Wordless Wednesday - Oklahoma Spring

15 Minute Challenge And What Else Do you Do?

It's Tuesday already?  Time flies when you are having fun and when you have deadlines.  I'm working madly to finish up Calico Cats, which needs to be done before the end of the month.  On the bright side, it's been easy to get in my 15 minutes each day and then some.  

I'm finding the deadlines are extremely helpful in getting one into the sewing room. One more week with 7 out of 7 days that I've found time to sew.  As much as I enjoy playing in my sewing room, having a deadline is a lot like having a job.  I'm ready to finish up the 5 quilts for this month so I can go back to playing a bit more and not have to focus on just a few projects.  On the bright side, having to finish up these projects has been really good for the stash report and I will have 5 finishes by the end of the month.  

With the new month, also comes a new fostering your creativity theme.  This month we'll explore how other creative interests can influence your overall creativity.  Quilters have a lot of other creative interests.  Lynn at Never to Hot to Stitch also knits.  Shay at Quilting in My Pyjamas does a lot of home decorating, as well as, expressing her creativity in the kitchen when she's not at the sewing machine.  Marti over at The Next Fifty Years makes furniture in addition to stitching up fabric.  Barbara showcases her beautiful photographs as well as her beautiful quilts on her Cat Patches blog.  Thea of California Dreamin' fame makes some awesome diaper cakes and other baby shower creations from baby blankets, burp cloths and other baby stuff.  The list of alternate creative interests is endless, these are just a few examples.  

Do you have other creative outlets besides quilting? Does having other outlets affect your quilting projects?  Or maybe it just affects the time you have to quilt?   How did that go this week?  Did you find 15 minutes to stitch or did you pursue your other creative interest for the week?  Use Mr. Linky to share where your creative time went this week.  

Design Wall Monday - May 6th

It was a wet and cold weekend, which was perfect for sitting in the sewing room doing some stitching.  I did get to do a bit of that before and after the volleyball tournament this weekend.  Club ball is now ended, but this week are the try outs for the high school team.  So practice sessions may still be going on, but at least there won't be any weekend games for a while.  

Over the last week I've been working mainly on Calico Cats as it needs to be finished this month.  

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

The blocks are all done and the sashing has been started.  The rows haven't been sew together yet, hopefully I'll finish adding all the binding strips and make some head way on sewing the rows together tonight.

The Mon Ami blocks are back up on the secondary design wall. 

Quilt of Valor
Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

The half square triangles that make up the Friendship Star blocks are a good leaders and enders project while I finish up Calico Cats.  

That's it for my Design Wall Monday.  Check out all the other Monday design walls over at Patchwork Times.  

Stash Report - Week 18

It's cold wet and rainy, so yesterday was a good day to spend some time in the sewing room.  Actually, it's been pretty much cold and wet most of the last week.  We actually had snow flakes coming down Thursday night.  It's been such a weird spring for us.  We really needed the rain, the last two years we've had drought conditions.  So I'm glad to see the rain, but I do wish it would warm up a bit.  My winter coat is more than ready to be retired for the season.  

I've been able to get in a solid hour of stitching most nights this week.  Sweet Treats needed a back before it could be shipped off for quilting.  That made up the bulk of the out column this week.

Used last week:  5.48 yards
Added last week:  0 yards

Used for 2013: 37.91 yards
Added for 2013:  79.25 yards

Net stashed for 2013:  41.34 yards

At least my amount stashed isn't much bigger than my amount used. This has actually been a pretty good year for me, less than 100 yards in total and almost 40 yards out at just about midyear.  I've definitely been in worse shape by this point.  So even though I'm not meeting my goals, it's still been a good year in terms of stash management.  

Check out more tales of the stash over at Patchwork Times. 

May - 2013 The Year of the Finished Project

It's the first Thursday in May, time to fess up to what did and didn't get done in my quest to finish up a few quilt projects.  I'm linking up with our lovely hostess Lynn over at Never to Hot to Stitch.  

My list of goals for April was pretty ambitious.  How did it work out?  

April
1. Evening Star
	Finish binding
2 The Sofa Quilt
	Make binding
	Sew binding on
	Hand stitch binding to back
3.  OSU Quilt
	Add borders				Done
	Make backing				Done
	ship off for quilting				Done
4.  Sweet Treats
	Assemble blocks and sashing				Done
	Add borders				Done
	Make Backing				Done
	ship off for quilting				Done
5.  Calico Cats
	Make 8  blocks				4 done
	Assemble blocks and sashing
	Add borders
	Make backing
	ship off for quilting

Here's a visual of last month's progress.  

So two finished tops and one more row added to Calico Cats.  Really not a bad month.  I'll have to step it up in May as I need to finish the above three, plus get the binding on two others.  

May
1. Evening Star
	Finish binding
2 The Sofa Quilt
	Make Binding
	Sew Binding on
3.  OSU Quilt
	Make Binding
	Sew Binding on
4.  Sweet Treats
	Make Binding
	Sew Binding on
5.  Calico Cats
	Make 4  blocks
	Assemble blocks and sashing
	Add borders
	Make backing
	ship off for quilting
	Make Binding
	Sew Binding on

A very ambitious list.  I'm sure 1 through 4 are doable, but number 5 is going to be a stretch.  Wish me luck!  

Click on over to Never to Hot to Stitch for more finished project progress.