October One Monthly Goal Met

Hard to believe that October ends in just a few hours. I just managed to squeeze in the completion of my October One Monthly Goal before the month ends.   

The plan for October was to finish adding the borders to Cabins and Fans. 

Cabins and Fans:  Self designed

That was finished pretty early on in the month.  I'm really happy with how this project worked out.  The harder part of the Octoer OMG was to finish piecing the backing. Vacation, a birthday party and a wedding made it a bit tough to get back into the sewing room to finish up the second half of this month's goal   A weekend at home meant there was time to get all the mearsurements, cutting and sewing all done. Even so, I only beat the deadline this month by just a few hours.  I'm good with that.  

The backing is stitched up, but it still needs a good pressing.  It's hard to tell from this photo, but the backing is actually a purple print from Connecting threads.  

Fingers crossed getting both the top and the backing finished means I'll have a new finish soon.  

Linking up with Elm Street Quilt's October One Monthly Goal, Monday Making and Design Wall Monday.

Stitching Stuff Weeks 43 and 44

Happy Halloween!  Hopefully you are all ready for trick or treaters this evening.  We are, though I'm not sure how many we'll get. A lot of parents from work were planning on dong the trunk n trick with their kiddos this weekend. 

I missed posting last weekend.  We were at a family wedding and had a tire go bad. I had hoped to get a post out, but we were at the wedding late, then had to be up and out early on Sunday to find someplace to fix the tire before we started the 350 mile drive home. To be honest, I really don't have much to post about. Sewing room time was pretty lacking the last couple of weeks.  

• 15 minute days/Week 43 = 3/7 days 
• 15 minute days/ Week 44 = 2/7 days
• 15 minute days/Oct = 12/30 days
• 15 minute days/2021 = 240/303 days
• Success rate = 79.21%

I'm going to have to maintain a perfect rate to get back on track with my goal to stitch 85% of the time this year.  

Hopefully you've done really well with finding time to stitch the last couple of weeks.

1. Ivani 2. Julie in GA 3. Meloney

4. karen 5. DonnaleeQ 6. Quilting Gail

7. DawnyK week 43 8. DawnyK week 44 9. amanda

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Family Photo Challenge: Week 17 and 18

It's been a busy couple of weeks and I've been AWOL from the blog again.  That will probably happen again before the end of the year. It hasn't been the easiest year at work.  I don't see that situation getting any better in the near future.

Since I didn't post last weekend, there are two weeks of photos from our family photo challenge to share this week.  We all had a great deal of fun with week 17. 

I took a lot of photos that week. Macro photography is one of my favorites. There were so many fun photos that picking just one for the week was hard.  My Guy finally had to choose one for me. 

Kate: A Bit of Bing

Very shiny!  This is an extreme close up of a key chain from my sister. It's not my style at all, but it's still pretty.  

My Guy went natural this week.  

My Guy: Up Close with Western Ironweed

My Guy found this bit of color while he was out for one of his walks.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but this flower is only about 0.5" in diameter.  So it's tiny.  

The Scientist in Training's photo comes from the lab again this week. 

Scientist in Training: Frosty Chemistry

She does such a great job with capturing textures in her photos. This one is my favorite for week 17.   Just a side note, all of the SIT's photos are taken with her cell phone. So you don't need a fancy camera to get some really great shots.  

That wraps up Week 17, so on to Week 18. 

Such a simple subject, but one that took each of us a bit of thought to come up with our shot for the week (The SIT and I didn't get our photos till Friday just before dinner).  

Kate: Hands of Time

It's amazing how creative you can get when under a time crunch.  I had about 30 minutes after we got home before dinner to take a  photos for this week's challenge.  I've always liked this clock face, the lacy hands have always been a favorite. And no, that wasn't the actual time. I need to replace the batteries in this clock.  

I think My Guy's is my favorite for this week. 

My Guy: Sparkles

We attended his nephew's wedding last weekend.  The bride and groom exited the reception through a tunnel of sparklers held by the guests. It was really, really cool.  I'm sure they've got some great wedding photos from that.  

Like me the SIT had to scramble to get a photo for this week. I like her's almost as much as her dad's.  

Scientist in Training: Go Pokes!!!

It's Homecoming weekend at Oklahoma State. The SIT was out with friends doing the Walk About. All the sororities and fraternaties rig up huge displays at their houses for people to enjoy the night before the homecoming game.  The building in the background is the OSU library. It's a pretty specatcular building, especially when it's lit up at night.

That catches us up to this week's challenge. 

I agree with the SITs texted response on this one, "Huh?"  

To do Tuesday for Week of 10/19/2021

The last couple of weeks have been busy.  I didn't post a To Do List last week because there had been no progress on much of anything.  We were home this weekend, so I was able to get in some decent stitching time and finished off the list from the week before.  

Weekly To Do List for 10/5/2021

• Cabins and Fans: Finish quilt top ✔
• Macaron Mystery: Make HSTs for step 3 ✔
• Unity: Finish Step 7, make flying geese for Step 8 ✔

Getting Cabins and Fans to the finished quilt top stage is a major milestone.  I'm going to try to finish that project before the end of the year.  I doubt anything else gets finished this year. 

My lists will be really simple for the next few weeks. Work is going to really busy till Thanksgiving. Then I have a business trip early in December. So life proably won't calm down till I get to vacation at the end of December.  

Weekly To Do List for Week of 10/19/2021

Cabins and Fans: Decide how to assemble backing.

I have enough of this purple/black print to piece the entire back from it. I know the dimensions of the quilt top, so just need to decide on final dimensions for the backing and then figure out if the seam will go vertical or horizontal. 

Macaron Mystery: Make HSTs for Step 3

I finished the other parts of step 3. There's 24 more HSTs to assemble.  Those won't be finished this this week, but at least I'm making progress. Step 4 is out, but other than print out those instructions, there hasn't been any progress on it. 

Unity: Make flying geese for Step 8 

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

The blocks for Step 7 have been my leaders and enders project since December of last year.  So it's been slow progress.  I'm really happy to finish that step.  All that's left is the last top and bottom borders from step 8.  Hopefully those will go a lot faster than Step 7 went. This color palette isn't typical for me, but I really like how it's come together so far.  

That's my list for this week.  My hope is to just keep these projects moving these last few weeks of the year. If I get one more finish, that would be great. But if not, the progress this year should set me up for a good year of finishes in 2022.  Linking up with Texas Quilt Gal for To Do Tuesday. 

A Finished Mystery

There hasn't been much sewing room time the last couple of weeks.  No point in posting if there isn't anything to post about, so there were no posts last week.  October has proved to be a busy month, with late nights at work and we were on the road the first two weekends of the month.  We were mostly home this weekend, so I had time to sew a bit and to finally get some photos of my last finish. 

Morewood Mystery (Wrapped Sweets)
Meadow Mist Designs 2020 Mystery Quilt Along
Started 9/4/2020, Finished 9/26/2021

  

The Scientist in Training noted how the square in a square combined with the light blue/teal HSTs looked like a wrapped candy.  So Wrapped Sweets seemed like a good name for this quilt. This project is my fifth Meadow Mist Designs mystery quilt. I really enjoy Cheryl's mystery quilts. She gives great information on how the fabrics interact with each other, so it makes it much easier to pick fabrics that work well with each other. I'm really happy with how this project came out. 

Trudy quilted Wrapped Sweets with a leafy motif. It gives the quilt a really nice texture.  

   

The backing is pieced from the darker teal and the multicolored print used in the blocks.  

The binding is the lighter teal/blue also used in the blocks. 

This quilt is staying here for now.  It will find a home eventually.  

Wrapped Sweets was finish number 3 for 2021. It's one of 3 quilts started in 2020.  The UFO count is down to 19, which is where it was when 2020 ended.  I'm still hoping to work down the UFO list before the end of the year, but at least that number isn't going up.  I'll take that.  

Linking up with Monday Making and Design Wall Monday.  

Week 42: Stitching Stuff

We are already passed the middle of October.  Where do the days go?  Last week's post didn't happen due to a last minute decision to visit my mother. My apologies for that, it was just hard to find the time to get a post written. Mom is an early riser and she wanted company for coffee.  So please feel free to cover week 41 along with your week 42 stitching time.  

I haven't been able to find much sewing room time the last couple of weeks. My report is pretty dismal.

• 15 minute days/week = 5/14 days
• 15 minute days/Oct = 7/16 days
• 15 minute days/2021 = 235/289 days
• Success rate = 81.31%

Work continues to be busier than normal, there have been several late evenings over the last couple of weeks. Then my allergies got the best of me and I was out of commission for a couple of days.  The month isn't likely to get much better.  We have end of year performance reviews coming up, plus we have two weddings to attend. So fitting in stitching time is going to be hard for the next couple of months.  Some years are just that way.  

Hopefully you've had an easier time of getting in some good sewing room time.  Please link up and share how well you've been doing to find some stitching time each week.  

1. Ivani 2. Julie in GA -- week 42 3. Julie in GA -- week 41 4. karen 5. Meloney

6. Chrisknits 7. maggie f 8. DonnaleeQ 9. DawnyK - wk 41 10. DawnyK

11. Amanda 12. Andree at Quilting & Learning 13. Shasta @ High Road

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A Stranger: Week 16 Photo Challenge

It's been a busy week, I've not had a chance to turn on the computer since last Saturday's photo challenge post (I have 200+ emails to go through). In typical fashion we all approached this week's challenge a little differently. 

I found my stranger in a Starbucks not far from my mother's.

 

Kate: Smiling Stranger

I know Starbucks is a busy place, but this guy gives a whole new meaning to working yourself to the bone. Even so, he was still smiling.  

My Guy changed the point of view for his shot. 

My Guy: Sometimes You're the Stranger

  

For some reason cows seem to find a person on a bicycle strange enough that it captures their attention. Note the turned heads in the background. 

The Scientist in Training's photo is the most true to the challenge this week.  

Scientist in Training: Studying Strangers

The Student Union is a popular study spot, here especially since the coffee shop  (which according to the SIT  has horrible coffee, but good hot chocolate) is on the first floor.

This week's challenge should be interesting.

 

The SIT's response to my text with this week's challenge was "OOOO". My sentiments exactly. Have a great weekend.  

A is for....: Week 15 Photo Challenge

Hard to believe we've kept up with this photography challenge for 15 weeks.  It's become part of our Friday night routine. Right after dinner one of us grabs the card deck, whoever picked the card last week shuffles the deck and fans it out for the other person to pick the card for this week.  Last week's choice was at first a head scratcher. 

As usual, we all came up with something just a bit different. 

 

Kate: A is for Art

We were in  Eureka Springs, Arkansas last weekend and since it was supposed to rain all day Saturday, we drove over to Bentonville to visit Crystal Bridges Museum of  American Art.  This photo was taken inside a newly acquired exhibit: Infinity Mirrored Room-My Heart is Dancing into the Universe by Yayoi Kusama.  Due to Covid restrictions, only 3 people at a time can enter, which made it so much easier to get photos.  We only got a minute inside, but it was such fun and so cool to watch the lights change colors.  

My Guy: A is for Atrium

My Guy's photo was also taken at Crystal Bridges, it's a sculpture named Hanging Heart by Jeff Coons. This piece hangs in the atrium that houses the cafeteria.  If you are up on your anatomy you might be aware that there is a second more biological meaning for atrium.  The couple at the bottom of the heart is us.  

Scientist in Training: A is for Acorn

As busy as the Scientist in Training was this week (2 major homework assignments in chemistry and an exam), I was surprised when she texted me her submission for this week. Her photo captures lots of texture and shadows. She called it a "family of acorns".  It does look like a dad, a mom, a kid and a baby acorn.   

I drew this week's challenge card. 

This one will be a challenge from the posting standpoint. It's not illegal to take a photo of someone in a public space, as you have no expectation of privacy in such a location. But posting such a photo is trickier. You can post for editorial reasons, but not for commercial purposes without a release from the person in the photograph. What editorial means is subject to interpretation.  So come back next week and see what we come up with for this photo challenge.   

PHD in 2021: September Progress

This year certainly hasn't gone to plan on the work or quilting fronts.  The calendar says it's October, just three months in the year to make good on those goals we set back in December.  I'm disappointed in the lack of progress this year, last year was so good for finishing projects. But life sometimes throws us curves, so I'm trying hard to remember that progress counts too.  So I'm going to celebrate the progress made with Quilting Gail's 2021 PHD quilt along.  

There are two updates to my 2021 PHD report. 

There's one new finish and one new start.  The new finish means I've finished 2 of the 3 quilts started in 2020.  The new start is Meadow Mist Designs Macaron Mystery. The last clue won't come out till March of 2022, so it that mystery will not be finished this year.  The goal was 8 finishes this year. That's probably not happening, but I'm hoping to get at least 2 more quilts to the finished line by the end of the year.  That's just doable.  

September was a better month on working in stitching time than August was, which was better than July. 

Morewood (Meadow Mist Designs 2020 Mystery quilt) is a finished quilt.  

I haven't had a chance to get a shot of the whole quilt yet, that will probably happen this weekend.  

Cabins and Fans (self designed) just needs the borders added to be a finished quilt top. 

There's been progress since the end of September, just 2 border strips need to be cut and sewn on then this project will be a finished quilt top.  It's my October OMG to get the top finished and to make the backing.  

Unity (Bonnie Hunter 2020 Quilt Along) is still moving slowly, but step 7 is almost complete.

Just one more block is needed to finish the last border in step 7.  I've already started making the flying geese needed for the next step as my leaders and enders.  I don't think Unity is going to be finished this year, but it will be close.  

Scrappy Butterflies (self designed) has a few more alternate blocks finished. 

In an effort to make more progress on other projects, there wasn't as much effort put into the alternate blocks, but there was some progress last month. It should come back into the rotation once the borders are on Cabins and Fans.  I'm hoping this is a finished quilt top by the end of the year.  

Macaron Mystery has just gotten started and I'm already behind. 

 I have less than half of the HST blocks made for step 3 and step 4 comes out tomorrow.  Hopefully I'll have time to play catch up later this month. This is my first new project since November of last year, so I'm going to enjoy playing with something completely new and not worry too much at this point about being caught up or not.

A finish, a start, and progress on other fronts. September wasn't so bad.  I have hope there will be good progress in October.  

To Do Tuesday for Week of 10/5/2021

Last week was a mostly handstitching week. In anticipating of not having much machine time, I cut my to do list back a bit.  I made progress on everything, but didn't get far enough to be able to check off all the items.  

Weekly To Do List For 9/28/2021

• Cabins and Fans: Finish 2nd border, start third ✔
• Macaron Mystery: Make HSTs for step 3 ✔
• Unity: Finish Step 7 

Two out of three is a good week, especially since there were only a couple of days in the sewing room. We have family stuff going on this weekend, so there probably won't be much sewing room time. So this week's To Do List will also be short.  

Weekly To Do List for 10/5/2021

Cabins and Fans: Finish border 3

Cabins and Fans: Self designed

Two sides of the last border have been added, I just need to remeasure the quilt top and cut the last two border strips then stitch them on. That should be doable this week.  

Macaron Mystery: Continue making HSTs for step 3

There are still more than half of the HSTs to make for clue 3. Clue 4 comes out this week. Once I get the borders on Cabins and Fans, I'll work to get more caught up on this step. 

Unity:  Finish Step 7, work on flying geese for step 8

The last block for the last border in step 7 is under construction.  Then I need to finish sewing the blocks together and stitch the border to the rest of the quilt. I may not get that far this week.  But the flying geese are my leaders and enders stitching, so I will get some of those made this week.  

That's my list for this week. Good luck with what's on your list this week. Linking up with Texas Quilt Gal for To Do Tuesday.  

A Slow Stitching Week

It's been a very nice week. We took off most of last week and took a trip to Eureka Springs, AR.  It's a touristy town, but a very laid back one.  We rented a little cottage not far from down town and pretty much just hung out. We walked a lot, ate a lot, read a lot, and I stitched a bit.  The cottage had a wonderful front porch.

It was well sheltered from the rain. Since it rained a lot, we did spend a lot of time out here or in the cottage.  I worked on my long term travel project, the Butterfly medallion.

 

I just need to finish the back stitch around the lower part of the wing and I'll be halfway finished with this butterfly. 

I'm taking today off so I can kinda get caught up on laundry and a few chores before heading back into the office tomorrow.  I'm also hoping to get in a solid afternoon of stitching time. Why waste a whole vacation day on not fun stuff?  

Linking up with Monday Design Wall  and Monday Making this week. 

Stitching Stuff: Week 40 of 2021

 

It's been a week for mostly rest and relaxation at Life in Pieces.  My Guy and I took a long weekend away from the house to recharge our batteries.  It's been a nice weekend.  I'm taking one more day off before heading back to to work on Tuesday, My Guy will have to show up at the office tomorrow.  There's been a lot of hand work this week, but that still counts as stitching time.  

• 15 minute days/week = 6/7 days
• 15 minute days/Sept = 25/30 days
• 15 minute days/2021 = 230/275 days
• Success rate = 83.64%

I ended up working late the night before our long weekend. By the time I got home, I was too hungry and tired to enjoy any stitching time.  But it was still a good end to one of my better months for stitching time this year. 

It was also a good month for sewing room organization.  I've been trying to clean up my bags of scraps by trimming all the left overs into usable strips.  That's been going well, so well that I had pretty much filled up the gallon ziplock bags I've been using as storage.  It was time to reassess how I was going to store those strips.  I found a potential solution at Hobby Lobby.  

  

 These segmented boxes let me sort the strips by color and pack them so I could see what was in each compartment.  Hobby Lobby only had one box, but I found them at Anne's and order a few more. 

These boxes will definitely work.  But I needed more then 4. 

I ended up with 6. But that covers strip sets from 1.5" up to 6.5". Some boxes with the larger strips have two sizes in them. These will be stacked underneath my cutting table.  Hopefully this will help with keep the sewing room cleaned up and make it easier to use the strips when get back to making scrappy quilts.  

Did you get in some good sewing/organization time this week?  

1. Ivani 2. Chrisknits 3. Meloney 4. DonnaleeQ

5. maggie f 6. Sherrie 7. Quilting Gail 8. DawnyK

9. Shasta @ High Road 10. amanda

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Clothes: Week 14 Photo Challenge

We had lots of subject matter for this week's photo challenge.

But how to make that interesting?  We all took different approaches as usual. 

Kate: Not My Clothes

My focus wasn't my clothes, so I may be a bit off script with my image. The bed clothes at a recent cottage rental seemed much more interesting than any of my items.  My Guy picked this picture because the really liked the textures and lighting.  

My Guy: Don't Be Cross

My Guy's photo was probably the most true to the challenge for this week.  

Scientist in Training: Reflected Style

The SIT is still figuring out storage in her new apartment and supplied this image showcasing both her style and her organization skills.  

We've all been having fun with this challenge. Maybe our photos aren't always exactly what the challenge specified, but we are all practicing photography more (even My Guy and he was practicing plenty before the challenge).  It's also been a fun way to stay connected with the SIT who is off at college.  

We all went "hmmm" after My Guy drew the card for this week's challenge. 

I may be consulting a dictionary for my inspiration this week.