Week 45 of 2019: Stitching Stuff

It's been a beautiful weekend, lots of warm sunshine. Hard to believe the forecast tomorrow is for cold with snow showers. We took advantage of the good weather to pay the Scientist in Training a visit.  So my 15 minutes of stitching the last few days has been of the hand variety, but that still counts.  

Work has been a bit of a zoo, so I've worked late a few nights the last week. It was a struggle a couple of nights to make the climb to the sewing room, but it happened.  

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/November = 9/9 days
15 minute days/2019 = 282/313 days
Success rate = 90.10%

After last week, I'm back to meeting my goal of stitching 90% of the time in 2019.  Hopefully I can stay on track with this goal from here on out. 

You can scroll to the bottom of the post to link up. Up next are a few photos to show off what a beautiful fall day it was. 

There were still a few pops of color in all the brown. 

And a few butterflies out and about looking for that last hit of nectar. 

  

So how did your stitchy week go? 

1. Julie in GA 2. karen 3. Meloney

4. Shasta @ High Road Quilter 5. Chrisknits 6. Amanda

7. DawnyK 8. Christina's Handicrafts

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To Do Tuesday - Definite Progress

I was lucky and had two vacation days to spend at home this last week.  That meant there was extra time to play in the sewing room. I didn't check every thing off last week's list, but there was progress on every item.  

Weekly To Do List for 10/29/2019

1.  Vintage Dresses - finish binding ✔
2.  Finish pieced border for Twinkle Stars - progress
3.  Finish clue 3 for the 2019 Christmas Mystery ✔

The plan has been to focus the to do list on just a few projects in hopes that there are a few more finishes before the end of the year.  Vintage Dresses (Sophia's Closet) is done, you can see the final quilt in this post.  Clue 3 for the 2019 Christmas Mystery is done. So two check marks for last week.  But there wasn't one for Twinkle Stars, I made progress but getting the borders made and on was a lot more work than I anticipated. Setting up my weekly "to do" list with items that can be accomplished in 7 days of sewing is going to be a challenge.  So what's on the list for this week?



Weekly To Do List for 11/5/2019

1. Twinkle Stars pieced border - Make the pieces for the right side border. 

The left side border is made and stitched on. I won't have the vacation time this week, so I'll be happy if I can get that side border made and stitched on. 

2.  Finish Clue 4 of the 2019 Christmas Mystery

The fabrics are selected and the freezer paper templates have been made.  I'm not a fan of applique, so I'm hoping this one goes together easily.  

3.  Cut border strips and assemble next blue border for Storm at Sea. 

The white border is attached. After looking at the drop My Guy wanted on this quilt and how much fabric I have left, a redesign was needed.  Rather than one big border, the quilt now needs three smaller borders, a dark blue, a white and a final dark blue. 

I'm biting off smaller portions with my to do list in hopes that it all gets done this next week. In the past, the items that are on my list are so big there's no way I'll get them done in a week. Then when I don't ever seem to check anything off I give up on making a list because it doesn't seem to help. So smaller bites, more check marks which hopefully means more productivity.  I'm trying the same strategy at work. Last week's work list had lots of check marks and that felt good going into a four day weekend.  

Linking up with Home Sewn By Us for To Do Tuesday Linky #13.  Good luck on your weekly to do list. 

Finally A Finish!

It's been a nice long weekend. I have some vacation that has to be used or I give it back, so I was able to take last Friday off.  It's been nice to get some extra time in the sewing room for a change.  I used my time wisely, Vintage Dresses is finally finished. 

 Sophia's Closet (Vintage Dresses)
block pattern by Charise Randell
Started January 10, 2016
Completed November 1, 2019

Trudy custom quilted it, some of the dresses have some very cool details.

I can't pick a favorite dress from the set, I like all of them. 

The backing is a Connecting Threads sale fabric that I had ordered specifically to use for backing a quilt.   

When it came time to draft a label, I didn't want to just keep using the pattern name, I wanted to give it my own spin.  My Guy vetoed most of my ideas. He said that the quilt is too sophisticated to have a quirky name.  So I looked at photos of well known actresses from the 50's and decided that Sophia Loren's wardrobe had dresses of the right vintage and style. So this quit became Sophia's Closet. 

This label isn't anything like the one I'd been working on.  The first label just looked so drab when I did the test print that I decided a new bright one was really needed.  This one definitely worked and the blue gingham dress blends perfectly with the backing. 

Sophia's Closet was started in January 2016 as my Rainbow Scrap Challenge project for that year.  The goal was to finish two blocks in each color per month.  That's the only way I'd ever finish such complicated blocks. This was my first introduction to complex paper piecing. It didn't always go smoothly, but I really loved how the blocks worked out. The finished quilt is full/queen sized (sorry I never remember to write down the final measurements).   

For now, the quilt is going to stay with me.  Eventually it may go live with someone else, but I want to enjoy it for a bit before turning loose of it. 

Linking up with the normal beginning of the week linky parties:  Monday Making and Monday Design Wall.  Vintage Dresses/Sophia's Closet is on my 2019 Finish Along 4th quarter list, so I'll be linking up with the last Finish Along post for 2019 in January when that becomes active.  

Week 44 of 2019: Stitching Stuff

The week has been a bit weird.  It certainly seemed like winter moved in fast with cold north winds and nasty wet weather. We didn't get snow, but it was just so miserable outside.  There weren't a lot of trick or treaters this year, it was so cold out.  At least it's been a good week on the stitching front, finding 15 minutes wasn't too hard most days.

It was a bit of a struggle to get into the sewing room Halloween, but that was the only night where I was running up to the sewing room just before bedtime to get in a few minutes of hand stitching. 

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days

15 minute days/October = 28/31 days

15 minute days/November = 2/2 days

15 minute days/2019 = 275/306 days

Success rate = 89.87%

Actually I've gotten in quite a bit of stitching time this week, I took a day and half of vacation, I've got a few more days that need to be taken before the end of the year or I'll lose them. That should help facilitate some end of the year finishes. 

In spite of all the stitching time, there wasn't a lot of fabric usage for October.  Most of my projects were ones where the fabric had already been counted.  So my stash report is pretty anemic. 

Fabric out for October = 0.84 yards

Fabric out for 2019 = 37.92 yards

Unless I'm able to get a few backs made before the end of the year, it's not likely I'm going to break 50 yards out for 2019.  Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the stash report.  

Since it's a new month, I should also give an update on my PHD progress. I do have a finish for November already, but I keep adding projects. 

  

I've been working along with Quilting Gail, who is just one finish away from earning her PHD this year.  Getting my PHD in 2019 is definitely not happening. 

So how are you doing on your end of year stuff?  You can link up below to share how well you did at finding time to stitch last week. 

1. Meloney 2. Jennifer in Indy 3. Chrisknits

4. DawnyK 5. Quilting Gail 6. Shasta @ High Road Quilter

7. Deana 8. Christina's Handicrafts

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The November Plan - The One Monthly Goal

Not many days left in 2019.  It won't be too much longer and we'll be looking back at what got done this year and putting together grand plans for 2020.  So what to pick for the November One Monthly Goal that will positively impact the getting done part of that?  

The last three months my one monthly goal didn't get finished till the first week of the next month. That's still good, I've now got a finish to show off once I can get photos.  So that's one less UFO on the list to finish next year.  Can I sneak in one more finish this year? 

Twinkle Stars just needs two more borders to be a finished flimsy.

Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

I've got a good start on the pieced border.  The last border will just be a strip of white to float the blocks.  That should be achievable this month.  That's going to be my November OMG, getting Twinkle Stars to finished flimsy stage.  To get Twinkle Stars done before the end of the year, I really need to get the back pieced, prep both the top and the back for quilting, then get it out the door for quilting by the end of the month. That's my stretch goal, but I'm pretty sure getting all that done will take more time than I have this month.  

You can see how others are wrapping up their stitching this year over at Elm Street Quilts.  Since November starts the wrap up time of year for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I'm linking up with Soscrappy as well.  Twinkle Stars was my 2015 RSC project.