Wrapping up November

Hope everyone in the US had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We had 22 here for dinner. We split the cooking duties with My Guy's youngest sister, she does the turkey, the Scientist in Training does the ham.  Allows us to have two ovens going all morning, which makes a huge dent in how much has to get done in one kitchen.  It was nice to catch up with everybody, see how big all the little ones are getting. 

Thanksgiving was about as late as it can be this year.  So with just a couple of days left in the month, it's time to post about the November One Monthly Goal

The plan was to finish the pieced border and add a plain white border to Twinkle Stars. 

Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

Both borders were on with time to spare this month for a change. First time since July that I've met my OMG. So it was a good month, in spite of all the madness going on at work. The only problem is that I don't think Twinkle Stars looks finished.  I waited till the SIT got home for the holiday to see if she agrees.  She did.  She also agreed it needed to be a bit longer as the intended recipient is very tall. The only problem is that this was supposed to be a Christmas gift.  If I add more borders it won't get done in time.  So the SIT and I are still talking about the path forward. Hopefully, we'll have one by the time she heads back to school on Sunday. 

The other progress for the month has been on clue 3 for the Mosaic Mystery quilt. 

Mosaic Mystery Quilt
from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

I switched a couple of fabrics once the mystery got started and now I'm thinking that probably wasn't a good idea.  We'll see how it looks at the reveal.  Clue 4 is due out next Thursday. Clue 1 for Bonnie Hunter's Mystery, Frolic, came out today.  I'll have lots to keep me busy in December.  Lots of options for the December One Monthly Goal.

Happy Thanksgiving

To Do Tuesday - Thanksgiving Edition

There wasn't much stitching time last week, but I made up for that on Sunday.  Pretty much nothing but stitching all day.  Which is good cause much of Monday was spent recovering from a stomach bug.  After a day of crackers and toast, I'm feeling just about normal this morning.  So how did the To Do list fare with all of that interferance?   


Weekly To Do List for 11/19/2019
1. Twinkle Stars - add pieced border, final white border✔
2. 2019 Christmas Mystery - make clue 6 blocks, sash, add borders - progress
3. Winter Quilt Along - finish clue 2 - progress
4. Mosaic Mystery - make a start on clue 3 blocks✔

I was able to check off two of the four.  Even though the other two don't have check marks, there was good progress on both. So another successful week. Writing out a To Do list forces me to think about how much time I'll have that week and decide which projects I want to focus that time on.  

So what's on the list of this week?  With Thanksgiving in the mix, we'll be hanging out with family a lot so hand work will have to feature on this week's list. 

Weekly To Do List for 11/26/2019

1. Medallion butterfly embroidered panel - Stitch the butterfly names in the upper left corner of the panel. 

This is the last photo I can find of this hand work project.  It's my go to project when we are doing a lot of hanging out with the family.  

2.  Frolic - The 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery. Get started on clue one.  I'm going to make half the blocks as a first pass, then decide after the reveal if I want to make the full sized quilt.  

I'm going with black as my neutral. The blue bonnet print will either be a border or the backing. Depends on how big I decide to go. 

3.  Mosaic Mystery Quilt - Finish November's clue.

 Mosaic Mystery Quilt
from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

I need 16 of these blocks, but only have about 5 finished.  Hopefully I can finish 11 more before Sunday.  

4. Winter Quilt Along - Finish clue 2 and clue 3 (assuming Alycia posts a clue this Wednesday).  

 Quiltgirl Winter Quilt Along
Alycia Quilts

I made good progress on this clue last week, but didn't quite finish making all those HSTs.  

That's a pretty ambitious list considering we have a holiday this week and we'll have lots of family to hang out with.  I expect to make progress on every item, but I doubt I get to check any off next Tuesday. 

So that's my list for this holiday week.  Have a very happy Thanksgiving if you live in the US, have a great week if you don't.  You can see all the other To Do lists posted over at Home Sewn By Us.  

An Almost Nothing But Stitching Day

After all the mania and stress of last week, My Guy and I took the opportunity to have a much lower key weekend.  Last week was his first full week back at work after surgery, he was pretty tired by Friday.  He's still not quite 100%, but is slowly working his way back to normal.  We spent Saturday in Tulsa with the Scientist in Training doing our Thanksgiving meal shopping.  The SIT has classes today, but all her classes for tomorrow were canceled, so she'll be home around dinner time tonight.  

Other than a few loads of laundry, yesterday was a nothing but sewing day.  It was nice to spend most of the day stitching, I really needed the de-stress time.  Twinkle Stars is now bordered. 

 Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

This was all the borders I had planned to add.  But I'm not sure it's big enough.  After playing around in EQ, I'm considering adding a narrow scrappy rainbow border followed by one more white border.  That would make it a good couch sized quilt.  Since this quilt is intended for one of the SITs friends, I'll see what she thinks about those additions when she gets home tonight.  

I didn't get my Christmas Mystery blocks done in time for class on Saturday.  But they are finished now. 

2019 Christmas Mystery
designed by Carrie Randall (Quilter's Hideaway)

Completion of the bow and candy piece tie up this mystery project.  Now to sash the blocks and add the borders.  That probably won't happen till next week since Thanksgiving is this week and we have plans with family.  

I'm off work today, but we have errands to run and I've got to get some laundry done.  I do hope to get some time to play in the sewing room before the SIT makes it home.  That's the plan anyway. 

Linking up with Monday Making and Monday Design Wall.   

Week 47 of Stitching Stuff

What a week!  I didn't leave the office till after 9:30 PM on Friday. That's not normal for me, but it's just been that nuts at work.  It makes it hard to find time to stitch, even just 15 minutes, when days start looking like that.

My late evening ended my long running streak of 15 minute evenings in November.  

15 minute days/week = 6/7 days

15 minute days/November = 22/23 days

15 minute days/2019 = 295/327

Success rate = 90.21%

Still my success rate for fitting in 15 minutes of stitching time is over 90%, which was the goal for the year. So long as I don't have any more really long days, I should be able to meet that goal.  Thankfully I'm off this week, but the first week in December will be more madness.  Things should calm down once we get to the second week.  

Since getting to the sewing machine has been difficult, a couple of evenings this week, I worked on quilt labels for the Christmas Mystery quilt 

and for Twinkle Stars

The backgrounds of the labels may change a bit depending on what ends up being the backing for each quilt, but otherwise I think these are close to the final designs.  

So how did you do this week at fitting in some stitching time? 

1. Julie in GA 2. Chrisknits 3. Shasta @ High Road Quilter

4. MaryR @UrbanQuilter 5. Meloney 6. DawnyK

7. Amanda 8. Quilting Gail

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To Do Tuesday: Seems to Be Working

It's been 4 weeks since my first link up with "To Do Tuesday".  I've yet to check everything off my list, but there has been good progress on the projects that are on each week's list.  So the making a list approach has been working, so I'll stick with it for now.  We'll see how well it works once the holiday rush gets going.  

Last week was pretty good, two check marks and good progress on the other project isn't shabby at all.  

Weekly to Do List for 11/12/19

1. Twinkle Stars - Finish and attach pieced borders - progress

2. 2019 Christmas Mystery - Finish Clue 5✔

3. Winter Quilt Along - Pick out fabrics and finish Clue 1✔

There will be Thanksgiving prep going on towards the end of this next week, I need to remember that when deciding what's doable for this week's list.  

Weekly to Do List for 11/19/2019

1.  Twinkle Stars - Add bottom pieced border and the final white border (finished flimsy)

Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

I had to take the left border off and resew all the seams slightly smaller to make it bigger in places.  It really was too short for the side and there were a couple of pleats in the top.  But that's fixed and all the other borders are sewn together.  I just didn't have time to sew on the bottom border last week. There's just one white border left to add. Then I'll have a finished flimsy just in time for the One Monthly Goal link up.   

2.  2019 Christmas Mystery.  Make Clue 6 blocks, sash and add borders. 

2019 Christmas Mystery
designed by Carrie Randall (Quilter's Hideaway)

The fabrics for the last two blocks are selected and the fabric for the bow is already cut. It's ready to assemble.  I'm  sure I can get the blocks done. Maybe I can get them sashed. but I doubt both borders get added.  We're supposed to bring the completed flimsy to class on Saturday.  We'll see how that works out.  

3. Winter Quilt Along - Finish Clue 2

Quiltygirl Winter Quilt Along
Alycia Quilts

Clue 1 wasn't bad. Alycia promised that each clue would only take an hour.  Cutting all the fabric was the time consuming part of that step. The HSTs stitched up pretty fast as leader and enders while I was working on theTwinkle Stars borders. This is definitely my kind of mystery.   

4.  Mosiac Mystery - Get started on clue 3 blocks

 I don't expect to finish the clue this week.  Hopefully if I start on it this week, I'll be able to finish off the clue next week since there won't be any more clues for the Christmas Mystery quilt. That will keep me on track with this mystery.   

That's my list for this week.  Linking up with Home Sewn by Us for To-Do Tuesday #15.  Good luck with your to-do's for the week.  

A Bit of Progress

Thankfully it was a slow down, relaxing at home weekend.  Work has been nuts and will likely continue that way till the end of the first week in December.  So I took the opportunity this weekend to not only catch up on laundry, but on a couple of design wall projects as well. 

Getting the pieced borders on Twinkle Stars has proved more difficult than I anticipated. The left border had to be taken off and the sections re-stitched with narrower seams to match the seams in the top.  There were a few places where there were obvious pleats in the top. Letting out the seams eliminated the pleats.  I started with narrower seams on the right and top borders, adjusting them as necessary when pinning the borders on.  It was a slow process, but the borders will lay flat.  

Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

  
The bottom border isn't completely sewn together yet, but it's close.  Getting this quilt to the finished flimsy stage is the one monthly goal for November.  Hopefully the final, plain white border won't take as long as the pieced border did to finish off. 

The 2019 Christmas Mystery Quilt is up on the small design wall. 

2019 Christmas Mystery
designed by Carrie Randall (Quilter's Hideaway)

The mittens block was finished about 30 minutes before class on Saturday.  The last clue, along with the final layout, was given at the class on Saturday.  I've picked out the sashing fabric, and the two border fabrics. 

The dark green with the gold stars is the sashing fabric, the white with the red and green stars is the small inner border and the red and gold stars is the outer border.  The finished flimsy is due at class next Saturday.  Not sure I'll get that far, but I'll try.  

So that covers what's up on both design walls.  You can see what else in the works by checking out the Monday Making and Monday Design Wall linky parties.  

Week 46 of 2019: Stitching Stuff

The heavy winter coat came out of the hallway closet for the first time this year.  The cold and windy most days this week made it a nice week to stay in and stitch.  Unfortunately, the end of year stuff at work hasn't slowed down yet, so there were a few nights where it was just eat, get in my 15 minutes of stitching time and go to bed.  Hopefully fitting in at least 15 minutes of stitching time was a breeze for you this week. 

Having a wide variety of things going on in the sewing room makes it a lot easier to find something that you can work on for 15 minutes. Shopping the stash for a new project was my chosen as my "only have 15 minutes activity" a couple of nights last week.  With that I was able to maintain a perfect week on finding the time to play with fabric. 

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/November = 16/16 days
15 minute days/2019 = 289/320 days
Success rate = 90.31%

So it was a good week on that front.  My stash usage is dismal at the moment, so I'm only writing a stash report once a month.  I've got a few mystery projects in the works and that fabric doesn't get counted out till I start assembling the quilt, so at some point, my numbers will look much better.  

So how did you do at fitting in stitching time this week?   

1. Chrisknits 2. karen 3. Julie in GA

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

7. DawnyK 8. Amanda 9. Quilting Gail

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To Do Tuesday - Not a Total Loss

Work is in overdrive, so there have been a few long days the last couple of weeks.  Add in a trip to see the Scientist in Training over the weekend and the end result was not a lot of sewing room time. Consequently,  the To Do list from last week is a bit sad. 

Weekly To Do List for the Week of 11/5/2019

1. Twinkle Stars - Piece left side border - progress
2. Finish Clue 4 of the 2019 Christmas Mystery ✔ 
3. Storm at Sea - Cut border strips and assemble - no progress

One check mark out of three isn't so bad. And there was progress on the Twinkle Stars border.  This week is proving to be even more nuts than last, but at least we'll be home over the weekend.  So here's the list for this week. 

Weekly To Do List for Week of 11/12/19

1. Twinkle Stars pieced border - Finish the pieced borders and get them attached. 

Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

This may not be doable, so we'll call this the stretch goal for the week. 

2.  Finish Clue 5 of the 2019 Christmas Mystery

2019 Christmas Mystery
designed by Carrie Randall (Quilter's Hideaway)

Clues one through four are all finished.  Just one block this week, so that should be doable. 

3.  Pick out fabrics for Alycia Quilts - Quiltygirl Winter Quilt a Long and finish clue one which should be released tomorrow. She promises that it will take only one hour a week and can be done as a leader and ender project.  Not that I need another project, but Alycia's quilt a longs have produced some really cool quilts and I never play along.  I definitely have the stash for it, so might as well get the fabric out of the closet and into another UFO. At least it will have a purpose.  

That's my list for this next week.  Linking up with Home Sewn By Us To Do Tuesday Linky #14. Fingers crossed there are more check list on my to do list this week. Good luck with your weekly to do list. 

Contemplating Frolic

It was a gorgeous weekend weather wise and an enjoyable one cause we got to hang out with the Scientist in Training. My Guy has been pretty much house bound the last 4 weeks as he's been recovering from surgery. He definitely needed the change of scenery.  

A trip out of town over the weekend coupled with a few late nights at work, meant I didn't get much more than 15 minutes of stitching in a few nights.  So not that much has changed on the design wall.  After we got back last night I played catch up on the 2019 Christmas Mystery blocks. 

2019 Christmas Mystery
designed by Carrie Randall (Quilter's Hideaway)

  
Clue 4 is almost done and I need to pick the fabrics for clue 5.  

Bonnie Hunter released the fabric requirements for Frolic on Halloween.  I've never gotten the paint chips, I just shop the stash to see what can be pulled together out of what I've already got.  That proved to be pretty easy.  The last decision to make is am I sticking with the light neutral Bonnie is using or do I go off palette and go with black? 

What do you think, white or black?  The blue bonnet fabric was in the stash and will likely be the backing for this project. I'm going to start with half the blocks and decide how big to go after the reveal. There's enough of each fabric to make the full size version should I want to.  

That's it for me this week.  Linking up with Monday Making and Monday Design Wall.  

Week 45 of 2019: Stitching Stuff

It's been a beautiful weekend, lots of warm sunshine. Hard to believe the forecast tomorrow is for cold with snow showers. We took advantage of the good weather to pay the Scientist in Training a visit.  So my 15 minutes of stitching the last few days has been of the hand variety, but that still counts.  

Work has been a bit of a zoo, so I've worked late a few nights the last week. It was a struggle a couple of nights to make the climb to the sewing room, but it happened.  

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/November = 9/9 days
15 minute days/2019 = 282/313 days
Success rate = 90.10%

After last week, I'm back to meeting my goal of stitching 90% of the time in 2019.  Hopefully I can stay on track with this goal from here on out. 

You can scroll to the bottom of the post to link up. Up next are a few photos to show off what a beautiful fall day it was. 

There were still a few pops of color in all the brown. 

And a few butterflies out and about looking for that last hit of nectar. 

  

So how did your stitchy week go? 

1. Julie in GA 2. karen 3. Meloney

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

7. DawnyK 8. Christina's Handicrafts

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To Do Tuesday - Definite Progress

I was lucky and had two vacation days to spend at home this last week.  That meant there was extra time to play in the sewing room. I didn't check every thing off last week's list, but there was progress on every item.  

Weekly To Do List for 10/29/2019

1.  Vintage Dresses - finish binding ✔
2.  Finish pieced border for Twinkle Stars - progress
3.  Finish clue 3 for the 2019 Christmas Mystery ✔

The plan has been to focus the to do list on just a few projects in hopes that there are a few more finishes before the end of the year.  Vintage Dresses (Sophia's Closet) is done, you can see the final quilt in this post.  Clue 3 for the 2019 Christmas Mystery is done. So two check marks for last week.  But there wasn't one for Twinkle Stars, I made progress but getting the borders made and on was a lot more work than I anticipated. Setting up my weekly "to do" list with items that can be accomplished in 7 days of sewing is going to be a challenge.  So what's on the list for this week?



Weekly To Do List for 11/5/2019

1. Twinkle Stars pieced border - Make the pieces for the right side border. 

The left side border is made and stitched on. I won't have the vacation time this week, so I'll be happy if I can get that side border made and stitched on. 

2.  Finish Clue 4 of the 2019 Christmas Mystery

The fabrics are selected and the freezer paper templates have been made.  I'm not a fan of applique, so I'm hoping this one goes together easily.  

3.  Cut border strips and assemble next blue border for Storm at Sea. 

The white border is attached. After looking at the drop My Guy wanted on this quilt and how much fabric I have left, a redesign was needed.  Rather than one big border, the quilt now needs three smaller borders, a dark blue, a white and a final dark blue. 

I'm biting off smaller portions with my to do list in hopes that it all gets done this next week. In the past, the items that are on my list are so big there's no way I'll get them done in a week. Then when I don't ever seem to check anything off I give up on making a list because it doesn't seem to help. So smaller bites, more check marks which hopefully means more productivity.  I'm trying the same strategy at work. Last week's work list had lots of check marks and that felt good going into a four day weekend.  

Linking up with Home Sewn By Us for To Do Tuesday Linky #13.  Good luck on your weekly to do list. 

Finally A Finish!

It's been a nice long weekend. I have some vacation that has to be used or I give it back, so I was able to take last Friday off.  It's been nice to get some extra time in the sewing room for a change.  I used my time wisely, Vintage Dresses is finally finished. 

 Sophia's Closet (Vintage Dresses)
block pattern by Charise Randell
Started January 10, 2016
Completed November 1, 2019

Trudy custom quilted it, some of the dresses have some very cool details.

I can't pick a favorite dress from the set, I like all of them. 

The backing is a Connecting Threads sale fabric that I had ordered specifically to use for backing a quilt.   

When it came time to draft a label, I didn't want to just keep using the pattern name, I wanted to give it my own spin.  My Guy vetoed most of my ideas. He said that the quilt is too sophisticated to have a quirky name.  So I looked at photos of well known actresses from the 50's and decided that Sophia Loren's wardrobe had dresses of the right vintage and style. So this quit became Sophia's Closet. 

This label isn't anything like the one I'd been working on.  The first label just looked so drab when I did the test print that I decided a new bright one was really needed.  This one definitely worked and the blue gingham dress blends perfectly with the backing. 

Sophia's Closet was started in January 2016 as my Rainbow Scrap Challenge project for that year.  The goal was to finish two blocks in each color per month.  That's the only way I'd ever finish such complicated blocks. This was my first introduction to complex paper piecing. It didn't always go smoothly, but I really loved how the blocks worked out. The finished quilt is full/queen sized (sorry I never remember to write down the final measurements).   

For now, the quilt is going to stay with me.  Eventually it may go live with someone else, but I want to enjoy it for a bit before turning loose of it. 

Linking up with the normal beginning of the week linky parties:  Monday Making and Monday Design Wall.  Vintage Dresses/Sophia's Closet is on my 2019 Finish Along 4th quarter list, so I'll be linking up with the last Finish Along post for 2019 in January when that becomes active.  

Week 44 of 2019: Stitching Stuff

The week has been a bit weird.  It certainly seemed like winter moved in fast with cold north winds and nasty wet weather. We didn't get snow, but it was just so miserable outside.  There weren't a lot of trick or treaters this year, it was so cold out.  At least it's been a good week on the stitching front, finding 15 minutes wasn't too hard most days.

It was a bit of a struggle to get into the sewing room Halloween, but that was the only night where I was running up to the sewing room just before bedtime to get in a few minutes of hand stitching. 

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days

15 minute days/October = 28/31 days

15 minute days/November = 2/2 days

15 minute days/2019 = 275/306 days

Success rate = 89.87%

Actually I've gotten in quite a bit of stitching time this week, I took a day and half of vacation, I've got a few more days that need to be taken before the end of the year or I'll lose them. That should help facilitate some end of the year finishes. 

In spite of all the stitching time, there wasn't a lot of fabric usage for October.  Most of my projects were ones where the fabric had already been counted.  So my stash report is pretty anemic. 

Fabric out for October = 0.84 yards

Fabric out for 2019 = 37.92 yards

Unless I'm able to get a few backs made before the end of the year, it's not likely I'm going to break 50 yards out for 2019.  Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the stash report.  

Since it's a new month, I should also give an update on my PHD progress. I do have a finish for November already, but I keep adding projects. 

  

I've been working along with Quilting Gail, who is just one finish away from earning her PHD this year.  Getting my PHD in 2019 is definitely not happening. 

So how are you doing on your end of year stuff?  You can link up below to share how well you did at finding time to stitch last week. 

1. Meloney 2. Jennifer in Indy 3. Chrisknits

4. DawnyK 5. Quilting Gail 6. Shasta @ High Road Quilter

7. Deana 8. Christina's Handicrafts

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The November Plan - The One Monthly Goal

Not many days left in 2019.  It won't be too much longer and we'll be looking back at what got done this year and putting together grand plans for 2020.  So what to pick for the November One Monthly Goal that will positively impact the getting done part of that?  

The last three months my one monthly goal didn't get finished till the first week of the next month. That's still good, I've now got a finish to show off once I can get photos.  So that's one less UFO on the list to finish next year.  Can I sneak in one more finish this year? 

Twinkle Stars just needs two more borders to be a finished flimsy.

Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

I've got a good start on the pieced border.  The last border will just be a strip of white to float the blocks.  That should be achievable this month.  That's going to be my November OMG, getting Twinkle Stars to finished flimsy stage.  To get Twinkle Stars done before the end of the year, I really need to get the back pieced, prep both the top and the back for quilting, then get it out the door for quilting by the end of the month. That's my stretch goal, but I'm pretty sure getting all that done will take more time than I have this month.  

You can see how others are wrapping up their stitching this year over at Elm Street Quilts.  Since November starts the wrap up time of year for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I'm linking up with Soscrappy as well.  Twinkle Stars was my 2015 RSC project.