WIPS - Starting an New Mystery

It's been a while since I've been able to post for three days in a row. To do that requires time in the sewing room and progress on multiple projects.  Up until this last weekend, sewing room time had been a bit scarce.  Thankfully the shoulder problems that kept me from stitching are abating and I can enjoy both sewing and blogging again.  

In addition to getting a start on the second graduation quilt last week, I was able to get a start on this year's Meadow Mist mystery quilt.  Cheryl's Midnight Mystery from last year was such fun that I really wanted to play along again this year.  I even finished last year's mystery quilt back in July so I could play along this year and not feel too guilty for adding another project to the list.  Here's this year's fabric choices:

And here's what I've gotten done so far on Block 6, the first step in the mystery.

Block 6, Meadow Mist quilt along mystery by Cheryl Brickey

I've got all the HSTs made, but the blocks aren't all sewn together yet.  There's another set of HSTs that need to be made this month, I should get started on those before the next set of instructions come out.  So I'll likely be a bit behind, but that's OK.  These are 4.5" HSTs so they go pretty fast.  

Linking up with Let's Bee Social and Needle and Thread Thursday.

September One Monthly Goal: A Successful Start on a Let's Book It Project

Just a few days and the end of September will be here.  Hard to believe that it's almost the start of the last fourth of the year.  Since it's the end of the month, it's time to contemplate success or failure with this month's One Monthly Goal.  The end of the month link up is up over at Heidi's Red Letter Quilts. 

I started struggling with shoulder problems the end of August, so in picking a goal for September the thought was to go for something pretty easy since sewing time might well be non-existent if the shoulder didn't get better.  Unfortunately, that turned out to be truer than I had hoped.  Not much stitching got done early in the month. 

My goal was to get started on the next graduation quilt, Bejeweled. 

Bejeweled by Susan Guzman in "All About Strips"

I mark the start of a quilt as the date the fabric starts being cut for the project.  So this month's goal was just to get started on cutting out a few of the pieces.  I met that goal and even made some progress on getting a few of the initial blocks sewn. 

 I need 36 of these  Economy Blocks for the quilt.  Only 12 more to finish.  So that's a good start considering how little sewing time I've had this month. 

Bejeweled is also doubling as my new Let's Book It project.  The project is from Susan Guzman's book "All About Strips".

I'll be linking up with Sharon at Vroomans Quilts once she has this month's linky party up.

Weekend Stitching: Blooms for a Rainy Day

We had a rainy Sunday and now it's a chilly Monday.  Getting out of bed this morning was hard.  Even more so because I got to take last Friday off.  Since sewing doesn't bother my shoulder, I did a lot of that this weekend.  Friday was spent prepping Zombies in Paris for shipping out to Trudy for quilting.  It's all pressed and packaged, ready for mailing at lunch today.  

Since the backing for the Zombie quilt is now off the big design wall there was room to move Blooms and Butterflies off the small design wall.

 Blooms and Butterflies
Bloom block by Lea Brummett, setting by Kate

By the end of the weekend all the Back Porch Bloom blocks were sashed together.  There was also room to lay out the blocks for the pieced border to determine what colors are needed to be cut.  Only two more red bordered squares are needed, but I need 4 blue squares and 12 more butterflies.  The bordered squares and butterflies are my current leaders and enders project.  There's a blue border next, then another blue dotted border before the pieced border will be added.  So I've still got some time before moving those blocks up in the assembly line.  Once I do that, then I'll need a new leaders and enders project.  Hmm, I'll have to give that some thought.

The small design wall didn't stay empty for long.  But now it's time for work, so I'll just have to share those pics for later.  

Linking up with 
Main Crush Monday
Monday Making
Patchwork Times  

Stash Report - Week 39 of 2016

It's been a rough week.  My shoulder continues to be a royal pain, quite literally.  It's the home computer that seems to be the biggest trigger (I have an ergonomically designed computer station at work, hence no problems there).  The doctor suggested isolating my activities, work on the computer for a couple of days with no sewing and vice versa.  I can sew for hours with no problem (thank goodness), but I'll pay for an hour on the computer for the next day.  Since the computer at work is no problem, it has to be my set up at home, which is pretty hap hazard.  Definitely no typing sitting in the recliner with the lap desk and no working at the dining room table. Standing at the kitchen table works well (we have a high top kitchen table).  I'm trying the writing desk this morning.  So there's been lots of sewing, a bit of blog reading, but I'm not leaving a lot of comments these days.

Thankfully, I have been able to sew.  Though the doctor had me lay off all of my activities for a couple of days to let the medication work and get the inflammation down.  So it wasn't a perfect week of getting into the sewing room each day.  

Days with 15 minutes of stitching time this week:  4 out of 7 days
Days in September 16 out of 24 days
Days in 2016:  209 out of 268 days

If I can find time to sew for 15 minutes just 4 more days this year, I'll exceed my sewing days for last year.  It wasn't my worst year for finding time to stitch, but it wasn't my best either. 

Stash management was interesting this week.  I've had a run of luck the last month and have been the lucky recipient of several give aways.  Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts celebrated her 101th post with a give away back in August.  A Connecting Threads Quilting Candy charm pack showed up this week. 

Lea Ann Brumment who blogs at Podunk Pretties was sponsoring a quilt along featuring her very fun and pretty Back Porch Bloom block.  Unfortunately her mother's fight with cancer needed addition resources and Lea canceled the rest of the quilt along, but was very generous in awarding me the rest of the prizes for being the only one who linked up in August. 

There was a lot in that package.  A charm pack of Farmhouse, a Windmere Jolly Bar, a Moda scrap bag of 2.5"strips, another set of strips from Kaufman fabrics and some fun scraps.  There was also a pattern for Eleanor Burns' Egg Money Quilts Sampler, plus a book "A Spoonful of Sugar" by Lisa Cox.  Please keep Lea's mom in your prayers.  

So here's the damage for the week:

Used last week:  1.87 yards
Used year to date: 46.94 yards
Added this week:  6.85 yards
Added year to date:  40.09 yards
Net used in 2016:  6.85 yards 

So the stash report ends the week in the black.  But I got the urge to do some stash refreshment before all my goodies starting showing up.  That's not here yet, but I best get sewing or next week's report will be in the red! 

Linking up with Patchwork Times for the weekly stash update.  

Weekend Stitching: Zombies in Paris Ready for Next Step

Not much happened in the sewing room on Saturday.  We attended the company picnic for most of the day, then napped the rest to recover from the fall pollen.  I love autumn weather, but my allergies certainly don't.  

Sunday turned out to be a good day for stitching.  The backing for the Zombies in Paris was finally finished. 

The back uses up two of the fabrics that didn't get used on the front.  I like the large panels.  It was a little more work to piece, but if DT's friend decides she wants to present a less silly side to the world, then she can use this side.  Just for reference, here's the front. 

Hopefully she'll like both sides.  Now all that's left is to press both the top and backing, as well as clean up any loose threads.  I probably won't get that done till next weekend. Still it's nice to have this one just about ready for quilting.  

Linking up with:
Main Crush Monday
Monday Making
Design Wall Monday