Finally A Finish!

It's been a nice long weekend. I have some vacation that has to be used or I give it back, so I was able to take last Friday off.  It's been nice to get some extra time in the sewing room for a change.  I used my time wisely, Vintage Dresses is finally finished. 

 Sophia's Closet (Vintage Dresses)
block pattern by Charise Randell
Started January 10, 2016
Completed November 1, 2019

Trudy custom quilted it, some of the dresses have some very cool details.

I can't pick a favorite dress from the set, I like all of them. 

The backing is a Connecting Threads sale fabric that I had ordered specifically to use for backing a quilt.   

When it came time to draft a label, I didn't want to just keep using the pattern name, I wanted to give it my own spin.  My Guy vetoed most of my ideas. He said that the quilt is too sophisticated to have a quirky name.  So I looked at photos of well known actresses from the 50's and decided that Sophia Loren's wardrobe had dresses of the right vintage and style. So this quit became Sophia's Closet. 

This label isn't anything like the one I'd been working on.  The first label just looked so drab when I did the test print that I decided a new bright one was really needed.  This one definitely worked and the blue gingham dress blends perfectly with the backing. 

Sophia's Closet was started in January 2016 as my Rainbow Scrap Challenge project for that year.  The goal was to finish two blocks in each color per month.  That's the only way I'd ever finish such complicated blocks. This was my first introduction to complex paper piecing. It didn't always go smoothly, but I really loved how the blocks worked out. The finished quilt is full/queen sized (sorry I never remember to write down the final measurements).   

For now, the quilt is going to stay with me.  Eventually it may go live with someone else, but I want to enjoy it for a bit before turning loose of it. 

Linking up with the normal beginning of the week linky parties:  Monday Making and Monday Design Wall.  Vintage Dresses/Sophia's Closet is on my 2019 Finish Along 4th quarter list, so I'll be linking up with the last Finish Along post for 2019 in January when that becomes active.  

Week 44 of 2019: Stitching Stuff

The week has been a bit weird.  It certainly seemed like winter moved in fast with cold north winds and nasty wet weather. We didn't get snow, but it was just so miserable outside.  There weren't a lot of trick or treaters this year, it was so cold out.  At least it's been a good week on the stitching front, finding 15 minutes wasn't too hard most days.

It was a bit of a struggle to get into the sewing room Halloween, but that was the only night where I was running up to the sewing room just before bedtime to get in a few minutes of hand stitching. 

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days

15 minute days/October = 28/31 days

15 minute days/November = 2/2 days

15 minute days/2019 = 275/306 days

Success rate = 89.87%

Actually I've gotten in quite a bit of stitching time this week, I took a day and half of vacation, I've got a few more days that need to be taken before the end of the year or I'll lose them. That should help facilitate some end of the year finishes. 

In spite of all the stitching time, there wasn't a lot of fabric usage for October.  Most of my projects were ones where the fabric had already been counted.  So my stash report is pretty anemic. 

Fabric out for October = 0.84 yards

Fabric out for 2019 = 37.92 yards

Unless I'm able to get a few backs made before the end of the year, it's not likely I'm going to break 50 yards out for 2019.  Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the stash report.  

Since it's a new month, I should also give an update on my PHD progress. I do have a finish for November already, but I keep adding projects. 

  

I've been working along with Quilting Gail, who is just one finish away from earning her PHD this year.  Getting my PHD in 2019 is definitely not happening. 

So how are you doing on your end of year stuff?  You can link up below to share how well you did at finding time to stitch last week. 

1. Meloney 2. Jennifer in Indy 3. Chrisknits

4. DawnyK 5. Quilting Gail 6. Shasta @ High Road Quilter

7. Deana 8. Christina's Handicrafts

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The November Plan - The One Monthly Goal

Not many days left in 2019.  It won't be too much longer and we'll be looking back at what got done this year and putting together grand plans for 2020.  So what to pick for the November One Monthly Goal that will positively impact the getting done part of that?  

The last three months my one monthly goal didn't get finished till the first week of the next month. That's still good, I've now got a finish to show off once I can get photos.  So that's one less UFO on the list to finish next year.  Can I sneak in one more finish this year? 

Twinkle Stars just needs two more borders to be a finished flimsy.

Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

I've got a good start on the pieced border.  The last border will just be a strip of white to float the blocks.  That should be achievable this month.  That's going to be my November OMG, getting Twinkle Stars to finished flimsy stage.  To get Twinkle Stars done before the end of the year, I really need to get the back pieced, prep both the top and the back for quilting, then get it out the door for quilting by the end of the month. That's my stretch goal, but I'm pretty sure getting all that done will take more time than I have this month.  

You can see how others are wrapping up their stitching this year over at Elm Street Quilts.  Since November starts the wrap up time of year for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I'm linking up with Soscrappy as well.  Twinkle Stars was my 2015 RSC project. 

To Do Tuesday - Moving Along

Last week was my first go at "To Do Tuesday", the weekly to do list linky party hosted by Home Sewn By Us. Focusing on fewer projects did make a difference in moving those projects further along the road to finished.  Even so, I didn't finish the whole list.  

Weekly To Do List (10/22/2019)
1. Vintage Dresses - bind
2. Mosaic Mystery - finish clue 2✔
3. 2019 Christmas Mystery - finish clue 3
4. Twinkle Stars - finish sewing rows together✔

Only two check marks, but that's better than none, so I'll take that.  Actually there was good progress on binding Vintage Dresses and I did get the first block of Clue 3 cut out ready for assembly.  It feels nice to check things off the list. I just need to be careful keep the list reasonable each week.  Here's the to do list for this week.  

Weekly To Do List (10/29/2019)


1.  Vintage Dresses - finish binding

The label got made and the binding got sewn to the front, now I just need to finish hand stitching it to the back. I've turned one corner, so that should be doable.  I'd like to get this one finished off by Thursday as it's my October One Monthly Goal. 

2.  Finish Pieced Border for Twinkle Stars

Making the blocks should go pretty fast.  It will take longer to stitch them all together and then stitch them to the quilt.  But as I've got one afternoon and Friday off this week, that should be doable.

3.  Finish Clue 3 for the 2019 Christmas Mystery Quilt. 

The strips are cut, but they aren't pinned correctly (I unpicked two seams before I realized they weren't lined up correctly).  Two blocks will come out of these strip sets and there's a third block to be done this week.  I've picked out the fabrics for it, but haven't cut out the pieces for it yet.  

I'm really tempted to add a #4 to the list, but my goals are to move quilts to the finish line and keep up with current quilt alongs. To do that I need to concentrate my time on just a few projects.  So that's my list for this week. You can see more weekly plans over at Home Sewn by Us. 

A Bit of This and That

Weekends, even three days one, go pretty fast. The Scientist in Training was home for fall break this weekend.  We did some shopping for black and gold party wear for a themed event we attended Saturday night and some shoe shopping. It was a fun weekend of hanging out and just being together.  

I did get in some sewing room time, mainly yesterday after the SIT headed back to college.  The biggest achievement was getting all the rows of Twinkle Star blocks stitched together. 

Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

I'm really happy with how this one is going together.  I need to ramp up my efforts if it's going to get done before Christmas. 

The last stitches were put into clue 2 of the Mosaic Mystery. 

 Mosaic Mystery Quilt
from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

Now I'm ready for clue 3 when it comes out.  I'm pretty happy with how my fabrics are working out.   

Vintage Dresses is in the process of being bound and the first half of clue 3 for the 2019 Christmas is cut out ready for assembly.  So overall it was a pretty productive weekend.  

Linking up with the usual Monday show and tell linky parties:  Monday Making and Design Wall Monday.  Also linking up over at Meadow Mist Designs for the clue 2 linky party.