4th quarter accomplishments and 2015 in review

In looking back on 2015 I always like to look at the numbers and this year turned out pretty good -- considering I have also injured myself twice this year and been down in what I can do as far as crafting in general goes. 

• participated in 16 swaps 
• made 10 pouches 
• made 17 fabric baskets 
• completed 14 small quilts 
• completed 4 large quilts
• attended 2 retreats 
• made 41 bee blocks

Things I finished this quarter -- to link up with Adrianne 

1. Swap with Mallory  
2. Secret Sister Swap Items
3. 16 fabric buckets 
4. Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt 
5. Commission t-shirt quilt 
6. Kate Spain Jewel Box Quilt 
7. Accuquilt Mini #1
8. Accuquilt Mini #2 
9. all my bee blocks for the year

I'll be heading into the new year with 12 UFPs (unfinished projects) 

• Kaleidoscope Quilt 
• Spellbound
• Tula Pink City Sampler
• Tessellations
• Scout for Honda
• Crossroad Bee Blocks
• Moda Modern Building Blocks
• Charity blocks 
• Scrappy Trip Along
•  Rush Hour  
• Sew Original BOM
• Sewingly Yours BOM

I'll also be participating in 2 bees again and have way more things on my to do Wish list than I will probably be able to finish any time soon but who knows what the new year will hold, maybe I will be able to finally cut into a new project and continue using my stash. 

December Sewing and Stashing

It's been 3 weeks -- sorry folks not much to report over her on the finishes and sewing front but I am slowly healing from by break and working with a physical therapist to hopefully get me back in the sewing room soon -- through motivation and hopefully having more energy to do more than rest when I get home. 

Yearly total going into December was 146 yards used -- I'm hoping to hit at least 150 yards by the end of the year so let's see how the year turned out.

December started out with some time off intended for sewing and celebrating my birthday -- well the sewing part is minimal but hubs did gift me with a trip to visit some sewing shops in Raleigh as a part of my birthday gift -- I got these lovely fabrics (+5 yards).

The Wee Bee With it hive was coming to an end this month and Anita picked Christmas star blocks that are part of the Blossom Heart Quilt Bee Hive blocks. These are going to make a great Christmas quilt. (-1 yd)

For those of you that are on Instagram there was a really fun hashtag going around called #getyourquiltywishesgranted where you could wish for something and if someone had it and wanted to share they could choose to grant your wish. I granted 6 wishes and sent out parcels to various parts of the US -- it felt so good and lightened my fabric room about 10 yards worth. 

My quilty wish was for charm packs of Kate Spain's Christmas fabric lines so that I could make another epic Kate Quilt. People really came through for me and I now have 5 of the charm packs, working toward getting all 6 Christmas lines. (+3 yards) -- still missing the Joy line but it's on it's way.

                     

I finished up my Accuquilt mini #2 and mailed it off to the lovely people at Accuquilt for something fun they have planned. Moat of the fabric was sent to me by them but I pulled another yard to make up for a miss cut that I made. 

My totals in December were 8 yards added, 12 yards removed, total for the month 4 yards used. That brings the yearly total to 150 yards lighter since the beginning of the year. I am pretty proud of this and hope 2016 brings another year of sewing my stash.

Once this foot heals I will be able to fully access my sewing room again and start making backings and new projects that have been on hold during these last 2 months. I'm still in multiple bees next year and it looks like we will be making some really fun blocks and at least that little bit of sewing keeps me going. 

November Sewing and Stashing

Yearly total going into November was 145 yards used -- I'm hoping to hit at least 150 yards by the end of the year so let's see how November turned out. I decided that I would try to not have any purchases this month since my birthday and Christmas are next month. This was made far easier by breaking my foot early in the month. 

As usual I started the month by making up my bee blocks (-1 yards). This is the last month for the Stash Bee group and Bev asked for Quatrefoil blocks. 

The Wee Bee With it hive brought paper pieced blocks this month for Green. This hive has another month of blocks to go. I really like the blocs that I chose so that Green will be able to mix them in with the larger blocks that some of the other ladies are making -- I'm going to be using a variation on these blocks in at least one of my hives next year. 

I had several quilt tops in the works and needed to make backs and get them basted in preparation for the Thanksgiving break and the days of vacation that I am taking in the beginning of December. Not that I got any of that happened -- maybe fabric pull will happen later this month and the basting and quilting can happen in January.

My totals in November were no yards added, 1 yards removed, total for the month 1 yards used. That brings the yearly total to 146 yards used this year so far. I had hoped to surpass that 150 goal and maybe hit 200 yards to start into 2016.

Silence is not golden

Maybe some of you have noticed my absence as of late. Well that's because there hasn't been a lot of sewing going on. 

Earlier this month my hubs and I and a few friends went up to the mountains to hit some curvy roads and have dinner in Asheville. We made a stop in Little Switzerland and while we were there my left ankle gave way and I ended up on the ground and in a lot of pain. Hubs was taking pictures and managed to capture it. 

I waited it out a few days thinking it was simply a sprain before heading to the doctor. I was promptly sent to the hospital for x-rays and referred to a specialist. Thursday I got the news that I had broken my Talus bone (that's the top bone in your ankle) and upon further review of the x-rays he discovered that my Navicular bone was also broken (and might have been so for some time). The last "sprain" i had was exactly 2 years ago, so it could have been from then but who knows for sure. 

So for the next month I get to be in a fun foot boot and use crutches to get around. --- not a happy gal about any of this, my sewing room is upstairs in my house but my husband brought me a work station and most of my needed supplies for things I must complete and set them up in the living room. Sewing will be minimal for a while but maybe I can sneak some in during small breaks in medication fog. 

Right now I'll be focusing on bee blocks (one bee finished this month and the other has one more month), keeping up with my block of the month (that I just started last month) and getting my big reveal finished by the deadline. I may also try for some of the Tula Blocks but no big Christmas sewing for this gal. 

October Sewing and stashing report

I knocked out the bee block I had to make this month in the first few days so I wouldn't have to rush it at the end of the month -- our hive queen this month sent her background fabrics to us so not much stash was used in this book case block and it all came from the scraps bucket. 

The beginning of October was a busy time for sewing as I prepped for stash bash. I did buy a good deal of fabrics but they were mostly for swap items that will be showing up in this post so not really anything to count as stashing. 

I made some secret sister items and gifted some fabric. (-2 yards)

I made a few pillow cases (-3 yards)  and did a pillow swap with Mallory 

I made these 16 baskets for all the lovely ladies that would be attending (-12 yards)

In the course of making my secret sister a sew together bag -- I kinda kept it so this one is mine now (-2.5 yards)

I made the binding for the commission t-shirt quilt and the Kate Spain Quilt (-1 yard used) 

While at stash bash I purchased 20 yards of fabric (WOW! OOPS!)

Tiger Lilly by Heather Ross, some coordinates and a Piece of Kate Spain 

Coral to finish a quilt top, great text print, some Tula Pink Birds and Bees and Tula Pink Neptune 

Cotton and Steele, Alison Glass and Kona Solid

At the retreat and throughout the rest of the month... 

I completed my Schnitzel and Boo Mini (-1 yard for backing and binding)

I completed the commission t-shirt quilt

I completed the Kate Spain Jewel Box Quilt 

Completed Winds of Oz (-1 yard) 

I got 32 of my 70 Tula Pink blocks made 

I made a quilt top from my Spellbound Layer Cake (-3 yards)

assembled my kaleidoscope Block top 

Completed a charity quilt top (1 yard for sashing) 

Started on my scout quilt car seat cover for the Honda

I started with a new block of the month and am substituting in a different background fabric than the one that the shop is providing so that's another 2.5 yards of stash that will be going to good use. 

My totals this month were 20 yards added, 29 yards removed, total for the month 9 yards used. That brings the yearly total to 145 yards used this year so far -- still working to get near that 150 yard mark for the year. 

Next month will be about backings and finishing up some holiday projects so I hope to surpass that 150 goal and maybe hit 200 yards to start into 2016.

Kate Spain Jewel Box

Kate Spain has long been one of my favorite designers. I've participated in 2 rounds of Charm swaps hosted by Michelle at Crayon Box Quilt Studios and finally put all these lovelies to good use. 

First I had to pick a design -- the fabrics vary in size so I wanted something that would still showcase them well. I went with the Jewel Box block and started whipping up HST and 4 patch units. 

It grew and grew on the design wall and I was loving every part of the process (OK maybe not trimming all those HST -- this photo is only half of them). 

when I finally got the blocks completed I decided that I wanted 4 patches in the pattern to go off the edges so that the quilt looked like it kept going. I pieced it all together and took it to one of my friend's shops to baste it -- kind of concerned about the size and my ability to quilt it but I decided that I would press on.

I also put some awesome KS on the backand pieced in one of my fav prints but I went with the single color version rather than the brightly colored one. 

Early this month I took a weekend away from the car group and took time to get caught up on some things and get things ready for the quilt retreat that was coming up. I managed to quilt it in about 4 hours total and I figured out a way to quilt flowers that is easier for me and results in less points in the middle -- I'll call this Rose quilting. 

I took her with me to Stash Bash to put on the binding because I am so ready to sleep under all this Kate Spain Love. 

Once I finished it all up I had to wait for good weather and my quilt helper to be available on the same weekend but I really love the completed shots that I got while visiting Reynolda Village last weekend

I think this one might be my favorite -- so bright and wonderful. 

I absolutely love this quilt and sleep under it every night now -- you know when the kitties let me. 

Milky Way Medallion Quilt Completed

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