March 2018 Round-up

As I shared in my last post, March was a pretty busy month. Good thing that one of the trips was quilt related so I have some good stats for the month :) I'll start with accomplishments, then stash report and stitching time. 

I got quite a bit done this month, thanks again to retreat time! I shared on my last post the projects that I worked on at retreat. I kept going when I got home (after the third trip) and finished up my rainbow scrap challenge blocks for March in bright greens. I figured out how to chain piece them correctly this time and didn't make the mistakes I'd made in the last two months, so they were more fun to make! I really love the fabrics that are in these - lots of great memories in those scraps, and some of my favorite fabrics. 
After I got those complete for the month, I knew I wanted to quilt something. I debated between working on a UFO or one of my just-finished tops from retreat. In the end, I decided to do one of the recent ones to avoid a new UFO! I got the table runner loaded, quilted, and bound in the last few days and I can't wait to use it next Christmas. 
Upstairs on the couch, I kept going on my Lizzie Kate Snowbelles and got the third section of the sampler done - Frosty Friends. I had a good time stitching this one and will plow ahead with the next in this series after I take a short break for some stitching that is more seasonally appropriate (even though we are supposed to get 1-3" of snow this evening!!!). 
I also spent some time working on a wool embroidery piece that has been around for a long, long time. I cut it out at a retreat at least 3 years ago and slowly worked on it from time to time. Before I'd let myself kit up a new cross stitch project, I decided to finish it up. I am pretty pleased with it and glad to have another kit finished! I probably bought this one ~8-10 years ago. 

So, on to the stash report - my goal was to get back into positive numbers this month and I did that thanks to getting the Polar Pals kit put together. It is also nice to finish the most recent kit I bought right away. I did add a little fabric at retreat - the binding for mini-spools and some white on white fat quarters to boost my supply for the Rainbow Scrap challenge. I wound up cutting out 15 sets of the white on white, so am able to count some of that fabric as used right away. 

Fabric added this month: 1 1/2 yards
Fabric used this month: 9 3/8 yards

Fabric added year to date: 9 3/8 yards
Fabric used year to date: 11 1/8 yards

Net fabric used: 1 3/4 yards - yeah, back in the black! 

For stitching time, I took some hand work with me on both non-quilting trips, but barely got to it, so I only met my goal of sewing 3 days/week for half the month. I had a total of 10 stitching days out of 31 (the same as last month!). I had a total of 31 hours of quilting time, with most of it at retreat. 

Hope you had a nice March and Happy Easter to all who are celebrating today. 

Linking up with:
Angela at SoScrappy for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge
Kate at Life in Pieces for the 15 minutes a day challenge
Donna at QuiltPaintCreate for Stash Report Sunday

Comments

Linda said…
Love your idea of making the strippy green background squares for the white stars. Not seen this idea before and it works a treat. I'm making a note of it!
your scrappy strip backgrounds in your star blocks are so interesting. Quilt On!
Kate said…
Your RSC blocks turned out beautifully! Sorry the stitching time wasn't what you would have liked, but you did great on the stash report this month. Hopefully April will be a bit more sedate.
Anonymous said…
Love your frosty friends. Great usage numbers for the month! You got a lot done in spite of the traveling.
What fun projects - like the green stars!
Carol said…
Yes, at the rate we're going, we can feel perfectly fine about stitching snow pieces into May! We had two inches on Monday and I just wanted to crawl back into bed when I put up my shade in the morning and saw it! Enough already...

Love your green blocks and that pretty table runner. And the wool embroidery piece is lovely...

Sounds like your fabric usage is heading in the right direction, Jennifer! Have a great week ahead!
Anonymous said…
Yay! Being in the black is better than being red! I really like your RSC block choice. Those limes speak to me a lot right now, while I'm working on a lime and raspberry quilt! Cute little candle mat, too!
Laura said…
I love your scrappy star blocks! I finally got back on the RSC horse and made some yellow string blocks for April.