We’re over a week into March, where does time go! I thought I’d better do an update for my Nineteen for 19 challenge…

• 1 Scrap Quilt I’ve not started yet but I have decided I need to organise my overflowing scrap boxes a bit, maybe into colours.
• 2 Tutorials; nothing as yet, but thinking things over!
• 3 sessions in the garden; I did pretty well in February, starting to weed and generally tidy up, I had a good clearing session on the rose bed by the lawn. This beautiful hellebore was definately flower of the month and it’s still looking great well into March!

• 4 workshops; I’ve got three booked at Fabbadashery in Halifax, I had to cancel one for May as I realised I’d double booked myself, however I’ve now booked for July and September with the same tutor. She gave us a talk at Embroiderers Guild about Bethlehem Embroidery and I was so inspired I booked two workshops!
• 5 presents; this remains at one, my niece loved the baby quilt and baby Logan is gorgeous, I’ve had a few cuddles!

• 6 quilts; Just one finished the one above at the moment, but I’ve got three on the go and I need to make one for a charity auction, I’ve a week off work soon so I’m hoping to make a start then. I’ve half made a quilt for the Care Leavers Christmas Dinners, but it is still waiting to be quilted.

• 7 new patterns; none as yet, although I’ve added another two to my stash!!
• 8 kits; I finished my mandala this month, I love it, it looks so pretty. So my tally is two kits stitched.

• 9 mini embroideries; we started our Travelling Sketchbook project at my Embroiderers Guild, so I stitched a chickadee to start my book off. I’ve got to stitch something about maps this month, I’ve a few ideas floating round!

• 10 things; I’ve started making some fabric boxes for my sewing room to put patterns in, I’ve only made one out of four so far so I haven’t shared them yet. However I did make a cushion from an embroidery I did years ago. With the block book I made last month my tally is now two.

• 11 cross-stitch smalls; In February I managed to stitch two cross-stitch smalls, one was for an wedding anniversary card for my OH, the other was a quick little heart to stitch for Valentines Day. So my total for the year is five already…they’re quite addictive!

• 12 pages in my book; I haven’t started this project yet, though I think I have worked out in my mind how I’m going to do it.
• 13 clothes made; I’ve been buried under curtain fabric for the last few weeks, so no chance to sew clothes for me… I made a deal with my son a couple of years ago, he fit a bathroom for us (he’s a plumber) and I would make curtains for his new house. Fair deal!! He finally got organised to buy some fabric last month! Two pairs of curtains, seven drops, 14 metres of woolen fabric…it’s the sheer weight of fabric that makes curtains hard work, one curtain had a total of 12m of fabric, including the lining! I’ve made all my curtains for various homes since I was in the nurses home aged 18, but I still find them hard work!
• 14 drawers organised; I had a bit of a sort out in my fat quarter stash this month, I donated some to the care leavers quilt day and reorganised the rest, spreading them out from two drawers to three, so I can have a batik drawers, plains and novelty drawer and the rest colour sorted. So I’ve sorted two drawers so far this year.
• 15 minutes tidy-up at the end of a sewing session; I’m getting better at this and it does make a difference!
• 16 books; I finished West with the Night last month, I’m going to write a joint review with Circling the Sun which I finished last night, as they are both about Beryl Markham, a biography and an autobiography. My tally for January and February is two.
• 17 blogs a month; I just made this, with exactly seventeen posts…but it was a shorter month 🙂
• 18 walks; My tally remains at three as I’ve not managed any this month! We had one planned last week but several things were against us so we went to the seaside instead! I’m off to the chiropodist on Tuesday so hopefully things will improve and I can get back to walking.
• 19 Splendid Sampler blocks; I stitched five this month so my total is nine so far, a pretty good start as I’m nearly half way on this challenge after only two months!

Another busy month sewing wise, though I was busy with sewing that didn’t count towards a challenge, like curtains! It was quite amusing on facebook as James was clearly very keen for me to concentrate on his curtains – everytime I posted a photo of something I’d made, such as my mandala or the baby quilt he would post two words… “Curtains Mother!”

There’s still quite a few challenges that I’ve not even made a start on so I think I need to concentrate my mind a bit.