15 Minute Challenge - Collecting Inspiration

How can it be Tuesday again?  I can't say it snuck up on me, I knew it was coming, but how did it get here so fast?  It's raining and lightening here this morning.  We have the threat of more severe storms, but the severe risk is mainly lightening and hail.  Thankfully the tornado risk will remain low at least through Wednesday. 

Since it is a new month, there is a new fostering creativity theme to discuss.  June's creativity theme is "collecting inspiration".  Like last month's theme of exploring other interests, collecting inspiration is something most of us do readily (fabric, patterns, books, rulers).  What do you collect that fires up your creativity?  What makes you want to make a quilt in those colors or using that shape?  I'd have to say my biggest source of inspiration that I collect a lot of is fabric.  How can I feature this print?  How do I put those colors together?  Those questions will make me reach for my quilting books or have me firing up the computer to play around in EQ.  

Not a lot of inspiration going on in my sewing room.  I'm still in "finish up" mode.  I've got the binding on three of the five quilts that were supposed to have been completed last month.  Just two more left.  The OSU quilt was finished on Sunday after spending most of last week was spent attaching the binding.

Last night I paid the cost of not sleeping well on Sunday night.  I went to bed early, so no stitching.  Even so, 6 days were dedicated to stitching down all that binding.  That was definitely a much better week than the 3 days I managed the week before.  

How are you doing in finding time to stitch?  In the US it's finally warmed up, so many are gardening and catching up on yard work.  The kids are out of school, so that may make finding 15 minutes to sit and stitch a bit tough.  Link up and share how your late spring (or late fall for the down under crowd) stitching season is going.

1. Thea

2. Julie in GA

3. Kate @katiemaequilts

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Monday Design Wall - June 3rd

Monday already?  The weekend was way to short, especially since I had a nasty headache for both days.  I did get some stitching done, not as much as I would have liked.  Hand stitching was pretty much  my only speed for most of the weekend, which was OK as that meant the OSU quilt got finished.  

OSU Quilt
Pattern is A Day at the Spa
Designed by Carolyn S. Vagts
found in the February 2013 issue of Quilter's World
Quilted by Trudy Lindemann

I used the same orange from the border to bind the quilt. 

That makes a nice frame for the black border on the front and for the back. 

The back is Connecting Threads Mirage in coal.  That alone would have made a real boring back, so I added the pieced letters.  It came out pretty well.  This was a fun and quick quilt.  Not much progress on anything else this weekend, but it was still nice to finish quilt number 3 for 2013. 

Check out all the other design walls over at Judy's Patchwork Times.   

Slow Stitching Sunday - June 2nd

It's been over 2 months since I linked up with Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday!  Wow time really flies.  May was the month of bindings, so I've been doing lots of slow stitching, but haven't stopped to take many photos.  I finally remembered to take a few shots yesterday.  

I've got about 36 inches left before the binding is all stitched down for the OSU quilt.  I should be able to finish that off easily during the NASCAR race this afternoon.  So that will be one down, two more to go.  

Hope you can find some time to sit and take a few stitches this afternoon.  Check out all the other fun hand work on display over at Kathy's Quilts.  

Stash Report Week 22

Yesterday was a gorgeous day, sunny with big fluffy clouds that looked just like a kids drawing.  I had intended to get a picture, but I wasn't feeling like doing too much of anything.  Friday evening my head ached pretty badly, by Saturday morning it had not abated much.  Most of yesterday morning was spent either in bed or in the recliner with my eyes closed and a cold pack on my forehead.  By afternoon I was at least functional.  It's still aching, but not so badly as it did yesterday morning.  Hopefully I can get a few chores done this morning and enjoy some stitching this afternoon.

I managed a week with no button pushing and a bit of stitching, so this week's report looks a lot better than last week's.

Used last week:  0.74 yards

Added last week:  0 yards

Used for 2013:  45.28 yards

Added for 2013:  97.25 yards

Net stashed for 2013:  51.97 yards

Not a stellar week, but definitely not a bad week.  I've been keeping track of my stash since 2010.  I've used more fabric to date this year than I did in the previous 3 years and there is only one year where I bought less fabric by this point.  So though I'm not meeting my goals, it's turning out to be an OK year for stash busting.  How's your stash busting going?   

I'm linking up with Judy over at Patchwork Times, along with all the other stash reporters.  

After the Storms

It's been a stormy couple of weeks here in Oklahoma, with the Oklahoma City area getting hit the hardest.  My thoughts and prayers are with those families who lost loved ones and with those who are recovering from injuries.  I have family that lives north of OKC, all of them are fine thankfully.  

Our part of the state has seen storms as well the last two weeks, though not as severe as what the central part of the state has seen.  Last night I was pretty much glued to the TV coverage.  We had one tornadic storm pass about 20 miles to the north and about an hour later a second pass 20 miles to to the south.  But our community's tornado sirens never went off.  Other than some really heavy rains which flooded the roads for awhile, we suffered no other effects of the storms.  

Thursday night's storms left damage in Tulsa, we got heavy rain from those early in the afternoon.  But as the sun was going down, I captured these images from the retreating storm.  

The rain has been really good for the roses this year.  While out admiring these beauties, the sun came out and provided me with another reminder that nature can be both terrifying and beautiful.  

 






According to the weather forecast we will have a few days of respite from the unstable air that fosters these storms.  So I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend of household chores and some serious stitching.  Hope you have a wonderful weekend.