The steps of progress

One major project almost done. My goal was to have this done by May 21, my second treatment and birthday, but didn't get it done. So my next self imposed deadline was June 1 and I should be able to make that one early. Oh, you would like to know what the project is? Ok, I will share. It is a t-shirt quilt for an Air Force pilot. He brought a large tote full of t-shirts that he wanted made into a quilt for his man cave. He had so many that this quilt needed to be double sided with the shirts in order to use them all. So the front, or what I call the front, used all the various colored t-shirts. Here is what that looks like.

This is pieced together except for the outer border. I needed to wait to see how big the other side was going to be before I committed to the outer border size. The other side used the black and white t-shirts. Here is the lay out I chose for those, in this photo they are just pinned to my design wall. I hadn't yet added the red fabric in order to piece them all together.

Once I had the centers pieced together I was able to determine the outer border sizes for each side. One side had to be bigger than the other side for the quilting process to be done on the longarm. Usually the backing is to be 6 inches larger than the front overall. I only had 2" top to bottom but on the sides I probably had the 6 inches.

I used a partial float method for the top when loading it onto longarm, I won't go into all of what that means but I will tell you why I liked it. I could see the progress I was making. Obviously, when I started, the excess top was puddled on the ground at my feet and with each turn it got shorter and shorter. Let me show you what I mean.

This is how much I had to do when I started yesterday, and this was after I completed one pass with my quilting motif.

This was great motivation to keep at it when I could see how much (or how little) I had yet to quilt.
At this point, I have just the binding to stitch down by hand and the quilt will be all done.

Progress. That is what we need to strive for each day. Progress in what is determined by what is most important to you. This was a project that I had committed to last year. It required my attention and determination to finish it. I have promised myself that once this was done, I would finish one of my own projects before I tackled another customer quilt. I am beginning to get them coming back in now that I am mended myself and ready to tear up the world again. Progress as you can see is about taking small steps to finish a large project. Stepping up to do the work and keep on going even when you don't feel like it. So if you are being weighed down by some gigantic project that you just can't believe you will ever get done, break it down into managable pieces or steps. Do the first step and then move on to the second step as so on and so on.

I hope you have a great day and remember to do something kind for someone today.