May 350 Block Count

I’m getting back into the swing of things when it comes to blocks.  Since I can use my pointer finger almost normally, I even tackled the triangles.

30 Jared Takes a Wife Blocks
9 Stained Glass Stars
28 churn dash blocks
69 16-patches
for a total of 136 new blocks, and 736 blocks total for the year!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,
katie z.

June UFO List

1. Pillow
2. Scrappy DWR
3. ABC appliqué
4. 9 patches and stars
5. Dragon
6.  Hand pieced hexagons
7.  Christmas Jared takes a Wife
8. Stained Glass Stars
9. 16 patches
10.  Churn dashes

May 1: 11 projects
Started: 0
Finished: 1
May 31: 10 projects

This month, I finally finished a quilt!  It’s a small 30” baby quilt, but the important parts are the ability to work safety pins as well as hand finish the binding!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,
katie z.

P.S. Is it something about the new EU security settings that has robbed me of the ability to get comments in my email?  I’ve checked my blogger settings and they are the same, so I’m still looking for an answer!

Stash Report Week #22

So, it’s been a while.  I wasn’t shopping, nor was I finishing, so I lost the interest in my stash reports. This week, there are changes!

IN this week: 14 yards
OUT this week: 2 yards

IN YTD: 61 1/4 yards
OUT YTD: 25 3/4 yards
YTD Total: 35 1/2 yards IN

10 spools of thread finished this year.

I have high hopes of two quilt finishes by the end of June, since the dragon quilt is basted and I’m quickly whipping out the blocks for the Christmas quilt.  Off to sleep now, so I can pull weeds in the morning and find time to sew in the afternoon!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,
katie z.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Changes

Summer break started with a sick kid and an early afternoon downpour.  We’re grateful for the rain, and it’s nice when expectations can only go up!

My arm is finally settling down, and fingers are moving better.  My middle finger is recalcitrant, but I keep stretching and light weightlifting to strengthen muscles.  Slow progress is being made.

Meanwhile, I’m approaching a “caught up” status on my scrap projects.  (UFOs are another matter, but progress is progress!). This week, after some waylaid garment sewing, I’m chugging away on my Stained Glass Stars.  Two are done, missing points and mismatched patches and all.  I did improve my cutting this round, but I can see my piecing leaves a bit to be desired.  My hand tires easily, so it's not always quick to keep things accurate.

I hope to finish the pink and yellows before the end of the month, and then I will ponder how to quilt the long-delayed dragon quilt for my son.  Try quilting for each color, or a simple all-over meander?  In the meantime, I'm using pieces for my Christmas Blackford Beauty blocks as leader-enders.  It's exciting to know that once I finish the green set of these, I'm ready to assemble blocks!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

P.S. Be sure to check out all the pink projects!

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Improvements and Setback

Improvement/accomplishment #1: I finished 69 more 16-patches this week!

 Then, I got to wean out of my orthotic during the day.

I sewed all the triangle and rectangle pairs for my yellow and green churn dash blocks.  I have three finished and hope to finish the next week.

 I cut all the pieces for my Stained Glass Stars.  They are more tedious to piece, so I may not get to them this month.

I'm now working on four patches for a red and green Christmas quilt.

The biggest improvement this week has to do with safety pins.  I finally was able to pin baste the little red, white, and blue quilt!  I can close the safety pins without any issues, which is fabulous.  I can tell large quilts are going to have to be a multi-stage process, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Ooh, and I'm able to type with all ten fingers.

The setback relates to a bee(?) sting.  Of course, I was stung on my left forearm (you know, the one connected to the hand with three broken bones?).  My mom and I decided the reason I didn't feel the bee sting is that I've already endured so much pain in that arm that a bee sting doesn't even phase me.  How did we decide this?  I'll get to that.  I have swelling from halfway down my forearm to halfway up my upper arm.  The elbow is pretty sore.  I also have some of the smaller symptoms of an anaphylactic reaction, including swelling in my face.  I saw the doctor Friday and got a cortisone shot.  I remember it being pretty painful, so I was surprised that it didn't.  Then it dawned on me that I probably don't currently find plenty of things painful since I deal with my hand now.  It's the little things, right?

I'll be okay, just slowed down even more.  I've been sleeping more, icing regularly, and staying indoors to avoid any more histamine reactions.  Wish me luck, and sewing time!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

P.S.  Be sure to check out the Rainbow Scrap Challenge each weekend.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Hustle

My dad is receiving an honorary doctorate today, so we need to be out the door soon.  I'll be brief!

I finished these 16 patches this week.

 I cut all the pink churn dashes.  I may start sewing them next week.

 I still need to pin and sew these.

Recovery is going well.  I still have a long way to go, and the only way to see improvement now is to break up scar tissue (OW!) and stretch even harder on tendons (even more ow).  I am faithfully doing my therapy.  It's a little discouraging to feel like I was doing well, only to discover I need to devote even more time to my exercises if I'm going to get back to normal.  I was hoping for a decrease in time, but not yet.

Have a great day!  (Go see all the pink.)

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Flowers

Roses...

 ... and leaves

I've already used up my pink 1.5" scraps in 9-patches, so this week I'm still sewing up dark greens.  I did start cutting into my hand dyes, which will be used for hand piecing (someday in the distant future), churn dashes, and stained glass stars.  My goal is to cut a little every day, so that when I am finally able to sew "normally," I'll have plenty to keep me busy and won't get bogged down with cutting.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

P.S.  What new inspiration is out there this weekend?

UFO Challenge Update

Ah, my UFO project list!  I had such glorious plans for 12 lovely quilts to be finished before the end of the year.  Unfortunately, the tractor accident and subsequent surgery have derailed me.

I had adapted the assigned UFO to a smaller, already prepped project.  The triangles were leftover from a quilt for DH’s Memaw.  I managed to finish the flimsy and gather batting and backing.  Regretfully, safety pins for basting are not a part of my current skill set, so that’s as far as I got for April.

I’ll be seeing how far I can get on another already cut quilt project for this month, since the drawn number doesn’t even have fabric pulled, and I can’t do that much cutting (yet).  Wish me luck!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,
katie z.

May UFO List

1. Pillow
2. Scrappy DWR
3. ABC appliqué
4. 9 patches and stars
5. Dragon
6.  Hand pieced hexagons
7.  Christmas Jared takes a Wife
8. Stained Glass Stars
9. 16 patches
10.  Churn dashes
11. RWB triangles
April 1: 10 projects
Started: 1
Finished: 0
April 30: 11 projects