November Plans and October Recap

Does time ever slow down? October flew by like a witch on a broom. I guess in that analogy, I'm the witch. Certainly I felt like one yesterday.

I had a mid-afternoon appointment yesterday with my retina doctor, whom I hadn't seen in 4 years. It just seemed like the prudent thing to do - get my eye health checked (after past macular hole surgeries) before going to get new eyeglasses. Summary of visit: interminable wait, rushed appointment with Dr. B.  Not my doctor B, but Dr. B JUNIOR. He was knowledgeable and perfectly competent. But rushed. And I drove home and spent the rest of the evening with dilated eyes. That ruled out any sewing for the rest of the day. And apparently I've got a cataract starting in my right eye that's not bad enough to remove yet. But there's no point in getting new glasses for now. That's OK, I guess, because I have my carpal tunnel surgery later this month before Thanksgiving. Both hands. So I've got 2-3 weeks of mad quilt sewing and finishing lined up before then.

In my last post, I showed my October One Monthly Goal (OMG) completed. This is the Rainbow Anvil quilt, which was a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project for this year. You can click back to read more about it, but I've added a pic above for those who may not have seen it.

My other October finishes, both Rainbow Scrap projects, were Gumdrops and Stringing in the Rain.

 

And that brings us up to the present and what I have planned for November.

First up and currently on the design wall is the second quilt I'm making from my dark neutral scraps. I let the size of my scraps dictate the size and type of blocks made. That was a lot of fun. I ended up with six rows of six inch blocks (8 of each pattern) and 3 rows of 8" blocks (6 of each pattern) that will measure 48" across by 60" down, before sashing. This is the layout of the first 5 rows. I will be adding 1.5" black strips to separate rows here and there and to outline the quilt on the tops and sides. Eventual finished size should be 50x66".

Below the lower black strip in the picture above, I will be sewing rows that look like these samples below.  My design board is more horizontal than vertical, so I put these few up as a sewing order reference.

And this is the current work in process on the design board. All the blocks are made, but obviously not all are pinned up. My goal is to get this one finished up, including quilting and binding, this week.

After that I have plans for three more finishes (fingers crossed). One is to make a kitty quilt (probably a baby-sized quilt) for my two grand kittens, Carl and Xbox. Here is the fabric pull for that. It will be a simple quilt of rows and large blocks.

Next is a pillowcase for my grandson G, who is six years old and totally into Bob Ross. (What six-year-old even knows who Bob Ross is?) We think it's hilarious! So, I found and ordered some Bob Ross fabric from Spoonflower, and will make G a Bob Ross pillowcase for a stocking stuffer gift.

What's funny is that G is a flaming redhead, so I plan to play up the orange (his favorite color) and teal in this print for the pillowcase cuff and accent band.

And then I have this quilt top that I bought at that estate sale a few weeks ago. I need to add a border, then I can sandwich, quilt and bind it. This is my OMG for November - my stated One Monthly Goal for the challenge link-up over at Elm Street Quilts. Depending on when my carpal tunnel surgery is (I will know the date by Tuesday), I will likely move this one up to the top of my To-Do list after I finish the neutral scrappy quilt. I'm 10/10 with my OMG goals this year, and I want to keep my perfect record, surgery notwithstanding!

So, as the Holiday season begins, are you planning to pick up steam or slow down the pace? I'm rather happy that I'll be forced to slow it down for awhile. No Thanksgiving dinner to prepare - we'll buy a turkey and roast it eventually. We have an invitation to visit extended family for Thanksgiving. And no overdone Christmas decorations! I don't think we (meaning Bruce) will even get out the regular Christmas tree this year. He did mention something about buying a small tabletop tree. So I told him very sweetly that was a great idea; he just needed to figure out where to put it and how to decorate it. Translation: no tree this year, haha!

Linking up to

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Scrappy Saturday

OMG November Goal Setting at Elm Street Quilts