15 Minute Challenge - July 5th

Happy July 5th.  For those in the US and Canada, hope your holiday weekend was lots of fun.  We visited with family.  Kiddo got her grandma's fried chicken and potato salad, so she was a happy camper (so were the rest of us). 

Actually, we are still at my sister's house.  Though she has Internet, she does not have wireless, so my computer is pretty useless.  I can log onto Blogger via her computer, but I can't access any of  the graphics that I normally use for the 15 Minute Challenge.  So this week's post will be low tech. 

How was the sewing at your house last week?  Last week was less then stellar for me.  

Tuesday - Finished Borders for Buck-A-Block Quilt
Wednesday -  No Sewing
Thursday - No Sewing
Friday - No Sewing
Saturday - Pieced back for Buck-A-Block Quilt
Sunday - Pressed Buck-a-Block quilt and packed, prepped for shipping
Monday - No Sewing

Now that the Buck-a-Block is ready to go off for quilting, I can start a new project.  Maybe that will give me the enthusiasm to get myself into the sewing room this next week. 

So how did you do?  Link up and tell all!

1. Jill

2. 501quiltblocks

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

P.S.  Be sure check in next week.  There will be a special "add on" to the 15 Minute Challenge. 

Design Wall Monday - July 4th

Happy 4th of July!  We are planning to spend the day with my family.  Mom has promised fried chicken and potato salad for dinner.  Not sure what else is on the agenda, as is typical we'll make it up as we go along.  

Design wall #1 has nothing on it because I finished adding the final borders to the Buck-A-Block quilt. 

The back is done, both are pressed and folded up ready to go to Trudy for quilting.  I'm really happy with how this quilt turned out, but it doesn't look like what I had envisioned when I started it.   I'm going to need a new name for this quilt.  The dark fabric in the blocks is a print with Texas blue bonnets.  The last border was supposed to be TX blue bonnets too, but that didn't work with the rest of the setting.  So now I need a new name.  Any suggestions? 

Design wall # 2 has 3 rows of the purple and yellow scrap blocks laid out on it. 

Only one row, 7 blocks, left before this leader and enders project can be set together.  So what's going up on design wall #1?  I need to get going on my niece's quilt if I want to have it done in time to give it as a Christmas present.  But Shay over at Quilting in My Pyjamas posted a pattern on her blog this weekend for a Christmas quilt that I'm dying to make.  Decisions, decisions.  I guess there is no reason why I can't work on both. 

To check out what else is up on design walls in blogland, check in with Judy's Patchwork Times. 

Stash Report - July 3rd

It's July.  Halfway through the year.  I spent a few minutes yesterday reflecting on my progress this year.  I'm actually not in bad shape.   I finished the back for the Buck-A-Block quilt last night, so today's stash report is pretty good. 

Used this week:  10.88 yards
Added this week:  0 yards

Used year to date:  38.95
Added year to date:  16 yards

Net used for 2011:  22.95

Fabric Budget:  14 yards for July to September
Bought/Budget:  0/14 yards

My goal this year is to use more fabric then I buy.  I set up the fabric budget to allow me to buy fabric so I could finish projects and add a few fresh pieces to the stash, but not so much that I wouldn't meet my goal.  So far that seems to be working.  I've bought a lot less fabric then I did last year. 

There's a lot less red then blue on the chart, which is a good thing.  I've managed 3 months where I didn't buy any fabric at all.  Plus I've used more fabric then last year.

I got off to a slow start this year and wasn't doing too well until I challenged myself to spend a minimum of 15 minutes a day in my sewing room.  That started in March and it's made a big difference in both my fabric usage and moving projects to completion. 

I put a "quilt plan" together at the beginning of the year showing what specific and/or type of projects I'd like to make this year. 

It lists 13 quilts I'd like to finish or at least make significant progress on.  I've finished 5 and have been actively working on another 4 on the list.  PIGS = projects in grocery sacks, which now outnumber my UFO projects.  PhD = projects half done, in some cases this might be a UFO or it might be a work in progress.   The PhD challenge was hosted by Myra at Tactile Pleasures in Fabric. The challenge ended June 30th.  It was a great help in keeping me focused on those projects. I only finished one of the three by the end of the challenge, but I'm really close on finishing up the remaining two.  


Hope your weekend has been productive and that your stash report is moving in the right direction.  Check out other stash reports over at Judy's Patchwork Times. 

Foto Finish - Patriotic

When Barb posted this week's Foto Finish theme I knew I had a set of images that I could use.  I went searching through my library and couldn't for the life of me remember when I taken them. Don't you just hate that?  I had this image in my mind of having scrapbooked those images, but I couldn't find the album anywhere.  Has my memory gotten that bad? 

I did eventually find the images, way back in the CD archive of the point and shoot camera's digital files (I assumed this shot had been snapped with the digital SLR).

Every year a few guys from work get together and host this huge 4th of July party.  I wrote a bit about this yesterday in the FTF post.  One of the group has a firework license so he can set up and off the big fireworks.   The cost of entry is a dish for the pot luck buffet and a 6 pack of beer (or a bottle of wine if your taste leans that way).  It's a fun group of people, if perhaps a little scary with their predilection for pyrotechnics.   This shot was taken with a little point and shoot camera, hand held.  I was thrilled to get any images shooting this way.  Maybe I should try the SLR with the tripod at this year's display?

Enjoy your weekend, holiday or not.  If you are hanging around blog land for a while, check out more Patriotic images over at Cat Patches. 

Favorite Things Friday - July 1st

It's July, it's hot, must be Oklahoma.  The Weather Channel says near record highs for today, 103 F (39.4 C).  One of my most favorite things this time of year is air conditioning.  I'm old enough to remember not having air conditioning and sleeping in the basement when it got too hot in the summer.  Unfortunately the clay soil and high water table here in Oklahoma isn't conductive to basements, most homes don't have one. 

Another favorite this week is the upcoming 4th of July holiday.  It means a 4 day weekend as we get Monday and Tuesday off work.   When I was a kid, 4th of July meant a trip to Grandma's house.  From there all of my Mom's family would troop to one of the local lakes for a picnic and swimming.  Not much better than that when you are 6 years old and get to spend the whole day swimming and eating grandma's fried chicken and potato salad (plus Ding Dongs, a personal favorite in those days).   

More recently, we usually spend one day of the holiday weekend with friends from work.  You'd never know these mild mannered guys are actually closet pyromaniacs.  One friend has a class ?? license and is allowed to purchase and shoot the very large fireworks.  He always has a wonderful fireworks display at his home out in the country (beats fighting the traffic to watch the city display). 

On the 4th we usually head to Kiddo's grandma's (my mom).  Eat fried chicken and potato salad, which Kiddo will tell you is better than any one's in the whole world. 

So Happy 4th of July to those in the US.  Happy Canada Day to the Canadian portion of blog land.  Happy Friday to everyone else. 

Check out more Favorite Things over at Shay's Quilting in My Pyjamas.