To Do List for the Week of 11/19/2024

Mid-November has come and gone.  Thanksgiving is next week. I'm really not ready for the holiday to ramp up and the year wind down.  But as I don't have a choice, it's time to just go with the flow.  I've been keeping my to do list's pretty simple and it's paying off with good progress.  

To Do List for 11/12/2024

1.  Squared Away: Continue sashing blocks ✔

2.  Guild BOM: Continue working on pieced borders ✔

3.  Marble Mystery: Start November clue ✔

4.  Wild and Goosey: Continue making red blocks ✔

5.  Summer Scrap Quilt: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

My goal all year has just been progress and I'm doing well on that front.  I'll need to finish up a few items to stay on track since the Thanksgiving holiday is coming up.  

To Do List for 11/19/2024

1.  Old Town (Bonnie Hunter): Start first clue

My fabric is all washed and pressed.  I'm curious what pieces we'll start off with. 

2.  Squared Away (SoScrappy): Finish borders

The blocks are all sashed and stitched together.  Just two borders left to attach and this project will be a finished quilt top.  

3.  Guild BOM: Finish pieced borders

Just six more flying geese and 4 pinwheel blocks left to finish before the pieced borders are finished.  

4.  Marble Mystery(Meadow Mist Designs): Finish November clue

The November clue has us making two types of square in a square blocks. I've gotten started on them. They go pretty quickly, so hopefully these will be done by the end of the week. 

5.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue making red blocks

The plan is to keep working on the red blocks till the end of the year. 

6.  Simply Sensational Summer Scrap Quilt (Kevin the Quilter): Continue as leaders and enders 

I'm halfway done with the next set of 10 blue 4-patches.  This has been a really good leaders and enders project.  It may be slow going, but the piles of 4-patches is slowly growing. 

The Bonnie Hunter mystery always seems to take a big part of my sewing time. I'm hoping this year I can keep up on it and not have to abandon all my other projects too. We'll see how that goes. Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday. 

The Last Project on the Quilt Plan

It's been a pretty good year in the sewing room. All the stitching time has allowed me to make some progress on every project that was on my stitching plan (and a couple that weren't).  The focus on progress has meant I've gotten 5 finishes so far this year, but I'm set up for even more next year.  

The last project on the plan is Squared Away. This project was the 2018 Rainbow Scrap Project quilt along.  I finished all the blocks in 2018, but then they sat waiting for inspiration on how to set them.  I'm not sure my setting is all that inspired, but I'm happy with how it's going together. 

Just one last sashing to stitch into the middle and then it will be ready to add the borders.  Hopefully the borders can be finished up this week and then this project can go into the "to be quilted" closet. 

Then what? This is the last project on my quilt plan. I've got one more month on the Guild BOM and the Marble Mystery continues into next year. Old Town, this year's Bonnie Hunter mystery, kicks off on Friday.  Usually the BH mystery is pretty intense, so I may not need to add any projects to my list.  We'll see. 

Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Patchwork & Quilts.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 46 of 2024

We did finally get our autumn temps, the really cold stuff arrives on Monday.  We've not had to turn the heat on so far, but that will probably change soon. My Guy took Friday off and we went on an adventure.  We didn't get home till late, but thankfully there was still enough time to get some stitching in before bedtime. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Nov = 16/16 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 321/321 days
• Success rate = 100%

It's been such a good year on the stitching front. In fact such a good year that I will probably never top it. Looking towards goals next year, I'm considering what to do that ups my game.  I have time to consider before finalizing my goals for next year. 

Last week the very bottom of the fabric pile from the top of the shelving was pressed folded and put away. That leaves me with all the unwashed newer fabrics that have accumulated.  First I pulled all the fabrics that were spilling over the sides and laying on the floor of the fabric bin in the closet.

I sorted those into the various color lines that could be washed together.  The biggest pile of those was the medium toned bright greens, teals and blues. So I washed those and that's the starting place for the next stage of my fabric reorg.  

In general, most of these pieces are 3 and 4 yard cuts, so they aren't a quick press and fold.  I've managed to press a few pieces.  This bin full may take longer than the previous ones. But it's all progress no matter how long it takes.    

How are you doing on your stitching goals?  Just six weeks left in the year. Have you started looking at what your goals will be for next year?  

Week 129 Photo Challenge: Sweets

This week My Guy was the one that waited till the last minute to get any photos for this week's challenge. 

This week's challenge was definitely more on our level. Well, maybe not so much My Guy, as he's really not one for sweets.  Even though he bakes plenty to take to the office.  Grad Girl and I definitely had it easier this week.  I try not to keep sweets in the house because they are way too tempting. But I made an exception for the sake of the challenge.  

Kate: Holiday Favorite

My mother has a fondness for chocolate covered cherries. I think back now and wonder how all of us kids didn't end up on the naughty list. I'm not sure Mom ever got a box of these goodies to herself until we all moved out.  It must be genetic, because these chocolate goodies are one of my holiday favorites. A box of these usually finds it's way into my shopping cart just before Christmas (that and eggnog to go with them). It's a bit earlier then I normally indulge, but these seemed just the thing photograph for the challenge.  

My Guy isn't a sweets person.  He's allergic to some chocolates and just doesn't really have a sweet tooth. So it's not surprising he was a bit last minute with his photo. 

My Guy: Raw Materials

But My Guy likes to bake.  He made cookies for Halloween and wanted something to use as eyes.  Consequently we pulled all the decorative sugars out of the pantry.  Those were still out when he went looking for a photo.  Makes me want to pull out my mother's sugar cookie recipe and make some for the holidays.  I'll probably resist that temptation, because I'm pretty sure My Guy will ramp up on the holiday baking as the weather gets worse. 

Like her father, Grad Girl is a baker. Not only does she do chemical experiments in her research lab, she tries out her experimental bakes on her fellow researchers. 

Grad Girl: Persian Love Cookies

Last weekend she made these Persian Love Cookies to take in for group meeting.  Why these cookies?  She cleaned up her pantry last weekend and was looking for a recipe to use up the pistachio nuts and other ingredients before they went out of date. They were a big hit with her research group. 

I think we all enjoyed last week's challenge. It was much more up our alley in terms of subject matter.  This week's challenge is another story. 

Should be interesting to see what we each come up with. Grad Girl said she thinks we have an advantage this week. I'm not sure how to take that.  

Photo Play: October Summary

My October photography efforts are pretty much in line with my September efforts.  I wasn't sure there was going to be anything in my photo files for a post this month. Things have been moving along well in the sewing room, so I've not taken as much time to play with my camera.  I'm going to try to fix that this month and devote a bit more time to my photography studies.  At any rate, here's the photos that made the cut from October.  

Photos were taken with a Canon 70D DLSR paired with either a Tamron 18-400 mm telephoto or a Sigma 105 mm macro lens or my I-Phone 12. 

We've been to Eureka Springs, AR many times over the years. It's our default vacation, spring break, long weekend get away destination if trip planning got put off (which it did a lot when I was working).  We both like to hike and I found this hiking trail along Black Bass Lake just outside of town.  It was some place we'd never been before. We enjoyed a nice early morning walk along the lake and found a few things photo worthy. 

Damselfly (DLSR/Tamron telephoto lens, cropped)

There was no wind that morning was the lake was like glass.  At the beginning of October you can see just the beginnings of some fall color in the trees. 

Something jumped into the late and created these ripples. The reflection of the trees in the water is so abstract.  It looks almost pixelated. 

The trail, Standing Rock, gets it's name from the large while rock at the edge of the lake. (All the reflection photos, Canon 70D with Tamron 18-400 mm telephoto)

October was a hot and dry month.  Things looked mostly brown, but brown can be interesting.  I've shown photos of the basket flowers before, but this extreme close up of a seed head makes me think of little hands (well definitely alien hands), it's like a mini sculpture. (Canon 70D, Sigma 105 mm macro) 

We took a trip to Oklahoma City mid-month to celebrate both my mother's and My Guy's birthdays.  We went out to dinner one night at one of the restaurants that overlooks Lake Hefner. The sunset was really pretty that night. (I-Phone 12)

 

By the end of the month, some of the trees that hadn't turned brown from lack of water were starting to show some color.  The yellow leaves of the Brush Honeysuckle with the red fruit is such a fun color contrast (Canon 70D, Sigma 105 mm).

My favorite in this set is the one of the honeysuckle, those red berries just glow in the morning light. I'm happy with the damselfly photo, those little things are hard to capture. That photo is the only one of the 4 or 5 shots taken that had good focus.   

I'm still playing with aperture and focus, but definitely didn't do much to explore the unexpected.  I've done a bit more of that this month already.  So hopefully next month's post will have some more interesting photos in it.  

Thank you for hanging out with me for a non-quilty post.  Feedback is always welcome.  Is there one photo that stands out to you?