Just Stitching Along

 It's been a very quiet holiday weekend with the family.  The Scientist in Training has been home and we've been hanging out together. She and My Guy spent most of Sunday working in the kitchen together. As a result dinner was topped off with homemade butterscotch bourbon ice cream (it's definitely adult ice cream) and I get home made cinnamon rolls for breakfast this morning. While they played in the kitchen, I got to play in the sewing room. 

I've been doing some clean up and put away in addition to stitching, so not as much progress on the sewing front. But the sewing room really did need a bit of a straighten up.  There has been progress on Daisy Chain, but I didn't get a picture of it. There's been visible progress on Unity.

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

The first step 4 border is finished and sewn on. The second border is almost half way constructed.  These bigger blocks are much faster to make then those little ones in step 3.  

Clue 3 came out for the Morewood Mystery quilt last Thursday. Clue 1 and Clue 2 were the fabric requirements and the cutting instructions respectively. I'm a cut as you go kinda gal, so I didn't cut the fabrics for clue 3 till Friday.  But before cutting I needed to decide which fabrics were A, B, C and D. 

Then I could make a start on cutting the fabrics and making those first blocks. 

I've got all month to finish this clue, so I'm working in a couple HSTs with the stitching on Unity and Daisy Chain.  

I'm hoping for one more day of pretty much nothing but stitching today. We'll see. My Guy is already off for a bike ride and the SIT is still sleeping. She said last night she planned to work on a lab report and finish reading a chapter for one of her classes today before she heads back to school late this afternoon. She won't get another break till Thanksgiving. So there should be some time for stitching today. 

Linking up with Monday Making and Design Wall Monday. 

Stitching Stuff: Week 36 of 2020

It's been a slow it down kind of weekend so far. The heat and humidity are back, so it's been nice to just hang out in the house. Actually we were under quarantine the first few days of the week, so going anywhere wasn't going to happen anyway. Getting in my 15 minutes each day has been pretty easy.  How are you doing at working in some stitching time each day?  

I must be on a roll, this is the second week I've managed to stitch all 7 days.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/August = 28/31 days
• 15 minute days/ September = 5/5 days
• 15 minute days/2020 = 221/249 days
• Success rate = 88.76%

So August ended well and September is off to a good start.  I'm still on track with my goal to stitch more than 85% of the year.  

I'm still tracking my stash usage.

• Fabric used in August = 14.69 yards
• Fabric used YTD = 46.29 yards
• More fabric in than out for 2020

The big boost for last month was two quilt backs, one for Storm at Sea and the other for the Christmas Mystery quilt. September should get a boost from the backing for Frolic.  I don't have a goal for stash usage this year. I need to use another 20 yards to exceed my best stash usage year.  That's not likely, but maybe I'll get close.  Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the regular stash report.  

You can link up below to share how your stitchy week went.  

1. maggie f 2. Julie in GA 3. Chrisknits 4. Meloney

5. karen 6. Sherrie 7. Shasta @ High Road 8. DawnyK

9. Quilting Gail 10. Amanda 11. Jennifer in Indy 12. Angie in SoCal

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10 Years at Life in Pieces

 Today is Life in Pieces 10 year blogiversary.  It's been ten years of stash reports, design wall Mondays and connecting with some of the most creative, inspiring and fun people. I'd name names, but I'm sure I'd leave someone out. I don't belong to the local guild as they only meet during the week and this working girl isn't able to attend. But I've been so fortunate to have what I've come to think of as my on line guild. There are weekly show and tells, demolish your UFO programs, work down your stash programs, tutorials and my most favorite things the quilt alongs, BOMs and mystery quilts.  

The blog has been a place to record not just the quilty stuff that goes on, but also what's been going on in the rest of my life.  When I started the blog Kiddo (aka the Scientist in Training) was 11 years old. 

Mom (and Dad) spent a lot of time at volleyball practice, volleyball games and volleyball tournaments. There was also swim practice and swim meets in there too.  I have a lot more stitching time these days and I do not miss those o'dark thirty morning rushes to get out the door headed to somewhere for some sporting event. But I do miss the girl now that she's mostly all grown up and off at college.  

While the SIT has changed a lot, my sewing room hasn't changed too much in the last 10 years.

Though it is a great deal messier. 

Maybe because I have more time to hang out there?  We'll go with that explanation. 

So thanks for posting such cool, fun, inspiring stuff. And thank you for hanging out with me, for all the moral support, for all the suggestions, and for all the wonderful comments over the last 10 years. 

It wouldn't be a blogiversary without a give away. So I have this fat quarter bundled of Anthology Batiks from Windham Fabrics to help celebrate. 

Leave me a comment about what you like best about blogging, if you not sure what to write.  I'll pick a winner on Saturday, September 12th and announce it on next week's 15 Minute Challenge post. 

For those in the USA, have a relaxing Labor Day weekend.   

Momentum

 What a week!  I'll be glad to see the end of this one.  My Guy is finally feeling much better and thankfully his test came back negative. Thank you for all the moral support and crossed fingers. I'm really looking forward to the holiday weekend. A few days off work will be nice. After this week, a sewing only day is definitely in the cards.  I should decide on my September One Monthly Goal before then.  

Next up on the 2020 Quilt plan is Daisy Chain.  

Daisy Chain Mystery
2019 Little Bunny Quilts Mystery
by Alison of Honey, Bunny & Doll Designs

It just needs two borders added, a tan and then a black, to be a finished quilt top.  I've gotten the first two border strips cut, at least one should be stitched on tonight.  This seems like a simple OMG, but borders always take longer than I think they should. 

I've also been working hard on getting my PHD this year. 

My spreadsheet hasn't changed since July. 

But I've been building momentum on those quilt finishes. Storm at Sea is out for quilting. 

Storm at Sea
Paper Piecing Class by Carrie Randell (Quilter's Hideaway)

The 2019 Christmas Mystery Quilt has a back pieced and ready to go, it just needs to be prepped for quilting.  

2019 Christmas Mystery
designed by Carrie Randall (Quilter's Hideaway)

Finally, Frolic is finished. It just needs a back. 

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

If I can keep up the momentum, these four should become finishes this year. That won't earn me my PHD, but it's a tie for the most quilts I've finished in a year. I'll take that.  

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts for the September One Monthly Goal and with Quilting Gail for the 2020 PHD.  I hope you'll stop by tomorrow for my 10 year blogiversary.  

To Do Tuesday for the Week of 09/01/2020

This week has gotten off to a rocky start.  My Guy was really sick Sunday and Monday, thankfully the fever broke last night and he's feeling much better today. Even so, My Guy has to take a Covid 19 test this morning. Since his symptoms are such a close match for that virus, we can't go back to the office till he gets a negative result back. The company adopted that protocol to avoid community spread at work. That policy has been working, the company has had no instances of community spread at any of our offices or production facilities.  So I'll be working from home for at least the next few days. 

In spite of all that drama this weekend, progress on the To Do list for last week was pretty good.  

• Storm at Sea: Send out for quilting  ✔
• Unity: Finish step 3, make HSTs for step 4 ✔
• Christmas Mystery:  Make backing ✔
• Daisy Chain: Add tan border - progress

Three check marks, with progress on the last To Do is a really good week. Hopefully I can do as well with this week's To Do list. 

Daisy Chain - Add tan and black borders

I at least got the strips cut for the tan border.  The plan is to take Friday off this week, so with the Monday holiday there will be four days to stitch. So it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to get the black border on as well.  

Morewood Mystery: Start clue 3

Clue 3 comes out on Thursday.  Clue 2 was the cutting instructions. I usually cut my fabric as I go, less chance I'll loose the pieces that way.  I still need to decide which fabric is my A, B, C, and D.  You can find the steps for this mystery here. 

Frolic: Decide on backing fabric(s)

The wild flower print at the top was originally thrown in the mix as a possible border fabric.  I went a completely different direction there so it didn't get used in the quilt top. I'm not sure there is enough to completely back the quilt with it, but it's been in the stash for a while.  So I'll start with that fabric and see where it goes from there. 

Unity: Make HSTs and blocks for step 4

 

I've finished four of the friendship star blocks. You really have to pay attention how you pin those the HSTs together,  it's easy to get one turned.  This will be my leader and ender project for the week. 

It should be a fun week. I get to start a new project and hopefully finish off one more quilt top.  Linking up with Home Sewn by Us for Tuesday To Do.  Good luck with your to do list this week.