Stitching Stuff: Week 21 of 2023

 

My apologies for getting this post up so late.  I overslept this morning.  I'll blame it on the allergy medication, it really does make it hard for me to wake up in the morning.  Sinus headaches have been the norm for me this week and they've been bad ones.  I made it to the sewing room each day, but didn't necessarily get a lot done. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/May = 27/31 days
• 15 minute days/June = 3/3 days
• 15 minute days/2023 = 129/154 days
• Success rate = 83.77%

But even 15 minutes each day does pay off in projects along.  How was your stitchy week?  

Week 73 Photo Challenge: An Umbrella

This is our first card from the new photo challenge deck.  

I've been struggling with allergen induced headache this week, so I pretty much completely forgot about this week's challenge.  I had a plan, but ended up taking advantage of a unexpected chance encounter. 

Kate: A Touch of the Orient

Every year our community has a music/craft festival.  We had a cold front come through early evening, so we decided to go last night and beat the heat expected today.  These parasols were offered for sale in one of the craft booths. 

My planned photo would have looked similar to what My Guy came up with. 

My Guy: Parasol

  

Isn't this fun? My Guy is really good at thinking outside the box when he comes up with the concepts for his photos. Doesn't always work out as planned, but this one did.  

Grad Girl has had a hectic week in the lab, so she didn't have a lot of time to contemplate her shot for the week.  So she went with what she had at the apartment. 

Grad Girl: Waiting for a Rainy Day

It rains a lot in southern Texas, so Grad Girl often has to grab this on her way out in the morning. It's a 20 minute walk from her parking garage on campus to the chem building (if you've not been there, Texas A&M is a HUGE campus), so this umbrella has seen a lot of action so far.  

So a bit of the unexpected and the expected with last week's photos. There should be some interesting photos from this week's challenge card. 

Grad Girl said she had some ideas.  My Guy and I may have to work hard this week to not take the same image, graffiti isn't easy to find in a small town.  

May Wrap Up: PHD in 2023

In 2020, 2021, and 2022 my focus was on finishing up UFOs.  I limited my new projects to just 2 or at most 3 each year.  Last year work was really overwhelming, so much so that I lost interest in pretty much everything other than reading and binging on Netflix.  Since I retired at the end of last year, I decided to open up my new project list to more than just 2.  I also joined a guild, which has also added to my new project list. Honestly, I didn't expect that.  At any rate, I can safely say that the first half of 2023 has been all about new projects as my PHD report shows. 

I have finished two of my new starts, both related to the guild which was my donation blocks and a name tag.  

We are supposed to make a pin cushion for the June meeting.  I'm probably going to pass on that one as my newest project has a deadline of early July. I'll need to focus my efforts on that project or it won't be ready.  The only UFOs that have seen any progress are both Bonnie Hunter patterns, Chilhowie and Wild & Goosey.  

Chilhowie is the 2022 Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt along. It's my current leaders and enders project.  Block 4 was finished and block 5 is under construction during May.  I'm more than half way done with the blocks.  

Wild & Goosey is slowly growing.  The goal is to make at least 4 of the 3.5" blocks each month.  Three orange blocks were completed this month.  Dark/bright blue is the color for June.  I can't use really dark blue because it blends in too much with the black, so bright blue it is for this month.  

There has been progress on the new projects this month. 

 

The pinwheels for border 6 of the Stay at Home Round Robin quilt started in January are all finished (Quilting Gail).  I've started assembling these blocks into border strips.  I'm really happy with how this project has come together, just not with the amount of time it's taken for me to get it to this stage.  

Blocks 4 and 5 for Diatom were finished in May. Block 11 came out last week. This is a Quilting Jetgirl pattern and quilt along. I'm hoping to finish blocks 6 and 7 before block 12 comes out next Friday.  This has been such a fun project and I'm really happy with how my fabric choices are working out.  

The one new start in May is for a blog hop to show off the quilts in Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs new book Just Two Charm Pack Quilts. 

 

Electric Quilt is sponsoring a giveaway of this book (closes on June 4th). The link includes a link to all the quilts in the book. I've picked the pattern to make for the blog hop. I'm making my own charm pack since precuts don't usually make their way into my fabric carts. Thankfully my stash is more than sufficient to provide enough squares for 2 charm packs.  I've started cutting my charm pack, just three fabrics left and then the piecing can start. 

That's my progress for May. I'm going to shift my focus to finishing after June. Once I get the SAHRR to finished flimsy, I'll have three quilts that need backs and prepping for quilting. My focus for July will be to get those quilts sent out for quilting.  

Linking up with Quilting Gail for the May PHD report.  

To Do List for the Week of 5/30/2023

Since I was traveling last week, it was hard to put together a to do list, so I didn't make one.  The one from two weeks ago was pretty simple. 

To Do List for 5/16/2023

1. Prep projects for Texas Trip ✔

2. Enjoy hanging out with Grad Girl ✔

I made really good progress on the pinwheel blocks while I was in Texas and a little progress on Diatom.  But I definitely prepped more than I was able to work on.  But I'd rather be over prepared than to run out of stitching stuff to do.  Hanging out with Grad Girl was a lot of fun.  It was just nice to spend the evening together laughing and talking.

Now that I've had a few days back in my sewing room, making a to do list was easier. 

To Do List for 5/30/2023

1.  SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Assemble last pieced border

I finished the last pinwheel yesterday.  Then had a go at balancing the light and dark blocks across the borders.  I'm pretty happy with this layout.  Since this picture was taken, I've cut the background strips and pinned the first border strip. It's waiting at the sewing machine to be stitched.  

2. Just Two Charm Pack Blog Hop (Meadow Mist Designs): Finish pressing and cutting fabrics

I'm almost finished with the pressing and cutting of my blocks.  I don't have a lot of charm packs, I never know what to do with them, so I don't buy them often. That being the case I've gone the route of making my own charm pack from stash, something Cheryl does cover in the book.  

3. Diatom (Quilting Jetgirl): Assemble block 6, cut block 7

I finished block 5 yesterday.  Block 6 was already cut as part of the trip prep activities.  Block 12 comes out next week, so I'm still way behind.  Now that the windmill blocks are done, hopefully I can dedicate more time to catching up on this project. 

4. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): 1 orange block

A new color will come out later this week, but I'll finish one more orange to tie up May. 

5. Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter): Leaders and enders project. 

So that's my list for this week.  Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt: For the Love of Fabric for this week's To Do Tuesday.  

Almost Never Ending Pinwheels

I've had a weekend to recover from my trip last week.  My machine is set back up and I spent most of yesterday playing in the sewing room.  While I was in Texas, I finished off another 5 pinwheel blocks.

That brought the total up to 28, just 4 more left to make.  I put these up on the design wall with the others. 

I've been putting the pinwheels up as I've finished them. Looking at this photo, I'll need to do a bit of rearranging to better distribute the light and dark blocks.  Three of the last four pinwheels are in pieces at the sewing machine. I've picked out the fabric for the last block, but haven't cut the triangles from it yet. That should happen today.   I'd like to get these last borders assembled, I've another project with a July deadline that I need to put up on the design wall.  So fingers crossed I can finish the last pieced border on this project by the end of the week.  

Linking up with Monday Design Wall and Patchwork & Quilts linky parties again this week.