Sunday, July 28, 2019

Work 30 of 2019: Stitching and Stashing

The week started with a business trip and ended with some much needed yard work.  So it's been another busy week where stitching just didn't happen a couple of days.  Hopefully you had better luck finding 15 minutes to stitch each day this week. 



The week wasn't a total loss for me, but I did miss the two days I was on the road. 

15 minute days/week = 5/7 days
15 minute days/July = 24/27 days
15 minute days/2019 = 182/208 days
Success rate = 87.50%

My plan for today is an almost nothing but sewing day today.  I do have to run a couple of loads of laundry this morning.  I'll do that while I'm trying to get caught up on blog reading and replying to comments.  I've gotten very behind on both.  There really aren't enough hours in the day, so something has to give.  After spending most of my day on the computer at work, I would just rather sew in the evenings then spend time on the computer.  I've tried to spend a few evenings on the computer and I end up nodding off in the recliner. Even worse, I find my proof reading isn't very good under those conditions and some of you have seen at least partial nonsensical comments as a result.  

On the stash management front, I did my bit to support my local quilt shop.  I completely forgot to get photos, but it was mostly fat quarters to replenish some rainbow stash colors I just don't have much of.  So the stash took a hit, but it's also important to support the local shop.  There is a bit going out, but not much. 

Fabric out this week = 0.40 yards
Fabric out for 2019 = 29.94 yards
More fabric in than out

The sewing plan today includes making the back for Vintage dresses, so there should be a good amount going out for next week. 

If you've followed my blog for a bit, you know that I like Excel and track all kinds of quilty things in my spreadsheet.  A few years ago I put together a quilt map using Microsoft Publisher.  What's a quilt map?  It's a visual record in one file of all the quilts I've worked on.  Here's page one of my quilt map with all the quilts started from 1987 to 2008.  



The red stars indicate quilts that aren't finished yet.  The map had to be rebuilt recently, it quit working with the change to a new computer.  During the rebuild, I started wondering what my percent completion rate was for each year.  So of course that result in another Excel graph. 



All the quilts started prior to 2005 are finished.  In general, I'm starting more quilts now than when I started stitching again in 2001.  In 2013, I participated in Cat Patches NewFO challenge, so I started one quilt a month that year.  Obviously, I did really well with the starts, but not so hot with the finishes.  My oldest UFO is from 2005.  It's on the to be finished list this year. We'll see if that happens, I just haven't gotten that far.  Other than what's been started this year, at least 40% of the starts from previous years have been completed.  At total of 83 quilts have been started since 1987 and 58 are finished. So that's a 70% completion rate.  That's really not too bad.  

Working in those 15 minutes a day in the sewing room is intended to help with the completion rate and it has.  How did your stitchy week work out?



1. Julie in GA
2. karen
3. Chrisknits
4. Meloney
5. Angie in SoCal
6. Amanda

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9 comments:

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

with being retired I think a lot of times I average 2 to 3 hours sewing a day if not more - then other days nada!

The Colorful Fabriholic said...

I love all your metrics. How fun to put numbers to your quilt-making progress!

Meloney said...

What do you use for tracking? I love the display.

piecefulwendy said...

Love those quilt blocks in your header photo! My week was a bit interrupted as far as sewing, so I haven't gotten as much done. I do usually sew every day, since I don't work outside the home anymore. Yesterday I planned to sew and then ended up cleaning the room a bit. It still needs more work, so we'll see what I accomplish today. I should tackle my scrap basket . . .

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

I really enjoyed looking at your graph. I will have to look into how to make a quilt map. I do those sort of statistics on my quilts too - and I have about a 70% completion rate overall too. It takes me about 7 months on average to make a quilt, though I know when I finish the UFO I am working on now, that stat will be skewed to years probably. I gave away about 1/3 of the quilts I made. I haven't charted my starts and finishes per year though.

seabreezequilts said...

I got to tell you I don't want to know how many quilts I have started and not finished since I started quilting, but I admire your dedication to detail. I have a couple of quilts that need quilting as I do all the quilting myself that is going to take a while but I will get the eventually... well that is what I tell myself anyway.

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

Your quilt map is so cool! I love how you have it all layed out!!

Jennifer said...

That’s a really neat graph...I may have to try to construct one like that too. I’d need two measures - top finished, and whole process finished...I tend to stall when it is time for quilting it.

Emily said...

I love your charts and graphs!!! I hear you on spending all day on the computer at work and not wanting to once you get home. I'm at least a week behind on email and blogs because I just don't want to be near a computer once I get home!