To Do Tuesday for the Week of March 29, 2022

This is my 115th (ish) weekly To Do List. I'm not a list person, or at least I didn't think I was. What started off as an experiment over 2 years ago has become just how I organize my sewing week. Have I finished more projects? Probably not, but I feel more productive. That has to count for something, right? 

Last week's list was pretty short.  

To Do List for 3/22/2022

• Unity: Fix puffy areas, start on next border ✔
• Macaron Mystery: Make blocks ✔
• Rhododendron Mystery: Hourglass blocks as leaders/enders ✔

Three for three is a good week.  I'm keeping it simple for this week too. 

To Do List for 3/29/2022

Unity:  Add final border

The green border strips are under assembly at the sewing machine.  Unity should be a finished quilt top by the end of the weekend.  

Macaron Mystery: Make last Block B, cut setting triangles

Just one last block to make and then I can start on assembly. Before I can get to that I need to cut out the setting triangles and sashing strips. How quickly the border goes onto Unity will dictate how much progress I make on this project.  

Rhododendron Mystery:  Work on Clue 5, hourglass blocks as leaders and enders

 I decided to work through the clues rather than just make one block at a time.  All the pieced HSTs for block A (clue 3) are finished.  Clue 4 is the hourglass blocks, which I'm working on as my leaders and enders stitching.  I'm going to start on clue 5 this week.  I skipped clue 2 which is the flying geese for the border.  I'll pick those up once I've finished all the blocks.  

Those are my to do's for this week. I'm linking up with Linda, the Texas Quilt Gal for another To Do Tuesday.  

More Unity

It's the last Monday in March, so we almost a third of the way into 2022.  It's warming up, but it's still pretty cool in the mornings.  My allergies have definitely let me know it's spring.  I just have to remember to take some sinus medicine if I'm going to be outside for long. 

I did get in some good stitching time this weekend.  I always forget how long it takes to add borders.  

 

With all the seams in the last pieced border, there's a lot of pinning to keep the Unity seam allowances laying in the right direction.  And then there is my least favorite part of adding borders, laying the quilt out to measure for the next set of border strips. 

Unity: 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt along

By dinner time last night, the narrow border of background fabric was finished and the green strips for the final border were cut.  By the end of next weekend, Unity should be a finished quilt top.  

Linking up with Monday Making, Monday Design Wall, as well as Patchwork and Quilts.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 13 of 2022

The temperatures have finally warmed up after a week of the cold and wet.  The flowering trees are starting to bloom, the rose bushes are showing their new leaves.  All that means my allergies are back too. The last week of March and the first couple weeks of April are always the worst. Even so, I'm glad for the warm up. I'm ready for a bit of spring, even if it means I'm a prisoner to the indoors.

It's Sunday, so it's time to review how well we did at finding time to stitch this week. 

 

Getting into the sewing room wasn't so hard this week. 

 

• 15 minute days/week = 6/7 days
• 15 minute days/March = 20/26 days
• 15 minute days/2022 = 77/85 days
• Success rate = 90.59%

The one day I missed was due to a sinus headache that showed up at dinner. By the time we got home, the only thing I could do was just go to bed. I've sewn at least 90% of the days this year. That's a lot better than last year's sewing effort. April is going to be rough, work is still nuts.  Hopefully I can work in just 15 minutes most days, I'm going to need the sanity break.   

How was your stitchy week?  

 

1. maggie f 2. Julie in GA 3. Ivani 4. Melissa G

5. DonnaleeQ 6. Sherrie 7. Andre at Quilting and Learning 8. Meloney

9. Shasta @ High Road 10. Quilting Gail 11. DawnyK

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Photo Challenge: Week 38 - Letters

I was glad to see the end of Friday. The week back to work after vacation is always a long week. On top of that the weather was cold and wet.  So I'm glad to make it to Saturday.  

It wasn't hard to find subject matter for this week's photo.  It was harder to think of what would make a good photo.  

There are at least two interpretations for the word.  Both My Guy and I aren't thrilled with our photos. The Scientist in Training came back strong after not getting a shot for last week's challenge.  

I dug around in my limited supply of scrap booking supplies to find my subject matter for this week's shot. 

Kate: Springy Letters

I think the pink letters were used for soccer team photos for the SIT, or maybe it was a craft activity for the SIT's birthday?  I have a matching set of letters in blue with the exact same letters missing. The mists of time have definitely obscured that particular memory. 

It was My Guy's turn to try the arty approach this week.

My Guy: Double Vision

I think he nailed it this week. He obviously dug into his supply of his physics demonstration materials to get this photo.  

The SIT does a great job finding fun photos around campus.  This week is no different.  

Scientist in Training: The Chemical Alphabet

I really like the SIT's interpretation of this week's challenge.  Do you remember what chemical substances Sn, Sb and Pb stand for?  Do you remember which two letter combos represents silver and which one represents gold?  Do I? Yes, but my day job to deals with this stuff.  

The challenge for this week will be harder for me and My Guy, the SIT will have an easier time of it.  

I'm very allergic to animal dander, so we've never kept a pet.  We'll have to borrow one for this week.  

March One Monthly Goal Accomplished

Hard to believe that there's just one more week left in March.  Normally, I'm scrambling to get my One Monthly Goal finished at this point. For a change I'm actually ready to link up with Elm Street Quilts for the March One Monthly Goal Finish Linky Party before the last day of the month.  

 

My goal for March was to get Potions sent out for quilting.  At the beginning of the month I had a finished quilt top, but still needed to piece the back. 

Backing fabric is Robert Kaufman, Science Fair 3 Beakers Bright

I love this backing fabric. The only drawback was that sewing two lengths together to get the width needed for the quilt meant matching the up the shelves at the seam.  That worked out better than I expected. Not perfect, but not too shabby.  

The next step required to move the project along is my least favorite. Removing the loose threads and giving the top a final press usually takes a solid afternoon of work. 

The blue background fabric frayed more than the other fabrics, but I've ended up with much larger piles of loose threads from other projects. Potions actually wasn't too bad, it helped that the Scientist in Training was around to keep me company during that step.  

The backing and quilt top were carefully folded up and packaged in zip lock bags. I found the right size batting in my stash. Then searched for the right size box. 

After packing, taping and labeling, the project was ready for the post office.  I was off work that week, so getting to the post office wasn't the scheduling problem it normally it is.  I heard from Trudy yesterday, she's almost finished with the quilting.  So I'm pretty sure I know what my April One Monthly Goal is going to be.  

To Do Tuesday for the Week of March 22, 2022

Monday's after almost a week out of the office are always hard.  It's too bad that Friday is so far away this week. It's only Tuesday, but that means it's time to look back at last week's To Do List and make a list for this week.  

To Do Tuesday for 3/15/2022

• Potions: Package and send out for quilting ✔ 
• Unity: Finish last pieced border, attach, start next border - progress
• Macaron Mystery: Work on blocks ✔
• Rhododendron: Make hourglass blocks as leaders/enders ✔

Three check marks and good progress on the last To Do item; it was a productive week. Potions is out for quilting, that's the last of my projects with a hard due date, so I can just cruise for a bit.  I make better progress if I keep my To Do List targeted on just three projects. That's the plan for this week.  

To Do Tuesday for 3/22/2022

Unity: Finish fixing "puffy" areas, start on next border

Finding that the quilt didn't lay flat is why I couldn't check off last week's to do item. I've been unstitching and restitching seams in the flying geese borders and it's made a huge difference in the flatness of the quilt. There are one or two seams left to fix, then I can move on to adding the narrow background border. I doubt I get to the green border this week. 

Macaron Mystery: Make blocks

I'll need to finish stitching up the flying geese pairs before I can make any additional blocks. These blocks will go together pretty quickly once I'm done unstitching Unity.   

Rhododendron Mystery: Hourglass blocks as leaders/enders, make blocks

Step 1 is the only clue that I've completely finished on this project. December was a mess at work, so I fell pretty fall behind on all the other clues.  I'll work on the hourglass blocks as leaders and enders, plus add some other component assembly into my chain stitching pile by the machine.  

That's this week's list.  Linking up with Linda of Texas Quilt Gal for To Do Tuesday.  Wishing you lots of success with your to do list.  

Following the Quilt Plan

Sadly, spring break is over.  It's back to work for me this week.  The Scientist in Training is back at college. We both had a good week of hanging out and spending time in the sewing room.  She finished two embroidery projects and I got Potions sent out for quilting.  Cabins and Fans (Fluorescence) and Potions have been my focus projects since December.  With Potions out for quilting, it's time to refocus and identify the next project to move towards completion.  

Unity is the next quilt on my 2022 quilting plan.  I finished and attached the last pieced border this week.  

Unity: Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt along (2020)

It's gotten too big to photograph on the design wall so I laid it out on the floor.  That's when I noticed that the quilt isn't lying flat in places.  The problem is with both flying geese borders. I didn't do the best job with my seam allowance on those two borders.  So I spent most of my sewing time on Saturday and Sunday with my seam ripper adjusting those rows. It's definitely laying flatter now, so I'm on the right track. There are still a few more seams to adjust. The plan is to finish that up this week and get going on the last two borders. 

 

The plan is to add a narrow border of the background fabric and then finish the quilt with the green in the last border.  The green makes a very nice frame for the quilt.  

Unity has been my leaders and enders project since some time last year.  Now that's it's moved up to be my priority project, something else from the list can take it's place.  Project #4 on my quilt plan is Bonnie Hunter's 2021 Mystery Quilt Along project, Rhododendron.  Bonnie's mystery quilts often have components that are made of small pieces and require a lot of stitching, that type of stitching works really well as leaders and enders.  

Rhododendron: Bonnie Hunter 2021 Mystery Quilt Along

 

The hour glass blocks that are used to make block B aren't hard, but require a bit of time to assemble enough to complete a block.  I've never been very good at just powering through and stitching up all the components at once, I get bored with that. So these will make great leaders and enders while I focus on finishing up Unity.

Linking up with Monday Making, Design Wall Monday along with Patchwork and Quilts.   

Stitching Stuff: Week 12 of 2022

Spring break comes to an end today.  I took most of the week off to hang out with the Scientist in Training.  We spent some time in the sewing room, had a shopping day, and just generally hung out. It was a good week on the stitching time front. 

• 15 minute days/week = 6/7 days
• 15 minute days/Mar = 14/19 days
• 15 minute days/2022 = 71/78 days
• Success rate = 91.03%

I missed one day this week due to a long work day followed by dinner out the night before the SIT left on another graduate school evaluation trip.  Even though I missed one day, since I was off work most of the week the amount of time in the sewing room was up for the week.  

Did you manage to spend some time with needle and thread this week?  

1. Gretchen 2. Ivani 3. Julie in GA 4. Melissa G 5. karen

6. maggie f 7. Melisa - Pinker n Punkin Quilting 8. DonnaleeQ 9. katie z. 10. Colletta's Kitchen Sink

11. Andre at Quilting and Learning 12. DawnyK 13. Frederique

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Photo Challenge: Week 37 - A Bowl, Water and Something Else

It was spring break week at our house.  The Scientist in Training was home for most of the week, I took vacation for most of the week but My Guy had to go back to work as he'd been off all of last week to recover from his bicycle crash. My Guy got his shot early as he had to work, but being off work you think you have all whole week to do something. I didn't get my shot till right after dinner last night and the SIT didn't get hers taken before she left to check out the University of Arizona graduate program.  I'll update the post if she sends me a photo later this weekend. 

Last week's challenge involved mostly normal household items. 

 

We have bowls and water, it was deciding on the something else that was the challenge.  I tried for an arty shot.  

Kate: Glass by Candlelight

Not sure I pulled it off completely, but I do like this photo. In all the other shots the water looked black, at least in this one you can tell there is water in the bowl.    

My Guy definitely found a fun "something else".  

My Guy: Just Ducky

I think he nailed the challenge last week. He does have other photos that he took while he was making bread that would have met the challenge. This one is such fun, I'm glad he went with it. 

This week's challenge should be easy. 

Hopefully I'll do better this week and not wait till the last minute to come up with a photo.  

To Do Tuesday for the Week of March 15, 2022

Thankfully the last week has been much calmer. My Guy is healing well. His neck still bothers him quite a bit, but the lacerations on his face have healed and the swelling has mostly gone down.  He's going back to work today.  I'm off this week (except for Thursday). The Scientist in Training is home this week for Spring Break. She's been my partner in the sewing room the last few days. We've both made a lot of progress on our projects the last couple of days.  My To Do List for last week is all checked off.  

To Do List for 3/8/2022

• Potions: Cut and piece backing, start clean up for quilting ✔
• Macaron Mystery: Continue making blocks ✔
• Rhododendron Mystery: Continue making blocks ✔
• Unity: Continue making flying geese as leaders and enders ✔

It was definitely a good week on the progress front.  I'm hoping to do as well with this week's To Do List.  

To Do List for 3/15/2022

Potions: Package and mail out for quilting

I'm ahead of schedule on this project.  The backing and quilt top were pressed and de-threaded over the weekend. Both are packed up, along with the batting.  I just need to write the deposit check, seal up the box, and take it to the post office.  The goal was to have this ready for quilting by the end of March, I beat that goal by almost 2 weeks.  

Unity: Finish last pieced border and attach to top, start next border

Unity: Bonnie Hunter Sew in Place Quilt Along, 2020

The final 2 star blocks needed for the last pieced border are over at the sewing machine ready to stitch up.  I'm planning to add a very narrow border of the background fabric and then a final border of the yellow or green. It just depends on how big a border I decide to add and how much fabric I have left of each.  Unity has moved up on my to do list as it's the now the closest project to being a finished quilt top.  Hopefully by the time Potions comes back from quilting, Unity will be ready to go out.  

Macaron Mystery: Continue making blocks

Macaron Mystery: Meadow Mist Designs 2021 mystery quilt along

The blocks go together pretty quickly as the components are all completed.  

Rhododendron Mystery: Make hourglass blocks as leaders/enders

Rhododendron Mystery: Bonnie Hunter 2021 mystery quilt along

Bonnie Hunter projects make good leaders and enders as they often have many small component parts. I'm hoping to have this project out for quilting by the time this year's mystery starts up in November.  

That's my plan for this week.  You can find other To Do Tuesday posts over at Linda's blog at Texas Quilt Gal. 

First Finish of 2022: Cabins and Fans (AKA Fluorescence)

With all the craziness going on the last few weeks I didn't get photos of my first finish till last Monday.  Our house is on the dark side, so you need both a sunny day and a free afternoon to get decent inside photos. Cabins and Fans, renamed Fluorescence by the Scientist in Training, was finished on February 24, 2022.  

Fluorescence (AKA Cabins and Fans), self designed
Started Jan 6, 2017: Finished Feb 24, 2022

Fluorescence started out as my 2017 Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  Since I tend to stall out on figuring out a setting for my RSC projects, it seemed wise to work out a setting before I get started on making the blocks.  All the blocks started out as a paper pieced fan block.

It appears that even with a completed design in EQ, an RSC project needs to marinate a few years before it gets added back to the in progress list.  Even though all the fan blocks were made in 2017, quilt assembly didn't start up again until April of 2021.  

Trudy didn't disappoint on the quilting. 

The quilting is easier to see from the back.

This quilt will be going to one of the SITs college mentors, the professor that requested her as a teaching assistant.  Here's the label (minus the message to the professor)

I will miss working with these colorful blocks. I've played around in EQ with making a version with a white or gray background and the colors just don't seem to pop as much. I have some other versions drafted in EQ with a combination of  two blocks (one of which does have a log cabin block).  With the push to work down the UFO list, there haven't been any new RSC challenge blocks the last couple of years. Maybe a few more projects will come off the list this year and I can add a new RSC project to next year's list.  

Linking up with Monday Making, Monday Design Wall, and Patchwork & Quilts.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 11 of 2022

We forgot to set our clock ahead an hour before we went to bed last night, so I'm getting a late start on the stitching time post this morning.  Thankfully I'm off most of this next week, which will help me cope with the reset.  

The week started out a bit rough, the weekend had been so stressful that I started the week less than rested.  I didn't get home till almost 8 one day this week.  By the end of the week, I was just so tired that it was early to bed on Friday night with no stitching time.  So not a horrible week on the stitching front, but not a perfect one.  

• 15 minute days/week = 5/7 days
• 15 minute days/March = 8/12 days
• 15 minute days/2022 = 65/71 days
• Success rate = 91.55%

I'm still stitching more than 90% of the time, but I'm afraid that's not going to hold much longer. With the resignations in my group, my work load is going to go up for a while.  I foresee a lot of late nights in my future.  My goal was to stitch at least 75% of the time, I'll be happy if by the end of the year I've managed at least that much on the stitching front.  

Switching gears a bit, it's been awhile since I shared what the Scientist in Training was up to with her embroidery projects.  She's been pretty busy with school this semester, so she's not finished much so far this year. 

She's finished a couple of kits and then went out on her own to come up with those flowers embroidered over a shirt pocket.  I can't decide if that's my favorite or if it's her beaded mandala.  She does such beautiful work.  The SIT is home this week for spring break, the plan is to do a bit of shopping and spend a lot of time stitching together.  It should be a fun week. 

Did you have time to hang out in your sewing space this week?

   

1. maggie f 2. Ivani 3. Gretchen 4. karen 5. Shasta @ High Road 6. Melissa G

7. Frederique 8. Colletta's Kitchen Sink 9. Sherrie 10. DonnaleeQ 11. Andre at Quilting and Learning 12. Jennifer in Indy

13. katie z. 14. Amanda 15. DawnyK 16. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt

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Photo Challenge: Weeks 35 and 36

This should be the post for week 37 of our family photo challenge, but March hasn't been the calmest month on a number of fronts.  I don't really remember why I missed posting for week 35. The SIT and I were a bit late getting our photos last week. She had an exam, lab reports due and a trip to Texas A&M to look at grad school on her plate. I was coping with a crappy work week and the weekend didn't get much better.  So this is a catch up post. 

The challenge for week 35 was:

Our local grocery stores don't have exotic anything, so I went with the most exotic thing we had in the fruit drawer in our refrigerator.  

Kate: Blood Orange

Blood oranges are only available at a certain time of the year, so I decided that qualified as exotic.  

My Guy was off in Arizona working on restoring habitat for the Masked Bobwhite.  

My Guy: Barrel Cactus Fruit

So this may not be exotic in Arizona, but it certainly is in Oklahoma. 

The Scientist in Training has the advantage of living in a college town with a very diverse population, so there are some great international markets around. 

Scientist in Training: Korean Radishes

 

She found her photo op at the Asian market.  

We were all excited for Week 36's challenge. 

Both the SIT and I didn't get on the ball for our photos, she was traveling at the end of the week and my crappy work week pretty much sapped any creativity I had.  We both had photos in time for me to post Saturday evening, but I wasn't were I could post at that point. 

Kate: Waiting in Emergency

I spent most of last Saturday sitting in an emergency room. My Guy had a very nasty bicycle crash early Saturday.  I took this while I was waiting for him to come back from the CT scans and X-rays. They decided after the scans that he needed to be transferred to the trauma unit in Tulsa due to the severity of his injuries. The biggest concern was the potential of serious damage to the vertebrae in his neck. That was the scariest part. Thankfully that injury didn't involve the spinal cord.  He is recovering well and we appreciate all the well wishes from everyone.  

My Guy was on top of things when he took his photo for week 36. 

 

My Guy: Vertigo-Vertigone

He's at the top of the play tower at one of the local parks. He doesn't have a fear of heights, but I do. It is a long way down!

The Scientist in Training had a busy week with school and then getting ready to go to College Station.  

Scientist in Training: Alone in the Dark

 

So not surprisingly she didn't remember to get her photo till she was lying in bed in a strange place Friday night. 

The challenge has been a lot of fun. I continue to be surprised at what we all come up with. We've all had brilliant shots along with a few duds.  But it's all part of the fun.  

We decided to take a break from the challenge for this week and didn't draw a card last weekend. But the SIT is home for spring break, so she pulled the card for with this week's challenge.  

Hmm, it should be interesting to see what we each pick as the "something else". 

PHD in 2022: February Progress

I'm a few days late on posting the progress on my PHD in 2022, so I won't be able to link up with Quilting Gail this month. But I still want to celebrate all the progress in February, especially since the last weekend was so chaotic and stressful.  I really need to celebrate something! 

So here's my report for February. 

No new starts, that's worth celebrating.  My Guy seems to have problems avoiding squirrels, so far I've done well at avoiding the quilty ones.  Even better, the report shows the first finish for 2022!  

Cabins and Fans (Fluorescence, self designed) is labeled and bound. I didn't get my glamour shots of the quilt till yesterday afternoon, I'll do a full post on the finish soon. 

Unity (Bonnie Hunter 2020 Quilt Along) is moving along slowly. 

Just three more stars left to finish off the last pieced border.  I'm hopeful of seeing this project reach completion this year. 

Macaron Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs 2021 Mystery Quilt along) has a few blocks finished.  

I'm really happy with all my fabric selections worked out.  These blocks go together fast since all the subunits are finished.  

Rhododendron Mystery (Bonnie Hunter 2021 Mystery Quilt Along) is moving along a lot slower. 

One block A and one block B were finished last month.  Those little hour glass blocks in block B take a bit to construct.  I think this one is going to be another slow moving project. That's OK, as long as it's progressing, I'll be happy. 

Potions (Flying Parrot Quilts) is zooming along. 

All that's missing for Potions to be a finished quilt top is the last border across the top.  That has since been added.  All the flask blocks were finished, the rows assembled and the sashing added last month.  This quilt has a May deadline, so I'm happy that this project has stayed on track. It should be ready to go out for quilting in a week or so.  

So one finish, no new starts and progress on four other projects on my PHD list for 2022.  Not a bad start to the year.