I haven’t posted in a couple of weeks.  I was supposed to be on vacation from 12/23 – 1/6 and things didn’t go quite as planned.  I got sick my first day off.  12/23 and I was in bed feeling awful.  I am much better now but I have a lingering cough that will not go away.  My kids got sick. My mother got sick.  My sister got sick and our big family party on Christmas day found a lot of us sick.  This will probably be known as the Christmas with the most sick people ever for our family.  Then I had to rush down to LA on the 26th and the 27th because one of my work projects wasn’t progressing well and I needed to push it along.  We made it just in time and overnighted the last package late that Friday afternoon.  I came home that evening and packed for our year end family retreat in Reno, NV.  We left on Saturday, the 28th.  The last week has been nice.  Just my hubby, me and the kids.  Some of my cousins and my sister considered joining us but they all decided not to.  While we would have enjoyed their company, we also enjoyed the privacy and doing whatever it was we felt like whenever we felt like it.  My kids and hubby are pretty easy.  We spent the week vedging out.  We walked around the golf course a bit and played in snow.  We ate a lot and found some great places, namely a sandwich place called “Capriotti’s” and a crepe place called “Creme’s”.  We tried a bunch of different buffets but didn’t enjoy any of them as much as we enjoyed the Harrah’s buffet in Tahoe.  We have always loved that buffet since our very first visit in 2004 and we always try to go there whenever we’re in the area.  We didn’t go skiing or snowboarding but the kids were able to go sledding and tubing for the very first time.  They enjoyed it and now that we have all the clothing for a snow trip, we’ll try to go a few more times before the season ends.  There hasn’t been a lot of snow in this area yet and even though its January, apparently it’s still early in the season.  There wasn’t a lot of snow and hopefully the area gets more.  I’d really like to make it out for a day trip or two before the season ends.

So that’s my little quick update on what’s going on with me personally.  In terms of my quilt life, I didn’t do much towards the end of the year what with getting sick, spending Boxing Day in LA and rushing back to get to Reno.  But I did take my sewing machine and a few projects with me to Reno.  I laid claim to the dining table and worked on a few things.  I finished Hampton Ridge Block 8. I finished A Rainbow Garden Block 2. And I tried to do MoonGlow Block 1 when I realized that its foundation piecing and I didn’t print the parts I needed to do that.  The rest of my time I worked on Celtic Solstice.  We got Step 5 on 12/27 but for some reason I didn’t feel like doing it.  Well I know the reason.  I wasn’t at home and all my fabric was in my travel fabric case and it was all mixed up with the other projects I was working on.  So I was feeling disoriented with not having everything in an organized fashion.  And since I was working on this on 12/30 instead of Friday or Saturday like I normally do, I went back to Step 1 and finished the rest of those pieces.  I got all 244 blue/white triangles pieced together.  I moved to Step 2 and got stuck.  I really hate those chevrons.  I only had 8 done when I started and in the 3 days I’ve worked on them, I only finished 132 pieces.  I need 244.  I didn’t spend all day working on them so I need to cut myself some slack but I just want them done! 🙁  I want to move on and I want to get this quilt finished fairly soon.  On New Year’s Day Bonnie posted the finishing instructions and, ta da, it looks like my Dancing With The Stars UFO that I started at PIQF last October with Linda Ballard.  It’s not exactly like it as the middle part of the circle is different but it’s very similar.

I did visit a couple of quilt shops in the area and I added to my stash at the end of 2013.  But since I didn’t post the final stash report I feel like I don’t have to count it. 🙂  But here’s my numbers for the year just so I have it –

Used 2013: 41.25 yards
Added 2013: 199.25 yards
Net Added for 2013: 158 yards

And for 2014, I never counted the fabric I cut for Step 2 of Celtic Solstice so I have a bunch.  Woohoo – I’m in the black.  🙂  And my goal in terms of stash for 2014 is to buy fabric for projects not just for the hell of it.  I’ll allow myself 2 or 3 grab bags for 2014 because I just love getting those things.

Used this week: 4 yards
Used year to Date: 4 yards
Added this Weeks: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Used for 2013: 4 yards

Well here’s to a great 2014!

see more stash reports at  

~gone quilting!

Melanie

Nothing in; nothing used.  I’m still working like a mad woman so that I can take it easy the next couple of weeks.  Hopefully I can get the last bit of absolute urgent stuff done today and keep to my plan of only working a 2-3 hours per day until I’m officially back in the office on Jan. 6.  That’s the plan work-wise.  As such, I’ve got nothing much done quilty-wise.  I worked a bit on the October block for A Rainbow Garden last Thursday but didn’t finish it. I got a lot of it done.  I have one more big flower and the embellishments left.  I’ll post once it’s complete.  I finished Block 7 of Hampton Ridge yesterday and I barely got started with Celtic Solstice.  I spent most of my day baking with my mom.  This is the first year that I’m actually able to bake and help her with her annual Holiday baking.  Last year, she had just finished going through one of the Chemo treatment rounds so while I was here, we didn’t do much of that.  Yesterday, we made “hopia“, which is not the easiest thing to make.  We only make it around Christmas time.  I haven’t done it in a while so it was fun to do it again.  This definitely one of my favorite Filipino desserts that I cannot buy anywhere that tastes as good as the one we make.  So I got started on Celtic Solstice later than normal and haven’t gotten much done.  I did a few test samples and finished with 21 4 patches.  Afterwards, I sewed a bunch of strips together.  I know it’s not enough for the large size but I’ll make those into 4 patches and see how much I need after those are done. I’ll be working on these between my urgent work stuff.  Bonnie kept it fairly easy for this step so I’m hoping to get these done today.

Stash count: **I started counting 5/23/13

Used this week: 0 yards
Used year to Date: 41.25 yards
Added this Weeks: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 180.25 yards
Net Added for 2013: 139 yards

see more stash reports at  

~gone quilting!

Melanie

Work is officially kicking my butt.  Christmas is almost here and I haven’t yet finished the newsletter.  I’ve let 3 soft deadlines pass me by already and the hard deadline is fast approaching.  I’m hoping to get that done today but with quite a few other things on my to do list today, I’m not confident it will happen.  I ended up at Joann’s for quite a few hours yesterday.  The girl took a knitting class.  I think she took it because I had the 50% off a class coupon a few weeks ago and this was the only class she could attend.  She just didn’t want to say no to me.  I thought she would enjoy it because she’s been wanting a knitted or crocheted hat/beanie.  While I can crochet and probably make her one, Crochet is definitely something I only do when I’m in the mood for it.  And that mood hits about twice a year.

I think she enjoyed the class.  She’s 12 and she’s a little too old for the kids class (she was the oldest one there), she’s too young for the adult class.  She enjoyed learning how to knit and even started practicing in front of her laptop while she watched some of her shows last night.  She just didn’t like being the oldest in the class.  I watched her for a bit and maybe I can pick up on those beginner knitting skills.  I showed her Craftsy and the knitting classes I’ve been purchasing because one day I’m going to learn how to knit. 🙂  She may be able to learn more there.  She seemed to like it better than attending a class.

So being in Joann’s caused me to buy 4 yards of orange fabric for Celtic Solstice.  As you may recall, I cut way too many orange triangles in the first step.  Now with the third step using more oranges, my orange stash is almost gone.  I do not know if I’ll need more oranges but I pre-wash so I’d rather buy the fabric now, wash it today and have it in my pile ready if I should need it.  I forgot to count how much fabric I used for Step 2 but for step 3 I’ve cut up about 1 yard of 2 inch yellow and orange strips.  I do not know if I’ll need more.  I find that I can only do so much cutting and then I switch to sewing the Half Square Triangles and then press and then make the pinwheels, count how much I’ve got and then back again to cutting.  So I’ve got a bunch of strips cut but I’m not sure if that’s enough or way too much.  I can do the math but I know my math got all weird with Step 2 – I think I may be a little short.  So I’ve decided to just cut and sew as I go.  I’ve been trying to cut all my pieces first, chain sew and then press all at once.  As a result, I’ve got very little finished for step 2.  Well, I’m going to do my best to get as many done for step 3 today. So far I’ve got a third of the pinwheels done and maybe a 4th of the HSTs.

Stash count: **I started counting 5/23/13

Used this week: 1 yards
Used year to Date: 41.25 yards
Added this Weeks: 4 yards
Added Year to Date: 180.25 yards
Net Added for 2013: 139 yards

see more stash reports at  

~gone quilting!

Melanie