Another Month, Another Goal... Or Two: Of Bear Paws and Kaleidoscopes

 I was long-winded on the topic of that vintage Economy quilt yesterday, so today's post is going to be Short and Sweet!

I have a Major Goal for April as well as a Minor Goal.  The Minor Goal is to get my Color Outside the Lines bear paw quilt off my WIP list.  That entails labeling, binding, and hand finishing the binding on this one.  After clearing off the heaps of fabric debris on the cutting table from my kaleidoscope, I finally had room to trim the bear paw quilt and machine embroider its label yesterday.

Machine Embroidered Label, Ready to Applique

And no, that is not a typo or your eyes playing April Fools jokes on you.  I really did start working on this quilt SEVEN years ago, in May of 2014.  It will feel good to have this one done at the end of the month!

But my Major and Supreme Goal for April is to get my son's kaleidoscope graduation quilt, Giverny Teleidoscope, to the Finished Flimsy stage by the end of the month.  While I had the embroidery module and stabilizers out anyway, I went ahead and embroidered the label for Anders' quilt as well.  It's stitching out right now, while I'm typing this blog post.

Time Management: Embroidering the Label For the Kaleidoscope Quilt Still In Progress

I used the same teal green thread color for both labels because the teal thread I chose for the bear paw quilt happens to work just fine with the kaleidoscope quilt, plus I'd already wound a bobbin with that thread.  I haven't even begun to think about backing fabric for this quilt yet so it wasn't worth putzing around to audition a bunch of options for the label.  I know that I tend to stall out at certain transition points in a project, and switching from Quilting Mode to Embroidery Mode is one of them.  Having this label already finished and ready to attach will help to speed me along the path from quilting to binding this one.

Corners are Attached to Top Row Blocks Only

I have eight remaining rows of blocks needing corners, but then I want all of the blocks joined into rows and rows sewn into a quilt top as well.  Then I'll have plenty of time in May to select backing fabric, quilt it with an E2E design, and get it labeled and bound for the church blessing ceremony on June 6th.  That's a HARD deadline!

As far as this week's shorter term goals are concerned (for To-Do Tuesday), I'm hoping planning to:

• Appliqué the label to my bear paw quilt by hand
• Prep the label for the kaleidoscope quilt (remove all the stabilizer, trim to size, press edges under, and set aside
• Machine stitch binding to my bear paw quilt
• Attach corners to kaleidoscope blocks in rows 2 and 3
• Begin hand stitching the bear paw binding

I'm linking up today's post with the following linky parties:

One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts. 

SATURDAY

UFO Busting at Tish in Wonderland

SUNDAY

Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts

MONDAY

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts  

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

BOMs Away at What a Hoot Quilts

TUESDAY

To-Do Tuesday at ChrisKnits