Stash Report Week #8

 Quiet is the report: no finishes, no purchases.

I’ve dyed lots of fabric, but since it all was counted last year when I purchased the bolt, I don’t have to keep track now!

I’ve continued to work on the hexagons daily.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Discombobulation

There are too many things going on (that seems to be my perpetual state lately).  I am trying to take things off my plate, but dealing with medical issues, a graduating senior (gasp) things, work… all the things… it’s hard.

My sewing is also all over the place.

I laid out another set of box blocks from last year.  I have just enough for two more lap or large baby quilts.  They’re so cheerful!

I made 38 red 16 patches.  Since they ran out before I finished the New York Beauty block for the week, I dug out the rest of my green scraps and started on them.
 

I finished my block for the week.  I need to starch and properly press each of these, but I won’t do that until I’m ready to sew them together.  No need to do it twice!

I have the next section ready to attach.  I got distracted midweek, or it would already be atttached.  If I finish one more section next week, I will only have the final side of my quilt to finish.  That means it’s almost time to think about the backing!

Miss G has class at 11, so my goal is to finish as many things on my list as possible before then.  Off to work!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #7 and 15 Minutes

 I purchased nothing and finished nothing, so the stash report remains unchanged.

I worked on my hexagons every day, so much that I fully completed one section and have most of the hexagons basted for the next.

I’m having lots of thoughts about resources and purchases.  I don’t where any of those thoughts are taking me, but they are there as I play with fabric and thread.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Power Outage

We started the morning by loosing power.  Since it’s 14 F outside, we had a bit of a scramble to start sinks dripping, build a fire in the fireplace, and bundle up under blankets and sweaters.  Fortunately, power is back on (or I wouldn’t have a post today).

I have an idea I’m playing with, and its execution requires lots of fabric texture.  Of course, I had to dye some silk scarves too, as it’s always a surprise what they look like.

Silk scarves

Fat quarters for my dye book

Texture, texture, texture.

And I need fabrics in purple too, so this is the batch that is resting and will be rinsed later today.

I did play with red scraps as well.  I have 20+ 16 patches finished with a small stack still to pin and stitch.  I think there are 14 flowers so far, with maybe 3 more to sew up.  My red scraps definitely are not as abundant as green.  They are quite cheerful, so they counteract our recent cloudy days nicely.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #6 and 15 Minutes

I finished my aqua and grey box blocks quilt this week, so the stash report has a nice shift this week.  I also visited a “quilt shop” where they buy fabric from estates, closed quilt stores, or fabrics that didn’t sell in quilt shops, sort them, and sell for much below market price.  It was a little overwhelming, but I knew what I was looking for (neutrals), and picked a few more pretties to bring home.  Next time I need to shop for a quilt, I will definitely go here before shopping online.

 IN this week: 5 1/4 yards

OUT this week: 8 1/2 yards

IN YTD: 5 1/4 yards

OUT YTD: 15 1/2 yards

YTD Total: 10 1/4 yards OUT

I worked hard on my hexagons and had plenty of waiting time this week, so I haven’t broken my perfect streak yet of 15 minutes a day.  I finished and attached the next unit and will definitely finish another before the end of the week.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Lunar New Year

It’s been quite a week.  Despite today being a busy day, I’m relieved it’s Saturday.

I completely finished and attached a side hexagon section.  These are so much easier and faster than the top and bottom.  I have not found the missing section,

After I finished my New York Beauty block for the week, I was able to start on my red bricks.  I have a large pile of this particular red, leftover from my V quilt.

I also turned all my little red squares into four patches.

I finished last week’s New York Beauty block and a simpler one for this week.

Today, my little people have my day full: a trip to the model train shop, a project meet up with a classmate, a birthday party, and tonight DH and I have a retirement party to attend.  I must admit, parties still feel strange and a little dangerous since the beginning of the pandemic.  At least the basketball season is almost over, so there’s no game today.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

 

February Goals

January goals were pretty simple:

1. Trim scraps, work on the next 1-2 hexagon filler pieces, make 16 patches from green scraps, and make a quilt from the RSC 2023 box blocks.  All done.

2.  Dye fabric.  I worked on several pieces.  The scarves aren't done, but I'm still learning how silk takes colors different from cotton.

3.  Make one New York Beauty block a week.  Yay!  Done!

Stretch goal:  take a workshop on fabric dyeing (done), another on Korean thimbles (also done and five thimbles made), and order materials (also done).

February goals are staying simple too.

1.  Trim scraps, work on the next 3-4 filler hexagon pieces (the smaller ones!), make 16 patches and flowers from red scraps, and finish the aqua and grey box blocks.

2.  Dye fabric.  I know what I need to do now to design some fabric, but first, it requires making the designs I want.  I love the texture of hand-dyed print in bojagi.

3.  Make one New York Beauty block a week.

Stretch goals: 

1. Continue the chemistry of dyeing workshop.

2.  Post a quilt for sale on my etsy page.

3.  Make a drafted bojagi.

UFO Report

 Apparently I didn’t wrap up my UFO report well for the year, but we can start fresh here.  I added smaller 16 patches for 2024.  I have at least two more quilts to make from all the box blocks I made in 2023, but I may take a break for the rest of February to get my red scraps stitched up.

January 1: 6 projects

Started: 1

Finished: 0

January 31: 7 projects

1. Double wedding ring

2. Brown pillow

3.  ABC appliqué*

4.  Hand pieced hexagons

5. Pink hexagons

6. Box blocks

7. 16 patches 

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

January 350 Blocks

 The first month of January is over.  I started off with a large pile of blocks: 4 New York Beauty blocks, 5 partial blocks for the edge of my hexagon quilt, and 130 green 16 patches, for a total of 139 for the month.

I also made a scissor case, a project bag, and several thimbles.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #5 and 15 Minutes

 While I worked on my hexagons every day this week, I also lost a section for the first time.  I found my missing hairbrush and the stack of Hanji paper that I spent an hour searching for, but this piece is still gone.  Alas. 

In quilting my box blocks quilt, I finished off my fourth spool of thread for the year.  Unfortunately, I still have three sides left to stitch down, so the stash report remains unchanged.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Whinging

Catholic Schools Week always brings an extra measure of chaos to our lives.  The extra crazy dress down days combined with a lack of regular schedule wreaks havoc on the nervous systems of my kids (and me!).  I am all kinds of discombobulated this week.

Despite having significantly less red scraps than green, I didn’t make much progress on my new blocks.  This is mainly because it took me four days to quilt my box blocks quilt.  It also means I finished very little of my New York Beauty block for the week, despite a promising end of last week.

Here’s my whinging for the week: I LOST a piece of my hexagon quilt, for the first time in all the years I’ve worked on it.  I can remember working on the inner pieces Monday night, but by Wednesday I couldn’t find them anywhere.  I called the dentist (hello, complicated root canal) and checked everywhere at school, and have tidied my sewing room repeatedly.  What did I do with it?  For now, I’ll set aside the right fabrics so that if it doesn’t turn up, I will remake it.  I’m so annoyed with myself (and full well recognize this is what stress does to my brain!).

I have a binding to stitch down while Miss G tries a new class this weekend - aerial silks.  She’s hypermobile and climbs everything, so she’s excited to go.

Off to the chaos!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.