To Do Tuesday For the Week of November 30 2021

Being off work is really conductive to finding time to sew.  I checked off every item on my to do list for the week. 

To Do List for 11/23/2021

• Cabins and Fans: Prep for quilting, pack for shipping ✔
• Macaron Mystery: Make flying geese for steps 4 and 5 ✔
• Rhododendron Mystery: Start step 1 ✔
• Unity: Make flying geese for step 8 ✔

It was a really productive week. I definitely needed a large dose of sanity stitching.  I'm hoping to keep up the momentum this week.  

To Do List for 11/30/2021

Cabins and Fans: Mail out for quilting

I was so happy to finish all the prep work on this project. But was then a bit dejected to find that I didn't have the right size batting for the project.  So I had to order some. The only good thing is that it was on sale at Jo Ann's, so I stocked up a bit.  The batting is supposed to be delivered today. 

Scrappy Butterflies: Make framed 9 patch blocks

 Scrappy Butterflies
Block is available in EQ 8 Block Library, setting self designed

Now that Cabins and Fans is ready to go out for quilting, I can roll the next UFO to finish back onto the To Do List. It's been patiently waiting on the small design wall since the end of September.  I try to keep a spot on the to do list filled with an older UFO. It would be nice to get this one to finished quilt top by the end of the year.  

Macaron Mystery: Start clue 6

Macaron Mystery by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs

Steps 4 and 5 were finished over the weekend.  So I'll be ready to make a start on step 6 when it comes out on Thursday.  

Rhododendron Mystery: Finish clue 1, start clue 2

Rhododendron Mystery: Bonnie Hunter 2021 Mystery quilt along

One thing about this year's mystery, I'll be able to correctly spell rhododendron by the end in January.  It's quite a word isn't it?  I'm only making half the blocks to start. I did that last year and didn't do too badly at keeping up with the mystery. I only need 2 more sets of 4 HSTs to finish clue 1.  

Unity: Continue making flying geese as leaders and enders

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

Just a few more blocks and the top border for step 8 will be finished.  Steps 6 and 7 took me most of this year to finish. I'm hoping that won't be the case for step 8.  

That's my list for this week.  Work is still busy, but I'm going to try to keep up the momentum from last week.  Next week I have a business trip that will take up most of the week and the Scientist and I have plans for that following weekend. So next week's list will probably be a good deal shorter.  

Linking up over at Texas Quilt Gal for To Do Tuesday.  Good luck with your to do list this week.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 48 of 2021

This week of vacation went fast. There was lots to do.  My niece's wedding was last weekend, so no stitching time then.  Even though I was off work, I spent one afternoon on work stuff.  There was other stuff that got in the way of sewing room time, but this week was definitely better than last week in that department. 

• 15 minute days week 48 = 5/7 days
• 15 minute days/Nov = 16/27 days
• 15 minute days/2021 = 257/331 days
• Success rate = 77.64% 

At least November is proving to be better than October was on the stitching time front.  There has been good progress on several projects this year. Maybe not as much as I would have liked, but progress is progress.  

How did you do at working in some stitching time along with the holiday? 

 

1. Meloney 2. karen 3. Julie in GA

4. DonnaleeQ 5. DawnyK 6. Quilting Gail

7. Amanda 8. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt 9. Colletta's Kitchen Sink

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Photo Challenge Weeks 21 and 22: Water and Air

It's been a busy couple of weeks.  No post last week due to My Guy's travels and the wedding.  So this week is catch up.  

Week 21:

Week 21 didn't go very well for me.  I ended up working 12 hour days pretty much the whole week, so I tried to do something interesting with what I had at home.

Kate: Drinking Water

My water bottle got a lot of use that week, so the ice didn't have a chance to melt before I refilled it.  

My Guy was 1200 miles away in Arizona working with the George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Center releasing endangered Masked Bob White Quail and doing a bit of habitat remediation to support the new population.  

My Guy: Like Water in the Desert

 He's was up and around early, so was able to capture a beautiful desert sunrise.  

The Scientist in Training was working on homework and getting her graduate school applications ready (applying to grad school is a lot more involved then it used to be).  But she took a walk to clear her head and enjoy one of the nicer days that week. 

Scientist in Training: Fall Ripples

She wandered over to Theta Pond on the southwest corner of campus and captured a bit of the fall colors.  

Week 22: 

The SIT drew this card for last week's challenge. Even though all of us were off work and out of school, we all struggled to find the time and creativity to get photos for last week. But we all found something to submit for the challenge.  

It's tradition that we take a long walk after Thanksgiving dinner.  I took several photos during that expedition, this is the one My Guy liked the best. 

Kate: Hanging by a Thread

Hard to believe we are now in the countdown to Christmas. I'm really not ready.  

My Guy headed out for a long walk yesterday and captured "shot" these guys. 

My Guy: Incoming

The Scientist in Training struggled a bit with this week's challenge and decided on a slightly different interpretation of the prompt.  

Scientist in Training: Air in the Middle

Her meringue has air in the middle, though that peak reaches into mid air, so she's got it covered I think.  This went on the chocolate pie she made for Thanksgiving (yes it was very yummy).  

Some hits and misses for all of us the last couple of weeks. Hopefully we'll all find something fun for this week's challenge. 

The SIT pointed out we've done water, air and now fire.  Will earth be next? 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

To Do Tuesday for Week of November 23rd

Last week was pretty much a bust for anything sewing room related. This week didn't get off to the best start.  We were saying good bye to family and on the road for a good part of Monday.  Odds and ends kept me out of the sewing room till late evening yesterday.  As you can probably guess, I didn't make a lot of progress on last week's To Do List. 

To Do List for 11/16/2021

• Cabins and Fans: Finish quilt prep - progress
• Macaron Mystery: Make more flying geese - no progress
• Unity: Make more flying geese - no progress

Some weeks are just that way. I'm hoping to do much better this week since I'm on vacation.  

To Do List for 11/23/2021

Cabins and Fans: Finish prepping and send out for quilting

Just one row of blocks left and the bottom border left to press and dethread.  I'm looking forward to getting this one finished.  Depending on how bogged down the mail gets, I may just slip this one in as a finish by the end of the year.  

Macaron Mystery: Continue making flying geese for steps 4 and 5

I'm not too far off finishing up the flying geese blocks for step 4, but haven't made much progress on the ones for step 5.  Clue 6 comes out next week. I hope to be mostly caught up by then.  

Bonnie Hunter Rhododenren Mystery: Start Clue 1

I've been playing with fabric selection off and on since last month.  This is pretty much Bonnie's color scheme other than the dark and lighter purple.  I just don't have that much pink in my stash and my rule is that mystery quilts have to pull from stash.  I only did half the number of blocks last year and I was able to keep up pretty well. I'm going to use the same strategy this year.  

Unity: Make more flying geese for step 8 as leaders and enders

I had hoped to at least have Unity to the finished quilt top stage by the end of the year, but that's not likely at this point.  Still I've made good progress on it this year.  

That's my To Do List for the week.  Linking up with Linda of Texas Quilt Gal for this week's To Do Tuesday.  Happy stitching and happy Thanksgiving for those in the US.   

Stitching Stuff Week 47 of 2021

I'm a little late getting the post up this week.  My niece is getting married this weekend, so our schedule has been a bit weird.  I don't really have much to post about.  Work was just insane this week, I didn't leave before 7 PM any night last week and got in early most days. So my numbers don't surpise me any.  

• 15 minute days/week 47 = 2/7 days
• 15 minute days/Nov = 11/20 days
• 15 minute days/2021 = 252/324 days
• Success rate = 77.78%

At least performance reviews are all done and I'm off all this next week.  I'm hoping next week's numbers look a lot better than this week's. 

I wasn't on the home computer much at all this week, so my apologies that I didn't get by to check out eveyone's posts last week. I hope to be back on track with that this week.  

Please link up and share your stitching adventures from last week.   

1. maggie f 2. Julie in GA 3. karen 4. Ivani

5. Sherrie 6. DonnaleeQ 7. DawnyK 8. Amanda

9. Quilting Gail 10. Shasta @ High Road 11. Andre 12. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt

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To Do Tuesday for the Week of 11/16/2021

Last week wasn't great on the stitching front, this week probably won't be much better.  To add insult to injury, my home computer is acting up. I updated the firmware last night, fingers crossed that fixed the worst of the problems.  Even with the distractions, there was still some progress on the To Do List for last week.  

To Do List for 11/9/2021

• Cabins and Fans: Prep quilt top for quilting, progress
• Macaron Mystery: Make flying geese for steps 4 and 5 ✔
• Unity: Make flying geese for step 8 ✔

Two of three, with progress on the third is still a good week.  This week is going to be really busy on the work front, so my To Do List is going to stay pretty short and pretty much the same.  

To Do List for 11/16/2021

Cabins and Fans: Finish quilt top clean up

I'm almost half way finished with removing the loose threads from the back of the quilt.  I'm not so worried about threads showing through the black sashing, but there are some lighter fabrics in the fan blocks that I'm paying closer attention to so there's no black threads showing through to the front. 

Macaron Mystery: Continue making flying geese for steps 4 and 5

 

So far I'm really happy with my fabric choices for this mystery project.  I'm wondering how all the pieces are going to fit together.  

Unity: Continue making flying geese for step 8

I've got enough flying geese to start another sawtooth star block.  I'm only a quarter of the way done with making blocks for the last two borders.  Unless I get in a lot of sewing over the holidays, it's looking like Unity will be my leaders and enders project well into the new year.  

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

Stitching Stuff: Week 46 of 2021

It was one of those weeks.  My Guy and I worked late several nights last week. It's performance review season, which means lots of reading, editing and meetings for me.  So there wasn't a lot of time or energy for stitching this week. 

• 15 minute days/week 46 = 4/7 days
• 15 minute days/Nov = 9/13 days
• 15 minute days/2021 = 250/317 days
• Success rate = 78.86% 

This hasn't been one of my better years for stitching time.  It's not my worst ever, I'd have to drop below a 52% success rate for that to happen.  My stitching time is running just above average for the 10 years I've been tracking this.  So I'll take those small successes for this year. 

The Scientist in Training has had a busy year too, but she's still finding time to do a bit of handwork here at there. I'm really loving her current project. 

It's hard to believe she's only been doing this for about 11 months.  She learned to embroider the week after Christmas last year.  This is a kit she's finishing, but she's been designing her own motifs for some of the Christmas presents she's got in the works. I'm looking foward to spending some time over Thanksgiving hanging out with her in the sewing room.  

How did your stitchy week work out. Hopefully much better than mine did.  

1. Julie in GA 2. Ivani 3. maggie f

4. Meloney 5. karen 6. Sherrie

7. DonnaleeQ 8. DawnyK 9. Amanda

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Photo Challenge Week 20: By the Light of My Computer

What a week!  The Scientist in Training had 2 exams, while My Guy and I ended up working late three nights this week.  All of us were so busy that the deadline for this week's photo was extended to bedtime Friday as taking photos just didn't fit into this week's schedule.  Thankfully this week's challenge was best done in the dark.

I wasn't finding any inspiration. Having been on the computer most of the week at work, my eyes were already tired, so I did the natural thing while contemplating what to try next. 

Kate: Tired Eyes

I will admit to moving them around a bit here and there, but this was as creative as I was going to get after a week of  writing, editing, and discussing performance reivews.  

My Guy spent his week in training a new employee (at my request) and dealing with other lab work before he takes off to do some volunteer work next week.  He definitely deserved to come home and relax last night. 

My Guy: By the Computer's Light

I guess his eyes weren't as tired as mine were.  

The SIT's had quite the week with 2 exams and a quiz.  By Friday all the studying and stress had caught up with her.  She woke up with a migraine but still got up and got going only to find out class had been canceled.  This is what she sent me after she got back to her apartment. 

Scientist in Training: Sick Day

 

A darkened room, Netflix and a snack before taking a 3 hour nap that helped knock back, but not relieve the headache.  Not a bad end to what turned out to be just one of those weeks for all of us.

Just before heading to bed, My Guy drew the challenge card for this week. 

  

As the SIT noted in her text back to me, "I think I can figure something out".  Probably, I'm hoping this next week is nothing like last week for any of us.  

To Do Tuesday for Week of 11/9/2021

Moving back to standard time is always a bit of a downer.  It's now light when we leave for work, but it's full dark by the time we head home.  It always takes me a few weeks to wrap my mind and my sleep schedule around the change. 

So far November has been pretty conductive to finding stitching time. I finished off my to do list in one week for a change.  

Weekly To Do List for 11/2/2021

• Cabins and Fans: Prep backing for quilting ✔
• Macaron Mystery: Make flying geese for step 4 ✔
• Unity: Make flying geese for step 8 ✔

I kept the list pretty simple and short to fit my current schedule.  That worked pretty well. So we'll repeat that approach for this week. 

Weekly To Do List for 11/9/2021

Cabins and Fans: Prep quilt top for quilting

The black used for the sashing and setting blocks doesn't unravel too badly so I'm hoping for a pretty quick and easy de-threading.  It would be nice to have this project done by the end of the year. 

Macaron Mystery:  Make flying geese for steps 4 and 5

I'm about half way done with step 4 and just got started on step 5. Hopefully both steps will be completed by the end of the month. Then I'll be caught up.  

Unity: Make flying geese for step 8

There are 20 pieces per block. That's a lot of stitching. It's not likely that Unity is going be a finished quilt top by the end of the year.  It took me the better part of 2021 to finish off the twenty something blocks for step 7.  But at least there has been steady progress on the project.  I'm hoping all the efforts this year will result in some nice finishes next year.  

That's my list for this week, short and simple.  Linking up with Texas Quilt Gal for To Do Tuesday.  Good luck with your to do's this week.  

November One Monthly Goal

It's the 7th day of the month, which is the last day to post a Novemer One Monthly Goal and link up over at Elm Street Quilts. 

I'm not going to meet my ambition to finish 8 quilts this year.  If I can finish one more project in 2021, I'll at least hit my average number of finishes for a year.  I'd be happy if I can hit that benchmark considering just how insane work has been this year. 

The most likley project to get done is Cabins and Fans.  The quilt top is done and the backing pieced.   

The backing needs a really good pressing. Thankfully the black fabric used for the sashing and setting triangles doesn't seem to have frayed badly. Hopefully that means that there won't be much thread clean up necessary and the finished top will just need a good pressing before packaging it up and sending it out for quilting. 

So the goal for November is to finish all the pressing and detreading, then get the project sent out for quilting. 

Stitching Stuff: Week 45

One week of November gone already.  This time of year speeds by, it will be the end of the year before we know it. This last week certainly went quickly, but I did better at finding time to wander into the sewing room. 

• 15 minute days/week 45 = 6/7 days
• 15 minute days/November = 5/6 days
• 15 minute days/2021 = 246/310 days
• Success rate = 79.35%

So not a bad week.  I'm hoping things remain on an even keel for the rest of the month. We have a wedding later this month, but I will be off for the week of Thanksgiving, so hopefully I'll have lots of stitching time then.  

The Scientist in Training has been busy with exams and graduate school applications.  She hasn't had as much time for embroidery as she'd like, but she did find some time to finish off a cute addition to her fall wardrobe.  

She did a good job with it.  I think her next project is a sweatshirt for one of her chemistry buddies who is graduating in December.  Though I think she also has some projects she wants to finish as Christmas gifts.  

Hopefully you've had time to play with needle and thread this week. Please link up below and share how that went. 

1. Ivani 2. maggie f 3. Julie in GA 4. karen

5. DonnaleeQ 6. Meloney 7. DawnyK 8. Amanda Bergamin

9. Quilting Gail 10. Jennifer in Indy - a very belated report 11. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt

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Photo Challenge Week 19: High Contrast Lighting

The Scientist in Training and I struggled to come up with photos for this week's challenge.  Understandable on her part, she's got a paper due for Medicinal Chemistry, an exam in Advanced Inorganic Chemistry next week and is trying to get her graduate school applications finished before the 12/1 deadline.  As for me, I just couldn't wrap my head around the challenge.  Even after Googling the concept, it didn't prompt any clever ideas.  So this week's photo prompt was challenging.

 I found a subject, but had the wrong camera with me.  But sometimes you just gotta make do. 

Kate: Street Lighting

It's not the shapest photo, but I liked the splash of color highlighted by the street lamp in the parking lot outside my office window.  

My Guy's early morning walks last weekend netted him a cool shot. 

My Guy: Sparring

Our neighborhood is at the east edge of town.  To the east of us it's all fields for quite aways.  He caught these two dudes playing in the dawn light. 

The SIT did a good job finding a subject for this week's challenge. She sent me this photo once she called it a day on Friday. 

Scientist in Training: The Light Tree

I'm not sure what to call the light tree, but it's one of her roommate's favorite items of decor in the apartment. Last year it doubled as their Christmas tree.  The lighting makes a really cool photograph.  The SIT's is my favorite shot this week. 

I pulled the card from the deck for this week's photo challenge. 

The SIT's response to my text was "I got this".  Not sure I do.  

PHD in 2021: October Progress

October wasn't a great month for finding my way to the sewing room.  This year has been challenging on a number of fronts and that's not going to change anytime soon. Rather than be disappointed, I'm going to celebrate the progress on projects no matter how little it may be, because there's no point in beating myself up for what's beyond my control.  Any progress on my PHD in 2021 will make working towards a PHD in 2022 that much easier.     

 

There aren't any updates to my PHD report this month. 

 

No finishes, but also no new starts.  I've done well at limiting the starts this year. There are two other new quilts planned for this year. One is the 2021 Bonnie Hunter mystery and the other is a graduation quilt for the Scientist in Training's undergraduate research advisor. Even if I don't finish any other quilts this year, I'll finish this year with the same number of uncompleted projects as I started.  That's not a so bad, it could certainly be worse.  

There was good progress on Cabins and Fans (self designed). 

The quilt top is finished and the backing is made. The goal this month is to prep and package up this project for quilting.  Fingers crossed I can get this one at least sent out for quilting before the end of the month.  If I can get that far, this project has a reasonable chance of being finish number 4 for 2021.  

Unity, Bonnie Hunter's surprise pandemic mystry quilt along from 2020, is progressing slowly as my leaders and enders project. 

It's taken me most of the year to finish steps 6 and 7. I'm afraid step 8 may take about as long.  There are lots of pieces in the star blocks that make up the last top and bottom borders, so lots of pieces to stitch together. But I'm taking the attitude it gets done when it gets done.  

Meadow Mist Designs 2021 mystery, Macaron, started in August with the cutting instructions.  The September clue was mostly HSTs, which I had started, but didn't finish till the end of October.  

There were a couple of other parts to piece or cut in September and those are all completed.  I've since made a start on the October clue.  The November clue comes out tomorrow, so I'm a month behind. That's OK, there is no race. I'm just going to stitch as I'm able and keep up as best I can.  

I did get a bit of emboridery done on my traveling embrodiery project. 

We spent a long weekend in Eureka Springs, AR so I finished up the first half of that light blue butterfly in the middle.  I probably won't make any more progress on this project till we get to Christmas vacation.

It wasn't a bad month, one project just about ready for quilting, and finishing up one step in each of two mystery quilt alongs. I'll take that.  

You can see more PHD progress over at Quilting Gails.  I'm hoping she's going to continue her PHD program into next year.  I 've never successfully finished the program, but it's a really fun motivator.    

To Do Tuesday for the Week of 11/2/2021

It's been a busy two weeks, unfortunately the sewing room has been mostly empty during that time.  So there was no point in posting last week as I'd made no progress on the To Do List from 10/19.  It wasn't till this last weekend that there was any progress on that To Do List. 

To Do List for 10/19/2021

• Cabins and Fans: Decide dimensions and layout of backing ✔
• Macaron Mystery: Make HSTs for step 3 ✔
• Unity: Make flying geese for step 8 ✔

It just took me two weeks to get that far. Actually the backing got made for Cabins and Fans so there was a bit more progress than what was on the list. So what goes on this week's list?  Things are still crazy at work, so I'm going to keep it simple for this week.  

To Do List for 11/02/2021

Cabins and Fans: Prep quilt back for quilting

The backing needs a good pressing and there are a few stray threads it picked up from being drug across the floor in the sewing room. (A good vacuumming of the sewing room is necessary before starting this step).

Macaron Mystery: Work on flying geese for step 4. 

  

September's clue was finished off yesterday.  Step 4 was the October clue, the November clue comes out Thursday.  I've just gotten started on the flying geese. Hopefully I can knock those out in a couple of weeks then make a good start on this month's clue.  

Unity: Make Step 8 flying geese as leaders and enders 

Just two borders are left on this Bonnie Hunter Mystery.  The 2021 BH mystery, Rhododendren Trail, starts up this month. I'd like to get all the piecing done on this project before then. Not sure that's doable, but I won't know if I don't give it a try.   

I'm hoping November is less hectic than October was.  The goal at this point is to just keep projects moving.  It would be awesome if Unity was ready to go out for quilting by the end of the year. But if it's not that's OK. Any progress over the next couple of months will set me up for more finishes next year.   

Linking up with Texas Quilt Gal for To Do Tuesday.