Yesterday was beautiful and warm, in the 80s. Today's highs are supposed to be in the 50's, definitely a good day for a sewing room retreat. I was contemplating staying in my pjs for the day, but I think not. Jeans and an old sweatshirt would be warmer. My sewing room is pretty chilly on these kind of days, at least till the sun gets into the western sky.
I'm not doing so hot on the fabric diet this year. I bought fabric yesterday. There are plans for most of it.
The blue yardage is for the last graduation quilt. The reds are for this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt, as is the green. The blue polka dot is likely to end up in the last graduation quilt. These all came from a new quilt shop that opened in town last weekend. They are just getting started, so they don't have a big selection of fabrics, but they've got some fun classes scheduled over the next few months. It would be nice to have a shop in town, rather than having to run to the big city. But they'll only be able stay if they do well, so I'm trying to do my part in helping them get off on the right foot. (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)
Here's the damage:
Used year to date: 12.72 yards
Added year to date: 59.05 yards
Net stashed: 46.33 yards
I still have all year to overcome this early purchases, so I'm hopeful of reaching the black before the end of the year.
This week was also pretty good in terms of finding time to sew. I managed 7 out of 7 days again this week. So I've not missed a day yet this year. Those 15 minute to hour long sessions each evening really do help move the projects along. All the blocks for Geometry are made, so I was able to start sewing the top together last night. Fingers crossed that it's a finished flimsy by the end of the day.
Linking up with Patchwork Times for this week's stash report.
This was one of those weeks where Friday couldn't come soon enough. Not sure why the week dragged, but it surely did. There are chores to be done today. Unfortunately, laundry is an absolute must. But I may declare tomorrow a solo retreat day. My sanity needs to be restored, it was sorely tested this week. A day in the sewing room would be a great way to recover.
There was time this week to make some progress on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks, though I'm still working on last month's purples. All the small purple blocks are done.
The last of the large purple fan blocks is almost done, just one more black strip. I was just too sleepy to finish it last night, as I said it was a long week. The fabrics are selected for February's blocks. In looking at what was in the stash and how they fit together, I decided that all the small fan blocks will be teal.
All the large fan blocks will be aqua.
My stash could use some dark and light aquas, it's a bit heavy on medium tones. But I think these 8 fabrics will work just fine.
You can see more sky and water colored blocks over at Soscrappy. On Sunday, check out Oh Scrap over at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for even more scrappy eye candy.
It was a nice quiet weekend. We're not football fans so the Super Bowl went unnoticed till Drama Teen turned on the end of the game so she'd know who won.
The sewing room wasn't lonely this weekend. Though the time spent in it wasn't all directed to sewing. After adding a couple of new additions, there was a bit of reorganization that needed to go on. I did eventually get back to stitching and made some good progress on Geometry.
All the blue blocks are done and I got a good start on the green HSTs. All that's left are the yellow HSTs. So this should be ready to sew together later this week. Drama Teen really likes this one and thinks her friend will love it. This has been a fun and fast project.
Linking up with:
Main Crush Monday
Monday Making
Design Wall Monday
We are all glad that last week is over. Everyone survived the respiratory crud and was healthy going into Friday. Let's hope it stays that way. Apparently some type of stomach bug and the strep are also working their way through the local school systems, so we weren't the only ones at work who missed a few days last week.
Not much happened in the sewing room early in the week. I barely managed to get in my 15 minutes those days I was home sick, but I did manage so I'm still 100% on finding time to sew every day this year. I didn't manage a lot of stitching early in the week and that shows in this week's stash report.
Used year to date: 11.23 yards
Added year to date: 54.3 yards
Net stashed: 43.07 yards
I'm slowly eating away at those early stash additions. Thankfully there was nothing new in this week. Actually that's not quite true, there was no new fabric in this week. There were some updates made to the sewing room. I've not been very happy with the floor lamp over the cutting table. It's not very stable and the individual lights don't stay in position like they are supposed to. So I ordered a second Slimline LED floor lamp for the cutting table.
I have one of these over my sewing machine and love the light it adds to my dark sewing room. An added advantage is these LEDs give off light in the natural daylight range, which means if I use them for photography, I don't have to color correct the photos. The lamp head swivels, so the light can be directed where it's needed. I used it last night and it really helps light up that dark corner where my cutting table is located.
The other addition is to help with the organization of projects at the sewing machine. I tend to work on multiple projects at a time. Right now that list include Geometry, En Provence, the 2017 RSC blocks, and the Meadow Mist Mystery. I was keeping the block pieces in little bins that sat on the floor by the machine. But it got to the point that they were creating quite a clutter there on the floor and more than once they got kicked over spilling fabric pieces all over the place. Pottery Barn Teen had a sale on storage bins last week, so I thought why not. If I don't like them Drama Teen can probably use them.
I don't think I'll be giving up this one. I've got the teal fabric pulls for this month's RSC block in drawer two and what pieces I've got cut for En Provence in drawer three. I sewed with this last night and love it. It keeps everything separate, but right by the machine where I can get to it easily. The second set of bins is still in the box. I bought those to help with scrap storage. I'll get that one assembled this afternoon. Hopefully I'll like it as well.
Linking up with Patchwork Times for this week's stash report.
I've been home with a nasty cold since Monday. That definitely wasn't the plan for the end of January. Thankfully I finished up January's One Monthly Goal before the crud took over. Now it's time to contemplate the February One Monthly Goal.
Drama Teen asked me last year if I would make quilts for her best friends and her favorite teacher for graduation this year. So she gave me plenty of notice. One is finished (Zombie's in Paris) and the second has been sent out for quilting (Bejeweled). That leaves quilts 3 and 4 that have to be finished before May. The third quilt, Geometry has been up on the design wall since December.
The blocks are just big HSTs, so they go together pretty fast. I'm almost finished with the purple blocks. That leaves blue, green and yellow blocks that have to be made. February is a short month, and we have a wedding to attend the last weekend that will cut into my stitching time this month. Considering all that, my goal is to make all the blocks and get them into a finished flimsy by the end of the month. That should set me up to finish the back and get it out for quilting in March.
I'm also participating in Patchwork Times UFO-2017 this year (the more motivation the better). Geometry is #2 on my list, so I'm substituting it for whatever number Judy draws for February.
Linking up with
Elm Street Quilts
Let's Bee Social
Needle and Thread Thrusday
