Stash Stuff for Week 23 of 2017

It's been a crazy and busy week.  The saga of the broken washer continues, so it was back to the laundromat yesterday.  We have more family coming to visit today.  Last week we had Drama Teen's college orientation which required a 2 day out of town stay. When I got back to work on Wednesday my boss informed that I'd be moving into a new position this next Thursday.  That requires that all of my project work be wrapped up this week.  So most of today (before the family gets here) will be dedicated to writing reports rather than playing in the sewing room.  Bummer.  But that's how it goes sometimes.   

Blooms and Butterflies is a finished flimsy, it will makes it debut on tomorrow's design wall post.  All the border fabric got counted in this week's stash report.  

Used last week:  1.59 yards
Used year to date:  35.61 yards
Added year to date:  215.55 yards
Net added year to date:  179.94 yards

Unfortunately the added column also got bigger this week.  Drama Teen had college orientation this week, so I took the opportunity to check out the local quilt shops (another reason to visit her at college).  I picked up a few fat quarters in colors that will be needed for this year's RSC quilt. 

I'll need 16 small fan blocks of the orange and red violet when we get to those colors.  My stash isn't very extensive for either of those colors so stocking up just made sense.  I visited our local quilt shop yesterday on the way home from running errands.  Of course you have to support the local shop or they don't stay in business.

The squiggly lines yardage would make a really cool background for a scrappy quilt using just the cool colors.  I just couldn't resist the butterflies.  No plans for either of these pieces just yet.  I'm sure something will come to me.  

I missed one day of stitching this week due to Drama Teen's orientation.  Parent orientation pretty much wore me out and we didn't get back to the hotel till late.  All I wanted was bed, so any thoughts of hand stitching evaporated pretty quickly.  But I did manage to find 15 minutes the rest of the week. So I've managed to find at stitching time for 153 out of the 161 days so far this year.  That's a 95% success rate.  Not bad.  The effort is showing up in completions for this year and in fabric out. 

Linking up with QuiltPaintCreate for this week's stash report.  

Weekend Stitching: A Bit of This and That

Sunday was a weird day. Drama Teen's writing group friends came from Florida for a visit last Wednesday and they left Sunday.  We dropped them off at the airport at 5:00 AM yesterday.  They were flying standby (a family member works for one of the airlines).  They didn't get a seat on a flight till 6 PM.  Which was good, that was the last flight out of our small airport.  I felt so bad for just leaving them at the airport but one of the Mom's assured me they were used to it and had planned for it.  Still that's a miserable way to spend a day.  

Between my laundromat decompression sewing from Saturday and my NASCAR race watching sewing on Sunday, a lot of changes are visible on the design wall.  Block 7 for the En Provence quilt, plus two sashing pieces are done. 

  En Provence, A Bonnie Hunter Mystery (2016)

All 12 alternate blocks for the Christmas Angels quilt are up on the design wall.  Ten of the blocks are completed, two blocks still have a couple of seams that need to be sewn. 

 Christmas Angels, self designed

The dark fabric in the blocks is a dark green, not black.  Angels was my May UFO.  I haven't decided yet if I'll start on the focus blocks are just put this one away once the alternate blocks are all done.  The plan wasn't to finish all the UFOs on the list, but to at least move them along.  I've done that with this one.  But if I can continue to work it in with the other projects on the list for this month it will stay out.  

Lastly, I finished off the small green fan blocks for this year's Rainbow Scrap Project. 

 Cabins and Fans, self designed

These blocks are 3.5", while the large blocks are 7.5" unfinished.  Now I'm ready to get started on the yellow versions of these blocks. 

It was a pretty productive weekend.  It's going to be a busy week, but I'm hopeful that I can work in a solo sewing retreat next weekend.  I need a break after all the graduation, college registration, visiting friends activites we've had the last few weeks.  If the washer doesn't get fixed, there will be another round at the laundromat and I'll definitely need some de-stressing sewing after that battle!  

Linking up with:
Monday Making
Main Crush Monday
Monday Design Wall

Stash Stuff for Week 22 of 2017

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday.  Don't go to the laundromat on Saturday morning unless you get there when the doors open.  I was there 15 minutes after the opening and one family was using all but 3 of the regular machines (it was a long morning).  I will be very glad to get my washer fixed.  I really don't know how people who have no choice but to use a laundromat cope, it's almost like a war.  Of course, it's probably bad here because we only have one nice laundromat.  I've been warned not to use the other one in town, the owners don't keep it up.     

Thankfully my family took pity on me after my morning in the laundromat and let me spend the afternoon de-stressing in my sewing room.  It was a productive afternoon so there is actually a bit going out on the stash report this week.  

Used last week:  4.74 yards
Used year to date:  34.02 yards
Added year to date:  205.80 yards
Net added year to date:  171.78 yards

Unfortunately the backing for the Meadow Mist Mystery didn't make up for the incoming fabric this week.  I should have just deleted that Craftsy email, but I just fell for the Colonial Manor stash builder priced at half off.  

Colonial Manor Stash Builder from Craftsy (photo from Craftsy)

I can definitely see another QOV or two in my future.

In terms of finding time to stitch, I managed to find at least 15 minutes each of the last 7 days.  For the year, there's been some stitching going on 147 out of the last 154 days (95% success rate).  I've been pretty amazed at just how much you can get done even with just 15 minutes a day.  

I've also been keeping up with my walking each week.  I came across these beautiful, but alien looking flowers during my last constitutional. 

These are Nigella (also known as Devil in a Bush or Love in a Mist).  Wouldn't those be fun quilt names?  

Linking up with quiltpaintcreate for this week's stash report.  

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Still Playing with Green

Why do short work weeks feel so much more hectic than a regular work week?  I was so glad to get to Friday afternoon this week, even though we'll have a busy weekend too.  We are waiting on a part for the washer, so I'll be hitting the laundromat this morning.  Drama Teen's friends from Florida have been here this week.  They fly home tomorrow, so that means an o'dark thirty (as they describe it) trip to the airport tomorrow morning.  

My stitching time this week has been a bit limited as we've actually cooked dinner most nights this week.  But I did manage to finish up all the large green fan blocks for May.

I'm still working on the 4 small fan blocks from last month.  But I'm hoping to get those done this weekend.  For June, the plan is to make 6 fan blocks plus 6 half fan blocks in yellow.  Not sure yet how I'm going to pull off the half fan blocks, but I've got some thoughts about how to construct those.  

That's it for me this week. Linking up with Soscrappy for this week's Rainbow Scrap Challenge and with Oh Scrap over at Quilting is More Fun than Housework. 

Working on the UFO List: June One Monthly Goal

I'm not sure how we got to the first of June already, but we're here.  Most of my quilting year has been taken up with the graduation quilts.  The One Monthly Goal was a great help keeping me on track with the those graduation quilts, so I'm hoping it will be as big a help in moving a few more quilts off the UFO list.  So I'm definitely going to participate in the June One Monthly Goal over at Elm Street Quilts. 

Referencing my 2017 Quilt Plan, the project that is the closest to being finished is Blooms and Butterflies. 

Blooms and Butterflies
Bloom block by Lea Brummett, setting by Kate

This quilt just needs the borders added before it's a finished flimsy.  I've got the fabric for the backing.  So my June OMG is to get this project ready to be quilted.  Which means finish the flimsy, make a back, prep the quilt for quilting and package it up for shipping.  

I'm also participating in Patchwork Time's 2017-UFO Challenge.  She picked quilt #7 for June.  Blooms and Butterflies is #4 on my list, so I'll just change the numbers around and make this my #7.  

Linking up with the June One Monthly Goal over at Elm Street Quilts.