15 Minute Challenge- July 31st

Wow, it's already the last day of July.  School starts in about 2 weeks and it's tempting to say summer is drawing to a close.  Maybe summer vacation is about over, but based on the record highs, summer is still here and will be here for a while.  Thankfully the upstairs air conditioner just needed a new capcitor and after about a 30 minute repair call, we are no longer risking heat stroke if we walk upstairs.  The sewing machine migrated back to the sewing room and I enjoyed an hour of solitary stitching. 

Last week it was amazingly easy to find at least 15 minutes to stitch.  It helped that we were home this weekend.  So I managed to find my 15 minutes of sewing sanity 7 out of 7 days this week.  (Which is a good thing, I could use the extra sanity at this point).

You'd think as much time as I've put in on the Sofa Quilt, it would be done.  It's not, but I hope to actually have a finished block to show for my efforts tonight. 

Before we wrap up with Mr. Linky, I need to post the winners of the Christmas Panels from the 500th post give away.  (Fanfare please) The first winner is comment number:

which is Pat of 501 Quilt Blocks.  Pat's blog is all about her journey to make all the blocks in the book 501 Rotary Cut Quilt Blocks by Judy Hopkins.  She's made 356 of the 501 blocks.  Pat asked for the Tree Panel. 

Winner number two is comment number:

which is Barbara of Cat Patches.  Barabara's blog is a fun mix of photography and quilt posts.  She hosts a monthly NewFO linky party and give away which is all about starting a new project.  What's not to like about that?  Barbara also asked for the Tree Panel, she'll have to pick from the remaining 2 panels.  

Winner number three is comment number:

Which is Gari of Quilting in the South.  Gari is a regluar on Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday and always has gorgeous projects up on her wall.  Gari will get the third panel. 

Congratulations to all the winners.  They've been notified via email.   Thanks to everyone for helping me celebrate my 500th post. 

Now it's time to share how you fared on finding time to be inspired and creative (or if you are like me, just hoping to find a few minutes of sanity). 

1. Kate

2. Thea

3. Amanda, Seabreeze Quilts

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

Design Wall Monday - July 30th

Yesterday the high reached 109 F.  I was out early watering the rose bushes and other plants in the front beds.  Even at 7:30 in the morning it was pretty warm out.  We've given up on watering the yard, as has pretty much everyone else on the block.  The yards look more like it's the dead of winter than summer.  Not much green to be seen, lots and lots of brown.  We are not under water restrictions yet, but if it doesn't rain soon, that's probably coming. 

Not a great time to be without an air conditioner on the second floor.  So far, the air conditioner on the first floor has continued to operate, so we aren't miserable.  Though the Drama Teen isn't happy about not being able to escape Mom and Dad.  She's had to camp out on the sleeper sofa in the living room as her bedroom is on the second floor and is uninhabitable at the moment.  The essentials from the sewing room have been relocated to the kitchen table. 

The iron is next door in what we call our library.  I couldn't find a place to put it in the kitchen that didn't really interfere with traffic flow.   It's not a bad set up, but like Drama Teen, I'm missing being able to shut the door and turn up my music.  I also miss my design walls. I could move the smaller one into the library, but I'm hoping this is a very short term set up so I am trying not to relocate the entire sewing room. 

What's up on the design walls?  I added 3 blue blocks to The Coffee Cup Quilt.  Now "coffee" is spelled correctly.  I'm looking forward to finding out what the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color is for August.  (This picture was taken Saturday, before the sewing room became an oven.)

Cup block patterns from Karen F. Srebro and Janet McCarroll
published in Block Magic and Block Magic Too by
Nancy Johnson-Srebro

Progress was also made on The Sofa Quilt. 

Pattern is Nicole's Sofa Quilt by Judy Laquidara

(available here)

 
The rows for the first block are all done and I've starting assembling the blocks.   So hopefully at least a few completed blocks will be up on the design wall next week. 

That's it for me this week.  Check out all the other design walls posted over at Patchwork Times.   

Stash Report - July 29th

Some weekends are just better than others, unfortunately this is not one of those better weekends.  I sewed most of yesterday, which typically falls within the better weekend range.  But when I made the trek to the sewing room last evening after dinner, I could feel the temperature gradient moving from cold to pretty warm by the time I reached the top of the stairs.  One check of the thermostat revealed the problem, it was set to 82, but was measuring 88.  My Guy dutifully checked the breakers, walked around the side of the house to examine the air conditioner.  His conclusion, the upstairs air conditioner decided it didn't like the heat either and took an early vacation.  Of course today the high is supposed to be 110.  For the moment, the downstairs air conditioner is working, so we aren't miserable.  I'm just hoping it keeps working until we can get a service person here. 

The sewing machine will probably get relocated to the kitchen table until the air conditioner gets fixed.  I did sew upstairs last night as it wasn't too bad since the air had been on through the worst of the day.  That won't be the case today. 

In spite of sewing quite a bit yesterday, as well as, over the last couple of weeks, there really isn't much going out.  On the other hand, the incoming has been incoming.  Last weekend we were in Missouri and My Guy offered me a stop at the quilt shop before we left town.  How could I say no to that?  I looked for a few orange fat quarters for the Coffee Cup Quilt because I'm sure that color is coming up and I don't have much of it. 

The little birdie print isn't orange, but it had to come home with me too.  So just 4 fat quarters were in hand when I headed to the register just as My Guy spotted this lovely piece. 

 Botanical Butterfly by Hoffman California International fabrics

I have a weakness for any type of butterfly fabric, so I had to have some yardage.  Oh well, I almost made it out the door with only 4 fat quarters, that should count for something.

The last little bit of incoming on the report arrived last week.  I won a give away over at Quilting and Stuff by Knitoid during the Celebrate Red, White, and Blue Blog hop. 

Three fat eights, a really cute stiletto, plus a very pretty postcard arrived in the mail earlier this week. Pam posted a beautiful block  it paired with other blocks in EQ to make up some gorgeous quilts.  You can check her cool designs out here.  Thanks Pam! 

So how much damage was there to the stash report?  Take a look:

Used last 2 weeks:  0.38 yards
Added last 2 weeks:  5.38 yards

Used for 2012:  22.79 yards
Added for 2012: 219.63 yards

Net stashed for 2012:  196.84 yards

I've been sewing, but the blocks have been small. Progress is steady on the Sofa Quilt, but most of what I'm working with now has already been reported as going out.  I really need to step up the outflow.  Once I get a few tops done, making the backs should really help. But I need to get the tops done! 

How's your stash doing?  Is it on the increase or in decline?  I'm linking up with Judy over at Patchwork Times to share my unplanned expasions. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Blues

With two weekends of the month taken up with swim meets and family gatherings, it wasn't hard to get behind on sewing projects.  My blue blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge were definite victims of our busy schedule.  Thankfully, our evenings weren't busy this last week and I was able to get all 3 blue blocks stitched. 

The second "E" in coffee is now done. 

And both cups are finished.  Blue is my favorite color and the fabrics I used this month are a couple of my most favorite scraps. 

With the addition of the last "E", the layout up on the design wall no longer begs the question of my ability to spell (Every time My Guy walked in the sewing room he'd point out that coffee is spelled with 2 E's ). 

Cup block patterns from Karen F. Srebro and Janet McCarroll
published in Block Magic and Block Magic Too by
Nancy Johnson-Srebro

I'm not sure the blue and gold cup is going to work, it stands out a bit since it doesn't use all brights.  I'll wait till all the other blocks are done, then decide if I need to remake that block using something else other than the gold.  This has been a fun project to work on.  I can't wait to see what scrap color is up for August. 

For more blue scrappy goodness check out what's posted over at Soscrappy.

Foto Finish - Yellow

It was a good morning for sleeping in, so I did.  It seems like we've been going 90 miles an hour for the last few weekends.  The only thing on tap for this weekend is a trip to Tulsa to get school uniforms for the Drama Teen.  Only 2 and half weeks till school starts.  Hard to believe that the summer is drawing to a close.  Though you certainly can't tell that by the outside temperature.  It's hot, which is something you expect for late July early August in Oklahoma.  But boy it sure seems like it's been 100 plus degrees forever. 

To escape the hot and the dry for a bit, I took a journey back in the photo files looking for something yellow, as well as, cool and wet for today's Foto Finish.  I didn't have to go back far to find what I was looking for.

These rain soaked tulips were in front of the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  We were there over spring break back in March of this year.  It rained pretty much the whole week.  A week of rain sounds like a pretty good deal at the moment. We've had just enough rain the wet the ground and add a layer of humidity to the just plain hot. 

That's it for me this week.  Hop over to Cat Patches to see more sunny yellows.