September 2018 Report

It's hard to believe that we are almost halfway through October! It has been a busy start to the month with two trips that I will tell you more about soon, but first I need to recap my September. It was a good month and I found myself with more time in the sewing room and some good stitching time. 

I started the month with my RSC blocks to get caught up and try to get ahead. I got my red and orange blocks made, pieced the strip sets for the blue blocks, and then laid out all the blocks made so far - aren't they pretty? I am really looking forward to putting this one together next year when I have all the blocks made. 

RSC blocks for July, August, and strip sets for September

Before I could get the blue blocks made, I had to cut out some more white-on-white, so I got that done one evening, along with catching up on cutting the smaller pieces for the cornerstones. Now I am all set to finish up the blue blocks (it didn't happen in September) and pull the fabric to start on those for October. 

RSC blocks made for January - August

Once I had RSC under control, I got going on some quilting for friends. I started on my friend Kathy's quilt and was having some problems with my machine. After messing with it for quite a while, I wound up with a hopping foot that wasn't hopping, so I had to pack up my machine and send it to the technician. It spent almost two weeks there, got a good cleaning, he quickly identified the issue (a missing screw that has yet to show up!), and now it hums so nicely! I finished up Kathy's quilt with an improvised meander - a little bit of everything - that I think works well with this busy fabric. 

The back of Kathy's quilt so you can see some of the quilting!

The front of Kathy's quilt

I then moved on to Karen's french braid quilt. It is the same top as one I made a few years ago, because the first year we went to our Shipshewana retreat, we all bought the kit! Karen finished the project in May and gave it to me to quilt and bring back in October, so I got it loaded and quilted with chrysanthemums. I just gave it to her this weekend and she loved it. (Picture to come as I forgot to take one!)

The last quilting project for the month was a UFO finish. I started this in a machine quilting class in 2008, and was a little intimidated to finish it, so it got set aside while I worked on other projects. Since then, I've quilted around 150 quilts (mine and others) and now I have a little more confidence. It is small - about 18"x18" - and was partially done. I got my quilting gloves on and finished it up on my Janome 6600. I finished the binding right after the quilting and am so happy to have this old one done! I am working my way towards getting closer to having 12 or fewer UFOs by the end of the year.

Calla Lilly all done!

In addition to my quilting, I had a couple good finishes from my cross-stitch.  The first is a project I started just before Stitch Maynia, so I didn't touch it much while I was plowing through all those projects, but I worked on it quite a bit at my August stitching retreat and I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I got it finished! I think this is a really cute one and I plan to pick up the Mill Hill frame for this too. It is Polar Surprise by Mill Hill on light blue Aida (and it reminded me that I don't really love stitching on Aida!). 

My second finish is a Stitch Maynia start - Simply Christmas by Something in Common. I bought this cute little pattern about 11 years ago when on a trip with my mom and our bee. We stopped at an amazing cross-stitch and quilting shop in Ohio, which is sadly no longer there. I used beads that my mom and I had on hand, and stitched it on a piece of mystery linen. I don't know yet if I will frame this one or make it into an ornament, but I really do like it and it just sparkles with the beads. 

There was one bit of sad news in September. Our dog of almost 14 years passed away. She went downhill quickly in early September and we tried a few medicines to help her, but they didn't help for long.  It was a hard decision to let her go, but it was the right one, as she was having trouble standing and sleeping. Our house is a little more quiet these days and we all miss her. 

Well, to wrap things up, I'll share the stats for the month: 

Stash Report - 
Fabric added this month: 3 1/2 yards (birthday fabric from my mom and two panels with coordinating fabrics for Christmas gifts)
Fabric used this month: 1/2 yard (for the RSC blocks and the Calla Lily binding)

Fabric added year to date: 23 1/2 yards
Fabric used year to date: 36 yards

Net fabric used: 12 1/2 yards

Quilting Time Report - 
12 days this month with at least 15 minutes of quilting time
3 of 4 weeks with at least three days of quilting time
11 1/4 hours of quilting time in the month (the most since May)

Hope you had a good September - I'll be back soon to share a little about my trips so far this month! 

Linking up with Stash Report Sunday and Life in Pieces