Stash Report - July 31st

Can you believe it's the last day of July?  The start of school is only 2 and half weeks away!  Kiddo is ready though, she told me earlier this week that she was "school-sick" and missing her friends.  We went uniform shopping yesterday to find the shirts that French Toast is back ordered on. You might ask what this has to do with the stash report.  Well there is a link.  A few weeks ago Kiddo picked out a quilt she wants for Christmas.  It's "Jigsaw" by Lehman Quilting.

She wanted me to make this quilt out of batiks from my stash.  We pulled a number of fabrics out of my stash, but she wanted the quilt to have some green in it and that's one color I didn't have at all.  Kiddo is amazingly good at visualizing color layouts for quilts (I wish I could get her to sew, but she still prefers to leave that to me.)  She really wanted there to be greens in this quilt.  So yesterday after the uniform shopping was done we went by the quilt shop and picked up some greens and a few other blender fabrics, plus fabric for two borders like the shop's sampler showed. We had a lot of fun pulling fabrics for this quilt.  I really like the palette she's come up with. 

However, this project was not kind to my stash report. 

Used this week: 0.49 yards
Added this week: 8.25 yards

Used year to date: 40.43 yards
Added year to date: 36.75 yards

Net Used for 2011: 3.68 yards

Fabric Budget: 14 yards for July to September
Bought/Budget:  20.75 yards/14 yards

So I've pretty much blown my fabric budget for the quarter.  Actually, probably pretty much for the year as this will leave me with only 3.25 yards that I can purchase the rest of the year to stay on budget.  I already know that I'll need backing fabrics for a couple of quilts.  Oh well, the budget was intended to keep me on track so that I would make the real goal, which is to use more then I buy.  For now I'm still on track with that goal. 

That's it for my report this week.  How did you do?  Check out Judy's Patchwork Times for more stash stories. 

Foto Finish - Farm Fields

It's Saturday and I'm home!  July has been insane in terms of activities:  family get togethers, swim meets, and business travel.  Consequently, I've been MIA on some of my regular posts, as well as being really slow on catching up with everyone else's posts.  Things should slow down in a few weeks, or at least I'm desperately hoping that they do!

Moving on to this week's Foto Finish topic of "Farm Fields".  I struggled with this one and ended up using my own interpretation of what constitutes a field used for "farming". 

There's not much farming in the part of Oklahoma where I live.  It's mainly ranching.  So you see miles of the Oklahoma prairie used to raise cattle and horses.  This shot was taken along Highway 60 between Pawhuska and Ponca City.  It's a pretty lonely stretch of highway.  Very few houses are visible from the road.  This is also oil country.  It's where the early oil industry in Oklahoma boomed, so you'll see the occasional oil pump.  In many ways this is a desolate land scape, but oh what the the light does out here.  I used to drive this stretch of road pretty frequently, usually leaving the house before day break and coming home as the sun was setting.  Watching either the sun rise or set out here is breathtaking.  

Thanks for stopping by for this week's Foto Finish.  To see more, check out Cat Patches. 

15 Minute Challenge - July 26th

This week's 15 Minute Challenge will be short.  I'm traveling this week for my day job.  Kiddo and My Guy are holding down things at home (I hope anyway).  Not too bad this week, managed at least 15 minutes on quilt projects 5 out of the last 7 days.   

Monday - Finished cutting out Flurry blocks
Tuesday - Started sewing Flurry blocks
Wednesday - Flurry Blocks
Thursday - Flurry Blocks
Friday - Flurry Blocks
Saturday - No Sewing (swim meet)
Sunday - GFG Hexes
Monday - No sewing (travel)

How did you do last week on your sewing goals?  Link up below and let us know. 

Design Wall Monday-July 25th

I'm almost glad it's Monday.  I get to spend most of the day in air conditioning.  Kiddo had an outdoor swim meet last weekend, so we spent the last couple of days out in the 106 to 110 F heat.  That meet ends her long course season, so we'll get a few weekends at home.  Hopefully I can get in several hours of serious sewing next weekend. 

I have been sneaking in 30 minutes to an hour of sewing most evenings.  I've made some headway on the Flurry quilt. 

But I'm way behind Larri, Marg and Shay in this quit along.  If I do get a chance for significant sewing next weekend, this is the project I'll be tackling.  I did work some on the GFG quilt while sitting out in the heat this weekend, but not enough to finish a block. 

What's up on your design wall?  Check out Patchwork Times for more quilty goodness. 

Stash Report - July 24th

It's hot.  I think it's hot pretty much everywhere in the US.   Even a day with heat in the mid 90's would be a relief.  Usually the first 2 weeks in August are the hottest here and we still have 1 week of July left.  It may be awhile before Oklahoma sees anything even remotely resembling comfortable temperatures. 

The heat has been pretty conductive to getting some sewing done.  At least once I've gotten over the near heat exhaustion induced by the walk from my office to the car and the drive home.  A change of clothes and a large glass of  ice water is necessary to induce sufficient cool down to contemplate doing anything else.  But I have been cool enough in the late evenings to work on a new project.  I've been doing more fabric cutting then sewing, but I did finally get enough cut this week to get a few blocks assembled for the Flurry quilt. 

Used this week: 0.9 yards
Added this week:  0 yards

Used year to date:  39.94 yards
Added year to date: 28.5 yards

Net Used for 2011: 11.44 yards

Fabric Budget:  14 yards for July to September
Bought/Budget:  12.5/14 yards

Definitely more out then in, so I'm on track with the stash busting.   Check out Patchwork Times for more stash talk.