If nothing else this year, I want to get back in the habit of spending time doing something each day that I love, and one of those things is anything stitching related. It helps me relax after a tough day at work, and activates the right side of my brain after using the left side all day. In my work life, I am a branch manager of a mortgage and investmant company, so after dealing with numbers, playing with fabric and thread is so much fun!
Kate at Life in Pieces hosts a weekly check-in that I'll be following. She has counted today as Week 1 of 2022, but since she has been doing this for a number of years, it also captures her last week of 2021. I'll be starting next Sunday, and counting today as Day 1 of my first week. I'll follow her format plus adding one more tally - fabric in and out!
I used to track my fabric in and out, which helped me curb my purchases and motivated me to use up what I had. I don't bother counting what I already have, I just try to use more than I buy. So my posts will look like this:
- 15 minute days/week 1 = /7
- 15 minute days/week (month) = /31(or 30 or 28) days
- Success rate for (month) = (# of days stitched/# of month) expressed as a percentage %
- 15 minute days/2022 = /(# of days year-to-date)
- Success rate for 2022 = (# of days stitched/# of days year-to-date) expressed as a percentage %
- Fabric used = # of metres (counted at flimsy stage and when backing/binding added, or donated/sold)
- Fabric gained (purchased, gifted) = # of metres
- Net fabric used/gain
You'll note I have Fabric gained as purchased or gifted - I have two friends who have been destashing and sending fabric my way. I have been sorting through it and donating most of it to good causes. I also plan on selling some select items through a destash group, and will donate the profits. Some of my personal stash has made its way out in the last year, and I plan on continuing to do so.
Since a post isn't any fun without pictures, here is my latest finish and what I'm working on:
Dragon lap quilt (extra-long) for my son-in-law.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get it quilted in time due to an allergic reaction that affected my eye.
December 23rd (don't mind the bed-head!)
December 30th, a week later.
It's now been two weeks since it flared up, and it is slowing going down. It now looks like I got popped in the eye! Good thing I don't have a partner, people would be looking at him funny.
What I'm currently working on: I have 3 main projects on the go, all Bonnie Hunter quilts.
Quilt One is her current Mystery Quilt, Rhododendron Trail. I have completed up to Step 3 and currently working on cutting out Step 4. I'm doing the cutting for 2 quilts, as my friend Kim is doing them as well, but gets confused when it comes to the cutting. This is her Step 3 cut, with a sample of how to put them together with Step 1.
We recently discovered someone's method of sorting parts using paper plates, and it has been a game changer for Kim. She has picked up some older projects and been able to move ahead, thanks to this method.
Quilt 2 is QuiltMaker magazine's mystery quilt - Ruby Jubilee, based on Bonnie Hunter's Addicted to Scraps column.
I'm doing mine in teals and aquas, and you can see my units for the pinwheel block in this photo. Kim is doing hers in solid pinks, as seen in the upper corner. I'll do more detailed posts on both of these.
Quilt 3 I'm completing as a Leader/Ender project in between the other two. It is Bonnie Hunter's On Ringo Lake mystery quilt from a few years back, and my 15 minutes a day project. I have all the units made and I'm now assembling the blocks. I hope to have this flimsy finished by the end of the month.
