Weekend Stitching: Moving Things Along

This weekend just flew by.  We judged Science Fair Saturday morning, then headed out of town to see the Scientist in Training.  She's a bit slammed with homework and exams, so couldn't come home this weekend.  So we took her out to dinner on Saturday night and then to brunch on Sunday before we headed back. It was a quick trip, but a good one.  She'll be home for spring break in about 3 weeks.  

We were off work Friday, so I spent as much time as I could in the sewing room, it was too cold and rainy to do much else.  By mid Friday afternoon, I'd finished my February One Monthly Goal. 

The plan for February was to get all the borders on the Christmas Angels quilt. 

Christmas Angels
Pattern by Kate

All those borders are now in place, Christmas Angels is a finished flimsy.  I'm really happy with how this quilt turned out, though the photo's not great.  I just didn't have time to get a good one with all the other stuff going on this weekend.  It's easier to see that the dark fabric is green from the right side of the photo. Here's a close up that shows the fabrics better. 

The quilt has not been pressed yet, so please ignore all the wrinkles.  

The backing fabrics have been selected from the stash, a piecing plan worked out, the fabrics cut to size and stitching started.  So I should have a back ready before next weekend.  Then comes the not fun step of cleaning up the loose threads and pressing both the flimsy and the back.  My least favorite step of the process.  Even so, I'm hoping to have this project sent off to be quilted before mid-March.  

That's it for me this week.  Linking up with:

One Monthly Goal

Monday Making

Main Crush Monday

Monday Design Wall

Week 8 of 2019: Stitching and De-Stashing

It's been a busy weekend.  We judged the senior division at the District Science Fair yesterday. After that we hit the road to pay the SIT a visit. She was supposed to come home this weekend, but her homework load and test schedule wasn't cooperating.  Finding time to stitch with all that going on has been a bit of a challenge. 

So it wasn't a perfect week on the stitching front, but it wasn't all bad. 

15 minutes stitching days/week = 6/7 days
15 minutes stitching days/Feb = 22/23 days
15 minutes stitching days/2019 = 51/54 days
Success Rate = 94.44%

Some weeks there are just days you can't fit in that 15 minutes of playing with fabric.  Hopefully your week was better on that front. You can share how your stitchy week went at the end of the post.    

The stash report shows a nice chunk of fabric out for the week (at least for me anyway).  

Fabric out this week = 1.36 yards
Fabric out in 2019 = 10.31 yards
More out than in for 2019

I'm back in the black with more fabric used than added to the stash. Part of that was the final borders for Christmas Angels. Now it needs a back pieced, so next week should be a good one too on the stash front.  You can find more stash reports over at Quiltpaintcreate. 

The other bit of fabric out for the week was the binding for Inverted Star.  

Sewing the binding to the front of the quilt happened Friday and I even got a start on the hand stitching it on the back.  I'm hoping to get back to some more slow stitching this afternoon during the NASCAR race.  You can check out more slow stitching over at Kathy's Quilts.  

Overall it was a really good week.  The Christmas Mystery Quilt is on the way back from being quilted, Christmas Angels is a finished flimsy and Inverted Star is well on it's way to being finished.  Not bad progress for week 8.  

So how successful were you on the time management front this week?

1. Chrisknits 2. Meloney 3. maggie f

4. Marti 5. Shasta 6. Amanda

7. Deana 8. Christina's Handicrafts

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Daisy Chain Mystery Quilt Along - Ready to Stitch

I'm a fan of mysteries in any medium; books, movies and quilt alongs.  Some mysteries start off with a bang, others start off quietly allowing you to get to know the characters as the mystery unfolds.  Mystery quilt alongs have that slow build, first you develop your characters (select your fabrics) and then you begin the character development (cutting those fabrics).  Alison released the cutting instructions for the Daisy Chain Mystery Quilt Along yesterday. 

 

I'm making the throw sized quilt so it didn't take me too long to develop my cast for the mystery. 

The beige in the upper left is my setting, the black paisley is the protagonist, the red check is the foil and the tan/brown fabrics are the rest of the supporting cast.  Alison suggested not cutting all your coordinating strips so you can select which colors you want to use as you go along.  I have two coordinating prints that I'm not sure how they will work with the  rest of the quilt. 

I didn't cut either of these.  I'm waiting to see how those supporting fabrics are used and if they really blend with the rest of the fabrics.  I may end up using the rose print as a border if it doesn't end up as a coordinate in the quilt.  Another thing to like about mystery quilt alongs is that you can choose your own ending.  

Like any good mystery, I can't wait to see what's next.  It's two more weeks till clue three, so you've got plenty of time to catch up.  The Daisy Chain Mystery fabric requirements are posted here.  I hope you'll play along because it's fun to see how different settings and characters affect the end result.  

Weekend Stitching: What's Next, The Down Side of Multi-Tasking

We talked with the Scientist in Training last night.  She said she was really sad at how fast Sunday came this week.  The semester is going so fast, but yet the weeks seem to drag.  Yep, that's how I'm feeling about this winter.  Half way through February, but boy getting from Monday to Friday at work has been a chore!  

It was nice to spend some quality time in the sewing room over the weekend.  By Sunday though, I realized it was time to stop and take stock of what each project needed to keep moving it towards a finish. 

First up was Inverted Star.  The SIT finally wrote a message for the label.  So that got printed up, rinsed and laid out to dry.  So it should be ready to use today.  Next step was to figure out what to use for the binding. 

Since the quilt is for on of the SITs buddies, I let her choose.  She went with the darker blue. 

The binding strips are all cut and I've started sewing them together.  

The Christmas Mystery quilt finally made it to the post office last week (between work and the weather, that wasn't an easy task). Trudy is now contemplating how to quilt it.  I need to finish the label, so it's ready to go when the quilt comes back in another week or so.  

The last round of borders is going on Christmas Angels. The quilt has gotten too big to photograph on the design wall so no photos.  Just two more strips and it will be a finished flimsy.  So it's time to raid the stash for a backing fabric.  

The stack of Good Fortune blocks is growing.

Good Fortune, 2018 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

I was contemplating changing the layout to a 5 x 7 block setting with sashing to help the black blend in.  If I do that, the border blocks which have already been made won't fit right.  I don't have enough blocks for the 5 X 7 setting, so for now I'll make enough blocks for that setting and then reassess.  I really need to play with the potential borders in EQ so I know how many blocks to make and where I'm going with this project so it doesn't stall.  


Next up was to figure out where I'm going with On Ringo Lake, my leaders and enders project.  

On Ringo Lake
Bonnie Hunter 2017 Mystery Quilt

I've got 22 blocks finished.  I need 32 for my on point layout.  I have all the nine patches needed for the centers, but need more flying geese and HSTs.  I need to cut the fabric to finish those remaining 10 blocks.  I also still need to make all the sashing pieces too.  There was a stack of black squares that had been cut to the wrong size for the flying geese.  Those were trimmed up to use on the sashing strips.  I'll stitch on the sashing pieces till I get a chance to cut a bit more fabric to finish the blocks. 

Hopefully if I stick to my new to do list, there will be a couple of finishes to celebrate soon.  Linking up with:

Monday Making
Monday Design Wall

Week 7 of 2019: Stitching and De-Stashing

February is half over, hopefully that means that winter is on it's way out.  Though you certainly wouldn't know it based on the weather.  I'm ready to be done with the ice, it took us 15 minutes to clean off the car so we could get home on Friday.  On the plus side, this is perfect stitching weather.  Not much better than hanging out with a warm iron and the sewing machine on those icy days.  Have you been able to take advantage of the weather to get in some good stitching time? 

My stitching week was pretty good. 

15 minutes stitching days/week = 7/7 days
15 minutes stitching days/Feb = 16/16 days
15 minutes stitching days/2019 = 45/47 days
Success Rate = 95.74%

You can link up at the bottom of the post to share how well you did at working stitching time into your day. 

My other weekly quilty metric is going in the right direction. 

Fabric out this week = 0.80 yards
Fabric out in 2019 = 8.95 yards
More in than out for 2019

I'm slowing recovering from the fabric purchase last month.  Another week or so and I should be back to more out than in.  That's the goal this year, to use more than I buy. Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash report. 

The only sign of spring around here are the flowers My Guy sent me for Valentine's Day.

I've enjoyed the pop of color. It's been pretty dreary the past few days. 

So how's it going in your sewing room?  

1. Chrisknkits 2. Julie in GA 3. maggie f

4. Marti 5. Shasta 6. Meloney F

7. di 8. Amanda 9. Christina's Handicrafts

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