Last Monday Check In: One Monthly Goal, PHD, and 2019 Strategy Progress

It's the last Monday in January, seems like a good time to see how my sewing room strategies for 2019 are working.  I really want to move some UFOs off the list this year.  

First up, the January One Monthly Goal was to get Inverted Star sent out for quilting.  

All that got done and the box actually made it to the post office.  It should come back in a couple of weeks.  Fingers crossed this one gets finished before the end of February. 

With Inverted Star sent off, I moved on to the second quilt on this year's UFO Challenge, The Christmas Mystery quilt. 

Mr. Nutcracker got a face and the backing was pieced.  The back has been de-threaded and pressed.  It's ready to be shipped out for quilting.  The next step is to prep the finished flimsy.  That should happen this week.  So there's still a chance this one also gets finished in February.  

In other stitching, I got a start on this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge Wild and Goosey blocks.

There's been progress on this year's Bonnie Hunter Mystery, Good Fortune. 

Good Fortune, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

I've actually gotten a few more blocks made, but apparently there hasn't been a new photo of that progress.

Lastly, a few more blocks of On Ringo Lake, the current leaders and enders project, have made it to the design wall. 

On Ringo Lake
Bonnie Hunter 2017 Mystery Quilt

There's been good progress this month on multiple fronts, but I've not made much visible progress towards my 2019 PHD.

All my report shows is one new start.  

Fingers crossed there's two off the list by the end of February.  

Linking up with the usual Monday linky parties. 

Monday Making
Main Crush Monday
Monday Design Wall
One Monthly Goal  

Week 4 of 2019: Stashing and Stitching

I'm ready for a day of rest, it's been a busy weekend.  We made the trek west to see the Scientist in Training on Friday.  We had a nice visit, thankfully it warmed up enough so it wasn't miserable being outside, so we got in a lot of walking around campus.  It was a challenge to get in my 15 minutes of stitching time, but I pulled it off, barely.  How did you do at working in some stitching time each day?

I had a pretty good week on the stitching front. 
15 minutes stitching days/week = 7/7 days
15 minutes stitching days/Jan = 24/26 days
15 minutes stitching days/2019 = 24/26 days
Success Rate = 92.31%

I'm back to over 90% on finding time to stitch for the year. Hopefully I can maintain that from here on out. 

The stash report didn't fare as well.  I took advantage of the trip to see the SIT to check out the local quilt store.  My Guy has finally agreed after 13 years that it's time for a new quilt for our bed.  He's approved the design, but I didn't have the fabrics in the stash for this one.  Since I'll probably live with the next one for another 13 years, I'm not "making do".  The plan calls for a fade from light to dark, in cool colors.  This is what I came home with. 

Here's the black and white version.

I think this set is going to work out really well.  Now to do some playing in EQ to work out which colors go where.  

Fabric out this week = 2.79 yards
Fabric out in 2019 = 7.57 yards
More in than out for 2019

I still need the background fabric for this project, the plan is for a very dark blue or a black batik.  That will be another 7 yards in when I find it. Hopefully I'll have a few more borders on and backings pieced before that happens.  I'd like to end the year at least neutral on the stash.  Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash report. 

That's how my stitching week went.  How did your's go?  

1. Julie in GA 2. Mary-Kay 3. Chrisknits 4. Meloney

5. Marti 6. di 7. MaryR @ urbanquilter 8. Angie

9. Amanda 10. Shasta 11. Deana 12. Christina's Handicrafts

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

Weekend Stitching: Back to the Fun Stuff

It was bitterly cold all weekend.  Perfect weather to just hang out around the house.  Once a few household chores were out of the way, I migrated to the sewing room for the rest of the weekend.  

First on the list was to finish the not fun stuff from last weekend: prepping Inverted Star for quilting.  ✔

It took a couple of hours to finish off the prep work.  I found the right size box in the left over pile from Christmas. The box needs to be taped shut and a label added then it will be ready to mail to Trudy.  Getting Inverted Star shipped out for quilting was my January one monthly goal.  It should go out in the mail tomorrow.  It's nice to get that one checked off before the end of the month. 

Looking at the project plan for this year, next on the list to finish is the Christmas Mystery quilt.  It's not a year old yet, so it's not on the UFO list, but getting it finished will keep it off the list. Since the plan this year is to get in a few finishes, no reason not to pull this project out and figure out what's next for it.   First step was to address the creepy blank face of the nutcracker (which really bugged My Guy). 

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

I used dark gray embroidery thread to stitch in a few facial features. I'm happy with how it came out, so is My Guy.  No more creepy, faceless Nutcracker.  

Next step was to figure out the backing fabric and get that pieced.  Most of the quilt was made from scraps and fat quarters, so there wasn't any left over yardage to pick from there. After staring at the various piles in the fabric closet, I came across a green and gold print.  Not a Christmas print, but I think it will work for the back. 

It's got the same green tones as the print used for one of the Dresden Plate blocks.  I'm planning to bind this in either red or dark green.  That backing would work with either.  It didn't take long to piece the backing, this quilt isn't a very large just 52" X 64".  Next step is to give both the flimsy and the back a good press, then clean up the loose threads on both.  I'll probably wait till next weekend to get started on that.  Since this project used a medium gray, I won't have to worry to much about the threads showing through, except in the blocks that use white fabrics.  So hopefully that process will go faster with than it did with Inverted Star.   

That's it for me this week.  Linking up with the usual Monday linky parties:

Main Crush Monday
Monday Making
Monday Design Wall

Week 3 of 2019: Stitching and De-Stashing

We didn't get any of the snow or ice, but we did get the bitter cold and the the high winds with the weather system that came through on Friday.  Perfect weather to just hang out in the sewing room and tick off day seven of finding at least 15 minutes to stitch this week.  

Finding those 15 minutes each evening was easier this week than it was last week.  

15 minutes stitching days/week = 7/7 days
15 minutes stitching days/Jan = 17/19 days
15 minutes stitching days/2019 = 17/19 days
Success rate = 89.74%

My target success rate is 90% for the year, I'm back on track to make that for January.   How are you doing on finding time to stitch?  You can link up at the bottom of the post to share how your week went. 

Since most of my stitching time was devoted to prepping Inverted Star, there wasn't any action over at the sewing machine, so my fabric out for the year hasn't changed any.  

Fabric out this week = 0 yards
Fabric out in 2019 = 4.78 yards

Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash report.

There should be a bit more stash going out next week as the plan for today is to get started on piecing the backing for the Christmas Mystery quilt.  That project needed one last detail added before it was actually finished.  My Guy didn't like the blank face on the nutcracker.  That's been remedied.  

I found a coloring page on line and combined the faces from two different nutcrackers to create one that fit the space better.  I'm pretty happy with how that turned out.  Linking up with Slow Stitching Sunday.  

So how did you do at fitting in those 15 minutes of stitching time each day? After you link up, please try to visit at least one of the other participants and cheer them on in their stitching efforts. 

1. Shasta 2. Chrisknits 3. maggie f 4. Meloney 5. Marti

6. Julie in GA 7. di 8. Started another 9. Angie 10. DesertSky Quilting

11. Deana 12. Amanda 13. Christina's Handicrafts

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

Weekend Stitching - The Not Fun Stuff

We didn't get the snow, but we certainly got the cold and wet this weekend.  It was a good weekend to not have any place to go. I made good use of the home time this weekend. Mount laundry was scaled, the top of my "business" desk is clear and the floor of the sewing room is thread free. 

I did spend a good amount of time in the sewing room, but there wasn't a lot of stitching going on.  My One Monthly Goal for January is to get Inverted Star ready for quilting and shipped out to Trudy.  That was the reason to get the threads off the floor, to avoid getting any (more) stray threads on either the back or the finished flimsy.  I start by prepping the back (it's easier and faster). A lint roller was used to pick up any stray threads and the back was given a good final press. 

Now it's all folded up, bagged and ready for shipping.  

Then it was time for the Inverted Star flimsy to get the same treatment.

I work from the back, first using the lint roller to remove any loose threads, then pressing the seams and blocks.  The final step is to neaten up the seams by removing any threads that could possibly show through the white background once the project is quilted.  I only managed to press and de-thread half of the flimsy yesterday.  There was a lot of fraying on the back, there was quite a pile of excess thread just from going over the first half.  

And that doesn't include what the lint roller picked up.  

I had hoped to have it ready to ship out today, but it's going to take another hour or so to finish off the last two rows.  This is my least favorite step of the quilting process, so I tend to put it off.  At least I've gotten started. Since the process requires my cutting table, which doubles as my pressing station, I'll have to finish the clean up before I can get back to my other projects.  Not fun, but necessary. 

Hope your weekend of stitching was loads more fun than mine. Linking up with the normal Monday crowd. 

Monday Making
Main Crush Monday
Monday Design Wall