Forward Motion

Happy Memorial Day to everyone in the United States.  Since we just got back from vacation, we are staying close to home this holiday weekend.  The mountain of laundry from vacation is just about conquered and I finally made my way back to the sewing room for more than just a few minutes on Saturday and Sunday.  The first priority was to complete my One Monthly Goal for May. 

I knew at the beginning of the month that stitching time was going to be on the slim side between the goings on at work and vacation plans.  So I tried to set a reasonable goal for the month, but still make good progress on moving Grassy Creek to finished quilt status.  I had to stay up a bit late last night, but I did finish this month's goal. 

The label is made. 

Naming quilts is always hard for me, but I've been trying to get better at it.  So I did the Google thing to search for orange flowers and discovered these blooms called Fritillaria. These flowers don't grow in Oklahoma, so I've never heard of them, but I really liked the name. That's part one of the May OMG done. 

Part two was to finish making the binding. 

The binding is wound around a left over wrapping paper tube ready to be stitched on.  So a check mark next to that goal. 

Part three from the list for May's OMG was to trim off the extra backing and batting. 

That's done as well.  So Grassy Creek is ready to have the binding sewn onto the front. I'll probably spend this week hand stitching the binding to the back.  Fingers crossed I'll have a finish by next weekend.  

I'm still massively behind on replying to blog comments and catching up with everyone's blog. I'm going to devote some time this morning to getting caught up on both while I finish laundry.  The plan is to get in some good stitching time this afternoon. Hope you are enjoying the last part of your holiday weekend. 

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

Stitching Time: Week 22 of 2021

Hard to believe that we've almost reached the end of May. It's not been a good month for me on the stitching front.  Work continues to be just really busy and I don't see that changing anytime soon. That means I need to get better at carving out those 15 minutes each night.  That didn't go so smoothly this week.  

• 15 minute days/week = 4/7 days
• 15 minute days/May = 16/29 days
• 15 minute days/2021 = 126/149 days
• Success rate = 84.56%

My goal is to stitch 85% of the days for the year. This week's success rate shows I'm in danger of slipping below that mark. I'm hoping that works slows down a bit in June and that I can do a better job of climbing the stairs to the sewing room each evening.  

So how did your stitchy week work out?  

1. Chrisknits 2. Julie in GA 3. DonnaleeQ 4. Ivani

5. Marti 6. Meloney 7. Quilting Gail 8. Amanda

9. Andree at Quilting & Learning 10. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt 11. Shasta @ High Road 12. DawnyK

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Stitching Time: Week 21 of 2021

It's amazing what a difference a week can make.  We've been on vacation this week and actually went someplace besides home.  My stitching time is all handwork, but I did manage to fit in some stitching time each day either before we left for the day or after we got home in the afternoon.  So this week looks so much better than last week.

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/May = 12/22 days
• 15 minute days/2021 = 122/142 days
• Success rate = 85.92%

What have I been working on?  

My long term road project, the embroidered butterfly panel.  What I've done this week is pretty much in the hoop.  The plan was for some R&R this week and this hand project has definitely promoted the relaxation part of the agenda. 

So how has your stitchy week gone? 

1. Julie in GA 2. maggie f 3. Chrisknits 4. Ivani 5. Diann@LittlePenguinQuilts

6. karen 7. Meloney 8. DonnaleeQ 9. Sherrie 10. Andree at Quilting & Learning

11. amanda 12. Nanette 13. Quilting Gail 14. Carol Andrews

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Stitching Time: Week 20 of 2021

It's been a very busy week. I've spent so much time at work on the computer that there has been no desire to even turn on my personal computer. Consequently, I'm massively behind on email responses and blog reading.  The long work hours haven't helped my stitching mojo either.  This is what my tracking spreadsheet shows for this week. 

 So the weekly metrics look pretty dismal. 

• 15 minute days/week = 0/7 days
• 15 minute days/May = 5/7 days
• 15 minutes days 2021 = 115/135 days
• Success rate = 85.19% 

My goal for the year is to stitch at least 85% of the time. So I'm still on track to hit that. Hopefully this week won't be as bad as last week.  

The bright spot last week was a visit to my Mom's.  Our last visit was at Christmas, so it was nice to hang out with her and my sister for a couple of days.  We had a nice visit. It wasn't the prettiest weather, but that didn't stop me from taking pictures of all the blooming things in Mom's gardens. 

Pretty pansies.

Pale pink peonies.

And my favorite, the roses.  

Hopefully my mojo will return this week. How did your stitching week work out? 

1. Meloney 2. Diann@LittlePenguinQuilts 3. maggie f 4. Ivani

5. Julie in GA 6. karen 7. Andree at Quilting & Learning 8. Sherrie

9. katie z. 10. Quilting Gail 11. Amanda 12. Shasta @ High Road

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Stitching Time: Week 19 of 2021

Happy Mother's Day!  I'm spending some time with my Mother this weekend (everyone has been vaccinated). The Scientist in Training has finished finals and she made her appearance yesterday.  So we are going to get Krispy Kreme as the end of term reward and otherwise just have a girls hang out till we have to head home this afternoon.  

Work continues to be just crazy busy and it really took a bite out of my available stitching time. 

• 15 minute days/week = 4/7 days
• 15 minute days/May = 5/8 days
• 15 minute days/2021 = 115/128 days
• Success rate = 89.84%

So not a horrible week, but not a great one either. My success rate has fallen below 90% for the first time this year.  The rest of the month is going to be much of the same. Hopefully I can stay above my goal to stitch for at least 15 minutes, 85% of the time.  

So how did your stitchy week go? 

 

1. Julie in GA 2. karen 3. Diann@LittlePenguinQuilts 4. maggie f 5. Ivani

6. DonnaleeQ 7. Chrisknits 8. Sherrie 9. Shasta @ High Road 10. Jennifer in Indy

11. Dq at Dreamworthyquilts 12. Quilting Gail 13. Amanda 14. Andree at Quilting & Learning 15. Carol A

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May One Monthly Goal

Life continues to be hectic. I realized this morning that I hadn't decided on a One Monthly Goal for May.  

I won't be able to stitch a couple of weekends this month, we have family obligations. Work continues to be crazy busy and will likely remain so.  So this month's OMG needs to be something simple, no point in setting an unrealistic task for the month.  

Grassy Creek is the project closest to being a finish.  

Grassy Creek, the 2020 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

The goal for May is to get the label and binding made, then trim off the excess batting so it's ready to have the binding attached.  Not sure I'll actually get it stitched on, but I'm hoping I can get that far by the end of the month. 

Good luck with your OMG.  Linking up over at Elm Street Quilts.    

To Do Tuesday for 05/04/2021

April was a busy month and May looks to be following suite.  It's been a lot harder to find the time to hang out in the sewing room.  I knew that was going to be the case so last week's to do list was pretty tame. The goal is to just to keep everything moving.  

Weekly To Do List for 4/27/2021

• Morewood Mystery: Continue working on borders ✔
• Cabins and Fans: Continue assembling blocks ✔
• Unity: Continue making HSTs for clue 6 ✔

There was progress on each project, so it was a successful week on that front.  My plan for this week is the same; do enough to keep each project progressing. 

Weekly To Do List for 05/04/2021

Grassy Creek:  Make label and binding

Grassy Creek, the 2020 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

The yellow fabric from the border will be the binding.  The label has been drafted, but it still needs to be printed, rinsed and dried. 

Morewood Mystery: Add border three

Morewood Mystery by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs

 I've got the white strips for the next border cut, but I still need to stitch one section together before I cut them to length. 

Cabins and Fans: Assemble row three.

Cabins and Fans, self designed

Row two was finished off last night. Row three should go pretty fast as it's made up of mostly 7.5 inch blocks that don't need any further assembly.  

Unity: Continue making HSTs as leaders and enders

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

The blocks for the next border are still in construction and there's still more blocks needed for the last border.  I'll be stitching on HSTs for a good while yet it seems.  

Linking up with ChrisKnits for Tuesday To Do.  Good luck with your list this week.  Happy stitching.  

The Quilty Year so Far

The end of April means we are one third of the way through 2021.  That's a bit sobering as there's only been one finish  coming out of my sewing room so far this year.  I've been focusing on just a few projects at a time in hopes of moving more to the finished column, but it's been slow going. I've been playing along with Quilting Gail's 2021 PHD  program to help with the motivation. 

My PHD report for the end of April doesn't show much in the way of progress for the last month. 

The only change is an addition to the in progress list highlighted in blue.  There haven't been any new starts this year so far, so at least my PHD list isn't getting any longer. No new finishes this month, but I can celebrate the progress that's been made this month.  

Grassy Creek is back from the quilter. 

This should be a finish by the end of May as all it needs is the label and binding.  

The Morewood Mystery is assembled. 

The first border has been added, along with two strips for border number two.  There's two more borders to add.  The goal is to have Morewood to be a finished quilt top by the end of May.  

Unity, the current leader and enders project, is moving along very slowly. 

Just three new border blocks have been finished.  I'm still undecided if Unity should move up in priority once Morewood is finished or if it should remain the leaders and enders project.   

Cabins and Fans has been added to the "in progress list".  

These blocks are my 2017 Rainbow Scrap Challenge Project.  After a bit of  quilt math to get the sashing strips and the setting triangles right, these blocks are going together pretty quickly.  It's been nice to have a new project in the mix. 

April wasn't one of my better months for stitching time.  May isn't looking good either on that front.  But as long as I can see progress, it's all good.  

Linking up with Monday Making, Monday Design Wall and Quilting Gail's April PHD in 2021.  

Stitching Time: Week 18 of 2021

It was definitely Spring this week.  No more freezing temperatures in the mornings, I only needed a light sweater to head out the door to work.  So the weather has been nice, but work hasn't been.  There were several late nights last week and that definitely affected my stitching time for the week.

• 15 minute days/week = 4/7 days
• 15 minute days/April = 23/30 days
• 15 minute days/May = 1/1 days
• 15 minute days/2021 = 111/121
• Success rate = 91.74%  

April hasn't been a good month for stitching time, I didn't hit 7 days of stitching any week this last month.  Unfortunately May doesn't look like it's going to be any better.  My goal is to maintain a success rate of at least 85%.  I set the bar a bit low because it's so hard to know how much other things in life will impact my sewing time.  Hopefully once we get past May, things will slow down a bit at work.

On the brighter side, the warm up has resulted in lots of pretty blooms. 

The roses are just starting to bloom. It's been nice to see the first rays of the sun light them up in the morning.  

The honeysuckle is blooming too.  Unfortunately all the blooming stuff is playing havoc with my allergies, so I've not been outside all that much. Admiring through the window is going to have to suffice for the next week or so. 

So how did your stitchy week work out?   

1. Chrisknits 2. Julie in GA 3. maggie f 4. Diann@LittlePenguinQuilts 5. Ivani

6. karen 7. SaraF 8. DonnaleeQ 9. DawnyK 10. Quilting Gail

11. Amanda 12. Carol Andrews 13. Dq at Dreamworthyquilts

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