December One Monthly Goal, Just in Time

It's not quite the midnight hour, but a lot later than I normally am on finishing off my One Monthly Goal sewing.  

The plan for December was just to make four blocks. But I forgot just how many little pieces there are in those blocks.  The goal was to make the last 4 Twinkle star blocks to fill in the hole in the lower right corner.

Since Geek Chic is currently taking up the big design wall I couldn't put all the blocks back up, but I did find room to photograph the four blocks that will fill up that hole. 

 Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

My favorite of this set is that last teal and pink block.  For now these four will join the rest of the blocks in the project box.  Since there are two other quilts with due dates early in 2018, Twinkle Stars will have to wait for a bit to become a finished flimsy.  

Finishing off these four blocks means that every project on the 2017 Quilt Plan saw some progress, with seven getting all the way to finished. That's a nice place to end this year and a good start on next year.

Linking up with the December One Monthly Goal finale over at Elm Street Quilts.  

Stash Stuff and Return of the 15 Minute Challenge

Happy New Year's Eve!  We aren't party people.  Our plans will be to hang out at home as much as possible today (it's too cold to run around much anyway).  I'll sew and My Guy will probably play in the kitchen some. If we can make it to midnight, we'll watch the ball drop in Oklahoma City on TV.  Not exciting, but it works for us.  The Scientist in Training isn't home this year, she's off in Florida with friends this holiday.  But she'll be home for her birthday in about a week.  

All I can say about the stash report this week is that life threw me a curve ball in that I was sick for two days.  Thankfully it wasn't the flu, but it was some stomach/respiratory thing that came with a massive headache for two days.  I made it to the sewing room, but not a lot got done.  So though there is some out this week, it's not the big push I was hoping for.

Used last week:  0.52 yards
Used year to date:  57.43 yards

So I'd need to use 2.5 yards to break 60 yards out for the year. I'll never say never, but it's not likely.  I'll give a full accounting in my 2017 wrap up post later this week.  

Now for the other part of the stash stuff.  Those who've followed me for while know that I try to spend 15 minutes every day in the sewing room.  That started as a way to deal with a complete lack of sewing mojo back in 2011.  That personal challenge to myself was so useful that in March of that year I started up a weekly linky party for anyone who wanted to join me in the challenge of finding 15 minutes of stitching time each day.  I stopped the linky party in 2013 as it became too hard for me to reliably write a post that went live on Tuesday and interest waned in the challenge.  There's been some interest in some of the newer bloggers I've met in applying the challenge to see if it helps them find time in their busy lives to do more in the sewing room (and some interest from past participants as well). So I'm going to restart the challenge on a trial basis for the first quarter of 2018.  Here's the details (and a new button):

When: Linky party will go live on Sundays, as part of my usual stash report

What:  Just report how many days of the week you found time to stitch (If you decide 15 minutes is too much or not enough, set your own challenge time). What you count as stitching time is also up to you, I count time in EQ designing projects and making quilt labels as stitching time since it advances a project towards completion. 

How:  You can track it any way you want to.  I'm a spreadsheet kinda gal, so I do my tracking in Excel with way more statistics than anyone could possibly want.  But here's what my spreadsheet looks like.  

But you could do as well with a bullet journal or whatever tracking tool you use for your quilting projects. 

Hope to see you next Sunday for the revived 15 Minute Challenge link up.  

Linking up as always with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash update.  

2018 UFO Challenge: The Quilts and the Plan

In 2017 my plan wasn't so much about finishing UFOs as it was about finishing quilts that had deadlines.  Namely the graduation quilts that had to be done by May.  All three of the graduation quilts got done, as well as four other quilts that came off or were kept off the UFO list by being finished.  So seven finishes all together, that ties my best ever total in a year.

In 2017, I learned that setting priorities is key to moving things off the list. Participating in the the One Monthly Goal over at Elm Street Quilts will help set the priority each month.  Linking up with American Patchwork and Quilting's 2018 UFO Challenge and with Patchwork Time's 2018 UFO Challenge will provide some accountability.  Hopefully all of this leads to finishes in 2018.  

There is one rule for the UFO challenges that I've decided not to follow.  I won't be selecting the UFO by following the monthly drawing. Some of these projects have deadlines, so they'll need to be first in line no matter what numbers get drawn.  

January:   Geek Chic (aka Scientist in Training Quilt)
     Status:  Assembling quilt (no photo as the SIT follows my blog)
     Due Date:  January 14, 2018

February:  Magnolia Mystery Quilt
     Status:  Piecing blocks
     Due Date:  Finished Flimsy by February 15, 2018

  Magnolia Mystery by Cheryl Brickey of
Meadow Mist Designs

March:  Vintage Dresses
     Status:  Framing blocks to standard size
     Due date:  May 2018 (graduation quilt)

 Vintage Dresses blocks by Charise Randell, Setting by Kate

April:  En Provence, Bonnie Hunter 2016 Mystery
     Status:  Needs backing pieced

 En Provence, A Bonnie Hunter Mystery (2016)

May:  Christmas Angels
     Status:  Piecing Blocks
     Due Date:  December 2018

 Christmas Angels  Pattern by Kate

June:  Red, White and Blue Stars
     Status:  Piecing Blocks

  Red, White and Blue Stars, Setting by Kate

July:  Inverted Stars
     Status:  Piecing border blocks

Inverted Star
by Jessica Boschem of Common Threads
available from Craftsy as a free download

August:  Twinkle Star Quilt
     Status:  Piecing blocks

Twinkle Stars
Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

September:  On Ringo Lake, Bonnie Hunter's 2017 Mystery
     Status: Piecing blocks
     Due Date:  November 22, 2018 

On Ringo Lake, Bonnie Hunter 2017 Mystery Quilt

October:   Fans (2017 RSC Project)
     Status:  Piecing blocks

November:  Scrappy Butterflies
     Status:  Needs setting plan

Scrappy Butterflies
Block is available in EQ 7 Block Library

December:  Neutral Gems
     Status:  Piecing Blocks

  Neutral Gems Pattern is "Gems" by Donna Lynn Thomas
found in the book Patchwork Palette

So that's the UFO list for 2018.  If I finish one project early, I'll just move on to the next.  Even if I don't get all of these to the finish line, I'm hoping to advance each to at least the next step.  Hopefully that will mean more finishes in 2019.  

The Best of 2017 at Life in Pieces

As the year winds to a close, Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs is hosting a linky party to highlight your five best posts of 2017.  

How you define "best" is up to you. My top five are below.  You can click on the blog title to see the full blog post.  

1.  Largest number of views (468): Christmas in March, which featured the completion of Poinsettias. 

Poinsettias
By Judy Blok for the December 2013 issue
of American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine

This was my long term leaders and enders project.  It's not perfectly done, but it turned out perfectly for me.  This quilt was gifted to a co-worker as a retirement present.  

2.  Most comments (27):  But First Coffee from October

Scrappy Coffee Cups (aka But First Coffee)

Block patterns from Karen F. Srebro and Janet McCarroll

publised in Block Magic and Block Magic Too by

Nancy Johnson-Srebro

But First Coffee is my first every Rainbow Scrap quilt started in 2012.  It was recently gifted to My Guy for Christmas.  He loves it.  I had told him earlier that it was a gift for someone else in the family and he responded that it didn't need to go, it could stay and live with us.  Little did he know that was my intention.  

3.  Most Facebook likes (661):  Progress on Mystery Stuff:  En Provence 

 En Provence, A Bonnie Hunter Mystery (2016)

I reposted the finished En Provence on Facebook.  I don't do much on Facebook, so was really surprised at all the likes and comments on the post.  I really like my version of En Provence.  Hopefully it will be an early finish in 2018. 

4.  Most Pins on Pinterest (8) Finished My Geometry Assignment

Geometry
Self Designed

Geometry was one of four graduation quilts commissioned by the Scientist in Training for friends and teachers.  Both of us were really happy with how it turned out. It was a big hit with the future math major who received it too.   

5.  My Favorite Post:  Finishing Blooms and Butterflies

Blooms and Butterflies
Back Porch Bloom block by Lea Anne Brummett,
setting by Kate

Blooms and Butterflies was a quilt for me.  I love the crisp white with the scrappy blue and reds.  It's been very nice to cuddle under this winter. 

That's my Best of 2017.  Linking up over at Meadow Mist Designs.  Now it's time for more hot tea while I check out the other Best of 2017 posts. 

2018 Quilting Ambitions

As the year winds down, it's just natural to start considering plans for next year.  Yvonne's 2018 Planning Party gives bloggers a great opportunity to share ambitions the upcoming year.  I played along last year.  Here's how this year worked out and what the ambitions are for 2018.  

This past year has been productive on a couple of fronts and less so on others.  The biggest accomplishment was finishing seven quilts this year, that ties my all time best.  Plus there was some progress on each of the twelve quilts on my 2017 quilt plan.  Finding time to sew each day was another area of success.  But, managing the stash didn't go so hot this year.  Considering the success and failures for 2017, should I be doing something different for 2018?  

It's obvious from this last year that getting to the sewing room and setting priorities on what happens when I get there makes a huge difference in what gets done.  So do the 2018 ambitions focus on what worked this year or do I set a higher priority on the areas that didn't go so hot?   

Here's what I finally decided should be the focus for 2018. 

1.  Shorten the UFO list.  I've been holding at 17 UFOs for the last three years. 

It's not the same quilts on the list, a few come off, but others go on. I'd like to have no more than 10 quilts on the UFO list by the end of 2018. 

2.  Participate in select quilt along/mysteries. As much as I want to reduce the UFO list, not starting new projects just takes the joy out of the sewing room.  But I'll limit my participation to just three with the intent that all of them will pull from existing stash (see ambition 4).

• Rainbow Scrap Challenge
• Meadow Mist Plus Sign Sampler Quilt Along
• Bonnie Hunter Mystery

3. Find 15 minutes to stitch each day. I did really well at this in 2017 and it showed in the project progress.  It will be a challenge to do as well with this in 2018.  One change I'm going to try for 2018 is to spend the first 15 minutes (maybe the only 15 minutes)  on that month's priority project.  Hopefully that will help meet ambition number 1.   

4.   Stash Management/Organization.  This is my number one challenge each year.  I like fabric, but I'm really out of storage space, so the incoming needs to slow down for a bit. 

• Limit purchases to no more than 5 yards a quarter
• Spend 30 minutes each week organizing the sewing room                and the stash
•  Any new projects have to use stash fabrics only
• Pick blocks for this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge that use scraps that are already cut to size. 

5.  Blog at least once a week.  My blog activity took a big nose dive after I switched positions back in June.  It doesn't look like things will be any better in 2018, so I'm going to scale back my blogging ambitions until I can figure out how to get in both my sewing and personal computer time when I've often got "homework"  in the evening and on weekends.  

Not the most original set of ambitions, but I really want to get that UFO list whitted down. Well that and I want to use up some stash.  If I can make both of those things happen in 2018, I'll count it an excellent year.  

You can check out all the other 2018 quilty ambitions posted over at Quilting Jetgirl. 

More Mystery Stitching

We had a very nice Christmas.  I hope everyone's holiday was relaxing and fun.  Now it's time to shift gears and get ready for the next year.  I'm not really ready for that, so I'm just going to spend some time getting sorted out from the holiday and then sew as much as possible for today.

There wasn't much stitching time over the weekend due to the family visiting, but I did manage to get a start on On Ringo Lake's clue 5. 

I was afraid there wouldn't be enough contrast between the gray and the black, but I think it works out OK.  I'm hoping to make some progress on all the clues this week before the next one comes out on Friday.  We'll see how well that works out. My Guy may have other plans for my time.  I do know we are going to declutter the kitchen cabinets this next week.  Hopefully we can get most of that done in just one day. 

You can see more clues in progress over at Bonnie Hunter's clue 5 linky party.

Have Yourself a Scarily Merry Christmas

Stash Stuff for Week 51 of 2017

Merry Christmas Eve!  For those who celebrate Christmas, I hope all your holiday preparations are mostly done.  Our family celebration is this evening, so we'll be hanging out in the kitchen most of today, baking and cooking, talking and laughing.  For those who have other traditions and beliefs, wishing you much joy with your family and friends this week.

Even with all the family time and holiday prep this week, I still managed to find 15 minutes to stitch each day this last week.  But most days it was just 15 minutes.  So I don't have much to show for this week's stash report. 

Used last week:  0.31 yards
Used year to date:  56.91 yards

I've got at least one quilt back to piece next week, so I'm hoping that helps me break the 60 yards out mark for the year.  My stash busting goals didn't go so hot this last year.  Hopefully your stash management goals went more smoothly than mine did.  If not, we all get the chance to start over for 2018. 

In the spirit of the holiday, I've been trying to photograph some of my favorite ornaments when they are on the tree.  Both my mother and my sister were managers of Hallmark stores for many years.  So I've got quite the collection of ornaments. This one is one of the early ones from Mom. 

I don't remember the year on this one, but it's from the late 1980's.  It always reminds me of my mother's sugar cookies, which are legendary in the family.  Looking forward to making more memories this holiday (and eating more than a few of those sugar cookies!).   

Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate (if she has a linky party this week).  

Scrappy Rainbow Stuff

All the wrapping is finally finished (at 10 PM last night).  Which is good as we'll be doing a lot of family stuff the next few days. Most of most of my stitching will have to be of the hand variety as we all sit around, drink coffee and visit. 

Before shutting down the sewing room for the major push to finish all the gift wrapping, there was a burst of sewing to make some progress on the next round of flying geese for Bonnie Hunter's On Ringo Lake Mystery.  Framing the Vintage Dress blocks is the current leaders and enders project.  With that last push there was enough stitching to finish the frames around three more blocks. 

Vintage Dresses, pattern by Charise Randell

Just seven blocks left to frame then I can start working on the sashing.  This won't be finished till next year, but that's OK.  I'm happy that there has been this much progress on it this year.  

I'm behind on my 2017 RSC fan blocks.  The plan is to play catch up on those next week.  Hopefully,  all the blocks will be done by year's end so all that's needed is to add sashing and assemble the quilt. That will be one of the projects on 2018 UFO list.  

Wishing everyone a very happy holiday season.  Linking up with Soscrappy for the next to last RSC linky party of 2017.  

Progress on Mysterious Stuff

We had a quiet weekend.  The Scientist in Training and I got in some last minute stocking stuffer shopping.  The tree is up and decorated.  There are even a few presents under it.  Even better, I got in some sewing room time.  Not as much as my usual, but enough to get fabric cut for the On Ringo Lake clue 4. 

There are a few more triangles in progress over at the sewing machine.  I just made two initially to make sure my fabric cutting was accurate and to get a feel for the assembly process. This is the first time I've used Bonnie's Essential Triangle Tool, it worked really well.  Having the flat "corner" to match up with the square really helps with accurate piecing.  

One byproduct of getting the tree up, was that the library got cleaned up, so I had room to photograph the En Provence finished flimsy.  

 En Provence, A Bonnie Hunter Mystery (2016)

I'm happy with how last year's mystery turned out.  It still needs the backing pieced. That probably won't happen till next year.  So En Provence won't be finished until 2018, but at least it's mostly done.

Linking up with 
Bonnie Hunter Mystery Linky party
Monday Design Wall 

Stash Stuff for Week 50 of 2017

Christmas Eve is a week from today!  New Year's Eve is two weeks from today!  So the year is winding down fast.  Supposedly, I'm on vacation till January 2nd, but one of the downsides to going back to supervision is that you aren't really ever completely off work.  At some point today I'll have to log onto the work computer to deal with a last minute assignment and the normal weekly reports.  But at least I can do that at home in my pjs if I so choose. 

This week definitely saw more productivity in the sewing room than last week.  I managed 6 out of 7 days.  That's pretty amazing considering the one day lost to a stomach bug and the two evenings spent being an editor for the Scientist in Training.  One of her finals was a report.  Since part of my job entails editing technical papers, she asked for help as the Writing Lab where she usually goes to have her papers reviewed was closed during finals week.  Speaking of finals, the SIT finished her last one Friday afternoon and managed to get home in time for dinner that evening.  She'll be around till January 15th.  We've got plans for shopping and just messing around time while she's home.  

Since there was more sewing time this week, there was actually a bit going out of the stash.  

Used last week:  1.68 yards
Used year to date:  56.60 yards

I'm way under my goal for the year.  I doubt that I completely get to 75 yards out, but hopefully I can get to 60 yards out before January 1.  

I certainly don't lack for projects. 

There's a lot of pieces stacked up in front of the sewing machine.  You can see lots of pieces for On Ringo Lake ready for more stitching.  There's also pieces there for another fan block, a twinkle star block and parts for the Magnolia Mystery quilt.  That little purple sticky on the machine shows this month's priority list.  

I started making a priority list and posting it at the machine so I could stay focused on both my One Monthly Goal and those quilts on the 2017 Finish Along list .  But now there are 8 in progress projects on that list.  From past experience, I can really only effectively work on 3 to 4 at a time.  So I really need to pare the list down.  En Provence just needs a back pieced.  So that should stay on the list.  Vintage Dresses is the leaders and enders project, so it should stay on the list.  If I'm going to finish Geek Chic in time for the SIT's birthday it needs to stay on the list.  Making those 4 Twinkle star blocks is this month's OMG, so it needs to stay on the list.  The last clue for the Magnolia Mystery is out.  I'd really like to keep up with that quilt along.  That pares the list down to 5 WIPS.  As hard as it will be to put up the other projects, it will make the ones left on the list go much faster.

Work, holiday prep, and family time has taken a big bite out of my computer time.  I'm way behind on emails and blog reading. I'm hoping to play catch up some this week.  I hate it when that happens, I really miss keeping up with everyone.  Unfortunately that's how life works sometimes, there just are not enough hours in a day for all I'd like to get done.  

Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash report.  

Weekend Stitching: Invisible Progress

It was a busy weekend.  Since my mother retired, I've tried to take a day off early in December so she, my sister, and I can all go Christmas shopping together.  My mother has mobility issues so she didn't want to go shopping, but I got to spend some fun time at the house hanging out.  My sister and I definitely made up for the shop till you drop part on Saturday.  On the way home, I took a detour to take the Scientist in Training out to dinner and give her a few hugs in preparation for finals week.  It was a nice way to spend the early part of the weekend.  

So the weekend stitching was pretty much limited to Sunday afternoon this week.  The last border strip has been added to En Provence (YEAH!), but it was so dark by that time, getting a decent picture was hard. It will probably be next weekend before there is time to get a nice photo of that finished flimsy.  With En Provence off the design wall there was room for the blocks for SITs Geek quilt.  Somehow I was one block short.  That's been fixed. The strips needed for setting the blocks have been cut and I got started on stitching the rows together.  Hopefully I can get this into finished flimsy stage before the SIT comes home this weekend.  If not, I'll have to make the sewing room off limits to her till I get it done. No photos of all this progress as the SIT reads my blog and the quilt is a surprise, at this point for her birthday rather than Christmas.   

The Geek quilt is my number one priority for the next week, but I did take some time to cut the pieces for the next step of Bonnie's On Ringo Lake mystery.  

Only one pair got finished, but I'll have time this week to knock out a few more before the next clue comes out. Here's what clue one looks like:

And here's clue two:

My version will be 3/4 size. Even with the reduced number of units, I've not finished a clue yet.  But I'm following Bonnie's advice to make some of each unit even if the previous units aren't all done.  There should be more time for catching up later this week and next week. I'm also hoping to get caught up on emails and blog reading over the next week.  Between holiday prep, family time and work, finding time to respond to email and read blogs has been at a premium the last couple of weeks. 

Linking up with the usual Monday posts.

Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Linky
Main Crush Monday
Monday Making
Monday Design Wall

Stash Stuff for Week 49 of 2017

Some weeks even the best laid plans don't help. That was last week. The constant scratchy/sore throat accompanied by sneezing fits and runny noses was just not conductive to getting any stitching done.  Add in a trip to my mother's for the annual Christmas shopping weekend with the girls (minus the SIT as she's  studying for finals) and my sewing time was pretty much zero.  Only one day in the sewing room last week.  Consequently the stash report is unchanged from last week. 

Used last week:  Nada an inch
Used year to date:  54.92 yards

I do hope to get in a few hours of sewing time this afternoon.  This morning it's laundry and getting a presentation ready for work this next week.  Then this evening, it's getting all the pictures loaded for this year's family calendar.  This photo won't make the calendar, but it's one of my favorite ornaments. 

Hoping for a more productive sewing week.  But this is my last week for the year and there is stuff to get done before next Friday.  I anticipate a few evenings of working from home in order to get it all in.  Fingers crossed that I can still sneak in some stitching here and there.  Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash report. 

Scrappy Stuff: Coming Attractions for 2018

Holiday preparations have trumped sewing this week. There just hasn't been a lot of time for stitching in the evenings. So there is not much progress to show on any of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects that are currently laying around the sewing room. 

So rather than finishing off anything old, deciding on the something new for 2018 took over.  Several ideas have been in the works in EQ, but they just weren't jelling for me.  Enter the February 2018 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting.  Hidden in the middle is this little gem:

February 2018 American Patchwork and Quilting, Designed by Monique Dillard.

Tiny Treasures designed by Monique Dillard.  Oooh, wonder how that would look done in rainbow color blocks?  

I resized the blocks to make them bigger and added a few more to the project.  The stash has some beige/tan pieces of yardage left over from some other quilts, so I'd be using those as the backgrounds, then colored scraps for the blocks (Using just one color in the mock up still gives an idea of how the quilt will look with blocks in various colors).  For those of you considering EQ8, it's limited to adding just 24 blocks to a border. There needed to 25 to make the vertical border blocks line up appropriately, but it's good enough to get a good sense of what it would look like put together.  I need to play with the outer border some more, I won't do solid black, probably some type of flying geese pieced border.  There is still some time to tweak the look before next year's project kicks off in January. 

I like this project because it really will use up some scraps.  The beige/tan fabrics need to get moved out of the stash. It's not a color I tend to use often, as I like the brightness of whites.  Those fabrics were purchased for one of my first quilting classes before I had a good sense of what my preferred style and colors were.  The geese "wings" will be a great way to use up some of the smaller scraps that are piling up in the sewing room.  So I'm looking forward to getting started on this project.  

Linking up with Soscrappy. 

December One Monthly Goal: Working on the UFO List

December almost seems late this year since Thanksgiving was so early.  Of course even if it seems a bit late, I'm still behind on the holiday stuff.  Sewing time will be at a premium till after Christmas.  Too many other things to do on the weekends and in the evenings after work.  As I contemplate what to focus on for my December One Monthly Goal that needs to be kept in mind.

There's been a lot of progress on En Provence.  

En Provence, A Bonnie Hunter Mystery (2016)

The second vertical border strip has been added since this picture was taken.  Getting the last two border strips on would be a reasonable choice, but En Provence has been the OMG project for the last two months.  I'm ready to move on to something different. 

I do have a project that needs to be done either by Christmas or by the first week in January. That's the Scientist in Training's Geek Chic quilt.  Looking at where I'm at now, that project is probably best reserved for the January OMG.  

There are two items left on my 2017 Quilt Plan that haven't seen any progress.  One of those is to start making Bonnie Hunter's Wild and Goosey pattern out of scraps.  Since the 2017 Bonnie Hunter mystery just kicked off and I'm working on Magnolia Mystery at the same time, adding a new project right now just doesn't seem like the right thing to do.

So that leaves UFO #10 on my list as untouched so far this year.  Twinkle Stars was my 2015 Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  Looking back at my Electric Quilt files, this was the rough plan for the finish.

Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

   

This setting needs 72 blocks.  What was in the project box was moved to the design wall over the weekend. 

I'm 4 blocks short.  That's a relatively easy goal for December.  So the plan is to make one more green, teal, orange and magenta block.  That will move this quilt one step closer to being a finish.  

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

Just a Little Mysterious Stitching

Most of this weekend was spent with the Scientist in Training in Tulsa.  She's wanted to go to a Lindsey Stirling concert for about 5 years now.  That bucket list item got checked off on Saturday night.  We made it a girls weekend with some shopping, nice dinner, cupcakes and a fun breakfast this morning.  Now she's back at school getting ready for finals and I came home with a sinus headache.  So not much stitching has been going on this weekend.  I did finish a few flying geese for clue 2 of On Ringo Lake. 

 On Ringo Lake, Bonnie Hunter 2017 Mystery Quilt

There are actually 4 different blacks in these blocks, but it's hard to tell that from the photo.  A few people have been posting blocks you could make from Clue 1 and Clue 2.  I couldn't resist giving that a go.  Here's guess one:

Sorry, the blocks not exactly straight, but you get the picture.  Here's guess number 2:

Now we have to wait for clue number 3 to see what comes next.  Hopefully I'll have some time to stitch this week.  Maybe work won't as crazy as it was last week.  

Linking up with:
Bonny Hunter's Clue 2 linky party
Monday Making
Main Crush Monday
Monday Design Wall  

Stash Stuff for Week 48 of 2017

Week 48?  Wow, just 4 weeks left in the year.  The days pretty much speed by it seems once we get to this time of year.  More socializing, more decorating, more shopping added to what are already pretty busy schedules in most cases.  For those of us that work outside the home, sometimes there's more there too then at the rest of the year.  My week had a little bit of all of the above, the biggest disruption was work, there was one night an early bed time was absolutely necessary.  So this week there was only 6 days where some significant sewing time happened.  As far as the stash report goes, there is a bit outgoing. 

Used last week:  0.66 yards
Used year to date:  54.92 yards

Fabric usage has been pretty slow the last few months, but thankfully there has been a bit going out each week.  

Not a lot of stitching going on this weekend.  The Scientist in Training and I met up for the Lindsey Stirling concert last night. 

We had a fun time, it was a very good concert.  Then afterwards we treated our sweet tooth.

Thankfully we walked all over the place yesterday, or I'd be looking at hard labor in the next gym workout!

Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash report.