Monday Meanderings 1 - 8 - 2024

 

 Happy New Year

2024

Now we are a week into 2024 I'm back at my blog.  I decided to take a one week blogging break.  It turned out that I got a bunch of things done in the studio. I cleaned up some of the horizontal surfaces. A new Accucut Big came into the studio and some sewing was completed.  

Here's the results of my goals dated January 1, 2024.

1/1/24

✅Bind small quilt or 2 — 1 quilt bound.

✅Wash, dry and fold some fabric — one load done.

✅Finalize UFO list & quilts I’d like to make in 2024 — still need quilts-to-make list.

✅✅✅Make 3 or 4 walker bag kits — made many kits to take to guild. 

Here's what I hope to do this week.  I can't figure out if these are enough items or whether more should be added.  I generally try to pick goals that I can actually complete during the week. Hopefully all of these will get done.  

1/8/24

Finish 3 yard quilt top

Make backing for and quilt small strippy quilt

Start on UFO appliqué block 

Bind 30 Something quilt and strippy

Iron one or two backing fabrics

Wash, dry and fold the last of the red fabrics

The washing, drying, and folding of fabric took a hiatus for most of this past week. I think all I have left can be washed in one load. One of things I've been doing with each load is throwing in some Color Catchers™ and Color Grabbers™. I've used Color Catchers™ for years and find they do absorb color from the wash water.  For these loads I've been throwing in lots of them.  

Here are the results from my last fabric load that was reds and one piece of purple. I tend to reuse the sheets but most of these were new for this wash.  The small ones are Color Grabbers™ and the larger ones are Color Catchers™. From what I remember the prices are similar.  I prefer the Color Catchers as they are bigger and I assume they will absorb more color.   Do you use any form of color controller when you wash your fabrics or your quilts?  I've gotten in the habit of washing all fabrics when they come into the house.  That way I don't worry about shrinkage nor bleeding. 

I've been using Shout Color Catcher™ for years. I tried Carbona Color Grabber ™ when I saw it recently at my local grocery store. 

This is the little strippy quilt I made. The dark strip is actually a teal that blends with the cat and dog fabrics. Whoops! Just noticed the cats are smaller than the dogs. Except for the teal strip the rest of the fabrics came from fabrics I've been washing for my local quilt guild.  Hopefully I'll have it quilted and bound by the next meeting. If you'd like some basic instructions for a strippy quilt check out Mary Quilts.  Here's a direct link to her Quick Strippie pattern.  I've made several over the years but generally divvy up my fabric based on how much I have of each.  You might guess that I had very little of the teal for the above top! I actually like how Mary's examples have the cute print fabric do the majority of the work. Unfortunately I had very little of the dog and the cat fabric so I used the bright yellow to make it big enough to give to one of the charities.

And, for my last photo of this post -- here's a pic of all the spools I emptied in 2023. Honestly, this was a pretty sparse year for me. Lowest year: 7.  Highest year: 30.  This year's 12 isn't great.  I do know I have at least 3 almost empty long arm cones.  Hopefully 2024 will see more spools used up. The average since I started keeping track (2012) is 19.25. Do you keep count of the cones and spools you use? 

I'm  joining in with Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch for 2024.  Visit her blog Life in Pieces to see how she did and other folks also trying for at least 15 minutes a day. Here are my first week results. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Jan = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 7/7 days
• Success rate = 100%

Boy that makes me look so successful!  And, considering I did sew every day I guess I was successful!  Since I try to blog on Sunday evening I'm showing my week from Mondays to Sundays.  My goal is to be successful 80% of the time.  We'll see how I do on this new endeavor. 

I'm linking up with my regular Linky Parties.  I hope to do a bit of internet surfing this week.  I've been so focused on my sewing I just haven't been reading other blogs for the last week or two.  Join me surfing the internet with these Linky parties. 

Oh Scrap

Stitching Stuff at Life in Pieces

Design Wall Monday

Sew and Tell 

 

Here's hoping we all have a great 2024.  Think of all the quilts we can make this year.  And for those of us working on UFOs -- won't it be fabulous to move some along and maybe finish some?  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

2016 Year-End Stashbusting Statistics

For many years I've recorded fabric that comes in and goes out of my stash.  This year my tracking was hit or miss.  Ok, so I tried but can't guarantee I've recorded every thing coming in or going out.  It is what it is. The last time I reported was in mid November for July.  Now I realize how bad a year it was for using stash.   So first up are the stats since July. (Hey, I was really behind!) 

2016	Fabric In Month	Fabric in Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
Aug	4.125	67.00	0.5	33.00	-34.00
Sept	12.625	79.875	0.75	34.375	-45.50
Oct	0.0	79.875	5.75	40.125	-39.75
Nov	3.50	83.375	4.00	44.125	-39.25
Dec	0.0	83.375	11.25	55.375	-28.00

Pretty pitiful fabric usage. I was working on things during these months but not very much was finished and what was finished were small pieces.  One way I motivate myself to actually finish an item is it has to be done completely before I count the fabric as being used.  I'm not doing so well with labeling my quilts recently but at least the bindings are done. That said, here's what last year looked like overall and how it compares to previous years. 

Year	Fabric In	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
2010	65.00	70.250		13.000
2011	186.5	72.00		114.500
2012	113.545	108.970		4.575
2013	100.71	103.015		2.305
2014	108.25	79.75		28.500
2015	66.205	77.150		10.945
2016	83.375	55.375		28.00

This is the lowest I've ever been on fabric going out.  Coming in could have been a lot worse so overall I'm not too upset.  Finishing Christmas Favorites was really helpful to my overall stats.  I'm going to try to keep up better this year.  I blame my neglect on the move...too much needed to be done. Watch out folks -- I have a large number of quilt tops ready to be quilted so I may have a mega "out" year.  Don't I wish! 

Here's a shot of one of my projects given at Christmas.  My daughter-in-law had asked if I could get or make an apron for her that she could use in the lab.  (Um, did I happen to mention she works in the ballistics lab for the FBI? Yea, she does.  When there are big shootings she and/or some of her colleagues might be called on to process the crime scene.) 

I got the design from Urban Threads. You can see the design better there.  It's called Baroque Punk Revolvers.  I tend to call it guns and roses.  Aimee LOVED it! She likes the design, the pockets and the dark color which will hide the dirt and grease that get on her clothes when she is working.  I also gave her a bottle of Grandma's Secret Spot Remover to help with the dirt. I have always had really good luck with this product. I'll let you know if Aimee has good results getting gun grease out of clothing. 

That's it for me today.  I'm linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday. Hope you can spend some time checking out all the wonderful blogs quilters are posting. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie