15 Minute Challenge - October 30th

I'm a bit fuzzy this morning.  Drama Teen had a late volleyball game in Tulsa last night.  Add in the hour drive home and it was close to 10:30 before we walked in the door.  As My Guy remarked as we were getting on the highway headed home, "At 10, the car becomes a pumpkin and I revert to a mouse".  From the back seat Drama Teen added, "And I'll be dressed in rags".  The conversation went downhill from there, so we'll leave it at that. 

It's crunch time at work, with lots of end of the year deadlines.  I had to work late on Friday and most of the day Saturday.  Add in the volleyball game last night and finding time, even just 15 minutes, to stitch just didn't work out last week. 

I'm not sure what happened Wednesday night, probably just too tired to climb the stairs.  So only 3 days out of 7 did I make my goal to stitch 15 minutes.  I made up for a lot on Sunday as I sewed most of the afternoon and evening.  Still not one of my better weeks. 

No volleyball this weekend, but DT has two games next Monday night.  So I better get my sewing in early this week.  I'm thinking it may have to be embroidery on Wednesday night as I'm sure I'll be on candy duty for Halloween.  Though I think DT will be around to help this year, at 13 we've decided that she's too old to trick or treat. 

How did you do at finding some time to sew/knit/be creative over the last 7 days? 

1. Kate 2. amanda

3. Lesley 4. Thea

5. libbyQ

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Monday Design Wall - October 29th

The weekend was way shorter than normal. Working on Saturday really put a crimp in a number of things.  Thankfully, working on Saturday isn't something I have to do often.  I did take most of Sunday off, just spent some time on a bit of housework in the morning.  Quite a bit of sewing happened Sunday afternoon. 

Those half square triangles that were on the design wall last week are now being sewn together in sections. 

Evening Star
Pattern from Calico Carriage
Designed by Debbie Maddy

Section one is complete, section 2 is almost done.  This project goes together pretty fast.  If I get time in the sewing room this week, it could be pretty close to being a completed top by the end of next weekend.

Progress was also made on this month's UFO project.

 Scrappy Stars

Pattern is Folk Art Christmas Stars

by Robyn Pandolph

The pattern calls for 35 of these little stars. Not quite half way there yet. 

Remember the Sofa Quilt?  It's been my leaders and enders project for the last couple of months.  I'm finally getting enough pieces done to start assembling the "B" blocks.

The Sofa Quilt

Pattern is Nicole's Sofa Quilt by Judy Laquidara

(available here)

Hopefully by the time the Evening Star is together, all the "B" blocks will be done and then the Sofa Quilt can take center stage on the design wall. 

That's it for my design wall this week.  Now click on over to Patchwork Times to see what's decorating other sewing rooms. 

Stash Report - October 28th

It's been a rough week.  I spent most of Friday night yesterday working on a report for work. Unfortunately my contribution is a bit bigger than anticipated and the additions were more than I was able to get done yesterday.  So, I sent my edits on to the primary author as he had plans to work on it today. I dreamed about the thing last night, so obviously I really need to take Sunday as a day of rest this week.  After a bit of housework, I'm definitely taking the afternoon off to sew.  I need the sanity break!

The stash report isn't too bad, I can only think it would have been better if I had gotten a chance to sew yesterday. 

Used last week:  0.49 yards
Added last week:  0 yards

Used for 2012:  35.72 yards
Added for 2012: 319.88 yards

Net stashed for 2012:  284.16 yards

At least there was nothing added last week.  I still have a gift certificate from Hancock Fabrics that I need to use before the end of the year.  So I'm sure there will be some new additions between now and then.  My goal is still to focus on using more fabric.  Maybe I'll start another new project today, that usually helps improve the outgoing numbers. 

That's my stash report for this week. Hope you are close to meeting your goals for the year as there is not much of it left.  Which if you are not close to your goals means that it's almost next year and you can hope for an improvement in your stash management skills (or you tweek your goals for next year to match your performance this year).    Check out all the other end of year stash management tactics posted over at Patchwork Times. 

Foto Finish - Spooky and Creepy

Thankfully it's Saturday.  Unfortunately what I thought was going to be a carefree weekend filled with lots of sewing has become a work filled weekend due to deadlines.  Unfortunately, the deadlines aren't mine or they would already have been addressed.  Someone else waited until the absolute last minute to get a major report completed that needs to include some supporting work I did before I switched positions.  I'd blow it off, but there are major ramifications for the other individual if I do.   So rather than sewing, I'll be working.  Though at least I can do it from home rather than have to spend the whole day in the office.  That means I'll at least get some laundry done. 

On to much more fun topics.  Barbara has put forth "Spooky or Creepy" for this week's Foto Finish Post.  Just for something a bit different, I did a little bit of Photoshop editing and added some digital scrapbooking enhancement for this week's post (In other words, I couldn't find something suitable otherwise).  

 
The original banshee photo was taken at this year's haunted mausoleum at Drama Teen's school's Fun Night.  Since My Guy and I had to work concessions the whole evening, we took a walk through before it opened. It's hard to get appropriately spooky shots in broad daylight.  I used Photoshop Elements to cut the banshee away from it's original background, changed it to a black and white image, then saved as a png file.  I found a suitable background from My Memories digital scrapbooking software and loaded the banshee png file over the page.  I then used the opacity slider to fade out the banshee a bit. 

You can waste spend a lot of time Photoshopping images.  I try very hard to get the image I want when I take the photo.  However, it's fun to play around with images, especially if you need something for a special project, like a card or a T-shirt.  The company I work for has a "Lean Team Challenge" every holiday season.  It starts in November and ends in January.  The goal is to not gain any weight over the holiday and if possible maybe loose some weight.  But the emphasis is really placed on maintaining your weight.  My team's captain asked if I'd work up a logo for a team T-shirt.  The combination of Photoshop and the scrapbooking software allows one to do some pretty cool things.  Prototype 1 went out the team on Thursday.  I've got some feedback to incorporate, but it's shaping up to be a fun logo.

Well it's time to go put in a load of laundry, fire up the work computer and bang out those additions to the report.  Hopefully, I can get that all done today.  I'll be checking in on my "breaks" to see what cool creepy and spooky things have been posted over at Cat Patches.   

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Fall 2012

It's time for the fall installment of the Blogger's Quilt Festival, hosted by Amy of Amy's Creative Side.  This is the largest quilt show I get to attend during the year.  I'm certainly looking forward to seeing all the eye candy that will posted over the next few days and meeting lots of new blogger friends. 

My entry for the Fall installment spent significant time as a UFO.  In fact, this was a UFO that almost didn't become a quilt.  The first 3 blocks were finished in a class.  I didn't like them, so put the whole project away.  That was in 2005.  In 2009, I pulled out the box and still didn't like it, but decided to make 3 more blocks before I consigned those first 3 to the orphan block bin.  Adding a few new blocks to the design wall showed some promise, so the cutting and stitching continued.  I finally finished the project in July of this year. 

Pattern by Judy Turner and Margaret Rolf

From the Book "Successful Scrap Quilts"

This project was known as the "purple and yellow scrap quilt" while it was under construction.  When it came time to name it, the colors made me think of pansies, but My Guy was pretty adamant that was a really wimpy name for this quilt.  Someone suggested naming it Johnny Jump Ups, which is a common name for the viola tricolor.  Another variation on that nick name is Jump up and Kiss Me Jack.  My Guy's nickname in certain circles is Jack, so it just seemed right to christen this quilt "And Kiss Me Jack".  

The finished quilt is 77" x 94".  Trudy Lindemann quilted the top with a floral motif using a variegated purple thread.   The floral motif fits right in with name of the quilt.   

The backing is a rather bright purple and yellow floral that was found on the sale table.  It definitely carries on the bright floral theme from the front.   

I don't usually like to use light bindings, but the yellow binding on the dark purple border really framed the quilt nicely.

In the 12 or so years that I've been quilting, I've never entered any of my finished projects in a show.  At the urging of My Guy and Drama Teen, And Kiss Me Jack was entered into the new for this year "commercially quilted" category at the county fair.  

Definitely a surprise at how well it did.  Our county fair is pretty small, I don't think there were more than 10 entries in the whole class.  The monetary winnings were used to buy ice cream to celebrate. 

That's my quilt that almost wasn't.  Check out all the other beautiful quilts on "display" in the Fall 2012 Blogger's Quilt Festival. 

Best Categories:  Scrap Quilt, Two Color Quilt, Professionally Quilted

Half Past Autumn

15 Minute Challenge - October 23rd

Thankfully, Monday turned out to be survivable, barely.  Coming back to work after a long weekend, especially when I took off when few others did, often feels like a Monday squared.  There are calls to return, emails to answer and most of all trying to figure out what I was doing before the days off and pick up there.  Our girl's weekend must have been good for me, because even with such a hectic day, I still found the energy to sew for about an hour last night. 

Last night's effort brought my total days with at least 15 minutes devoted to sewing to 4 for the week.

Wednesday was spent catching up on laundry and packing for our girl's weekend.  Thursday was spent driving and getting settled in our condo.  I just never found a few minutes to sit down and stitch.  Same on Friday as we spent it seeing as much as we could and got back late enough that all I wanted to do was go to bed.  By Saturday we were all tired, so we made it an early day and we spent Saturday evening gathered around the kitchen table talking and laughing.  I was able to get quite a bit of embroidery done that evening.  So overall, 4 out of 7 isn't bad. 

Only one more Tuesday in October.  I'm always amazed at how fast the year seems to have gone by and know that the next 2 months will go even faster as we are all busier.  Thankfully, I've not committed to having any quilts ready for Christmas gifts, though I'm playing with the idea of making a few bags as gifts.  My Guy and Drama Teen have expressed interest in customized Nook covers.  So I'll be finalizing my Christmas sewing plans in the next week.  How about you?    Do you have your sewing priorities all figured out for the rest of the year? 

How did you do last week on finding some time here and there to sew/knit/craft?  Here's Mr. Linky, please share the ebb and flow of your creative juices. 

1. Thea 2. libbyQ 3. Lesley

4. Kate 5. Amanda 6. Gayle Bong

7. Kristin

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Monday Design Wall - October 22nd

After 4 days off work, this morning is starting way to early.  The girl's weekend was a success.  My Mom had a great time, as did the rest of us.  But my sister and I have to head back to work today.  Mom and  the Drama Teen get one more day off before they head back to normal life. 

Not much sewing happened this week since it took a couple of nights prep to get ready for our trip.  I did some embroidery one night of the trip while we were sitting around talking, but that was it for sewing activities during the trip.  I did manage a couple of hours in the sewing room last night after we got home.  That resulted in enough progress have something to post for today.

Evening Star
Pattern from Calico Carriage
Designed by Debbie Maddy

All the HSTs for the Evening Star quilt are done.  Hopefully this evening I can start assembling the top. 

Progress was also made on Scrappy Stars. 

Pattern is Folk Art Christmas Stars

by Robyn Pandolph

 Two more stars were added to the design wall.  I do really need to check on how many stars are required for the finished quilt. These little stars are so easy to make, it wouldn't be hard to just keep on making them. 

There has been progress on The Sofa Quilt, it's just not up on the design wall.  Hopefully by the time Evening Star is pieced, there will be enough "B" blocks done that it will be time to put the Sofa Quilt back up on the wall. 

That's it for me this week.  I have high hopes for lots of progress next weekend as we have no volleyball games or other plans (that I know of anyway).  Check out all the other design walls posted at Judy's Patchwork Times. 

Stash Report - October 21st

Today is the last day of our girls weekend.  We all have to pack up and head home before lunch today.  It's been a fun weekend.  My sister is really into antiquing, so we made the rounds of those shops yesterday.   It's amazing that there are no quilt shops in the area. But that is probably a good thing as I pressed lots of buttons the week before.  

 
I ordered a fat quarter bundle of Connecting Threads "Dots". Look at all those colors.  No plans for this fabric, but it just begs to be used doesn't it?  

There was a coupon for 50% off Halloween fabrics at the Fat Quarter Shop in the Quilting Bloggers' newsletter last week.  Since I have no Halloween fabrics in the stash, it seemed like a good opportunity to fill in that hole a bit.  

 

 

  
Most of what was ordered was half yard cuts, but I ordered several yards of the orange, black and green prints in the second picture.  Again, no plans for these fabrics, but they do beg to be used in something fun.  

Though there no quilt shops in Eureka Springs, there was a very nice one in Siloam Springs.  Drama Teen and I took a detour off the main highway to check out Sagger Creek Quilts and Yarn Works.  It was well worth the detour.  I don't have a lot of orange or black prints in my stash, and no gray at all. 

I loved the lizard print and bought a yard of it, the rest are all half yard cuts.  Again no plan for these additions, but I was considering what colors might be left in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge as I bought these 6 pieces. 

Now for the painful part, the stash report. 

Used last week:  0.77 yards
Added last week:  25.5 yards

Used For 2012:  35.23 yards
Added for 2012:  319.88 yards

Net stashed for 2012:  284.65 yards

I still hope to get in some significant sewing before the end of the year.  Even with the holidays coming up, I do have several days of vacation that have to be taken or else I loose them.  So maybe I'll be able to work in a few stitching days between now and the end of the year.  Improving the "used for 2012" column is my goal, not to quit buying fabric. 

Check out the other stash reports over at Judy's Patchwork Times to see how the various stash management strategies are working out. 

Foto Finish - Orange

I almost forgot it was Saturday!  How does that happen?  Take Thursday and Friday off work.  By the time you get to Saturday, you are not sure what day of the week it is.  Drama Teen is on fall break this week and out of school.  Rather than our typical family trip, we decided that this year we needed to have a girls weekend.  So DT and I hooked up with my Mom and sister for a testosterone free weekend in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  We shopped the fun shops in the historic district yesterday.  Today a bit of sight seeing and some antiquing are on the agenda once everyone wakes up from their beauty sleep. 

What prompted my remembrance that it was indeed Saturday was Cat Patches Foto Finish post that popped up on Google Reader as the first entry.  I'd been working hard this week to look for orange, so I could use a new foto and not one from the archives.  I ended up with two to pick from. This one won out.

I have no idea what kind of flower this is.  A mum of some type was my assumption.  Rather than true orange, this is more of a red-orange, but as Barbara always leaves her themes up to the photographer's interpretation, I decided this fit.  This one and a few relatives came home as a potted plant from Whole Foods and are currently residing on the dinning room table as a center piece.  That's probably going to be the extent of my fall decorating. 

Check out Cat Patches for more "orange" to brighten your day. 

Wordless Wednesday - Alien Life?

15 Minute Challenge - October 16th

The Lego catalog arrived yesterday.  Drama Teen promptly scooped it up and wandered off.  A bit later she brings it back and shows me three items she has circled and then says "I'd like any one of these for Christmas."   I can now declare that the holiday shopping season is officially open in this household.   In one way I'm very lucky, even when DT was just a kiddo, she always decided what she was asking Santa for by the end of October. She never once changed her mind. Though that resulted in a few unique challenges, like the year she asked for a robotic tiger she could ride.  There was no changing her mind on that one.  That year, the Santa at the mall wished me lots of luck.  

The holiday season isn't far off.  I'm not gifting any quilts this year, so I'm off the hook in terms of that kind of pressure.  Even so, there will be shopping (thank goodness for the Internet, I do my best shopping at 5 in the morning in my pjs), baking (though My Guy often kicks me out of the kitchen as that's "his thing"), wrapping gifts (DT's been in training, so I'll have help this year) and mailing Christmas cards (I'll design our annual photo card, but I'm having them professionally printed this year).  Hopefully, I'll still manage to find my 15 minutes a day to stitch something.  Do you have a plan for the holidays?  Something you are going to do different this year so you still have some time to sew? 

Now that I've unnerved you with thoughts of the impending holiday season, let's look back at the last week.  I didn't do badly considering I was sick for two days, had a marathon laundry session over the weekend and nursed a sick My Guy on Sunday. 

Four days out of seven isn't bad.  I've really been struggling to get upstairs to the sewing room during the week.  It's been way too easy to just sit in the recliner and nap once I get home from work.  It may be time to shake up the evening routine a bit. 

So how did you do this week in finding 15 minutes to sew, knit, craft, or organize your sewing room (it all counts)?  Use Mr. Linky below to crow about your successes or lament your failures. 

1. Kate 2. Lesley A

3. libbyQ 4. Amanda

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Design Wall Monday - October 15th

Weekends always seem so short.  With My Guy out of commission due to the lingering effects of what we think is an episode with food poisoning, I had to complete a few household duties which typically fall to him.  He seems to much better this morning.  Hopefully he will feel like eating more than just jello today. 

I didn't get a lot of sewing done last week due to some sinus crude that kept me in bed for a couple of days.  The only significant stitching happened Saturday and Sunday evenings.  One more Scrappy Star was added to this month's UFO project.  

Pattern is Folk Art Christmas Stars

by Robyn Pandolph

Plus more HSTs for the Evening Star quilt are up on the design wall.

Pattern from Calico Carriage
Designed by Debbie Maddy

Only 14 more squares to sew and all the HSTs will be done and I can start assembling the quilt.  This one should go together pretty quickly.  Hopefully there will be something more exciting than HSTs up on the design wall next Monday.

I'm still working on making the "B" block for the Sofa Quilt.  No pictures of all those pieces.  No progress on the Grandmother's Choice project.  This week's block is applique, which is not one of my favorite quilting techniques.  I'm still contemplating the options.  Make the block, it is a pretty simple applique, or substitute something else.

That's what's up on my design wall this week.  For more quilty goodness, check out all the other design wall links over at Patchwork Times.   

Stash Report - October 14th

The weekend started off on a promising note.  The leak in the washer apparently did not damage the control board as I got 4 loads done on Friday night.  The service guy warned me that we could have problems since the leak dripped right on those electronics. We were off to Tulsa yesterday for volleyball.  Drama Teen's team won all 6 games they played.  Go Eagles!  However things began to go downhill after lunch.  Neither My Guy or I were feeling real great, both of us had headaches and lunch didn't settle well for either of us.  By early evening, I was feeling a lot better, but My Guy wasn't.  He spent most of last night throwing up.  He couldn't even keep water down.  He's sleeping now finally, hopefully he's over the worst of it.  Not sure if he has a bug or if it was yesterday's lunch.  Both DT and I had burgers, but he ordered a veggie quesadilla.  On a purely selfish level, I'm hoping lunch was the culprit and it's not a bug.  Guess we'll find out soon enough. 

I finally got some sewing done yesterday.  Being sick early in the week, plus deadlines at work really crimped my sewing room time. 

Used last week:  0.89 yards
Added last week:  0 yards

Used for 2012:  34.46
Added for 2012: 294.38 yards

Net stashed for 2012:  259.92 yards

Almost a yard out and nothing in is a really good week for me.  I do hope to be able to sew some this afternoon, but before I get to do that, the laundry is calling. 

I'm linking up with Patchwork Times this week as usual.   

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Playing with Chocolate

It's hard to believe that it's already October and that the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is more than 80% complete.  I've had fun picking out the fabrics for the Scrappy Coffee Cup quilt.  My Guy and Drama Teen will wander into my sewing room just to check out and comment on any new blocks up on the design wall.  They had mixed feelings about this month's chocolate blocks. 

Block pattern by Janet McCarroll
published in Block Magic Too by
Nancy Johnson-Srebro

I don't have a lot of brown scraps, so I had to hedge a bit.  There is a lot of these pink and brown fabrics in my scrap bag, so I decided they counted as being brown.  I wish that I had put a width of solid brown between the dots and the strips, or had placed the stripes horizontally.  I may add some rick rack or ribbon before I set this one in with the rest.  



Block pattern by Karen F. Srebro
published in Block Magic by
Nancy Johnson-Srebro

  
This one looks like a nice china cup that I'd like to have for real (it would complement my china pattern quite nicely).  This cup is a lot darker than what I have up on the wall to date.  But it will stay in for now, I'll wait until I have all the cups made before I decide if any cups stand out too much and need to be replaced.

Chocolate cup number 3 was the first one I thought of when this month's color was announced. 

Drama Teen loves the big cats, especially tigers.  Unfortunately, the tigers in this print didn't fit the cup shape well enough to be the central motif, but she still likes this cup.  

Here's what these three look like mixed in with the previous cups. 

 
Just 9 more cups needed.  Can't wait to see what color we get to work with in November. 

That's it for me this month.  Check out all the other chocolate blocks posted over at Soscrappy. 

Foto Finish - Leaves

My big news of the week?  The washer is fixed!  Yeah!  As much as I hate doing laundry, I'd much rather be doing it here than at the laundromat. Which is good as I have a lot of laundry to wash, dry and put away this weekend. 

It's time for this week's Foto Finish.  Barbara has picked "leaves" as this week's optional theme.  October is a great month to take "leaf" shots as the trees are finally starting to put on their end of the season show.  To help with the show, the angle of the sun this time of year makes for really blue skies.  I actually had a number of images to choose from as Drama Teen gets a few days off school for Fall Break and we usually take off work for a short family trip to someplace.   

I love the contrast of the red, orange and yellow against the blue.  This image comes from one of those Fall Break trips, but I'm not sure where we were.  I do remember it was a small town in Missouri.  My Guy thinks it was Washington, Missouri, which is likely as it's been a favorite destination.  Washington sits at the eastern end of Missouri's Wine Trail and is a good start or end to a trip down the trail. 

That's it for my Foto Finish this week.  Check out the other images posted over at Cat Patches. 

Wordless Wednesday - Leaf-less

15 Minute Challenge - October 9th

I'm not completely well, but definitely better than yesterday.  I still feel fuzzy, like my brain is encapsulated in cotton balls and thoughts can't find their way out.  So if this post seems a bit weird, just chalk it up to those thoughts that got snagged on the cotton in my head. 

Last week I asked for suggestions on possible improvements to the 15 Minute Challenge for next year.  Thank you for all the wonderful comments on how each of you use the challenge.  Your comments got me thinking and I did some Goggle searching on being creative.  One article I read suggested forming a peer group to keep you motivated and spark new creative directions.  I realized that's exactly what this group that regularly shows up on Tuesdays has become for me.  Thanks for the inspiration.

As far as any changes go, I'm still exploring the idea of creativity, looking for some ideas that might add interest and of course most importantly, fun.  So stay tuned, I may try a thing or two before the end of the year. 

One thing that probably won't change is the fancy weekly report. It gives me a chance to play with the digital scrapbooking software.  Something I don't do nearly enough of (probably because I spend enough time on the computer).  As this week's report shows I didn't do too badly on the sewing front this week. 

Even with all the after hours work responsibilities last week, Fun Night on Saturday and being unwell, I did manage at least 4 days of craftiness.  I only spent 15 minutes on the embroidery last night.  I didn't fell well enough to attempt the sewing machine, which means I really felt bad. 

How did your sewing/crafting plans go last week? 

1. Kate 2. dianna

3. Lesley A 4. Amanda

5. libbyQ

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Monday Design Wall - October 8th

What started as a tickle in my throat during the mid afternoon yesterday, was a full fledged sore throat by the dinner time.  I'm feeling achey and somewhere along the way, an annoying cough kicked in along with a fever.  In other words, I'm feeling pretty yucky.  So I'm thinking bed rest and chicken soup is on my agenda for today. 

 I did get some stitching done before the crappy stuff started.  Here's what made it to the design wall before I finally threw in the towel and went to bed. 

  Grandmother's Choice
A block of the week (BOW) by Barbara Brackman

Block 6 of the Grandmother's Choice BOW was completed.  I finally admitted defeat on block 5.  I'll substitute another block for that one later. 

Progress was also made on UFO #6, the Scrappy Stars project.

Pattern is Folk Art Christmas Stars

by Robyn Pandolph

Two new stars were added to the design wall.  I still have a bunch more to make for this project. 

That's it for my design wall this week.  Check out Judy's Patchwork Times for more new stuff. 

Slow Stitcthing Sunday - October 7th

I really had planned on doing a bit more slow stitching than actually happened this week.  I did work a bit on the Embroidered Medallion Quilt piece this week, but not enough to show up as real progress in a picture.  Work stuff, prep for DT's school Fun Night and a broken washing machine had a lot of influence over my schedule this week.  It's been years since I've had to use a laundromat.  In that time frame, the cost to wash a load has doubled!  I hope it's that long again before I have to resort to loading the laundry up in the car, driving across town, and hauling it out of the car into the building.  

I did spend a few minutes yesterday working on the binding for the Fat Quarter Stars Quilt. 

   
I didn't get far, but every little bit is progress. 

That's it on the hand stitching front.  What free time I had this week, was spent on the sewing machine.  I do plan to spend one night a week on just hand stitching, but the schedule hasn't been real conductive to that as yet. 

Check out all the other hand work posted over at Kathy's Quilts. 

Stash Report - October 7th

We all slept in this morning, even My Guy who rarely stays in bed past 4:30 AM.  Last night was fun night at Drama Teen's school.  My Guy and I worked concessions for 3 hours, then helped with the take down of the haunted house.  That's where Drama Teen spent her evening acting as tour guide dressed as a Victorian ghost, a bride who had been poisoned by her mother-in-law on her wedding day (I have no idea why the back story was necessary, but she assured me that a complete alias  was needed for this gig).  We all made it to bed about midnight, which is well pass the point I turn into a pumpkin.

Even without last night, this has been a busy week.  I had business dinners two nights this week. Plus one night spent baking and decorating cup cakes for the Fun Night cake walk, didn't leave much sewing time this week.  I did get in some stitching yesterday, so there is some outgoing stash. 

Used last week: 0.92 yards
Added last week:  0 yards

Used for 2012:  33.57 yards
Added for 2012:  294.38

Net stashed for 2012:  260.81 yards

The nothing in for the week really helps.  Even so, I've pretty much given up on my fabric fast and decided to just adopt a "what happens, happens" approach.   I'll focus on making sure stuff goes out, not on limiting what comes in.  That's lots more fun at any rate.

I'm off to get a second cup of coffee and settle in for some blog reading, including checking out all the other stash reports posted at Patchwork Times. 

Foto Finish - Cold

My last Foto Finish post was on September 1st.  That seems like an eon ago.  Cat Patches is back from her wanderings, so Foto Finish is back this week.  The theme for this week is "Cold".  She picked this theme before she left on vacation, but it's a timely pick for this morning, it's 41 F now.  The projected high is in the fifties.  That's a marked cool down for us.  My Guy realized this morning that he needs to get the furnaces checked before we start them up for the winter. 

This image seemed to best reflect the chosen theme of "Cold".   

These icicles are hanging off the barn at my in-law's farm.  Note these aren't melting.  This was just after Christmas 2010.  It wasn't the coldest December on record, but it was definitely colder than normal in Missouri that year.  I'm not usually one to walk in the cold, but it had snowed just a dusting not long before and it was really beautiful out in the early morning light. 

It's been a busy week and it will be busy this evening as Drama Teen's school has Fun Night tonight.  My Guy and I are "fill ins", taking shifts at the various activities that aren't already covered.  I expect to be working from 7 till 10, then helping with the take down.  So I'm taking this morning off to get caught up on blogs and do a bit of sewing.  Plus I'll be checking to see what other shivery pictures show up on Foto Finish over at Cat Patches.    

Wordless Wednesday - Fall Floral

15 Minute Challenge - October 2nd

Some weeks finding time to sew is a lot more challenging than others.  Other times it's the motivation that is lacking.  There's that new book that I'd much rather read or I'm just too tired to climb the stairs to the sewing room.  I started challenging myself to sew just 15 minutes a night because if I let the recliner seduce me into a nap or I don't make an effort to find the time when we are busy, my mood will gradually deteriorate until I'm just not a fun person to live with anymore.  For me that 15 minutes of sewing time each night isn't really about trying to finish that next quilt or use up the stash I can't seem to stop expanding, though those are nice side benefits.  It's really all about finding some quiet time where my "analytical" side can rest while the "creative" side gets to come out and play.   These weekly posts are another "incentive" to keep me going, as I tend to be better about following through if I have to fess up to my activity level (or lack there of) on the blog.  

Where am I going with all of this?  It's October and the end of the year will be here before we know it.  So before Drama Teen's science fair experiments take over our weekends and the holiday frenzy starts up, I'm trying to decide if the 15 Minute Challenge needs to be just tweaked a bit or completely remodeled for next year.  I've focused on just documenting the days I sew for at least 15 minutes.  Mainly because it makes a nice graph (it seems I can't quite completely shut down the analytical side).   I don't really want to make it a goal driven, because that's not really my focus for the 15 minutes.  The Monday design wall posts already document my weekly progress on projects.  Any suggestions? 

Oh I guess I should add this week's report.  It wasn't a bad week. 

I managed to find my 15 minutes for 5 out of the last 7 days.  It's going to be harder this week  to find sewing time as I have an evening work event one night and preparations for the school fun night at least two other evenings this next week. 

How did you do on finding some time to sew?  

1. Kate 2. Amanda

3. Thea 4. libbyQ

5. Lesley

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Monday Design Wall - October 1st

It's October. Why does typing that put just a bit of apprehension into my brain?  Is it because the year is almost over?  Or because the holidays are just a few weeks away?  Or is it the deadlines hanging over my head at work?  Hmmm. 

Moving on to more fun stuff, like what's up on the design wall.  I had a really productive week, having Friday off really helped.  The center row of the "B" block for the Sofa Quilt is done. 



Pattern is Nicole's Sofa Quilt by Judy Laquidara

(available here)

Next step is to cut and assemble the corner pieces needed for block B. 

Progress was also made on block 4 of the Grandmother's Choice BOW.   I'm not sure that one is going to turn out, but I'm not giving up yet.  Block 5 was a bit easier and it's done. 

Grandmother's Choice
Barbara Brackman BOW

There is a new project up on the design wall this week, Evening Star. 

Pattern is "Evening Star" from Calico Carriage
Designed by Debbie Maddy

That's probably about a quarter of the half square triangles needed for this project.  The HSTs make up fast, so I'm hoping to see some significant progress on this quilt over the week.  I'm really loving the various shades of purple with the white. 

Check out Judy's Patchwork Times to see what else is showing up on design walls.