Tuesday, March 29, 2011

15 Minutes A Day Weekly Report

It's reckoning day for the  15 Minutes a Day Challenge over at Life In Pieces (Hosted by the lovely Kate ) It was not a sterling week for craftiness at my house. When I went at it - I went at it hard . The rest of the time I totally slacked off! This is how the week crafted out.

Tuesday of last week - I pressed about 30 HST blocks and squared 81 blocks up. Then I laid out the design for the quilt. Then I sewed three rows together...Looking good.


Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were all bombs. Miss P and Little P came for a few days of sleepovers  and by the time Little P went to bed at night  I didn't have the energy to do anything but collapse. (Where do almost 2 year olds get all that energy from?) Friday I got home from work at what felt like Twenty dark o'clock and blobbed around for a couple of hours (that part involved aperitifs to end my working week ) and then I  spent a lot of time on the phone talking to Little Miss Sunshine because neither of us appear to know the meaning of a short phone call...

Saturday I finished the HST quilt top, then raided my stash and made the backing and then basted it all together.  I know 8 inch  HST's are not technically very challenging  but making this quilt  was more to prove I can do HST's without wanting to commit hare kare. I've decided to call this quilt "Saturday with Sara " in honour of the bringer of these fabrics and the lovely Saturday I spent with Sara last week. I love the simplicity and colours of this quilt. It screams "snuggle me".

Saturday also saw some stitching. I couldn't be outdone by Miss P.   


Sunday I bought these fabrics while I was at Spotlight...I went in with Miss P so she could buy an erasable marking pen. What can I say- they were 20% off - so they were down to $3.98 for a half metre. And they stack them  all together so they look all enticing and pretty and scream "Buy Me".  By the way, you each get blamed in turn for my fabric purchases.  Sara has had her  two weeks but I swear I'm moving on to someone else this week. I like to vary my excuses to Mr. P.


It wasn't all beer and skittles and fabric shopping on  Sunday. I quilted about 70% of "Saturday with Sara". In between I made chocolate chip cookies and did some other things I'll talk about later this week. 

Monday night after work I quilted the rest of Saturday with Sara! It's not perfect but I'm planning on washing this at one billion degrees so it crinkles up a lot to hide the imperfections. I'm not too fussed since I think a little imperfection will give this particular quilt some more character. I want it to look well loved and old.


So there was my week in craft. I'm committed to doing 15 minutes  every night this week. It all counts and once I start it's an enjoyable way to shift mental gears from the rigours of the work day.


I hope your week was full of 15 minutes. Thanks for hosting, Kate!



23 comments:

  1. LOVE your HST quilt!! They are my favorite way to use up 30's scraps.

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  2. I love how you pieced the cutoffs together to make more triangles. Clever way of not having any waste. I like :)

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  3. Looks like you did get something done. Not like me I'm sitting here trying not to finish my taxes! Yuck!

    I am so in love with your new fabric purchases. Dots and stripes. Yum!

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  4. Shay,
    You are amazing! How do you pack so much into your days. Although I am "retired" the days seem to disappear. I have been doing a minimum of 30 min/day crafting mostly while sitting with "Himself" while he watches that great old Canadian sport - hockey. I really am a fan as well but I have to be doing something when the play stops. Working on 5th pair of socks since January and hand quilting an Ohio Star quilt for our younger daughter.
    Cheers!
    Helen (Nanci's PT)

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  5. Very nice work! You are cranking on that quilt. It looks great.

    It's nard to get over to machine nights after work, I know!

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  6. Look at you! Here I am proud of my knitting and you do a little magic and come up with a brandnew beautiful quilt. Hello!!!! You are wonderwoman!! Oh and blame me for the fabric..I would have bought that right away too. I have been looking for dots for a long time, and now YOU have them :-))

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  7. Nice looking quilt...love those HSTs when they cooperate!

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  8. Ok - I want your stash! Those fabrics are so fun and funky :-) loving your HST too and can't wait to see the quilting once it's been crinkled. Ps stitchery is coming on a treat - is there competition between you and Miss P lol

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  9. I love your sense of humor, girl! Also, your HSTs are a joy! (Here in the US those prints are retro from the 30s. I love them!)
    I also love the new fabrics you bought... how did that zig zag get in there with all those polka dots and stripes? Yum! Can't wait to see what you do with them!)

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  10. Love the HST quilt and your new fabrics, I've been bad about buying too. Not lots, but I have enough already at home! Can't wait to see the quilt washed, I love those 30's fabrics!

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  11. Love the quilting on "Saturday with Sara!" The colors are so pretty and I love those repro fabrics!

    About that stack of fabulous polka-dots . . . you can blame me if you want. Tell Mr. P that I'm making a polka-dot quilt and so you have to make one too. The part about me making a polka-dot quilt is true, even though you haven't seen it yet. And Mr. P doesn't have to know that little detail.

    As for 15 minutes a day, I can never stop at just that. I do something nearly every day for at least an hour after the kids have gone to bed. Otherwise I'd go completely nutters. Maybe I'll have to set the goal of limiting my time to just 15 minutes a day so that the back log of laundry can get done and the bathrooms can get cleaned.

    Good luck this week on getting your 15 minutes in every day.

    xo -El

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  12. shay ...
    love, love, love the stack of fabrics .... trust me you get more done in a week than most of us in a month. keep up the hard work and the cocktails!!!

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  13. Beautiful quilt. Love the fabrics. It is hard when you are going to work to fit it all in with family as well. i think you did a spectacular job getting all that done.

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  14. Very productive week, even if you didn't work at it every day. Love the HST quilt and your very pretty fabrics. You are certianly making progress.

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  15. I love the HST quilt. You really got a lot done on it, and by now you're probably done quilting it, I bet! Nice new fabrics too. They remind me of jelly beans. Such fun colors!

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  16. The HST quilt is looking fabulous. The more you use the repros the more I'm liking them. I think that maybe 1 billion degrees maybe a little hot and might turn your quilt into another pastel nightmare.
    The embroidery looks great, I don't know why you keep saying your embroidery is not good.
    Love love love the spots and stripes fabric, I missed that when I was as Spotlight the other day, or I would have bought some too.

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  17. The HST quilt is beautiful! Your embroidery is lovely. I so wish I had the dexterity to give it a whirl. I'm contstantly amazed at all you produce each week. Just think what would happen if you had 30 minutes each day! LOL

    Thanks for sharing! Happy Wednesday night! :o)

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  18. I really love the HST quilt. The colors and the simplicity really work. I may have to make my own...

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  19. Your new fabrics make me think of spring! They are really beautiful.

    I love our HST! I have been thinking of doing one as a "Quilt for Kids" quilt. Your quilt is inspiring me.

    I have never been a fan of 30's fabric, but I think I am changing my mind! Your quilt is lovely.

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  20. I don't know how I missed commenting earlier ... I've been negligent. I think the quilt turned out great. I love HSTs and the colors in this one are beautiful. How can you not think of Sara when you see it?! How wonderful!

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  21. Isn't it amazing that even though you have a few slacker days, you seem to get bunches of sewing done. There are days I don't do any sewing either, but then the next day I will make myself do the 15 minutes, and it will turn into hours instead. It makes up for the slacker days. Good job on finishing your HST quilt. I am sure it will crinkle a lot when it is washed.

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  22. Your quilts are always so purty! I need to devote 15 minutes to blogging! You should have told me this whole job thing would interfere with my blogging.

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