Weekly Stitching and the One Monthly Goal

No rain last night for the first time since last Monday, but it did rain yesterday morning.  The river is still rising due to rain north of us.  It's been a rough week in Oklahoma.  Lots of storm damage and continued flooding across the state.  Doesn't look like this week is going to provide much relief. Hoping the forecasts are wrong.  

With all the rain, it's been a good weekend to just stay home and stitch. I finished off my one monthly goal Friday night. 

The goal was to finish piecing all the blocks for the center of Storm at Sea. 

Storm at Sea
Paper Piecing Class by Carrie Randell (Quilter's Hideaway)

I'm really happy with how this SaS is coming together.  I've been stitching the blocks together and should have the center assembled sometime today.

My Guy wants this quilt for our bed, but it needs some borders added to get it big enough.  I've got the border layout worked out, but I still need to decide which fabrics go where.  Here's my two leading contenders at the moment (meaning My Guy hasn't seen either yet). 

I'm having a hard time deciding between the two.  My Guy tends to be pretty decisive, so he'll probably be pretty definite and like neither of these.  

Linking up with the May One Monthly Goal, Monday Design Wall and Monday Making.  

Week 21 of Stitching and De-Stashing

It's been a long week. The storms have been keeping us up. You don't want to go to bed if the neighboring county has active tornado warnings.  The weather has been really good for mold, which I'm really allergic too.  So between the lack of sleep and the sinus headaches, it wasn't such a good week on finding time to stitch each day.  Hopefully your week has been better on that front. 

The storms kept both the sewing machine and the computer off a few evenings.  Add in the accompanying sinus headaches and I just wasn't very motivated to drag out some handwork in their place. 

15 minute days/week = 4/7 days
15 minute days/May = 22/25 days
15 minute days/2019 = 130/145
Success rate = 89.66%

So not one of my better weeks on that front.  At least I'm still right at my goal of stitching at least 90% of the days in 2019.  

Conversely,  the stash report looks pretty healthy.

Fabric out this week = 3.11 yards
Fabric out for 2019 = 25.52 yards
More out than in for 2019

Most of that yardage going out is the Daisy Chain Mystery blocks along with a bit from the last few blocks of the Storm at Sea blocks.  With all the storms and rain we've had this year, I may well rename that quilt to Storms on the Prairie, cause we've certainly had our share this year!  Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash report.  

So how did your week go?  Link up below and share how you did at finding time to play with needle and thread.  

1. Pack Rat With a Plan 2. karen 3. Chrisknits

4. Julie in GA 5. DawnyK 6. Amanda

7. Angie in SoCal 8. Shasta 9. Deana

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Daisy Chain Mystery - Enough to See it Works

It's been a long stormy week in Oklahoma. We've had storms just about every evening since Monday night. Tuesday morning there was only one road open between downtown and the rest of the community due to river flooding. The water rose all day Tuesday, they let us out of work a bit early to ensure that everyone could get home in case the water overtook that route. The tornadoes missed us, as did the baseball sized hail that took out the windshield of one of my coworkers as she drove home Wednesday night.  The Scientist in Training had been in Florida visiting friends, thankfully none of her flights were delayed and she got home a few hours before the Wednesday night storms.  I've been AWOL from all blogging activities as we've had the router unplugged in the evenings due to the severe weather.  We lost a cable box earlier this month due to lightening, so we've been careful to unplug stuff during the more recent storms. 

Stitching time has been similarly limited this week.  But I did finish enough blocks of the Daisy Chain Mystery quilt to see how the pattern was going to play out with my fabrics. 

Daisy Chain Mystery
2019 Little Bunny Quilts Mystery
by Alison of Honey, Bunny & Doll Designs

I'm pretty happy with out it's turning out.  Thank you Alison for such a fun mystery quilt. You can check out more versions of this quilt over at Little Bunny Quilts.  I need to finish off two more of the star blocks and a several more of the alternate blocks before I can start assembling the quilt.  Then I'll decide if I want to add any borders or not. 

Linking up with Tish's UFO Busting party this morning.  I'm hoping to get Daisy Chain done before it ends up on my UFO list.  For those in the US have a great Memorial Day Weekend.  

Stitching Storms

You know it's spring in Oklahoma when the breakfast conversation is all about which car to leave in the garage and what to remember to unplug before we head out to work.  The forecast is for potentially monster tornado producing storms in the west of the state, with the additional potential for large hail and lots of lightening.  There probably won't be much stitching this evening, so it's a good thing I got lots of stitching time over the weekend.  

There are lot of projects on the active list at the moment, Christmas Angels, Vintage Dresses, Wild and Goosey, On Ringo Lake, Storm at Sea and the Daisy Chain Mystery.  Usually I work on all the active projects at once, just chain piece what ever pieces are needed for each project. That way I make a bit of progress on all of them.  But this weekend I decided to focus on just two projects, Storms at Sea and the Daisy Chain Mystery.  Getting the blocks completed for Storms at Sea is this month's one monthly goal, so I want to be sure that happens.  Alison releases the last clue for the Daisy Chain Mystery today, so I wanted to be all caught up for that.   

I made really good progress on the Storm at Sea blocks.

Storm at Sea
Paper Piecing Class by Carrie Randell (Quilter's Hideaway)

  
All that's left is three large economy blocks and one last diamond block.  I should be able to get those all done and up on the design wall this weekend. Hopefully I'll get a good start on stitching the blocks together. I'd like to get this off the design wall so there's room to play with the next quilt on the to be finished list.  

Fingers crossed that I'll be able to check out some of the other links over at Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and the Monday Design Wall linky parties when I get home from work.  The weather guys often overestimate the storm threat, but the Weather Channel guys are hanging out in Oklahoma City, so it's likely going to be a wild afternoon/evening.

Week 20 of Stitching and De-stashing

It's spring in Oklahoma.  Which means the weather alternates from cold, wet and dangerous to hot, sunny and glorious.  Yesterday was thunderstorms, today is sunshine.  You can stitch in both, though I've been known to unplug the sewing machine during some of the stronger lightening storms.  The storms didn't keep me from getting in my 15 minutes of stitching time each day this week. How did you do at fitting in some fun and game time with fabric and thread?

The biggest challenge this week was fitting in some stitching time on the day I had the stomach bug. Thankfully it was just a 24 hour bug type of thing.  I was able to play with quilt labels rather than go up to the sewing room when I didn't feel too great. 

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/May = 18/18 days
15 minute days/2019 = 126/138 days
Success rate = 91.30%

My percentage of stitching days is back over 90%, so I'm still on track with that goal. 

It was a good week on the de-stashing front as well. 

Fabric out this week = 1.39 yards
Fabric out for 2019 = 22.41 yards
More out than in for 2019 

I've done well with my fabric diet so far this year.  Even so, working fabric out of the stash takes significantly longer than it takes to push a few buttons and add fabric to the stash.  Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for this week's stash report. 

My one 15 minute stitching spent not with fabric and thread was spent working on the label for my Vintage Dresses quilt. There was a comment from last week noting that the dresses in the fashion plates were quite a bit more vintage than the dresses in the quilt.  Here's that first label. 

I went looking for some clip art that was a bit less vintage.  There was some cool stuff on line, but then I remembered my dress patterns. When I was in high school and college, I made a lot of my own clothes. In those days it really was cheaper to buy the fabric and make something versus having store bought. So I hauled out the box of dress patterns and though they aren't from the 1950's, the style of several were pretty close that in some of the blocks.  So I grabbed the camera, spent a little time with clean up in Photoshop Elements and then ended up with this. 

I'm not sure I like the frames around the pattern fronts, but I think these dresses match better with the ones in the blocks.  I'm also wondering if it would be better to remove the white backgrounds and replace that with something else.  That takes a bit of time, but I may try it with one to see if how that works out. 

So how did you spend your stitching time this week? 

1. Pack Rat With a Plan 2. maggie f 3. karen

4. Julie in GA 5. Chrisknits 6. Quilty Most Wanted LIst

7. DawnyK 8. Amanda 9. Christina's Handicrafts

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Not Much Stitching Going On

It was nice to sleep in my own bed last night after a long weekend of packing, moving, graduation parties and hanging out with the family.  There wasn't a lot of time for stitching with all of that going on. Before I headed out Thursday morning to help the SIT move, I finished off one more Wild and Goosey block for a total of 14 so far this year.

These little blocks take a lot of stitching to finish off just one, so it's been slow going.  I've been following along with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge colors, the first orange block is sitting on the sewing machine partially finished.  This is definitely going to be a longer term project so it's good I like how these blocks are turning out. 

I took some hand stitching to work on during the trip, but never had a chance to haul it all out.  It was easier to work on the computer this trip, so I spent my "stitching time" working on the labels for the next two quilts on the to be finished list.  My justification for calling it stitching time is that I can't finish the projects without the labels, so getting them done helps move a project along the road to completion. 

The Christmas Angels quilt is back from being quilted, so getting that label finished was the priority.  

This label is close to finished. It needs the final message added for the intended recipient and may need some tweaking at the top. 

The next quilt on the to be finished list is Vintage Dresses. I've been struggling with the label for that one.  

This is my favorite version so far. but I'm far from done tweaking on this one. 

So not a lot of playing with fabric this week, but there was progress on some of the things that have to be done before the binding goes on.  Hope your week was more productive than mine.  Linking up with Main Crush Monday, Monday Making and the Monday Design Wall.   

Week 19 of Stitching and De-Stashing

It's been a busy week and even busier weekend.  One of those weeks where working in some stitching time has been a challenge.  

Stitching time has been getting done either right when I get up or right before I go to bed this week. 

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/May = 11/11 days
15 minute days/2019 =  119/131 days
Success rate = 90.84%

Most days were only 15 minutes, but that was enough for me to keep my sanity intact.  Next week will slow down a little bit and hopefully I can get in some good stitching time each day.  You can share how your efforts went to find time to do quitly/stitchy stuff at the end of the post.

Considering how little time there's been to sew, the stash report doesn't look too bad.

Fabric out this week = 1.56  yards
Fabric out for 2019 = 21.02 yards
More out than in for 2019

More than a yard out is pretty good for my stash busting efforts.  I finally have more than 20 yards out for the year.  If I keep up this pace, hopefully I'll make it to more than 50 yards out for the year.  Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash update. 

You can link up below to share how you did on finding time to stitch. 

1. Pack Rat With a Plan 2. Chrisknits 3. Meloney

4. Marti 5. Angie in SoCal 6. DawnyK

7. Amanda 8. Christina's Handicrafts

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Daisy Chain Mystery - Block Construction

Alison (Little Bunny Quilts) has released the first step in quilt assembly process for the Daisy Chain Mystery quilt.  

I didn't get very far, but here's what's made it to the design wall so far. 

 Daisy Chain Mystery
2019 Little Bunny Quilts Mystery
by Alison of Honey, Bunny & Doll Designs

The fabrics used in this mystery were all left overs from other projects and they worked out pretty well. I'm happy with my star chains. That's part of the fun in a mystery quilt is seeing how your fabric choices worked out.  Just 10 more to make and I'll be ready for the big reveal with the next clue. 

The May To Do List

It's taken me the first six days of May to figure out what's where and what's next in the sewing room.  April was just so busy, I was pretty much on autopilot.  I took the first hour in the sewing room yesterday to sort through all the bits and pieces at the sewing table in an effort to reset my priorities for the month.  Deciding on the May One Monthly Goal was first item that needed to be nailed down. 

Next up on the to be finished list is Christmas Angels. But it hasn't come back from being quilted.  Trudy is ready to ship it back so I should have it back sometime next week.   I'm hopeful that the binding can be finished up before the end of the month.  It usually only takes it a couple of days to travel through the postal system,  but it has taken up to a full week at times. So though this is high up on the to do list, I'm going to bump it to number two on the priority list just in case.  

My April UFO is Vintage Dresses, it needs the borders, a backing and prepping for quilting.  That's been progressing, but I haven't taken any recent photos of the project.  There are still 4 borders to add to get it up to a bed sized quilt.  Borders always take so much longer than I think they should. So this one goes to number 3 on the priority list for the moment.

The Storm At Sea project is up on the big design wall at the moment. 

 Storm at Sea
Paper Piecing Class by Carrie Randell (Quilter's Hideaway)

The dark blue blocks are almost finished, so all that's left is the deep purple blocks (which aren't photographing well, the color is richer than what it shows in the photo).  I'd like to get this project off the big design wall by the end of the month so I can play with the layout of red, white and blue blocks that are on the list as June's UFO project. I'm hoping to get all the SaS blocks sewn together this month so the center section is finished, but those Economy blocks take longer to make then you'd think. So I'm going to limit the May OMG goal to just getting all the blocks made. If I get the assembly done, great. If not, I'll be ready for that step next month. 

So that's one, two and three for the May priority list.  There is a number 4 and that's the Daisy Chain Mystery project.  

Daisy Chain Mystery
2019 Little Bunny Quilts Mystery
by Alison of Honey, Bunny & Doll Designs

I've got just 2 more of blocks on the left to sew together and I'll be ready for the first block assembly instructions that will show up today over at Little Bunny Quilts.  I'm looking forward to seeing how all these pieces fit together. 

Linking up with The May One Monthly Goal, Monday Making and Design Wall Monday, and Main Crush Monday.

Week 18 of 2019: Stitching and Destashing

The calendar has flipped from April to May since last weekend.  For my part, I'm hoping May is a much slower paced and just an over all better month than April was.  We spent last weekend at a family wedding. It was nice seeing all the family and the wedding was everything it should be. But I broke a tooth sometime during the weekend and that made the last few days of April more than a little painful. All is well now, but I'm hoping to avoid any more such surprises in May.  Thankfully rather than not being able to stitch, having something to distract me till the dentist appointment meant it was fairly easy to work in more than 15 minutes of stitching time in the evening.  How was your stitchy week?  

My stitchy week was pretty productive. 

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/April = 22/30 days
15 minute days/May = 4/4 days
Success rate = 90.32%

My goal for 2019 is to get in at least 15 minutes of stitching time 90% of the time.  So I'm back on track there.  You can link up at the bottom of the post to share how well you did with finding time to stitch this week. 

The stash busting wasn't as successful, but there's a bit going out this week. 

Fabric out this week = 0.21 yards
Fabric out for 2019 = 19.46 yards
More out than in for 2019

I may not have much going out, but at least there's not been much coming in this year.  My goal is to just to reach the end of the year with more out than in.  Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash report. 

The weather was beautiful last weekend and the extended family headed out for a walk in the park before we all headed home.  The azaleas were beautiful and the dogwoods were too. 

  So how well did you do at fitting in a bit of stitching time each day? 

1. Pack Rat With a Plan 2. Chrisknits 3. Meloney 4. MaryR @Urban Quilter

5. Julie in GA 6. DawnyK 7. amanda 8. Deana

9. maggie f 10. Christina's Handicrafts

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