Some More Index Cards

It is time to show my progress for my 15 Minutes of Stitching for the Week.

15 Minutes to Stitch: Week 22

I made some rail fence blocks this week, but haven't pressed them yet. They are similar to all the other rail fence blocks so I don't think you will miss not having a photo of them. I will take credit for two days of stitching.



15 Minute sessions of stitching this month: 2out of 7
15 Minute sessions of stitching this year: 116 out of 153 sessions

Success Rate: 76%

Another small drop, but hopefully I will be able to increase my numbers during the rest of the year.

Linked to:
15 Minutes to Stitch

One Index Card a Day

So you can have something visual, I'll show you my progress on the One Index Card a Day (ICAD). I'm not good at the "a day" part, but I think I have a good showing regardless.

They are obviously not in any kind of order. This is the latest one.

 This is me and Zeus on our daily walk.

 I am working on layering. Adding interest to the background as well as the foreground. This one took a long time to do.

The challenge designer offers prompts to help give ideas of what to do. This one is based on a prompt, something about making a title card for the set of cards.  Maybe next time I will actually make a title card that describes what is going on.

 I cut out a doodle of some flowers and pasted it on a card and added a quote.

Favorite Photos from May

Once a month (or less), I look into my folder of photos I have taken during the month, and show you my favorites.  As usual, I tend to look up at the sky and down on the ground, with an occasional glimpse straight ahead.

Here are my favorites from May.

So many maple tree helicopters flying around this day. They came down all at once this year.

The rest of these photos were taken in Austin, Texas.

These beautiful birds are grackles. They are loud.

Linked to:
Wandering Camera

1930s fabric

Why am I showing you these yo-yos  made from an English rose cottage garden fabric when I have titled the post 1930s fabric? Well, first of all, I don't really know what 1930s fabric looks like. Then I had a fat quarter pack of fabric that looked like it might fit the 1930s theme, at least Shasta style.  I bought two fat quarter packs and this was the other one. I thought these fabrics would fit right in with them since they have a similar pink / blue / green color scheme. So when I started to make the yo-yos, I just grabbed this fat quarter pack and started cutting the circles. This was my on-the-go project that fits easily in the suitcase pocket.

The other project I have been working on is the Seiring genealogy scrapbook.  It is a long-term project, just adding a step at a time when I am in the mood.  I used my stitchery project on the cover. Might as well get some use out of it. As you recall, I got the kit from the thrift store and it is made out of yarn. I'm bad enough with floss, but I think this adds a sweet old fashioned look to the book, and it feels good too since there are two layers fluffy batting underneath the stitchery.

 I haven't added the genealogy material in them, but the pocket pages are sewn in.

I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me when I came back from my trip. There was a box sitting on the porch.  My house sitter hadn't been picking up my mail, so I am glad it was still there! Wendy from The Constant Quilter sent me a big box of fabric for my yo-yo project. This is a set of real 1930s fabrics.

She also sent a big set of reproduction fabrics.Thank you so much for this huge packet!  I will be sure to make good use of them.

As you can see, my yo-yo fabrics that look like fabrics that look like 1930s fabrics are a bit off the mark of 1930s theme.  I haven't decided yet whether to turn those English garden yo-yos to their own quilt or still incorporate them into a 1930s quilt.

15 Minutes to Stitch: Week 21

Looks like I am farther and farther behind in reporting my stitching progress.  I know that I have been cutting circles and sewing yoyos and the genealogy book also involved stitching.  Since it has been about a month since I reported, and I am not sure how much stitching I really got in, I will estimate low and say about 50%.


15 Minute sessions of stitching this month: 14 out of 28
15 Minute sessions of stitching this year: 114 out of 146 sessions

Success Rate: 78%

If I had been keeping better track, maybe I wouldn't see such a big drop from 85% to 78%, but hopefully I will be able to increase my numbers during the rest of the year.


Linked to:
Monday Making 
15 Minutes to Stitch 
Friday Foto Fun 
UFO Busting 63

Yo Yo's and Cards

I've been thinking about the yo-yo quilt I saw in New Orleans, and although I thought that recreating it in muslin would be striking, I figured I would get bored pretty quickly making a million yoyos out of the same fabric, so I have been practicing with some 30s-like fabric. I'll show you when I make more progress. So far I am just figuring out how to make a yo yo that looks good using the clover yoyo maker. I've watched a video and realized my mistake so I think I should be good to go now.

Instead of yo-yos, I figured I would show you some more cards I made this week.

More Rails and 1CAD

I am late in posting my week's progress, but better late than never.

15 Minutes to Stitch

I am doing two ongoing projects. One is the 15 minutes to stitch whereby I try to stitch for 15 minutes a day.  Last week, I worked on three different projects. One was sewing more rail fence blocks. I also worked on my genealogy scrapbook, which is mostly paper but does involve sewing. I was showing a friend at work my book of quilts, and she asked me to make one for her, so I looked for fabric on sale. She designed the quilt and I spent some time figuring out the math to make it the size she wanted.



15 Minute sessions of stitching this week: 7 out of 7

In making this report, I see  have been negligent in reporting my progress.  I was looking at 111 total sessions, but it's been 125 days. I don't know how much sewing I have done in those missing 14 days. I know I have been trying to sew every day, but I also know I've missed days. To keep myself honest, I will take credit for half the time.

15 Minute sessions of stitching this year: 107 out of 125 sessions
Success Rate: 86%

 My 2018 end of the year average was 85% and I hope to beat that this year, so I am still on course for this year

One Card a Day

In my last post, I talked about the one card a day that starts in June. 

 

Being the rule follower that I am, I have already started these little cards.

Just having fun and being playful. I don't think of it as making art, but just having fun putting something on these small index cards.

Here are some cards, all together. The first one is watercolor only, the second one is watercolor and marker, and the third one was marker only.

Linked to:
Off the Wall Friday

One Card A Day

Daisy Yellow has been hosting the One Card a Day challenge every year for eight years.  The goal is to do something artsy on an index card every day for a couple of months.  It is something small and simple that can stretch your artistic abilities and reduce stress.  Making only one index card and for only two months makes the project much more manageable.

I've been thinking about joining, and have made a few index cards over the years, but this year, I will try to actually make an index card every day.  I might even post them here from time to time, but not every single day because that makes the challenge more daunting, and adds pressure to make something pretty or blog worthy instead of just fun. 

Having made a few cards, I can tell you the volume and variety of the cards that makes them interesting, Just like a whole sampler quilt is better than the sum of its blocks.

Favorite Pictures From April

It is that time of the month when I look through my photos I have taken throughout the month and share my favorites with you.  As usual for this time of the year, the theme tends to be springtime. I like how the lilac blooms look against the dandelion background.

It has been raining a lot so it is always a special treat when the sky is blue, and the wonderful puff clouds add so much interest for me.

This evening was really strange, there was a clear space around the moon, but everywhere else was clouds.

I like the pink against the brick.

And the shades of white. These trees are all blooming and they all look magnificent even though they make so many of us sneeze.

I like the pink against the gray too.

A closeup of the white blossoms against the puffy clouds in the sky. 

15 Minutes to Stitch: Week 17

I didn't make any progress last week, but this week, I made two diamond mini quilts that I showed you in my last post and also sewed some more rail fence blocks. 


15 Minute sessions of stitching this week: 7 out of 14
15 Minute sessions of stitching this year: 100 out of 118 sessions

Success Rate: 85%