited about the fun backing fabric I have for it. I'm also excited about giving it as a gift to a friend, perhaps in time for Christmas. Guess I should get on that, huh? *That star block is apparently called Churn Dasher. That's kind of entertaining to me, since my first mystery quilt used the Churn Dash block.

2006 mystery quilt

 

I'm already really wanting to work on other stuff, and not letting myself... that's making finishing one of those three an even more exciting goal... cause then I can replace it with a WIP or new project that's tempting me right now.

What are your best tips for keeping yourself focused on one project or a short list of projects?

Linking up to ALYoF November finishes Party.

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October is over. Heck, so is a whole lot of November. It's about time for an update on what I got done last month. I finished a philanthropy quilt and made some progress on my IG Mini Swap quilt, but I also made progress on some other projects. Here's a quick glimpse of some of my quilting progress in October.

Car Baby Quilt

I think I got excited about baby quilts because the size is so nice. I pulled a few fabrics from my stash and made this fast little quilt top. (Purchased the border fabric at PIQF.) I don't have a baby in mind to give this to. Of course, it also isn't finished yet. I'm thinking it might be my first quilt for sale on Etsy.

baby quilt

 

Little Letters

I thought this project by Temecula Quilt Company was adorable. I've only got A through F done (in two color ways), because I'm not loving the design of G. I thought I would redesign it, but now I think perhaps I should get over it and just piece the G block. I did, however, pick my fabrics through N. That put me ahead of the game when I did it. Of course, with two letters a week coming out (they just posted U) I'm now sorely behind. little letters

 

2006 Mystery Quilt

I made some really decent progress getting the quilt top together, but I didn't quite finish it before something in life dictated that I not have a bunch of fabric laying all over the floor. Just need to piece together a few rows and add on a border and the top will be done! Perhaps I should get this one down in time to be a Christmas gift. 2006 mystery quilt

 

Block Party Blocks

The Block Party block for October in my guild was Birds in the Air. I made two of these blocks to participate. I'm not a particular fan of half square triangles, so I like that this pushed me to just do it. I think the tip of squaring up individual blocks is key to things going well with HSTs. I like how the Block Party pushed me outside my comfort zone. It reminds me of the first time I came to a meeting. I had been stalking the website before I joined and was excited to participate. Then the month that I was going the block of the month was applique, which I totally wouldn't have tried at the time if not for that push.

birds in the air

October was busy with running my first 10k, a foot injury, a family vacation to Disneyland and the kids and I being plagued by illness. Looking back I'm surprised I got any sewing done. Last weekend I threw my husband a 40th birthday party, so I had to break from my sewing for at least a few days. I really need to focus on some of these works in progress... but I'm already queuing up stacks of fabric for new projects. New fabric is so fun!