Stash Report - Week 32

This house is in "back to school" mode.  Drama Teen starts high school on Tuesday.  Yesterday was the final mad dash to finish up shopping for absolutely have to haves for back to school.  She spent last night cleaning out her notebook and backpack from last year so she could get ready for this year.  She's excited and nervous. Just two more days of freedom and then she's back to the school year grind.  

I did stop in at a quilt shop yesterday while we were out shopping, but I didn't buy anything.  I was very proud of myself for that restraint.  Unfortunately, I've not done much this week that uses fabric.  I had four quilts that needed the labels attached before they could be delivered to their new homes.  I've got two of the four done and hope to finish up the last two today.  So other than one vertical border for Mon Ami, not much going out this week. 

Used last week:  0.19 yards
Added last week:  0 yards

Used for 2013:  49.73
Added for 2013:  148.83 yards

Net stashed for 2013:  99.1 yards

So I'm still below 100 yards stashed.  Once I get the labels done and get back to the borders for Mon Ami, the fabric usage should jump up a bit.  I've also been playing around with possible fabric to use in Judy's Road to Brenham quilt.   I've been playing with these 3:  

I made a red, black and white quilt a last year and loved it, so I'd like to make another in that color combination.  To be honest, the main reason I started with these 3 is that you need almost 5 yards of one of the fabrics and I don't have a lot of pieces that big, but I do have that much of the black.  I don't want to buy anything for this project.  I can justify starting another quilt if it takes a bite out of the existing stash.  

That's it for my stash report.  Grab a cup of coffee and check out all the other stash posts over at Patchwork Times. 

15 Minute Challenge - It's Not Just Beauty Sleep

Life is getting back to normal after our 10 day vacation.  Laundry is pretty much caught up, I've caught up on sleep, but still working to get caught up on stuff at work.  Two out of three is not bad.  As much as I enjoyed vacation, I was so ready to get back into the sewing room last weekend.  Mon Ami is ready for borders, so a finished flimsy is a near thing.  I always get energized when a project gets close to being done.  It always takes longer to get the borders on than I expect, but even so, it's nice to get one more project to that stage.  

As much as I itched to get back into the sewing room after vacation, my energy level last week had other ideas.  

The siren song of the recliner caught me in it's web 3 of the last 7 days, so only 4 days of sewing last week.  Not a bad week, lots got done on the weekend.  Maybe it was being at a higher altitude for a week, whatever the reason, I was pretty much exhausted after work each night last week.  One night My Guy had to wake me up twice before I managed to make it from the recliner to the bed.  It's hard to want to sew when one is that tired.  

Not getting enough sleep is a big creativity killer.  It's hard to focus when you are tired, so you make more mistakes.  If I'm feeling really tired, sewing is usually a bad idea. More unsewing goes on than sewing in those instances.  According to the most of the references I found, most people need 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night.  But the National Sleep Foundation says that most women only average about 6 hours and 49 minutes of sleep on work nights, plus have more problems then their guys do in getting to sleep and staying asleep.  

After all that you've probably guessed that August's Fostering Creativity theme is "get a good night's sleep".  The reading I did getting ready for this post was pretty eye opening.  Recent research into chronic sleep deprivation is turning up links to some scary longer term health effects.  Just an hour of research had me deciding that improving my sleeping habits should be one of my goals for the rest of the year.  Look for more on the health effects, causes of poor sleep habits, and tips for better sleep over the next month.  

How was your week?  Did you find the time and the energy to spend some creative time in your sewing room or with your yarn and needles?  Either way link up and share your success and challenges in being creative this last week.  

Design Wall Monday - August 5th

Monday already?  The weekend was way too short, but they always are.  It rained off and on all day yesterday.  It seemed more like late September than early August.  Not that I'm complaining.  I'm sure we'll have our typical August weather back sooner than we are ready for it.  

Lots of stitching this weekend, though the design wall doesn't really show it.  All the Mon Ami blocks are sewn together and the first border is in progress. 

Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

I'm happy with how it's turning out. This one just might make finished top status by the end of the month.  

There was some progress on the other design wall as well.

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

Only 7 more Economy blocks before I finish step 4 in Judy's Back to Square One Medallion Mystery.  I'd really like to catch up to step 8 this month.  I'm not sure that's doable, but at least I'm getting closer.  
That's what is up on my design walls.  For more of Design Wall Monday, check out Patchwork Times.  

Stash Report - Week 31 of 2013

For the second morning in a row we woke to rain. That is decidedly odd for August in Oklahoma.  Typically the heat and the dry have turned every one's yards to brown, but things here are still really green.  

Not much sewing this week as I struggled to get back on schedule after 10 days of vacation.  After a full day of work, dealing with getting Drama Teen to her twice a day volleyball practices, and trying to get laundry caught up, I ended up dosing off in the recliner each evening this week.  Not a lot of sewing gets done when that happens.  I did get to sew yesterday afternoon, but most of that was sewing the Mon Ami blocks together and those have been counted already.  A Neutral Gems block and border blocks for Back to Square One are all that I could count as going out this week.  

Used last week:  0.11 yards
Added last week:  0 yards

Used for 2013: 49.54 yards
Added for 2013:  148.83 yards

Net stashed for 2013:  99.29 yards

Not much out, but at least there was nothing in.  I'm hoping to hold the net stashed number to under 100 for 2013.  So far so good, but I really need to get some stitching done.  

Check out all the other stash reports over at Judy's Patchwork Times.  

August - 2013 The Year of the Finished Project

It's the first day of August and the first Thursday in the month, so it's time to review the progress on July's goals and decide what to focus on in August.  Then link up with Lynn over at Never too Hot to Stitch for this month's Year of the Finished Project post.  

Unfortunately, July wasn't as productive of a month as I had hoped for.  

July
1.  Back to Square One
     Finish Clue 4                8 of 20 blocks completed
     Finish Clue 5
     Finish Clue 6
     Finish Clue 7

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

2.  Mon Ami
     Make 3 blocks            Done

Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

3. Neutral Gems
    Make 5 blocks            Made 2


July was a busy month, we were gone almost every weekend plus took a week of vacation.  In reality out of a 31 day month, I only had 17 days where sewing on these projects was possible.  Add in a few days of illness with suspected food poisoning and that all equates to not a lot of progress.  My project focus changed after I'd put July's goals together when I realized the Mon Ami was the closest to being finished of all the projects up on the design wall.  So it became the focus for what sewing time I did have.  

Though it's disappointing to only finish up one goal, it really wasn't a bad month considering how little time I had to sew.  Progress was made on the other two goals.

So what's the plan for August?  Since this challenge is all about finishing up projects, I'm going to focus on finishing up those projects currently up on the design wall.  Since Mon Ami is the closest to being a completed quilt, it will be the main focus for the month.  I'd like to get caught up on the Back to Square One mystery, so it will be goal number two.  Neutral Gems with be this month's leaders and enders project.   

August
1.  Mon Ami
     Sew blocks together
     Add borders
     Make back
     Send out for quilting
2.  Back to Square One
     Finish clue 4
     Finish clue 5
     Finish clue 6
     Finish clue 7
3.  Neutral Gems
     Make 10 blocks  

I probably won't finish goal 2, so it's my stretch goal for the month.  What doesn't get done will go on next month's list.  

That's it for me this month.  Check out all the other progress posted over at Never Too Hot to Stitch.