August One Monthly Goal Wrap Up: A Finished Flimsy

With just 2 days left in this month, I got busy last night on the final border for Scrappy Coffee Cups. Getting that project to the finished flimsy stage is August's One Monthly Goal. 

At the beginning of the month the Coffee Cup blocks were all sashed, but not sewn together.  

The final border was sewn on last night. 

Scrappy Coffee Cups

Block patterns from Karen F. Srebro and Janet McCarroll

published in Block Magic and Block Magic Too 

by Nancy Johnson-Srebro

So Scrappy Cups is now a finished flimsy.  That last border is a deep green.  For some reason dark greens photograph as black in my sewing room.  The quilt really is square, not sure why it looks bowed in the photograph.  I've found a good backing fabric in the stash, so hopefully this will move to finished quilt stage before the end of September.   That will probably happen regardless, so I'll probably pick something else as my September One Monthly Goal. 

The news from the south of Texas is improving.  Thankfully all of our friends are safe, though many don't know the state of their homes.  Since the storm moved farther east before making landfall, the rivers in the area are flowing more freely and the expected crests are a bit lower then originally forecast.  Hopefully that will spare some of the communities south of the Houston metro area. Hopes for the best and prayers for those affected.  

Linking up with:

August One Monthly Goal

Let's Bee Social

Needle and Thread Thursday 

Weekend Stitching: Finishing Blooms

It's been heartbreaking to watch what's happening along the coast of Texas.  We lived south of Houston during Allison and Rita.  We have friends and co-workers that live there now.  Thankfully we've heard from most of them and they were dry as of last night.  We are praying that they stay that way and for the weather forecasts to improve.  

I didn't get much sewing time in on Saturday, but made up for that on Sunday afternoon.  Binding Blooms and Butterflies was finished up earlier in the week, but I didn't get any photos till yesterday. 

 Blooms and Butterflies
Back Porch Bloom block by Lea Anne Brummett, setting by Kate
Started:  5/29/2016,  Finished:  8/24/2017

I'm keeping this one.  It's going to be my new cuddle quilt for the recliner.  Trudy did a great job with the quilting.  She did both blooms

  
and butterflies

as part of the quilting motifs.  I'm really happy with the red plaid backing.  These 1930 reproductions have been in the stash for about 10 years, so it's nice to see some of them make their way into a finished quilt.  Blooms and Butterflies was started as part of Podunk Pretties Back Porch Blooms quilt along. I tried really hard to resist starting this project, but when Lea Anne added butterflies to one of her free patterns from the quilt along, resistance was futile.  It didn't take me long to come up with my own quilt setting using her bloom block.  

Blooms and Butterflies is my second finish from my 2017 Finish Along third quarter list and my sixth finish overall for 2017.  The best I've ever managed is seven finishes in one year.  I might beat that this year.  

Linking up with 
Main Crush Monday
Monday Design Wall
Monday Making
2017 Finish Along (Third Quarter) 

Stash Stuff for Week 34 of 2017

Sometimes the weekends just don't work out as you plan.  This has been one of those.  Not sure if I have a virus or if it's just allergies.  I spent most of Saturday napping in the recliner.  I did sew for a bit, but just felt so crappy that I only managed a couple of 30 minute sessions during the day.  Hopefully, today will be better. 

There was stitching going on for all 7 days this week. But most of it was in 15 minute sessions during the week.  The binding for Blooms and Butterflies is finished.  Hopefully I'll feel motivated enough to get pictures of that quilt sometime today.  There was a bit of progress on the Scrappy Cofffee Cup quilt.  That's most of what went out this week.

Fabric used this week:  0.52 yards
Fabric used year to date: 43.10 yards

Nothing in this week for a change.  

Since being up and about just wasn't in the cards yesterday, I did spend some time working on a plan to use up the fabric that came in last week.  This will be a quilt for the Scientist in Training  (previously known as Drama Teen) using the Geek Chic line that came home with me last week. 

Chemistry Geek Version 1

Chemistry Geek Version II

Chemistry Geek Version III

At the moment I'm leaning more towards Version III.  Though Version II has possibilities.  I'm still looking for ideas, none of these strike me as being "it".  

Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for this week's stash reports.  

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Playing Catch Up

It's been 2 months since the last post on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.  It's just been that crazy around here.  New position at work, business trips, moving the kid to college and a road trip to see the eclipse all impacted my sewing room time.  Neutrals don't work in the quilt plan for my RSC blocks, so August has been a catch up month for me.  I finally finished off all my yellow blocks from June this week. 

Yellow and black is such a dramatic color combination.  I like how these turned out. 

So that takes care of the June blocks.  Not to get the blue fans from July all done.  The fabrics are all selected. 

I've got one blue block started, but that's all the progress I've made with this color.  The plan is for a sew day today, so maybe I'll get those all finished before the end of the month.  

Linking up with Soscrappy for the typical rainbow show each Saturday.  And with Oh Scrap on Sunday.  

Stash Stuff for Week 33 of 2017

It's been an eventful week.  We became empty nesters on Wednesday.  

Drama Teen (aka Scientist in Training or the SIT), moved into her dorm room last Wednesday.  She's been keeping really busy, she's already working on her first assignment for the school's newspaper. I've been keeping busy too.  To avoid the quiet house on Thursday when My Guy went out for his bike ride, I went to the local quilt shop for some fabric petting therapy.  I did more than pet, there was a fabric line that just had to come home with me. 

Geek Chic by Studio E Fabrics was just too geeky for me to pass up. Plus the Scientist in Training is enrolled as a chemistry major and she really needs an extra long twin quilt that fits better on her dorm bed.  I am now in search of an equally geeky quilt pattern to start and hopefully finish before Christmas.  

Needless to say, I did some damage on the incoming side of the stash numbers, but those numbers are being ignored since the train has long left the station on having any success on using more than I buy this year. There was a little fabric in the out column this week.  

Fabric used this week:  0.5 yards
Fabric used year to date:  42.58 yards

I didn't do so hot on the finding time to stitch this last week.  Between helping the SIT pack, trooping through 100 F+ temps on move in day and a major bought of dizziness due to sinus issues, there were only 4 days this last week spent in the sewing room.  There are just weeks like that sometimes.  

Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash report. 

Weekend Stitching: What goes on in the Background

It was a busy weekend.  Drama Teen and I took a road trip to see her grandmother before DT heads off the college, plus made one more mad dash to Tulsa on Sunday to finish off the dorm room shopping.  DT heads off to college on Wednesday.  There are still a few last minute things to deal with, but for the most part she is ready to go.  Not sure I am.  

With all the last minute college prep, there hasn't been as much going on in the sewing room.  At least not much worth showing on the blog.  Still working on stitching down the binding on Blooms and Butterflies.  Just two corners and the side between left to do there.  The first round of white borders has been added to the scrappy coffee cup project, but the flimsy doesn't look much different than last week.  

The leaders and enders project reached a milestone.  I've got 9 blocks done now, so threw them up on the design wall to gauge if the project was done or if one I want one more row. 

  En Provence a Bonnie Hunter Mystery (2016)

My preference is rectangular quilts, I'm not a big fan of square ones.  So I'd like to add one more row of blocks, but wasn't sure there would be enough fabric for that.  But there appears to be enough to eek out three more blocks.  So the blocks have been moved back to the project box for now.  I did find that one of the sashing strips is assembled wrong (do you see the error in the photo), so I'll fix that before putting that one back into the box.  I don't want to forget and find it again after I've put the top together.  My goal is to get En Provence finished before this year's Bonnie Hunter mystery gets going.  Hopefully I can get that far before November.  

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

Stash Stuff For Week 32 of 2017

It's been a busy week, with not as much sewing going on as I had hoped.  Getting Drama Teen ready to head for college has been our priority the last week.  We've had a couple of marathon shopping expeditions to get stuff together for her dorm room.  Found out yesterday that the bed size in her room is different than the information we'd been sent, so that means another shopping trip this morning.  I am hoping to get in some sewing time this afternoon.

So this week there were only 4 days of stitching out of the last 7.  That puts me at a 89.7% success rate at finding time to stitch.  Still there was enough stitching to have a bit going out to report. 

Fabric used this week:  0.33 yards
Fabric used year to date:  42.08 yards

Besides finding time to sew and using fabric, one of the other long term sewing goals has been to get the fabric closet organized.  I've been tackling one shelf at a time.  The third shelf on the second shelving unit has been the focus for the last year or so.  This is what it looked like last July.

July 2016

This is what it looks like now:

August 2017

The batik, oriental and specific collection fabrics from the second shelf have been moved to the third shelf.  The fabrics sorted by color moved up to the second shelf.  There is still one stack of fabric on that shelf to be pressed and refolded, but there's been progress.  It's slow progress, but I'm OK with that.  It does make it much easier to find fabrics for projects once they are sorted into the appropriate stacks.  Plus the way the fabrics are folded makes them ready to use for a project.  I just unfold the amount I want, give it a touch up press and then cut what's needed.  It's nice to be able to pull fabric from the closet and it's more or less ready to use.

Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash report.  

Weekend Stitching: Borders and Bindings

Definitely not ready for Monday this week.  Sunday was such a nice day as most of it was spent in the sewing room.  I did come out to finish a couple of loads of laundry and to help Drama Teen with some college prep stuff, like setting up her bursars account.  She heads to college in a little over a week. (No I'm not ready for that.) 

I did get a lot done in the sewing room, but didn't think to take any photos.  Turned one corner with the binding on Blooms and Butterflies.

The other focus for Sunday, was getting borders on the Coffee Cup blocks. 

  Scrappy Coffee Cups

Block patterns from Karen F. Srebro and Janet McCarroll published in 

Block Magic and Block Magic Too by Nancy Johnson-Srebro

The green inner border is on, plus half of the first white border.  The next two border strips are prepped, I just didn't get that far yesterday.  There is another narrow green border, another white border and finally a dark green border left to add.  Not sure this one will get done this week, but hopefully it will be close to being a finished flimsy by the weekend.  

I also did some rearranging and cleaning up of the stash closet. There is still lots to do on that front, but that's one of those long term projects in the sewing room.  For now it's time to get ready for another work week.  

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

Slow Stitching and Stash Stuff for Week 31 of 2017

The weather the last week has been more typical of late September rather than August.  I definitely don't mind the lower temperatures and we definitely need the rain.  Still it's a bit odd for this time of year.  Rainy days are perfect for spending time in the sewing room, so that's the plan for today. 

Finally got the binding attached to Blooms and Butterflies last night and got started on the hand stitching. 

I'm really liking the plaid on the back.  No corners turned last night, but it is a small lap quilt so it shouldn't take too long to get this one to the finished column. There is definitely some slow stitching on the agenda for today. 

The stash report is another story.  I've completely blown my goal to use more fabric than I add.  After two years of not adding much of anything, my resistance to pretty fabrics and sales seems to be at an all time low.  So rather than beat myself up for my spectacular failure on stash management, I'm just going to focus on using up some fabric and will modify my weekly report accordingly.  

Fabric used this week:  1.34 yards
Fabric used year to date:  41.75 yards

So what tripped me up on my stash management goals?  Pretty fabrics on sale over at Lady Belle Fabrics.  That included some colorful fat quarters from the Flower Sugar line.

Very pretty pinks and blues.  Then there was another colorful set of Gooseberry by Moda.

No plan for either set as yet.  I'm just going to admire them for a bit. Maybe I'll find a project for them once I get a few UFOs off the list.  

Connecting Threads just released several new collections.  I couldn't resist the gingham like prints. 

That orange plaid looks a bit out of place.  I think the cooler temperatures this week made me think of flannel shirts and fall, so how could I resist?  No plans for these either.  Though with Drama Teen attending Oklahoma State this fall, there may well be another orange and black quilt in my future.  Probably sooner rather than later.  

Now that all the business travel is over, it's been easy to find 15 minutes each day to stitch.  I managed 7 out of 7 days this week. But with Drama Teen's move to college and some family engagements later this month, it will get harder to keep that up.   

Since it's going to be a dreary day and there's not anything that has to get done around the house, today seems like a great opportunity to just hang out in the sewing room. 

Linking up with Slow Stitching Sunday and the weekly stash report.  

Managing the UFO List

At the end of 2016, there were 17 quilts on my UFO list.  To be honest, that number hasn't changed much the last 3 or 4 years. When looking at what I wanted to accomplish this year in the sewing room, number one priority was to get the graduation quilts done before graduation.  Mission accomplished there (and it felt so good).  That took pretty much the first half of the year.  For the last half of the year, getting projects off the UFO list is the goal.  Participating in Patchwork Times' UFO-2017 challenge was one way to encourage me in that endeavor.  

I played pretty fast and loose with the challenge the first part of the year, as you can tell by how marked up the 2017 Quilt Plan is.  In order to get the graduation quilts done, I did a lot of substituting of one quilt for another.  But in May, I did start working on those UFOs.  The May UFO was Christmas Angels.  

It's still not done, but now only 3 of the angel blocks still need their borders.  This one should be ready to sew the blocks into rows in the next week or so.  

The June UFO was Blooms and Butterflies.  It just needs binding.

That is in progress.  

The July UFO was Scrappy Coffee Cups.  These blocks needed a setting before this UFO could move along.  

July was a good month, not only did the a final setting get decided on, but all the rows are sewn together and the sashings added. August's One Monthly Goal is to get this project into a finished flimsy. 

So that brings me to the August UFO.  This project dates from 2005, it's the oldest on my UFO list.  

These blocks started in a technique class focused on making these stars.  Initially there wasn't a plan other than making a red, white and blue quilt.  There are 7 blocks completed, but there is still no final setting plan.  With 5 projects working at the sewing machine, I don't won't to add another.  More than 5 projects and progress on each project slows to a crawl.  There will one weekend this month away from the sewing room, but I will have my computer.  So maybe it's time to come up with a final setting for these blocks so the next time they come up in rotation, I know exactly what's left to do.  

No that will not move that last UFO to completion this year, but my goal was to make progress on each project on the list, not necessarily get them all finished. 

Linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday over at My Quilt Infatuation.   

One Monthly Goal for August 2017

This is the 20th time I've participated in the One Monthly Goal. 

 
Heidi of Red Letter Quilts kicked this idea off in January of 2016.  Our current hostess, Patty of Elm Street Quilts took over in November of 2016.  I can't say that the One Monthly Goal has worked miracles on my ability to finish projects, but it has helped me realize the importance of prioritization in the sewing room.  Committing to OMG has also helped me get past some of my typical stall points.  Not having a final design and prepping a quilt to send off for quilting are my two biggies.  

So what to pick for the August OMG?   I've made good progress on the Christmas Angels and Scrappy Coffee Cups over the last couple of months.  Of those two projects, Scrappy Coffee Cups is the farthest along. 

Scrappy Coffee Cups

Block patterns from Karen F. Srebro and Janet McCarroll published in 

Block Magic and Block Magic Too by Nancy Johnson-Srebro

All the sashing is sewn on, but the bottom three rows need to be sewn together than attached to the top half.  This quilt has 4 borders planned and those always take longer than I expect.   Looking at what's on the calendar for August, getting this project to the finished flimsy stage is definitely doable.  So that's the goal for August. 

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts for the August One Monthly Goal.