Another 2015 Final

The final 2015 design wall Monday is showing what's (not?) on my design wall - because it's in a bin, but the idea is that it's 'on the design wall', right? 

The project is Allietare, the Quiltville mystery quilt.  The only sewing I've done is to the strip sets so I could cut the sections for the 4-patch units. 

These are the clue components, labeled as to the clue they were given in, except the black, which was in clue 4.  Clue 5 has us sewing some of these units together, but I'm still trying to hold off until my friend Panda returns.  There's a lot of cutting but she has one of those cutting appliances so may be able to do some with that.  In fact, I didn't sew the parts to make block units in the previous clues either - just those strip sets.  I don't know if there'll be more cutting to do in a future clue or if it'll be construction only from here on out.  

While I'm waiting on my friend, at least for the next few days, I'm going to devote some time to re-acquainting myself with my 2-year-neglected genealogy work.  I renewed my "database search company" for six months, and two months are already behind me with very little work done, so for it to not be a total waste of $$, I'm intentionally going to work on it for awhile.  

And then, I want to get at least two of my prepped quilt tops quilted so they can be, dare I use the word?, decluttered out of my house and lovingly given to their respective recipients.  

Linking at both Patchwork Times and Quiltville.

Final 2015 Stash Report

The celebratory aspect of Christmas is over, the residual remains.  The new year will be upon us in short order.  New goals by resolution will be set by many - not me though because I know I never keep them, something I learned a very long time ago about myself.  I do think I'd like to make a greater effort at actually quilting some of those flimsies that live in my closet though.  That would be a very good thing as then I can disperse them to recipients and make more room for new projects.  Also, the more flimsies that become quilts, the better my stash report will look in 2016.  

Here's the look at my final for 2015 though it didn't change from last week.  All-in-all, given all things of this last year, a fair amount went out even with the huge amount coming in.  Most of the incoming was from my adventure on the quilt run in Oregon of last February.

Used This Week: 0 yards
Used Year to Date:  25.28 yards  
Added This Week:  0 yards
Added Year to Date: 63.02 yards  
Net Added for 2015: 37.74 yards 

Linking at Patchwork Times.

It Begins

I was going to hold off on getting started on Bonnie Hunter's 2015 Mystery Quilt, Allietare, but finally broke down yesterday and started in with the first clue.  So far, I've only been cutting the triangle square units with 40 more to cut.   I'm still undecided as to just how much I'll do.  My friend Panda wanted me to wait and we'd do it together, but she won't be home until towards the end of January.  I hope she doesn't get mad at me.  Before she left, I told her I may get started on it and only do half until she returns.  We shall see.

10 sets in each red clip, except for the odd 4 in front

Way too much to do today, including wrapping and sending off the pillow cases to my grandkids.  The last of the Christmas cards are in the mail box awaiting pick-up by our postal carrier.  I'm running late...not really unusual for me.  I need to do a little grocery shopping before Christmas arrives or we won't be having Christmas dinner.  I'm completely clueless as to what to get Marty for Christmas and while I've picked up a couple small things for Nick, I haven't purchased what I thought I'd get for him nor researched if there might be a better model elsewhere.  

Linking at both Quiltville for Allietare, and at Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday.

Our Friend Blogger

Or is it me?

I tried and tried and tried to fix the font on my stash report post.  Below the ~~~~ line, I highlighted it all and selected the same font, and the same size, and at least on my end after publishing it (and even in preview mode), parts of the post came out with a different size.  That's just the way it'll have to be.

Does it look messed up to you? Have you been having problems with Blogger?

Stash Report Sunday, Week 51, 2015

Used This Week: 6.88 yards
Used Year to Date:  25.28 yards  
Added This Week:  0 yards
Added Year to Date: 63.02 yards  
Net Used / Added for 2015: 37.74 yards

Linking @ Patchwork Times

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

2015 is rapidly coming to a close.  

I'm happy to report that Subtle Charm is now a flimsy.  I can now count that fabric out of my stash.  A year or two ago I decided I'd count my fabric out upon reaching certain stages with my quilts.  Stage I is when it's a flimsy and I count all the fabric used in the construction of the quilt top.  Stage II is when I've quilted it and then count the backing fabric, and Stage III is counting the binding when it's been finished.

fabric requirements and usage

Subtle Charm used up 6.88 yards of fabric, and took 65.2 hours to complete including the fabric prep time and pre-cutting I did.  I started this quilt on 14 May 2014, so it is a more recent one for me, but came from The Quilter magazine Nov.2000.  

time spent on construction

flimsy on double bed

 It now gets to be stored away for awhile as I am determined to get some other projects finished.  

Marty said he likes this one because it's calmer than some I've worked on.  He had in mind the annual mystery quilts I've worked on that have tended to be quite active in their design. 

Design Wall, What Day?, Monday!

I'm a day late.  I've heard that's better than being never, though better never late is better.

First, I'll show these because they were actually pinned to my design wall yesterday...just long enough to be photo'd.  These are the pillow cases I made for my daughter and her husband.  

My daughter and I had a tradition of making gingerbread cookies when she was with me as a child.  We don't get to spend Christmas together now due to 1200 miles of geography between us, but I try to keep the tradition alive in small ways like this, finding gingerbread cookies on fabric, or plates, or ornaments, etc.

The real reason though for the delay in not posting yesterday was I had an agenda, and that was to get this monkey off my back.

Subtle Charm.  At last, the borders were going on and I was dreading it, all for naught, as they went on very well.  I took my measurement down the center, cut my needed lengths, and had to do NO stretching or fudging, and all the points played nice too. 

There were two borders, of the same fabrics as the center to tie it all together.  If I remember right, the binding will also be the mottled green if you can envision that on the edges. 

I haven't planned the backing yet.  I have quite a bit of the four fabrics left over but haven't tallied to see if it is equal to 2 1/4 yards of 108" backing fabric.  I also have a yard of the gold floral fabric that is the same as the green and the tan. It'll be on the back, so a different color doesn't bother me if I need to use it.  Looking forward to showing this as fabric out on Sunday :)

Linking up at Patchwork Times.

Stash Report Sunday, Week 50, 2015

Used This Week: 4.8 yards
Used Year to Date:  18.4 yards  
Added This Week:  5 yards
Added Year to Date: 63.02 yards  
Net Used / Added for 2015: 44.62 yards

Linking @ Patchwork Times

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

This week equated to a net change of .2 (1/5) yard of fabric IN rather than out.  

I used 4.8 yards in making some more pillowcases:

I bought this fabric oh-so-many years ago with Nick in mind because he was quite into playing with Hot Wheels cars - he has well over a hundred of them and several discs for the computer game.  They're all packed up now, along with the special raceways and track sets that many of them were part of; saved for that time when nostalgia kicks in. 

When I showed him the pillow cases for the grandchildren, he was really impressed and thought they were "really cool", so that gave me the idea of making a set for him, and finally using this fabric.  Perhaps this will help inspire his lazy parents (moi!) to paint his room to go along with these pillowcases.  He's 17 and it's never been repainted :/

The cuff is dark blue (not black) and the trim is a blue and green plaid.  I'm hoping these will still be a hit with him even if he's outgrown the Hot Wheels; he's still very much into cars, especially exotics or classics.  He saw one on the freeway the other day that he'd never seen before and was really jazzed about it.

I also made a set of pillowcases for my daughter and son-in-law.  They're a Christmas motif, but I haven't taken a picture of them yet.

Incoming fabrics totaled five yards.  I purchased two yards of the necessary gray for the Allietare mystery quilt, and three yards of a medium-sized chicken wire pattern on black to use as the backing for my Rooster quilt, originally written up over on my DOOW blog in 2012 - yeah, it's a long-running project.  Maybe I can cross off some of those UFOs in 2016 - it would be nice to have some real quilting accomplishments.