Slow Down April!

This month is going faster than I am.

I'm at that point in the month where I should be boasting of finishes or at least checking a few things off the April to-do list. Ever since retreat, though, I have had the attention span of a 3-year-old. Nothing has engrossed me enough to maintain my focus.

This is not good.

I went back to the list of April goals. Gee-whiz, I'm really off.

The top item on the list was my April UFO - the 9-patch strippy. I have carried it around a bit, but have done next to nothing on it. I spent about a half hour picking out seams so that I can resew to more accurately match the blocks. I need to just take this one step at a time and finish it. It won't take that long - if I just focus.

The second item on the list was to make the last 3 Swoon blocks - haven't even cut them out.

Next was to finish the 2 baby quilts - The first one is ready to be quilted and I have ordered the 505 Spray Baste. Below is the second one, pretty much as I left it about two and a half weeks ago. I did rearrange the order of the chevron rows so that the OSU print is centered across the middle of the quilt. Plus I have sewn about half of the rows together. The reason I stopped? I used some really cheap gray which was melting as I pressed; so I need to pick out those units and replace them with the better-quality gray. There's a lesson in the necessity of buying quality fabric.

Other items on the April list:

I did get a good start on Stars and Chain at retreat. I have not worked on it since coming home, but I accomplished a good bit of it while there.

I did finish blogging the series Antique Delights. That was an easy one.

I have found myself on a new 'kick' here in the past few days - English Paper Piecing - EPP, for short. I am collecting templates and cutting fabric for some hand stitching I want to do next month.

Also, you can see in the picture below that I have spent some time sketching out a pattern for the wall hanging that DD Emma wants for her apartment. I like how it is looking and I really do think I can churn it out pretty fast, provided I can focus long enough to do it.

So much for accomplishing the items on my list. If I start new stuff and can't focus on old stuff, I will be hard pressed to check off anything. I suppose I could make excuses:

*I can't focus because I have a book to read for book club.
*I can't focus because it's the end of the semester and lots of essays need to be graded.
*I can't focus because it's spring in Ohio and the wildflowers are so lovely right now.

I have a plethora of excuses, but the fact of the matter is I have just been unable to decide where to turn my attention. What I really want to do is start something new - as in, cutting out EPP fabrics.

Gee-whiz.

Do you ever go through stretches like this? I sure hope I am not alone in my inability to focus. How do you pull yourself out of a scatter-brain slump and get back to making things happen?

Happy Quilting, Friends!