Sunday Stash and Stitching

Kathy, who hosts the Slow Sunday Stitching, talked today about multitasking, and how it really isn't a good thing, or even a time saver. I must admit to being a hopeless multi-tasker. Some days I feel like I'm on a treadmill, going no where fast. I wonder if the multi-tasking is the reason? I know for a fact it's why I have so many UFO's hanging around. So, I've been consciously trying to do just one thing at a time today, focusing on some hand stitching, in between making a birthday cake and some frosting for our son, who turns 35 this coming week. How on earth that came to happen so fast is beyond me.......
I've been working on this POTC block today. All of what is in this picture is all sewn together. This one is half way there. When it's done, I'll have four of them. If I do a quilt made up of 12, that means I'm 1/3rd there.

There hasn't been a lot of stash used this week. Just what it took to do the four triple four patches from yesterday. I had planned on doing the other four red ones I need yesterday. But there was a really great series of shows on the history network about the two world wars, so I sat and watched that, and got a lot more knitting done while watching, rather than sewing.

Used this week:                                  .4 yards
Used this year:                                 104 yards
Added this week:                              0 yards
Added this year:                                118 yards
Net added:                                         12 yards
I'm linking up to Judy's Stash Report, and Kathy's Sunday Stitching, link found at the beginning of this post.

Stash and Stitching report, week 44, 2014

I'm still working away at my hand stitching of the Patchwork of the Crosses, and loving every stitch of it.This is the one from last week, all finished now.

 While talking on Face Time with Gail one day last week, I pulled out the box of fabrics I've set aside for this project, and picked these for the next four. I have one more of the pink ones to sew in, to get the center of it finished. This added to my stash used numbers, which were pretty good this week.









Used this week:                                              4.7 yards
Used this year:                                                103.6 yards
Added this week:                                               0 yards
Added this year:                                              118 yards
Net added:                                                       14.4 yards

It's been a gorgeous afternoon here today, much too nice to just simply sit inside and do stitching, although I have done some of that this morning...... yes, I said this morning. I think I like that extra hour we got last night. I did some stitching this morning, and also had a lovely Skype visit with Avery. I've been watching Judy, over at Patchwork Times talking about a sweater that she is starting. She's issued an invitation to knit along. I've hemmed and hawed about it, thinking I don't really have time to start something new. But, I have this yarn sitting here, that hasn't got a project assigned to it, and I've been looking for one for it, but so far, nothing has jumped out and said I'm it....... until now. It's the grey yarn sitting on top of the pink yarn. And I think that was the problem...... the grey yarn wanted something else to go with it. It didn't want to be grey all by itself. So I went out this afternoon, since it was, as I said earlier, much too gorgeous to stay indoors, and I headed out to a yarn shop nearby to see what I could get to keep the grey yarn company, and came home with this pink.... it's a bit pinkier than what shows in this picture, but not by much. I'm calling it a big girl pink, as opposed to a baby pink. Anyway, the pattern that Judy is using is Carabe, and it's the one that was waving its hands saying "me, me...... do me", and who am I to argue. The grey is the main colour, with the pink being the stripes. So, after I finish writing this, and doing the link ups to Kathy's Sunday Stitching and Judy's Stash report, I'm going to purchase the pattern, get it printed, and then cast on a new sweater....... so exciting!!

Stash and Slow stitching report, week 43

Time for some catch up here..... three weeks since the last stash report, and the last slow stitching progress report. There have been advances in both.

 When I last showed this block, I was pondering about the pink. I decided that pink was the way to go, but I chose one with less going on in it. I like the way it turned out.

This is now number three of these blocks. The aqua is a bit darker in real life than the picture here shows. I'm having fun playing with fussy cutting for the center of these blocks.
I'll be linking these up to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching.









And now, for the stash numbers..... which has the added in numbers continuing to increase. And it has been a lot of fun, and quite satisfying to increase those numbers, considering I have projects in mind for all of the additions.

Used last 3 weeks:                   2.7 yards
Used this year:                       98.9 yards
Added last 3 weeks:                5 yards
Added this year:                   118 yards
Net added:                              19.1 yards

I'll link up to Judy's Stash Report, and then I think I'll just sit here and relax with some more hand stitching. The skies are bright blue, and the sun is shining gloriously. It's not quite warm enough to sit outside and stitch. So I'll do the next best thing..... pull my recliner up just a bit so that I'm right beside the window. That way I can stitch and enjoy the colours of the leaves at the same time. The leaves are falling very quickly now, and it looks like it's raining gold......... just beautiful.

Playing catch up.....

It's been quiet on the blog the last few days, but it hasn't been quiet around here. We celebrated our thanksgiving on Sunday, which always involves a lot of preparation, but it is so very worth it. The last few years, we've started doing the main part of the cooking the day before, so we cooked up our turkey on Saturday, as well as doing up the pies for dessert that day, as well. This time of year is one of the many times I'm so grateful for our living arrangements. Doing the turkey and the pies on the same day was only possible, because we live in a home with two fully functioning kitchens. And then on Sunday, again it was fabulous to have the second kitchen available when there weren't enough burners available on just one stove. We all five of us worked together, and had a great time doing it. I love having four out of five family members all under the same roof. And Noel is close enough now, that he can easily come and visit. Bad blogger that I am, I took no pictures. In between cooking and during visiting, I did get some hand stitching done, though. I'm continuing to work on my Patchwork of the Crosses pieces. One is now finished,

and the second is well on it's way. Now that I see the pink beside the other pieces, I'm second guessing that one. What do you think..... I'm think of maybe changing the pink to a medium to light purple.












Yesterday was spent putting the binding and hanging sleeve on my Camp Out quilt. I can't get a decent picture of it, since it is pouring down rain outside, and there isn't enough space in here to spread it out. It will be hanging at the quilt show, so maybe I can get a picture of it hanging there. Then the rest of yesterday was spent knitting and finishing watching the Harry Potter marathon that was on all weekend.
Today, I've loaded on a quilt of Charlene's that's been in my studio, waiting for months, literally. She didn't need it for the quilt show, so it got set aside to age a while longer. Plus, it took me a while to figure out what I was going to do with it. Now that it's loaded, it's talking to me.

There are seven lady blocks, and two plain ones, which will have a feathered wreath in them. I suspect it's going to have to wait a while, again, since the run up to this weekend's quilt show begins tomorrow. If anyone can make it, the show is this weekend.  This is the flyer for the quilt show.

You can biggie size the picture to see the details of where and when. Hope to see you there.

Stash and slow stitching Sunday, Week 40, 2014

I missed last week's stash report, since we were away camping for the weekend, and I didn't bring my numbers or my internet stick with me. So, these in numbers are going to be rather high. They reflect a fabric acquisition road trip and also a stop in a fabric store while we were away camping. It's important to support the local economies, after all! And then, also in the past 2 weeks, I had an internet order come in....... yikes!! This is the internet order, some more diagonal stripes that I love for bindings, and also a plaid that I think will work well for binding. And then a bunch of fat quarters of large scale florals, that will end up in some disappearing four patches and also another Judy Martin pattern I have my eye on.

And, with the quilt show coming up, and vendors at that quilt show, I'm sure there will be yet some more added. Lots and lots of fun!!
The out numbers reflect the finish of some binding, lots of 2 inch scraps used for a piano key border, and the backing for Camp Out. And also, since September's UFO is now a finished top, I pulled out another UFO from my list, and cut the fabric I need to work on it.

Used last 2 weeks:                                8.2 yards
Used this year:                                      96.2 yards
Added last 2 weeks:                             21.5 yards
Added this year:                                     113 yards
Net Added:                                               16.8 yards

I can link up to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching this week. I've been tempted into another new project by Teresa and her Patchwork of the Crosses blocks. Part of those stash added numbers, acquired during above mentioned road trip, went to fabrics that I thought would be good for fussy cutting in this project.

I'm having fun playing with the fabrics, although this is the only one I have cut out so far. I'm finding it a bit of a struggle to work around the card stock papers, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. There will be more of these showing up in the weeks, and most likely months, to come. I've seen quite a few layouts of this pattern all done and into a finished quilt. Each block framed with white honeycomb shapes, then a row of dark squares in between them, and a small corner cross at the intersection of the rows. There's an example of it here. However, there is a long way to go before I get even close to that. I've already added the link to Kathy's page, and I'll also link up with Judy's Stash Report.