It is like riding a bike, right? - WIP Wednesday

I hit a road block with my pink block for July's Star of Africa block; it was just not looking good, so I decided to take a break.  Sometimes you just need to walk away for a day or two, right?

So, I decided to spend my sewing time today quilting.  Yes, actually quilting something!  As you know, I have a big stack of things "awaiting quilting", and I need to get to them.  But, I must admit that all my problems with Ms. Kitty and then with Big Brother have shaken my confidence.  Here I have this brand new machine, and I am afraid to use it.  Why?  The first night I had it, I took a little practice sandwich and stitched out a few little designs, and thought, "thank goodness, my problems are solved!".  But my second practice sandwich didn't go as well.  Turns out, the learning curve for my new machine was a little steeper than I thought.  I thought, "it is like riding a bike, right?".  Turns out, a little more practice was needed and I was afraid to get started.  Until today....

I agree with what Leah Day said recently, if you don't want to spend the time using practice sandwiches, then you should practice on real quilts!  Makes perfect sense to me.  Yes, I made a few errors here and there, but I have started to get my groove back, and that's what is important.  Besides, this little table runner is staying in my house, to remind me to continue practicing.

This Wednesday......

Completed Projects:  Basically all my blocks from yesterday's post.

• Beginner's Quilt Along Block 10
• How Far Will You Go? QAL Blocks 2 & 3

On-going Projects:

• Handstitched goodies - I am in limbo on several of the projects, including some coasters, an applique pillow, and of course, the backing for my medallion quilt.
• Design something for the Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop - I have my idea, I have my fabric, I STILL need to put it in motion
• Vintage Holiday Quilt Along - actually started August 6th.  I already need to catch up, luckily the cutting is all really similar for each block.
• Totally Groovy Quilt Along - the sewing starts soon!
• Star of Africa Bee -I need to do the July block in PINK - redesign in progress
• "Tree" themed quilt for the guild - the guild is having a quilt show in October and each member is asked to make a small quilt with a "tree" theme.  I am going to make something similar to Ashley's teacher's Thank you quilt below.
• Grammie's placemats - with a trip scheduled for September, I better get these started so I can hand deliver them!
• August Free Motion Challenge - I've been busy drawing on paper, and this month's motif is more difficult than it looks!
• Urban Nine Patch Tablerunner - this one gets bumped up to this category because I actually started quilting it!

Back Burner:

I am determined not to forget these projects!  Keeping them in this category reminds me of them on a weekly basis.

• Batik Stripe Quilt - still sandwiched and ready to be quilted!  Tookie is no longer holding this project up.

• Thank you quilt for Ashley's teacher - awaiting quilting. So sad, that I will likely be giving this to her on the first week of the NEW school year!  What better way to remind her what great kids she had last year, right?  LOL!

• Red, White, Blue New York Beauty - piecing in progress
• June UFO - "A Christmas Something for myself" - English paper piecing in progress.  It will be a table runner of hexagons.  This is the hand project I keep in the car, so I will do a little at a time, but progress is slow.
• Charity quilt for the guild - I'm going to miss the next meeting, but need to bring it to September's

This week's stats:
Completed projects - 5, blocks that is.
New projects - 2
Currently in Progress - 9-ish

Linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday's .