RaptorMama

Y’all. It’s November! And I had the opposite of a productive October so it’s time to kick it into high gear! First let’s look at how I did for October.

1.Super Hexie Block. I actually got this one done! So now I literally only need to do 1 more block and then all of the hexies will be basted. The end is near!

2. Windchime Quilt. Well, I didn’t get it appliqued, but I did get it all sewn together and ready to go so that’s something. lol.

3. Butterfly Quilt. Does buying more fabric count as progress? lol.

4. Caterpillar Quilt. Same.

5. Project Life. Oh my gosh, y’all, I didn’t do anything with Project Life this month! I’m afraid that my scrappy mojo has left the building.

6. Scrapping. Ditto. I literally only made 2 pages this month. ::shame::

7. Advent Calendar. Um… Are y’all sensing a pattern? That pattern is that nothing much of anything got done.

8. Halloween. Finally a win! Costumes were made, pictures were taken, and too much candy was eaten. Poor Mia was sick the night before so she missed her Halloween party at school, but she rallied for Trick or Treating so we took her to a few houses. Also, Kate made her own costume this year! I’m so proud of her. 🙂

9. Camping Trip. Well, we got all of the prep work done and then some. Sadly, Kate and I had to leave unexpectedly on Friday night, but my co-leaders are amazeballs and they took over seamlessly and handled everything.

10. Pumpkin Patch Pictures. ::sigh:: I took them. I even took my real camera. But the babies were sooooooo not having it. Le sigh. Also, they were almost sold out of pumpkins. Oh well. Next year, I’m going to try to finish costumes much earlier so we can do the pumpkin patch while there are still pumpkins!

And now onto November!

1.Christmas Quilt. The UFO for this month is my Christmas 1/2 square triangle quilt. I have the center finished, but I still need to cut and add the borders. I was toying with the idea of trying to have it fully quilted and bound by the meeting, but I’m pretty sure that’s never going to happen. lol. So let’s say that I would like to have the top done.

2. Kaffe Quilt. My grandmother and I are making a joint quilt! No pressure. lol. This one has a bit of back story that should really be it’s own post. Stay tuned! The short version is that I need to make 66 blocks this month.

3. Zipper Pouch. For our Guild Christmas party, we are exchanging zipper pouches. I was super intimidated, but I made a practice one and I’m actually pretty happy with it. Now I just need to make the one for the actual exchange!

4. Advent Calendar. It’s crunch time. I have to have the background done this month. Then maybe I can try for one thing each day in December? Yikes!

5. Project Life. No excuses y’all. I have to get at least June done.

6. Scrapping. Um… I don’t even know, y’all. Maybe 10 pages?

7. Gratitude Tree. This is a crazy idea that I had yesterday. Basically, I want to have a big tree on the wall in our living room (made out of paper) and then we will each add a leaf every day where we write down 1 thing that we are grateful for. In my mind, we each get a different color and then we have a beautiful rainbow tree at the end of the month. The reality is that I still don’t have any paper for this, let alone paper that is cut into the shapes of leaves! lol. But fingers crossed I can make this happen today!

8. Thanksgiving Baking. I need to sit down and work on my baking menu and schedule to make sure that everything gets done.

9. December Daily Prep. Yay! I love December Daily. I’m sticking with a 4×4 format this year. I ::gasp:: didn’t even buy a kit because nothing was striking my fancy this year. That and I have enough Christmas product to open a December Daily store. lol.

10. I have a little bit of secret sewing that I need to finish this month. Fingers crossed!

After a so so October, you might be wondering how on earth I’m planning to get so much done in November, but RaptorDad does NaNoWriMo every November where he writes a whole 50k word novel. Every eyar I try to make NaNoCraftMo a thing, but I lose steam and end up binge watching Netflix. This year will (hopefully) be different!

I’d say Hello Fall, but it’s still a million degrees here on the surface of the sun. lol. Let’s see how I did in August.

1. Girl Scouts. I did pretty good on this one! I got all of the banking trainings done and went up to the bank to get all of the paperwork done. Now I’m just waiting for my debit card to arrive and we will be in business. 🙂 I also got my CPR/ First Aid training done, attended my first leader meeting (with all 3 kids on tow since RaptorDad had to go to Kate’s open house at the exact same time), and had my first meeting/ parent meeting. You guys, my co-leader is amazing! I would be totally floundering if not for her. We don’t ::quite:: have the fall schedule done, but it’s not for lack of trying. We’re just still waiting on a few people to get back to us regarding scheduling field trips. But I’m still super excited about what we do have planned!
2. First day of school pics/ interviews. Done! And extra cute as always. 🙂 I love this project so much.

3. Unicorn Quilt. The top is done! And my grandmother convinced me to have it quilted. lol.

4. Editing. Nada. Although I did finish 3 weeks of Project Life. I need to keep this momentum going, but I’m almost out of photo paper. lol.

5. Bluebonnet Quilt. Done! Well, I still need to bind it, but I’ve been watching some videos and I’m just about ready to give it a go. How hard could it be? lol.

6. Applique. I’m making progress on the second set of bluebonnets! I’m just drawing on the backgrounds as I go, but I did get 2 1/2 bluebonnets done. Just 3 1/2 to go. Then I need to start thinking about my next block…

7. Advent Calendar. All sorted and ready to go! I even got a few things stitched down. 🙂 The directions (probably from like 1982) were very brief! Not at all like the kits I’m used to working with. I think if this had been my first project I would be lost, but I have made so many bucilla projects at this point that I was able to fill in the blanks with a little bit (lot) of help from my mom. lol. I’m so excited about this!

8. Butterfly Quilt. I made a ton of progress on this! I got all of my templates made. I prepped all of the butterfly bodies. I ordered (and cut!) all of my background fabric. And I’ve almost completed 3 butterflies! (They just need embroidery.) I am having so much fun with this! I even made my first 9 patch!

9. Caterpillar Quilt. I got all of the white fabric cut for Xander’s quilt as well!

10. Professional Development. I actually got some done! I think I’m up to 22 hours. lol. Still a long way to go, but I’m finally making some progress!

Wow! I got waaaaaay more done than I was expecting to. 🙂 Let’s think about September, shall we?

1. Windchime Block. This is my UFO challenge quilt for the month. Let’s be real, there’s no way that I’m finishing this quilt in a month. lol. But I would like to finish 1 block. Spoiler alert: I was so excited about working on it this month that I started on it as soon as our guild meeting ended. I’ve now got all of the EPP done and I’ve moved on to applique.

2. Butterfly Quilt. I’d like to prep and applique 10 more butterflies.

3. Caterpillar Quilt. Create templates and prep some blocks. What I’d like to do is to cut and prep a circle each time I cut and prep a butterfly. That way, the caterpillars will be all ready to go!

4. Project Life. I’m getting further behind again. lol. I’d like to finish May and June at minimum. Getting July done would be a bonus.

5. Scrapping. Also falling further behind here. I’m sensing a theme. lol. Hmm… If I could scrap July 2018 and also scrap 10 current layouts, that would be amazing!

6. Advent Calendar. I’d like to make some progress on this. Hmm… Maybe I’ll say that I’d like to commit to 3 evenings this month where I put away my quilting and work on the advent calendar. I’m sure that I’ll ramp up as it gets closer to Christmas!

7. Plan Halloween Costumes. We’re leaning towards Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, at least partially because that was my all time favorite costume of Kate’s! Naturally, I can’t find said costume. lol. Kate’s still undecided.

8. Plan September Girl Scouts Meetings.

9. Fall Break. I’m considering a mini road trip for a few days over fall break… Maybe Dallas? I’m open to other suggestions! Maybe even the beach again!

10. Professional Development. Boo. So boring. But, I need to get it done. Maybe 2 6 hour classes this month? I need to sit down and figure out a timeline so I’m not panicking in February!

I can’t believe that summer is almost over!  It seems like this summer flew by and I’m so not ready for it to be over.  🙁  Kate goes back to school on Thursday and that just seems impossible!  But before I go down a panicky rabbit hole, let’s look at the July goals.

1.  Finish Project Life gap.  Done and dusted!  Yay!
2. Project Life May 2019.  Nope.  Didn’t even touch this one.  ::sigh::
3. Scrapping- mixed media backgrounds.  Done!  And it’s working as I’ve actually made a few pages.  I’m so happy that my scrappy mojo is returning.  🙂
4. Hexies.  I actually finished my super block #10!  Amazingly enough, I only need to make 2 more super blocks and then basically all of the hexies for the quilt will be basted.  I’m putting this on the back burner for now though because I need to wait for some new fabric lines to come out!  I feel like I’ve bought every available charm pack that goes with my colors.  lol.  
5. Christmas Half Square Triangles.  I got all of these trimmed down, and about half of them sewn together and I’m really pleased with how it’s looking!  I also decided on what I wanted for the border, but naturally it’s sold out everywhere.  Grr…  Note to self, next time buy the borders when you buy the charm packs!
6. Take my kids swimming.  Done!  So many times over.  🙂  Kate’s bestie is a saint and she lets us crash her neighborhood pool on the reg.  Not only is it a totally awesome pool, she helps me watch the twins!
7. Make popsicles with the kids.  We didn’t do this, but we did one better!  I took the kids out for ice cream after Kate’s orthodontist appointment.  Yum!
8. Splash Pad.  The local (awesome) Down syndrome group plans regular meet ups and we almost never make it to them because we have so much stuff going on.  But today we made it out to the splash pad and had a great time!  I need to make these meet ups more of a priority.
9. Library with the kids.  Done!  I even managed to take Kate to the tween book club meeting that the library hosts once a month.  Have I mentioned that our library rocks?  Because it totally does!
10. Thinkery.  We made it!  So much fun.  🙂  I love this place.

Time for some August goals!

1.  Girl Scouts.  Yikes y’all.  I’ve been Kate’s assistant leader for a few years now, but our actual leader is taking a break and asked me to step up.  I have a lot to do this month, including but not limited to: figuring out the banking account, finding out which CPR class to take, and taking said CPR class.  I’d like to get all of my necessary trainings done and finalize the fall calendar and budget before our first meeting.  Luckily, my new coleader is amazeballs.  Also, I found this awesome planner.  
2. First day of school pics and interviews.  One of my favorite traditions.  🙂  I just wish I could find a new chalkboard that was identical to the one I’ve been using but not cracked!
3. Quilting.  My UFO challenge for the month is Kate’s unicorn quilt.  Dang it.  lol.  I need to sew on one more border and then figure out how to quilt and bind it.  But I think this is doable!
4. Editing.  Since I’ll need to order 8×8 prints for the kids’ interview books, I might as well go ahead and do a large print order to save on the shipping.  On that note, I’d like to edit/ upload pics for Project Life May- July.  Also, edit/ upload pics for Scrapbook November (2018)- July (2019).  Even as I’m typing this I know it will never happen.  lol.  Maybe I should just say that I will start at November and edit/ upload until I reach 200 pics.  That’s what I usually buy during their print sale anyway.
5. Bluebonnets.  I’d also like to finish hand quilting my bluebonnet quilt.  I’m actually quite close and I think a few more evenings would finish it off.
6. Appliqué.  Speaking of bluebonnets, I’d like to make a new template for petal placement and go ahead and draw onto the background fabric where the petals should go.  Then I can work on my appliqué while I’m out and about since I don’t have any hexies to work on at the moment.
7. Advent Calendar.  You guys.  My mom is so awesome.  I loved loved loved our advent calendar that we had when I was a kid so much, but I couldn’t find the kit for love or money.  She tracked down an UNOPENED one and got it for me for Christmas!  To say that I’m excited is a massive understatement.  Now that it’s August, it’s time to start on Christmas crafts!  I’d like to open the kit up, sort the threads, and get organized.
8. Butterfly Quilt.  Speaking of Christmas…  I really want to make Mia a butterfly quilt for Christmas.  In my mind, this goes along with a new big girl/ big boy room for the twins, but that may or may not be in Santa’s budget this year.  lol.  The quilt I can do though!  (probably…)  This month, I’d like to finalize the design for the butterflies and start prepping the appliqué.  Also, go ahead and order the background white on white fabric.
9. Caterpillar Quilt.  And since they’re twins, Xander needs a new quilt too!  His is going to be a caterpillar to go along with Mia’s butterflies.  How cute is this going to be?!?  Since his will have the same background fabric, I’d like to order enough for both of them.
10. Professional Development.  Boo.  I so don’t want to do this.  lol.  But I’ve put it off as long as I possibly could!  I need 150 hours of professional development by the end of March to renew my teaching certification.  Yikes.  I want to go ahead and trouble shoot my computer issues with the online classes (read: beg RaptorDad for help!), figure out a schedule, track down the certificates I do have, (I should have between 6-12 hours already done) and get 2 (6 hour) classes done.

Y’all!  If I get even half of this list done I will be thrilled.  lol.  I’d say maybe I’ll get some blogging done when the kids go back to school, but I think we all know that’s unlikely.  lol.

It’s June!!!  That means that summer is here and I have all of my babies at home!  <3 <3 <3 Let’s reflect on the insanity that was May.  lol.

1.  Project Life.  My goal was to get October 2018- December 2018 and April 2019 done.  I got October, part of November and part of April.  Progress!
2. Scrap.  This goal was massive and honestly I didn’t think I could do it.  I wanted to finish up the first volume of my 2018 scrapbook which ended up being about 20 layouts.  But y’all! I did it!  The layouts are nothing special, but they are finished and sometimes that’s what matters!
3. Sewing.  I did nothing on either the Christmas Triangles or the Unicorn Quilt.  lol.  But I did work on another sewing project that’s going to be a surprise.  🙂
4. Hexagons.  I did not get my super hexie done, but I did start sewing together all of my blocks!  Which has been super motivating and has given me the push I needed to keep going with this project.
5. Windchime.  I am so ready to play with this project some more!  But I didn’t get a chance to this month.
6. Applique.  Finished!  But then naturally I turned this set of bluebonnets into something else so I still need to do another set for my Texas Forever Quilt.  
7. Quilting.  I didn’t get anything done on the Charm Quilt, but I did start hand quilting another project.  It is much harder than I was expecting it to be and I was not expecting it to be easy.  lol.  
8. Pictures.  Done!  I love my chalk board front porch pics.  🙂  My chalk board is all cracked, but I bought it so long ago  don’t even know that I can get another one.  lol.  And yes, I totally write the wrong date on Kate’s.  ::sigh::  
9. Yard Art.  Done!
10. Summer Curriculum.  Lol.  I always have such high hopes.  This week is VBS and I’m volunteering in the pre-k class with Mia and Xander so my brain is mush!  But next week will be better!

Time for June goals!

1.  Project Life.  I want to finish 2018!
2. Scrap.  Hmm…  I need to take stock and see what I should attempt next.  Off hand though, I’d love to work on some current stuff!  Maybe I should make my goal to finish 10 current layouts.  I think I’m going to take one evening and try to make a big batch of mixed media backgrounds.
3. Sewing.  Since the Unicorn Quilt is meant to be a birthday present for Raptor and she’s turning 10 July 1st, it seems like I need to bump this up to high priority!  Of course, it would also make a fantastic Christmas present.  lol.  Or 11 year old birthday present!
4. Hexagons.  I want to finish sewing together the huge chunk of hexagons at which point I will be 1/4 of the way through the quilt!  I also want to do super hexie block #10.
5. Windchime.  I’d love to get the pieces cut out for the next block.
6. Applique.  I’d like to work on the next set of bluebonnet blocks.  I have all of the pieces prepped so it’s just a matter of stitching them on.
7. Quilting.  I’m about ready to decide that I’m not going to do any fancy machine quilting on the charm quilt and just be happy with the stabilization stitch in the ditch quilting that I’ve already done.  lol.
8. Pictures.  We’re taking another trip to the beach this month, this time with my mom, and I’m planning to attempt another round of beach pics.  I’m sure it will be another disaster, but I have cute outfits picked out!
9. Beach Trip Prep.  Off hand, I’m thinking car ride activities and fun stuff to do at the beach!
10. Montessori Trays.  I’m thinking that updating them every week is a pipe dream, but I should at least swap out the Valentine’s Day trays for a summer theme.  lol.

My rough plan is to finish sewing together the giant bunch of hexies this week and then I think I’ll reward myself my cutting out some pieces for my next  windchime block!  I’m also pondering the next block I want to tackle for my Texas Forever quilt.  Maybe the rainbow?  I’m thinking I’m going to make the stripes out of bias tape…

I’m baaaaaack!!!  I haven’t posted in a while, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been busy!  Let’s just jump right into the update, shall we?

April Goals:

1.  Project Life.  I may be a few days late, but I actually just edited and ordered 200 prints!  This is enough to “close the gap” so to speak.  Since editing and printing the pics is always what takes forever, I should be able to knock these out pretty quickly once the prints get here.  🙂  I also finished March of Project Life and I am so in love with my new Citrus Kit subscription!
2. Scrap.  Finish January and February of 2018.  Done!  I kind of can’t believe it.  lol.  I also wanted to scrap our spring break trip, but that didn’t happen.  Maybe next month.
3. Sewing.  I was hoping to finish both the unicorn and the Christmas quilt tops.  Spoiler alert, I didn’t manage to do either of those.  lol.  But I did start *another* quilt.  lol.
4. Hexagons.  Finish 1 block.  Done!  And I’ve halfway talked myself into changing the plan, again, and just making a king size quilt again.  Who knows.
5. Windchime.  Finish 1 block.  So close.  I got all of the hard parts done and I just need to decide on a fabric choice for the center circles.  I want them all to be the same (I think?) so I’m having a hard time committing.  Something in teal I think…
6. Applique.  Finish butterflies for Texas Quilt and prep some butterflies for Mia’s quilt.  Well, I did finish the butterflies for the Texas Quilt, but I’ve done basically nothing for Mia’s quilt.  I did decide on Xander’s quilt though!  His is going to be caterpillars.  🙂
7. Quilting.  Nada.
8. Bluebonnet Pics.  Done!  I didn’t get a single good one of the 3 kids, but I got some adorable individual ones of each of them and a few really cute ones of the kids with RaptorDad.  🙂           
9. Art Room Redo.  Done!  And it’s amazing!!!  RaptorDad and I have shared the art room since the beginning, but he decided this month to let me have the whole room and it is just as amazing as you’re imagining!  I need to finish up a few things and then I’ll do a proper reveal.  Here’s a pic while we were still working on the shelves in the closet.  It’s even better now!   
10. Birthday Party.  Done!  It was a bit crazy because we had to move it from the park to our house the morning of the party because of rain which led to many freak outs and lots of panic cleaning, but the twins had a great time with their friends and that’s what matters.  🙂  Plus, my guest bathroom has never been so clean.  lol.

And onto goals for May!

1.  Project Life.  Fill in the gaps!   That’s roughly October 2018-January 2019.  I’d also love to do April 2019.
2. Scrap.  Once my pictures get here, I’ll have everything printed to finish the first book of 2018!  And since I’ve been working on it all along, I only have 25 layouts to go!  I think I can get it done.  🙂
3. Sewing.  Still hoping to finish the unicorn and Christmas quilt tops.
4. Hexagons.  I’m going to try to finish a “super block.”  That’s one where I make 1 block and baste another 3 of each hexagon.  This is clearly a pipe dream given the rest of the list.  lol.
5. Windchime.  I want to give this some more thought and really think about what would work for the centers.
6. Applique.  I’m working on the bluebonnets for my Texas Quilt!  I have 1 down and 5 to go.  I am enjoying this project so much! 
7. Quilting.  Still hoping to get the Charm Quilt quilted.  lol.
8. Pictures.  May is when I do our end of the year pictures complete with chalk board!  🙂
9. Yard Art.  A special request from my grandfather for his birthday.  🙂  A few years ago the kids made him painted yard art signs on acrylic plates and the Texas sun has not been kind to them so we’re making him new ones.
10. Summer Curriculum.  I want to teach the babies all of their letters this summer!  Since the summer isn’t 26 weeks long (I wish!) I think I’m going to go with fun weekly themes for the summer and then do letter a week once school starts back up.  I’d like to start prepping some trays and activities.

Will I get this massive list done?  Hard to say.  lol.  I will say though that now that I have an amazing room to be creative in I’m spending a lot more time making and a lot less time watching junky TV.  🙂