Weekend Stitching: Still Framing

The Scientist in Training is back at college after a week of spring break and we are back to adjusting to the empty nester stage of life.  The house always seems so quiet after she heads back.  So I found something on Netflix to binge watch while trying to get into the stitching groove yesterday afternoon. 

This month's OMG was to get all the Vintage Dress blocks sashed and sewn together.  I've been making steady progress on the sashing strips, but it's a time consuming process.  

 Vintage Dresses by Charise Randell

The bottom two rows are sewn together.  The framing strips for the third row are under construction.  I'll keep plugging away and just see where things are when we reach the end of March.  Even if I don't get it all together, I'm really happy with the progress so far. 

The colored framing strips for the dress blocks are cut at 1".  I've developed quite a pile of residual strips at the cutting table, plus a pile of left over white bits.  I don't usually have a problem throwing away small scraps, but these are such nicely cut strips that it seemed a shame to waste them.  So I stitched up a couple of strips and had a go at making a 4 patch. 

I'm usually not one for stitching mini blocks, but maybe I'll give this a go and just see where it ends up. A 16 patch block would finish at 2", so I'm thinking that may be my final block size.  Then I can either frame them or just stitch them together for a mini postage stamp quilt.

While the SIT was sleeping in on Sunday, I took the opportunity work through my pictures from spring break.  We visited a tulip farm just outside of Dallas and the flowers were just spectacular.  So for those of you who still have snow, just a reminder that spring is coming. 

The SIT picking tulips.  Amazing how her jacket matches the flowers. 
For some reason she's developed a fondness for orange

That's it for me this week on the stitching front.  I've a business trip tomorrow.  Thankfully it's just a down and back to Houston, but it will take all day.  I should be able to make up for that lost stitching time on Friday as we are off for Good Friday.  Hard to believe that Easter is next weekend!  

Linking up with the usual posts:
Monday Making
Main Crush Monday
Monday Design Wall  

Week 12 of 2018: Stitching and De-Stashing

It's been a busy week.  The Scientist in Training has been home on spring break, so we've been able to enjoy her company for the week.  We took a quick trip to Dallas, TX last week to visit with family, take in a few museums and get in a bit of shopping.  She heads back to school today, but will be home next weekend for Easter.  Still I'm a bit sad to see her go, so sewing is definitely on the agenda for this afternoon as I'll need the distraction.  Speaking of stitching time, it's time to assess how the week went on that front. 

This week looks pretty good on the stitching front. 

Days with stitching this week:  7 out of 7 days
Days with stitching this month:  20 out of 24 days
Days with stitching this year:  76 out of 83 days
Success rate:  91.6%

You can link up below to share how you did on finding time to stitch a bit this week.  

I took some hand work with me on our trip to Texas and made it a point to work on that first thing each morning.  So there was a bit of progress on that project, but that didn't help much with the stash report numbers. 

Fabric used this week:  0.40 yards
Fabric used in 2018:  15.57 yards
Fabric purchased in 2018:  0 yards
Net fabric out for 2018:  15.57 yards

I'm doing really well on deleting those fabric shop sale adds, the no fabric in is really helping the stash numbers this year.  Which is good as the fabric out rate is pretty small.  March has just been such a busy month, things should slow down in April. Hopefully that means both the stitching time and the fabric out rate will ramp up a bit.  Linking up with QuiltPaintCreate for the weekly stash report.  

One thing we did during our trip to Texas was visit a tulip farm.  We picked a few, but the real reason we went was for the photography.  

These orange tulips were the SITs favorite.  They definitely glowed in the sunlight, my picture doesn't really do them justice.  

I hope you had a great week of stitching.  You can link up below to share how your week went on that front. 

1. Julie in GA 2. maggie f 3. Meloney 4. Melissa G

5. MartiDIY 6. di 7. Shasta 8. michele

9. Susanne 10. dreamworthy quilts 11. Christina's Handicrafts

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Weekend Stitching - Other Stuff on the Design Wall

The Scientist in Training is home for spring break, so we've been off doing some mom/daughter stuff most of the weekend.  My Guy tagged along a couple of times.  It's been a fun and relaxing weekend, but there hasn't been a lot of sewing room time.  Pretty much just my minimum of 15 minutes. So there is just a bit of progress on getting the Vintage Dress blocks sashed. 

 Vintage Dresses by Charise Randell

All the sashing pieces for the second row are finished.  The next step is to sew that row together. With just one weekend left in the month, it's going to be a challenge to get all the blocks sewn together.  Even if I don't make my March OMG, I'm happy there has been progress.  

There are some other projects up on the other design wall. 

On Ringo Lake, Bonnie Hunter 2017 Mystery Quilt  and  Squared Away Sampler
designed by Mari (The Academic Quilter) The 2018 Rainbow Scrap Challenge Project

My On Ringo Lake blocks are across the top, with a partial there on the left.  Leaders and enders can be a slow way to finish a project, but at least there's been steady project.  The green and white blocks in the middle of the wall is the first Squared Away block for March.  I've been stitching those HSTs in between the Vintage Dress sashing strips.  I haven't even chosen the fabrics for the next two Squared Away blocks, so those are likely to carry over to April.  

That's it for me this week.  Linking up with the usual suspects listed below:

BOMs Away
Monday Making
Design Wall Monday
Main Crush Monday

Week 11 of 2018: Stitching and De-stashing

Whoever invented weekends was a genius.  Have you ever looked into how weekends came to be?  According to my very quick Google search, Henry Ford (of Ford automobile fame) was an early proponent of 5 day work weeks.  The reason? His workers were his first customer base.  He decided that if his employees had two days off every week, they would have time to drive their cars places, which would result in more car sales.  I'm sure that wasn't the only driver for weekends, but it does make a good story. 

Since it's Sunday, it's time to look at how well the week went in terms of stitching a bit and using up some of that stash. 

I did pretty well on finding time to sew this week. 
Days with stitching this week: 6 out of 7 days
Days with stitching this month: 13 out of 17 days
Days with stitching this year: 69 out of 76 days
Success rate:  90.8%

A stomach bug bit me on Tuesday, so no sewing that day.  But otherwise I found time the rest of the week to get in at least my 15 minutes.  

Using up the stash has been going slow too.  The sashing for Vintage Dresses is slow going and doesn't use a lot of fabric.  But since there is no fabric coming in, the stash report is still looking pretty good. 

Fabric used this week: 0.36 yards
Fabric used in 2018: 15.17 yards
Fabric purchased in 2018: 0 yards
Net fabric out for 2018:  15.17 yards

So it's not been a bad week on either front.  Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash report. 

The Scientist in Training is home for spring break.  We've got some mom/daughter stuff planned, so finding time to stitch will be a challenge this week.  But that's for next week's report.  How did you do this week at finding time to stitch? 

1. Julie in GA 2. maggie f 3. di 4. Mary-Kay

5. Aileen K 6. MartiDIY 7. Susanne 8. Shasta

9. Christina's Handicrafts 10. dreamworthy quilts

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Happy St. Pat's!

Weekend Stitching: Slow Going

Thank goodness for weekends.  It was nice to sit and catch my breath on Saturday.  A little laundry and a lot of sewing room time was a nice break from work.  Sunday was mainly spent setting up for the science demos for the local 5th graders.  My Guy is involved with that all this week.  I'll help out with the demos on Thursday and then help with break down and moving all the demo supplies back to storage.  

There wasn't a lot of sewing room time last week due to the business trip, but I did manage to get one row of sashing and one row of the Vintage Dress blocks all sewn together. 

Vintage Dresses by Charise Randell

I've made a start on the sashing for the next row of blocks.  It's slow going, but I like how the frames are working out.  

Not much progress on anything else as there as this project takes a lot of focus to get the right fabric in the right corner for the corner stone blocks.  

Linking up with:
Design Wall Monday
Monday Making
BOMs Away 

Week 10 of 2018: De-stashing and Stitching

It was a busy week.  My two day business trip ended up being 3 days due to the snow in the northeast. Thankfully corporate travel was able to find me a hotel room at the last minute and I didn't have to spend Wednesday night in the airport.  After spending most of the day in the airport on Thursday, I was very happy to make it home that night.  But unfortunately, the travel and the exhaustion aftermath really impacted my efforts to find 15 minutes to stitch each day. 

I don't even attempt to take stitching with me on my business trips as keeping up with stuff in the office takes priority.  So this week's efforts to find 15 minutes each day to make progress on my quilting projects doesn't look so hot.  

Days with stitching this week:  4 out of 7 days
Days with stitching this month:  7 out of 10 days
Days with stitching this year:  63 out of 69 days
Success rate:  91.3%

My goal is to end up with a success rate of over 90% for the year, so even though the business trip set me back a bit, I'm still on track for the year.  How did you do on finding time to stitch?  You can link up at the bottom of the post. 

The stash report didn't fair so well either this week. 

Fabric used this week:  0.22 yards
Fabric used in 2018:  14.81 yards
Fabric purchased in 2018: 0 y
Net fabric out for 2018:  14.81 yards

Nothing in yet this year, so even with just a bit out, I'm happy on that front.  You can find more de-stashing discussions over at  Quiltpaintcreate.   

How are you doing with finding time to stitch?  Link up below to share your successes from the last week.  

1. Julie in GA 2. Melissa G 3. Meloney 4. Mary-Kay

5. di 6. MartiDIY 7. Shasta 8. Dar's Patchwork Garden

9. Aileen K 10. Christina's Handicrafts 11. dreamworthy quilts

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Weekend Stitching: Fashion Foward

It was a busy weekend.  We visited the Scientist in Training at college.  We had a great time hanging out with her and her friends for a bit.  Unfortunately, work has ramped up again and Sunday was spent on various work assignments.  Things will slow down a bit once I get past this week.  At least I hope so.  

I did take a couple of hours away from the work stuff to let things simmer.  Well only partially, I really wanted to watch the NASCAR race and stitch for just a little bit.  The first order of business was to decide on a final layout for the Vintage Dress blocks.

 Vintage Dresses by Charise Randell

That got done.  Then came the initial cutting and stitching to ensure my directions were correct.  I made one calculation error, but thankfully I cut the strips too big, so a quick trip back to the cutting table and the strips were usable.  Since I'm framing each block with a color strip in addition to adding a piece of white sashing between the blocks, each piece of sashing and each corner stone has to be constructed specifically for the block it's going next too. This is going to be slow going, but I've at least made a start. 

I'll be able to sew the bottom sashing row together as each block is framed.  The sashing row at the top of the blocks will have to wait till I frame the blocks in the row above.  Now that I know how this approach is going to work, I'll pick the framing fabrics for the rest of the blocks in this row and cut them all at once.  Then do the same for the row above.  That should speed up the piecing.  But I didn't want to cut a bunch of strips and find that my math wasn't right.  

I will apologize in advance for my slow blog reading and email replies.  There is a business trip on my calendar this week, as well as reports that are due now.  I've spent what down time I've had with family or in sewing room trying to maintain some degree of sanity.   Hopefully things will line out a bit by next weekend as I do miss seeing what everyone is up too.  

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

Week 9 of 2018: A Trip in Between the Stitching and De-Stashing

What a week!  I was really glad to get to the weekend.  We headed out to visit the Scientist in Training at college Friday afternoon and stayed till after dinner on Saturday.  It was such a nice day yesterday, we went out to the Botanical Gardens for a walk.  It's still pretty brown, but there were a few photo worthy moments. 

The butterfly matches her shirt.  

The magnolia trees were blooming.  That was about it for color yesterday, still it was nice to get outside and enjoy the sun after all the cold and the gray of the last few weeks. 

Now for the business part of the post.  It is Sunday, which means it's time to fess up to how much stitching went on this week. 

In spite of being busy and taking off to visit the SIT, there was at least 15 minutes of stitching every day this last week.

Days with stitching this week:  7 out of 7 days
Days with stitching this month:  3 out of 3 days
Days with stitching this year:  59 out of 62 days
Success rate:  92.2% 

I've got a business trip this week, so I'm not likely to get in 7 days of stitching.  Thankfully it's just a two day trip, so I'm hoping to only miss one day of stitching time.  You can link up at the bottom of the post if you want to share your successful (or even your not successful) week of finding time to stitch. 

As far as stash busting, piecing the back for the Magnolia Mystery quilt gave a nice little boosts to the outgoing numbers.  

Fabric used this week:  4.05 y
Fabric used in 2018: 14.59 y
Fabric purchased in 2018: 0 y
Net fabric out for 2018: 14.59

Still no incoming fabric, so it's been a good year on the stash busting front so far.  Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for this week's stash report. 

Here's the linky for the 15 minutes to stitch.  Hope you had a great week on that front.  

1. maggie f 2. MartiDIY 3. Meloney

4. Aileen K 5. Emily @ The Darling Dogwood 6. di

7. Christina's Handicrafts 8. Jennifer in Indy

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March One Monthly Goal - Hoping for a Fashionable Finish

Hard to believe we are already on the second day of March.  Which means it's time to decide on a new One Monthly Goal and link up over at Elm Street Quilts.

Picking the focus project for this month isn't hard as I lined that out back in December.  March's OMG will be for the Vintage Dresses blocks. 

 Vintage Dresses by Charise Randell

Last time this project was up in the rotation, I added coping strips to make the blocks all the same size.  Next each block needs a colored frame, but that will get added with the sashing.  So I need to decide on the final layout and start making those sashing strips.  I've got a lot of commitments this month.  There are two business trips, a 2 day volunteer stint for a science demonstration program, spring break and Easter.  All of those will cut into my weekends, so sewing time is going to be at a premium this month.  As much as I'd like this to be a finished flimsy by the end of the month,  I'll be doing good to get the blocks all sewn together.  So that will be this month's goal, get all the sashing strips made and the center of the quilt sewn together.  Hopefully that's doable based on this month's calendar. 

So the sewing room focus list looks like this for March:

1.  Sew the Vintage Dress blocks together. 
2.  Bind Geek Chic
3.  Send Magnolia Mystery out for quilting
4.  Make 3 Squared Away blocks in bright and light greens
5.  Make 5 Sawtooth Star blocks in green
6   On Ringo Lake - Leaders and Enders project

March is going to be a busy month!