Race Day! (and stash report week 22)

photo from IndyCar.com Carb Day

I grew up about 45 miles west Speedway, IN, home of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) so the Month of May was always something special.  The track opened on the first weekend for practice and then qualifications took place on the following two weekends - yes, 4 days.  Whoever qualified fastest on the first day got the pole position.  Everyone else who qualified the first weekend were locked into their spots, despite how fast other drivers might go the following weekend. This has changed - it is no longer a month-long event.

 courtesy of  IMS

Anyway....it was an entire month of drivers doing local commercials.  Back then it was watching the local teams get ready for their one big race of the year.  Amateur racers around the state tried to get a local car in the race.  Around 1960 my grandpa was a wheel man on a pit crew at the 500.  My mom tells a story about how Grandpa forgot to dip his crew suit in the fire-proof solution the night before.  He did it the morning of the race and his suit didn't dry so he had to start the race a little damp!

In high school a whole lot of  kids played hooky and went to the track for "Senior Skip Day."  There were no graduation ceremonies on Memorial Day weekend.

Oh - and the race is still not televised live in Indiana.  It was after my freshman year in college while on vacation in California that I saw my first live race - 1989 and Al Unser, Jr. lost to Emerson Fitipaldi.  Little Al was one of my faves.

We always listened to the race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network which broadcasted on many stations, including Armed Services Radio, worldwide.  With one reporter in each turn and others in the pits and gasoline alley and the garages, well, the news is up to the minute - something that TV cannot do.

That's what I will be doing today - listening to the race from an Indy radio station via a live stream from the internet.  I may combine it with quilting if it rains or gets so dang hot and humid that being outside is unpleasant.  Oh yes, one is supposed to be doing yard work or such while listening to the race (it's a farm thing, idle hands and all).

However, I do like to watch the pre-race ceremonies, which include tributes to the armed forces, and the start of the race on TV.  The most dangerous part of the race is the start.  With 33 cars vying for the inside of the track thru turn one and about 100,000 people in the stands and in infield- that's what has made the 500 the "greatest spectacle in racing" for 100 years.  It all began in 1911, there were no races during WWII.

If you've stuck with me through all this, I know most people aren't interested in open wheel racing, then I will get right to the pix this week and stop "talking" so much.  I did add a bit of fabric to use in a charm swap and, of course, some "just because."

That totals 3.5 yards.

Then, I finished a 1" hexie for the first time.  My others are 3/4".

I'm really getting tired of this fabric!

Finished the doll quilt that I showed a couple of weeks ago - woohoo!

It's small, about 23x36 for about 1.5 yds, but it's a finish.

And a couple more blocks for my 9 patch sampler.  That leaves about 3 to go.

Here's the 6" block for my guild BOM sampler.  Had to use a different pattern for the 6" block this time to avoid working with 36 - 1" finished squares and hst's in the Union Star block.

Shawna is hosting a Jelly Roll Race today and of course, there's a giveaway, too.  If you have a jelly roll or 40 - 2.5" strips, then consider making a top this afternoon.  If you don't need another quilt, do one for charity.   Ackfeld Mfg'ing in Reed Spring, MO, is collecting quilts for tornado victims in Joplin.

This week's numbers:
Used this Week:  1.5
Used year to Date:  33.25 (33 1/4)
Added this Week: 3.5
Added Year to Date:  57.215
Net Used for 2011:   -23.965

Head over to Judy's blog for more stash busting reports.

Stash Report Week 21 and happenings

Happy Sunday, Everyone!  How was your week?

Mine was a bit off - no car to run errands or go to the gym or take me to the library to get some work done -  a bit frustrating.  The weather was nice enough most of the the week so that I could walk the dog and walk to pick DS up at preschool.  The cicadas are showing themselves this week and DS loved watching and counting them on our walk home.

My birthday present from my DH arrived this week.

A soft carrying case for my featherweight.  The original case has a broken handle and I don't need to carry around all those attachments, so it's sitting on a shelf.  This case has a shoulder strap - nice! - it was much easier to take to our monthly Sew Down at the LQS than my big rolling bag.

The first of two little projects that actually got finished this week was a pincushion that I made with my very first hexie.  I gave it to one of my quilty friends last night.  I worked on basting a few more hexies, which is so relaxing.

For the second finish, the binding finally got put on this little doll quilt that I pieced ages ago.

Here are two 9 patches.  These are for the first quilt project I started about 6 years ago when I began quilting again after quitting my paying job.  That was before I knew how to use a rotary cutter or strip piece or even where the quilt shops were located.  I just did them the way my grandma taught me to all those years ago.

All the blocks are hand pieced 9 patch variations in pinks and greens - either squares or HSTs, nothing smaller or strangely shaped - very therapeutic, that hand work.   Now that I know how to use the machine and rotary cut, they are all still hand pieced, just to be consistent. About five more blocks will give me 60- 6.5" blocks.

This new issue came in the mail this week.  I won a copy over at Judy's blog.  There are some really pretty blocks in here - lots of paper piecing and applique - fun!

The latest issue of The Quilt Life arrived this week.  It's my only quilt mag subscription. What mags do like?

Here's a book that I found on the ex libris sale shelf at the local library.  I think I paid 50 cents for it, since it's a paperback.  Now that's a deal!

Here's the block for my guild's Civil War BOM - it's called Union Star.  I usually do two; one 12.5" and one 6.5".  Well this one took about 2 hours and measures at 12.25."  I'm not doing another!  For my small block I will do the block that Barbara Brackman posted on her Civil War blog yesterday, Underground Railroad. 

There were 8 flying geese units in this block so I used the trimmings as leaders and enders which resulted in these 1.75" HSTs.  Not sure how may are there - 2 from each FGU would yield 16 little squares,

I had a 60% off coupon for Joann's that was burning a whole in my coupon holder.  Have any of you used this batting from Mountain Mist?  For the price thought I'd give it a try.

How do you know when it's time to stop sewing at the late night sew down?  

When your friendship star blocks go from this....

....to this

LOL!  I packed it up and came home!

Woohoo!  One yard out for my giveaway!!!  It's the little things, isn't it?

I didn't count the scrap box that I received from Tamara in the "added" column, so I didn't count the doll quilt this week. 

Here are the numbers:
Used this Week:  1
Used year to Date:  31.75 (31 3/4)
Added this Week:  0
Added Year to Date:  53.715
Net Used for 2011:   -21.875

Head over to Judy's blog for more stash busting reports.

Giveaway winner - take 2!

Let's try this again, shall we?

Last week I chose two winners but one was a no-reply blogger who hasn't claimed her prize.  So, as I posted last week, it is time to let random.org select another winner........

#37 - that's Nancy who said, "I'm now following 1Choice4Quilting too."  I just sent you an email.

On another front....I'm trying to get some work done, actual paying work this time, not house work (which I also need to do).  Very difficult to do at home and I don't have any alternative as our car is in the shop.  Yes - when it rains it pours - it is actually raining now, too!  Between our two paid off vehicles we've had some walloppin' repair bills in just 2 months.  Bye, bye vacation!

I prefer to pack the laptop and head to the library to work, one advantage to the metro area over farm life is that I have 3 from which to choose. But alas, can't go anywhere til DH gets home from work.  By that time - I'm done - I am definitely a morning person.

So....I've been doing some deep breathing and saying "OM - it will be alright."

Stash Report - Week 20

First off - thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway.  Two issues: The 6 missing comments that disappeared in the Blogger breakdown have never come back.  I swear there were 129!  Also, winner #1, CountryMom, has not contacted me yet and I did say that entries with no way for me to contact them would be disqualified (be sure that you are not a  "no reply" blogger).  I will wait until this Thursday morning to hear from CountryMom - that will be one week - then I will draw another name from the comments.

If you watch the stash report week numbers, we skipped one.  Apparently we were all off by one week, according to Judy.

Good News! I did not buy any fabric this week.  WooHoo!!!!!

Of course, I also didn't finish any of my UFOs, either.  Although I did work on some little UFOs that have been cluttering my space, and my mind.  UFOs really do stress me out as one more thing on the "to do" list.

First up - the Dresden plate from Lily's Quilt QAL that I got away from some weeks ago.  It is now in one piece with all the circular piecing finished.  There's nothing to it really - that is, when you sew the right sides together, correctly, and don't have to rip over half the circle b/c you sewed the right to the wrong side - DOH!

This pic looks horrible! - at least it clings to my design wall (aka tablecloth)

Got this in one piece while DS was having an afternoon with Garfield on Netflix.  He still wants me to make him a "flower" quilt.  We pulled some FQs for it and I bought the big ol' Dresden ruler, since I will be cutting about 120 plates.

Next up - another Sweet Treat bag.  Long story and dealing with DH, this one was supposed to go my mom for Mother's Day. And the one I sent to her was supposed to go to my MIL.  Well, DH decided to order something for his mother else as I was working on them so, after some discussion....this one stayed home to be gifted at another time.

I have two more to make.  Then I will count that honey bun (Nostalgia by April Cornell) in the "used" column.

Next....this is a doll quilt made from scraps of the quilt that we gave our 3 yr old niece for Christmas.  I had that extra block (in the middle) and not enough of the blue and red to do any more.  However, I had put the tiny blocks together from the leaders and enders of the larger blocks.  More on this when it's finished, it's spray basted right now.

So on a rainy and cool yesterday, I sat down at my newly-repaired-and-working-for-the-first-time-since-bringing-her-home Featherweight, and pieced this little thing together as I went along. It belonged to my DH's grandmother so I thought it appropriate that the first project I did on it was for her great-granddaughter.

I ordered some 1" hexies from Paper Pieces this week while they were having free shipping.  I would like to join the Inchy Hexie Flower Swap, when it opens up again to new members.  Also, this size uses the 2.5" squares left over from binding, jelly rolls, etc. very well.  I will still keep doing my 3/4" hexies, too.  Well, when I get around to it.  Here's one more - that sounds like I've made a lot of them but this is only #2!  I did get some scrap squares together and placed in my sewing pocket, sew I'm ready whenever the opportunity calls.

Then, Karen at Sew Many Ways introduced me to mod podge.  No. I had never used it before.  I've done a few boxes and such for DS's art shelf and a pencil/cutter holder for my sewing space.  This week I used a pretty piece of paper that came from Shawna at 1 Choice for Quilting.  It added just the right amount of pizzazz to my clipboard that I use for my consulting work (of which I did quite a bit this week and plan do more today).

Speaking of Shawna - she's having a HUGE giveaway and an order lottery this weekend.  Check it out.

On to the numbers...
No change this week.  No projects finished and no fabric purchased (another WooHoo! right here).

Used this Week:  0
Used year to Date:  30.75 (30 3/4)
Added this Week:  0
Added Year to Date:  53.715
Net Used for 2011:   -22.875

Head over to Judy's blog for more stash busting reports.

Other giveaways to enter...

There are tons of giveaways in blogland but here are a couple nice ones to know about:

Leona's Quilting Adventure is giving away a GO! Baby - how cool is that?  Open until Saturday May 21st.

KoolBeenze is giving away 7 FQs of Ty Pennington's fabric.  Hurry - this one ends tonight.

And...keep an eye on the 1 Choice for Quilting blog.  Shawna is planning a big giveaway (but Blogger got in the way today).

Good Luck!

winners! ... let's try this again!

As you know, Blogger has been having problems since Wednesday.  Well, to fix the problem they removed some posts from Thursday morning , including the winners that I announced. Wondered why there weren't any comments coming in, especially from the winners!  I won't recreate the entire post b/c Blogger says the posts will be restored (we'll see).

Also....the giveaway was open until midnight Wednesday.  When I used the random.org number generator yesterday morning, there were 129 comments.  Now there are 123.  Arrggh!!

Sew....

The first winner was #124.  CountryMom, please send me your mailing address so I can get you package out to you.
(You see my frustration with blogger, believe me, some of the comments just went away with the maintenance issues.)

The second winner was #13. Stray Stitches said, "I am also a regular follower of Shawna's blog :)."

Congrats to our winners.  Hopefully we can do this again...when Blogger works!

Winners!

Happy Day-Before-Friday-the-13th!

Let's get right to it, shall we?  Here are the wining numbers as selected by the randon number generator at Random.org. Somewhere in blogland someone did a tutorial on how to capture the picture of your winners in the generator - I'll probably find it next week.

The first winner from Random.org is #124!  That's CountryMom who said, "I am a follower. Thanks!"

The second winner is #13.  That's Stray Stitches who said, "I am also a regular follower of Shawna's blog :)."    

Congratulations! 

some roses for the winners!

 If you will both please email your postal addresses to me, I will get your prizes out in the mail ASAP.

Thank you to everyone who entered!  I really enjoyed your comments about your Mother's Day plans.  We may have to do this again sometime.....

Stash report - week 18

Happy Mother's Day!

Hop over to this post and tell me what you are doing, or did, for Mother's Day and enter my 100th post giveaway.  At our house we are going to brunch and then to the nursery to buy some basil seeds, the easiest plants to raise from seed in my gardening experience, and some cherry tomato plants.  I may squeeze in some sewing, we'll see.  If DH makes some pina coladas, then I most likely will not operate the sewing machine!

I had to have root canal this week and having an aching mouth just made me want to lie down.  Forget about sewing or anything else -- just a nice soft pillow and some more Advil and Aleve (yes, I'm doing both!).

Yesterday was my birthday, we are pretty low key around here. We spent a family afternoon at Grant's Farm.  DH was ready to give me some sewing time but it was just too pretty to sit inside and sew.

 Here's what came in the mail - I won one of Pat Slaon's new book s on her blog hop last week and it came on just the right day!

About my Paducah purchases:  I got a yard of this Mrs Sew & Sew fabric (by RJR) and sent it to my mom in her Sweet Treat bag that I forgot to take a photo of before mailing.

A friend and I split the bag of bobbin washers, each taking 6, to see how we liked them.  They are supposed to help eliminate bird's nests and keep your bobbin running really smoothly for FMQ.  We were told that they should last for 80-100 hours of sewing. I'll have to let you know how they work once I try them.

On the right is an actual size paper piecing kit for a penguin - it finishes to 3.5x5.  Cute, huh?  It goes in my small kits drawer along with the coneflower and sunflower kits that I bought last year.  So, these little guys are someday projects but at least they're small ones.

By the time we got to the building with the batting vendors Fairfield had packed up all their samples for the next destination but Hobbs had their's marked down 50%.  These are two 18" squares of wool that I got for $1.  I usually like Warm & Natural cotton but it so heavy on my shoulder when quilting.  I want to see how the wool quilts up - it's still a natural fiber but it's weighs a lot less than the cotton.

Here's the only thing I did this week - a sewing pocket.  It used a whole FQ.

Here are this week's numbers:

Used this Week:  0.25 (1/4)
Used year to Date:  30.75 (30 3/4)
Added this Week:  0
Added Year to Date:  53.715
Net Used for 2011:   -22.875

Head over to Judy's blog for more stash busting reports.

100th Post Giveaway

I never thought that I'd be doing this....blogging...and having a giveaway.  

I started doing this to beat the lonesomeness that comes with being a stay at home mom to a toddler transplanted to a "foreign" world.  Never thought I would actually write something that anyone would ever read - it was just a nice outlet.  Then I started commenting on a few blogs and b4 I knew it my blog had visitors - cool.  It also helped me get my quilt-y fix, without spending more money at the shops!

Having recently won several blogland giveaways, the urge to give back hit me hard.  Sew, to celebrate hitting 100 posts we are having a giveaway.  "We" because when I placed my order with Shawna at 1 Choice for Quilting, she offered to double the fun.  Isn't that sweet of her?! Please check out her store with great fabrics and shipping rates ($2.95 for orders up to $50 and free for orders over $50)!

Up for grabs to 2 lucky winners are 2 Prayer Flag charm packs by April Cornell and one yard of solid yellow or off white for background.  Yes, each winner receives 2 charm packs and one yard of coordinating fabric.

Charm packs are fun - they are one of my impulse buys at the shops.  You can get one or two without spending so much that you're dipping into the grocery money!

There are several charm pack patterns at Mode Bake Shop.  Here a few small lap quilts that call for 2 charm packs and one yard of background fabric.  One is Criss Cross Quilt.

Another is A Ritzy Cracker Quilt.

A third is Christmas Table Topper (i.e. a disappearing 9 patch).  This one calls for more than one yard but if you make the sashing a bit smaller, one yard will work.

 

Don't forget the Schnibbles patterns and the new book from Me & My Sister Designs and all those other charm books out there.  Obviously, these are only suggestions of what 2 lucky winners might do with their prizes.

You have 4 chances to enter, you can do one or do them all:

Please be sure that I have a way to contact you.   "Anonymous" comments will be disqualified.

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me about your Mother's Day plans.

2. Follow this blog, leaving a comment that you do so.

3. Visit Shawna at 1 Choice for Quilting and follow her blog, come back here and tell me that you did.

4. If you can, blog about this giveaway and come back leaving a link to your post.

The giveaway ends at midnight on Wednesday, May 11th.  The winners will be posted Thursday morning.

A little project!

At Paducah last weekend I bought some 3/4" hexies from Paper Pieces.  I finally made one hexie flower using the free samples that they pass out at the show and really liked it.  Well, obviously, I needed a way to carry and store this little project.

I won this new magazine from Kathy Schmitz's blog.  It has great projects - a nice variety of small and large, crafts and quilts.

Here's my version of a simple sewing pocket from the magazine.  I grabbed a FQ and some decor bond and a few scraps and a short time later - voila! - a cute case for my hexies.  I did a little free motion embroidery on the applique to make them pop a bit.

A built-in needle case, too.

Check out all the wonderful links at the Sew Darn Crafty and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop linky parties.

This is post #100 - check back later for a celebratory giveaway!

Stash Report Week 17 and Paducah trip

What a trip!  Had a lovely time with four of my quilting buddies!

Hopefully next week I can show you some of what we saw.  I have to learn how to take pictures off my phone - never done that before.  We did a day trip, leaving at 5:30am, so it was a long day and I'm too tired to figure out something new.

I finally succumbed this past week to the Daily Deal at the Missouri Star Quilt Company and bought a Nostalgia honey bun.

The shop had 3 days of honey bun deals and I decided I liked using the one my friend gave me.  One honey bun makes 4 Sweet Treat Bags, which meant one bag for each of my quilting buddies.

I didn't buy much in Paducah and we went to Hancock's of Paducah.  After last weekend, I stuck to deals.  In this case it was 4 3/8 yards of various shades of white/off white Kona solids and pimatex, all for $3.98 yd.  I am now officially on a fabric diet - y'all heard it here!!


Used this Week:  1.67 (1 2/3)

Used year to Date:  30.5 (30 1/2)
Added this Week:  6
Added Year to Date:  53.715
Net Used for 2011:   -23.215

Click over to Judy's and see some more stash reports!  Have a good week!