Weekend Stitching: More Mystery Making

It was a quiet weekend, which I was more than ready for. Work has been a zoo and it doesn't look like it's going to slow down any time soon.  I'm off this all this week and am looking forward to the down time.  Saturday we ran some errands in Tulsa, had lunch with the Scientist in Training and her room mate.  The SIT only has two days of classes this week, we'll see her sometime Tuesday afternoon.  She's looking forward to a slight break before the madness of finals. She and I have made plans for some serious do nothing time accompanied with the occasional glass of wine over the holiday.   

The only sewing this week was on the Christmas Mystery quilt. 

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

Most of the squares in the stocking come from the scrap bin.  This was a very fun and easy block to make. It was easy and fun on top of using up some odds and ends from the scrap bin.  

One of the goals of the mystery is to introduce new techniques to everyone, so the second block was paper pieced.  

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

I've done a lot of paper piecing (Vintage Dresses) so this block was pretty easy.  I was surprised by the number of quilters at the shop who had never tried paper piecing.  The last block and the quilt setting was handed out Saturday.  I'm contemplating adding one more row and another column of smaller blocks to one side to keep the proportions.  Or I may just put it together as is.  

The other stitching relating activity has been trying to come up with a quilt that will work on our bed.  The quilt on there now is almost 9 years old and I'm ready for a change.  My Guy really likes batiks and has requested anything new use just batiks.  I've not found a pattern I like, but I've been playing around in EQ.  

This one is simple and includes a lot of brights, which is another of My Guy's requirements. Black seems a bit stark, a dark navy or dark green might be a better option for the background.  Here's the second contender. 

My Guy likes this second one better. it needs some additional work on the borders, but it's a good start.  I'd like to try controlled scrappy, using squares of similar color families to make the blocks.  Not sure I'm sold on either mock up as yet. As I'm still trying to work through UFOs, there is certainly time to decide on something else completely.  

Linking up with the normal Monday morning show and tell parties.  

Main Crush Monday
Monday Design Wall 
BOMs Away 

Week 46 of 2018: Stitching and De-Stashing

It's been a weird week. We started the work week with snow.

We ended up with just a couple of inches.

The kids still had school, though the Scientist in Training's physics test did get postponed.  It just seems awfully early for us to have a round of the cold, wet stuff.  

It's Sunday, so it's time to reflect on how well the quilty stuff went this week.  

Including how much stitching time I got in.  Finding even just 15 minutes a night keeps projects moving and usually if I can get myself up to the sewing room it turns into much longer.  That was definitely the case this week. 

15 minutes stitching days/week = 7/7 days
15 minutes stitching days/Nov = 16/17 days
15 minutes stitching days/2018 = 301/321
Success rate = 93.77%

With the Thanksgiving holiday this week, it will be harder to get in some stitching time all 7 days, there is always a lot of stuff going on that week.  You can link up below to share how your efforts with time management went this week. 

The stash report is pretty typical of my stitching efforts lately. 

Fabric used this week = 0.22 yards
Fabric used in 2018 = 39.74 yards
More in than out for 2018

Some out with none in is still a good week for me, especially the "none in" part. Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash report linky party.


It's supposed to be cold and windy today, so it's going to be a good day to hang out in the sewing room.  Before I can get to that, mount laundry has to be at least partially scaled. 

How did you efforts at finding time to stitch work out last week?

Weekend Stitching: A Sewing Room Break

I'm very lucky that My Guy is very supportive of my quilting obession hobby, but he's been wistfully noting that we've not gone anywhere in awhile (he has what his mother called itchy feet).  So we tested our empty nester wings, took a couple of days off work, rented a cabin and ventured out to the Beaver's Bend Folk Festival  and Craft Show over the weekend.  The music was really good and the park was beautiful.  

It was very close to peak color, with the cold that seeped in overnight, what's left of the leaves will be gone.  But the leaves were gorgeous over the weekend.  Here are a few of my favorites. 

And my most favorite shot of the weekend.  

Now that I've got that out of my system, lets talk quilty stuff.  There's not much on that front.  We were gone all weekend, so there wasn't a lot of time in the sewing room.  I'm still stitching down the second wreath for the Christmas Mystery Quilt.  I did finish off last week's block before we left. 

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

After messing with Ruldophs antlers, this block was a breeze.  Here's all the blocks we've done so far.

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

This is going to be a fun quilt when it's all together.  I did make it back to town just in time to stop by the LQS on our way home to get the two blocks for this week.  I hope to make a start on those tonight.  

The only other sewing related thing that happened before we left town was selecting my fabrics for Bonnie Hunter's Good Fortune mystery quilt along that starts a week from this Friday. 

I wasn't a fan of the red and orange, so I changed those out for magenta and black.  I'm going scrappy with the neutrals.  Hopefully these will all play well together.  

Linking up with the usual Monday parties, you can check those out here:

Monday Making
Main Crush Monday
Monday Design Wall

Week 45 of 2018: Stitching and De-stashing

It's November and winter seems to know that its time has come.  A record low was recorded at the Tulsa airport yesterday morning.  Glad I was tucked up on the couch cuddling under quilt with a warm cup of coffee, with no where I had to be yesterday. 

It's also Sunday, which means it's time to assess how well the stitching and de-stashing are going. 

First the state of the stitching for the week:

15 minutes stitching days/week = 6/7 days
15 minutes stitching days/Nov = 9/10 days
15 minutes stitching days/2018 = 294/314
Success rate = 93.63%

Time change has really been messing with my sleep and there was just one day that going to bed was preferable to doing any stitching. I've still managed to get in some stitching more than 90% of the time, so that goal is still on track.  You can share how well you did on finding time to stitch at the bottom of the post, Mr Linky is all set up.

The stash management for 2018 hasn't been so good.  That's been off track for months now. 

Fabric used this week = 0.88 yards
Fabric used in 2018:  39.52 yards
More in than out for 2018

Still there was a bit more going out with nothing new coming in.  That's a good week on the stash management front these days. Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash report. 

I've been doing a bit of hand stitching this week, trying to get caught up with the Christmas Mystery blocks.

   
This is peak at the second Dresden Plate wreath.  The inner circle is all stitched down, but I just started on the outer fan blades.  Linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday. I hope to make a bit more progress today.  

So how did you do on finding time to stitch this week?  

1. Julie in GA 2. Meloney

3. maggie f 4. MartiDIY

5. Aileen 6. Shasta

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

November Plans - The One Monthly Goal

The One Monthly Goal hasn't gone so well for me this year. I've gone from being wildly successful with OMGs the previous two years, to missing the mark more often then not this year.  Due in part to trying to finish a UFO each month and then not having the stitching time to do it.  Work has been a bit more nuts this year than the previous two.  So the key to being successful is not being over ambitious when setting my November One Monthly Goal. 

So what's likely to get done?  We'll have a lot of family stuff the week of Thanksgiving, so I won't have as much time to stitch as normal that week.  And we have some commitments this weekend that will impact my stitching time.  So the goal for this month needs to be a pretty small one.  There are two projects in the queue that are closed to being finished.  The first is the Halloween Mystery quilt (BOO!).  

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

It needs a label and the binding pieced then sewn down. That's doable.  

The second and probably higher priority is to get Inverted Star finished.  

Inverted Star block by Jessica Boschem of Common Threads
available from Craftsy as a free download, setting by Kate

It needs a backing pieced and then both have to be prepped so it can go out for quilting.  Piecing the backing is probably doable.  Cleaning off the loose threads from the back of the top and getting it all pressed is going to take some time.  That's going to be a tall order when I've got two weekends with limited sewing room time.  

So looking at the time available, I'm going to go for getting a back pieced for Inverted Star as my one monthly goal.  If I can get it prepped for quilting and out the door even better.  But I honestly do not think I'll get that far.

Linking up at Elm Street Quilts for the November One Monthly Goal.