Brewed Potions

It's the last day of  February.  Time to report on my progress with my One Monthly Goal. I cut it close this month.    

The goal for this month was to finish all the Potion blocks, assemble the rows and add all the sashing.  I finished sewing both halves together yesterday afternoon. 

Potions: Quilt pattern from Flying Parrot Quilts 

I'm really happy with how this quilt top worked out.  It was fun to pick the fabrics for each container.  The Scientist in Training really likes it.  I did a quick mock up in EQ and we agreed that a narrow border of the dark blue added to the top and sides goes a long way to making the quilt look like a shelving unit.  So that's the next step. 

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts for the end of the month One Monthly Goal link up.  Also linking up with Monday Making,  Monday Design Wall and Patchwork and Quilts.    

Stitching Stuff: Week 9 of 2022

The snow and ice from last week is mostly gone now.  The forecast is for temperatures to be in the 70s this next week.  Fingers crossed Mother Nature is now ready for spring and she's done playing with winter weather.  

The winter weather really didn't give me any additional time to sew. Though I worked from home one day, I judged science fair that afternoon (it's been virtual since the pandemic started), so had to play catch up with a few work things, so ended up working late. Even so it wasn't a bad week on the stitching front. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/February = 26/26 days
• 15 minute days/2022 = 55/57 days
• Success rate = 96.49%

Looking back, I'm pretty much on track with last year.  Work didn't get crazy busy till May last year. I'm hoping that's not the case this year and I can find the time to stitch most days in 2022.   

How did the stitching go on your end this week? 

1. Julie in GA 2. maggie f 3. Gretchen 4. Frederique 5. Melissa G

6. karen 7. Ivani 8. DonnaleeQ 9. Colletta's Kitchen Sink 10. Melisa - Pinker n Punkin Quilting

11. Quilting Gail 12. Andre at Quilting and Learning 13. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt

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To Do Tuesday for the Week of 2/22/2022

February has apparently become the whiplash month for weather.  The high yesterday was in the 70's, today we won't hit 40 F. Tomorrow we have a winter weather advisory the runs into Thursday.  I'm ready for spring already! 

Moving right along.  It's Tuesday, time to link up with Linda of Texas Quilt Gal for To Do Tuesday.  I checked off most of the items on last week's To Do List. 

To Do List for 2/15/2022

• Potions: Assemble rows ✔
• Cabins and Fans: Finish stitching down binding - progress
• Macaron Mystery: Work on January and February clues ✔
• Rhododendron Mystery: Work on blocks A and B ✔
• Unity: Make flying geese as leaders and enders ✔

Four check marks out of a possible five isn't a bad week at all. Assembling the rows for Potions took a lot of my stitching time, so there wasn't as much progress on the other projects this week.  That will probably be the case till Potions goes out for quilting.  

So what's on this week's list? Pretty much what was on last week's list. 

To Do List for 2/22/2022

Potions:  Add background sashing strips, assemble quilt top

Two of the background sashing strips have already been added.  Just 4 left to stitch on, then I can start sewing the quilt top together.  

Cabins and Fans: Finish stitching on the binding.

I worked so hard on Potions, that I didn't quite finish the binding. Just one more corner left to turn and this will be a finished quilt.  That should definitely happen this week.  

Macaron Mystery:  Continue working on Jan and Feb clues

I finished all the block A's this weekend.  Now I can start working on the block B's.  I'm really looking forward to seeing this quilt come together. I'm really happy with my fabric choices for this one. 

Rhododendron Mystery:  Work on blocks A and B

It takes a bit of stitching to make enough hourglass subunits to make a block B.  I'm focusing on those right now as they will take longer than the components for block A.  

Unity: Make flying geese as leaders and enders

  

One more block on the design wall since last week. It's been slow, but steady progress so far this year.  I'm looking forward to finishing this project.  

That's my list for the week.  Good luck with your to do list.  

Potions Progress

I'm not ready for a new week.  It's going to be a rough one on several fronts. I'm slated for jury duty this week. I called on Friday and the message was to call again on Tuesday to see if I have to show up on Wednesday.  But we are supposed to get freezing rain and sleet starting sometime on Wednesday into Thursday.  We'll see how all of that works out.

The weekend was quiet with much of it spent in the sewing room.  The Potion blocks have been sewn into rows and the dark blue sashing strips have been attached. 

Potions: Pattern by Flying Parrot Quilts

I'm actually ahead of schedule on this project.  There are six sashing strips of the background fabric that need to be added between the rows, and at the top and bottom of the quilt.  That's the plan for this week.  The pattern doesn't include borders, but I'll probably add a very narrow one of the dark blue as a frame.  We'll see how it all looks once it's assembled.  

Progress on my other projects has been pretty slow with all the focus on getting Potions far enough along to send it out for quilting.  Linking up with Monday Design Wall, Making Monday and Patchwork and Quilts.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 8 of 2022

Yesterday was a mostly nothing but sewing day.  I'm still feeling a bit draggy today, but since Mount Laundry didn't get climbed yesterday, it's on the agenda for this morning.  I'm hoping for another solid afternoon of stitching time once that's been conquered (or at least whittled down a bit). 

I'm getting much better about working in my 15 minutes each evening. Workdays are the hardest because some days it's all we can do to drag ourselves in and forage for dinner.  But I'm getting back in the habit of climbing the stairs no later than 7:30 PM.  Any later and it's almost impossible to reach escape velocity. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/February = 19/19 days
• 15 minute days/2022 = 48/50 days
• Success rate = 96.0%

I'm mostly recovered from the weekend I missed in January. Fingers crossed I can keep up the momentum and stay above 95% for a couple of months.  

How are you doing on the stitching front? 

1. Frederique 2. Ivani 3. Gretchen 4. maggie f 5. Julie in GA

6. karen 7. Colletta's Kitchen Sink 8. DonnaleeQ 9. Shasta @ High Road 10. Andre at Quilting and Learning

11. Stitching Loving Nana :) 12. katie z. 13. DawnyK 14. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt 15. Dq at Dreamworthyquilts

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Photo Challenge Week 34: A Panorama

It's been a slow weekend so far.  I took the opportunity to sleep in a bit today. I just felt off most of yesterday, hopefully a bit of extra rest will set all of that right. The plan for the rest of today is pretty much a nothing but stitching day to see if that tops off the extra sleep. 

Last week's photo challenge was a fun one.

It was a busy week on a number of fronts and I didn't really put my mind to coming up with a photo till after we got home from work yesterday.  I tired a couple of things but just wasn't thrilled with any of them, till I sat down to upload my photos. Talk about not seeing what's right in front of you. 

Kate: Cooking Books

 

Right in front of my recliner is the bookcase with most of the cookbooks we have. This is just one shelf, there are 5 other shelves just as packed.  I can't say we've cooked something out of all of them, but there are a few that we use all the time. 

My Guy took advantage of the weather, we had freezing rain and snow on Thursday, plus it got really cold.  

My Guy: Icy Sunrise

So yesterday's sunrise had lots of sparkle.  It really was pretty out, but amazingly cold.  He has several images from yesterday and all of them are beautiful.  

My Guy got so caught up in the photography that I just about headed to work without him as I had an early morning meeting. It was a classic case of us not communicating well with each other. When he said "I'm going to go out and photograph in the morning", he meant it. I assumed he'd be back by our normal head out the door time, but he had planned to just go in a bit later than our typical. That's not normally a problem, we just have to stay later to make up the time. But I had a first thing in the morning meeting with my boss's boss's boss, so I couldn't be late.  He didn't tell me his plans for us to go in later so I didn't mention my first thing in the morning meeting as we usually get into the office in plenty of time for an 8 am meeting. Lesson learned.  

The Scientist in Training had a busy week, with an exam and research that had to be finished.  So she didn't have time to get a photo this week. If she sends me something later today, I'll edit the post and add it in.  

Edited: The SIT did send in a photo this evening. 

Scientist in Training: Off the Main Road

 

If you wonder what rural Oklahoma looks like, this is pretty typical.  It's so flat and treeless that you can watch the sun dip below the horizon.  

The challenge for this week is probably going to require a grocery trip. 

I'm going to have to plan a bit better this week. I hope you'll stop by next week to see what we all come up with.   

To Do Tuesday for the Week of 2/15/2022

Valentine's Day was pretty low key.  We treated ourselves to a fancy take out dinner. It was really good.  Unfortunately the glass of wine I had with dinner made it hard to do much in the sewing room, I'm such a light weight on that front. Consequently I was in bed pretty early last night.  It's a good thing that the last item on last week's to do list was checked off over the weekend.

To Do List for the Week of 2/8/2022

• Potions: Finish all the flask blocks ✔
• Cabins and Fans: Attach binding and start hand sewing ✔
• Macaron Mystery: Work on the January clue ✔
• Rhododendron Mystery: Make hour glass blocks for block B ✔
• Unity: Make flying geese as leaders and enders. ✔

  

The list is all checked off for last week.  Fingers crossed I can do it again this week.  

To Do List for the Week of 2/15/2022

Potions: Assemble Rows

Potions: Pattern from Flying Parrots Quilts

All the blocks are done and the dark blue for the shelves is ready to stitch to the rows when they are assembled.  This week the plan is to get the blocks all stitched into rows. If I get the "shelf" part sewn on as well, that's a bonus.  That will just leave the row of background fabric that goes above each row to stitch together, cut to size and stitch on to finish the quilt top assembly. There is a possibility I'll add borders, we'll wait and see how it all looks once it's assembled.  

Cabins and Fans (Fluorescence): Finish stitching on the binding

Cabins and Fans (Fluorescence): self designed

I've stitched past two corners, so just 2 left.  That should be doable this week. 

Macaron Mystery: Work on January and February Clues

Macaron Mystery: Meadow Mist Designs 2021 Mystery quilt along

I did put one block together to see how my fabrics were going to work in the final layout.  I like it. Hopefully once Potions is out for quilting, I can concentrate on finishing up these blocks. 

Rhododendron Mystery: Work on blocks A and B

Rhododendron Mystery: The 2021 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt Along

I finished off a B block this week.  Those hourglass blocks aren't my favorite think to make.  I've got a ways to go on this project. I'd like to have it finished before the next Bonnie Hunter kicks off in November. 

Unity: Make flying geese as leaders and enders

Unity: The Bonnie Hunter 2020 Stay at Home Quilt Along

Half the blocks needed for the final pieced border are up on the design wall.  At some point, Unity will probably become my focus project, but for now it will stay the leaders and enders project. 

That's my list for this week. If I can stay on track with Potions and finish the binding for Fluorescence it will be a good week.  

Linking up with Linda, The Texas Quilt Gal for To Do Tuesday.  

Brewing Potions

Happy Valentine's Day!  

One of the restaurants in town offered a special Valentine's dinner for two. That sounded good. So we'll pick that up on our way home from work tonight. A nice, quiet dinner, at home works for both of us. Hope you have a wonderful holiday with your Valentine.   

It was a three day weekend for me. I spent Friday morning running errands, but the afternoon was reserved for working on Potions.  The flasks are all finished and the "shelves" are pieced too. 

Potions: Pattern from Flying Parrots Quilts

I still need to cut and piece the background strips that go at the top of each row of glassware. The blocks also need to be sewn into rows. That's on the agenda for this week.  I'm actually just a little bit ahead of schedule.  The plan is to have this ready for quilting by the end of March.  

Linking up with Monday Making and Design Wall Monday. 

Stitching Stuff: Week 7

February is almost half gone. I'm on track with things in the sewing room, so I'm OK that the month seems to be speeding by. Work has been mostly calm, so it's been a lot easier to find the time and energy to stitch each day.  

 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/February = 12/12 days
• 15 minute days/2022 = 41/43 days
• Success rate = 95.35%

Some days all I manage to fit in is 15 minutes. But all of my projects are progressing, some a lot slower than others, but none have completely stalled out. So I'm content on that front.  

The last few weeks, I've been sharing my quilting metrics. I've heard from a few kindred spirits that are equally enthralled with Excel and use it as a second memory bank to keep up with their quilting accomplishments and goals. So I'm not the only metric nerd. The third tab on my spreadsheet is "Statistics".  It's pretty much all graphs rather than lists, because who doesn't like a good graph?  

This graph of quilts completed each year has made a couple of appearances on the blog over the years.  You can clearly see I've never been able finish more than 7 quilts in one year. I've had a goal in the past to finish 8 quilts in a year. But it hasn't happened yet. So I finally decided that 7 is probably the best I can do while I'm still working full time.  My average over the last 18 years is 4 finishes per year.  I didn't manage that last year, but last year work was a nightmare, so I'm happy with the 3 finishes for 2021.  

Next up is the UFO count.  It's hard to believe that 10 years ago there were only 4 UFOs in the sewing room.  This chart is the reason I've limited the number of new projects on my quilting plan. I refuse to go over 20 UFOs. It's time to stop the upward trend.  The best I've been able to do is keep the total number steady for the last 3 years. Hopefully that number will be a bit lower by the end of 2022.  What's a reasonable number of UFOs?  I'm not sure, but I'm hoping to get it down to the single digits and keep it there.  

The last graph is the number of active projects. This is the UFOs, plus all the projects that are less than a year old.  So this is reflects all the new projects I start in a year.  I made a conscious effort to limit new starts 3 years ago. To hold the number constant it means I've at least finished what I've started the last couple of years. It should be obvious that new starts also drives the UFO list, but I don't think I really connected them till I looked at it graphically.  

This tab on my spreadsheet has probably been the biggest driver of my goals for the last couple of years and has had an impact on how I formulate my quilting plan for the year.  I'd really like to get a handle on unfinished projects. My sewing room would be a lot neater if I did. 

So how are you doing with your stitching metrics this week?  Are you getting in your stitching time and making good progress on your metrics? 

 

1. Ivani 2. maggie f 3. karen 4. Melissa G 5. DonnaleeQ 6. Julie in GA

7. Gretchen 8. Andre at Quilting and Learning 9. Shasta @ High Road 10. Frederique 11. Colletta's Kitchen Sink 12. Sherrie

13. Amanda 14. Meloney 15. DawnyK 16. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt 17. Quilting Gail

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Photo Challenge Week 33: A Knife

We are back to winter today after a few days of 60 F plus temperatures.  So it will be a good day to do laundry, a bit of house cleaning and some sewing. Oh and write a blog post with the results of last week's photo challenge. 

I wasn't all that enthused about this particular subject matter and I think my photo this week reflects that.  

Kate: The Kitchen Knives

Those rainbow handled knives are my favorites if I'm working in the kitchen (which I do as infrequently as possible).  They have nice blades and fit well in my hand. Does that make them photo worthy?  Probably not, but that was as creative as I got this week.  

My Guy's photo could be right out of a bread making book. 

My Guy: Broa Knife

The bread is a yeasted cornbread that he made to go with dinner last Sunday.  

The Scientist in Training also went a pretty traditional route with her photo. 

Scientist in Training: Blunt Force Trauma

She does enjoy her apples. The photo title is what she sent me. "A Knife to the Heart" would probably have been my choice. 

That's our efforts for this week's challenge.  I think we are all much more enthused for next week's subject.   

As the SIT noted, "I can figure something out".  I hope you'll come back next week to check out what we manage for the next photo challenge.  

To Do Tuesday for the Week of 2/8/2022

We are already a week into February. With it being such a short month, we'll be at the end of it before we know it. January always seems to drag, but February just flies.  It's Tuesday, so it's time to draw up a new To Do List and link up with Linda of Texas Quilt Gal for this week's To Do Tuesday.  Before getting to this week's list, I should look at the progress on last week's list.  

To Do List for Week of 2/1/2022

• Potions: Make 7 flask blocks ✔
• Cabins and Fans: Trim quilt, make binding, print label ✔
• Macaron Mystery: Work on January clue ✔
• Rhododendron Mystery: Work on Block A and Block B ✔
• Unity: Make flying geese as leaders and enders ✔

A check mark on each item feels good.  Though the last three items aren't progressing really quickly as my focus is the first two items on the list. The emphasis will be the same in this week's list.  

To Do List for Week of 2/8/2022

Potions: Finish making all the flask blocks

Potions: pattern from Flying Parrots Quilts

I've finished just over half the flask blocks. Now that I've got the assembly mostly down, the last few blocks should go pretty quickly.  

Cabins and Fans (Fluorescence): Attach binding to front, start hand stitching to the back.

Cabins and Fans (Fluorescence): self designed

The quilt is trimmed, label and binding made, so all that's left is to get the binding on the quilt and stitched down.  With the focus on Potions, I won't get the hand stitching done this week, but this should be finished before the end of the month.  

Macaron Mystery: Work on the January clue.

Macaron Mystery: Meadow Mist Designs 2021 Mystery quilt

Not a lot of progress this week, but the pile of dual flying geese blocks has grown a bit. I've been stitching one pair of geese with all the flask blocks, so it's slow going.  At least there is some progress. Work will pick up once Potions is out for quilting.  

Macaron Mystery: Make hourglass blocks for block B.

Rhododendron Mystery: Bonnie Hunter 2021 Mystery Quilt

 

Not a lot of progress on this project either, but I've been adding a set of HSTs with each set of flask blocks I make. Slow progress, but at least progress hasn't completely stopped.  

Unity: Stitch flying geese as leaders and enders.

Unity: Bonnie Hunter 2020 Stay at Home Quilt Along

Progress on Unity is slow and steady.  I've been sticking in the occasional square in a square block to the leaders and enders pile. Hopefully by the time Potions is a quilt top, I'll have all the pieces needed to finish off the last pieced border.  

I'm on track with Potions and none of the other projects have stalled. I'm happy with progress to date. I'm off on Friday, but My Guy isn't. I'm hopeful of getting in a nothing but stitching day then. Good luck with your To Do List this week.  

Mixing up Potions

It's back to the office today after three days of working from home last week.  It is nice to have that option, I'm not looking forward to braving the cold this morning. The weekend was sunny, but definitely too cold to do much other than laundry and sew a bit.  I did a bit of both over the weekend.  In the sewing room there was really good progress on the flask blocks.

Potions: By Flying Parrot Quilts

Half the flasks are completed and up on the design wall. There's also a pile of partially stitched over at the sewing machine. 

This project has to be done by mid-May. So far, so good at staying on task and on schedule. The plan is to finish the rest of the flask blocks this week.  I'm off work this Friday and planning a nothing but sewing day as My Guy has to work. I may get as far as starting assembly. 

Linking up with Monday Making and Design Wall Monday.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 6 of 2022

Weekends always go so fast. I'm not sure what happened to Saturday, but it's definitely Sunday now.  Last weekend is just a blur. My apologies for not posting last Sunday. I did eventually get a stitching stuff post up, but not till late on Monday. Work intervened in what should have been an uneventful weekend.  Thankfully by Monday, the issue was resolved and I was back to my regular schedule by that afternoon.  Still my stitching time did take a hit early in the week.  

• 15 minute days/week = 6/7 days
• 15 minute days/Jan = 29/31 days
• 15 minute days/Feb = 5/5 days
• 15 minute days/2022 = 34/36
• Success rate = 94. 44%

Due to the winter weather (about 8" of snow between Wednesday night and Friday morning) we worked from home the last three work days of the week. It's amazing how much more time there is for stitching when you don't have to dress in business attire and then drive to work.  It was a pretty good week on the stitching time front.

Back in week 4, I talked about being a data snob and shared tab 1 of my all things quilting related spreadsheet.  Tab 1 lists all my UFOs. Tab 2 details all my finishes.  

My first quilt was started when I was in graduate school, a summer class through the county extension office.  It wasn't finished till we were living in Texas.  I'm just showing the very top part of my completed list. There are actually 70 completed projects on the list.  I show the start date (which for some of the early quilts the year is as good as I could get), then the completed date. The last two columns show if the project was a UFO when it was finished or if it really was a WIP.  

The other listing on my Completed tab is the status all the projects that are part of annual quilt alongs. 

The first annual quilt along I started playing along with was the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I've not started a RSC quilt since 2019. I've been limiting starts so I could focus on finishes, so no new RSC starts the last few years.  I do enjoy the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt alongs and have played along since 2013. But I have to admit I rarely keep up and tend to fall massively behind.  Only 50% of those mysteries have been finished.  Lastly I really enjoy playing along with Meadow Mist Design's mystery series.  A clue a month is really more my speed. You can tell as I've completed all but the most recent mystery. 

So how are you doing at moving things along?  Did you get in all the stitching time you were hoping for last week?  

1. Frederique 2. Julie in GA 3. Gretchen 4. Ivani 5. maggie f 6. Meloney 7. karen

8. Melissa G 9. Shasta @ High Road 10. DonaleeQ 11. Melisa - Pinker n Punkin Quilting 12. Andre 13. Colletta's Kitchen Sink 14. Jennifer in Indy

15. DawnyK weeks 5 and 6 16. Amanda 17. Dq at Dreamworthyquilts 18. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt 19. Quilting Gail

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Photo Challenge Week 32: A Small Toy In a Real World Setting

It's been a strange week. Due to the weather we worked from home the last three days. I like the commute, but I am ready to get out and about a bit. 

I'm not sure what each of us would have done for our photo this week if the weather had been different. This week's prompt was a fun one. 

 

I didn't really have a firm idea of what I was going to do until we got the snow.  

Kate: Snowy Snow Tiger

I believe this is Sheba. The Scientist in Training had a whole "family" of stuffed tigers, with Simba being the largest. Simba was the dad and Sheba was the mom. The whole family slept with the SIT for years.  Sheba flew with us to Oregon once. She was perfectly happy to hang out in the overhead bin during the flight.  

My Guy used one of his photographer's toys, an extreme wide angle lens, to capture an image of a toy. 

My Guy: Snowglobe in a Snowglobe

My Guy had a lot of neat shots for this week, but I agree this one is the most dramatic.  

The SIT didn't need the snow, but she did need water for her shot. 

 

Scientist in Training: Pokémon Piplup

Piplup is a water type Pokémon. Somewhere in the closet upstairs the SIT has a huge box full of Pokémon cards and I think she has most of the Pokémon movies on DVD around somewhere. 

Last week's challenge was a lot of fun.  There's a lot of  memories associated with the various toys.  This week's challenge is another one of those that's going to require some out of the box thinking.  

The SITs response was "Umm...OK then".  I feel pretty much the same.  I hope you'll come back next weekend to see what we all come up with from this prompt.  

PHD in 2022: January Progress

The second round of snow didn't amount to much, but 6" of snow is a lot more than we normally get.  We've been told to work from home for another day. So my commute will be from my recliner to my home office today, no walk across the parking lot in the cold.  

I'm participating in Quilting Gail's PHD (Projects Half Done) again this year as additional motivation to get a few more projects off the UFO list.  

I had a solid month of stitching time with lots of progress, but no finishes yet.

But no new starts and there's been some progress on 5 projects.  Really not a bad month.  

Cabins and Fans (Fluorescence) is quilted. 

This will be my first finish for 2022.  The label is designed, it just needs to be printed and rinsed.  The plan is to get the quilt trimmed and binding made this weekend.  

Unity (Bonnie Hunter 2020 Sew in Place Quilt Along) has been progressing slowly, it's been my leader and ender project for a while.  

The last border is under construction, a quarter of the way complete.  Unity will probably be my second finish for 2022.  It's been slow going, but at least the project never completely stalled out.  

Unfortunately January wasn't the best month for the Macaron Mystery (Meadow Mist Design 2021 Mystery).

There was progress, just not a lot of it.  I made a start on the January clue, but didn't come close to finishing it.  The reveal came out yesterday. I'll be playing catch up for a couple of months. 

There was more progress on the Rhododendron Mystery (Bonnie Hunter 2021 Mystery), 

Several block A's are made, but block B is going to be chore to finish up.  Rhododendron is likely to become my next leaders and enders project.  

Potions (Flying Parrot Quilts) has been my main focus for January. 

There was just one block completed at the end of December.  All the test tube and beaker blocks were finished in January.  All that's left is the flask blocks, but those are going to be really fiddly.  Fingers crossed I can stay on schedule with those.  The plan is to have  a finished quilt top by the end of the month.  

No finishes, but no starts and lots of progress on the project with a May deadline. I'm calling January a success. I've got to get to eat breakfast now and then get to work, but you can check out more January 2022 PHD Reports over at Quilting Gail.