Week of February 16

It was a strange week, and I worked on a mix of projects.  One day I didn't feel good so came home from school quickly and after a 3 hour nap I looked at old magazines to find inspiration.  I ended up finding a good project for my next leader & ender project.  So the next few days I cut out pieces to get me started.  

Seems like a simple but cute project for leaders & enders!

Over winter break I had seen this cute hexagon hot pad pattern and thought it would be fun to make for the girls.  I still had extra hexagons from the baby quilts I had made a while back and they turned out to be the right size.  On the first one I made the mistake of trying to do it in a QAYG fashion over the batting, and that did not work.  I made it work, but I won't do that again.  The pieces were just too small to manage easily.  

Halfway done!

This morning I made myself finish the first one since I had all the parts ready to go.  I was nervous about binding the angles, but it came out fine.  Next time I will make sure the binding ends meet farther away from the loop.  I have the next top ready.  These are definitely not on the front burner and once I finish the 3 of them, I pretty sure I'm done.  Super cute, not hard, but just not my thing.    

I also worked on this quilt that was made from donated squares and then set aside several years ago since I didn't really like it and didn't have anything that remotely coordinated to add borders or finish or anything.  Well, when I went to use up my Joann's gift card I found the red polka dot that I thought was close enough for a border.  

Top is intended backing, black is for another project, red is the borders and maybe binding.

When I washed the fabric I got that day, a black for another project was next to the fabrics for this quilt and it looked good together.  So I added a narrow black inner border with a black grunge from my stash.  I think it makes a huge difference.  I actually almost like this now.  I will work on the red borders this week.

15 Minute Report

15 minute days/week = 6/7

15 minute day/Feb = 19/22

15 minute days/2025 = 46/53
Success Rate = 87%

Not enough movement this week to affect the stash, but hopefully next week I'll have some finishes.

2025 Stash Totals

Used last week:  0 yards

Used year to date: 10.31 yards

Acquired last Week: 0 yards

Acquired year to date: 7 yards

Net used in 2025: 3.31 more yards used

Linking to Life in Pieces to share progress.

Linking to quiltpaintcreate to share stash movement.

The Carnival Quilt that wasn't a "Carnival" Quilt

Two hours from finishing the Carnival Quilt I found out that there is no Carnival Auction this year.  We have new administration this year and we were told of the change 10 days before the Carnival.  I guess I should have been suspicious that there was no information about, nor requests for, auction items or teacher experiences.  But after decades of Spring Carnival Auctions I never thought to confirm before I started this year's quilt back in December.

47" x 55"

So ..... now what do I do with it?  Personally, I do not need a reminder of this year's class.  But how do I decide who gets it?  Do I just pick someone?  I do have a student in mind who would benefit from an emotional connection and confidence boost by having it.  But how do I make it seem fair and non-partial?

It was with mixed emotions that I finished the last of the quilting and the binding today.  I love the quilt.  The backing fabric had been in the stash for forever and is just what this quilt needed to tie all the colors together.  The backing and binding are the perfect combination and the whole thing is just so soft and cozy.  

I missed sewing last Sunday due to a trip to Savannah to see the girls.  Then on Thursday I came home from school and just plain forgot that sewing was a thing to do!

15 Minute Report

15 minute days/week = 5/7

15 minute day/Feb = 13/15

15 minute days/2025 = 40/46
Success Rate = 87%

With the Carnival Quilt finished I have some movement.

2025 Stash Totals

Used last week: 2.12 yards for Carnival Quilt backing and binding

Used year to date: 10.31 yards

Acquired last Week: 0 yards

Acquired year to date: 7 yards

Net used in 2025: 3.31 more yards used

I dropped off a load at the thrift store and then went in to look for a fish tank filter to replace the one at school that stopped working this week.  No aquarium equipment, but I did find this - 2 unopened packs together for $5.  I don't usually use fusible, but figured I'd find a use for it somewhere at that price. 

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

Linking for quiltpaintcreate to share stash movement.

Carnival Quilt Continued

The students and I are still working on the Carnival Quilt.  This week we got the center of the top quilted.  It came down to the wire on Friday afternoon, but everyone got a chance to sew so I could finally bring my machine back home.  I had every intention of finishing it this weekend, but that hasn't happened.

Between sewing at school and prepping the back for the Dear Jane quilt at home I was able to work on projects every day this week.  

15 Minute Report

15 minute days/week = 7/7

15 minute day/Feb = 8/8

15 minute days/2025 = 35/39
Success Rate = 90%

No finishes this week, so the Stash Report remains the same.

2025 Stash Totals

Used last week: 0 yards

Used year to date: 8.19 yards

Acquired last Week: 0 yards

Acquired year to date: 7 yards

Net used in 2025: 1.19 more yards used

Linking up to Life in Pieces to share progress.

Linking up to quiltpaintcreate to report stash movement.

PhD January Report

When I started I never imagined I would have a finish already for my PhD January Report.  But here I am with my first PhD finish.  Woohoo!!

Being more organized is certainly helping me stay on track to get some starts all the way to the finish line.

I have liked this color combination for forever.  It feels good to have this one finished just because I like it so much.  

It is destined to be gifted either to a child in need at church or a child in need in Teacher E's school.  I always keep kids' quilts on hand.  It seems harder for me to make "boy" quilts, so this is a good addition to the kid quilt pile.

Carnival Quilt

Here is a big project that I totally forgot to put on my PhD list.  Every year I make a quilt with my class to auction off at the school's spring carnival.  The quilt is due in mid-February, so I needed to move it to the front burner.  Most of the kids made their blocks back in December, but I had one straggler and one new student and me who made blocks in January.  They make a design on paper and then copy it onto the fabric square using fabric markers.  For as much trouble as I have with this group, they understood the idea of "details cannot be too fine" better than previous classes.  There were no tears, repeats, or disasters.

A good smile from someone I have a hard time challenging!

Everyone picked their own border fabric. The colors are not uniformly distributed because the blocks are placed in the line order of the students.  When they look at it, they see a pattern of sorts and it makes them happy.

Bright and Cheerful!

The kids had already joined most of their blocks back in December, so I finished it up this week with the remaining blocks and added inner and outer borders.  This fun stripe has been in my stash for ages.  This is the perfect project for it and I think there will be just enough for backing as well.  Backing will be next week's project.  I will sandwich it and then take it all back to school for the kids to use the machine to quilt it with the walking foot.

Little S (probably should be referred to as College S now) has been cross-stitching for a few years.  She is slowing working through kits that have been gifted to her.  This one she finished at Christmas time.  She has been wanting to give it to her Abuela in Guatemala.  Well, Senor G is going down next weekend, so the ball was in my court (an appropriate idiom we used at school this week!) to do the finishing.  We had found a metal hoop the right size at the thrift store in December.  The yellow gingham was still out from the Beachy Words binding, so I used that to add a little color to the trim and I think it came out perfectly.

Mama Cristy is going to love it!  

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of stitching/sewing/quilting time.  I am satisfied with my week.  One night, I had a late meeting an hour south of school, which is 30 minutes south of home, and that ended up wiping me out the next night also.  I went to bed at 7:30 pm and didn't wake up until the alarm went off at 6:00 am for work.  My class thought it was pretty funny that I was asleep before they were!

15 Minute Report

15 minute days/week = 5/7

15 minute days/Jan = 27/31

15 minute day/Feb = 1/1
15 minute days/2025 = 28/32
Success Rate = 88%

Stash only moved out this week.

2025 Stash Totals

Used last week:  2.85 yds  Carnival Quilt top & Cross-stitch trim

Used year to date: 8.19 yards

Acquired last Week: 0 yards

Acquired year to date: 7 yards

Net used in 2025: 1.19 more yards used

Linking up to Life in Pieces to share progress.

Linking up to quiltpaintcreate to show stash movement.