Sewing Reports

It's been a busy weekend so far. Hubby rented a bucket lift to get his ham radio tower completed and antennas put on it. A friend came to help and it took them all day. Tomorrow, he want to use the lift inside the barn to build a a wall over the house side. Most people leave that space open, but they must not have to contend with the wind like we do. We have had things blow over and break up there, and some things have even blown off the edge. Having a wall between all of our stuff and the garage will also make it easier to get barn swallows out of the garage. However, the last straw for Hubby was when he found a mud dauber's nest inside one of our boxes, plastered to his snakeskin boots. The horrors! I was afraid the cat might fall off the edge, or that I might trip or get dizzy and fall off, and Hubby is afraid for his boots.

Last week, Hubby built a closet in the corner of the attic, and I put together some wire cubes for my sewing and crafts. The cubes are all assembly required and I had used them to make a four story catio. Now they are reassembled into 32 connected cubes. Buddy The Cat, who didn't care for the catio at all, has been giving each cube the comfort test. So far, he is torn between the one with old sheets and the one with batting scraps.

BTW, this is a closet under the eaves. Hubby put wood on just the walls so stuff wouldn't fall into the wall space below. I know it looks odd.

The weather today was absolutely perfect. Low wind and very warm, the perfect day for yard work. Or it would be perfect for yard work except that I hurt my back Wednesday night. All I did was pick up the laundry basket filled with wet jeans and I felt a sharp pain in my lower back. I went ahead with my chores and it continued to hurt, but not excruciating. By the time I went to bed though, it was a constant sharp pain and I couldn't find a position that relieved the pain. I would say I tossed and turned all night, but it hurt too bad to turn over. Thursday morning I couldn't get out of bed. I finally managed to inch my way to the edge of the bed and rolled onto my knees. Lifting my legs hurt, lifting my arms in front of me hurt, sitting hurt, standing still hurt. It all hurt. Walking was less painful than anything, so I kept moving. By mid afternoon, the pain was better and by evening, it was down to the level it usually is after standing on my feet all day. Whew! I worked it out. But no, the next morning, it was as bad as Thursday morning. I had to drive Friday afternoon and pressing on the brake was a killer.  When I got home I was worse than the first morning.  But by evening, it was better again. And this morning, it was only slightly better than the last two mornings.  Now it is just a dull pain again. So I'm a little concerned about tomorrow morning trying to build a wall with twelve foot long 2x6's. And all this because I picked up a basket of laundry. Housework is dangerous!

I probably won't be online tomorrow morning to link up to Kate and Donna's blogs, but here are my reports anyway. I used a quarter of a yard (that I actually counted) and didn't add any fabrics this week. I found time to sew every day this week, so I'm still at 100% for the week and month and up to 91% for the year.

How are you doing with your stash and daily sewing? Good I hope. I can see where I am going to be spending more time outside soon with the extra hour of daylight starting tomorrow, so I'm trying to get in as much as possible. See you soon.

I managed to sneak away for a few minutes during lunch break, and am linking to:
Life in Pieces
QuiltPaintCreate

Mug Rugs

Both Began and Finished 2018

Sewing Reports and Design Board

I had a great sewing week. Finishing two UFOs this month made me feel great, and having positive numbers in both reports made it even better. On Friday, I started working on the green RSC blocks for March. After I made the first one, I thought it looked kind of like a clover, so I took a detour to make a miniture shamrock block.

So cute and fun to make except for those dog ear corners on the snowballs. Since I started having double vision, sewing on a thin pencil line has become very difficult. When I made the blue blocks in January, I forgot to put the dogears on the corners opposite the yellow corner on one block. I corrected that, but now I wish I had done all the blocks that way. That would be four less lines to see on each block. I don't think I hit the line on a single block yet. I have had to give up perfectionism. Maybe that's a good thing though. I used to redo things that were perfectly acceptable at work and home, and now, well, I've just had to tell myself that it's good enough. But if I ever make another quilt with this block, I'm making the snowballs without the dog ears on the far corners.  What do you think?  Could that look like a flower?

In the evenings, I'm working on the EPP Ferris wheels.  It's slow going and seems like I am using the same fabrics over and over.  I need to go dig through my bins for more variety.

I've also continued to make string blocks and have them in several sizes now thanks to another unpacked box. Among all the blocks in it, there were some pastel four inch string blocks. I have no idea what project I had in mind for blocks that size. Maybe as I continue to unpack, I'll find some instructions packed with the silverware or tucked inside a jar. Every box is a surprise.



And even some string blocks in single colors.  I think I'm going to continue making these in the RSC colors for this year.  Making just three snowball blocks each month isn't very challenging.

And of course, the UFO of the month, Jacob's Ladder, is still on the board.

Now on to the reports.  I never know how to record a week that is split between two months, so I basically do a double report. I spent time every day sewing. A good forecast for the coming week may be my downfall though. I really need to get outside and build some raised beds if it isn't too muddy. Digging in wet clay is almost impossible. It sticks to the shovel, shoes, and everything it touches. But for now, my report shows 100% for the month of February, for the week, and so far, for March.

Even the stash report is good. For the first time this year, I am showing more fabric used than added. Not only did I not buy any fabric this week, I didn't unpack any either. I've had a box sitting on my cutting table all week though. But it can just sit there, because a negative in that column sure looks good for a change.

Linking to:
Rainbow Scrap Challenge at soscrappy
Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts
15 Minutes to Stitch at Life in Pieces
Sunday Stash at QuiltPaintCreate
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
BOMs Away at Katie Mae Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
Main Crush Monday at Cooking up Quilts
Tuesday Archives at Val's Quilting Studio

March's One Monthly Goal and Year Goals Review

I decided to work on a quilt that isn't even on my January Goals list. But according to that list, I should have made a quilt for the RV in February and that one didn't get done either. So I am giving myself permission to work on a UFO that I have in hand rather than search through boxes for one that is on the list. For my March One Monthly Goal, I want to get Jacob's Ladder to the flimsy stage, and get the back made. I am not even going to attempt to quilt it.

This morning I took it out of the box it has been in for fourteen years. I didn't take a picture again this morning, but this 36" x 84" section is the part I started working on.

It is not quite as bad as I remembered it, but not as good as I am happy with today. I decided to take off the bottom part and use it to make this a throw size quilt. Then it can be a donation quilt. So my first work on this UFO was with the ripper. I should have a ripper hidden up my sleeve like the bad guys on old tv shows had a derringer that suddenly springs into their hand in an instant.

In reviewing my 2018 Goals (tweaked at the end of January), I can see some things that are working out well and some that still need prodding, and some that just need to be canned.

1. Organize my sewing space. Still no real sewing space here, but I have added some shelving to hold projects, batting, and other things as I unpack them. When we moved here last April, I bought several wire modular shelving cubes to make a big, indoor catio. With workmen in and out, I didn't want to worry about the cat getting out or freaking out because strangers were in his space. But now that we have somewhere else to put him, and because he despised the catio, I took it apart and had it stored in the attic. But now it made the perfect storage for bulky batting and project boxes. So I'm still reporting success here but not complete.

2. Find and list my UFOs. It's possible I have found all of my UFOs, or at least all my known UFOs. I've found a couple that I had completely forgotten about. So success here and I will continue sorting through boxes.

3. Participate in monthly challenges on blogs and facebook to finish these UFOs. My 12 UFOs for both are 1. Cars, 2. Trailer Quilt, 3. Second Saturday Sampler, 4. Christmas Among Friends, 5. Antique Tile, 6. Gairden Walk, 7. Depression Blocks, 8. Baby Bow Tie, 9. Double Irish Chain, 10. Raggedy Hearts, 11. Sweet Sixteen, 12. Summer Crossroads. I am calling this a success, but I do have to revise this list. I can't quilt the larger quilts, so the goal for them will be just to the flimsy stage, and some of these are already there. Also, the facebook group isn't working for me, so dropping that.

4. Pull out fabrics bought to make specific quilts and put them in boxes with the patterns, thread, and everything needed to complete the quilt. I have done this with several projects. It is a lot easier with the wire cubes and project boxes. So success here but not complete.

5. Organize scraps by color and participate in scraphappy's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I have found all my scraps now, and have a pattern that is QAYG, so this is easier now. I'm also making string blocks, and scrappy English paper piecing, so will call this a rousing success but not finished.

6. Start the cross-stitch quilt block project that first made me want to learn to quilt. Not too late, but I need to get started soon.  So far a fail. 

7. Take up Kate's Life in Pieces now official 15 Minute Challenge. Doing well with this one, so success so far.

8. Limit my current projects to four. I have four going right now and it may be too much. Maybe if I were more organized or had a bigger space it would work better. I'll try it one more month before cutting down to three. So success here, but it doesn't feel successful.

9. Start Christmas projects in June. This is still pending as it isn't June yet but I don't have a clue what I want to do and time is slipping by fast these days.

10. Go to guild meetings. I don't drive at night and Hubby was out of town on guild meeting night, so I couldn't go. So this is a fail.

11. I want to find a sit down quilting machine. There is no money budgeted for this, so this goal needs to be eliminated. Fail 12. Take a Craftsy fitting class.I said I may have to eliminate this one too and that's what I'm doing now. With no sewing space, this one isn't feasible right now. Fail

13. Build something for the house every week until the cabinets and organizers are done. Still a fail here, but with spring around the corner, I can see that this will change soon.

14. Take a scroll saw class. I don't have time for this. It is a fail and I'm taking it off the list.

15. Exercise 15-30 minutes a day. Still a fail but I need to make it a priority. Too bad there isn't somewhere to be accountable.

16. Cut out sugar and find 15 good autoimmune recipes by the end of February. Still a fail but both Hubby and I need to do this even if he won't admit it.

17. Stick to an autoimmune diet in March and then re-evaluate for April. There is still time for this, so it is not getting a rating yet.

18. On days that are over wind chill over 50 degrees, work on landscaping 15-30 minutes. I changed this last month and I'm going to have to change it again to read "dry" days. Every day in February that was warm enough was either rainy or the ground was soggy. So, not really a fail, but not a success either.

19. Join a book club. Well, finally. Still doing this. It is a success so far.

My results this month were 8 successes, 7 fails, and 3 pending out of 19 goals, and that is a little better than last month. 2 of those failed goals will be removed from my list, which will help next month.  I didn't add any goals this month either.

Blast from the Past

More unpacking surprises. This time, I found a box of sewing things from my mother. Among other things, there was thread on wood spools. Some of it was hers and some given to her by my great grandmother.

I love the prices on these! Don't you wish thread was still just 15¢? And there is one for 10¢.

Coats and Clark has been around forever, but I don't recognize some of these brands: Spun Dee, Belding Corticelli, American Thread Company.

This green wood spool is different. I wonder if that is the original thread or if my great grandmother reused an empty spool. Too bad that part of the label is gone.

And I love this little wood thead spool. I bet it was in a travel kit. It looks like it fit on top of another spool, or something else.