Week 34 of 2019 - Stitching and Destashing

Week 34 of 2019 wasn't one of the smoothest we've ever had.  Health issues took center stage, one of which landed the Scientist in Training in the emergency room.  Poor girl caught a stomach bug the weekend before classes started back up. By Wednesday she was dehydrated and had a bad case of the shakes because she wasn't able to eat.  Thankfully after 48 hours on clear liquids, probiotics, and some sleep without the shakes she's just about back to normal.  So my stitchy week didn't really go to plan.  How about yours?

The emergency trip to see the SIT took one stitchy evening, but it wasn't too bad to find those 15 minutes the during the rest of the week.

15 minute days/week = 6/7 days
15 minute days/August = 22/24 days
15 minute days/2019 = 208/236 days
Success rate = 88.14%

So not a bad week for finding time to stitch every day.  Some of what I'm counting as stitching time is being spent on the sewing room reorganization.  Last week I partially emptied my "to be pressed pile" of washed fabrics, this week I refilled the bin with some teals that are needed to fill out that color in the fabric closet. 

Some of these fabrics are recent purchases, some have been sitting in the "to wash" pile for a while.  None were purchased this week, I actually managed to not add anything new.

Fabric out this week = 0.33 yards
Fabric out for 2019 = 35.89 yards
More fabric in than out

That's how my stitchy week went. How did your's go?

1. Julie in GA 2. Chrisknits 3. karen

4. Meloney 5. Angie in SoCal 6. Amanda

7. Busy Nana 8. Christina's Handicrafts

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A Bit of This and That

It was a get through it week and weekend.  The Scientist in Training headed back to college to sign a new lease on her apartment and help her roommate move in. Then she promptly came down with what appears to have been a nasty stomach virus. Poor girl, she was finally able to eat without feeling miserable last night.  She should be able to get to all her classes today (fingers crossed on that). On my end it was a weekend of texting her home remedies and commiserating on just how miserable it is to be sick when you are not home.  

The reorg of the sewing room continued this weekend.  Step one was to deal with the purchased patterns.  Last weekend they all got stuck one binder just to get them off my desk, but they weren't organized.  After organizing by general project type, it took two binders to contain that collection. 

Now a pattern can be located without flipping through a whole notebook to locate it.  I really do need to finish up a few UFOs, there are some really fun patterns I'd like to make. 

A marathon ironing session moved some of the washed fabrics out of the to be pressed bin and into the fabric closet so they can be readily used. 

I prewash my fabrics, so there's always a stack that needs pressing before they can be put away.  This pile is about half of what was in the bin. 

There was a bit of stitching this weekend.  The third round of borders have been added to Storm at Sea. 

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

The fourth border will be pieced. I'm still working on stitching the big blue diamonds, all the green square in a square blocks are ready.  So construction on this project will slow down for now. 

I still need to prep Vintage Dresses, that's my August One Monthly goal. Good thing there is still one full weekend and one partial weekend in August.  There is still time for me to get it done.  

Linking up with the usual Monday linky parties. 

Monday Making
Design Wall Monday
Main Crush Monday 

Week 33 of 2019 - Stitching and Stashing

Hot, humid and heat advisory are pretty descriptive of this last week's weather.  That will be the pattern till at least mid-week.  Definitely a good reason to spend more than 15 minutes in the sewing room each day. 

It wasn't hard to stay in and sew this week. 

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/August = 16/17 days
15 minute days/2019 = 202/229 days
Success rate = 88.21%

You can link up below to share how your stitchy week went. 

As far as the stash report, well, it's not as good. I gave into temptation and shopped the Connecting Threads backing sale. That did significant damage to the balance of fabric in versus out. 

Fabric out this week = 0.08 yards
Fabric out for 2019 = 35.56 yards
More fabric in than out. 

Not much fabric under the needle this week as decluttering the sewing room was the activity for the week. All the patterns are now organized with the extra's ready for donation. The next step is to look at all the quilting books and decide if any of those can go to a new home.  I'm hoping to clear off some bookshelf space so I can get the overflow pile off the floor.  

So how did you do at finding time to stitch this week?  

1. karen 2. Julie in GA 3. Chrisknits 4. Meloney

5. Shasta @ High Road Quilter 6. Angie in SoCal 7. Amanda 8. Mary-Kay

9. CJ 10. Christina's Handicrafts

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Not a Stitch

I walked into my sewing room Saturday with the intent of prepping Vintage Dresses for quilting.  That means vacuuming to minimize the possibility of contamination from stray threads on the floor and the cutting table. After dragging the vacuum up the stairs and plugging it in. I looked around and realized just how much of a mess the sewing room really was.  There's a lot of clutter and every available nook and cranny is stuffed with something.  There are bags of scraps on the floor because the scrap drawers are full, along with books because there is no shelf space left on the book cases. 

To deal with this mess, means finding space on the other bookcases.  So rather than prepping the quilt, I started decluttering.  What you don't see in this picture (cause I always forget to take "before" shots) is the double stack of magazine patterns that were piled up on the top of this book case. Those piles were not quite a foot tall.  That seemed like a good place to start.  By the end of the day yesterday I'd gotten this far. 

I emptied five binders while whittling down the stack to the patterns I really wanted to keep (tastes change).  That freed up a whole bunch of plastic sleeves.  So a bunch of patterns are going to the recycle place. 

The filed patterns fit in three binders. 

It will probably take four binders to hold these and what's not filed yet.  Still, that means four binders are coming off the book shelf, leaving room for a few more books. I've also started going through my quilting books and have decided that there's a few that should just go.  So those will get boxed up and taken to the library at some point.  

I spent all weekend on dealing with just the purchased and magazine patterns.  I'll try to finish that up this week and start scheduling time to work on some of the other clutter.  It's amazing what dragging a vacuum cleaner into a room can prompt!   

So no stitching to show off this week, there's not even a clean sewing room to show off, but at least I've made a start on making it better.  Linking up with the Monday Design Wall. 

Week 32 of 2019: Stitching and Stashing

You can tell it's August in Oklahoma, the storm warnings have been replaced with heat advisories on the weather app. It's been miserably hot and humid.  Definitely a good week to spend more than 15 minutes in the sewing room each evening. 

Having said that, I didn't quite manage that every night this week. 

15 minute days/week = 6/7 days

15 minute days/August = 9/10 days

15 minute days/2019 = 195/222 days

Success rate = 87.84%

Not a bad week on the stitching front. The one night I didn't sew, I read a book.  I had intended to go stitch, but got caught up in the book and just couldn't put it down.  

On the stash front, I've been stashing more than using.  We visited a quilt shop on Friday and the owner is going to retire in the near future, so she's begun putting all her fabric on sale.  I didn't go wild, but there was a bit that came home with me.

Fabric out this week = 0.26 yards

Fabric out for 2019 = 35.48 yards

More fabric in than out

There's still a chance that I'll end the year with more out than in, but that chance is dwindling.  I'm OK with that, I've at least cut way back on stash enhancements compared with last year.  

In addition to stitching this week, I've been playing with my new camera lens.  My Guy brought home flowers from the farmers market.  They were very bright and pretty. 

That was my week.  So how did your stitchy week work out? 

1. karen 2. Meloney

3. Julie in GA 4. Amanda

5. Christina's Handicrafts

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Bits and Pieces of Progress

It was a good weekend.  The Scientist in Training was home to just hang out.  She's back at school this week to wrap up a few things on her undergraduate research.  She'll be back on Thursday evening to hang out for about a week before returning to campus to get ready for the fall semester.  

There was some good progress in the sewing room, but not a lot that's really photo worthy.  This is what was sitting at the sewing machine  ready for stitching when I stopped for the night.  

There are blocks for the Storm at Sea pieced border, a few Wild and Goosey blocks, then some strips and 4-patches for the Sensational Scrap Mystery.  

The green square in a square blocks for the pieced SAS border are all finished. 

Twelve more of the large blue diamonds plus 4 blue square in a square blocks are needed to finish off those pieced borders.  

Progress was made on the yellow 4 patches for clue 2 of the Sensational Summer Scrap quilt.

A few more blue ones got made too, but I didn't get a photo of those. 

So progress on a lot of fronts, but not much really to see.  Linking up with the usual Monday crowd. 

Monday Making
Monday Design Wall
Main Crush Monday

Week 31 of 2019 Stitching and De-stashing

It's been a slow weekend here at Life in Pieces.  The Scientist in Training is home. She just wanted a weekend to "be" and recharge with a bit of being home. I remember those weekends from graduate school (I lived at home during my undergrad studies).  Now my preferred recharging strategy is to spend an hour in the sewing room each evening.  If I can't spend an hour, sneaking in 15 minutes of stitching time helps smooth out the rough edges from the work day.  I've always considered my personal goal to get in 15 minutes of stitching time each day as a time management technique, but upon closer examination, it's also my version of just "being".  What's your motivation for trying to fit in at least 15 minutes of stitching each day?

I got in some "just being" time every day this last week.

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/July = 28/31 days
15 minute days/August = 3/3 days
15 minute days/2019 = 189/215 days
Success rate = 87.91%

So it was a good week for working in some me time.  Finding stitching time has been harder this year for some reason.  We've been gone more this year, plus work has been more challenging. Hopefully things will slow down for the next little bit.  You can share how your stitching week went by linking up at the bottom of the post.

On the stash front, the Vintage Dress backing really bumped up my out of the stash numbers. 

Fabric out this week = 5.28 yards
Fabric out for 2019 = 35.22 yards
More fabric in than out

So it was a good week on that front.  I'm hoping to work in at least two more backs before the end of the quarter, so that should help move the stash numbers closer to 50 yards out for the year. 

How did your stitchy week work out?

1. Julie in GA 2. Chrisknits 3. Jennifer in Indy

4. Shasta @ High Road Quilter 5. Amanda 6. Meloney

7. Christina's Handicrafts

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The August To Do List

The opportunity to sleep in this morning was much appreciated.  It was a looong week in a lot of ways.  The weekend couldn't get here soon enough.  Plus the Scientist in Training decided to come home.  The summer semester is over, she has two weeks before the fall semester kicks off.  She has to work next week, so she's heading back on Sunday, but the following week she'll be able to stay home for a few more days.  We have a full girls only day planned for then. 

Hard to believe it's already August and time to decide what's on the quilty to do list, including what's the August One Monthly Goal. 

The goal for August is to get the Vintage Dresses quilt prepped for quilting and sent on it's way to be quilted. 

 Vintage Dresses by Charise Randell

The back of the finished flimsy needs to be cleaned up. White is so clean and crisp, but it requires the most care with snipping off loose threads on the back so they don't show through once it's quilted.  That is my least favorite part of quilting.  So making it my OMG will ensure it gets done.  

What else is on the July to do list?   Finish adding the borders for Storm at Sea.

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

There are 4 more borders left.  That may seem like a lot, but it needs that many so it will fit on our queen sized bed. My Guy asked that I make sure this quilt has more drop on it than our current quilt so it overlaps the dust ruffle more. Our current quilt just reaches the top of the dust ruffle, so you have to be really careful when making the bed so you don't have mattress showing on one side or the other. 

The cutting directions for the Mosaic Mystery Quilt along have been posted, so that's on the list for August. I've printed off the instructions, but that's it so far.  I'm looking forward playing with these rich colors. 

The Simply Sensational Summer Scrap quilt along with Kevin the Quilter is on the list for this month as well.  Clue 1 and clue 2 are making 4-patches.  

 

These are pretty easy to fit in with the other stitching that's going on.  

Stitching on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge project, Wild and Goosey, will continue this month as well. 

 Modified Wild and Goosey
Based on Bonnie Hunter's pattern in Addicted to Scraps

These blocks take a good bit of time to make, but I'm slowly adding blocks of each color.  

The last project on the August to do list is this year's leaders and enders project, On Ringo Lake.  

On Ringo Lake, Bonnie Hunter 2017 Mystery Quilt

This is an old photo of the blocks, there have been a few more made since this photo, but I've not had the design wall space to throw them up for an updated progress photo. I need about 4 or 5 more blocks to be done with that part of the project.  I'm hoping to get this project to the finished flimsy stage before this year's Bonnie Hunter Mystery. (fingers crossed on that goal) 

I'm also playing along with Quilting Gail's PHD in 2019.  I'm not doing so hot.

 I've not added any finishes lately, just two more starts for 2019.  So it's doubtful I'll earn my quilty PHD this year, but it's been fun and motivating to play along.  

That's my list for August.  Hopefully your list is shorter and full of almost finished projects.