To Do List for the Week of 5/28/2024

Hard to believe there are only a few more days left in May. In another month, we'll be half way through the year. Looking at where I'm at with my goals, I'm pretty happy with most everything except for finishes.  So I'm going to gear up on that front for a bit and see if I can make something happen there.  There were things on last week's to do list that helped with the finishing goals.

To Do List for 05/21/2024

1. 2023 SAHRR: Prep top for quilting ✔

2. Guild BOM: Finish May block ✔

3. Kate's Choice: Continue making blocks ✔

4. Wild and Goosey: Continue making purple blocks ✔

5. Indigo Way: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

A completed to do list is always a good feeling.  Fingers crossed I can do as well on this week's list. 

To Do List for 05/28/2024

1. 2023 SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Package and mail out for quilting

The backing and top have been pressed and de-threaded.  I just need to pull the batting and find a box for shipping.  This should go out out to Trudy before the end of the week. 

2. Kate's (Grandmother's) Choice: Continue making blocks

Prepping a quilt top takes a lot of time, so not as many blocks were added to the design wall for this project.  

3. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue making purple blocks, make blue blocks for June.  

4. 2024 SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Cut and assemble backing

This year's SAHRR was made with Halloween fabrics.  The spooky house, cat and pumpkins was in the stash and should make a really fun back. I don't have quite enough for the whole back, so I'll use the orange print to border it.  The plan is to get this project ready to ship out for quilting by the time the 2023 SAHRR comes back from the quilter.  

5. Indigo Way (Bonnie Hunter): Continue as leaders and enders

I'm still assembling the component parts for the last 4 setting triangles.  I'm hoping that June is the month quilt assembly can start.  

That's my list for this week. Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday. 

The Design Wall and the Cutting Table

Wishing those in the United States a very happy Memorial Day.  We didn't make any special plans for the weekend, which is probably for the best as the weather here and in the surrounding states hasn't resulted in the best holiday for many. The worst storms in Oklahoma stayed south of us, all we got was some very heavy rain.  But we were tuned into the local weather coverage for quite a while Saturday night, way past our normal bedtime.  

There's been a bit of progress on the Kate's (Grandmother's) Choice blocks.

Three blocks have been added to the design wall.  Plus the next three blocks have been selected.  

The plan is to paper piece those as I'm limited on some of the fabrics, so I'm trying to get the blocks in one go.  

Most of my weekend was spent at the cutting table rather than the sewing machine.

  

The 2023 SAHRR is 75% pressed and de-threaded.  Normally If I use a non-white background I'm not too worried about the de-threading, but the gray background unraveled badly and there were several areas of just knots on the back which would make quilting more difficult. 

 

You can see from what's been removed that gray loose threads are the biggest issue.  I did discover that it's much harder to stand for long periods of time after my knee surgery.  I've had to tackle the clean up in hour intervals with a bit of sit down in between.  I'm hoping to finish the prep later today.  

Linking up with the Design Wall Monday and Patchwork & Quilts at Quilts https://quiltingpatch.blogspot.com/2024/05/link-party-patchwork-quilts-207.html linky parties. (Not sure what's going on with Blogger, adding links is being very non-cooperative this morning).  

Stitching Stuff: Week 21 of 2024

 

It's been an uneventful week. I was definitely ready for one of those. I'm back to my regular routine a month after knee surgery.  I'm very appreciative of that development.  I made some good headway on getting caught up on housework and some sewing room chores.  It was another good week on the stitching time front. 

 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/May = 25/25 days
• 15 minute days/2024 =146/146 days
• Success rate =  100%

My typical sewing time per day is at least an hour, usually it ends up being anywhere from 2 to 4 hours, depending on what else I have going on.  All that stitching time means it's been a good year on moving projects to at least the finished quilt top stage.  Prepping quilts for quilting is not one of my favorite things, so I tend to slow down on that step. So I'll need to push on that front to get projects moved to finished.  

I did more stash organization this week. The "in-progress" scrap bin is empty again. 

I'm going to try to keep this bin empty for the rest of the year. I'm sure once the beginning of the year projects start up, it will get full again. 

Now that small bin was empty, I resumed processing the scraps in big bag #1. Not a lot of progress, but every little bit helps.  

It's hard to tell, but the bag is maybe half full versus three quarters full when I stopped scrap processing in mid December of last year. 

The to be pressed bin is looking much more empty. 

All the orange fat quarters/half yards have been pressed.  So that side of the bin is empty, plus the black and the Halloween background fabric are also pressed, folded and put away.  Still a lot of fabric to press, but the bin is almost half empty.  That's good progress in just a few weeks.  

So have you been making progress on stitching projects or has sewing room decluttering taken over your spring stitching time?  

1. Frédérique 2. Gretchen 3. Julie in GA 4. maggie f 5. DonnaleeQ

6. Karen 7. Quilting Gail 8. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting 9. Bonnie in Va 10. Amanda

11. Carol Andrews 12. Andrée at Quilting & Learning 13. Dq at Dreamworthyquilts

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

To Do List for the Week of 5/21/2024

I'm just about back to normal, at least on my activities.  Though I'm easing back into my work outs, especially the bicycle time.  There was lots of sewing room time last week, so there was good progress on last week's to do list.  

To Do List for 5/14/2024

1. 2023 SAHRR: Prep back for quilting ✔

2. Guild BOM: Finish May block - progress

3. Grandmother's Choice: Assemble star block, choose next block✔ 

4. Wild and Goosey: Make purple blocks ✔

5. Indigo Way: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

It definitely was a productive week.  This week should be good as well. Other than a Guild meeting tonight and my weekly coffee with friends, nothing else going on this week. 

To Do List for 5/21/2024

1. 2023 SAHRR: Prep quilt top for quilting

The backing is all pressed and de-threaded.  The backing is the easy part, the quilt top will require a lot more effort. 

2. Guild BOM: Finish May block

Still have the top and bottom of this round of borders to assemble and add. Then there is one more border of the green/blue fabric.  Should be easy enough to finish before the Guild meeting tonight. 

3. Grandmother's Choice: Continue making blocks

I may need to stop a bit and rethink my strategy. I was going for light and dark blocks, but I'm not liking how those are going together up n the design wall. I have the next round of blocks chosen, but haven't finalized the fabric selections yet. 

4. Wild and Goosey: Continue making purple blocks

I had to raid the scrap bin for a few more light and dark purples to keep up the variety in the scraps.  It's been working well to work on a couple of blocks at a time.  It won't get finished this year, but there's a good chance of having enough done this year that it can be finished up next year.  

5. Indigo Way: Continue as leaders and enders

Just 4 more partial B blocks are needed to finish up the setting triangles.  I've got all the subunits for the HSTs made, they just need to be stitched together. But then I have the square in a square and triangle in a square components to make.  It would be nice to have this one ready to assemble by the end of June.  

That's my list for this week.  Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.  

The Second Oldest UFO

Storms rolled through overnight.  There was some impressive, rattle the windows thunder along with them. The storm didn't keep us up all night, but it wasn't the most restful night of sleep I've had.  

The knee is doing so much better. But I may have pushed my luck yesterday. I spent several hours yesterday morning on sewing room organization, then pressed and de-threaded the backing for the 2023 SAHRR, so I was on my feet a lot. My knee was very thankful when I settled down at the sewing machine in the late afternoon.  The main project was to sew up the next few blocks for the Grandmother's Choice sampler (Barbara Brackman).  By dinner time there were three new blocks up on the wall, one more almost finished and plans for 2 more. 

This project probably needs a new name because I'm not making any more of Barbara's blocks.  I decided to pull blocks from this book.

 And yes this book also uses the templates that I struggle with.  So I'm redrafting the blocks in EQ so I can use rotary cutting and if necessary, paper piecing.  This is my second oldest UFO.  So I'd just like to finish it and get the fabrics out of the stash.  However that happens is fine with me. So maybe this should be renamed Kate's Choice?

Grad Girl was cleaning her apartment this weekend and sent me this picture. 

    

Grad Girl has started rotating the quilts she keeps on her bed and on the couch.  Queenie found the quilt that's been on the couch pretty much the whole time that Grad Girl has had her.  Apparently it's a favorite as Queenie has been taking her afternoon naps in the closet on top of it rather than her normal spot on the couch. So I apparently have a Queenie approved quilt, that's a nice feeling. 

Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Patchwork & Quilts.     

Stitching Stuff: Week 20 of 2024

It's been a weird week. On a positive note, my knee is finally lining out.  I can go up stairs normally, still look like a gimp going down.  But you have to enjoy the small victories.  I made it to the gym this week, but did a very light work out to avoid doing something stupid and being really sore the next day. I also got in my stitching time this week.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/May = 18/18 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 139/139 days
• Success rate = 100%

It's been a very good year on the stitching front even with knee surgery. Thank goodness for hand stitching projects. 

I didn't spend as much time on stash organization this week.  I did a bit of scrap cutting, but not so much you can see a difference in the bin.  The fabric to be pressed bin is a bit emptier. 

There's a bit less orange fabric in the bin, most of what was pressed was fat quarters and half yards.  The black yardage in the top photo was about 5 yards, so it took a bit to get it all pressed and folded.  I'm hoping I can do better on both the scrap sorting/cutting and the pressing this next week.  

So how did your stitchy week go? 

1. Gretchen 2. Julie in GA 3. maggie f 4. Andrée

5. Karen 6. Bonnie in Va 7. Amanda 8. Frédérique

9. Quilting Gail 10. DonnaleeQ 11. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

Week 111 Photo Challenge: Wealth

We skipped the challenge last week. It was Mother's Day weekend and I wasn't sure there would be time to get a post together.  Plus none of us really liked what we had for photographs last week, so we extended the deadline by a week so we had a chance to explore other options.  

The week 111 challenge continued the theme of "concepts".  

Concepts are a lot more of a challenge than finding an object to photograph. Consequently, it usually makes for a more interesting set of photos as we each seek to find some object to photograph that captures the concept.  

My photo is probably the most literal interpretation of the challenge. 

Kate: Wealth? 

The adult version of a piggy bank, the change jar.  This jar sits in the laundry room and has collected all the change I find in pockets, or more likely the washer if My Guy forgets to clean out his pants pockets. It's been raided over the years, mostly for quarters for the car wash. We have another change jar in our bedroom and Grad Girl has one in her bedroom. So we do have a wealth of change around here.  

My Guy's photo covers two interpretations. 

My Guy: A Wealth of Wheat

  

A lot of wheat is grown in Oklahoma, so that covers one definition of wealth, "plentiful supplies of a particular resource" (courtsey Google).  If you've bought bread recently, you know you need to be more wealthy these days to afford it.  

Grad Girl pointed out when I sent her this challenge card that it was rather an ironic one for a grad student. 

Grad Girl: A Wealth of Color

She picked the more positive interpretation of this photo, she does make some really pretty colored compounds.  What I see in this photo is the wealth of glassware that will eventually have to be washed.  (Yes, I'm a the glass is half empty kind of person, though in this case maybe it's better to say the sink is more than half full).  

With this week's challenge card we are back to looking for an object to photograph. 

At what age does something become old?  

Photo Play: April Summary

April was another month where I didn't get the camera out much.  Knee surgery and recovery made it difficult to get out and about.  We spent the week before surgery in Texas for the eclipse and that's about the only time my camera saw any use.  Walking was difficult, so I wasn't very enthusiastic or focused on getting good pictures. It was a nice surprise to find some visually interesting photos in the few that I took. 

Grad Girl wanted to pick up some new plants and I wanted new rose bushes for our garden, so we took a short drive over to The Antique Rose Emporium near Independence, TX. This place is as much a garden as it is a place to buy plants. The roses were past their prime, but I found a few other subjects worth photographing.  These photos were taken with my I-Phone 12. 

Imperial Pink Poppy

Geranium Leaves

From there we drove just a few miles down the road to visit Old Baylor park. This was one of our go to places for wild flower photography when we lived in Texas, but the Blue Bonnets were just about gone. There were other photo opportunities.  Photos taken with a Canon 70D with a Tamron 18 - 400 telephoto lens.

Fleabane

 

Indian Paintbrush

The total eclipse on April 8th was so cool to watch.  My Guy went to town with filters, I just decided to use my I-Phone to see what I could get.  I wasn't disappointed. 

Finding fun coffee shops is one of our things when we are on the road.  Polite Coffee Company in Bryan, TX is one of favorites when we visit Grad Girl.  Another I-Phone photo.  

Latte Lace

Our last expedition in Texas was to La Grange (can you hear the ZZ-Top song, yes it was about this town). We've driven by it many times when we lived in the state, but never stopped to visit.  After a very nice lunch, we drove up to Monument Hill/Kreische Brewery.  In addition to the remains of the brewery, the Kreische house is also open to visitors, but the barn made the most interesting photo.  Photo taken with the Canon 70D, 18-400 telephoto lens. 

My favorite photo from April is from the eclipse.  How often do you get to take a photo like that?  Flowers are always a favorite subject, making them memorable is hard, so I'm working on how to do that. My second favorite from April is the barn roof with the window.  It's a bit different from my normal subjects.  Do you have a favorite?  

To Do Tuesday for the Week of 5/14/2024

It's been a quiet week.  We spent the weekend at my Mother's.  Grad Girl was able to take a few days off to fit in a friend's graduation and Mother's Day.  We had a pretty chill weekend, she's back in Texas and we're back home.  I wasn't in my sewing room over the weekend, so I didn't quite get all my to do list for last week checked off. 

To Do List for 5/7/2024

1.  2023 SAHRR: Prep back for quilting - no progress

2.  Guild BOM: Assemble May block - progress

3.  Grandmother's Choice: Find blocks, fabrics, pick next block ✔

4.  Wild and Goosey: Make more purple blocks ✔

5.  Indigo Way: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

Not one of my best weeks, but I'll take the three check marks with progress on a 4th project.  

I've no doctor's appointments or other obligations this week, so hopefully I can do better with this week's to do list. 

To Do List for 5/14/2024

1. 2023 SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Prep back for quilting

The backing is made. It just needs to be pressed well and any loose threads removed.  

2.  Guild BOM: Finish may block

I've got some of the components completed. Still a ways to go to finish this block.  

3. Grandmother's Choice (Barbara Brackman): Cut and assemble block, choose next block.

 

Four flying geese are needed for the next block. Those are partially constructed.  I ended up discarding most of the blocks that had already been made, most of them are assembled so badly, that there is no way to square them up.  Oh well, I'll have fun picking my own blocks for the sampler.  

4. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Make more purple blocks

The purple pile is slowly grower bigger. 

5. Indigo Way (Bonnie Hunter): Continue making block B components.  

All the full block B's are completed. I still need 4 setting triangle block B's.  So making the block components continues as my leaders and enders project.  

That's my list for this week. Fingers crossed I'm more successful than I was last week.  Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt: For the Love of Fabric for To Do Tuesday. 

Stitching Stuff: Week 19 of 2024

Hope everyone has a wonderful day and that your kiddos remembered the occasion.  Grad Girl took a few days off to come home for a long weekend.  It's just not for Mother's Day, her long time best bud graduated from Vet school on Friday and she wanted to be there to celebrate with her. She'll have to head back to school tomorrow.   

It's been a good week on the stitching front. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/May =  11/11 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 132/132 days
• Success rate = 100%

So far so good on the 100% metric.  I'm curious to see how long I can keep that streak going this year.  It's been a fun and new challenge for this year.  

Not so much with fabric organization this week, but there was still a bit of progress on the scrap bin. 

It's about a third full now. Not so much progress on the to be pressed tote. 

At lest the tote is no longer overflowing.  Still a lot of pressing to do.  Tackling it just a bit at a time is doable.  Fingers crossed there's more progress next week. 

That's it for my stitching stuff this week.  Did you have much luck getting in some good stitching time last week? 

1. Deb in Canada 2. Julie in GA 3. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting

4. Gretchen 5. Quilting Gail 6. DonnaleeQ

7. Bonnie in Va 8. Frédérique 9. Andrée

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

Photo Play 2024: March Summary

The goal with my photography this year is to just enjoy the process and capture photos that bring me joy.  The lack of mobility due to my knee problems limited my photo excursions in March.  But I did get out a couple of times with the camera.  

One of our family photo challenges in March was "statue(s)".  That required a walk in downtown.  The first signs of spring were just starting to bloom. 

Red Maple leaves

Crepe Myrtle pods

I took a lot of photos that day downtown, but most of them are just a bit blah. I don't know if my camera settings were off or if I just wasn't paying attention. 

The second photo excursion was to Woodward Park in Tulsa. My Guy took his day off in March to survey the Eagle's nests near Tulsa. After his morning of surveying, we met up at the park photograph the spring blooms. He still needed a statue photo, so that location met both requirements.  

Pansies

Johnny Jump Ups

Dogwood

Japanese Snowball

Azalea

It's hard to pick a favorite out of this set of photos.  I really like the texture of the Japanese Snowball leaves, but that deep purple of the pansies is a favorite too.  I like the dreamy, almost painting like feeling of the Dogwood photo.  Definitely a good day with the camera. Let me know if you have a favorite photo.