Stash Stuff for Week 18 of 2017

It's been a gorgeous weekend so far.  Unfortunately, there's not been a lot of sewing going on.  With graduation coming up there's been lots of other stuff to do. Family is coming so housecleaning is a must.  Graduation announcements really need to get out, but that meant we needed senior pictures.  The school's photographer completely botched Drama Teen's shots and the retakes (the school used a new company this year).  We talked about getting a professional photographer, but DT decided she wanted us to take her pictures.  So we drove all over town yesterday looking for great places for portraits.  I've not culled those yet, that's on tap for later this morning.  But here's one that's definitely going in the outtake folder (I think it was something My Guy said that put that look on her face.)

  

So with all of those things going on in the background, sewing time has been a bit limited.  I have managed to get in at least 15 minutes each day this week, but most days it has been only been 15 minutes. So my stash report for the week looks a little dismal. 

Used last week:  0 yards
Used year to date:  27.36 yards
Added year to date: 150.3 yards
Net added:  122.94 yards

At least there wasn't any incoming this week.  I will get in some good stitching time this afternoon when I take a break to watch the NASCAR race.  I'm putting borders on a quilt, so next week should see some positive numbers in the used column.  

Linking up with Patchwork Times for the weekly stash report.  

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Going for the Green

It was a looong week!  I'm not sure why, but it just seemed like we had a lot going on.  Though My Guy was out of town on business and Drama Teen spent most of the week studying for her advancement placement tests.  Being out of the office last week, I was playing catch up.  Maybe it's all of the above that added up to make for a long week.

The last graduation quilt was shipped off for quilting last Monday.  It's taken a bit to decide on what's next.  May's One Monthly Goal is up on the design wall and the borders are in progress.  Last night I found the box that contained the blocks for this month's UFO project and figured out what needed to come next there.  This morning it was time to figure out what was needed for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  This month is green.  Based on the draft quilt plan, I'll need 4 large fan blocks and 4 small fan blocks in green.  It took a bit of scrounging in the stash, but a palette eventually took shape.

It takes two fabrics for each fan, so all I needed was eight pairs. I've been trying for one dark and one light for each fan.  I think these will work. Now to decide which 4 make up the large fans and which go into the small fans. 

Linking up with Soscrappy for this weeks Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  

WIPS: The Leaders and Enders Project

I'm a big fan of Bonnie Hunter's leaders and enders method.  It's a nice way to make progress on a project while you are stitching on other quilts.  It's especially nice for a project I've gotten stalled on because I don't like the assembly process.  That's not the case with my current leaders and enders project, I've just been busy trying to get the graduation quilts finished.  En Provence is my current leaders and enders project.  Just before my business trip I finished block number 6 and decided to throw all the blocks up on the design wall to see how it's looking.  

En Provence, A Bonnie Hunter Mystery (2016)

I'd like to end up with 12 blocks, but there may not be enough fabric for that.  There is enough for another 3 blocks, so I'm going to get those made and reassess.  I'm really happy with how it's coming together.  Leaders and enders is a slow way to finish a project.  On the other hand, there would be no progress at all if I wasn't working on a few seams at a time while making other stuff.  

Linking up with 

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts 

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Working on the UFO List: May One Monthly Goal and UFO-2017 projects

The last of the graduation quilts got mailed off for quilting yesterday.  I'll be cutting it close on having it done by graduation, but I think that's doable.  The plan is to get the binding and labels made while Trudy is doing the quilting, so hopefully the finish will go fast once it's back.  Geometry still needs 2 sides of the binding stitched down before it's finished.  That's been one of my evening projects.  Either of those could be May's One Monthly Goal, but since they will get done on matter what, I'm really considering choosing something else to link up for this month's challenge. 

In addition to the two graduation quilts, there are two other quilts on my 2017 Finish Along list (I'm using every incentive possible to get some finishes this year!).  One of those is the Meadow Mist Mystery quilt.  I finished the published mystery, but knew I wanted to add some borders.  

 Meadow Mist Designs Mystery
By Cheryl Brickey of the Meadow Mist Designs Blog

I played around in EQ over the weekend and now have a plan worked out.  So May's One Monthly Goal will be to get the borders added, make a backing and get the Meadow Mist Mystery quilt ready to ship to Trudy for quilting.  

Patchwork Times is hosting UFO-2017 this year and I've been kinda sorta participating.  The graduation quilts were substituted in for the first 4 numbers drawn.  This month Judy picked number 11, which is my Christmas Angels Quilt.  All that's done on that quilt is some of the blocks. 

Looks like October of 2013 was the last time I worked on this project.  It's definitely time to dust off the blocks and see if some progress can be made.  The goal isn't to finish this project, but just to move it along.  

Hopefully the by the end of May there will be two more finishes, one quilt ready for quilting and another UFO moved a bit closer to completion.  I'd really like to get my UFO/WIP list pared down from it's current count of 23 to below 20 by mid year.  

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts for the May One Monthly Goal.  

Weekend Stitching: What Next?

We didn't get the severe weather that occurred to the south and north of us, but it was certainly a wet weekend.  It was a very good thing that I managed to get home on Friday.  Air travel would have been less than fun on Saturday, especially since I flew home through Denver.  Drama Teen is waiting to see if they'll have school today. The river is up and the parking lot at the high school is flooded.  It's been a long time since we've gotten that much rain.  

It was nice to be back in the sewing room after being gone for a week.  There were a few minutes of "So where was I?", when I first walked in.  The most pressing project was to get The First Amendment quilt prepped for packing so it can go to Trudy for quilting as that was my April One Monthly Goal.  I wrote about that yesterday but didn't realize until reviewing at my last few posts that I never posted the finished First Amendment flimsy.  

The First Amendment Quilt - self designed

Replacing the corner stars with the neutral backgrounds with the red was definitely worthwhile.  I like this layout much better.  The erroneous stars got used on the back. 

Backing for the First Amendment Quilt

I like how the backing came out.  Now both the top and the back have been checked for loose threads, pressed and packaged ready to go to the post office today.  

The First Amendment quilt was also my UFO-2017 project for April.  It's not done yet, but it definitely got moved along.  It will get finished this month as it's going to be gifted at graduation.  This is the last of the graduation quilts.  I'm still stitching the binding to the back of the third graduation quilt, but I'm getting close to being done with those projects.  What will I do then?  Hmmm.  

Linking up with

Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making
Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday
Cooking up Quilts for Main Crush Tuesday
Patchwork Times for UFO-2017