Stash Report Week #13 and 15 Minutes

 My hand piecing went so well this month that even after diving into Vicki’s scraps, I’m out of green hexagons.  I finished four in a month, which is (I’m fairly confident) a record for me.  I started on a wool appliqué project I cut way back in October, at the beginning of the mad house hunt, and put away when I didn’t have time for it and hand piecing.  Yesterday and today I already stitched down half of it.  It would be reasonable to think I might finish it this coming week.  This gives me 82/86 days for 2021.

I made a mask this week for my mom, who’s been volunteering to give vaccine shots and wanted a new, thicker mask.  Done!  This is 5 masks this year.

I used up two spools of thread this week, for 7 for the year.

IN this week: 0 yards

OUT this week: 1/4 yards

IN YTD: 33 1/4 yards (all gifts)

OUT YTD: 26 1/4 yards

YTD Total: 7 yards IN

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Pineapple Crazy

 I rarely work on a single project doggedly for a week solid, and yet, here we are at the end of the week, and all I have to show for myself is a few pineapple tops!

My green sewing this week was all about the 60 pineapple tops I need for the Assistant’s “Pineapple Farm” quilt (pattern by Elizabeth Hartman).  I’m still wrapping my brain around the pineapple bodies.  While these greens aren’t exactly scraps, they are stash and scrappy in design, so I’m counting them for my scrappy sewing.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

P.S. It’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge Weekend.

Stash Report Week #12 and 15 Minutes

 Alas, no finishes, but no starts either!

My 15 minutes are doing better than that... I managed to sew every day this past week.  I find I’m still tired (more than the usual “mom who hasn’t slept through the night in 15 years and has seven kids” tired), so sometimes hand stitching is easier than getting to my sewing room and decided what to do next.

I also find I don’t “love” any of my projects right now.  I do really want to work on them, but I guess none of them excite or inspire me.  It’s okay; I have no problem sewing even when I don’t love the process.  Some of it is the prep work and finicky nature of each project, and I think some of it is still settling into the new house and the difficulties and changes of the pandemic.  This too shall pass.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Green on the Farm

I’m making pleasant progress on my pineapple tops.  This quilt is one of those more complicated/tedious projects that I dread more before I begin it than once it’s started.  I’m making good progress on the second set of strips.

As I move along with my farm blocks, I realized I failed to explain why I had chosen each block.  I’ll start now, with green!

The Christmas tree has a red tree skirt since I made a red and cream skirt for our tree.  Next is a Christmas wreath.  I suppose if I’d thought about it in advance, I would have added purple and pink for Advent candles.  Peas are my kids’ favorite vegetable!

Next is a plate and silverware.  Each of my kids is assigned a color, and their plates at cups are in their assigned color.  Green is Q’s color.  Q is the fourth boy/man with his name, so when I abbreviate his name with initials, I usually use IV.

I do have a wooden spoon and an olive green mixing bowl.  The teal color is my favorite color, so this is a “I would love to find a mixing bowl in this color.”  Q loves Granny Smith apples, so I made a green apple.  I used to crochet (now it hurts my wrists too much to do often), and the Assistant knits, so of course we need a little yarn in our lives.  (This all sounds a lot less interesting when I type it out.  Oh, well.)

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z. 

P.S. It’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge time yet again!

Stash Report Week #11 and 15 Minutes

 Yay!  I finished a baby quilt this week, so I have some stash changes.

IN this week: 0 yards

OUT this week: 2 1/2 yards

IN YTD: 33 1/4 yards (0 yards purchased)

OUT YTD: 26 yards 

YTD Total: 7 1/4 yards IN

My 2021 goal is to use 100 yards more than I have incoming.  I may have a problem, as I’m sewing a lot slower than I had hoped!

On the 15 minutes front, I worked on my hexagons everyday this week, so I’ve stitched 68/72 days.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Greening Up

 It’s amazing how fast the greens of spring sneak up on us.  I was thinking earlier this week how brown everything still was, but this morning, I see green everywhere!

This week, I finished one hexagon flower and made good progress on a second one.

Cutting progresses slowly.  I had hoped to cut a block a day, but some of these farm blocks are so fiddly that I need several days to cut.  Oh, well.  I still have blocks to keep me busy next week, which is the important thing.

My four green Modern Vintage blocks are done for March.  I started 2021 only make two blocks per color, but quickly realized that 1. I have more scraps than that and 2. I need more blocks than that!  We’ll see where I end the year, but I may need to go back and fill in a bit.

On of my nephews loves green, so as I work with my green blocks, I’m trying to consider what quilt I’m going to make for him in the next year or so.  A sampler?  One block repeated?  A pattern of some kind?

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

P.S. It’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge Weekend.

Stash Report Week #10 and 15 Minutes

 61/65 days for hand sewing, so a perfect week.  I have been trying to sit more (it’s hard!).

I have made 5 masks and used up 4 spools of thread in 2021, but no stash changes.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Why, Hello There...

 ... I wasn’t sure I’d have a chance to check in with you today.  You see, my DH nearly (maybe did?) broke a bone or two in his foot.  He was dismantling something, his prop slipped out, and down went a heavy surface on the side of his foot.  We spent the morning at Urgent Care, where no fracture is clear yet, but if he still has great pain in a week, we get to return.  What a start to a Saturday!

There was plenty of hexagon sewing this week, including a few hours in the car today.

I sewed blocks for the baby quilt (in yellow) but the basted quilt is in a pile currently, so I’ll show you next week after I (hopefully) quilt it.

I slowly tried cutting this week.  My goal was a single block a day, and that seemed to work pretty well.  I cut my green Modern Vintage blocks and started cutting my farm quilt blocks.  Unfortunately, the farm quilt blocks are awfully futzy and therefore complicated to cut.  I am being careful.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

P.S. It’s time to link up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

February UFO Report

 My list grew quite a bit this month...

1. Scrappy DWR

2. Pillow

3. ABC appliqué

4. Hand hexagons

5. Modern Vintage

6. Split Star

7. Farm quilt with cork fabric

8. Pink hexagons

9. Twin quilt, yellow

10. Twin quilt, orange

11. Pineapple

I added four projects and finished none.  The pink hexagons are a project someone gave to me several years ago, and it’s time to put it on the list.  I finally put it all in a box with a label.  After the current hexagon project, I’ll tackle this one.

The twin quilts were cut earlier in the year, so they belonged on the list.

The pineapple quilt has seen fits and starts of progress.  Since I cut all the pieces for the tops of the pineapples, it was definitely time to add it to the list.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Finished Quilt: Morewood Mystery

 

Lest you think I finished this now, in March, post surgery, let me assure you I did not.  This lovely quilt (lap-sized) was finished back in January.  The final clues had not yet been released, but I was able to finish it based on the sneak peek.  It was perfect; I could give it to my friend before I had surgery and not have to wait for months to quilt it.  My favorite fabric was the blue (it looks almost greenish) that was some kind of shot cotton with brown interwoven.  It came from a scrap bag, and I love it.

The directions were precise, clear, appropriately divided by month.  I need to remember to do the next mystery by this designer next year!

I’m pleased with the entire quilt, mixed backgrounds, binding, the whole nine yards.

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

350 Block Count

 Eep!

It was a distinctly unproductive month.  I had major surgery (a hysterectomy and so on) on the 9th, so most of my sewing happened in the eight days before it and the last day of the month.

4 Modern Vintage blocks

7 Farm quilt blocks

1 Split Star

5 Double Trouble blocks

...for a total of 17 blocks this month and 129 blocks for 2021

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.