Scrappy Baby Bricks

I worked steadily on the baby bricks this week.  Since I used scraps only, the color placement turned out not quite right in some color paths.  I am convincing myself that it is fine and done is good and a baby won't care.

I will let this sit while I clean up the mess of the sewing room and think on what my next project will be.  If it still doesn't bother me enough to remake blocks, then I'll start joining them next week.

UPDATE: I rearranged some of the purples and oranges and I think that helps.  I still will not sew them all together yet though. 

Better? Maybe?

Open House was Thursday evening.  I was at school for 12 hours and did not have any oompf left for sewing when I finally got home.  Some days are like that and that's okay.  Still good forward progress.

15 Minutes to Stitch

15 minute days/last week = 6/7

15 minute days/August = 25/30

15 minute days/2025 = 224/263

Success Rate = 85%

 

Still no stash movement, but I am hopeful that I'll get the baby bricks joined this week and have better numbers next week.

2025 Stash Totals

Used last week: 0 yards

Used year to date: 86.03 yards

Acquired recently: 15.83 yards 

Acquired year to date: 40.33 yards

Net used in 2025: 45.73 more yards used

Linking up to: 

Kate at Life in Pieces

Donna at quiltpaintcreate

Frederique at quilting patchwork applique

Baby Bricks for a Friday Finish

I worked away at it little by little all week and got all the block units done.  

Sunday ...

Color placement may not be perfect, but a baby will never notice, right?

Friday!

I'm happy I got this far.  I will think on it over the weekend before starting to join the blocks.

What I'm Working On

 How did I do last week AUG 17-23:

• cut pieces for leader & enders in colors to fill gaps PROGRESS
• clean sewing room PROGRESS
• move leader & ender project from floor to design wall  DONE
• confirm number of baby quilts need to church outreach  PROGRESS

In rereading the list from last week, I realized I am still calling the baby brick project a leader & ender project.  I has definitely moved on to primary focus project.

The number of baby quilts needed for the church outreach is still a moving target, but has gone down from twelve to possibly four quilts. I think her group is in flux, so it's hard to make firm plans for both of us.  Kind of frustrating, but I have some ready to go and it will be fine.  In the previous list there were twin girls for the fall, so I am going to work on those just in case.  The good thing about quilts is that they don't go bad if they are not used right away.

TO DO LIST FOR AUGUST 24-30:

• continue to cut pieces for baby bricks in colors to fill gaps
• sew baby bricks
• clean sewing room
• make a plan for the twin girl quilts for church outreach

Another short list since I am still working on getting back into the back to school groove.  Forward progress of any kind is welcome.

Forward Progress on the Baby Brick Quilt

I am getting settled into the school routine and I had a plan for the week, so I was productive this week.  I got the brick units up off the floor and onto the design wall.  

I tried to think better about placement this time.  Currently I have darks on the top and right leading towards lights on the left and bottom.  

Some colors look very different in the photo than in real life.

I am going through my scraps filling in color gaps for bricks that I already made with the hope that I will not have bricks made that don't fit in the final plan.  We'll see.

Thinking through the color placement.

It took everything I had not to just keep sewing as I cut pieces, but I had a LOT of grading and lesson planning that had to get done on Saturday.  And I knew that if I sewed them all up I would not have anything to do when I needed something simple after school this coming week.

Waiting to be sewn on a school day!

I prepped and/or sewed every day except Friday.  I thought about it, but realized I was so tired I should not be making any decisions and certainly not using sharp instruments!  So, I sat in front of the TV and sorted school papers, which was also a much needed task, but no thought required.

No sewing, just sorting.

15 Minutes to Stitch

15 minute days/last week = 6/7

15 minute days/August = 13/23

15 minute days/2025 = 218/253

Success Rate = 86%

 

No stash movement at all this week! 

2025 Stash Totals

Used last week: 0 yards

Used year to date: 86.03 yards

Acquired recently: 15.83 yards 

Acquired year to date: 40.33 yards

Net used in 2025: 45.73 more yards used

Linking up to: 

Kate at Life in Pieces.

Donna at quiltpaintcreate

Frederique at quilting patchwork applique

What I'm Working On

 How did I do on the list for AUG 10 - 16 ?

• clean the sewing room cleaned, but then covered up with work stuff
• wash fabric from Greenville DONE
• cut leaders & enders didn't cut, but did plan a layout and sew some pairs together
• decide on the next big project, which needs to be simple as I get back in the groove DONE 
• confirm number of baby quilts needed for church outreach NO

A weird week but I had expected that since it was the first week back to school with students.  I have a plan for my next project and that is the most important thing.  

A starting point!

I'm going to work forward more intentionally on my leader & enders project.  I had just randomly cut pieces to sew since I didn't have a better idea at the time, but now I will work to fill the gaps.  I think I have about 3/4 of what I need for a baby quilt.  So that is manageable.

TO DO LIST FOR AUG 17-23:

• cut pieces for leader & enders in colors to fill gaps
• clean sewing room
• move leader & ender project from floor to design wall
• confirm number of baby quilts need to church outreach

First Week of School is in the Books

First week of school - DONE!!  I'm off to a good start at school, but definitely need to work on my stamina so that I can work and sew everyday.   I also need a better plan so that when I come home tired I have something ready to go.  I had a few ideas for this past week, but most of them didn't happen.  

I did, however, take advantage of being home alone for a few evenings to lay out the leader & ender units I had completed.  A while back I had cut random pieces for leader enders with no real plan, but now I had a few ideas and tried this to start.  I think it has potential.  Since I don't have anymore pieces cut for leader enders, I think that's a good place to start to keep me sewing and keep this moving along.

I like where this is going!

15 Minutes to Stitch

15 minute days/last week = 5/7

15 minute days/August = 7/16

15 minute days/2025 = 212/246

Success Rate = 86%

 

No movement at all this week! 

2025 Stash Totals

Used last week: 0 yards

Used year to date: 86.03 yards

Acquired recently: 15.83 yards 

Acquired year to date: 40.33 yards

Net used in 2025: 45.73 more yards used

Linking up to: 

Kate at Life in Pieces.

Donna at quiltpaintcreate

Frederique at quilting patchwork applique

What I Am Working On

After two weeks of extreme activity that did not involve sewing, I am ready to get back into the sewing room.  However, I need to get it back into working order after being a dumping ground.  I was all caught up on active projects before the end of summer travels, so I have to figure out what to do next. 

Only needs binding, so is a good candidate for this week!

School starts Monday, so I have to figure out the new normal and how sewing is going to fit into that as I build my stamina back up for doing both school and sewing.

Needs borders of some sort to enlarge it.  Also has potential.

It was fun to see my last productive week!!  Seems like ages ago.

How did I do July 21-27

• finish quilting the pink brick quilt  DONE
• attach binding  DONE
• clean sewing work space  DONE
• make liner for Little S's bike basket DONE
• wash Little S's baby cross-stitch DONE
• research framing Little S's baby cross-stitch  PROGRESS.  Now that she has finished her summer class, we can devote more energy to this.

This week's list is realistically short:

TO DO LIST FOR AUG 10 - 16

• clean the sewing room
• wash fabric from Greenville
• cut leaders & enders
• decide on the next big project, which needs to be simple as I get back in the groove
• confirm number of baby quilts needed for church outreach

Summer Ends in a Whirlwind

Wow!  The end of summer sure snuck up on me.  I knew it was going to be busy but I didn't anticipate how busy.  

Tile floor in the Library of Congress - lots of potential!

The hectic started when our return flight from DC was postponed to 24 hours later.  Arrgh.  We were able to get a flight that night to Savannah instead, so we crashed at Grown Up E's house and then she drove us home in the morning.  Instead of starting work in my classroom we were hanging out with her, which was infinitely more fun.  Bonus was that she was able to take load of college stuff back to store at her house for Little S!

Another tile section in the Library of Congress.

Then more activities - Grown Up E came back to Jax with her 1 yo godson for a trip to the zoo.  Triple digits temps cut that short so we hung out in the AC at home.  Then a trip to Greenville, SC where I had all three girls together for the afternoon.  That was a real treat.  I highly recommend Recraft Creative Reuse Center if you are anywhere nearby.  They sell donated craft items in every possible genre and very reasonable prices.  We all do different crafts and were all able to find supplies to stock up on.  This was my second visit, so I was very excited, but less overwhelmed!

My haul from Recraft!!

After all the fun was over it was back to school.  I got my room set up in record time with the help of Little S.  She knows just what to do and having her with me makes a huge difference.  Once I was down to the sorting papers stage, she stayed home to finish packing to head back to college.

Yesterday we took Little S back for her second year.  After the freshman year, the dorms are more apartment style.  So even with 4 in the apartment, she needed a lot of kitchen things this year.  She has been very invested in cooking and food shopping this summer, so I think she will be fine.  Having her sister in the same town is a huge plus since she doesn't drive.  There is a walmart and aldi within walking distance, so she has that as well.

Indigo Way in Pink, Purple, and Aqua is her College Quilt

With the traveling and changes to the schedule and getting Little S ready to go back to college and getting me ready to go back to school, there was not much sewing going on at all.  I prepped a little bit of handwork for the Greenville trip and did that but otherwise the sewing room has just been drop off zone!

15 Minutes to Stitch

15 minute days/last two weeks = 3/14

15 minute days/July = 24/31

15 minute days/August = 2/9

15 minute days/2025 = 207/239

Success Rate = 87%

 

The trip to Greenville added to my stash, but most of it is destined for the 12 baby quilts the church outreach requested.  Bundled yardage was $2/yd and loose pieces were 25c each.  All of my loose pieces were at least 1/2 yard!! When I crunched the numbers I ended up paying 68c/yard.  I call that a win!!  Now to use it up!

2025 Stash Totals

Used last week: 0 yards

Used year to date: 86.03 yards

Acquired recently: 15.83 yards 

Acquired year to date: 40.33 yards

Net used in 2025: 45.73 more yards used

Linking up to: 

Frederique at quilting patchwork applique