Weekend Stitching - More Invisible Progress

Last week was almost a complete bust on the sewing front, except for Sunday afternoon.  It was as a productive afternoon, but not the kind of progress that shows up on the design wall.  The binding and label are all done for the Layer Cake Quilt Along quilt.  Hopefully I'll get the binding stitched down sometime this week.  All the brown twinkle stars are cut out and the fabrics for the red violet stars are all selected. Bonnie Hunter published the fabric requirements for this year's mystery quilt, Allietare,  so of course I had to spend some time digging in the stash to see what might work in that project.  I'm going to use yardage rather than scraps so I can use what's in the stash.  The black and background fabrics were easily found.  Gold is almost completely absent from my stash and red is another color I don't have much of.  So it's likely I'll do a couple of color substitutions for those and probably the gray as well.  

There were a few additions to the design wall Sunday evening; four Wonky Stars for Alcyia's quilts of valor block drive joined the six that were up there last weekend.  

Wonky Star Block:  QOV Block Drive sponsored by Alycia Quilts (tutorial is here) 

These were fun and easy to make.  Plus they were a great way to use up some left over 3.5 squares from Mon Ami and some scraps left over from other projects.  I'll get these into the mail tomorrow.  Alycia has set a November 11th deadline for receipt of the blocks.  

That's it for my weekend progress.  The next clue for the Midnight Mystery quilt comes out on Thursday, so  there will be more progress to show on that project next week.  I should have more time to sew this week as I'm taking a couple of days of vacation to celebrate the finish of this year's big project.  Of course it doesn't hurt that I'll be home so we can get the furnaces checked before cold weather settles in.  Hopefully I can keep My Guy from adding any other "to do" items to my list so I can spend most of my time off stitching. 

Linking up with Design Board Monday, Main Crush Monday, Monday Making and Monday Design Wall.  There's lots of fun and gorgeous eye candy posted on all four sites.  

Weekend Stitching - Lots of Progress, But It Doesn't Show

It was actually a pretty productive weekend in the sewing room.  But it's the kind of productively that doesn't show up on the design wall.  Back to Square One and it's back are all prepped, pressed, packaged and read to mail to Trudy for quilting.  That doesn't make for a very exciting picture though.  Once that was done, I squared up the Layer Cake Quilt Along quilt and made the label for it.  Next step is to make the binding for it.  Hopefully it will be finished by next weekend.  

There was a one change on the design wall this weekend.  

Wonky Star Block:  QOV Block Drive sponsored by Alycia Quilts (tutorial is here) 

Another two Wonky Stars for Alycia's QOV block drive have joined the constellation that's up on the design wall.  I'm hoping to make another 4 blocks by the end of the week for a total of 10.   

You can see more project progress over at:

Design Board Monday
Main Crush Monday
Monday Design Wall
Monday Making

WIPs - Schedules Make a Difference

It's been two weeks since my last works in progress post.  That surprised me till I realized that October hasn't been a great month for spending time in the sewing room.  Typically the concentrated sewing time happens on the weekends, but due to numerous factors, the weekends haven't been very productive.  Plus as darkness is descending earlier this time of year, it's been harder to keep the energy level up later in the evening and I end up going to sleep in the recliner rather than making it up the stairs at the end of the evening.  So I conducted an experiment starting on Monday.  Rather than spending the early evening reading blogs and responding to emails, I've been heading up the stairs after dinner and my evening chores are done.  That's definitely made a difference the last two nights and there's been more progress in the sewing room.  We'll see if I can keep that up once time change is here.  Then it will be dark when I leave work.  I'm definitely not looking forward to that.  

There has been progress.  Only one block needs to be finished to be caught up with the Midnight Mystery quilt. 

Midnight Mystery Quilt From Meadow Mist Designs

The last block is at the sewing machine with just one more black strip to sew down.  

Another Wonky Star for the QOV block drive at Alycia Quilts is up on the design wall.  

Wonky Star Block:  QOV Block Drive sponsored by Alycia Quilts (tutorial is here) 

There are two more at the sewing machine in various stages of assembly.  I'm not sure how many of these I'll make.  The goal is to make as many as possible by October 31st.  These are due to Alycia by November 11th.  

Lastly, I'm almost caught up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks for September.  

Twinkle Stars, Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

The last orange block is almost assembled and two of the brown blocks for October are in progress.  Hopefully I'll be caught up on these by the end of the month, so I can get started on November's color at the start of the month.  

The change in my evening schedule seems to have made a difference.  I made some other changes in my work flow in the sewing room and those are helping too.  Now if I can just figure out how to not nod off when reading blogs and answering emails after my sewing time, I'll be in good shape.  

Linking up with WIP Wednesday, WIPS on Wednesday and Needle and Thread Thursday.  

Weekend Stitching - Progress on Multiple Fronts

It's hard to go back to work after four days off.  Other than the headache on Friday, it was a nice weekend off.  Drama Teen and I had a great time shopping and meeting friends for lunch on Thursday.  The rest of the weekend was spent on household chores and a lot of time in the sewing room.  

So what's up on the design wall?  A couple of Wonky Stars for the QOV block drive going on over at Alycia Quilts.  

Wonky Star Block:  QOV Block Drive sponsored by Alycia Quilts (tutorial is here) 

  
I've got some blue stars cut out but not yet assembled.  I'm hoping to get at least five or six stars out of this set of left over fat quarters.

The big design wall has the progress made on the Midnight Mystery Quilt. 

Midnight Mystery Quilt From Meadow Mist Designs

Since this photo was taken, the blocks have been taken off the wall and the I've starting adding the black framing pieces.  October's clue should be finished up by next weekend.  

You can check out more going sewing room happenings over at Design Board Monday, Main Crush Monday, and Monday Making.

Weekend Stitching - Not Hitting On All Cylinders

It wasn't a horrible weekend, unless you were Drama Teen.  It became apparent Saturday afternoon that the poor girl has a cold.  Miserable is an understatement, she looked really pitiful on Sunday. She's not making it to school today. 

Thankfully, I've missed out on the cold (fingers crossed), but I'm feeling the effects of the fall pollen.  There was no stitching on Saturday, but I did manage some time in the sewing room Sunday afternoon.  Three sides of Back to Square One have the last border attached. 

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

The quilt is too big to show on the design wall.  Here's one of the completed corners.  Just one more border strip and this project will be a finished flimsy.  

I finished the first Wonky Star for Alycia Quilts block drive for Quilts of Valor.  

Wonky Star Block:  QOV Block Drive sponsored by Alycia Quilts (tutorial is here) 

I have a bunch of 3.5" squares left over from a previous project. This is the perfect way to get them into blocks and out of the stash without creating another UFO. Not sure how many blocks will get  made, whatever I can get done by the end of October.  

Hopefully I'll get in more stitching time this week.  It would feel really good to get one more UFO to the finished flimsy stage.  

Linking up with Design Wall Monday, Design Board Monday, and Making Monday.