The weather this April was a little crazy - we had snow almost every weekend until we got to the end of the month. I didn't mind and it made for some good sewing and stitching time.
I started the month working on my scrap blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. The colors this month were gold and bright yellows. I had fun digging through to get 1 gold block and 2 yellow ones. I really like how the yellow ones turned out.
On the longarm, I had a productive month. I started with Polar Play, the quilt that I finished at retreat in March. Rather than let that become a UFO, I put it right on the frame. I enjoyed quilting on the cuddle/minkee backing and also enjoyed the Glide thread that I used. I've heard lots of good things about Glide, and I must say it lived up to them. Not much thread breakage, nice tension, and it melts into the quilt top quite nicely.
Once I got that quilt done, I pulled one of my UFOs - a baby quilt that I made up during my year of the kits a few years ago. I've been waiting for the right baby to come along to get it quilted. One of the girls in my Girl Scout troop has a new baby brother, and her stepmom has been a great help to the troop, so I decided to quilt it up for him. I got the quilting done and the quilt trimmed by the end of the month, so now it is waiting for binding, which should go on within the week. I'll share a picture once it's fully finished.
Both of those projects helped with the stash usage - two backs makes for some good numbers. I also made up a few more pet beds to donate to the humane society. I put all my scraps of fabric and batting in them and then sew them up like a pillowcase. It is a good way to recycle/reuse my scraps instead of putting them in the trash.
Here's the stash report:
Fabric added this month: 0 yards
Fabric used this month: 4 7/8 yards
Fabric added year to date: 9 3/8 yards
Fabric used year to date: 16 yards
Net fabric used: 6 5/8 yards
And here's the stitching time report:
2/4 weeks with at least 3 days of sewing/quilting per week
9 days of sewing/quilting time
8 3/4 hours of sewing/quilting time
On the stitching front, I worked finished up one of the Year In Chalk projects - Hello Spring. I have a couple more to do and hope to finish it in a way that I can swap them out. I really found it tough to work on the dark linen, and found I could only work on this during the day. I had a couple other projects that occupied my time in the evenings.
The last finish for the month is one of those other projects - an embroidery towel that I've had for a long, long time. I bought it at The Back Door several years ago and prepped it to stitch last year, but then didn't touch it. I worked on this while I watched the Amazon Prime series "Howard's End." Four episodes and a little extra stitching time was perfect to finish this up. The backing is water soluble, so I need to soak it for that to dissolve and then I will stick it in the box with the Halloween decorations.
I also had some fun with my Girl Scout troop in April with a sleep over and a workshop to prep for their Silver Award projects, and I tried to get a little more exercise into the weekly routine. Hope you had a nice month. I'll be back soon with some more recipes to share, as we've been continuing to try new things!
Linking up with:
Angela for the RSC 2018 challenge
Kate for the 15 minutes a day challenge
Donna for the stash reporting
I started the month working on my scrap blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. The colors this month were gold and bright yellows. I had fun digging through to get 1 gold block and 2 yellow ones. I really like how the yellow ones turned out.
On the longarm, I had a productive month. I started with Polar Play, the quilt that I finished at retreat in March. Rather than let that become a UFO, I put it right on the frame. I enjoyed quilting on the cuddle/minkee backing and also enjoyed the Glide thread that I used. I've heard lots of good things about Glide, and I must say it lived up to them. Not much thread breakage, nice tension, and it melts into the quilt top quite nicely.
Once I got that quilt done, I pulled one of my UFOs - a baby quilt that I made up during my year of the kits a few years ago. I've been waiting for the right baby to come along to get it quilted. One of the girls in my Girl Scout troop has a new baby brother, and her stepmom has been a great help to the troop, so I decided to quilt it up for him. I got the quilting done and the quilt trimmed by the end of the month, so now it is waiting for binding, which should go on within the week. I'll share a picture once it's fully finished.
Both of those projects helped with the stash usage - two backs makes for some good numbers. I also made up a few more pet beds to donate to the humane society. I put all my scraps of fabric and batting in them and then sew them up like a pillowcase. It is a good way to recycle/reuse my scraps instead of putting them in the trash.
Here's the stash report:
Fabric added this month: 0 yards
Fabric used this month: 4 7/8 yards
Fabric added year to date: 9 3/8 yards
Fabric used year to date: 16 yards
Net fabric used: 6 5/8 yards
And here's the stitching time report:
2/4 weeks with at least 3 days of sewing/quilting per week
9 days of sewing/quilting time
8 3/4 hours of sewing/quilting time
On the stitching front, I worked finished up one of the Year In Chalk projects - Hello Spring. I have a couple more to do and hope to finish it in a way that I can swap them out. I really found it tough to work on the dark linen, and found I could only work on this during the day. I had a couple other projects that occupied my time in the evenings.
I also had some fun with my Girl Scout troop in April with a sleep over and a workshop to prep for their Silver Award projects, and I tried to get a little more exercise into the weekly routine. Hope you had a nice month. I'll be back soon with some more recipes to share, as we've been continuing to try new things!
Linking up with:
Angela for the RSC 2018 challenge
Kate for the 15 minutes a day challenge
Donna for the stash reporting
Comments
I always plan to do those cute monthly Year In Chalk pieces, but somehow, I pass over them. Not sure why--they look like they would be a quick stitch.
Good for you for trying to incorporate more exercise into your week. I need to get back to that, too. I was so good before my son's wedding, but have slacked off a bit since :)