Nose to the Needle: Tuesday To-Do's

Good morning and happy Tuesday.
Sipping away at my coffee and looking back at my
projects for the week, I see I'm still going strong.
I mean, I was there when it all went down but
sometimes you don't really realize what all you've
completed till you take that step back.
Again, I'm grateful for this Tuesday-To-Do thing.
It's keeping my nose to the grindstone needle.

First off, did I try out the knitting group?

I woke up to a -7 windchill and when I contemplated
getting out that night...well, I knew it wasn't going to
happen.  I love winter but I also like being warm, and I
really like being warm in my own home on cold evenings.

It has been bitter but finally warmed up over the weekend
and today I went on my walk without even a jacket.
(Crazy Kansas weather!)

Anyway, I found out that the knitting group meets
every other Thursday so I'll get there.  Really.

Okay my Tuesday To-Do Finishes:

1)  Chandelier baby quilt tops?

 Got 'em done.

All three of them.

(This is becoming one of those posts that just has
too many blasted photos, isn't it??)

2) Snow Love Tutorial? 

 Posted here.

I also added a post to give-away
Olfa Splash Rotary Cutter.  Please enter!

3)  On my Farmer's Wife blocks, just two again:

This time they're pretty decent.

4) Did I decide to move on or applique on the picnic?

I figure if you're going to put ants on a picnic quilt, they'd

better be cute and fun or no one is gonna want to sit on it,

let alone eat on it, so I searched coloring pages.

coloringrocks.com

Can I do this? Just these little guys off in one corner?

And in that detail?  It might include some

embroidery which, other than cross-stitch, I'm not sure

I've done since I was like 10 or something.  A shout-out

to Debbie at Stitchin' Therapy for pointing out that

Irish Chains are a nice blank page for appliqué.

I don't wanna do applique but blast it all, she's right.

Tuesday To-Do's for next week:

One

Completely finish all three baby quilts.

Quilted, bound and labeled?  At the very least,

I'd like to get all three quilted but that will depend.

Definitely one.

You can see I've already gotten a start but I need

some help on the second one. 

Thoughts on using the fabric to the right for the backing?

It's really the only thing I have on hand that sort of

works...but I want this to look good.

Personally, I think it looks just okay, and I probably

have only convinced myself of even that because

I want it to work.  I really need to "rock with what I got"

but I'm also not against making a run to the LQS.

Frankly, I don't have anything for the back of #3 either.

And I think I just answered my own question but

I'd like some opinions just the same.

Two

Farmer's Wife blocks.

I guess two but one of them has 44 pieces so my

goal there is to just come out of it alive.

Nice.

One of my quilting goals this week is to live through it.

Maybe I should rethink my hobbies...

Three

Get the applique planned out for the Irish Chain.

Maybe even cut out and put on?

The applique, not the embroidery--that'll be the week

after...or maybe I'll die making that insane Farmer's Wife

block, thereby avoiding the embroidery part altogether.

Or maybe I'll just find an entirely different picture.

No hurry--it's a Christmas gift so I've got months.

Four

Finish up that stash-busting scarf I'm knitting to donate.

Looking ahead, I've finally started planning two different

West Point quilts that will showcase the special-order fabrics:

I shy away from that EQ8 sometimes because all the tricks

of the program still elude me and my personal artsy-creativity

just isn't much to speak of.  Of course, once I get in there,

and start exploring what it and I can do, it's pretty fun.

I've got the designs under the "current year's projects"

project tab if you're interested but I'm still working on them.

Those will likely be showing here up very soon,

 likely next week.  If someone could please tell me the trick

to knowing block designs/sizes that don't result in pieces

being cut at almost-impossible measurements (ie, 3/16"), I'd

sure be grateful.  Basic blocks I understand but if you

see the designs I have in mind, maybe my

request makes more sense.  Maybe it's just

practice and experience.

I also have my HST basket quilt going on the side.

In fact, I haven't even revealed that project really

(other than the HST's) so hey, how about now?

I'm working on 60-some of these 8" blocks.  The

background is from a Riley Blake Swiss Dot jelly roll

but I've decided the quilt will be on-point so I had to

order more fabric (on its way!) for setting triangles.

Getting those blocks made will likely show up on

next week's to-do's as well.  But of course,

that's really getting ahead of myself.

Don't forget to enter to win an Olfa Splash Rotary Cutter!

Just a few more days to enter.

*Update:  This giveaway is now closed.

I'm off to visit 2 quilt shops and a new knitting shop.

A little road trip--lucky me!  I always love seeing

other people's quilt shop pics so hopefully I'll remember

to grab some shots to share here later this week.

Thanks for stopping by today and happy quilting!

Linking up:

To-Do Tuesday

Lily Patch Quilts

Creative Compulsions

Pretty Piney:  What I Made Monday

Sew Can Do:  Craftastic Monday