Weekend Stitching - Stars and Webs

The weekend was slow paced and relaxed.  Having an extra day off was nice, though we spent most of the day in Tulsa, so not much stitching happened.  There was plenty of stitching time the rest of the weekend.  Work continues on the block parts for On Ringo Lake.  Those flying geese seem to take for ever to make.  My OMG for September was to finish all the block parts for ORL. I'm pretty sure I bit off more than I can do there.  We'll see where I'm at next weekend, but it's not looking good.  

A few Twinkle Star blocks were finished while working on all those bits and pieces of the ORL project.

Twinkle Star, Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

  
I really like these three.  Just two more left to make.  Once those are done, this project will have to go back to project box till next year.

Block two in the Halloween Mystery was to make 4 spider web blocks.  I managed to finish two before heading to the quilt shop to pick up clue 3. 

 Halloween Mystery designed by Carrie Randall (Quilter's Hideaway)

Lots of pieces and cutting, but it's a fun block to make.  Web number 3 just needs the corners added and it will be done.  Web number 4 hasn't even been cut out yet.  Clue 3 has us making 4 applique blocks with a partial Dresden Plate worked in.  Applique is my least favorite quilting technique.  But in the spirit of working outside my comfort zone, I'm trudging along there.  The applique pieces are cut and ready to go, now I'm working on the first partial Dresden Plate.  I'm trying to decide between hand stitching or machine stitching the applique.  For some reason, my machine doesn't like to applique (more likely, it's me who can't figure out how to get the machine to like it).  The plan is to try a couple of practice pieces, if those work, then the blocks will get finished on the machine. If the machine stitching doesn't work out, it will be by hand.  The applique isn't big and it's finished edge, so a simple blanket stitch will work just fine.  The goal is to just get them finished and not let this part hold up the whole quilt.  Wish me luck. 

Linking up with the typical Monday design wall posts:

Making Monday
Main Crush Monday
Monday Design Wall   

Week 38 of Stitching and Stashing

It's been a nice weekend.  We took Friday off, the plan was to go hiking and enjoy the cooler weather.  It rained. So we spent part of the day at the book store, drinking coffee and hanging out. We stopped for a very nice lunch and hit a few other places on our way home.  I did get home in time to get in my 15 minutes of stitching before bedtime. 

It actually was a very good week on the stitching front.  

15 minutes stitching days/week = 7/7 days
15 minutes stitching days/Sept = 22/22 days
15 minutes stitching days/2018 = 248/265 days
Success rate = 93.58%

The goal for this year is to stay above 90% on finding time each day to stitch. So far, so good there.

Can't say that for the stash report.  I've been giving into temptation more than I should.  Part of Friday's mess around day was trip to the quilt shop in Tulsa.  I couldn't resist adding a bit to my Halloween stash to supplement the bits and pieces that have been going into the mystery quilt. 

I really liked the ravens, but My Guy was a big fan of the Jack-O-Lanterns.  So there's been more out than in this year, but at least there is a bit going out. 

Fabric used this week:  0.99 yards
Fabric used in 2018:  32.28 yards
More in than out for 2018

Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash report.  You can link up below to share how you did at finding time to stitch this week.  (Sorry to be so late posting this morning, the Internet has been intermittent and not at all cooperative!)

Weekend Stitching - A Bit of This and That

Saturday was busy, Sunday was much more relaxed. The laundry has been tamed, for this week anyway.  And I even did a bit of sewing room clean reorganization.  I opened up two more bins for my scraps, which have been taking over my sewing room.  There's a lot more that needs to be reorganized, but I'm doing it in more manageable chunks.  I'll tackle the fabric closet next weekend, or at least make a start on it.  

My One Monthly Goal for September is to get all the block pieces made for On Ringo Lake. There has been good progress on that front, but nothing photo worthy.  Three more Twinkle Star blocks are up on the design wall. 

 Twinkle Stars, Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

Only 5 blocks left to piece and then all the blocks needed for the quilt expansion will be finished.

Clue two of the Halloween Mystery quilt was released Saturday morning.  We need to make 4 spiderweb blocks.  I've gotten a good start on the first spiderweb, but those blocks have a lot of pieces so it's been slow going.  I want to work out any kinks before I cut the other three blocks, I'm a bit limited on my Halloween prints so I'm working out the process with the fabric I have the most of in case there's a redo needed.  Thankfully I just have to show there has been progress to get the next block for free.  I'm hoping to have the first spiderweb finished by next Saturday morning.  The second block from last week did get finished before the Saturday reveal. 

Halloween Mystery, designed by Carrie Randall (Quilter's Hideaway)

I'm pretty happy with how he turned out. After seeing clue two, I'm not sure how all these blocks are going to fit together, but that's part of the fun of a mystery.  

Linking up with the usual Monday show and tell sites.  

Main Crush Monday
Monday Design Wall  

Week 37: Stitching and Stashing (again)

It's been a busy weekend, I'm so ready for a day at home.  There's a bit of laundry that needs to get done, but otherwise hanging out in the sewing room is the plan for most of today.  It needs a good cleaning and reorg, I'm trying to convince myself to get started on that today, along with getting in a few stitches here and there.  How have you been using your 15 minutes to stitch each day? 

It was a good week in my sewing room. We've been able to leave work on time the last week and that's made it a lot easier to fit in about an hour of stitching time each evening. 

15 minutes stitching days/week = 7/7 days
15 minutes stitching days/Sept. = 15/15 days
15 minutes stitching days/2018 = 241/258 days
Success rate = 93.41%

Having a bit of time to sew means progress on the Halloween Mystery, On Ringo Lake and more finished Twinkle Stars.  So there should be something to show in tomorrow's design wall update. 

Unfortunately, finishing blocks doesn't make a big dent in the stash report. 

Fabric used this week:  0.88 yards
Fabric used in 2018:  31.29 yards
More fabric in than out in 2018

There is a bit out, which is always good.  Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash report.  

A very fun package (that didn't contain fabric) showed up in the mail last week.  My Guy usually gets the mail and he came in with one envelope addressed to me that was a bit squishy.  Inside was a very pretty little card from Shasta who blogs at High Road Quilter. 

It's small, but very cute.  One of the reorg tasks on my list today is to find a spot in the sewing room for this pretty.  Thank you Shasta!  

It's been hard watching the coverage on Florence.  Fingers crossed and prayers for everyone in that part of the country that the rain totals will not be as high as forecast.  

Here's Mr. Linky if you want to share how well you did in finding time to stitch this week. 

1. maggie f 2. Julie in GA 3. Meloney

4. di 5. Patricia 6. Christina's Handicrafts

7. Aileen 8. Shasta 9. Deana

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Dark Neutrals and a Switch-Up

We were definitely ready for the weekend.  It was a long work week for both me and My Guy.  No better way to kick off the weekend then a marathon sewing session on Friday night. My main goal was to finish off my Halloween mystery blocks and make some head way on my Squared Away blocks for this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler.  It's the middle of the month already and there hasn't been a lot of progress on those blocks yet.

I've really enjoyed working on the Squared Away sampler this year. Mari and Angela provided such fun blocks in the sampler.  But this month's block just wasn't working for me (sorry Mari and Angela).  I played around in EQ trying to work out fabric placement that worked for me.  I finally ended up with this:

Pretty much the same, but some of the HSTs  got moved around the background pieces to changed up some .  I don't have a lot of dark blue, so I had already decided to use some dark neutral scarps for this month's block.

 Squared Away Sampler
designed by Mari (The Academic Quilter) and Angela (Soscrappy)

Both the gray background and the black floral batik came right out of the scrap basket.  It was fun playing around with this layout. Though I tripped myself up a bit by cutting the double sized gray background pieces.  I had to un-sew a couple of pieces from the rows and then restitch them in columns in order to fit all the pieces back together without using partial seams.  Now that the first block is done, I'll know better with the next two.  

Linking up with Soscrappy on Saturday and with Oh Scrap on Sunday.