Countdown to 2013 Recap

Shelly over at Prairie Moon Quilts hosted the 4th annual Final Countdown to get us prepared for the new year.  Here’s how I did on my three count down challenges.

Locate your UFO that’s closest to being done, and do something about it.

The UFO closest to being done is the 2006 Retreat Mystery quilt – or my version of it.  I quilted it in mid-December and with the hustle and bustle leading up toward Christmas and the new year, it was still in the bag I brought it home in.  Today, it’s closer to being finished.

I’ve trimmed the excess batting and backing and made the binding.  But it’s not the width I normally use and I’ve decided to scrap what I’ve done and go back to my 2 1/2″ wide binding.  I don’t know if I’ll get to it today or  not.  I really would like to get the Christmas stuff put away today.

Clean a pile.

The pile I chose for this was the quilt show I had in my house.  I’m happy to report the quilts have been taken down and the quilt rack contained.

I’ve even put my design wall back up.  I already miss the quilt that was on the fireplace wall, but I suspect I’ll get over it after I start using my design wall.  We still need to haul the quilt rack out, but stuff has to shift around in other parts of the house, basement and garage before we can find a spot for the poles.

Pick a project to work on that is just for you.

For this project I picked the first block of Twas the Night Before Christmas.  It’s a quilt-a-long I’m hosting this year (click on the gingerbread man in my sidebar for more information).  One could argue that it’s not just for me if it’s a quilt-a-long, but I’m doing the quilt-a-long so I can be part of a group project.  I haven’t done one of those for a while.  I actually made two blocks, so the 2nd one definitely counts.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with how my sewing area/office looks (just don’t look at my desk!) After I took down the quilt tops from my main shelves, I put away most of the stuff on top of the boxes.  My box of floss is even in order.

The next order of business (after putting up the Christmas stuff in the rest of the house) is to pull out Eeyore.  I want to have at least the center of the quilt top finished by the end of the month.