Computer Time and a Bit of Hand Stitching

Last week's maladies definitely hampered my progress on all things quilty. Some days, 15 minutes was really all I managed to accomplish.  But there was still progress.  Both design walls are completely empty at the moment. Chocolate Marshmallow goes up next. I did work out the final setting in EQ on one of the days I didn't make it to the sewing room. 

  

This may or may not be the final block layout. I need to get the blocks up on the design wall and play a bit before that's a done deal.  Chocolate Marshmallows was started in 2014. It was a BOM quilt along over at Sea Breeze Quilts.  I've not been able to find the block patterns, I need to check with Amanda to see if they are still available.  At any rate, the plan is to get moving on this project next.  

There's been good progress on getting the binding stitched down on Rhododendron (Bonnie Hunter).

I turned the third corner last night.  Another 40 to 50 inches of stitching left and this will be a finished quilt. That should be doable today.  I'd like to be able to count it as a finish on my PHD report for September.  

The planned finish for October is just waiting for me to start on the the hand stitching. 

Diatom (Quilting Jetgirl) is a wedding gift for one of Grad Girl's friends. I'm hoping to have it finished before I go visit her later in October.  

I have lots to keep me busy this week.  Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Patchwork & Quilts.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 39 of 2024

This last week went fast!  We were gone over the weekend and then I didn't feel well the first couple of days we were back. A combination of autumn allergies and a massive headache. I got my Covid and flu boosters Thursday morning, so I was moving pretty slow yesterday. I managed to get in my stitching time, but pretty much let everything else go. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Sept = 28/28 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 272/272 days
• Success rate = 100%

It's been such a good year on the stitching front. It's been very motivating to have maintained the 100% this long.  So even when I didn't feel very well, I was motivated to stitch, even if was just 15 minutes.  I've made such good progress on my projects this year. All the sewing time really does pay off. 

I've not made any progress on the scraps or fabric pressing recently, mostly because we just haven't been home a lot on the weekends recently.  I'll get back to it eventually.  

How are you doing at fitting in some stitching time with the change in the season?

  

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

5. Quilting Gail 6. DonnaleeQ 7. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting 8. Bonnie in Va

9. Amanda 10. Lea Anne's Twinkler Quilt 11. Andrée at Quilting & Learning

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Week 126 Photo Challenge: Leading Lines

This last week went fast.  As usual, I was scrambling yesterday to come up with a photo for this week's challenge:

I thought this one would be easier than the challenge cards we've had the last couple of weeks.  The camera came out yesterday and some photos were taken ensuring there was a photo for today's post. Then I uploaded my the photos for the last week and found a couple of options from some earlier shots. 

Kate: White Lines

Capturing the textures was my goal when I took the photo.  But it works perfectly for this challenge.  The lines lead your eye to the center in the upper right corner.  It's definitely a better photo than what I came up with yesterday. 

My Guy's photo is my favorite this week from a visual perspective. 

My Guy: To The Horizon

My Guy probably took this one while he was out for one of his after work walks, so this is close to sunset.  Only he would get so lucky to have the clouds line up like that for a photo. It's like they knew exactly what he needed and just posed for him!  

Grad Girl has been working really hard on getting ready for her big exam next month.  She finally finished the written part of the exam and was able to get back in the lab a bit this week.  And as usual, came up with an interesting perspective on the challenge.   

Grad Girl: Schlenk Lines

What's a Schlenk line?  It's an apparatus used when you are working with moisture or air sensitive chemicals.  Part of the apparatus is hooked up to an inert (unreactive gas) such as nitrogen and part is hooked up to a vacuum to help remove excess air/gases/solvent vapors from the reaction vessel.  You can follow the tubing from the left edge of the photo to the right edge. Definitely a different take on leading lines.  It's always fun to see what Grad Girl finds in the lab to meet the week's challenge.  

Next week's challenge should be interesting.  

Grad Girl will probably have the advantage this week.  My Guy and I will need to get creative. 

To Do Tuesday on Thursday for the Week of 9/24/2024

Getting a to do list posted for this week hasn't been the easiest.  I was very sick Tuesday and then yesterday had an appointment to get the car in for service. By the time I got home, the ragweed had given me one of those "light hurts your eyes" headaches.  I still have the dregs of the headache, I'm hoping it clears up as the day goes on.  But it's backed off enough I can at least sit in front of the computer this morning.  

Last week's to do list was an easy one.  

To Do List for 09/17/24

1.  Rhododendron: Trim quilt, attach binding to front ✔

2.  Marble Mystery: Finish the September clue ✔

3.  Wild and Goosey: Continue making orange blocks ✔

4.  SSSS Mystery: Continue as leaders and enders project ✔

5.  Learn to quilt:  Read books, watch videos ✔

I didn't do as much on the learn to quilt front as I had hoped, but I did a bit.  I'll take some progress over none.  

The list for this week is pretty long, but hopefully I'll feel up to a bit of catch up on the sewing front today.  

To Do List for 09/24/2024

1.   Rhododendron (Bonnie Hunter): Finish binding

I didn't make as much progress on this as I wanted, but I'm just about to turn corner 2.  It should still be a finished quilt by the end of the month. 

2. Diatom (Quilting Jetgirl): Make label and binding, trim and start binding

Diatom is back from the quilter.  This quilt is for one of Grad Girl's chemistry buddies who got married earlier this year, it's a late wedding present.  Grad Girl came up with the name and I've gotten a good start on the label.  This one won't be finished in September, but should be completed before my next trip to Texas. 

3. Guild BOM: Finish the September block

I've let myself get behind on this one.  But it's a small block and I have the fabrics cut, it should go together pretty quickly.  

4.  Chocolate Marshmallows: Decide on a setting

This project was started in 2014 and the blocks all finished in 2015. It's been sitting waiting for me to come up with a setting that I like.  When I looked this morning, there are 22 versions of a final quilt in my EQ files.  Either I use one of those or come up with something completely new.  We'll see how that goes.  

5.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue making orange blocks

Just four more orange blocks to finish and I'll be done with that color for this project.  Not sure I can finish them all this month, but I'll definitely give that a go.  

6.  Simply Sensational Summer Scrap Mystery (Kevin the Quilter): Continue as leader and enders project. 

Another set of the yellow 4-patches have been finished. So it's back to blue 4-patches this week. 

That's my list this week. It's an ambitious one, so it's OK if I don't check off all the items for this week.  Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.  

A Bit of This and That

We had a family wedding to attend last weekend.  We hit the road Thursday afternoon, so there wasn't a lot of time in the sewing room last week.  I did get the binding made and attached to Rhododendron (Bonnie Hunter).  That was my only sewing time over the weekend. With all the activities, I didn't get very far, just one corner turned at this point. 

I should make better progress with this now that we are home. You can really see the quilting Trudy did in the dark purple part of the backing.  It's lovely.  

The wedding we attended was for My Guy's older sister.  She's been a widow for about seven years, so it was good to see that she's found someone so she's not alone anymore. The wedding was in Kansas City, KS.  Since My Guy has some vacation to burn, I asked to go up a day earlier than necessary so we could make a side trip. 

Hamilton, Mo was only about an hour from where we were staying.  So we made a day trip to the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  My Guy thought this was just a quilt shop, he was surprised to see a whole quilt town!  I wasn't really paying any attention to the company schedule, but we arrived during the Sweet 16 birthday celebration.  The town was pretty packed, but you could still shop.  You can see my haul above.  The Christmas and Batik fat quarter bundles are gifts, only the white on white fat quarters are mine.  Those will go into a scrap quilt I have on my to be made list.  My Guy did some of his own Christmas shopping for various family members.  Once he finished that, he begged off to the Tap Room so I could finish visiting all the shops. He'd had enough of all things quilty at that point.  

He texted me this photo about 15 minutes after he left me, with the message "You may have to drive".  He was almost done with the flight when I showed up.  He'd made friends with several other enabler husbands and was having a pretty good time on his own. Yes, I did drive back to where we were staying.  

It was a fun weekend with our extra excursion and seeing My Guy's twin sisters along with a few nephew's and nieces, plus one great nephew. It was fun to just hang out and catch up. Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Patchwork & Quilts.

Stitching Stuff: Week 38 of 2024

 

We had a family wedding to attend this weekend. It's been awhile since we've seen My Guy's family. It was nice to catch up with everyone.  It's always a challenge to get my stitching in when we have events like this.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Sept = 21/21 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 265/265 days
• Success rate = 100%

Thankfully I was able to get the binding sewn to the front of Rhododendron so I could hand stitch on that while we visited.  Still at 100% on my stitching time for the year.  I'm really amazed I've kept it going that long.  I'm very motivated to see how much longer I can keep it going.   

There hasn't been much done with either the scrap processing or the fabric pressing. I did deal with a few of the scraps.

These are squares cut from one of the fabrics I'm using in the Marble Mystery. When I washed this light purple, one of the darker purples transferred some color to several places, so I had to be careful cutting my pieces for the mystery quilt.  There were quite a few rejects.  I ended up cutting triangles for Wild and Goosey as that seemed to be the best way to cut the fabrics to avoid the dark transfers.  That's it on the scrap processing front for the week.  

Definitely more done with the yardage reorganization.  

Almost 2/3 of the bin has been pressed.  I doubt the the last third is finished this month, more likely next month.  It's been nice to get all these fabrics pressed and folded so they can fit better in the fabric closet.  I almost feel like I have a whole new stash! 

So how was your stitchy week? 

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

5. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting 6. Carol Andrews 7. Andrée at Quilting & Learning 8. Bonnie in Va

9. Frédérique 10. Dq at Dreamworthyquilts

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Week 125 Photo Challenge: Parenthood

The last couple of challenge cards have been hard.  Last week's card was definitely harder than the week before.  How do you photograph - 

????????????

We all have photos, not beautiful photos, but we each came up with a photo for the challenge. 

I struggled and struggled.  My brain just could not come up with something. This was the best I could come up with. 

Kate: No! That is Not Breakfast!  

To be honest, Grad Girl has never been big on breakfast.  Or maybe I should say, she prefers to eat her breakfast much closer to what her dad and I consider to be lunch. Grad Girl was fairly good about eating good for her stuff other than on Easter, when yes candy was allowed for breakfast.  But I think all parents at some point deal with the "I don't want XYX", I want chips, candy, soda, etc.    

My Guy went in a different direction. 

My Guy: They've Gone

We both feel this photograph.  Grad Girl left the nest seven years ago and we still miss her.  This was a robin nest and neither of us can remember if the babies made it out of the nest.  We've had one pair of robins that have made several nests around the house over the last few years and have had no luck at all raising their babies.  

I have to admit, my shot was inspired by Grad Girl's photo.  

Grad Girl:  We Have Food at Home

With both of us working full time in operations when she was little, it was often 6:30 PM or later by the time one of us picked up Grad Girl and the other made it home. By that time all of us were hungry, so even though yes we had food at home, no one had the patience or energy to cook dinner. It wasn't unusual for us to be in the kitchen talking about dinner and that little girl would grab her diaper bag, drag it to the back door saying "Bye Bye, Eat!" So eating out was a norm many nights. As a graduate student on stipend, Grad Girl is more likely to remined herself she has food at home to keep herself from splurging on a take out meal after a full day in the lab.

The last two weeks have been a real challenge. This week we are back to a more generic challenge. 

  

Fingers crossed that means more diverse and interesting photos this week.  

Photo Play: August Summary

It always takes a few weeks to review my photos from the previous month. August was another hot and humid month, so it wasn't fun to be outside much.  I've been sewing a lot, so have backed off on my photography studies lately.  I'll get back to it eventually.  There are more photographs to share this month as I had a lot of rejects from the last few photography challenges.  Three of the challenges were photography techniques and not subject limited, so I took a lot of photos.  Some of them didn't meet the challenge goals but are still interesting shots.  

All the below photos were shot with a Canon 70D DLSR with either a Tamron 18-400 mm telephoto or a Sigma 105 mm macro lens. Some photos have been cropped.  

One of the photo challenges was "fill the frame".  I took a number of photos of some purple coneflowers. This shot was my alternate pick for that challenge.  I like the soft focus on the petals and the saturated colors, but it didn't quite fill the frame so it didn't make the cut (Sigma105 mm macro).

We had one damp and rainy week during August.  Water on plants is always fascinating to me.  I tried to capture that in various photos during the week (Tamron 18-400 mm telephoto)

I really like the drop at the end of the leaf.  It's not quite at the nodes to qualify for the rule of thirds, but it's close.  

One of the photo challenges in August was "Rule of Thirds".  I took a lot of photos that week. I winnowed that set down to three and selected the one for the challenge. Here are the two rejects. (Tamron 18-400 Telephoto)

The second shot of the honeysuckle is another good example of applying the rule of thirds to photo composition. I could have made the rose fit the challenge, but the composition of the rose photo I choose for the challenge was a better example.  

The following two photos weren't considered for the challenge, they didn't really meet the challenge requirements.  But they stand out as photos on their own. Both photos are cropped.  (Tamron 18-400 Telephoto)

  

The basket flowers are all just about dead, all that's left is the seed heads.  But they have a beauty of their own.  I really like the silhouetted basket flower against that purple sky sunset. 

The last challenge in August was "Narrow Depth of Field".  A macro lens is really useful for those type of shots.  I really enjoy macro photography and took a large number of shots of the fading flowers in the garden. None of them made the cut for the challenge, but some of them ended up being my most favorite from the photo shoots.  (Sigma105 mm macro)

When I showed this shot to My Guy, he wasn't sure what it was.  It's the center of one of the fading roses.  The colors remind me that fall is coming.  I love the spaghetti texture of the faded center. It's not a beautiful shot, but it is an interesting one.  

The basket flowers have lost their color, but gained this incredible variety of textures and shapes.  

When I assessed what my photographic goals were for 2024, one of them was to photograph the small things we tend to miss.  I do love the brilliant colors of spring and summer, but the muted colors that show up in the fall have their own stark beauty.  Hopefully I'm being true to my goal to photograph the little things as well as the pretty things.  

If you've read this far, thanks for hanging out for a non-quilty post.  I'm always interested in feedback.  What photo(s) grab your attention or which photos seem like odd choices for this summary?  

To Do List for the Week of 9/17/2024

Hard to believe we are already more than halfway through with September.  The end of the year always seems to pass so much quicker than the beginning of the year.  There is still so much left on my goals for this year, I guess that's why last week's to do list was so long. 

To Do List for 9/10/2024

1.  Diatom: Finish top prep, send out for quilting ✔

2.  Chilhowie: Add last border ✔

3.  Jewel Box Blocks: Finish blocks ✔

4.  Marble Mystery: Cut fabrics, start September clue ✔

5.  Rhododendron: Make label and binding ✔

6.  Wild and Goosey:  Continue making orange blocks ✔

7.  Sensational Summer Scrap Mystery: Leaders and enders ✔

It was a good week on the progress front.  Several projects hit milestones and will drop off the active list for a bit.  That opens up the in progress list a bit and I had to think what should go on the to do list to take up those spaces.

To Do List for 9/17/2024

1.  Rhododendron (Bonnie Hunter):  Trim quilt, start attaching binding.

The binding is made and the label is printed. I need to soak the label, then let it dry, but that won't take long. I'm changing the name of my version to Azaleas.  Azaleas are rhododendrons and I've seen purple ones, so that works for me.  I should be hand stitching the binding to the back before the end of the week. We have some family stuff this weekend, so I'm not sure that I'll finish all the hand stitching, but it should be close. 

2. Marble Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Finish the flying geese.

Finishing the geese completes the September clue.  I'm happy with my fabric choices so far. We'll have to see if the October clue changes that.  

3. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue making orange blocks

I'm almost finished with orange, I only need 2 more sets of 4 blocks.  My plan is to keep making the orange blocks until they are finished.  I'm betting that doesn't happen till sometime in October.  

4.  Simply Sensational Summery Mystery (Kevin the Quilter): Continue as leader and ender project. 

I finished a set of blue 4-patches this week and have switched back to my yellow scraps for the next set of 10.  

5.  Learn to Quilt: Read books, watch videos

One of my goals for this year was to learn to quilt by completing a quilt as you go project.  I've got the blocks done so now I need to figure out the quilting part. I'm going to do some reading and video watching, then start some practice sessions in October.  I've had these books for years, but hopefully not much has changed with the basics. 

That's the plan for this week. We have some family stuff this weekend, so I backed off on adding anything new to my in progress list. Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.

Changing Design Wall

This year has been really good on the progress front. Maybe not as many finishes as I would like, but there has been good progress on multiple fronts.  We are half way through September and I've made good enough progress that I need to rethink my active project list.  Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter) is a finished quilt top and is off the active list for now. 

The final teal border really calms down all that orange.  Chilhowie is off the design wall and hanging in the closet waiting for it's turn for a backing and quilting.  

The Jewel Box blocks for Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework made a very short appearance on the design wall. 

These are packaged up and will go to the post office sometime this week.  I used up a few 4.5 and 5 inch scraps from my bin, all of the black fabric and all of one of the white on white fabrics. So now I have a bit more room in the scrap bin and was able to take some odds and ends out of the fabric closet. Definitely a win/win. 

The latest project up on the design wall is Meadow Mist Designs' Marble Mystery.   

The 9 patch blocks are finished, I'm still working on the flying geese. So far, I'm happy with my fabric choices.  We'll see if that holds once we get the October clue.   

I'll need to figure out what projects to add back to the works in progress list. Those decisions will be in tomorrow's post.  Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Patchwork & Quilts.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 37 of 2024

It's been a busy week. I've started going to late night sew at the local quilt shop and that takes some prep time to get ready (it's like a mini retreat each week).  Plus, I had some statistics work to work up for the technical committee I joined back in June. Still, it wasn't too hard to get my stitching time in this week.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Sept = 14/14 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 258/258 days
• Success rate = 100%

I'm still at 100% success rate with my 15 minutes of stitching time each day.  No one is more surprised then I am to be almost to the end of 3rd quarter of the year and to have maintained that metric.  It's going to be hard when I miss my stitching time for a day.  

Absolutely nothing got done on the scrap processing front, well other then filling up the left overs bin. 

This is the bin I use for scraps from the finished projects and scraps from in progress projects.  This was empty at the first of the month. Now it's almost full again. The plan is to empty it by the end of the month.  

Not as much progress on the fabric pressing either over the last week. 

There were only 2 - 4 yard pieces that got pressed this week. I'm so much more interested in stitching then pressing these days.  But I'll take any progress, it all counts. 

Did you make good progress with your stitching goals this week? 

 

 

1. Gretchen 2. Julie in GA 3. Frédérique

4. DonnaleeQ 5. Quilting Gail 6. Andrée at Quilting & Learning

7. Bonnie in Va 8. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting

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Week 124 Photo Challenge: Kiss

This week's photo challenge was harder than last week's. Last week both My Guy and I were scratching our heads, this week's definitely had us racking our brains.  

To be honest, I completely forgot about getting a challenge photo till My Guy got home from work last night. He asked if I had a photo.  I'd been so focused on other things that I had completely forgotten.  So I scrounged around trying to find subject matter.  I found two "subjects".  One was too close to what My Guy had submitted, so I went with my #2 option. 

Kate: You May Kiss the Bride

I was going for dreamy with the slightly out of focus on the bride and groom, not sure it worked that well.  Yes this is from our wedding, my bouquet was all yellow roses, which is why the photo is in that frame.  Probably not one of my better efforts, but I did find something for the challenge.  

My Guy had taken other photos, but he didn't take this photo till after he got home last night.  

My Guy: Kiss A Few Frogs

He's mixing toys here, Legos with frog croakers (you rub a stick down the frog's back and it sounds like spring peepers).  I didn't realize what he was photographing. My other option was a Lego bride and groom kissing in front of a Lego city hall.  Maybe I should have used that one and we could have written our own fairy tale? 

Queenie came to Grad Girl's rescue again this week. 

Grad Girl: Kitty Kiss

Queenie isn't a cuddle cat, so I'm sure Grad Girl paid for that head kiss.  Queenie probably took off for her window seat afterwards.  As busy as Grad Girl has been getting ready for her big qualifying exam, I'm just glad she's found time to take any type of photo.  

My Guy pulled the challenge card for the upcoming week. 

Another tough to photograph subject, but that's what makes it fun.  I'm really going to have to think on this one.  Grad Girl is a kitty parent, so she has that option. She's also known as one of the "mothers" in her friend group. So she could surprise us next week.  

To Do List for the Week of 9/10/2024

Just one week into September and it already feels like the month is just flying by.  The weeks do seem to be getting busier and I have more things on my other stuff to do list, my sewing room to do list has suffered a bit as a result. 

To Do List for 09/03/2024

1. Diatom: Prep top for quilting - progress

2. Chilhowie: Finish 1st pieced border, start on second border ✔

3.  Jewel Box Blocks: Finish blocks - progress

4.  Marble Mystery: Cut background fabric, start assembly - progress

5.  Wild and Goosey: Continue making orange blocks ✔

6.  Sensational Summer Quilt: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

Three check marks with progress on the remaining three items.  Not a stellar week, but not a bad week either.  I'm sure to have more of those over the next few weeks as we've got other stuff going on.  I have some technical work that needs to get done, plus as the weather has cooled, there's some stuff around the house that really has to get done.  

Having said all that, this week's list is going to be ambitious.  I'm close to finishing off a couple of the to do's from last week, so adding a couple of new items to take their place.  It's a long list this week.  

To Do List for 09/10/2024

1.  Diatom (Quilting Jetgirl): Finish top prep, send out for quilting.  

I finished pressing and de-threading 3 of the 4 rows of blocks. It shouldn't take long to finish the last row of blocks. The plan is to do that this morning before I head out to lunch with My Guy. Hopefully I can also find a box and get it packaged so it can go out today as well. 

2.  Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter): Add last border

The strips are all sewn together, I just need to measure the top and cut the strips, then sew them on.  Shouldn't take to long to finish off this top once Diatom is off the cutting table.  

3.  Jewel Box Blocks (Cynthia Brunz Designs): Finish blocks

I finished six blocks, but ended up cutting enough fabric for 16 blocks.  These are pretty easy to assemble so they should be done by the end of this week.  I raided my 4.5 and 5 inch scrap bins for the HSTs. Making these blocks did empty both scrap bins enough that there is room for more scraps (yeah!).

4. Marble Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Continue to cut fabrics and work on September clue.

Not the best picture, but I wasn't going to take all the pieces out of the baggies.  The background is all cut and I have plenty left over. I was concerned I wouldn't as I'm a 1/4 yard short based on the yardage charts for the project.  I still need to cut one more fabric before I can start any of the assembly.  That should happen this week sometime.  

5.  Rhododendron (Bonnie Hunter): Make label and binding

Rhododendron came back from being quilted last week.  Trudy did a great job with it.  If I can get the label and binding made, then there is a good chance this quilt can be finished next week.  

6.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue making orange blocks

The RSC color for September is darks. Since all my blocks use black, I'm just going to keep making the orange blocks.  I don't need many more before I'll have all that's needed for this color.  It would be nice to have another color finished off. I finished off yellow last year.  

7. Simply Sensational Summer Scrap Mystery (Kevin the Quilter): Continue as leaders and enders project.

This has been one of the easiest leaders and enders projects I've done.  Progress is slow, but there is progress.  I had to cut a bunch more blue scraps, but completely forgot to take a photo.  

That's my list this week. It's a bit ambitious, but hopefully that will encourage me to spend more time in the sewing room this week. Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.