2022 TTD #4: Distracting Myself With Quilting

No matter where you live, look out your

window toward Kansas.  See that smoke? 

That is coming from my sewing machine

because, my quilty friends, it is on. fire!

(If you're looking a little farther north toward

Arrowhead Stadium, that's the KC Chiefs!)

It was another rough week around here and

I was thankful to have quilting to distract me.

So, at least I have lots of progress to share!

Joining up with the others at Texas Quilt Gal's

Tuesday To-Do Link-Up, I'm going to start off

first with what all I got done:

1) Finish the Great Aunt Mary Christmas quilt

and piece backing:  Done

I decided to name this All That's Christmas.

There are some blocks that stand out a little more in the

photo but I feel like they're not so prominent in real life.

The backing is also pieced and just awaiting quilting.

Side note:  I love, love, love that little pieced border!

Because it was so fun and it only finished up at 

I decided to make another one...but bigger!

I'm not sure how much bigger; I kind of just

 started cutting strips and sewing them into sets.

Once I finish the rest of these and add in the greens

set to arrive soon, I'll have a better idea of the size.

2) Choose next quilt and cut out:  Done, and more

Aside from All That's Christmas II, my next quilt is

"Grace," another from the book County Seat Quilts.

[Their name--I'll choose another]

I made some great progress on this one,

getting most of it cut out and pieced!

Because I chose a green for the setting triangles, 

I reversed the colors for the churn dash blocks.

This one is also waiting on more green fabric

but, hey, not bad considering I just started it!

3) Load up scrap quilt and ensure LA is ready to sell.

Well, I flopped here.  Just haven't had time.

This puts me at 183 blocks so far for January which

just has to be a personal record.  A lot of those are

simple 9-patches but they are still blocks!

Fabric tracking

Kathy Hall--"Chatham Hall" line, Andover Fabrics

These goodies (yardage in red) were off the clearance

rack.  I envision adding an ivory solid and letting

these do their thing in something simple like:

Grandstand Quilt -- Modern Farmhouse

I dug around and came across some beautiful

matching fabrics that I found at a

relief fund sale a couple years ago.  I think I

have enough so watch for this one next.

Other finds: 

These didn't photo well but they're greens.

Also clearance goodies.

And these small pieces were what I was really

after--boosting the reds and greens in all these

Christmas quilts I seem to be gravitating toward.

Still, they were not enough so I ended up making

some online purchases as well.  I'll share those in

in a later post once they show up at my door.

Noting I only add them to my tracking once they

arrive, here is where I stand at the end of January:

Purchased:  20.75 yds

Used:  36.15 yds

2022 Net:  -15.4

2021 + 2022 Net:  +18.25

As a reminder, my only goal is to use more than I buy,

which means keeping the nets in the negative.

Knowing even more fabric will be showing up soon

means I have a lot of work to do this week.

And now for the sad news...

A much-younger Tasha (around 7-8yrs)

Last week I made the hard decision to put my older

cat 'Tasha down.  I have never known such a good cat!

In temperament, intelligence, trust, companionship and

mousing.  She was 19 and though happy, the signs were

there.  I didn't want it to drag out so I made the decision

quickly.  Tasha had only been to the vet twice in her life--

a farm vet, and she rode on my lap.  The major issue

was that I just didn't want her to be scared.  Inevitable

I guess, but she'd never been in a carrier (or waiting room)

so I did the best I could for her:  I made her a leash.

For reference, I used the directions for this pet leash.

(I always thought those would be fun to make, and it was.)

If you zoom in, you'll see the fish and sardine cans on

the fabric.  The vet and her sidekick loved it.

And, Tasha?  She was such a good girl, she didn't

even need it.  She just trusted me through it all.

But it made me happy to have her stylin' with

that leash, and it makes me happy to see it now.

I never thought I'd do a sappy RIP Pet post but here I

am but darn it, she really was the best cat I've ever had,

and such a great sewing companion.  She would always

hang out with me in her basket..after I taught her to

"get in your basket" because of course she always

wanted to be on my fabric.  Eventually she wasn't

able to jump up that high and I've already really missed

 her there.  I knew this had to come someday.  I'm so

grateful for 19 years of her great companionship.

She's resting in the flower garden by our sunroom,

one of her favorite places to bask in the sun.

Moving on to happier things...

I sold another quilt!

If you missed my latest post(s), I'm currently working

very hard to increase my quilt sales to back my

recent purchase of an APQS Lucey and eventually

add a computer system, all to work toward a

full E2E quilting business.   So, with this in mind,

this is my aggressive to-do list for the week to come,

assuming my fabric all shows up:

1) Finish All That's Christmas II

2) Finish Churn Dash Christmas

3) Choose a new quilt project...or two

4) Make sure old longarm is good to go

5) Make spreadsheet for sales, expenses, etc.

6) Get last year's spreadsheet finalized (for taxes)

I'll check back with you next week with

all my aggressive quilting progress!

(Anyone envisioning an angry quilter??)

And keep in mind:

(Hubs sent me this one when I was struggling

to pull myself together--rather unsuccessfully.)

Happy quilting!