Photo Challenge: Week 37 - A Bowl, Water and Something Else

It was spring break week at our house.  The Scientist in Training was home for most of the week, I took vacation for most of the week but My Guy had to go back to work as he'd been off all of last week to recover from his bicycle crash. My Guy got his shot early as he had to work, but being off work you think you have all whole week to do something. I didn't get my shot till right after dinner last night and the SIT didn't get hers taken before she left to check out the University of Arizona graduate program.  I'll update the post if she sends me a photo later this weekend. 

Last week's challenge involved mostly normal household items. 

 

We have bowls and water, it was deciding on the something else that was the challenge.  I tried for an arty shot.  

Kate: Glass by Candlelight

Not sure I pulled it off completely, but I do like this photo. In all the other shots the water looked black, at least in this one you can tell there is water in the bowl.    

My Guy definitely found a fun "something else".  

My Guy: Just Ducky

I think he nailed the challenge last week. He does have other photos that he took while he was making bread that would have met the challenge. This one is such fun, I'm glad he went with it. 

This week's challenge should be easy. 

Hopefully I'll do better this week and not wait till the last minute to come up with a photo.  

To Do Tuesday for the Week of March 15, 2022

Thankfully the last week has been much calmer. My Guy is healing well. His neck still bothers him quite a bit, but the lacerations on his face have healed and the swelling has mostly gone down.  He's going back to work today.  I'm off this week (except for Thursday). The Scientist in Training is home this week for Spring Break. She's been my partner in the sewing room the last few days. We've both made a lot of progress on our projects the last couple of days.  My To Do List for last week is all checked off.  

To Do List for 3/8/2022

• Potions: Cut and piece backing, start clean up for quilting ✔
• Macaron Mystery: Continue making blocks ✔
• Rhododendron Mystery: Continue making blocks ✔
• Unity: Continue making flying geese as leaders and enders ✔

It was definitely a good week on the progress front.  I'm hoping to do as well with this week's To Do List.  

To Do List for 3/15/2022

Potions: Package and mail out for quilting

I'm ahead of schedule on this project.  The backing and quilt top were pressed and de-threaded over the weekend. Both are packed up, along with the batting.  I just need to write the deposit check, seal up the box, and take it to the post office.  The goal was to have this ready for quilting by the end of March, I beat that goal by almost 2 weeks.  

Unity: Finish last pieced border and attach to top, start next border

Unity: Bonnie Hunter Sew in Place Quilt Along, 2020

The final 2 star blocks needed for the last pieced border are over at the sewing machine ready to stitch up.  I'm planning to add a very narrow border of the background fabric and then a final border of the yellow or green. It just depends on how big a border I decide to add and how much fabric I have left of each.  Unity has moved up on my to do list as it's the now the closest project to being a finished quilt top.  Hopefully by the time Potions comes back from quilting, Unity will be ready to go out.  

Macaron Mystery: Continue making blocks

Macaron Mystery: Meadow Mist Designs 2021 mystery quilt along

The blocks go together pretty quickly as the components are all completed.  

Rhododendron Mystery: Make hourglass blocks as leaders/enders

Rhododendron Mystery: Bonnie Hunter 2021 mystery quilt along

Bonnie Hunter projects make good leaders and enders as they often have many small component parts. I'm hoping to have this project out for quilting by the time this year's mystery starts up in November.  

That's my plan for this week.  You can find other To Do Tuesday posts over at Linda's blog at Texas Quilt Gal. 

First Finish of 2022: Cabins and Fans (AKA Fluorescence)

With all the craziness going on the last few weeks I didn't get photos of my first finish till last Monday.  Our house is on the dark side, so you need both a sunny day and a free afternoon to get decent inside photos. Cabins and Fans, renamed Fluorescence by the Scientist in Training, was finished on February 24, 2022.  

Fluorescence (AKA Cabins and Fans), self designed
Started Jan 6, 2017: Finished Feb 24, 2022

Fluorescence started out as my 2017 Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  Since I tend to stall out on figuring out a setting for my RSC projects, it seemed wise to work out a setting before I get started on making the blocks.  All the blocks started out as a paper pieced fan block.

It appears that even with a completed design in EQ, an RSC project needs to marinate a few years before it gets added back to the in progress list.  Even though all the fan blocks were made in 2017, quilt assembly didn't start up again until April of 2021.  

Trudy didn't disappoint on the quilting. 

The quilting is easier to see from the back.

This quilt will be going to one of the SITs college mentors, the professor that requested her as a teaching assistant.  Here's the label (minus the message to the professor)

I will miss working with these colorful blocks. I've played around in EQ with making a version with a white or gray background and the colors just don't seem to pop as much. I have some other versions drafted in EQ with a combination of  two blocks (one of which does have a log cabin block).  With the push to work down the UFO list, there haven't been any new RSC challenge blocks the last couple of years. Maybe a few more projects will come off the list this year and I can add a new RSC project to next year's list.  

Linking up with Monday Making, Monday Design Wall, and Patchwork & Quilts.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 11 of 2022

We forgot to set our clock ahead an hour before we went to bed last night, so I'm getting a late start on the stitching time post this morning.  Thankfully I'm off most of this next week, which will help me cope with the reset.  

The week started out a bit rough, the weekend had been so stressful that I started the week less than rested.  I didn't get home till almost 8 one day this week.  By the end of the week, I was just so tired that it was early to bed on Friday night with no stitching time.  So not a horrible week on the stitching front, but not a perfect one.  

• 15 minute days/week = 5/7 days
• 15 minute days/March = 8/12 days
• 15 minute days/2022 = 65/71 days
• Success rate = 91.55%

I'm still stitching more than 90% of the time, but I'm afraid that's not going to hold much longer. With the resignations in my group, my work load is going to go up for a while.  I foresee a lot of late nights in my future.  My goal was to stitch at least 75% of the time, I'll be happy if by the end of the year I've managed at least that much on the stitching front.  

Switching gears a bit, it's been awhile since I shared what the Scientist in Training was up to with her embroidery projects.  She's been pretty busy with school this semester, so she's not finished much so far this year. 

She's finished a couple of kits and then went out on her own to come up with those flowers embroidered over a shirt pocket.  I can't decide if that's my favorite or if it's her beaded mandala.  She does such beautiful work.  The SIT is home this week for spring break, the plan is to do a bit of shopping and spend a lot of time stitching together.  It should be a fun week. 

Did you have time to hang out in your sewing space this week?

   

1. maggie f 2. Ivani 3. Gretchen 4. karen 5. Shasta @ High Road 6. Melissa G

7. Frederique 8. Colletta's Kitchen Sink 9. Sherrie 10. DonnaleeQ 11. Andre at Quilting and Learning 12. Jennifer in Indy

13. katie z. 14. Amanda 15. DawnyK 16. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt

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Photo Challenge: Weeks 35 and 36

This should be the post for week 37 of our family photo challenge, but March hasn't been the calmest month on a number of fronts.  I don't really remember why I missed posting for week 35. The SIT and I were a bit late getting our photos last week. She had an exam, lab reports due and a trip to Texas A&M to look at grad school on her plate. I was coping with a crappy work week and the weekend didn't get much better.  So this is a catch up post. 

The challenge for week 35 was:

Our local grocery stores don't have exotic anything, so I went with the most exotic thing we had in the fruit drawer in our refrigerator.  

Kate: Blood Orange

Blood oranges are only available at a certain time of the year, so I decided that qualified as exotic.  

My Guy was off in Arizona working on restoring habitat for the Masked Bobwhite.  

My Guy: Barrel Cactus Fruit

So this may not be exotic in Arizona, but it certainly is in Oklahoma. 

The Scientist in Training has the advantage of living in a college town with a very diverse population, so there are some great international markets around. 

Scientist in Training: Korean Radishes

 

She found her photo op at the Asian market.  

We were all excited for Week 36's challenge. 

Both the SIT and I didn't get on the ball for our photos, she was traveling at the end of the week and my crappy work week pretty much sapped any creativity I had.  We both had photos in time for me to post Saturday evening, but I wasn't were I could post at that point. 

Kate: Waiting in Emergency

I spent most of last Saturday sitting in an emergency room. My Guy had a very nasty bicycle crash early Saturday.  I took this while I was waiting for him to come back from the CT scans and X-rays. They decided after the scans that he needed to be transferred to the trauma unit in Tulsa due to the severity of his injuries. The biggest concern was the potential of serious damage to the vertebrae in his neck. That was the scariest part. Thankfully that injury didn't involve the spinal cord.  He is recovering well and we appreciate all the well wishes from everyone.  

My Guy was on top of things when he took his photo for week 36. 

 

My Guy: Vertigo-Vertigone

He's at the top of the play tower at one of the local parks. He doesn't have a fear of heights, but I do. It is a long way down!

The Scientist in Training had a busy week with school and then getting ready to go to College Station.  

Scientist in Training: Alone in the Dark

 

So not surprisingly she didn't remember to get her photo till she was lying in bed in a strange place Friday night. 

The challenge has been a lot of fun. I continue to be surprised at what we all come up with. We've all had brilliant shots along with a few duds.  But it's all part of the fun.  

We decided to take a break from the challenge for this week and didn't draw a card last weekend. But the SIT is home for spring break, so she pulled the card for with this week's challenge.  

Hmm, it should be interesting to see what we each pick as the "something else".