Stash Report - Week 5

Most of Saturday was spent in the recliner, asleep.  This head cold really knocked me for a loop.  I did get some stitching time in, but not as much as I normally would.  Still I finished off the back for the McCall's Mystery Quilt on Friday and was able to add that fabric to the out column this week.

Used last week:  7.05 yards
Used in January:  9.15 yards
Used year to date: 9.15 yards
Purchased year to date: 0 yards
Net used for 2016:  9.15 yards

This year has definitely gotten off to a good start.  Still no fabric in. That will probably change once I get going on some of the graduation quilts, but hopefully by the time I have to add a bit, I will have used a good bit more.  

In terms of finding time to stitch each day, this last week was a challenge.  But I still managed to get in at least 15 minutes in the sewing room each day. 

This week:  7 out of 7 days
This month: 30 out of 30 days
This year:  30 out of 30 days

This is the best I've ever done in terms of finding time to stitch each day.  The One Monthly Goal challenge has been a big help in getting me up to the sewing room.  I finished January's goal, but now I need to decide on February's goal.  I'm torn between finishing up Allietare.

Allietare,  Bonnie Hunter's 2015 Mystery Quilt

Or finishing up the Midnight Mystery Quilt.

Midnight Mystery Quilt, From Meadow Mist Designs

I'm closer to being done with the Midnight Mystery Quilt, but it got put away so I could work on a few other projects.  I've got momentum going on Allietare, as everything is lined up to sew assembly style.  Both projects need to be up on the big design wall, so to work on one means taking the other down.  I have a couple of days before I have to pick which project is February's goal.  What would you choose?  

Linking up with the weekly stash reports over at Patchwork Times. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Vintage Blues

I'm moving a bit slow this morning.  The head cold is a bit better.  No runny nose, but I have one heck of a sinus headache.  No one in the office has been sick, I must have picked up this lovely infection from that conference last week.  My Guy was wondering if it was the flu, but I don't feel quite that bad.  

During my attempt to ignore my symptoms by stitching, I finished up the second blue Vintage Dress for January.

  Vintage Dresses by Charise Randell

 I love that blueberry fabric.  This looks a lot like a dress my Mother wore in high school.  I'm very happy with how this one turned out.  Here's both January dresses.  

I love the finished blocks, but I'm struggling with all the paper piecing.  It's a good thing I decided to only make two a month.  

That's it for me this week.  You can find more blocks in blue over at Soscrappy.  

One Monthly Goal - January's Completed

I don't normally draft blog posts this late, but the head cold that materialized out of nowhere this morning isn't letting me sleep. I might as well do something to keep my mind off the fact I'm not sleeping.   That's why I was sewing this evening, I was tired of sitting in the recliner trying to nap.  At least stitching took my mind off the worst of the cold symptoms.  (I don't usually get sick this often, this winter has been very unkind to my immune system).  

Part of my 2016 goals is to finish 8 quilts this year.  The most I've ever finished is 7, so it's going to take extraordinary measures to be successful this year.  So I decided to join Heidi of Red Letter Quilts in picking One Monthly Goal. January's goal was to finish piecing the McCall's Mystery Quilt and piece a back.  The mystery quilt was a finished flimsy on January 16th. 

McCall's Mystery Quilt, From McCall's Quilting Magazine
Jan/Feb, April/May, June/July 2012 issues

The plan was to use the focus fabric as the backing.  But this was a much bigger quilt than I expected and there wasn't enough of the yellow and blue teapot fabric to make the whole back.  An old tone on tone pink was the best option to fill out the backing.  After a few problems with the quilt math, the back was finally finished this evening.  

There are still 2 days in January, so I finished my goal just a tad early.  After a bit of pressing and de-threading this quilt will be ready to go out for quilting. But that's on next month's list of things to do.  

I'm linking up with Heidi's end of the month One Monthly Goal linky party.  You can hop over there to check out all the other finished goals.   

Let's Book It Challenge - January Progress

It's been one of those weeks.  My work days were just a bit longer as I had to drive into the big city for a conference this week.  Leaving the house at 6:30 AM and not getting home till 6:30 PM makes for a very long day.  I've been spending some time up in the sewing room each evening, but haven't really had time to read, much less write a blog post this week.  But today Sharon over at Vrooman's Quilts says it's time to blog about your Let's Book It Project for January. 

Let's Book It is all about actually making something from all the books, magazines or patterns we all collect.  This pattern has been my leaders and enders project for the last two years.  After finishing up all the 4.5" sub units in December, January has been spent stitching them into huge 20.5" blocks.  

Poinsettias
By Judy Blok for the December 2013 issue
of American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine

There are 9 of these big blocks in the quilt, so I'm a third of the way done with those.  But then there will be the pieced sashing to finish before I can start sewing the blocks together.  I'm having fun building these big blocks.  Though I'm running out of design wall space to show them off.  Hopefully Poinsettias will be finished before we get to Christmas this year.  It would be nice to have a new Let's Book it Project, even nicer to have a finish.  

There's more eye candy posted over at Vrooman's Quilts.  

Weekend Stitching - Visible versus Invisible Progress

It was supposed to warm up yesterday.  Though the temps were higher the wind added a chill so that it certainly did feel any warmer on Sunday.  I spent Sunday afternoon stitching away in the my warm sewing room.  The cold did scuttle My Guy's plan for a bike ride.  He even tried going for a walk, but the wind just made it miserable outside.   

There was probably more cutting going on yesterday than stitching. The bodice pieces for the second Vintage Dress block are now all ready for assembly and the pieces needed for the back of McCall's Mystery quilt are mostly assembled after realizing I had the quilt math wrong. That's the invisible progress.  If you look at the big design wall, you can see visible progress on Allietare.  

Allietare 
 Bonnie Hunter's 2015 Mystery Quilt

Just four more of the Pisa blocks to go.  I need to cut some more of the blue centers before I can finish those off.  Then its time to finish off the star blocks.  I'm hoping to have this one finished off in February.   

Linking up with:

Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday

Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making

Cooking up Quilts for Main Crush Monday