May ends today, so I should report my 350 blocks total for the month!
I made 1 Modern Vintage block, 9 farm blocks, and 30 pineapple bodies. No more pineapples, much to my delight. I had 40 blocks this month, for a total of 319 blocks.
A little bit of this, a little bit of that... I finished a weighted blanket, so some stash left. I also purchased fabric and received a gift of fabric from my husband, so all my numbers are different this week! I love hand dyed fabric from Vicki Welsh, so I bought several pieces.
Only one more week of school for DH (a teacher) and the Assistant. It’s been a hard, difficult, challenging, and trying year. It’s extra stressful when DH, who loves what he does, seriously considers leaving teaching after 15 years. Sigh.
I and the kids kept busy outside and inside in between rain showers. This week had big/seasonal/occasional chores like wash all the bedding, wash and store the winter coats, sort clothes and make a list. Somehow my boys are missing enough clothes to make it between wash days; we wore out lots of clothes during the pandemic and didn’t buy many replacements. I haven’t been in a store more than a dozen times over the last 15 months!
My hexagon star is almost finished with less than 12 hexagons to go, so I’ll have it finished next week.
The stash had a tiny shift this week with two more masks (graduations need special masks and little boys like new masks after a long year!). Nine masks so far this year.
I’m looking forward to June, when I have high hopes of finishing the pineapple quilt. There will be a pleasantly squishy shift in fabric numbers then! I will admit that, as we have some family drama in the background, I will be resorting to some “fabric therapy” to remind me we’re going to survive all the drama. Isn’t it nice that fabric and quilts don’t argue with us?
I also need to make a weighted blanket for my newly graduated nephew (head boy at that!). I have the fabric. It’s just such an untidy process that I’m stalling until home school is done.
As I continue on with red stitching, I did finish a few farm blocks. We have candy canes for the children with a sweet tooth, a tomato as we grow bushels of tomatoes each year, and a poinsettia for the decorations at church for Christmas.
I am trying to stay on top of tasks this morning. I tend to dither on Saturday mornings, taking care of kids and doing random tidying tasks. Today, I’ve already pressed blocks, taken photos, and prepared for cutting the rest of my pineapple blocks (50 down, 10 to go!). I need to release the chickens and get to cutting.
No finishes, so no stash changes this week.
I was successful at hand stitching each day, so I’m pleased with 122/128 days for 2021.
Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers out there.
The baby is doing better, with still no answers as to why he does crazy fevers. But he’s eating and perky again, so at least this round is over.
I, on the other hand, appear to have rolled in poison ivy. No, not really, but I think I came in contact with a macerated plant when restringing the trimmer, so now my leg... well, it’s really bad. I have done better so far about not itching, and I’ve had more time for hand work since I need my leg propped up much of the day.
My Modern Vintage project has one lonely block this week. There simply weren’t any more red scraps in the box.
I made a good start on my hexagon star for this month, and I expect this afternoon will see more work on it.
Ten more (blue, not red) pineapples are done, leaving me only 20 more. That’s so exciting! I dreaded this project much more than necessary, but I will be relieved when it’s done. The cutting, sewing, trimming, and sewing again are so fiddly, and I despise the cleaning up of the trimmings. There are a plethora of 1.5” triangles to be salvaged from the trimmings, and I can’t quite bring myself to throw them away, so I have heaps to trim.
Oops... I got lost in the chaos of life and didn’t quite get this post written when I intended.
In April, I hoped to...
1. Keep on the scraps: trimming, hand hexagons, Modern Vintage, and farm quilt blocks. Done.
2. Finish the orange twin quilt. Done.
3. Finish the twin’s placemats. Done.
4. Cut and/sew some pineapple bodies. 30 finished.
5. Mending: the pile is creeping up on me. DH wore out some socks, tore some pants, and destroyed the seat in a pair of shorts. The Assistant has a crocheted purse she would like me to line. I finished two mending projects but two still remain.
6. Finish my pumpkin wool embroidery. Shockingly, once the cutting and prep work was done, it’s moving along like lightning. Done. Yay! Now it’s tucked away for fall.
In May, I find my goals aren’t particularly lofty.
1. Scraps: trim, make blocks in red: Modern Vintage, farm, and a hand pieced hexagon star.
2. Finish the pineapple blocks.
3. Mend two pairs of pants. Pesky mending.
4. Make a weighted blanket for my nephew, who graduates top of his class in a week!
I missed a day of hand stitching... Saturday was a bit full. Still, at 115/121 days for 2021, I’m pleased with my progress. I did a little figuring about my hexagon quilt while I was waiting for my (nonexistent) reaction to my COVID shot. I need to cut 1200+ brown hexagons for this quilt once all the colors are done. Woah!
On the stash front, I’m counting two masks. One is actually finished in week 19, but since I whipped out one this Saturday morning, it will be easier to count both now.
Oy. Despite the second COVID shot this week, I had a good sewing week.
The farm blocks are all done. I love the tea kettle and am disappointed in the scarecrow. It had so many pieces, and it turns out the directions had the wrong sizes for cutting, so I had to trim and cut over and over. The waterwheel block is cute!
I have 30 pineapples done in 30 days. I’m very pleased with how they’re turning out.
