Stash Report 013022 - Lots Going On

Since I finished all the UFOs on hangers, I am now working my way through the drawer of WIPs.  I thought there were just parts in there, but I found an old top of my mother's.  The backing fabric was with it, so I squared it up and took it for quilting.  It was small enough that for a minute I considered quilting it myself, but I knew it would be prettier if the ladies at Dragonfly Quilting did it for me!  

For some odd reason, I remember this quilt from when we lived in Guatemala, so it is at least 11 years old, but probably older because she wasn't doing this kind of work for years before that.  The green is an odd "slippery" fabric that was hard to work with - another reason not to quilt it myself.  My mother was an enthusiastic quilter and always willing to try something new.  We are guessing this is the result of a class or workshop that she took.  As far as I know this is the only thing she made like this.  The pieces of the pineapple are folded before being sewn together.  The folds are uniform enough to be deliberate - not accidental.  

Since it was in my stash I am now counting it out!

There was new fabric at the thrift store, but the prices were too high and nothing caught my eye - and I don't need anything, so nothing came home.

Fabric In This Week: 0 yards

Fabric In YTD: 6.04 yards

Fabric Out This Week: 2.85 yards for front and back of pineapple quilt

Fabric Out YTD: 5.9 yards

Stash Movement: 0.14 yards in

As far as time spent sewing .....  

100 finished masks

I was busy this week.  I'm still working on the kid masks for Teacher E's kindergarteners, but the end is definitely in sight.  As of Saturday night, less than 50 to go and they just need the last stitching around and adding the elastic.  

100 to go early in the week

The fun sewing this week was at school.  The Spring Carnival is coming up, so it is time to make an auction quilt!  I went back and forth on a design and decided to just keep it simple.  I cut 6.5" white squares for the students to design and alternating squares out of a fun batik with dragonflies.  I took the sewing machine to school and the kids sewed their squares to a batik square.  They loved the experience - as expected.  I'll sew the rows together into a top and then take it all back another day so they can do some quilting stitching.  

Slow and steady!

Days of at least 15 minutes of sewing this week: 7/7

Days of at least 15 minutes of sewing in January: 29/30

Days of at least 15 minutes of sewing in 2022: 29/30

Percentage: 97%

Linking up to Kate's Life in Pieces to share progress and stay accountable.

Stash Report 012322 - A Boring Week

A boring week with no photos.  Still making masks, but it seems as though the end is in sight for the kindergarten masks.  If my count is good, I should not have to cut any more.   And the first round of stitching is complete on this last batch that were cut.  Woo hoo!

Fabric In This Week: 0 yards

Fabric In YTD: 6.04 yards

Fabric Out This Week: 0.54 yards from my personal stash for masks

Fabric Out YTD: 3.05 yards

Stash Movement: 2.99 yards in

As far as time spent sewing .....  

I did better this week managing sewing and work.  One day I felt like I had plenty of energy and sewed for a while right after school.  As soon as I finished I got sleepy so I'd thought I'd take a quick nap before making dinner.  I woke up 3.5 hours later!  My first thought was to be thankful that my family is able to fend for themselves for dinner.  My next thought was "at least I got the sewing in first!"

Days of at least 15 minutes of sewing this week: 7/7

Days of at least 15 minutes of sewing in January: 22/23

Days of at least 15 minutes of sewing in 2022: 22/23

Percentage: 96%

Linking up to Kate's Life in Pieces to share progress and stay accountable.

Stash Report 011622 - More Masks

Made good progress on the next round of masks for the kindergarteners at Teacher E's school in Georgia.  All that were cut got their first round of stitching done.  Then my sisters returned what they had flipped and ironed and I got the final stitching done on those.  59 complete - many more to go.  All this fabric was either already counted out of my stash or came from the mask project stash, so nothing to count out.

First 59 ready to go!

The thrift store had some good deals, so I did have fabric come in.  A giant piece of solid green and several small pieces of various reds.  All good replacement for fabrics I have used up.  The green will be a good quilt backing!  6.04 yards for $3.   

Fabric In!

Fabric In This Week: 6.04 yards

Fabric In YTD: 6.04 yards

Fabric Out This Week: 0 yards

Fabric Out YTD: 2.51 yards

Stash Movement: 3.53 yards in

As far as time spent sewing .....  

We went back to school on Thursday of the previous week, so this was our first full week back.  I was still exhausted.  Monday was the worst since it was my day with no planning period, then tutoring after school, then an evening ZOOM meeting I had forgotten about.  I could not even make myself walk upstairs much less do something productive.  Some days are like that, but overall I am conscientiously making the effort to either sew or move a project forward in some way every day. 

Days of at least 15 minutes of sewing this week: 6/7

Days of at least 15 minutes of sewing in January: 15/16

Days of at least 15 minutes of sewing in 2022: 15/16

Percentage: 94%

Linking up to Kate's Life in Pieces to share progress.

Stash Report 010922 - Kid Masks

Nothing in again this week. Woo hoo!

I am working on another round of masks for Teacher E's kindergarteners so that was quite a bit out.  She is a first year teacher in a Title 1 school in Georgia where masks are required at school.  We made masks for her class when she interned and kept making for her own class this year.  When she realized that the siblings of her students were also using the masks she gave them and that the other kindergarten classes had just as much need we just kept making.  

I think these went to her internship class.

Her class got fun masks in Aug/Sept.  All the kindergarteners got fall themed masks in October.  All the kindergarteners and many teachers got Christmas masks in December.  I got smart and had Valentine masks ready for when I saw her at Christmas so I wouldn't have to ship them.  Now I am working on spring masks.   

Fun masks for Aug/Sept.

For kid masks I use a variation of The Midnight Baker 3D mask.  I actually worked out 4 different sizes depending on the grade level I am making for.  The students have said that these are the most comfortable and fit the best of any they have tried.

We made over 500 kids masks for the Blessings in a Backpack program.

When we got the request for masks for Blessings in a Backpack, we started an assembly line process and that helps me a lot.  I cut and sew the first round.  One sister flips, pokes out the corners, and makes the elastic pieces with matching beads so that they are adjustable.  My other sister irons them.  Then they come back to me for the final stitching and adding the elastic.   

Made for my class last year after we read Love That Dog.

More students are coming back to school, so the numbers keep going up.   For fall we needed 75, but at Christmas 80 was not enough.  For Valentines I made 127 since they are expecting even more to come back for the next semester.  For spring I'm just going to make as much as the supplies allow.   I tend to use more of my personal stash for her masks since I have more fun fabrics than are in the general mask project stash.  I am running out of fun boy fabric though.

Still to be sewn.

I cut a good amount of small kid masks early this week, but didn't sew them.  I figured I would do that when my energy and focus was low after school started back up.  That worked well.  We went back to school on Thursday and I was exhausted.  So I sewed the first round on some of these Thursday and Friday evening.  I timed myself and it take just under 1 minute to sew one.  2.4 yards of my stash out

Fabric In This Week: 0 yards

Fabric In YTD: 0 yards

Fabric Out This Week: 2.4 yards

Fabric Out YTD: 2.51 yards

Stash Movement: 2.51 yards out

And .....  I sewed or made forward progress on a sewing project 7/7 days this week!  

Any ideas what to do with thousands of corners?  Most are 1.5 inches on the short sides.  Some are 1.75 inches.  Half of them are flannel.  I have tried making HST, but it is too fiddly and too small for me. There are at least 2 gallon ziploc bags full.  I rarely throw anything away, but I'm ready to get rid of these.   I need a good idea or I'd happily send to anyone who can use them.

Linking up to Kate at Life in Pieces to share progress.

Tasty Tuesday - Overnight Breakfast Casserole

My school does a breakfast potluck the last full week of school before the winter break.  Every day a different grade level or area brings food for the building.  We are divided into K-2 in one building and 3-6 in the other, so it isn't for hundreds of people - just 50 or so!  

I remembered a crockpot breakfast casserole recipe that a coworker had given me years ago when I was expecting overnight company.  We liked it, but I had not made it since.  I also did not have the recipe on hand anymore.  So, I searched and found a similar one that looked perfect since I didn't want to get up early and put it all together and then have to wait for it to cook and I had loaned my crockpot to my sister and didn't have it back yet.  https://momspark.net/overnight-cheesy-sausage-and-hashbrown-breakfast-casserole-recipe/

Overnight Cheesy Sausage and Hashbrown Breakfast Casserole

2 c shredded mild cheddar cheese

1 30 oz bag frozen shredded hash browns

2 lb breakfast sausage (spicy if desired)

2 c milk

8 medium eggs

1/4 t onion powder

1/4 t garlic powder

1 t salt

1/2 t pepper

Preheat oven to 350F (if making the casserole the day of).

In a large frying pan, cook sausage until brown.  Drain and set aside.

In same frying pan, lightly brown hash browns.  Then place hash browns in greased 13x9 casserole.

Top with sausage and cheese.

In medium bowl whisk eggs, milk, and all spices until combined.  Pour over casserole mixture.

Cover casserole dish with foil and place in refrigerator overnight.

Bake uncovered at 350F for 40 minutes or until cheese starts to bubble and brown at top.

Notes: I allowed more than 40 minutes since it was starting from cold, but I didn't need to.  

It was a hit at school and someone asked for the recipe even.  That rarely happens when I cook.  Little S asked for some, but there were no leftovers, so I made it again for us.  Yummmy.  I made it again after Christmas, but did not allow it to sit overnight and it was just as good.

Stash Report 010222 - Bowl Cozy

This is an easy one.

Nothing in since I didn't leave the house on Saturday!  My sister and I usually go to our local thrift store on Saturday morning, but we skipped it this weekend.  Two round trips to North Carolina in one week was enough driving for me for quite a while.

I made a bowl cozy for Little S.  She had been using Teacher E's cozies since she had forgotten to take them when she moved in July.  At Christmas she wanted them back.  Little S uses them all the time, so there was an immediate need for a new one.  I use this tutorial The Crafty Gemini Bowl Cozy that is easy peasy. 

New Bowl Cozy - Very Pink!

Fabric In This Week: 0 yards

Fabric Out This Week: 0.11 yards

Stash Movement: 0.11 yards out

Linking up to Kate at Life in Pieces to share progress.

 

Sewing Goals for 2022

Nothing too complicated.

1) I want to keep moving forward on my drawer of bits & pieces. 

Drawer of bits & pieces

2) Since I made huge progress with my flimsies that needed quilting last year and I now have no big projects in the works, I thought maybe I'd start a big something new. But so far nothing has struck me that I really, really want to commit to. 

3) Over Thanksgiving I got out my travel stitching for the drive from Florida to North Carolina. I usually work on the birth announcement cross-stitch for Little S. She is 15 years old, so it is time to be finished. But I only work on it when traveling, and I don't watch TV, so it hasn't moved forward much lately. I also worked on it over Christmas (also in North Carolina) and made enough progress that I think with a little bit of effort I could finish it this year. 

Little S's Cross-Stitch

4) Dear Jane also came out at Thanksgiving. That is another project that usually only comes out when I need hand stitching - road trips and hunkering down for hurricanes. We have not had any hurricanes lately - thank goodness for that. When I looked over my progress I realized that most of what is left can be done by machine or at least started on the machine. I made several blocks over Thanksgiving - by hand and machine - and figured if I do a few each month that is forward progress. 

Dear Jane rows A-J

5) Keep working with the stash on hand. The last two years I have made a dent in the stash - by numbers, not by visible change in the piles! I will try to stick with not buying any new fabric unless absolutely necessary. I have one project from the drawer that I don't see how to finish with what is on hand, but maybe I just need to look harder. 

Stash Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy

6) I'd like to get back to blogging. I like the creative outlet and I need to not let teaching take every bit of my time.  I now have a personal computer again, so that will help.  I was hesitant to use my work computer for much personal stuff and I know that is part of why I wasn't writing and posting.

 I think all of that is pretty reasonable. 

 Wish me luck!