Stash Management for Week 16 of 2016

It's been cloudy and windy most of this week.  We're supposed to get 4 inches of rain between now and Monday night.  It's definitely spring in Oklahoma.  But the rain and the warmer temps have definitely worked their magic on the rose bushes. 

There's only two or 3 blooms open at the moment, but there are hundreds of buds just waiting to open.  By the end of the this week the bushes should be a riot of pink.  

Between income taxes and work, it was a hectic week. Thankfully taxes are done and submitted.  I finished off the last report for the big project at work Friday evening.  Both efforts cut into my sewing time this week.  Still I managed to get at into the sewing room most nights this week.  

Days with 15 minutes of stitching time this week:  6 days
Days in April:  11 out of 16
Days this year 86 out of 107

Most nights it was just 15 minutes of stitching, but that's enough to keep projects moving at a steady pace.  Even though things are moving along, I can only count the fabric from one Allietare block as out this week. 

Used last week:  0.15 yards
Used in April:  5.39 yards
Used year to date:  22.57
Purchased this week:  0 yards
Purchased year to date:  17.75 yards
Net used for 2016:  4.82 yards

I'm hoping to get in some significant stitching time this afternoon so I can count the fabric Allietare blocks and a Vintage Dress block as outgoing for next week.  

There's more stash management going on over at Patchwork Times. 

December Report - The Year of the Finished Project

I completely missed posting how I did on my November goals last Thursday.  Last week was both hectic and tiring, so a post just didn't get written.  Better late than never.  So here's how I did on my Year of the Finished Project Goals.  

1.  Mon Ami
       Bind and label
            binding made, but not attached.

2.  Back to Square One
         Clue 9                                          Done
         Clue 10
         Clue 11

3.  Jigsaw
        Make 24 blocks














4.  Neutral Gems
         Make 4 blocks                                  Done

5.  Road to Brenham
         Make 24 quarter square triangles       Done

6.  Scrappy Stars
         Make 5 blocks

7.  Scrappy Trip Around the World
          Make 2 blocks                                  Done

Only 4 out of 10 goals were completed, but progress was made on all the projects.  Since that's my goal, is to do a bit each month, the challenge is working well for me.  

December is going to be a challenge.  The first week in December is already gone and I've not done much sewing at all.  It will be a busy month, but I have hopes that I can make some progress on all my projects.  Here's the goals for December:

1  Mon Ami
           Bind and label
           Mail 

2.  Back to Square One
            Clue 10
            Clue 11
            Clue 12

3.  Jigsaw
            Make 10 blocks

4.  Starburst
            Make blocks 1 to 5
            Keep up with new blocks

5.  Neutral Gems
            Make 4 blocks

6.  Scrappy Trip
            Make 2 blocks

7.  Scrappy Stars
            Make 5 blocks

We'll see how much gets done.  It doesn't hurt to dream big, but I also know that I really want to start Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice mystery.  Check back in January to see if how it all turns out.  

I'm linking up with Lynn at Never Too Hot to Stitch for the 2013 Year of Finished Projects.  

November Report - The Year of the Finished Project

As it's the first Thursday of the month, it's time to link up with Lynn over at Never Too Hot To Stitch for a report on how I'm faring this Year of the Finished Project.

I've done much better this year in starting projects than I have been at finishing them.  My last finish was back at the end of June.  Still I've been making steady progress on a number of different projects. Here's how things looked at the end of October. 

Mon Ami
     press, package and send out for quilting     Done

Back to Square One
     Finish Clue 7                                               Done
     Finish Clue 8                                               Done
     Finish Clue 9
     Finish Clue 10

Neutral Gems
     Make 6 blocks                                         Done

Christmas Angels
Make 29 Triangle in a Square blocks        Done         

Road to Brenham
     Make 18 B/W HST                             Done
     Make 18 W/W HST                            Done
     Make 36 Quarter Sq Triangles            15 completed

Scrappy Stars
     Make 5 blocks                                    4 completed

Scrappy Trip Around the World
Make 5 blocks                                         Nada

October was a good month, progress was made on 6 of 7 projects. Mon Ami is on it's way back from being quilted, so I may  have a finish for this month.  That will probably be the last one for 2013. The next likely finish will be Back to Square One.  I'm really hoping to get caught up on that one this month, just in time for the last clue.  The other goals for November include:

1. Mon Ami
     Bind and label

2.  Back to Square One
     Clue 9
     Clue 10
     Clue 11

3.  Jigsaw
     Make 24 blocks

4.  Neutral Gems
     Make 4 blocks

5.  Road to Brenham
     Make 22 quarter square triangles

6.  Scrappy Stars
     Make 5 blocks

7.  Scrappy Trip Around the World
     Make 2 blocks.  

That's still a pretty ambitious list.  I'd like to finish Jigsaw before Drama Teen's birthday.  Not sure that's going to happen, but I've moved it into second on my list.  The blocks go fast once you have them cut out.  Scrappy Stars only needs 9 more star blocks and it will be ready to set together.  It will be nice to get the one off my to do list as it's my oldest UFO.  Hopefully, this plan will set me up for some early finishes in 2014.  

Check out all the other progress reported over at Lynn's Never To Hot to Stitch.  

October - Progress on Monthly Goals

This is my last work day for the week.  We'll spend tomorrow morning at the oral surgeon since Drama Teen is getting her wisdom teeth out.  I'm hoping to get some stitching in as we've been told she'll mainly sleep tomorrow. I'm sure the rest of the weekend will be spent trying to keep her comfortable.  It's a miserable way to spend Fall Break, but she's looking forward to having it all done. She's being pragmatic about it. Get them out now and she won't have to worry about it later when she's trying to deal with college prep tests.  Plus if she does it now, she'll have Mom to fuss over her.  

Yesterday was the 15th (already!).  I've been setting monthly goals as part of Lynn's ( at Never to Hot to Stitch) Year of the Finished Project challenge.  Reviewing my progress at mid-month helps me stay on track.  So here's what's done and what's not.  

Mon Ami
     Ready to take to the post office for shipping

Back to Square One
     Clue 7 Done
     Still need to finish Clues 8, 9 and 10

Neutral Gems
    Three of six blocks completed

Christmas Angels
     Completed 29 Triangle in a Square block, so this one is done. 

Road to Brenham
     Finished 14 of 18 black/white HSTs
     Finished  2 of 18 white/white HSTs
     Finished 2 of 36 quarter square triangles

Scrappy Stars
     Finished 1 of 5 blocks

Scrappy Trip Around the World
     No progress on making at least 5 blocks.  

Not bad for mid month.  My main goal is to get caught up on Back to Square One.  Not sure I'll get all the way to completing clue 10, but I get closer each month to getting caught up.  I need to get busy on both Scrappy Stars and the Scrappy Trip blocks, so those may make their way to the top of my "to do" list this weekend.  

October Report - The Year of the Finished Project

Hard to believe that we are already three days into October.  I have a feeling that from now until Christmas, the days are going to fly. October is wrap up time at work, I've got a number of reports that need to be completed by the end of the month.  Though I have deadlines at work, not so much with my sewing.  I'm not trying to have anything done for Christmas this year.  However, since it is the first Thursday of the month, it is time to see what progress was made on September's sewing goals.  I'm linking up with Lynn over at Never to Hot to Stitch for her 2013 the Year of the Finished Project.

My September goals were pretty ambitious.  Not sure what I was thinking when they ended up on the blog. But all in all, I didn't do too bad.  

Mon Ami
     Make backing          Done
     Send out for quilting

Back to Square One
     Finish Clue 5          Done
     Finish Clue 6          Done
     Finish Clue 7
     Finish Clue 8
     Finish Clue 9

Neutral Gems
     Make 5 blocks          Done

Scrappy Stars
     Make 5  blocks          Only 3 completed

Christmas Angels
     Make 9 4-patch blocks         Done

     
       Additional progress:  Finished 14 Triangle in a Square Blocks

Road to Brenham
     Make 32 red/black HST's          Done

      
     Additional progress:  Finished 32 black/white HST's

I need to take the time to press out Mon Ami and it's back so I can send it out for quilting.  I just haven't wanted to spend the time with the iron.  Back to Square one was 5 clues behind in September.  Looks like it will be just 4 clues behind in October, so I'm gaining some ground there.  It's fun to see the progress with Neutral Gems.  The only goal I didn't make this month was making 5 of the Scrappy Stars, but the addition of 3 more is still progress.  Both Christmas Angels and Road to Brenham are ahead of plan.  I like making a few of the HSTs and Triangle in a Square blocks at a time, that way I don't have to stand at the cutting table and trim dozens of them before moving on to the next step.  Making a couple every time I stitch on the other projects makes those blocks a lot more palatable to me.  

So what's the plan for October?  

Mon Ami
      Press, package and send out for quilting

Back to Square One
     Finish Clue 7
     Finish Clue 8
     Finish Clue 9
     Finish Clue 10

Neutral Gems
     Make 6 blocks

Scrappy Stars
     Make 5 blocks

Christmas Angels
     Make 32 Triangle in a Square blocks

Road to Brenham
     Make 18 black/white HST
     Make 18 white/white HST
     Make 32 quarter square triangles

Scrappy Trip Around the World
     Make 5 blocks  

Another ambitious list for October.  I think this one is doable, but I'll probably have to scale back for November since holiday activities will start showing up on the calender.  

That's it for my efforts this month.  Check out all the other project progress over at Never Too Hot To Stitch.  

Mid Month Progress on September Goals.

I've been following along with Lynn's Year of the Finished Project over at Never Too Hot to Stitch.  Since today was the 15th, it means we've reached mid month and it seemed to be a good time to assess on my progress on September's goals.  

1.  Mon Ami
     Make Back                          Done
     Send out for quilting
2.  Back to Square One
     Finish Clue 5                        Done
     Finish Clue 6
     Finish Clue 7
     Finish Clue 8
     Finish Clue 9
3.  Neutral Gems
     Make 5 blocks

3 blocks complete

4.  Scrappy Stars
     Make 5 blocks

1 block complete

5.  Christmas Angels
     Make 9 - 4 patches            Done

4-patches complete

6. Road to Brenham
    Make 32 HSTs                   Done

HSTs completed

So 4 out of 9 goals completed thus far.  Not bad progress.  In fact this is probably the best I've done since January. Completing the remaining 4 clues on Back to Square One is going to be a challenge and I doubt I get that one finished, but it looks like the other goals are all achievable.  

September - The Year of the Finished Project

It's the first Thursday of a new month.  That means it's time to link up with Lynn over at Never Too Hot To Stitch to report progress on my August goals for The Year of the Finished Project challenge.  

For August I picked 3 projects to focus my efforts on.  

Mon Ami
     Sew blocks together          Done
     Add borders                      Done
     Make backing
     Send out for quilting

                

Mon Ami as of 7/31                   Mon Ami as of 8/31

Lots of progress on this project this month, especially getting all 5 borders added.  I'm very happy with how this one is turning out.  Not quite a finish, but I'm getting really close.  The back is almost pieced, so I'm hoping this one becomes a finished project by October.  

Back to Square One
     Finish Clue 4          Done
     Finish Clue 5
     Finish Clue 6
     Finish Clue 7

                               


Back to Square One in July              Back to Square One in August

This is Judy Laquidara's Medallion Mystery for this year.  I was finally able to start the quilt back in June.  Which was 6 months after everyone else started.  I'd like to catch up, but I'm not there yet.  Those little Economy Blocks take forever to stitch together.  

Neutral Gems
     Make 10 blocks          Finished 4

 

Neutral Gems in June                      Neutral Gems in August

In addition to finishing up 4 blocks, I started sewing the blocks into rows.  I love these fabrics and really like the secondary designs that show up when you put the blocks together.  So though progress has been slow, it's been moving along in the background.  

So what am I going to do for September?  Once Mon Ami goes out for quilting, I want to focus on Back to Square One and see if I can get caught up on all the clues.  Then there are 3 other projects, I'd like to make some progress one.  Christmas Angels and Road to Brenham are new projects started in the last two months.  Scrappy Stars is my oldest UFO.  Scrappy Stars got put away while I worked on finishing up several quilts that needed to done back in May.  I'd really like to make some progress on it this month.  Here are my September goals:

1.  Mon Ami
     Make backing
     Send out for quilting

2.  Back to Square One
     Finish Clue 5
     Finish Clue 6
     Finish Clue 7
     Finish Clue 8
     Finish Clue 9

3.  Neutral Gems
     Make 5 blocks

4.  Scrappy Stars
     Make 5 blocks

5.  Christmas Angels
     Make 9-4 patches

6.  Road to Brenham
     Make 32 HSTs

Is it doable?  Probably not, but I'm sure I can make some progress on each project and that's really the whole point.  

August - 2013 The Year of the Finished Project

It's the first day of August and the first Thursday in the month, so it's time to review the progress on July's goals and decide what to focus on in August.  Then link up with Lynn over at Never too Hot to Stitch for this month's Year of the Finished Project post.  

Unfortunately, July wasn't as productive of a month as I had hoped for.  

July
1.  Back to Square One
     Finish Clue 4                8 of 20 blocks completed
     Finish Clue 5
     Finish Clue 6
     Finish Clue 7

Back to Square One
by Judy Laquidara
(pattern available here)

2.  Mon Ami
     Make 3 blocks            Done

Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

3. Neutral Gems
    Make 5 blocks            Made 2


July was a busy month, we were gone almost every weekend plus took a week of vacation.  In reality out of a 31 day month, I only had 17 days where sewing on these projects was possible.  Add in a few days of illness with suspected food poisoning and that all equates to not a lot of progress.  My project focus changed after I'd put July's goals together when I realized the Mon Ami was the closest to being finished of all the projects up on the design wall.  So it became the focus for what sewing time I did have.  

Though it's disappointing to only finish up one goal, it really wasn't a bad month considering how little time I had to sew.  Progress was made on the other two goals.

So what's the plan for August?  Since this challenge is all about finishing up projects, I'm going to focus on finishing up those projects currently up on the design wall.  Since Mon Ami is the closest to being a completed quilt, it will be the main focus for the month.  I'd like to get caught up on the Back to Square One mystery, so it will be goal number two.  Neutral Gems with be this month's leaders and enders project.   

August
1.  Mon Ami
     Sew blocks together
     Add borders
     Make back
     Send out for quilting
2.  Back to Square One
     Finish clue 4
     Finish clue 5
     Finish clue 6
     Finish clue 7
3.  Neutral Gems
     Make 10 blocks  

I probably won't finish goal 2, so it's my stretch goal for the month.  What doesn't get done will go on next month's list.  

That's it for me this month.  Check out all the other progress posted over at Never Too Hot to Stitch.  

July - 2013 Year of the Finished Project

It's time to link up with Lynn over at Never Too Hot to Stitch and confess how well things are going with the year of the finished project.  June was a really good month for me on the finishing front.

June
1.  OSU Quilt                 Done                  

     Finish binding

2.  Sweet Treats             Done
     Make binding
     Sew binding on

3.  Calico Cats               Done
     Make Binding
     Sew Binding On

4.  Neutral Gems
     Make 23 blocks         Only 9 blocks completed

5.  Mon Ami
     Make 12 blocks         Only 3 blocks completed

Three quilts were finished last month, bringing my 2013 total up to five completed quilts.  Only two of those were quilts started last year, three of them were recent starts.  At least that's three quilts that will not be on next year's UFO list.  I'm pretty happy with how the finishes are going.  I hope to get one or two more done by the end of the year, but I'm not going to rush to get them.  

So what are the goals for July?  We have a busy month with a lot of family stuff on the weekends, which is my prime sewing time.  I finished up all of the quilts that I had deadlines on,  I'm thinking that it might be wise to lay back a little bit this month.  So just three goals this month.  

July
1.  Back to Square One
     Finish Clue 4
     Finish Clue 5
     Finish Clue 6
     Finish Clue 7
2.  Mon Ami
     Make 3 blocks
3.  Neutral Gems
     Make 5 blocks

Number 1 is a pretty ambitious goal, but it's good to have at least one "stretch goal".  Hopefully it will inspire me to keep a regular presence in the sewing room this month.  

So what are planning to work on that might get you closer to a finish on a project?  Link up over at Lynn's if you want to bask in your success or if you need moral support it's a good place for that as well. 

June - 2013 Year of the Finished Project

Lynne over at Never too Hot to Stitch decided that 2013 needed to be a year of finishes.  Since it's always more fun to deal with UFOs and other unfinished projects as a group, she's hosting a challenge to help the rest of us finish up our projects too.

I had some pretty ambitious challenge goals for May as I was hoping to finish up 5 quilts last month.  So how did I do?  

May

1.  Evening Star          Done

          Finish binding

2.  The Sofa Quilt          Done

          Make binding

          Sew binding on

3.  OSU Quilt          

          Make binding          Done

          Sew binding on

4.  Sweet Treats

          Make binding

          Sew binding on

5. Calico Cats

          Make 4 blocks                                 Done

          Assemble blocks and sashing            Done

          Add borders                                    Done

          Make backing                                  Done

          Ship off for quilting                         Done

          Make binding

          Sew binding on

Not a bad month at all.  I finished 2 quilts and had a third almost done.  Plus managed to finish the blocks for a fourth quilt and get it assembled and quilted.  Though I didn't get all 5 quilts done, it was still an excellent month.  Evening Star and The Sofa Quilt are my first finishes of 2013. 

So what are my goals for June?  One thing they are not is as ambitious as my May goals were.

June

1.  OSU Quilt

          Finish binding

2.  Sweet Treats

           Make binding

           Sew binding on

3.  Calico Cats

           Make binding

           Sew binding on

4.  Neutral Gems

           Make 23 blocks

5.  Mon Ami

           Make 12 blocks

I have a lot of binding to do this month, which is slow stitching.  I plan to mix that up with some machine stitching on some ongoing projects. Neutral Gems is a gift for a friend who just recently retired and Mon Ami is intended to be a QOV, so these are the next two quilts I want to finish. 

Lynn hasn't posted this month's linky party yet, I know she's been busy. Once that post is up, I'll link up with all the others striving to reduce their UFO piles.  

Finishing Projects - Mid Month Update

Hard to believe we are already half way through May.  Lot's going on this month, especially with Drama Teen graduating from 8th grade this year.  Even with all the extra stuff going on, good progress has been made on this month's sewing goals.  

Goal number 1 was to finish getting the binding on the Evening Star quilt.  That's done.

Evening Star
Pattern from Calico Carriage
Designed by Debbie Maddy

That's my first finish of 2013.  If I get the rest of this month's goals done, I'll end the month with five finishes.  

Goal number 2 is to make the binding and get it sewn onto The Sofa Quilt.  The binding is made, attached to the front, and I'm working on hand stitching it to the back.  

The Sofa Quilt

Pattern is Nicole's Sofa Quilt by Judy Laquidara

(available here)

I'm just about to turn the corner on the first side.  This will be finish number 2, hopefully sometime this weekend.

Goal number 5 was to finish the Calico Cats quilt.  Since the beginning of the month all the blocks have been made, the blocks have been sewn together, and the borders added to make it a finished flimsy.  

Calico Cats
Pattern is Fat Cats from the
The Quilter Magazine (July 2006)
by Lucy A. Fazely and Micheal L. Burns

It was sent out for quilting, which is finished now.  It should be back here next week all ready for binding.  

I'm feeling really good about what's been done so far.  Goals 3 and 4 were to make and sew the binding on the OSU Quilt and Sweet Treats.  No progress on those two goals as yet, but I'm sure it will happen this next week.  

Hope your sewing plans for the month have been going well.  I'm ready to get these 5 quilts done.  It's been a bit of a forced march with these as they are gifts that need to be done this month.  It's definitely made me manage my time more effectively, but I'm ready for a few months being able to sew without deadlines.  Too bad, I really should start looking at what I want to get done for Christmas gifts.