Something Old, Something New: UFOs and Scrap Management

Somehow I completely missed the Something Old, Something New post for September.   

Thinking back that would have been posted sometime the weekend Drama Teen had ACL surgery and we had the roof damage that caused water to leak into the sewing room.  Now I know why there wasn't a post for September.  There probably wasn't much to report anyway, so I'll just proceed on to where things are now.  

In terms of something old, Jigsaw finally became a finished quilt.  

  
Drama Teen has slept with it every night since it's been finished. She obviously loves it.  

Since Jigsaw is all finished up, I pulled out the box holding my oldest UFO and started putting it together.  All the star blocks were finished I just had to cut the alternating blocks and decide on a layout.  It looked like this back in August.

As of tonight, it only needs two more borders added before it will be a finished flimsy.

Pattern is Folk Art Christmas Stars

by Robyn Pandolph

This quilt is intended for my Mother's bed, so it needs to be queen sized.  Hopefully this one will be sent off to be quilted before the end of the month, but at the moment it's my something old for October.  

I had to really think about the something new for September.  I'm still wrestling with getting my stash organized, that includes my scraps.  The Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler quilt has really helped me understand how to make good use of strips that are already cut, so I'm trying to get all the odds and ends into either squares or strips.  My sewing time has been pretty limited and it's not fun to just stand and cut up scraps, but I think I came up with a workable system to "cut as I go".  I've been using this blue bin to hold the color scraps I'm working with. 

  
At the back of the bin are some plastic bags that I've labeled with the various strip sizes.  

These bags serve two purposes.  At the beginning of the month, I go through my already cut strips and pull out the color I'm working with that month.  As I cut up any odd sized shapes, I sort the newly cut scraps back into these bags.  At the end of the month the strips go back into the the general strip storage, when I pull out the next month's scraps.  This keeps all the action at my cutting table and I'm not running back and forth to my scrap storage putting up or looking for scraps. Plus I know what sizes I have available.  I did a pretty good job of getting most of the orange scraps cut up and stored without it seeming like I spent a lot of extra time cutting and organizing.  

That's my update for last month.  You can see more old and new projects over at Never Too Hot to Stitch.  

A Catch up Post

It's been one of those weeks.  If you want to read about the quilty stuff you can skip the rest of this paragraph and the next, if you like the drama, read on.  Two family emergencies and one rush project at work made for a pretty miserable week.  My Guy's wonderful mother was rushed to the emergency room on Monday.  They discovered a mass, which is inoperable and cancerous.  They did surgery to deal with some issues that were immediately life threatening.  She's now feeling a lot more comfortable and is in good spirits. My Guy left Friday morning to go see her.  

The plan was for Drama Teen and I to join My Guy on Saturday as she has volleyball practice and I needed to finish up a rush project at work.  That plan pretty much disintegrated when I picked DT up from volleyball practice on Friday.  DT texted that I needed to come in to talk to coach.  It wasn't the coach I had to talk to, it was the high school trainer.  DT took a bad fall during practice and over-extended her knee.  She was on crutches and hurting pretty badly.  So after an afternoon spent at the doctor's office, she has an MRI scheduled for this Thursday.  We won't know how bad the damage is to her knee until the doctor sees the results from that. She's supposed to stay off her feet and regularly ice the knee until then.  The rush project?  Well that was finally finished at about 8:30 PM on Friday.  

Here's the quilting updates that should have been written this week:

My something old this month is the same as it's been for several months, to finish up Jigsaw.  This month the blocks got finished, the rows sewn together and the borders were started.  

Jigsaw
pattern by Alyssa Clancy for Lehmann Quilting

Jigsaw may actually make it to a finished flimsy in August. I've just started on the the last round of borders.  For my something new, I learned how to work with fussy cuts in EQ.  I'm still working to come up with a quilt that uses a butterfly panel I bought a couple of months ago.  Here's the latest effort. 

Modified from Bird Watching
by Wendy Sheppard
 published in July/August  2014 issue of McCall's Quilting

This layout reminds me of stained glass.  The pattern is modified from a quilt in the July issue of McCall's Quilting magazine, Bird Watching by Wendy Sheppard.  This may well end up being my something new for this month.  I will probably play some with block placement and fabric colors, but I think this quilt needs to be made.

  

July wasn't a good month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, so I've been playing catch up with the red blocks.  All the blocks for the Scrap Challenge Sampler are in progress, but only 4 are finished. 

 Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler
By Angela Feldbush of Soscrappy

The scrappy butterfly block is also done. 

Scrappy Butterflies
Block is available in EQ 7 Block Library

This month's color is light green.  Since I don't have a lot of greens, I used pretty much all my green scraps I had when we were working with dark green. So I'm not sure what I'm going to do for this month.  

Finally, today is stash report day.  I actually have some stash going out with nothing coming in.  

Used last week:  1.36 yards
Added last week:  0 yards

Used in 2014:  11.99 yards
Added in 2014:  302.3 yards

Net stashed in 2014:  290.31 yards 

So for the first time in a long while the net stashed actually went down!  I definitely need a few more weeks of that.  

That catches me up on posts for the week and the month.  I'm linking up with:

Lynn over at Never Too Hot To Stitch
Angela over at Soscrappy
Judy over at Patchwork Times.  

Something Old, Something New - July Update

Last month I didn't manage to get this post up till several days into the new month, this month is no different.  June was crazy busy and after going over the extended family stuff planned for July and August, the rest of my summer is going to be really busy. Stitching and blogging time are going to be hard to come by for awhile.  I had hoped for a slow lazy summer, but it looks like that's not going to be the case. 

My something old continues to be the Jigsaw quilt.  I actually finished 6 of the remaining blocks in June.  

Jigsaw
pattern by Alyssa Clancy for Lehmann Quilting

Just two more blocks to finish, then Drama Teen will have to help me decide on the borders.

The something new for June has been to work up a design for this butterfly panel.  

  
I've only managed to come up with one potential layout for the butterfly blocks.  

But at least that's something for the month.  

Check out that other old and new projects posted over at Never Too Hot to Stitch.  

Something Old, Something New - June Update

I've been out of pocket the last few days as I've been at a conference in Denver.  Due to a delayed flight, I didn't get home till about 1 this morning.  I'm off today to take Drama Teen to a volleyball tournament that starts today and will run over the next 3 Thursdays in June.  

Since it's still the first week in June, I don't think it's too late to post my May progress on the Something Old, Something New Challenge.

Nothing new has been started, though I have started playing around with design ideas that use this panel. 

On the something old front, finishing up Jigsaw has been the primary focus the last few months.  I managed to finish up all but the last two rows before the placement of a few blocks started to bother me.

So after much dithering about it, I finally decided that the x marked block had to move.  While I was at it, I decided to completely rework the last row of fabrics. I wasn't happy with the color progression.  So after a bit of un-sewing and a couple of fabric orders, this is where Jigsaw was at the end of the month.

Jigsaw
pattern by Alyssa Clancy for Lehmann Quilting

It may not look like much progress, but all that un-sewing took some time.  Now that I'm happy with the final plan, I'm hoping this will go together quickly and I can move on to something else.  

So for June the goal is to get Jigsaw to the finished flimsy stage and come up with a quilt design for the butterfly panel.  More old and new stuff is posted over at Never Too Hot to Stitch.  

May UFO Progress

It's the beginning of a new month so Lynne over at Never Too Hot to Stitch has her monthly linky party for the Something Old, Something New challenge. 

Not that I really have much to post in terms of progress for the month of April.  Jigsaw grew by a few blocks. 

 Jigsaw
pattern by Alyssa Clancy for Lehmann Quilting

I didn't start anything new this month.  With so many WIPs and UFOs, I don't really have space for a NewFO this month.  

I'm hoping that May is a better month.  I was doing really well this week until I came down with a cold Tuesday night.  After two days of pretty much round the clock napping, I'm finally feeling better this evening.  

What are my plans for May?  I do hope to finish Jigsaw and get it shipped out for quilting.  I'm not planning to start anything new in May.  Once Jigsaw is done, I'd like to move on to Scrappy Stars.

 Scrappy Stars

Pattern is Folk Art Christmas Stars

by Robyn Pandolph

All the stars are made, I just need to cut the plain squares and setting triangles, then sew the rows together.  This is my oldest UFO, so it would be nice to get if off the list.  

Those are my plans for May.  Hopefully things will slow down enough to let me make a bit of progress in the next 3 weeks.  

Catching Up

It's been a very long week.  Other than checking email via the I-phone, there's been no contact with the Internet since last Saturday.  So this weekend there will be a lot of blogs to catch up with as well as email responses to write.  Why no Internet the last week?  Let's just say I needed a break.  There was a point last Saturday where I hit overload.  Too much work, too much running around; just too much stuff!  Writing the blog became something that I "had" to do on top of everything else, not something I "wanted" to do.  So I took a vacation from the computer and the sewing room this week.  I spent the evenings with my family or reading some fun and frivolous books.  

Now that I've recovered from the overload, there's March's NewFO to show off.  

Plus fess up to my less than steller performance on March's Something Old/Something New goals. 

My Something Old goal for March was to get Jigsaw to a finished flimsy stage. 

Jigsaw didn't that far, but it did progress.  Just two more rows to complete.  Hopefully I can get at least that much done this month.  Drama Teen hasn't decided on borders yet, so I'm not sure I can get those added this month.  Jigsaw was my NewFO for October of 2013.  

My Something New/NewFO  goal for March was to not start something new.  I started 12 NewFOs last year and felt that a few finishes were needed before I started something new. But then I saw Kevin the Quilters QOV block drive.    

All Kevin asked for were 5 blocks of a very simple pattern.  Having just finished Mon Ami, I had some nice red and blue fabrics that would fit in with his fabric guidelines that just begged to be made into QOV blocks. 

So even though I had said no NewFO this month, how could I pass up the opportunity to use up some fabric scraps, make some fun blocks that I didn't have to make into a quilt, plus contribute to a really great cause.  If there is a reason to do something you said you weren't, I think that last one is a really good one.  

So though I didn't meet my March goals, it wasn't a bad month.  Since Jigsaw isn't done, it will be my Something Old for April.  At this point I'm not planning to start something new.  But maybe another block drive will pop up and inspire me.  One never knows. 

Something Old, Something New - March Update

It's cold and it's icy with more of the same projected for the rest of today.  And then there's the possibility of snow on top of that for later today.  It's a good thing we have no place to go.  I'm looking forward to just staying home.  There's some laundry that needs to be done, but I'm hoping to spend this afternoon stitching.  Yesterday we were in Tulsa cheering Drama Teen on in a volleyball tournament.  The third in as many weeks.  Thankfully we have a three week break before her team plays again.  

It's the second day in a new month, so it's time to follow up on my efforts to finish the old and start something new along with Lynn over at Never Too Hot to Stitch.  

My "something old" goal for February was to get Jigsaw to the finished flimsy stage. I didn't get all the way there, but I did make good progress. 

pattern by Alyssa Clancy for Lehmann Quilting

The "something new" goal was to start this Tonga Atlantis Kit.  

I pulled the kit out, stuck the pattern up on the design wall and stared at it most of the month.  Now I'm not sure I like it.  So the whole thing went back in the NewFO drawer for now.  Instead, I opted for a pattern that would use up some of my oldest stash fabrics. 

The pattern is called Poinsettia Allure by by Judy Bloc from the December 2013 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting.  In going along with Lynn's theme of learning new techniques, I'll have to learn how to use templates to make this pattern.  

So I pretty much blew both the "something old" and the "something new" goals set at the beginning of February.  I'm hoping I can do better with my March goals.

1.  Get Jigsaw to the finished flimsy stage
2.  Don't start anything new

Goal one is probably attainable now that almost half the Jigsaw blocks are made.  It may be harder to not start anything new this month, but I've got 21 projects on my WIP/UFO list and I'd like to get it back down closer to 15. 

Check out all the other something old/something new progress over at Lynn's Never Too Hot to Stitch.     

Something Old, Something New - February Update

I almost forgot about the Something Old, Something New Challenge over at Never Too Hot to Stitch.

Link up day is the 2nd, which is today (actually it's yesterday already down under where Lynn resides).  The something old is UFOs or WIPs that haven't been worked on in a while; the something new for Lynn is learning a new skill. I'm using the something new as permission to start a new project.  

For January, my something old was to finish binding and labeling Mon Ami.  Done!

Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

It's been rather gloomy since Friday, so I've not had a chance to get a good photo. This is my 2013 quilt of valor, so I'm just a month late getting it done.  

The something new for January was to make an Inverted Star block for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Done!

 Inverted Star
by Jessica Boschem of Common Threads
available from Craftsy as a free download

All those half square triangles didn't want to match up real well. Hopefully my February version will go together a bit easier.  

For February, the something old is to get Jigsaw to the finished flimsy stage. 

Jigsaw
pattern by Alyssa Clancy for Lehmann Quilting

Drama Teen asked for this quilt a couple of years ago. I made great gains on it last year, but then got caught up in Celtic Solstice and haven't made any progress on it since.  

My something new is to pull out the Tonga Atlantis kit I picked up on vacation in Montana and get it started.  It will be my NewFO for February.  

I've never made a quilt from a kit, so that is something new for me as well.  We'll see how well this works out.  

February is a short month, plus I already know Drama Teen has two volleyball tournaments this month.  That will be two weekends with limited stitching opportunities.  Wish me luck, I'll need it to get both of these things done.  

Something Old, Something New - January 2014

Lynn over at Never Too Hot to Stitch has a new monthly challenge for 2014, Something Old, Something New.  

I'm a day late with my post, but it's been a bit crazy here the past day or so.  Drama Teen was scary sick yesterday.  She wasn't able to keep food down or stay awake.  She slept pretty much 20 hours straight.  Thankfully by lunch time today she started showing an appetite as well as the ability to keep down what she'd eaten.  Now that I'm not worried, I can think to write a post.  

The "something old" part of the challenge is to work towards completing a UFO.  My definition of a UFO is anything that was started more than a year ago.  I definitely have a few of those.  This month I want to get the binding and label sewn on to Mon Ami.  

 Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

The binding is all made, I just need to trim up the quilt and then stitch on the binding.  

The "something new" part of the challenge for Lynn is to learn a new skill or technique.  Learning something new is a tall order for me as the schedule is a bit packed.  However, I do want to start a new project this month to go along with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I think that will be my something new for January.  

 Inverted Star by Jessica Boschem available on Craftsy

I want to start this scrappy Inverted Star project this month.  I've started cutting the fabrics, it takes a lot of half square triangles. 

That's it for my January "to do" list.  Check out all the other challenge posts over at Lynn's blog. 

Celebrate the Past, Anticipate the Future

A lofty blog title isn't it?  Unfortunately I don't think my 2013 accomplishments and 2014 goals really live up to it, but you should start off the new year in the most positive light possible.  That's one of my non-quilt related personal goals this year, be more inclined to see that the glass as half full rather than half empty as my family tells me I'm most likely to do.  So I will celebrate my 2013 accomplishments and look forward to doing even better in 2014 You'll see when you get there that I well may be building 2014 on a house of cards.  (Well darn it, that half full glass stuff is going to be harder to pull off than I thought!) 

For 2013 there were just 3 major goals

• Finish 10 quilts
• Start 8 quilts 
• Manage the stash

I finished five quilts in 2013.  

Two of the five finishes were actually on my "to be finished" list.  There were 8 other quilts on that list that didn't get done.  But the five finishes this year are definitely better than just the three finishes in 2012.  Now that I have momentum on my side, 2014 will be even better.  

Being a faithful follower of Cat Patches' 2013 NewFO Challenge, I started 12 quilts this year.

That's four more quilts than I had planned to start this year, which is also four more than were started in 2012.  I stuck pretty close to my list for 2013, only one quilt on the list wasn't started.  I finished two of the new starts this year, while none of the 2012 NewFOs got finished in 2012.  So even more momentum for 2014. 

Applying the glass half full stance to the Stash Management goals is a bit hard, I didn't meet a single goal.  But I did use more stash in 2013 than I ever have before, so that's definitely a bright spot.  I didn't buy as much fabric as I did in 2012, so there is definite momentum moving into 2014 on that front as well.    

The 2014 goals look a lot like that 2013 goals:

• Finish 10 quilts (5 UFO's and 5 of the 2013 NewFOs)
• Start 8 quilts as part of the 2014 NewFO Challenge (list is here)
• Stash Management

• Use 75 yards
• Buy less than I use
• Organize what I have

 Starting the 8 quilts will be the easiest goal to meet.  Finishing 10 quilts would be a personal best, the most I've ever finished in a single year is 7.  But I'm hopeful, one quilt just needs the binding added, another is pieced and just needs a back, one other has all the blocks made, it just needs to be set.  I'm joining Lynn's "Something Old, Something New" challenge for 2014.  I'm not too sure about the something new part of the challenge, but I am going to use the something old part of the challenge to keep me motivated to tackle those UFOs. 

I'm linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict's Goal's for 2014 linky party.  Stop by and wish everyone a successful 2014.