The Last Stash Report and Stitching Time for 2022

My final stash report for 2022 didn't turn out as hoped, but it's not too terrible either. Every year my goal is to use/give away/get rid of at least as much fabric as gets added to the stash. I was doing very well on that goal for eleven months of 2022, but a trip to Hancock's of Paducah plus the Black Friday sales pushed my end-of-year numbers into the red. 

The stash changes since my last report two weeks ago were 4 yards used for my recently completed Ruby Challenge quilt top. I'm going to share a sneak peek of just one corner of the quilt top for now.

One of the recent additions to the stash was 4.5 yards purchased for the challenge quilt backing. I think this will look great with the quilt!

The other stash addition was 3 yards of "turquoise" solids in the last installment of the monthly solids club from Fat Quarter Shop. Not many of these fabrics look very turquoise to me, but they will be pretty additions to the solids collection anyway.

2022 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                 4.0 yards

Used year to date:      139.875 yards

Added last week:               7.5 yards

Added year to date:        153.0 yards

Net stashed in 2022      13.125 yards

My stash goals for the coming year remain the same as the past few years--to use or give away more than I add to the stash. It's time for a serious clean out of the sewing room fabric shelves!

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 time. I've been splitting my time between the Ruby Challenge quilt and Bonnie Hunter's annual mystery. I made a late start on the mystery, and I'm not excited with how my color choices are looking, so that project may come to an early end.

15 Minute Challenge for 2022: 

12/18 - 12/31      14 of 14 days

2022 Total        354 of 365 days

My numbers for the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge have continued to be very good (almost 97% for 2022), and I hope to keep that trend going for another year! My sewing room is my favorite place to be, and I'm very lucky to have a husband who encourages my creative pursuits.

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. 

Happy New Year and happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 12/18/2022

It's time for true confessions on the stash report today. I tried to resist the Black Friday sales, but gave in and placed an order with Connecting Threads on the last possible day. The majority of my purchases were solids, with a variety of prints filling out my selections. Most of these are half yard pieces.

Altogether, the additions to the stash totaled 17 yards. The only usage to report for the week is 5/8 yard for the two Santa redwork pieces shared HERE. With only two weeks left in the year, it is unlikely that I will end up using more fabric than has been added to the stash in 2022, but I'm very happy with the current additions. Now I just need to figure out where to store all those solids!

2022 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:              .625 yards

Used year to date:     135.875 yards

Added last week:             17.0 yards

Added year to date:       145.5 yards

Net stashed in 2022      9.625 yards

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 time. Once all the new fabrics had been washed and folded, I spent the majority of my quilting time working on my guild challenge entry. You can see the latest post about that project HERE.

15 Minute Challenge for 2022: 

12/11 - 12/17          7 of 7 days

2022 Total        340 of 351 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 12/11/2022

None of the numbers for my stash report and stitching time in the last week were what I might have hoped, but it doesn't matter because it was a fantastic week! We spent several days in Wisconsin visiting family, topped off by an amazing party for my mother's 88th birthday last Sunday. The entire immediate family was there--four children and their spouses, 6 grandchildren and spouses/partners, and nine great-grandchildren, plus several cousins and friends. It was the perfect afternoon of love and family togetherness! I was so busy having fun that I didn't get any photos of the people there, but I did get this one beforehand.

My stash report took a hit this week with no fabric used and 10.25 yards added to the stash after a stop at Hancock's of Paducah on the way to Wisconsin. It's so rare that I get to shop for fabric in person these days, and I had the best time fondling fabric there. 

We also enjoyed seeing this granny square "tree" in downtown Paducah on the trip home.

2022 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                0.0 yards

Used year to date:       135.25 yards

Added last week:           10.25 yards

Added year to date:       128.5 yards

Net used in 2022         6.75 yards

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 time. We've had a lot going on since we got back from Wisconsin, including a party with my former co-workers and an early Christmas gathering with family here.  My quilting time suffered, with only three days out of seven, but it was worth it for all the good times we've been having!

15 Minute Challenge for 2022: 

12/4 - 12/10            3 of 7 days

2022 Total        333 of 344 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 12/4/2022

It has been a good week for stash usage. I used 3.75 yards to make three grocery bags from old fabric scraps. I also used 1/4 yard for the two Jabberwocky blocks shared in yesterday's post.

2022 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                4.0 yards

Used year to date:       135.25 yards

Added last week:              0.0 yards

Added year to date:     118.25 yards

Net used in 2022         17.0 yards

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 time. Most of my quilting time this week has been spent doing handwork on a travel project, but I have managed to get some time every day.

15 Minute Challenge for 2022: 

11/27 - 12/3           7 of 7 days

2022 Total        330 of 337 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 11/27/2022

I'm a little behind on posting my stash report, which seems surprising since there haven't really been any changes to the stash since last week. I've been doing plenty of cutting up fabric and stitching it back together, but nothing is ready to be included on the stash report. 

I spent a large portion of the past week trying to figure out a plan/design for a guild challenge. It is the 40th anniversary of the guild, so the challenge theme is Ruby, Ruby. The rules are to use at least 40 square inches (5" x 8") of a ruby red fabric and the quilt must also include exactly 40 of something: 40 blocks, 40 flying geese, 40 different fabrics, etc. 

After considering many possibilities, I decided that I could make a quilt with 20 blocks, using two different red fabrics in each block. The block that I tried is a Judy Martin design from The Block Book called "Jabberwocky". I made one sample block and have a second one cut out, but decided that I don't want to make more of them right now. Those long, skinny triangles in the star points are very tricky to cut and to stitch accurately.

"Jabberwocky" from The Block Book by Judy Martin

My current plan uses a simpler star design, this time a single fabric for the stars and a scrappy red background. I pulled together 40 different red fabrics and will limit myself to those for this quilt. Here are the first two blocks. The stars will alternate with a 9-Patch variation block for the quilt design.

The good news for the stash report is that I have managed to resist the Black Friday fabric sales so far--no new fabric added to the stash this week!

2022 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                0.0 yards

Used year to date:       131.25 yards

Added last week:              0.0 yards

Added year to date:     118.25 yards

Net used in 2022         13.0 yards

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 time. I spent even more time quilting than usual last week, although the beginning of the week was mostly playing with design ideas for my challenge quilt.

15 Minute Challenge for 2022: 

11/20 - 11/26          7 of 7 days

2022 Total        323 of 330 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 11/20/2022

The past week of quilting time didn't feel especially productive, but it turned out that I used more fabric than I realized. My usage included 2.625 yards for the border and the backing of the Thanksgiving Hexagons Stack & Whack quilt that I shared early in the week (see it HERE.) Unfortunately, it won't be finished in time for Thanksgiving due to machine tension problems. Instead I pulled out the matching fabric with black background (2.5 yards), hemmed it all around, and made it into a tablecloth perfect for fall and Thanksgiving. No new fabric was added this week, but there sure are a lot of tempting pre-Black Friday sales out there!

2022 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:            5.125 yards

Used year to date:       131.25 yards

Added last week:              0.0 yards

Added year to date:     118.25 yards

Net used in 2022         13.0 yards

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 time. Other than the Thanksgiving quilt and the tablecloth, most of my quilting time seemed to be spent trying to figure out the tension problems with my machine, including many phone calls and texts with a Juki technician. Unfortunately, the repairman for my local dealer has been in the hospital, and they don't know when he will be available for house calls again. I'm back to using my old Singer for everything until further notice.

15 Minute Challenge for 2022: 

11/13 - 11/19          7 of 7 days

2022 Total        316 of 323 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 11/13/2022

The past week of quilting started out with the emphasis on catching up with some free-motion quilting (FMQ) lessons. One of the final projects for the online class I've been taking is a sampler quilt made up of solid squares that each get quilted with a different motif. I made the pieced quilt top a couple months ago (see it HERE), and this week I pieced the back, plus made a little mini quilt with the same fabrics for testing out my tension and stitching designs.

The backing fabric is an old Jinny Beyer fabric. I love that it has feather designs, very much like some of the quilting motifs we are learning in class.

Above is my little mini version of the sampler quilt, complete with stitching samples. It measures around 18" square. All of the stitching near the center was done as a review of the motifs before I started quilting on the actual quilt. I'm using the same medium grey thread on all the different fabrics. After doing the test stitching, I quilted the first two blocks in the sampler quilt, and was very excited to have made a start. 

Unfortunately, the next day when I sat down to continue quilting, I discovered that my tension looked horrible on the back side of the quilt, with loops from the top thread pulling through to the back. It seemed as though there was no top tension on the machine. It is especially visible in the loop-de-loop near the center, the wavy line just above that, and even in the straight-stitch lines at the bottom. Click on the photo to zoom in.

I did everything I knew to make it better--rethreaded the machine multiple times, changed bobbins, new needle, etc. Nothing helped. The machine has electronic controls, and even when I had the top tension at the highest possible setting, it still looked like this. After two days of frustration, messing with the machine, searching online for suggestions, and phone calls to my dealer, nothing has gotten better. I'm hoping for a phone call from a Juki technician on Monday. 

Enough of my tale of woe, this is supposed to be a stash report. I used 3 yards for the sampler quilt backing plus 3/4 yard for the mini sampler quilt. 

2022 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:              3.75 yards

Used year to date:     126.125 yards

Added last week:              0.0 yards

Added year to date:     118.25 yards

Net used in 2022       7.875 yards

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 time. Prepping my FMQ sampler quilt for quilting dominated the early part of the week, followed by days of frustration as I tried to figure out my tension problems. By Saturday I had given up and switched over to piecing on a different machine.

15 Minute Challenge for 2022: 

11/6 - 11/12            7 of 7 days

2022 Total        309 of 316 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 11/6/2022

When I sat down to calculate my stash report for the week, I didn't think there would be any usage to report because most of the week was spent joining blocks together. However, I realized that the final set of Charm Basket blocks got finished after my last stash report, 24 light and bright blue blocks.

Those blocks plus a dozen background rectangles at the ends of columns used a total of one yard of fabric. They all got joined together with the previous 200+ basket blocks into my finished Charm Baskets quilt top. I shared this same photo in yesterday's post, but I love it so much that it is making a second appearance! 

As for fabric additions, I received another fat quarter bundle of solids, this time in shades of Golden Topaz, from the Fat Quarter Shop. 3 yards added. They seem like the perfect colors for this time of year!

2022 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                1.0 yards

Used year to date:     122.375 yards

Added last week:              3.0 yards

Added year to date:     118.25 yards

Net used in 2022       4.125 yards

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 time. After finishing the last set of basket blocks, I spent most of the week assembling the Charm Basket quilt top. After that, I switched over to catching up on some free-motion quilting lessons.

15 Minute Challenge for 2022: 

10/30 - 11/5           7 of 7 days

2022 Total        302 of 309 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 10/30/2022

My bin of solid fabrics will be overflowing with the additions I received this week. I have been getting monthly fat quarter bundles of solid-colored fabrics from the Fat Quarter Shop all year, The colors in each bundle are based on that month's birthstone. I had received the October bundle early in the month, but September's Sapphire blues were delayed until this week. I also got the Garnet bundle from January, which I had previously missed because I joined a little late. These would work well together in a patriotic quilt.

One thing I didn't realize when I started getting these monthly bundles was that the manufacturers would vary. Each month's bundle contains fabrics from a single company, but the company can vary from month to month. Both of the bundles above are Kona cottons. Below are two groups of red--on the left is the Kona Garnet bundle, and on the right is the Ruby bundle from July. That one is Bella Solids from Moda. I have also received Confetti Cottons by Riley Blake and Pure Solids by Art Gallery Fabrics. Using these different fabrics may help me figure out if there is one brand I prefer over others.

The additions to the stash totaled 6 yards for the week. As for usage, I used 1-3/8 yard to make a total of 36 Charm Basket blocks for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. You can see them HERE. I am nearly done with the light and bright blue baskets, which will be the last color added to that collection.

2022 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:            1.375 yards

Used year to date:     121.375 yards

Added last week:              6.0 yards

Added year to date:     115.25 yards

Net used in 2022       6.125 yards

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 time. I was obsessed with working on the basket blocks all week, determined to get caught up on the last three months of blocks. I hope to finish off the light blue blocks today!

15 Minute Challenge for 2022: 

10/23 - 10/29          7 of 7 days

2022 Total        295 of 302 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 10/23/22

It was another good week for stash usage, with a total of 5.5 yards of fabric used and no new fabric added to the stash. The usage included 2.875 yards for the Karma 4-Patch quilt top, 1.625 yards for the border stripe tablerunner, and 1 yard for the last blocks plus the sashing/border on the Scrappy Hearts quilt. You can read more and see photos of each project by clicking on the names. 

The Scrappy Hearts were my favorite project of the week. This is partly because they include one of my all-time favorite background fabrics, Tula Pink's Fairy Dust print. I've used this fabric for two quilts so far, and am considering getting more for a future rainbow quilt.

Tula Pink's Fairy Dust print, color "Cotton Candy"

2022 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:              5.50 yards

Used year to date:        120.0 yards

Added last week:              0.0 yards

Added year to date:     109.25 yards

Net used in 2022       10.75 yards

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 time. I completed the last project for the guild's Christmas fair, plus finished assembling two more quilt tops. It's time to get back to more free-motion quilting.

15 Minute Challenge for 2022: 

10/16 - 10/22         7 of 7 days

2022 Total        288 of 295 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA